…And I would walk 500 more. As The Proclaimers once said. Now, whilst I haven’t walked a thousand miles in the last week, I have driven to two Lard events in the North of England at Wor Lard in Durham last weekend and at a rather more impromptu Sharp Practice day in Grange-Over-Sands this Sunday just gone. Well over a thousand miles clocked up in Lardmobile 3, but two most enjoyable events packed with Lard and jolly nice people.
Wor Lard in Durham has been on the calendar for the past few years (I think it’s four years now, time flies!) and this year fans of Lard in the North East congregated in the headquarters of Durham Wargames club in the old Yeomanry barracks with a range of games. I ran Sharp Practice in the Peninsular in the morning, a game enhanced by the surprise arrival of a very violent monk who apparently had Tourettes and certainly was not happy about the 95th Rifles breaking his pottery. How we laughed. Anyway, I followed that with a brief into to Tank Commander (the rules formerly known as What a Tanker) at lunchtime. Then in the afternoon I had a chance to play a superb retreat from Moscow game with Sharp Practice run by the lads from Harrogate. I had long been inspired by this game since I first saw it at Partizan back in the summer and it had clocked up a whole raft of awards on the show circuit with its superb terrain and magnificently painted figures. My thanks to them for putting on a smashing game which was both inspiring and generated much fun.
Other games on display in the smorgasbord of Lard were a 40mm Chain of Command Espana game, I Ain’t Been Shot Mum in Normandy, Dux Britanniarum and an inspiring Homeric Greek version of Dux run by “The Colonel” Dave Parker against the backdrop of a splendid model of Troy. As always, the lads in Durham were superb hosts, with a great day of gaming followed by a tip top curry and a few beverages.
Here’s a few snaps of the day.
This Sunday we had been due to attend a Sharp Practice day in Nottingham hosted by the team at Wargames Illustrated magazine. Unfortunately the invite was withdrawn late in the day and the chaps who had booked to attend were somewhat disappointed. They got in touch and asked if I would attend if they stepped in at the last minute and organised something at their local club up at Grange-Over-Sands in the beautiful English Lakes. Of course I jumped at the opportunity and a dozen or so of us met up in a former cinema for a whole day of Sharp Practice. AWI, Napoleonics and ACW were on offer with games in both 28mm and 15mm and it was certainly a jolly event. Standing out in my memory are the heroic but ultimately futile charge of the Hessian Grenadiers, the poor lady watching her house burn to the ground and appealing for help, but to no avail, and the ACW blue on blue (or was it grey on grey) fire incident as the officers failed to stop their regiment blasting away into the blue.
A few snaps of that day are below.
My thanks to Rob, Stuart and all of the chaps from the Lancaster Wargames club for their heroic efforts to rescue the day and for all who attended, including Dave who apparently enjoyed Durham so much he decided to come to Grange as well.
As always, the best aspect of the Lardy games days is the good humour and camaraderie which they engender and both of these events were proof of this. Thanks to everyone involved for making a thousand miles of driving seem insignificant in comparison with the fun we all had.
The “Sharpulator” Arrives
Okay, the name doesn’t work as well as the Chain of Command “CoCulator”, but if you want to cost up your units and see how they are rated it is just the ticket. Units in Sharp Practice use some pretty standard terms to give a basic rating. We have Elites, Regulars, Conscripts & Volunteers and
8 thoughts on “But I would walk 500 miles…”
Both these days were really great. I’m really pleased they both fell on convenient dates and in handy-ish locations. The mad potter’s rage was for me the highlight but the Virginian widow’s distress was nearly as amusing. My main regret is that Durham was not over two days because I’d have loved to have played in the Trojan game. These Lardy events are top-notch.
Me too on the Trojan front, that game looked superb and, from what I overheard, sounded something special.
Looks like a lot of fun. For me I do prefer the title What a Tanker?
Yeah, please don’t call it Tank Commander, that’s about as mundane and un-lardlike as a game about commanding a tank could possibly be called. If you can have a game called Algernon Pulls It Off, then by crikey you can have a game called What a Tanker.
It was a grand day out!
I need to clarify I only burned the church down, it was the Americans that burned that lady’s house.
Also the Hessian Baron claims he doesn’t speak English so he merely misunderstood what the lady wanted…
“Don’t worry, the Germans will never reach the gun.” Once again I learned that I really should not open my mouth too soon!
So the “Moscow” game…was that a Great Northern War setting? I recognized the frozen game mat. I need to get one of those…forgot who sells them. Yes, yes, yes…the tank game stuff…like most, anxiously awaiting the arrival of that beast.
Also if you’re ever in the local area, Tucson, AZ, I will be more than glad to host a Southwestern-Lardo game day as well.
Thanks for sharing the most inspiring pics.
Greg Padilla –
it was an 1812 scenario. The mat, unless I’m much mistaken, is by the superb Cigar Box.