Sunday 2 February 2014

Anibal Invictus' 200K Celebration Awards



After 4 years since I launched this blog, we have reached one of those milestones that are worth celebrating by giving back to you a token of my gratitude for your continuous support since 2010.

If you are a regular follower, you'll know that this blog is all about my hobby and Too Fat Lardies. Why? Not that I have any family or business ties with Mr Richard Clarke, but after being introduced to the WWI rules ("Through the Mud and theBlood") in the autumn of 2009, I entered into a complete new and increasingly exciting phase of my hobby life

Over this 5 years I have enjoyed more than ever playing with each new of the rules set released (Charlie Don't Surf, I Ain't Being Shot Mum and more recently Chain of Command), thanks to the ability to both bring new innovate game mechanisms and to simulate the historical battlefield conditions in an effective manner. 

My interest for history (military and general) has been an additional lever to improve my gaming experience. In fact, I cannot recommend playing TFL games without a good knowledge of the contemporary military tactics at the small level organisations (from company down) if you really want to extract maxium enjoyment. 


Launching this blog and sharing with anyone interested my games has also been part of this new wargaming experience. And now almost four years down the road, I have accumulated 2000,000 visits, 230 followers and the recent monthly visits toll moves consistently between 8,000-9,000 count.

Well, enough introduction and let's move now into the important issues. 
These are my rules of engagement to opt for one the prizes detailed below:


1. I have tried to structure this blog around a relatively limited number of thematic pieces: AARs and campaigns, review of (I thought) interesting pieces of information (books,publications, blogs or news about history related to the periods I play the most), our club projects and campaigns (Stalingrad, Afrika CoC), visits to historical sites or museums (less than I would have liked to do) and some miscellaneous bits (painting tips, some photos of my minis, or the views from my window)

The first condition to participate in this contest is that you leave a comment stating which of the previous themes interests you the most and which the least. I will appreciate if you point out some other themes missing in this blog that may be of relevance or interest to you. That will merit scoring 1 points. Note that "congrats" messages will not count in this category.

2. You score 2 points if you are a regular follower of the blog (please indicate) before 31st January 2014 (seniority should be rewarded!) and 1 point if you join as a new follower from today (please also let me know whethere your a gronard or a new recruit in your comment)

3. You score one additional point if you leave a message in your own blog telling the world about these awards (please indicate and leave the link in your comment here)

And now for the prizes. I thought this was a good opportunity for new potential aficionados to join the ranks of the global Lardista brotherhood, by offering free a set of the most popular rules. And for those already in, a good opportunity to acquire some complements in the form of, for example, scenario books. 

Time to reveal your prefrence between the following alternatives:



A. The At the Sharp End Prize: an electronic copy of the recently released campaings supplement for Chain of Command



B. The Too Fat Lardies Rules Prize: an electronic copy of I Ain't Being Shot Mum, Charlie Don't Surf or Through the Mud and the Blood (choose one)



C. The Scenario Prize: an electronic copy of one of the scenario packs for I Ain't Being Shot Mum at your choice, or Stout Hearts (WWI) or Surf's Up (Viertnam).



D. The "In the Name of Roma" Prize: an electronic copy of fellow Lardie Chris Stoesen scenario and campaign supplement either for IABSM or CoC. I find these book a "best practice" in terms of designing and writing a campaign supplement, as I argued in the review I did back in September.



Please indicate you preference between options A and D, one by each participant.

The contest will start as soon as this post is published and will extend until 23.59 hours of Sunday 16 February. Winners will be announced over the following week.


 

28 comments:

  1. I have been reading your blog with interest for some time as a fellow fan of Lard. All the lard related posts have been interesting but IABSM most of all. As the only one of the items I don't already have is D you can pop me down for that. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

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  2. Congrats! A well deserved milestone for you to reach. I really enjoyed following your Stalingrad campaign. All of the AARs are great reads. I have all of the above already. Give my entry to another deserving reader.

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    1. Postsed it on my blog too: http://cstoesen.blogspot.com/2014/02/contest.html

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  3. Well done on the milestone. I am a fairly new convert to TFL.. Blame Sidney..most areas are of. Interest, the museums visits helpful, AAR are perhaps a personal area of less interest . My choice would A!

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  4. Congratulations! It's a very good blog and certainly promotes TFL without being sycophantic. Big CDS fan, so much appreciated.

    (It's O.K., not in the competition!)

    ;O)

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  5. Hi there, new follower here. Having flocked back, I'd say your reviews are useful and wide-ranging.

    I'd be interested in A, please.

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  6. Congratulations!
    Long-time follower and I rather like the current mix of articles. More of everything :-) I would like to see some nicely painted German Panzergrenadiers in a post soon :-)
    Put me down for B - a copy of Charlie Don't Surf would be nice
    /Joakim

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    1. mentioned this competition on
      http://miniatyrmannen.blogspot.se/2014/02/missing-winners-kickstarters-and-give.html

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  7. Bravo that man!! I've been following for quite some time now, early last year at least and frankly there's nothing not to like. I'm just about to start operation compass so the Africa CoC strikes a cord. In the unlikely event I win option D please. Again, well done and well deserved.

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  8. This is great to reach such numbers for what we are told is only a niche. I was looking through your followers and find I have been at this for a long time.

    I followed the Stalingrad campaign with great interest even though I did not have figure to play along.

    If I do win I ll take Blenneville or Bust from Option C.

    Thank you for taking the time and doing this.

    Jon

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  9. Been following for a while now after I stumbled upon this blog on Sidney Roundwood's blog roll and I always make a point of checking for updates. Absolutely loved your Stalingrad campaign (Which I'm looking at again now) and can't wait for your North Africa one.

    I'm very interested in the Roma option (D) as I own a ton of the official rules.

    Thanks for being one of my hobby rocks,

    Gunnar

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  10. Hi Benito:

    Congratulations on your blog reaching this milestone. It is one of my favourite places to visit.

    I put up a shout out for you here:
    http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.ca/2014/02/annibal-blog-celebration-and-mysterious.html
    As you know, I've been hanging around here for a while. I'd be very interested in prize A.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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    1. I forgot to add that perhaps the thing I value most about your blog are the posts on your campaign games with your madrid friends - lots of ideas and eye candy in those. MP

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  11. Benito
    I just joined today - but this looks really cool. Keep doing what you're doing.
    I shamelessly plugged your site http://singlehandedadmiral.blogspot.ca
    I like the IABSJM or TBAB if I've got the acronyms right.
    Congrats.
    Cheers
    PD

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  12. Congrats Benito!! What I like more are your AAr and battles. The less... nothing!! I would like to see more terrain pieces construction.
    If I win something, I would like prize D.
    Am I a gronard?

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  13. Benito, I have been a follower for well over a year. My favorite stories are the ones about your campaigns. I'd like to get more detail on organizing the campaign, and perhaps some guest spots from other members. Campaigns are hard to do well so the more "case studies" that are out there the more likely I am to learn something useful. I, honestly, don't have a least favorite part. I really enjoy all of what you share. I'd also like to make special mention of your Spanish Civil War stuff. It's something that we are aware of in America, but it doesn't have much sense of immediacy, if you know what I mean. Please put me down for the Chain of Command scenario pack, At the Sharp End.

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  14. Congrats! I'm a follower who is interested in campaigns.

    I'd be interested in A.

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  15. Congratulations on the milestone. I'm following your blog for quite some while now but much to seldom really commented. A shame I'm looking to correct in the future :-)
    Put me down for A.

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  16. Great blog, I have been a long time follower and pinched your resources idea to help spread the word for gaming the RJW using the TFL rules.
    Congrats on the 200K.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  17. I like the sound of A please and congrats!

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  18. Los premios estan muy bien pero nuestro mejor premio es poder leer tu blog.
    Ah y recuerdos de la tia Encarna ...
    Ahora en serio ¿Cuando vamos a ver mas fotos de esos italianos que "tenemos a medias"?

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  19. Hi Benito
    I like so much the TFL rules and your excelent blog is a perfect compliment. In particular I appreciate the AARs.
    Best regards

    Steiner

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  20. Hi Benito, congrats! Not sure what I miss here but what I do like is the variation in themes while keeping the main main topic TFL. Highlights for me are the campaigns/AAR's. Keep 'm coming, there lots of us enjoying your posts.

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    1. Thanks! No interest in any of the prizes?

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    2. Sure, I was being modest :-). It would be C for me...BTW, 2 mats from Barrage are about to leave Spain for Holland. They look awesomeso thx again for pointing to them on your blog!

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  21. Hi, Benito.

    Let´s be competitive now:

    I enjoy book/blog reviews the most. Then your nice AARs. The photos are great. I do not paint myself so I skip those treads, but I understand they are useful as well...

    I´ve been around for a while, so I would accept the veteran badge :-)

    Now serously, congratulations for your blog and keep on Larding.


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  22. Benito, first all of congrats for the anniversary. Your initiative is a great one and you deserve the success your are collecting. In terms of my Lardies experience I have to say that I do think it works perfectly for WWI therefore my choice is "Through the Mud and the Blood". I do recognize it can work well with WWII and Vietnam but for WWII I do prefer a more strategic contest while Vietnam is not my favorite period… In terms of WWI my proximity to your group enforce me to increase my collection!! Thanks for this Benito!!!. I do check your blog almost every Monday in order to follow your AAR… so Grognard status might fit me.

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