Welcome to a special edition of Battlechat featuring Richard Clarke of TooFatLardies, focusing primarily on their forthcoming Ancients ruleset Infamy, Infamy! which has been all the buzz on social media recently.
Like many others, I was first alerted to the possibility of a new Lardy ruleset when I saw the Harrogate Wargames Club staging a game of Ancient Sharp Practice at The Other Partizan in August. This game drew a lot of attention at the show and created a buzz that has persisted for several months. It should come as no surprise that your host was also attracted, like a very large bee to a very large pot of honey, to the sight of an ancients game that slots nicely between more obviously ‘skirmish’ level games and ‘big battle wargames.
In fact, Rich had already been thinking about creating a set of Lardy ancients rules, and was spurred on by the sight of this game and the sheer enthusiasm of the Harrogate team that staged it. However, he had his own, very strong views about the kind of game he wanted to create and the aspects of ancient warfare that he wanted to focus on, and Infamy, Infamy! is the result of those deliberations.
Here, then, Rich and I discuss the inspiration behind the game, the design challenges that Rich set himself, the research that went into formulating the rules and how the game plays, from the number of figures you’ll need to stage a game, through to the way particular aspects of Roman warfare that are represented and even the campaign context in which the games are ideally set.
Finally, we also find the time to say a little about the important role played by independent rules publishing companies in today’s hobby and the unique offering they have for the wargamer who wants to be free to make their own choices about the scale and style of games they want to play.
Rich is one of the ‘big men’ of the hobby and I’m sure that you’ll find the couple of hours in his company fly by as they always do.
Henry
Warning: this podcast contains occasional adult language as a component of normal adult speech. If you are potentially offended by this, simply do not listen to the podcast.
Infamy, Infamy on the TFL blog
Helion & Company – Peter Dennis’ & Andy Callan’s Roman Invasion
Ancient Warfare special: The Roman Imperial Centuria
The Complete Roman Army by Adrian Goldsworthy
Osprey’s Roman Battle Tactics 109BC-AD313 by Ross Cowan, ill. Adam Hook
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