Another year and another Clotted Lard when the club teams up with Too Fat Lardies and all our friends in Lard to celebrate the rule sets we have come to love playing over the years and illustrating the varied themes and eras of games these rules have to offer.
This year's show was number seven to date and as with last year put it's contributions by all those that took part towards our chosen charity, Devon Air Ambulance, that provides such an important service to the residents and visitors to Devon ensuring prompt medical assistance around our large county.
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| Our participants for this year's Clotted Lard. |
In addition we again enjoyed the marvellous facilities of the Lympstone Village Hall and would thank their management team for helping us to host our show.
This year's show was superbly managed by our new 'Clotted Lard Cat Herder In Chief', Mr Colin Murray and I would like to thank him here for seamlessly assuming the role from the previous incumbent Mr Bob Connor, who set the bar high in the previous six.
I would also like to extend a big thank you to Mr Jack Frost for providing the Devon Cream Teas and also for helping me run our Kiss Me Hardy Game - Cheers Jack.
We had a superb selection of games on offer and I took some time out from my own game of Kiss Me, Hardy to grab some pictures of them to give a feel for what was a great day, but I will add a disclaimer that I wasn't able to abandon my own two games entirely and was therefore lax in covering all our other featured games to the extent that I would have preferred, with I think one missing from this review, so the fault is mine alone and apologies for that, plus some of my own club mates games were either missed, or not looked at properly and so I have included some pictures of their collections from club games that would have been on show here.
Because we're here lad - Sharp Practice Zulu game
Rorke's Drift - Re-enact the famous defence of the missionary
Editors Note: This was Nathan's game that only appeared in the morning session and was packed up by the time I started to circulate with the camera, so I have included a few shots of Nathan's collection from a previous Rorke's Drift game run at club this year.
Nailing the Colours – Kiss Me, Hardy
Battle of Vanguards, Battle of Camperdown, 11th October 1797
The scenario focusses on the attack by the British Vanguard under Admiral Adam Duncan before the
arrival of elements of the British leeward division under Vice Admiral Onslow after they having
quickly overwhelmed the Dutch rear and driven off the centre.
The Mardy Mahdi - Sharp Practice 2
The year is 1910 and once again the Peasants are revolting! The French are moving into Morocco hoping to expand its African empire.
Local leaders are fighting back against the French, one of which the Mardy Mahdi wants to wipe out the French Foreign Legion garrison at Fort Soixante Neuf and take back the land . His second in command wants to take the young bride of the commander of the garrison and show her his casbah!!!
Can you help the locals defeat the imperialists or can you remember why your in the Legion and save the day with daring do?
Bad Times in Lard Creek - What a cowboy
The frontier town of Lard Creek, and the nearby railroad.
The game was comprised of two linked scenarios. One team played the part of newly appointed Deputies, and the other team as members of El Bandito's infamous bandit gang.
It’s a Long Way to Fannystown - Chain of Command
It is 1920 and the Irish War of Independence has spilled over into some of the most unlikely of locations. The Royal Irish Constabulary have received intelligence that an IRA Flying Column is using Fannytown as a base from which to terrorise the surrounding countryside of County Wexford.
They have asked for support from the Auxiliaries and plan to launch a dawn raid to surprise and neutralise the insurgents. Little do the authorities realise though that they have a spy in their midst and their dawn raid might not be quite as big a surprise as they are hoping for.
The Guns of El Navarone - Sharp Practice 2
The campaign in the Spanish Peninsular has taken a poor turn for the Allies and the French have surrounded and are about to overrun the town of Navarone.
There needs to be an immediate withdrawal by sea but the passage is overlooked by an old fort within which the French have installed some experimental 68pdr guns.
Sharp and his band of wastrels have been dispatched on a commando mission to subdue the fort and it garrison along with some Spanish allies from the nearby countryside. The French however have spotted the small boats carrying Sharp's force and have sent a relief column. Can Sharp knock out the guns before they destroy the escaping Allies or will the French embarrass Wellington's army and send many tired and wounded troops to a watery grave?
Mekong Madness - Chain of Command plus DMZ Vietnam supplement
Vietnam 1962 ARVN v VC
Editors Note: I missed getting some extra pictures from Stephen's game so have included a few pictures of his collection in action at club earlier this year.
La batalla de la Colina del Sol” !Espana! - (Spanish CoC)
Sitting as it does astride a tributary of the Rio Tamesis, the sleepy village of Colina del Sol, until now for the most part (aside from a small detachment of Republican Asaltos which turned up several weeks ago) was able to ignore the Civil War that was sweeping through the rest of the country.
This peace was shattered a few days ago, when a much larger force of La Legion launched an attack on the village and dispersed the Asaltos; the entire village is now holding its breath.
Life’s A Beach - IABSM
On the late afternoon of 6th June 1944 the 21st Panzer Division attacked towards Sword Beach with some units reaching the coast before having to retreat.
Can you go one better and get your Panzers onto the beach and disrupt the British Invasion ? …. Or alternatively can you earn medals, recognition and glory holding off the Nazi hordes !!
What a Blinder - What a Cowboy version - What a Gangster, published in Lard Magazine 2023
The game is set in a small town near Birmingham during the Interwar Period.
Uncle Ho's Laundry van has broken down. However Uncle Ho has another business involving Imports/Exports so the local Constabulary have it under observation.
In addition some other gangs who are in the same business are also watching. All of these gangs have unfinished business with each other. What could go wrong?
Sherman’s Necktie - ACW Sharp Practice
Breaking off from Sherman's March a group of Union troops have a mission behind enemy lines. Will they make Georgia howl? Or will the confederates drive them off?.... this scenario is one of four that will appear in September's issue of WS&S .
Operation Werewolf - Chain of Command
“You’ve gotta fight, for the Reich and Paaarty!” Gotterdammerung 1945. A British armoured column push into the heart of the evil Reich. Can they push through the rag tag collection of defenders and open the road to Bremen. Or not.
Thank you to everyone who participated this year for making yet another Clotted Lard the very fun day we have come to know and look forward to and I look forward to our next gathering in 2025.
Postscript:
The Lardy community of gamers are a unique group of like-minded folk and over the years that the club has been running Clotted Lard we have built some great friendships with a regular group of them who have graced the show with their company and games, some travelling great distances across the country to join us each year.
None more so than Mr Charley Walker, who I share an avid passion for age of sail games and Kiss Me Hardy and who was unable to make the long journey from home to join us this year due to a serious illness that has caused him to be hospitalised these last few weeks.
I know that I and friends of Charley at Clotted Lard would like to send our very best wishes to him for a very speedy recovery and that our thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time.
Get well mate, and I look forward to seeing you back at the table with a lot of ships on it soon.
JJ