Operation Market Larden 3: The Games

Last weekend brought the Lardest Day in the Wyvern Wargamers calendar: where like-minded gamers travel from far and wide to indulge in a day of all things Too Fat Lardies. We're honoured to have the presence of Rich Clarke himself and other Lardy luminaries such as the esteemed Sidney Roundwood for our day's gaming.

And wow, what games were available. With two sessions everyone got chance to play some real cracking setups from a whole range of eras and Lardy rulesets: Dark Ages to modern day. The village hall was packed out with 10 games and nearly 40 gamers.



Once again Ade of Bullets, Bandages and Lard did a sterling job of organising the day, as well as putting on an amazing Sari Bair-Gallipoli game using Big Chain of Command. Ade used a clever sharply sloped setup to represent the Anzac assault on the Turkish positions on the crest of the ridge, which looked outstanding but was a pain to capture in photos. I gather from the roars across the room that both games were particularly tense. 

Looking up at the ridge, a daunting assault

And looking down from the Turkish trenches 

We had Rich Clarke running his upcoming Fighting Season game, with modern British in Afghanistan














Returning from last year, a gorgeous Peninsular Napoleonic game of Sharp Practice by Jim. The buildings are Grand Manner and the boards are re-painted and flocked GW terrain tiles.

We had some 'Cold War Gone Hot' with West Germans looking to blunt a Soviet armoured assault. Fine looking terrain on this one, lots of neat details like the hot tub and washing line, and a large Aldi (of course!)

Wyvern's own Stu put on a lovely looking Russo-Japanese game based on the battle of Shaho, 1904. Stu did a cracking job of the new terrain tiles and pieces to really evoke the era and his growing collection looks excellent on the tabletop. 

On the next table over, Wyvern Paul had Sharp Practice in the Wars of the Roses with his new collection - what a great ruleset that can cover such an expanse with just a little tinkering here and there!

Last but not least (for this post anyway, was this great looking game of Big Chain of Command - a really great job done here of pimping the 4Ground buildings with gardens and allotments (I've been building a few of these this week, and will thieve these ideas unashamedly). This game run by Jason and Nathan.

That's all the games that I photographed (my own excepted - for a future post). I know Wyvern Chris was running Dux Britannarium and I think there was a game of IABSM too, apologies to those that I missed. But one more thing must be remarked upon: the continuing tradition of Lard-themed 'tiffin' on offer


What other event offers you branded cupcakes for all your rulesets of choice?! I can sense your envy from here. 

All in all, a corker of a day in fine company, rounded out by a few beers in Evesham's finest (?) drinking establishment and curry house. Roll on OML4 in summer 2016!

Operation Market Larden 2 (Part 2 - Verdun)

For my afternoon game at Operation Market Larden on Saturday, I had the opportunity to play Sidney Roundwood's outstanding Verdun 1916: Operation Gericht, its second outing after its debut at Partizan. I suspect I was quite fortunate to have responded to the survey quick enough to take one of the commands. I took on the role of Fahrnich Joachim Vogel, of the 157th Reserve Infantry Regiment. Fellow Wyvern regular Bob took Leutenant Ulrich Bek, with our Strosstruppen assaulting the French poilu commanded by Ralph and Paul.

Our briefing material contained an aerial reconnaissance image of the terrain facing us:



Our objective: capture the ruined village of Fleury at all costs, to open up the route to Fort Souville and shatter French resistance at Verdun. Clearing the forest of Le Bois de Guise was a minor objective. We settled on an unconventional plan to surge past Le Bois de Guise, hoping to make quicker time by circumventing any French defenders there. Sidney described this as 'bold', but I suspect he was being polite.

With two support options to choose, Bob and I took some German pioneers, concerned about French wire teams disrupting our rapid advance, and after much debate we settled on an inspiring speech to improve morale from the incessant privations of Verdun. This gave our troops a small advantage in close assault, until we lost an assault.

The daunting view from the German lines - surely our men would be too exposed?



The tense strosstruppen assemble in the cratered fields of Verdun.

As they surge forwards, French defenders pick out targets, the entrenched machine guns spitting fire. German gunners and granatenwerfer respond.

Our elite troops take no pause and surge forwards - to falter means death...

Right on time, the German artillery bombardment rains down...

...while our troops pass unscathed over the cratered landscape, relieved that the German gunners' aim is true. Could anything survive such a barrage?

As the lead infantry approach the French trenches, they pause. Men fall. Where are their commanders? While the German fire support has managed to neutralise one machinegun, SOS fire from the French soixante-quinze guns rains down over their heads. It is mercifully ineffective. Still, our brave Strosstruppen are taking murderous fire and the assault risks faltering at a critical moment.

Poilu pour forwards to reinforce the village - surely seizing this is too much to ask?

Relief! The pre-arranged German barrage recommences, with French gunners taking the best shelter they can from the savage bombardment.

This was our chance chance - Forwards! Forwards! Pioneers take the lead, with Ulrich Bek urging them on. Joachim Vogel follows, allowing no man to linger over this briefest opportunity.

The barrage lifts, dazed Poilu lifting themselves from the landscape - new craters piled on top of old. Are the assault troops close enough to engage the French can open up on them again?

Almost there - charge! The French counter-attack, hoping to fling the handful of surviving Strosstruppen back before they reach their objective. German stick grenades rain down and a fierce melee ensues.

Joachim Vogel rallies his men, desperately mustering a second wave, but is it too late in the day?



The brave Poilu waver and are flung back, pioneers surging forwards in their wake

Victory! Fleury is taken!

We gambled it all on taking the village and with (literally) the last turn of the card, by the skin of our teeth, the strosstruppen pulled it off. With dusk falling (and the pub calling), there is no time for a French counter-attack. They fall back and the route to Fort Souville is open.

All in all, one of the most exciting wargames I've played in many years, Sidney put on a stonking game. The visuals were made by his exceptionally painted collection of miniatures and oh so fittingly bleak terrain (with comment of the day being "grey on grey, a bit difficult to photograph really")

But what really made the day was the steady build-up of background information over the preceding week, the propaganda of the Zuricher Zeitung with the latest news from the front lines. Though it was a one-off game, Sidney managed to make it feel like the culmination of a campaign, with our pre-game decisions influenced by the propaganda he fed us. Those decisions of when to time the bombardment and how best to support our ragged troops directly influenced the outcome of the game. I could only have wished for more time to play through a French counter-attack - it seemed to cruel to have to end the French resistance so abruptly. Bravo Sidney anmd thanks once again to you and the Bob, Paul and Ralph who made the afternoon such an experience.

As for Fahnrich Joachim Vogel, survival and a modicum of fame in Weimar Berlin. Memories of those days in Verdun providing ample inspiration for bleak impressionistic works. At least something good came of his war, for a few years, at least...

Rolling your post-war years, one last neat touch

Operation Market Larden 2014 (part 1)

Yesterday, Wyvern Wargamers hosted gentlemen from all across the country for the second iteration of "Operation Market Larden", a celebration of all things Too Fat Lardies. Once again, the day offered a range of quite excellent participation games and the pleasurable company of like-minded fellows.

A relatively early start ensured there was enough time for a good long morning and afternoon session and Ade carefully marshalled/herded the 40-or-so of us into the games that they had signed up for. And what a range of games on offer, there was something for everyone (as long as you like Lard).

I was on hand to roll some dice with the camera in tow to catch the action, though sadly I didn't get photos of every game.


Saving Mrs Ryan - Sharp Practice in the Indian Mutiny - 28mm
(Simon Walker)

A quite exceptional board with beautifully painted miniatures and everyone involved seemed to be having fun, be they the British and their loyal subjects, the rebellious mutineers or local Badmash militia. I was quite jealous I didn't get to play this one!

Benouville - Chain of Command WWII - 15mm
(Ade Deacon, of Wyvern Wargamers)

Which you can read much more about on Ade's blog here. Ade put a phenomenal amount of effort in to properly research the engagement and terrain. Having had the good fortune of play-testing it through ,I can attest to it being great fun to play.

Bloody Omaha - I Aint Been Shot Mum WWII 15mm
(Mike Whitaker of Peterborough Wargames Club)

Huge table and daunting prospect for the Allies - but I hear they were succesful across the two sessions

Sharp Practice in the Peninsular - 28mm 
(J. Ibbotson)

Another lovely setup, with exceptionally painted miniatures and impressive Grand Manner buildings.

For my morning session, I had the pleasure of playing Rich Clarke's own Le Port scenario that he'd built for Salute 2014. Two German and two British players, umpired by Rich himself.

Le Port - Chain of Command WWII - 28mm 
(Richard Clarke)

Town's all quiet

German officer nips out for his morning bread

The scenario had my and Robert's Germans desperately trying to hold off the British paratroopers. Things looked pretty awful when the paras, played with elan, were close to overrunning the German jump-off points before our delayed troops had even trurned up! (for which a comedically bad series of Command rolls was blamed)

Paras make a long flanking maneuver around pastel pink cottage

With Rich's hasty *ahem*revision to the scenario, the Germans trickled onto the table just  in time to shore up their line and blunt the swarming paras' advance. We were able to build a numerical advantage on the German left flank to turn the Paras back.

Numerical advantage on the German left flank

On the right flank, commanded by myself, things were less rosy. With one jump-off taken uncontested, a hastily deployed section found itself pinned in beige-cottage-without-enough-windows by the Para fire support team. With the MG42 down, the remnants of the section cowered in the loft. The paras pushed into the ground floor and the game was up. but who am I to disregard a chance for a glorious but futile charge - three handgranaten down the stairs followed by a bloody assault. The result: merely an honourable end for the Germans, with a lone survivor surrendering to the paras that had survived the blasts. 

Less so on the right...

But the paras were held off for long enough - more German reinforcements pushed on to hold the line, with the Paras unable to sustain the fight. Apparently, we had done quite well to hold the line against such aggressively played paras. 

The battle for Le Port raged on into the afternoon session, with new players picking up a continuation of the scenario as the German counter-attack starts for real. Le Port seemed to be taking quite some damage in the heavy fighting, as evidenced by this dramatically blazing cottage:

I missed photos of:
Tin Star Gunfight (G. Bond)
The Bridge (N. Overland)
Kiss Me Hardy (N. Skinner)

And to sweeten the day, it has become tradition for Wyvern to lay on some Lardies-themed cupcakes - so impressively decorated and tasty to boot! 

Rich Clarke appears entirely disinterested in Ade's cupcakes offerings

As the gaming wound down to a close, the attendees found their way into Evesham for a few beers and a curry - a fine way to end a hard day's gaming. Thanks again to Ade and the rest for putting on such a smashing day. Roll on OML3 next year!

Update: Part 2 now up