Steel Lard 2026

Saturday was a long and tiring but very satisfying day. Dex McHenry having taken over organising duties, I was able to arrive at Steel Lard and just run my own game. This was definitely A Good Thing!

I ran Ambush or The Princess Bride (Not That One) twice during the day, in the morning for Tim,  Clive, and Malcolm and in the afternoon for Mark, Steve, Alister, and John. Both sessions were played in a splendid spirit, generally with players who had little or no experience of the rules but who wholeheartedly bought into the spirit of the game.

The scenario comes from one of C S Grant's Tabletop Teasers, in this case one published in Military Modelling magazine in July 1979!

Although I was using Infamy Infamy straight from the tin with Roman and German unit descriptions (I had to make up my own cataphract stats) I used as much as possible of the fictional background from Grant's article. Thus the Princess Zenobii of Kali was being escorted to her wedding as the 79th wife of Emperor Osbosis of Dubris. All of the escorting Leaders had names derived from members of the 1970s "Dover Coven" of wargamers.

Infamy Infamy games can turn into slugfests with both sides ignoring scenario objectives and concentrating on driving down the opposition's Force Morale. In this case I attempted to counter this by applying time pressure. If the escort party couldn't get the princess and her dowry across the ford in time, they would lose the game. Similarly, the ambushing tribesmen could still lose the game against a defeated escort as the princess and her dowry would continue moving even if the escort's Force Morale was exhausted.

The morning session began with Tim's tribesmen charging out of the woods into the flank of Princess Zenobii's cataphracts and routing them. 

Malcom observes the scene while
Tim records the rout for posterity

More tribesmen charge out of the woods

A battle of slingers developed on the convoy's flank

Time was pressing on this game with the players wanting to get lunch before the afternoon session began. The legendary queues at the café doubtless being in their minds. 

When we called time, the princess and her dowry were still two or three turns from the ford which was held by a unit of enemy slingers thrown forward by Tim in his role as chief ambusher. The ford was six game turns from becoming impassable. We called it a draw and I think that was a fair result.

Tim, Malcolm and Clive anxious to queue for lunch!

To avoid the queue, I'd brought my own lunch and so went straight into setting up for the afternoon session.

This featured two players (Mark and Steve) who had to leave early so I made sure to put them on opposite sides. Fortunately I'd designed the game to work fine as a one-on-one event.

This time the ambush was triggered early with the escorting Dubrisian cavalry still off-table. You can see them in the top right corner of the picture below, which illustrates the distance the convoy needed to cover to reach the ford (bottom left).

This game began with two End of Act events in the first three turns. This meant that the ford module was replaced almost immediately. Already units moving across it would be rolling 2D6 for their movement distance and dropping the higher score! 

From the front of the column: Allied slingers, two units of 
Dubrisian legionaries, the carriage carrying the princess,
the waggon with the dowry, Princess Zenobii's cataphracts,
and the allied light cavalry

Alistair and Steve prepare to sell their lives dearly
in the service of Princess Zenobii

As the first enemy skirmishers appear, things are looking
good for the escort; the ford is not far away!

With Mark having to leave early, command of the ambushing tribesmen was left to John and he did a fine job of throwing his warriors into the fray at the key point.

He also did a fine job of throwing armour saves. With his lightly armoured men needing sixes to save, he threw three dice for three sixes...

Before then throwing two dice for two sixes in the following turn! Steve was not pleased.

The tribesmen, although they never built up much fervour, were staying in the fight and gradually wearing down their legionary opponents.

At this point we were interrupted by the arrival of the Lord Mayor of Sheffield or as we know him at Stately Counterpane Manor, Andy (last seen storming Hachigata Castle in the guise of Honda Gozaemon).
Here we see him being shown around by Dex.

We got back to the game but with only a few more turns played, Alistair, our Dubrisian commander, became convinced that victory was impossible and conceded the day. In fact he was about two turns from the ford with enemy warriors still in the way. He had only three turns left before the ford became impassable to wheeled vehicles. A draw was possible but only with the kind of dice rolling John had demonstrated previously!

Sean, Alistair, John and Steve - friendly enemies!

From my point of view the event was a complete success. Both games were great fun and played in the best spirit. Huge thanks to all the players and to Dex for organising.

In a future post I may discuss the other games and the event as a whole but for now I'm happy and knackered. Where's that bottle of whiskey?