Ebor Lard 2026 - A Reet Grand Day Out

 

A REET GRAND DAY OUT

Yesterday was Ebor Lard, a Toofatlardies games day set in a little hall in between Harrogate and the City of York in North Yorkshire.

This wasn't my first Lardy day, I've done Steel Lard a few times, but I did those as a game organiser rather than as a player. I'd taken the opportunity this time to play a few of the games the "kids" are talking about.

Below are some pictures from Joe Bilton wonderful Montcornet 1940 WW2 table, which I played on in the morning and I'll post again about the game in the next few days, I just wanted first to say a few things about the event itself.

Ebor Lard has been a regular event for a few years now and John Savage does a great job organising the whole thing. The main day is held at a local village hall, which is modern clean and with good facilities. There is usually a big group fun game on the Friday night and another game morning in another smaller venue on the Sunday (I just did the day).

There were around 9 games on and all looked great, worthy of a place in a fee paying wargames show, and they ranged through Chain of Command, Infamy, Infamy, Midgard, Full Nelson, Sharp Practice and others from the Lardy stable. You chose your games beforehand so you know the games you are playing before you arrive. I'm not sure how many players there were there I'd guess around 45 - 50.

There's a local cafe nearby for breakfast etc and Jon sorted Tea (Yorkshire of course) and that Mucky brown sludge stuff along with soft drinks in the small entrance fee. As well as this there was a buffet lunch included, which was top notch with plenty for all.

These days are really good and I felt really at home in a group of players who play a different style of gaming to me and the emphasis is clearly on fun and enjoyment. There was no competitive cockwomble nonsense, it was all about having a great game.

At the end of the day we helped tidy the place up and then it was off to a local farm shop where Jon had organised a "Steak Night" and most of the players from the day attended. Top local beef and a lovely Jam Sponge pudding (not on the same plate !) all for 30 quid. You wouldn't get some fancy Avocado starter bollocks for that in that there London 😆.

It's always great to see a few Podcast Guests face to face as well, Alex Sotheran  was there, Rich Clarke, Joe Bilton, Jon Savage and Dex McHenry. I met a couple of fans of the show I hadn't met before and it was great to have a chat with them.

All in all a great day, more about the gaming soon but if you get chance to be part of a Lardy Day I'd give it a go, spaces are often hard to get but well worth it.

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer   

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 87 James Morris - Midgard

 

Welcome to the show,

This episode I begin by speaking with Mr James Morris a regular on the UK Show Circuit with his excellent array of display and participation games. 

As usual you can get the episode on all major Podcast hosts or via the link below 

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-87-james-morris-rich-clarke-midgard-world-cup/

Its the usual fare with a general chat before we move onto Big Games, the quiz and a classic entry into Wargames Room 101.

For Part 4 me and James are joined by Mr Rich Clarke from Toofatlardies, the two authors of the finalists in the recent World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules. After a bit of reminiscing about the competition we move onto Midgard, the Hero led Ancient - Medieval - Fantasy rule set. 

With Rich and James present, I approach the development of a new set of rules from the perspective of both the rule writer and the rule publisher. 

It was a great chat with a couple of great guys, hope you enjoy it.

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

And here's the last episode on the Utubes 

Semi Finals of World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules

 

Here we go 

We are at the business end of the competition now and our first Semi Final sees the 2023 semi finalist To the Strongest take on the leading rule set from this year's Preliminary Round.

To the Strongest is Simon Millers Ancient to Late Dark Ages rule set, with its grid based movement and card mechanics it's proved popular across both organised and more friendly wargames. A consistent performer in the World Cups let's see if it can reach the Final this time.

Trying to stop it is Midgard. Just a twinkle in the eye in 2023, Midgard has certainly crashed into the competition and pushed every set of rules it's met so far out of the way. A set of rules that concentrates on the Heroic deeds of leaders and the effect that has on their troops. Can it reach the final on its first attempt.

Semi Final 1

Vote link 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/176rw3UpWj/

World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules Quarter Finals

 

After some tough ties in Round 2 we are down to the final 8, the vote links will appear here over the coming days.

Match 1

To the Strongest is the winner by 383 votes to 353

Match 2

Sharpe Practice win the day with 513 votes to 464

Match 3

Chain of Command are through to the next round 485 to 265.

Match 4

Midgard makes it through to the Semi final 

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast 86 - Barry Hilton - Reet Big Lily Banners

 

New Podcast Day - the latest Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast is out to the world. All pictures are from my guests collections.

Available on all major Podcast hosts and YouTube or via the link below 

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-86-barry-hilton-reet-big-lily-banners/

Now I have drawn everyone to the Yarkshire Gamer Page with the World Cup and sneakily got everyone in the Facebook Group to agree to listen to the Podcast (read the rules, you agreed ro them, not me 😆). You can listen in whilst making your mind up on who to vote for.

My guest is Barry Hilton, rules author, figure maker and all round lovely guy. The pictures are from his collection.

Our chat is wide ranging but covers Lily Banners (no Alex not your X) and the Naval stuff he has done in the Anglo Dutch Wars and WW1.

Whether you are new to the Podcast or an old regular listener (I don't have any young regular listeners) give it a go. Available on the link in the comments, on YouTube or any major Podcast Host (Apple, Spotify etc)

See you for the next one,

Regards Ken 

Yarkshire Gamer

#Wargames #Podcast #wargaming #history #hobby

As always here is the previous episode on the Utubes 

28mm Gripping Beast Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ

 

New Unit today and its one I bought years ago, I reckon over 10, I bought them when they came out, so if anyone remembers when that was let me know !

The bulk of the 12 figures are the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ box set from Gripping Beast, I've added another 4 figures to give me additional options of 8, 12 or two sixes on the table.

The Flags are from Flags of War. The bases are 50 x 60 with 2 figs per base.

It took a very long time to get them from the box to the table but I rather like them.

World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules - Round 2

 

The Yarkshire Gamers World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules Round 1 is over.

After 10 days of voting the pack of 203 sets of rules has been reduced to 24 and now 16. Any set of rules that made it through to Round 1 has done well but Round 2 is when the Big Boys enter the room. Or do they ? 

Round 2 sees the 8 quarter finalists from the 2023 enter the fray, so you chose them as well 😉 will those sets still retain their popularity or have the batteries died on the Rampant ! 

So for those who don't listen to the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast (it's not too late) please do so I can save an hour not typing out the rules and explaining what's going on every 5 minutes, it's not like there's a pre-prepared audio guide 😉 

So for the hard of thinking 😆 - the 8 seeds have been draw as the "home" teams , the 8 Round 1 winners as the away teams. To mix the competition up compared to 2023, the 8 seeded teams, where not ranked, so they got a bye into Round 2 but they were not placed on the brackets in seed order, so the first set of rules out of the bawl bag in the draw (which you can listen to on the Podcast) went into the Round 1 position on the bracket etc.

Votes will appear in the Yarkshire Gamer Facebook Page and Group on the dates below, for those new to this apologies if you don't "do" Facebook but it is by far the most accessible, easy and most importantly free, way of doing this.

It's made an interesting run in (the brackets are in the pics below) and could lead to an all Simon Miller match up in the Semi final from the top half of the draw and an all Lardy Semi in the other.

Those who enjoy the numbers, the votes cast for each set in Round 1 are shown in the image below, the sets in purple are the winners. We had 4540 votes in Round 1 and 13,300 in the World Cup so far this year, as a comparison we are likely to overtake the total votes in the 2023 World Cup some time in match 3 in Round 2 this year.

Thanks again for everyone for getting involved, it's mostly been fun 😆 the dates the matches start are on the image below. Winner will be the one with the highest votes and the totals will be those that I see first after the poll ends (weirdly they do change be the odd few after the polls ends). Any draws (yes it has happened before) will be subject to a hour long live penalty shoot out vote, date to be announced of required.

MATCH UPS WILL APPEAR HERE FROM 22ND JUNE

There can be only one !

Match 1

To the Strongest is the winner by 326 votes to 236

Match 2

Sharp Practice wins by 471 votes to 242

Match 3

The winner is Chain of Command by 605 votes to 289

Match 4

The winner is For King and Parliament by 308 votes to 281

Match 5

Midgard wind by 389 to 343

Match 6

Fire and Fury goes through 352 votes to 289

Match 7

The winner is Rapid Fire with 461 votes to 382

Match 8

The winner is O Group with 320 votes to 236

Regards Ken 

Yarkshire Gamer 

The updated brackets is there for you to print out and put on the wall so you can see the progress of the competition or you can just ignore it 😆

#wargames #wargaming #hobby #tabletopgaming

World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules - ROUND 1

 

Here's your FREE World Cup Wallchart (no, not the footie one).

Its for you to print out and put on the wall (extra points for pics if you do, no one ever does 😆) 

Voting starts tomorrow one match will be put up each day for 8 days and you can vote on each match for 3 days.

Winner in each match is the one with the most votes, ties will be sorted by a 1 hour penalty shoot out vote, live on utubes. If its still a draw, I will toss a coin.

SHARING LINKS - I will only post links to the voting and advertising for the vote on Yarkshire Gamer socials. If you want to share the links in anyway please feel free to do so, that could be in period specific or rule specific groups. The idea is to get as many votes as possible but I am trying to remain neutral so I leave the promotion outside this group to others.

All voting on Yarkshire Gamer or on the Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames (Podcast) Group 

VOTING LINKS WILL APPEAR HERE EACH DAY

Match 1

The winner after 3 days voting is Midgard with 400 votes to 285.

Match 2

Hail Caesar is the winner with 325 votes to 222.

Match 3

The winner is Pike and Shotte 295 votes to 204

Match 4

What a Cowboy is the winner with 351 votes to 327

Match 5

Rapid Fire wins this match 333 votes to 230

Match 6

The winner is Fire and Fury with 293 votes to 217.

Match 7

Men Who Would be Kings are the winner with 338 votes to 221

Match 8

SAGA gets through this one 264 to 234 votes

At the end of the competition there can be only one !

The final results are (winners in Purple)

Regards Ken 

Yarkshire Gamer 

#wargames #wargaming #hobby #tabletopgaming 

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 85 - Summer Brews in the Binyard 26

 

Hi all,

Its been a while since the last podcast but I couldn't miss a Summer Brews in the Binyard !

I'm joined by Alex Sotheran from Storm of Steel and Iain Mcdonald of Flags of War for our half yearly loo at the Wargaming World.

WARNING - This podcast contains naughty words and jokes about Wargaming, if you are of a nervous disposition I would turn off this podcast and go and do something more interesting instead !

Available on all major Podcast hosts or via the link below,

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-85-summer-brews-in-the-binyard-26/

We start the show with our usual catch up, a chat about Salute (Alex mentioned the award, not me) and Partizan before discussing if too much terrain and not enough figures is an issue on some tables.

Then its the draw and general chat about the 2026 World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules. I may mention my despair at the standard of replies in the Preliminary Round, once or twice.

With the draw done its onto Ask Our Nora when we get stuck into your questions. I have to admit I was absolutely overwhelmed with questions this time and had to close off the question posts 24 hours before the show. We didnt manage to get through all the questions, I have 7 A4 pages of 12 point text of questions we didnt get too.

Apologies if you are one of those, we will try and get to them at a later show.

Sit back and enjoy 

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Here's the last episode on the utubes