Herts of Lard 2026: Overview

Saturday we went to Rickmansworth for the Herts of Lard games day run by Joe Bilton. He being the maestro of epic wargame tables, as can be seen above.

There were fourteen games and 85 attendees, which made for a lively day of fun. 

Rich Clarke's Getting Lehry.

 

Rich ran a 28mm Coc2 WWII game. The scenario was a Panzer Lehr attack towards Bayeux in June 1944 who must overcome the outposts of the DLI before they can progress.

Phil & Jenny Turner's The Monmouths at Mouen.

Phil & Jenny were running a WW2 game using IABSM in 15mm. The scenario had German forces intended attacking the “Scottish Corridor” to cut off the 11th Armoured Division and destroy it in detail. Can the Monmouths hold out against the Leibstandarte, and save the day, or will the Germans pushon to cut the “Scottish Corridor!”

Rob Purbrick's Sharp’s Partisans. 

Rob was running Sharpe Practice 2 in 28mm. Richard Sharpe, his trusted chosen men, and the South Essex Reg. take on Major Ducos’s fiendish plot to bring down Wellington and his Army.

Simon Stokes's Battle of Cynuit.

Simon was running a Dark Age game using the Midgard rules in 28mm. The scenario was set in the year 878AD, where the Great Heathen Army has come to Britain sweeping all before them. Only
the Saxons of Wessex still stand against them.

John Savage's On the Road to Brussels.

 

John ran a Sharp Practice game in 28mm. Late on the afternoon of 18 June 1815, the battle turns on a sunken farm beside the Brussels road. La Haye Sainte still holds, but only just. The defenders are down to their last cartridges. This is not the moment remembered in histories, but the one before it — when everything might still go wrong.

Phil Threlfall's What A Commando Zombie!

 

Phil was running a Weird WW2 28mm games using a mash up of What a Cowboy and What an Operator rules. An experimental game where a small crack team of plucky British paras/commandos infiltrate a U-Boat pen, to steal or destroy the secret 'ZX Formula' and capture or kill the mad Nazi scientist!

Charley Walker's The Devil Take the Hindmost.

Charley ran a game inspired by TFLs Kiss Me Hardy rules called, The Full Nelson. Napoleonic Naval Action in 1801 in 1/700 scale. A British squadron catches Franco-Spanish fleet before they can relieve the French Army of Egypt, but have they bitten off more than they can chew? 

Johnno Rollinson's Diggers First Day.

Johnno was using CoCv2 to run a 28mm 1941 North African game of Operation Compass. The 8th Army has reached the small port town called Bardia, and it is now the turn of the Australian “Diggers” to have their metal tested against a well dug in Italian forces.

Steven Woodbridge's They’re Coming Through the Trees.

 

Steven ran a 28mm game based on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge.

Alistair Lapping's Encounter at Morningwood Farm.

Alistair's 28mm Sharp Practice American War of Independence game set in New York State. A large SP game where the emphasis will be on formations rather than groups, using some minor rule changes used by the Staines Wargames Group.

Joe Bilton's The Battle of Montcornet.

Joe was running CoCv2 Battle of France game in 28mm. May 1940 refight of the Battle of Montcornet.

French forces under Charles de Gaulle launch a bold counterattack near Montcornet, striking at advancing German troops in a desperate attempt to slow the Blitzkrieg.

 

 A table so impressive that I took a whole bunch of pictures to show how wonderful it looked.

Joe is taking this game to Salute where he'll be run a What a Tanker participation game.

Feast your eyes on the attention to detail.

Finally,I have this last picture of a gorgeous ship, but no idea of what game it was for.

There were two other games, Caen 1944, and They Mostly come out at Night... mostly. I have a bunch of pictures of both of these as, they were the games I was playing, which will go up tomorrow as a separate post.