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Richard Cruadhlaoich

@locounterpane.bsky.social
131 followers 74 following 322 posts

Sheffield-based wargamer and blogger. TheLandOfCounterpane.blogspot.com

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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I’ve upgraded some tatty old HMMWVs: andreivian-tales.blogspot.com/2026/09/revi...
andreivian-tales.blogspot.com
Revisiting the 1990s
I've had a little unfocussed hobby time of late that I've used to revisit some old models and bring them up to my modern standards. As part ...
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
German player: I’ll charge the Romans in front of me. Umpire: You’re in bad going so you’ll be rolling 2d6 and removing the lower-scoring die. So you’re bound to get into contact. Roman player: Hang on -he’s got a point of Shock so he’s got to take off one inch. He might roll two ones….
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Table set up for today’s Infamy Infamy scenario play-test. Will Princess Zenobii be able to escape across the river? #SpreadTheLard
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I wanted a way to use my multi-based 6mm GNW models with The Pikeman’s Lament. I planned to use a D6 to track casualties but knew I’d be bound to forget which die should be with which unit. I’ve had a go at 3D printing some 60x30mm sabots with built in dice sockets.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Just purchased from Morrisons supermarket in the UK. “Home Style Super Soft Throw”. 125x150cm, listed as cream but I think usable as a snowy surface for winter games (maybe with some pale blue/grey sprayed-on shades). Only £3! Needs time for the creases to drop out. 1/72 Jagdpanther for scale.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
What are the most popular games at Lardy Days? I’ve done a bit of analysis. thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2026/08/quan...
thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
If you’re coming to Ebor Lard next weekend and playing in my Infamy Infamy game, please check your email spam folder. I’ve sent round a quick questionnaire to probe players’ experience with the rules and the setting. Thanks!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Basing some revolting foederati for Infamy Infamy and getting Eric the Viking vibes. “Now all the ones with cloaks are on the same side”.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I try to include at least one new item of terrain every time I run a game. This time there’s my Germanic thatched hut and some new marshy bits.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
A learning game of Infamy Infamy today. The terrain’s been set up overnight and thankfully only one tree fell victim to the cat.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Loving the Prog Rock Prom on BBC4.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
My write-up of yesterday’s games West Mid-Lards is up at The Land of Counterpane. thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-ne...
thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com
A New Lardy Day
I spent Saturday at a second gaming event/sauna in seven days. West Mid-Lards is a new Lardy Day organised by John Cooper (aka Maraviglia on...
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Stuka strike near Windmill Hill. Calais 1940 with TacWWII rules.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
As several people have said, great fun was had at Joy of Six yesterday. Just sorry I missed so much of what was going on because I was busy on the road to St Omer.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Just a couple of days to Joy of Six. Should I start on some more fields?
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
I know it’s the 6th of June and we should be doing a D-Day wargame but I really need to get the Gangs of Rome campaign moving forward.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
With episode 1 of our Gangs of Rome campaign coming up this weekend, I wanted figures to represent the gangs’ patrons. Wargames Illustrated delivered with free minis on this month’s front cover. Tarquinius Caerilius imports beasts for the arena. Spurious Verdius is a lanista.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I’ve just rebased some figures that might get used for Gangs of Rome. Experimenting with urban-or-rural basing.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The Hallamshires at Fontenay-le-Pesnel; painting at Sheffield Town Hall.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Obtained from Halfords - cut in rectangles it’s great for chain link fences, cut on the diagonal it makes fine barbed wire.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Okay so we’re no longer Champions, at least I can still have scouse for tea tonight.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
These Irregular Miniatures 6mm Quads and 25pdrs have been sitting in a drawer for years. My on-a-whim decision to do a bit of Western Desert TacWWII has got them painted.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Fairey Delta 2 - 1956 World Speed Record. Dora Wings 1/72 scale.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
First outing for my new 1/300th Western Desert forces against Alex S at the Outpost last night. #TacWWII
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
At the age of 62 I’ve just realised that the product code prefix of “PK” on all the the Matchbox kits of my youth stood for “Plastic Kit”!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Gabr-el-Ahmar (the Red tomb) for Libya, August 1940. 6mm scale 3D print on a mound made from two layers of foamcore.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Hunting Percival Jet Provost T4 Royal Air Force College, Crandall, 1962. Airfix 1/72nd scale.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Yesterday’s ACW Sharp Practice is now written up on The Land of Counterpane blog: #SpreadTheLard thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2026/04/oper...
thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com
Operations near Morris, Mississippi
Word recently reached Stately Counterpane Manor that our good friend Ron had been rather poorly but was now keen to get back into the social...
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Near Morris, Mississippi the Union cavalry have charged a Confederate skirmish line in the rear and routed them. Unfortunately the Union infantry line in front of them are firing uncontrolled and the cavalry are slowed down by unexpectedly bad going! Blue on blue follows!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Today’s ACW Sharp Practice is “Operations near Morris, Mississippi”. Here’s the terrain set-up. #SpreadTheLard
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Delighted to have unjammed the print head of my Ender 3 S1 pro and printed myself two battalions of M11/39 tanks.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I’ve started a side project with a view to running some small skirmishes set in The Many Coloured Land. I’ve cobbled together a few figures using stuff I had lying around. thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2026/04/some...
thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com
Some Pliocene progress
The initial wave of enthusiasm from the wargaming-The-Saga-of-the-Exiles idea has carried me though the process of painting (or in some case...
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
First test putting together the Druids’ grove for The Iron Hand of Mars. I definitely need more undergrowth for the forested bits.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Germania Libera for The Iron Hand of Mars; a first go at a terrain test. I’m definitely going to need more trees!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I think I may be in love. AK Ultra Matt varnish may just be the thing I’ve been searching for all my life!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Finished the sacred tree for The Iron Hand of Mars. #SpreadTheLard #MarcusDidiusFalco
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Having made a brief visit to East Anglia, my thoughts are: 1. It’s very flat, 2. I’m not convinced New Buckenham is any newer than Old Buckenham, and 3. I’m pretty sure Nigel Blackwell hadn’t visited before he wrote “For What is Chatteris?”
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Dream destination for a Half Man Half Biscuit fan. Off shortly to look for the indoor pool and the first class cake shop.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Sacred tree sculpting complete and undercoat applied. #SpreadTheLard #MarcusDidiusFalco
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
More progress on my sacred tree and altar. The altar will have to wait until I get some yellower static grass. The tree now has carved faces. #SpreadTheLard #MarcusDidiusFalco
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
One of the locations for my planned Infamy Infamy game “The Iron Hand of Mars” is a Druids’ grove. Working on a sacred tree and a sacrificial altar made from stacked turfs. #SpreadTheLard #MarcusDidiusFalco
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
First outing for my new outskirts-of-Calais game mat this evening.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
My report having run a game at Hammerhead this weekend is up at The Land of Counterpane. thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2026/03/fun-...
thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com
Fun running Running from Bull Run at Hammerhead
The old voice was a little husky on Sunday morning after two sessions of Running from Bull Run at the Hammerhead show in Newark. I arrived ...
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Great fun at Hammerhead today. Thanks to Colin, John, Andy, Alan, Samuel and Martin for playing Rinning from Bull Run and being such great sports!
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
The baseboard for my Harpers Ferry What a Cowboy game has been in storage for about two years and is looking distinctly knackered. Sadly I think we’re at the point where I break it apart and bin what can’t be reused.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Inspiration struck a few days ago. Dragon Rampant to game the lowlife attack on Finiah at the end of Julian May’s “The Many Coloured Land”! High Elves as Tanu, medievals as gray torc soldiers, pretty much any figures as lowlives and firvulag. Only problem - sourcing 28mm chalicotheres.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
The latest addition to my Gangs of Rome collection is Zenobia from @badsquiddogames.bsky.social She’ll probably appear in my campaign as some kind of priestess.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
I wanted to add the rebellious Julius Civilis to my “The Iron Hand of Mars” scenario for Infamy Infamy. He’s dyed his hair red and vowed not to cut it until he’s freed Germany of Roman influence. Victrix and Wargames Atlantic parts combined.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Was anyone else disappointed by the selection of demo/participation games at Vapnartak yesterday? It remains a great chance to catch up with friends and do a bit of shopping but there seem to be fewer games each year.
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Richard Cruadhlaoich @locounterpane.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Annual Vapnartak pre-birthday selfie with Annie @badsquiddogames.bsky.social yesterday. Great to catch up with you!
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