Ganesha at Fumetterni (march 13-14, 2010)

Next week end Ganesha Games has been invited to "Fumetterni" a Comics convention taking place in our hometown: Terni.
I'll be there on saturday and sunday with SDS demos, and Andrea will bring some other game probably Flying Lead and the "classic of the classics": Song of Blades and Heroes.

Now that my new Russian squad is painted, I was wondering if I'll be able to paint (tonight???) my British Marines squad. Or maybe my Italian infantry? ...... BTW, I must take some pictures of the last models I painted and publish them here.
I promised to do it........ :)

Stay in touch!

Tournament Rules Main Facts

Now that the Rules are "solid", I want to give you some general information, before the english translation becomes available. 99,9% of the basic rules are in effect but something had to be modified to reflect the competitive nature of a Tourney.
1) The Morale test for losses is after you loose more than 1/3 of your figures (instead than more than half) this comes from the need to reduce the playing time and squeeze a game in 1 hour. There is a table for those lazy people who don't want to make calculations :)
2) There are 2 Groups of Nations (the French Group and the Allied Group)made following historical alliances. Each player has to bring 2 squads to the Tournament: 1 Main and 1 Secondary. They must be taken from different Groups, so that you have 1 Main squad and 1 which is an enemy of the first. This guarantees that no a-historical engagements take place. While asking a bit more to players, I felt that this solution was better than the "anyone vs. anyone" of other competitive sets.
3) I wrote several pages of clarifications, with diagrams, to explain some of the rules that come out quite often in the Forums (LOS, Group Orders, Fleeing moves and the like). Very little new rules have been added.
4) The official base size is 2cm diameter (if round) and 2 cm side (if square) for infantry and 2 cm frontage and "enough to arrange the base" depth for cavalry (therefore a rectangle). Tolerance is restricted to 0,5 cm from the soldier's foot. In any case tournament Organizers have the ultimate word on this matter.
5) Standard scale is 25/28 mm, but you can organize a tournament for 20 or 15mm, changing table size and measurement sticks.
6) In order to be valid for the records I'll keep (and for the Italian Championship) a Tourney must be on 4 rounds and with 8 players (minimum).
7) All the lists in SDS, MDS and Free Hack e-zine are valid tournament lists. Plus, we'll publish new lists as separate free add on. Next in the pipeline are French Marines of the Guard and British Marines.

Any comment is welcomed, as is any question.......

My new Russian Squad

Not yet finished painting, but my rebjata wanted to fight yesterday :)

1 Officer, 1 NCO, 1 Standard Bearer, 1 Drummer, 5 Line Infantrymen, 1 Conscript infantry, 1 Pavlov (Elite Grenadier 58 points) Total: 400 points

I played against a "classic" Bavarian Schuetzen Squad of 8 figures, (see pic) all armed with Rifles. The beginning of the game was terrible for my boys: being fired upon (aimed shots) from 2Long range, I lost 2 soldiers after the first enemy fire (and 1 went down) and 2 other after a while. I was desperately trying to close but the Schuetzen did their job very well (go out of the wood > fire > back into the wood) and I had to test Morale for losses few turns afterwards. With a little luck none of my guys left (they rallied toward the flag) and I saw an opportunity: the Bavarian Officer was in the open, covered just by the heroic Drummer. I then risked a little using 3 activation dice for one of my infantrymen (3+ being in command), got 3 actions and fired an aimed shot to the Hornist. The unlucky musician was wounded, and the Officer was now exposed. It was time for my Pavlov Grenadier to close for hand to hand combat, which he did successfully, killing the Officer. Double Morale test for the bavarian player (Leader loss AND half squad) and the game was over...

Busy week end

I've spent the week-end with my group of friend playtesting the Tournament Rules and painting my new Russian Squad (Mirliton) and 4 french Carabiniers (Perry plastic).
Friday night we made a small 2 rounds tournament (6 people) and the rules seem to be OK. I had to watch carefully if the 1 hour round was too short to come to a definite result, and it did even if a couple of gamers were not familiar with the rules.
When an unclear situation occur, I take note and update the "Clarifications" page of the Tournament Rules so that we should cover most situations during competitive play.
I wrote the rules in Italian, as the first Tourneys will take place here, but as soon as we'll have them tested in a real life environment, I'll translate them in english and they will be availbale as a free download somewhere. More about this soon, and also some pics of my new (painted) figures!

Keeping fingers crossed...

...the next week end I should be in La Spezia (Liguria, Northern Italy) for a Con organized by the friends of WASP Club (see link below). I will run a table of SDS, bringing all my squads (some 12 up to now).
I say should because I'm still not 100% and the weather is most unpleasant (cold and rain, would you call this "sunny Italy?").

Just as a side note, Roberto from WASP Club suggested a British Marine squad a short time ago. Pushed by his suggestion (and by my Hornblower movies and books) I bought some very nice Steve Barber models (28mm) to build a British landing party. As soon as I'll have them painted I'll post the pics here.

Beta test Tournament Rules

Song of Drums & Shakos will be one of the Games valid for the Italian FIW Champion title (FIW is the Italian Wargame Federation)! So I speeded up writing the rules and saturday in Firenze a group of 6-7 players will test the beta version of the Tournament rules.
As soon as I'll have their comments, I'll write a post on the matter.
I am very proud about this, expecially because many people playing SDS here in Italy are new to napoleonic wargaming.

Poll and Tournament rules

My first Poll is about to expire (you can still vote for few hours) and I must say it gave a strong input from this blog's readers. I'll post my considerations here as soon as it is over :)

As you maybe know, the first SDS Tournament was organized in Pau (France) last year and another one will be organized next april (if I remember correctly). As I am receiving more and more requests from Italy (2 tourneys are planned for next spring), I decided to write down a brief document with tournament rules. Just slight changes from one-off games, and a *less random* table set up procedure.
More about this when the doc is ready.

Pics, pics, pics

After a busy week end, here are some pics, as I promised...

First, my British Rifles Squad defending some precious supplies....





Then a Prussian Freikorps squad, cautiously moving down a road in the middle of a wood.








And finally, a Prussian Jaeger squad, firing against an invisible enemy.
I did not paint these miniatures: I bought the Rifle squad from E-Bay, and the 2 Prussian squads at Dadi.com in Crema (the Con where we presented More Drums & Shakos in pre-release in early december).
Hope you like them (and find some inspiration for your next squad.... :)

Dismounting rule (beta version:)

The following rule is still in playtesting.

Single models: it takes 1 action to dismount. The horse is considered to run away immediately. From that moment on, the soldier fights as an infantryman.

Groups: a group of cavalrymen can dismount only with a Group Order given by a Leader, and 1 of them must act as a horse holder.

As a result of the group order, the player spends 2 actions and places the dismounted troopers in front of the horses and the horse holder in contact with the horses. Dismounted model can then move away freely, while the horse holder cannot move.

If the horse holder is wounded, killed, engaged in hand to hand combat, or if it fails a Morale check, the horses flee immediately.
Mounting is also a result of a Group Order given by a Leader. Spending 2 actions the player gets the reverse result, i.e. all troopers mounted and in base contact. If there are more horses than troopers, the excess horses flee. A horse can never be targeted by enemy attacks (close combat or ranged).

"Rifles, to me!!"

Yesterday I received my British Rifle squad, 12 pro-painted models in green. I'll post some pics soon. They have square bases but as you know this is not a problem in SDS (all my miniatures are on round bases). So I built up my Rifle Squad, and here it is...
1 Officer, 1 Musician, 4 Riflemen, 1 Chosen Man, 1 Chosen Man Hero. Total points 399.
Nasty squad... I chose to have a hero in it (it's not the Officer as you could have imagined ;-) and I decided for the Chosen man because I want to aim most of my shots, (or move and snipe my opponent's commanders from 1M). All the squad activates at 2+ if in command and can stay away from the enemy thanks to the Rifle range. Be careful about reloading, and remember that your Elan Special Rule does not work for Morale test...
"King George commands and we obey..... over the hills and far away..."

Viva Espana!

1 Officer, 1 NCO, 1 Standard bearer, 1 drummer, 8 Line Infantrymen, 5 Partisans with musket, 1 Priest with musket. Total points 398

A basic Spanish squad, not so easy to deploy and manage effectively, but if you do, a very hard nut to crack. Your Officer has a reduced command range, but you have an NCO and (for the Partisans) a Priest: use them to keep going. Time is against you as in the long run disciplined and motivated foes (French, generally) should prevail, but you have the number in your favour. 18 soldiers mean a test after 10 losses so be aggressive!
Be careful with your Priest: being a Civilian, if your losses are high you risk to find your Partisans without their (spiritual) guide.....

Bavarian Squad

1 Officer, 1 NCO, 1 Drummer, 1 Standard Bearer, 4 Line Infantrymen, 2 Light Coy, 1 Chevau Legère, 1 Schuetzen. Total 398 points.

As first ready made squad from More Drums & Shakos to be published here, I chose the Bavarians. This is a standard squad, well balanced, with a couple of aces in your sleeve: the Schuetzen and the Chevau Legère. Use them wisely (remember that the rifle shoots at 2L with the same modifier of +2) and they could decide the fight in your favour.
For the rest, keep an eye on your Green Line Infantrymen and - as usual - move the Flag in a central position as soon as you can.

Drums, Shakos and.... snow in Arezzo!

Today Andrea and me went to Arezzo to play SDS with our friends from Tuscany: it was a very nice experience, and 2 of them knew the rules almost better than me :)
Thanks to Alessandro, Marco, Filippo and Max for a great day!
P.S. snow was NOT our fault...

Pics from Stibix

Stibix just sent me some pics from a bitter fight between spanish partisans and the french: here are some of them.










French Dragoons approach the enemy.



The playing table (actually 2 of them!). Nice work Stef, thank you and keep playing!

Versione italiana pronta!

Finalmente la versione italiana di More Drums & Shakos è pronta. Sarà disponibile tra poco....
The italian version of More Drums & Shakos is ready and will be available soon...

Buon fine anno a tutti, con i miei migliori auguri per un 2010 ricco di..... 6 al dado! :)
I wish you all a Happy New Year and a lot of 6 when rolling dice.... :)

Proclamation

Shortly before midnight our Army of small soldiers crossed the Niemen.
A winter Campaign is before us, but I am sure that all our allied squads will fight with honour for the common cause. Soldiers from Baden, Berg, Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia and many other loyal brothers have joined the Grande Armee. In the next weeks, tables all around the world will witness episodes of valor, critical decisions and - this is my hope - great joy.

More Drums & Shako was released yesterday at 23:45 and it's already 2nd in Wargames Vault Hot list.
Thank you my Captains!
General SL
CinC

More Drums is on the way...

In few hours More Drums and Shakos will be officially released.
Merry Christmas everybody (buy yourself a gift ;-)

Italian Line Grenadier

A friend of mine, SDS player, was asking me questions about the Italian line Grenadiers uniform.
I take this opportunity to post here 2 pics of the first member of my future italian squad (a Grenadier, of course :)
He is from the 2nd Line Regiment, a unit that took part in the Russian Campaign of 1812.
White uniform with red lapels and pipings on cuffs, turnbacks and collar, green cuff flaps.
The miniature is Front Rank 28mm.


Here is a side view. All stats for italians are in More Drums and Shakos.

MDS Cover preview

Here it is!
Hope you like it

"Alles Vorwarts" - The Prussian Swarm

PRUSSIAN Landwehr squad
1 Officer, 1 NCO, 1 Standard bearer, 1 Drummer, 12 Landwehr infantry
Total points: 390
Comments: 16 figures and you still have 10 points to spend! That's a lot of Muskets, but you must use them carefully, due to the Green and Unreliable Special Rules. Unfortunately the combination of the two works against you: on one side you want to keep them in groups within 1M from the Leader, on the other a model killed in action (tripled in combat) will cause a Morale Test for all Green models within 1L...
So, move the Flag forward as soon as possible, keep the soldiers packed in 2 groups and go ahead, trying to overwhelm your opponent with number. I'd say just one volley and then charge!