Too Fat Lardies: New Publishing Brand Reisswitz Press - First Release American Civil War Pickett’s Charge

Too Fat Lardies: It isn’t often that a new publishing house dedicated to historical wargaming is launched, but that is precisely what is about to happen as Reisswitz Press prepares to publish it’s first set of wargames rules, Pickett’s Charge by respected game designer Dave Brown, the man behind such classics as General de Brigade, British Grenadier and Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier.

For the uninitiated, the Reisswitz name comes from the author of what are widely viewed as the first set of modern wargames rules; the 1824 Kriegsspiel which was adopted by the Prussian Army and led to an explosion in military gaming which became popular with military men and enthusiastic civilians alike.   Indeed it is testament to von Reisswitz that his rules are still being used today and, probably more importantly, that the hobby he did so much to launch goes from strength to strength.

Most wargamers, especially readers of Lard Island News, will be familiar with TooFatLardies.  As game designers and publishers we have long been convinced of the importance of history within our wargames; with a large dollop of Clausewitzian friction and an emphasis on command decisions being our trademark.  The founding of Reisswitz Press will allow us to publish wargames rules which fall outside the traditional scope of Lard but which share our dedication to historical gaming.

What is more, Reisswitz Press is an opportunity for us to work with some of the most dynamic and influential people in the hobby.  As we have seen, Dave Brown needs no introduction and we have been very pleased to work with Henry Hyde who has done our graphic design and layout on this project and to use the artwork of the peerless Don Troiani on the cover.

Over the coming weeks, as we move towards our launch publication date, we’ll be keeping you informed about Pickett’s Charge with articles on design and reports on games.  We are also looking to produce a range of short videos to show the rules in play.

Finally, once we publish we will see the TooFatLardies web site expand to cover Reisswitz Press, with the new logo taking its place proudly along side the TFL banner.  But, before that can happen, we need your assistance.  TooFatLardies is well known for its “strap line” ‘Playing the period, not the rules’.  Now we need a similar pithy phrase which will sum up just what Reisswitz Press is all about.  Can you recommend such a line?  If so, reply to this article and we will see what we like.  Hopefully we’ll have something suitable in place by the time Pickett’s Charge is launched.