Thursday 13 September 2018

Wading Through Lard

My good mate Matt has turned away from Chain of Command but enjoys Sharp Practice 2 and has recently put together some lovely troops and terrain for the game, it can't be all bad then thought I. So when Julian asked what was happening this Tuesday I asked him to put on a SP2 game for me, Julian also has some nice forces and terrain for the game.

On arrival at the club I found that instead of the Peninsular game I was expecting we had French and Indian Wars with Stuart's excellent figures and terrain, Stuart played in a recent SP2 tournament so knows what he is doing, although it cured him of tournament style gaming. For a change I took the 'baddies', the French along with Stuart, we had to rescue a Monsieur Le Clerk from the clutches of some British settlers who had captured him, Simon and Julian with the British had to stop us.


My guys.
We tentatively advance.

Stuart had to attack the house with his vanguard and get Le Clerk, while I would keep the escape corridor open. The house proved too strong to take and within a short time the forward elements of the British relief had turned up and were giving his men a distinctly hard time, so much so that he had to fall back, Le Clerk was on his own. My men shuffled on to the table and managed a couple of half hearted, long range volleys at the British regulars, I did manage to push my Indians up to support Stuart but they too fell foul to the British van and they in their turn fell back.

The enemy, lovely wee sojers.
Just before the blue bonnets ran.

As we hit time Stuart's force was spent while mine had achieved nothing, the British were maneuvering to throw even more troops against our forward forces and it looked decidedly dodgy for them as the bell rang, a British victory.

A big thanks to Stuart and Julian for taking me through a game of SP2, but it did not change my mind re the whole Two Fat Lardy wargaming style. The faff about with the 'jump off' points is the first hiccup for me, the placing of these is a game within a game and frankly I can't be bothered with it, maybe I am not clever enough, just give me a deployment area. Then there is the group/formation thing, the initiative system, you can do this this time but can't do it next time. Then of course there is the 'Tiffin' token, the same thing I think applies in other games where the turn simply ends, sometimes before it even starts, why? What does this achieve, I don't get it, maybe it is just me. Every time I have played a TFL game, and I have tried, I just find it needlessly complex simply for the sake of it.

Now let's face it, you might have expected this report to go the way it has, but I did try and the lads put on a good table, but I am done wading through Lard.

16 comments:

  1. You are tough on TFL for sure. I actually find SP2 my least favourite TFL game, although I have to say that the deployment point in SP2 (it is actually just a deployment area!) are really not comparable to the JOP in CoC. They are much simpler. That said I enjoy FIW with SP2 over Napoleonics as most of the troops are skirmish types and this removes the what I agree is the unnecessary complexity in SP2 with formed troops.

    Tiffin is unique to SP2, in larger games it is not really an issue as there are so many cards in the deck it will seldom stop the game.

    Just too bad about CoC, it really is a superb game and quite simple once you get the hang of it.

    But I think I have said that before!

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    1. The one game I do like, after it settled down, is Dux Brit but I cannot persuade anyone to give it another try. Enjoy your games John and keep the reports coming.

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    1. Cheers Ray, liked the report on your recent game.

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  3. An interesting view on the popular TFL games. It seems to me the complete opposite of their famous (?) strap line "Playing the period, not the rules".

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    1. Makes me laugh that, considering how much time the rulebook is looked at during a typical TFL game. Only my very personal view, wouldn't do if we were all of one mind Martin.

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    2. Then again the comment that the "Emperor's got no clothes on!" is always voiced by just one person in the crowd at first.

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  4. Great looking game and I can agree with you on some points for Lard games - jump off points. However, they do give great results once you fully grasp the vine.

    Cheers, Ross

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    1. I have tried Ross. My next test is SYW rules and I have to pick something.

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  5. I quite like Sharp Practice 2, from the few times we’ve tried it, but the rest of TFL’s offerings leave me cold, not my style at all. I think they are a bit like Perry Miniatures in that the hype somewhat hides the fundamental problems.

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    1. My pet hate is Warlord Games' fan club accepting the worst standards in mail order in the hobby because they put it right quickly :)

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  6. George, lovely looking game and figures mate. I agree about CoC - it's terrible, just terrible. A better strap line for CoC would be "playing the rules from the rulebook/playsheets so much so that the period is largely forgotten" - About as much fun as dental work. Each to their own I guess.
    Anyway - I really enjoy SP2 and am now fairly au fait with the mechanisms. It's a joyously daft, fun game.
    BTW - I've always really fancied a bit of DB - perhaps we could have a campaign weekend? ;o)
    Cheerio
    Matt

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    1. I know you enjoy the game Matt and that is one reason I gave it a chance. I would love to have a DB Campaign weekend at some point.

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  7. Well at least you got to play with some fine looking toys. Lard it seems is an acquired taste, it certainly appears to garner no middle ground popularity.

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    1. I shall leave Lard for my roast spuds and the occasional plate of chips Phil. Yes we are lucky at the club that so many players have such lovely stuff.

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