IABSM AAR: Turnipograd
/A quick battle report dating from December last year.
The Mad Padre and James Mantos get together for what looks like a cracking game of IABSM. Click here or on the picture, below, to read the AAR.
IABSM AAR: The Dunkirk Perimeter
/A cracking battle on the Dunkirk perimeter last Saturday, with the plucky Brits trying to hold the Germans off from a vital railhead until the beaches were clear.
Find out how one unnamed antitank crew member held off the panzers almost on his own by clicking here or on the picture below.
IABSM AAR: Intro to IABSM
/I like to trawl the web looking for IABSM battle reports. Here's one I've found from Feb 2014 from the Painted Thumb blog with some lovely figures and terrain!
Click on the photo, below, to see the report here, or click here to go straight to the blog.
IABSM AAR: Arnhem Game
/Not really a full battle report, but more displaying the pictures of a recent IABSM game that tiger1arnhem posted in the Photos section of the TFL Yahoo Group.
Apparently he had written a full AAR, but lost it all due to technology issues. I feel his pain, and can only repeat the mantra "CTRL+S, CTRL+S"!
Click on the picture to see more:
Those of you who do wish to submit full AARs, whatever size or quality, for IABSM, CDS or Q13, can do so by e-mailing me at the same address as for the painting challenge: adminATvislardicaDOTcom.
IABSM AAR: Vaux Sur Seulles
/Not the first game of the new year, but the last game of the last year!
An exciting class between British Paras and German garrison troops in Normandy just after D-Day in June 1944.
IABSM AAR: Pasting The Padre
/Exciting news! I have taken advantage of the Christmas break to catch up on the re-loading of content onto the new website, and am pleased to say that all the previous IABSM after action reports are now done. That's a huge library of battle reports to browse at your leisure, many with complete scenario information allowing you to re-play the action for yourself.
To celebrate, here's a new AAR, Pasting the Padre, which gathers together the reports written by James Mantos and the Mad Padre about the same game of IABSM played in November this year.
Click here or the picture to read the report; or use the top navigation bar to go to the IABSM After Action Reports section of the website to see literally hundreds more!
Website Update: Malaya Day Nostalgia
/The Christmas holidays mean I have more time to finish re-loading all the content onto the new VL website.
I'm still working my way through the IABSM AARs, and great fun it is too. I have done all the scenario pack AARs, and the one-off game AARs, and am now working my way through the TFL Games Day AARs.
I have just finished uploading all the reports from the 2006 Malaya Games Day: a colossal battle involving over a battalion of infantry on either side at 1:1 scale, with the Japanese trying to force their way through the Lardak position, held by British Indian troops.
Click here to go to the IABSM AAR page. The Malaya Games Day reports are in the right hand column, down near the bottom.
Here are a few photos to whet your whistles...
AAR: The Lacôme Canal
/Will the Germans manage to keep their blitzkrieg going by taking the bridge over the Lacôme canal, or will the French manage to check the enemy advance?
Find out by clicking here to read this exciting battle report from France 1940.
Site Update
/The reloading of the site's contents continues apace!
I have now finished re-loading all the IABSM After Action Reports as far as the one-off battle reports up to the end of 1942. That's all the scenario booklet AARs done, and about a third of the one-off games done.
Some people ask me why I bother to try and record every game of AAR about which a battle report has been written.
Well, there are a number of different reasons. Obviously the reports can be source of inspiration: encouraging you when the 'can't be bothered to game or paint' blues have got to you.
On top of that many of the reports are just such good reads: being so well written that they deserve to be published to a wider audience - and here I commend you to Mr Clarke's body of work.
Many reports also have vast numbers of really good photos attached to them: certainly enough to get your hands itching for a paintbrush again...and I know from personal experience that my terrain collection has grown in sophistication just so that my photos look more like those of the masters.
On top of a bit of inspiration, quite a few of the one-off game reports (especially Kev's) give complete game briefings: enabling you to play the scenario out yourself. Ideal if you're stuck for a game to play and (obviously) have played every scenario in my many scenario booklets!
Note also that some of these reports are now only available here on the Vis Lardica site. There are those that have been written specifically for the site, but there are quite a few others that have been lifted (usually with permission!) from sites or blogs that, for any number of reasons, no longer exist. Vis Lardica has become the IABSM archive, and I would like to see that archive as complete as possible.
So, in summary, read and enjoy the huge body of IABSM (and CDs and Q13) AARs that appear here. Even better: submit your own for inclusion. E-mail me at admin@vislardica.com. I'll do all the work: all I need to know is how I get hold of the text and any photos. All standards of work are included!
R
IABSM Army Galleries Reloaded
/I have now finished re-loading all the galleries of my WW2 15mm figure collection.
Very satisfying: and tells me what I've got and, more importantly, where the gaps are...especially with Santa arriving soon.
You can see a list of the galleries here.
AAR: Diot
/Played a great game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! today using scenario #4H from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack.
Exciting action as the Germans attempt to outflank the Allied advance via the strategically vital town of Diot, only to run into a company of Scottish infantry determined not to let them past!
Click on the picture to read the whole AAR:
And for those whose appetites are whetted by the above, I've reloaded the IABSM AARs down to the last one from the Fall of the Lion Gate Malaya and Singapore scenario pack - I'm doing all the scenario pack AARs first before moving on to individual games and the Games Day reports. Check them out!
AAR: Ploschad
/Last week Neil and I played the climatic battle in our Bashnya or Bust! campaign: with the Soviets trying to get past the German defenders of Ploschad.
A cracking game, even if my camera was playing up a bit.
Click on the picture below to read the whole AAR...
I've also found the time to re-load the first eight or so IABSM AARs from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack too, so check them out!
AAR: Near Devyat
/Craig Ambler gives us the next installment in his solo-play Bashnya or Bust! campaign. This time it's action near Devyat, featuring a German raid to spike some Soviet guns.
Click on the picture to read more...
And for those who like a bit of Vietnam action, I've finished loading all the Charlie Don't Surf! After Action Reports. Use the navbar in the header to go there now (well, after you've read Craig's AAR, of course).
AAR: Near Ploschad
/Craig Ambler gives us a write-up of Scenario #3B from the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack: the Germans launch a surprise attack on a Soviet column Near Ploschad.
Click on the picture to see more...
AAR: Near Osen
/Originally posted 7th September 2014
Craig Ambler plays the first scenario from the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack.
AAR: Last two From Amokfigur
/Originally posted 26th August 2014
The last two After Action Reports rescued from Amokfigur's site-in-hiatus..
These are from the Franco-German border region, but one is from 1939, Neighbours at Neunkirchen, and the other, The Road to the Ardennes, from 1944.
AAR: South Pacific
/Originally posted 24th August 2014
A couple of After Action Reports culled from the distant past of the Internet.
These are two Pacific Theatre reports from 2009: Australian Forces at Bougainville and Somewhere in the South West Pacific.
AAR: Vacqueville
/Originally posted 23rd August 2014
A great AAR from Katzenstein, who fights the Vacqueville scenario from the 2014 TFL Summer Special.
AAR: Belle Maison
/Originally posted 10th August 2014
An After Action Report from a game I played recently over in the Oxford area. It's Normandy 1944, a village called Belle Maison, and the Germans need to clear the road for their heavy artillery..
AAR: A Canadian VC
/Originally posted 4th August 2014
A real first on today's update: an AAR in German!
Those of you who don't speak German need not worry: the report, or spielberichte, is in two parts. First up are some words which Google and I have translated for you and, secondly, there's a great cartoon strip version which is in German...but you can always look at the pictures!
