Another DSLB Big Battle in Nettuno

Thanks to Renzo, a group of 8 players met in Nettuno (near Rome) for a Big Battle scenario I prepared for them. Pics and batrep (in italian) at this link:

http://leaquilegaeta.jimdo.com/

What's going on...

February should be a busy month.
Encouraged by the last couple of weeks activities and support from my fellow gamers, I am writing a supplement for DSLB. It will contain:
- rules for multiplayer big Battles (1 Corps per side);
- a simple Campaign system;
- Lists for Minor Countries;
- some new rules
- Errata, rulings and clarifications (these will be available also as a free download somewhere).
90% of the above is already written, and currently being tested.
No title yet: any suggestion?

Don't be shy..... :)

Another DSLB Big Battle

Last sunday I was invited by the club "Le Aquile" from Gaeta to a DSLB Big Battle in Cisterna di Latina, in Luigi's game room. Stefano from "Le Aquile" organized a French vs. Russians battle, one Division per side. The location and hospitality was fantastic, and we all had  a great gaming day. I was given command of a French Cavalry brigade on our right flank, with orders to hold my position and protect the right flank of of our center brigade, commanded by Federico. Diego, with his left flank veteran brigade was to attack the enemy immediately, in order to break the enemy right. On the Russian side, Stefano was the CinC, Renzo commanded their right flank brigade, Luigi held the center and Fausto the left flank.
 After secret deployment we lifted the screen and started the battle.

 The stuation after the first turn. At the bottom f the pic my cavalry brigade (left) and - behind the wood - Fausto's cavalry brigade, bigger than mine but with 2 Cossack pulks.

 Another view, from behind the Russian cavalry brigade.

 After a couple of turns, Diego attack on our left is starting to ay some dividends, while Federico and I just held our ground using the artillery as best as we can.

The battle unfolds. The Russians: from left to right Renzo (blue cap) Luigi (standing) and Stefano (sitting). On the right of the pic Diego rolling his attack dice.

 Action in the centre: a Russian Cuirassier unit (the only Russian heavy cavalry present) aggressively moves towards our lines (top right). This was probably the turning point: the Cuirassiers charged our centre, breaking an infantry battalion. At that point they should have been recalled, but Stefano decided to breakthrough, charging another infantry battalion straight ahead. This unit was also broken, but the Cuirassiers were at this point blown (DIS3) and in our following turn a Dragoon regiment broken them.

 Almost nothing happened on my flank, with Fausto's Cossacks hidden in the woods and the Lancers circling around it. The real fight was in the center, where Luigi (above center) pressed on Federico's shaken brigade, and on the left, where Diego's veterans were gaining ground and inflicting heavy casualties on Renzo's brigade. The latter was soon shaken, also losing a battery.

 The final stages of the battle: we had two shaken brigades, but no artillery or cavalry losses. The Russians had also 2 shaken brigades, but they lost 2 batteries and the Cuirassiers. Furthermore, Diego penetrated into the Russian right flank with infantry and cavalry in command, so we got the final points needed to win the game. In all, we played about 3 hours with one player (Luigi) not knowing the rules at all.

The tradition of these big battles at Luigi's is that Mrs. Rita prepares a fantastic meal that we really enjoyed (left to right Luigi, Stefano, me, Fausto, Diego, Renzo and Federico).

After lunch, we went back to the gaming room (actually a dependance in the garden) and played a couple of turns more, "just to see what happens". I must say we confirmed the result achieved in the *real* game by inflicting even more losses to the Russians. Before going home, a last picture with the whole bunch...
"Le Aquile" club should  - after 15 years playing only Shako - decide in the next week or so to change to Drums & Shakos Large Battle. And I would be honoured if they will.

A different kind of batrep

A very nice mini clip made by Simone with pics from our last DSLB Big Battle.
Captions are in italian but I guess you can understand them.

Enjoy!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFPGsSLXfRg&feature=youtu.be

DSLB Big Battle

A great day of gaming yesterday in my living room, for the occasion transformed into a game room to accomodate a 300x180 cm table. We played a fictional scenario (French vs. Russian - 1812) that I designed to test some rules to play DBLS in multiplayer. Diego and Federico came from Rome; Marco, Stefano and Simone from Arezzo, Filippo from Florence and Narciso from Canino (even if he came quite late and could not take part actively in the battle). Andrea and Massimo (who were playing another game in the *original* gaming room) acted ad judges for the dice rolls of both the Commanders in Chief.
On the Russian side, Filippo was the Corps Commander and the 3 Division Leaders were Stefano, Simone and Marco. On the French side, I was the Corps Commander and took the 1st division (due to the absence of Narciso) and Diego and Federico commanded the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
The preparation of the table, Armies and game aids took more than a day as I wanted to identify all units with labels (below).

We started at 10.15 AM, and the Battle was over at about 5.30 PM (9 turns) with a clear Russian victory.

My battle plan before the battle - after watching the deployment - is in the above picture: while I (I Division) tried to take the hill in front of me (hills are orange), Diego had to split his II division: one brigade had to advance to the centre of the battlefield, while the second had to support the main attack by Federico's III division on our left. The intent was to crush the Russian division on their right, and roll the Russian front from the west, while we kept the other two Russian divisions pinned in the center and right of our deployment. Almost all my calculation went wrong - as we'll see  - and we suffered a bad defeat in the end.

The opening moves of my Division: my columns try to reach the hill, but the Russian III Division commander (Simone) is quicker and reaches the crest with a couple of battalions and his Cossacks. Marco (top center) Commander of the Russian II Division - is moving his troops.

The other side of the table, with Federico (left) watching his III French division fast moving towards the enemy, and Stefano (Russian Commander of the I Division) reading and order just received from his CinC (Filippo). The plastic glasses you see on the table were the containers of the Command dice that each turn the players received from the CinC according to the distance from the Corps Commander.

 Federico's advance continues, and he's now ready to attack the hill. My advance - on the contrary - is stalled.

 In the centre, Diego's French II Division is engaged by an unsupported attack of a Jaeger battalion, near the St. Nikolaj church.

 The attack is successful and a battery is destroyed, but the Jaeger battalion is also routed by Diego's counterattack.

 A view of the battlefield from a lower position (I love this kind of pics).

 The situation on our right at about mid-game (before pizza came for lunch :). My opponent Simone controls the hill, and he's ready to launch his attack. I took position behind the stream (lichens indicates where fording was not possible).

 Towards the end of the battle, the situation on my side was compromised: I tried to retreat and form a second line with the remnants of my (Shaken) division. The Cavalry I received from the Reserve (bottom centre) was too little too late...

Our entire line is about to collapse: Diego's center division is broken, and Federico- notwithstanding a foothold on the hill he had to take - has no more resources to press on. His Division is also shaken.

The final turn on our left: Federico gaines the crest of the hill with 2 battalions, but everywhere else the French Corps is in pieces. With a final score of 51-16 victory points the Russian side gains a smashing victory.
About 120 units (Infantry battalions, Cavalry regiments and Artillery batteries) took part in the battle, for a total of about 1200 figures. The multiplayer rules and Command system worked very well according to all the participants, and we had a clear result at the end.
A great day.

DSLB Big Battle tomorrow

As I did last year around december, I'm organizing for tomorrow a DSLB Big Battle.
10 players will meet in my game room to play a fictional 1812 battle between a French and a Russian Corps, both made of 3 Divisions.
This time I'll set up a 300 x 180 cm table (about 9x6): the biggest ever in my flat (I had to move some furniture to get space). As last year, players will come from Florence, Arezzo, Canino and Rome and I designed some new rules to play in multyplayer with a CinC and 3 subordinate leaders per side.
If these rules will be "approved" by the group, we could release them soon.

In he pic above, last year's session with 11 players and 3 tables (east, centre and west). This year we'll have a single, big table and a single Corps made of 3 divisions. The main problem of last year's battle was that the CinC had little *power* over his subordinates. This year - with the new rules I wrote - subordinates will DEPEND on the choices made by their CinC to play, so I hope it will work better. For the rest, it's just standard DSLB. Massimo and Andrea will not play but will assist me in taking pictures, so I hope to post a batrep soon after the battle.

Sunday at GiocaRoma

Yesterday I went with Andrea to GiocaRoma, a small CON organized in Rome by Ludus Magnus.
I brought "Aye Aye Sir!" and had a couple of very interesting and useful playtest games.

Above and below, the first of the 2 games played. Diego (left) with 4 British ships of the Line against a mixed French-Spanish squadron of 6 ships. After this game I was able to solve a problem I had with the game when the Wind was extremely low.

In the afternoon Diego invited me to play a Drums and Shakos Large Battle game he prepared for the Show (Battle of Hohenlinden, year 1800) and I agreed with pleasure. Playing with an opponent without explaining the rules is something I did not do since months. My French Division was defeated by his Bavarians: in the pic below, Diego doing something that surprises me (according to my face) but unfortunately I do not rememeber.... :-)

DS LB Battle report

As I promised in my post celebrating the 100.000 page views of this blog, here is an AAR of my last solo DSLB battle.
After a looong time without playing Drums & Shakos Large Battle I decided to set up a battle using the rules for pick up games and the Army lists included in the rulebook. No research this time, just open the boxes of my 15mm Naps and.... play!

 I went for French vs. Russian in 1814: two brigades for the French and 3 smaller Brigades for the Russians plus a Reserve for both.
TURN 1 Above, the Russkie entering the table: a Cavalry brigade (Uhlans and Cossacks, with a Horse battery) and two Infantry Brigades in the foreground. One Brigade passing by a farm, with the Grenadier Brigade following on the bridge. A Reserve Brigade (Cavalry and a Heavy Artillery Battery) is near the CinC on the other (right) side of the river.

 The French entering on the opposite side of the table: 2 Infantry Brigades (1 Elite and 1 Conscripts, in pure "1814 style") and a Reserve made of Cavalry and Artillery. The Conscripts Brigade is in road column, the Elite Brigade is ready to deploy in the middle of the table.

 Another view of the Russian Division, with a close up on the small Grenadier Bde (centre) and the Reserve Brigade with the CinC (left).

 Some play aids: Disorder markers (green, yellow and red cubes) Reaction markers (brown cubes) Proximity rule violation markers (red arrows) measurement sticks, French (blue) and Russian (green) dice and two average dice for the Conscript units Quality rolls.

 TURN 2 The Russians taking position: Infantry wheels right along the road  and Cavalry opens to take possession of the hill.

The French Brigade quickly advancing to deploy (thanks to a couple of Group Orders and 3 actions gained). The Conscript Brigade deploys one Battalion in Attack column (top right).

 TURN 3 Ooops this is really blurred, sorry.... The Russkie cavalry is now on the hill (moving quite slowly as you can tell) and also the Infantry Brigade seems to be sleeping, while the French (below)...

 ...have both Brigades almost fully deployed. The Conscripts mostly in line and the Elite in Attack column. A unit from the French Reserve (Dragoons) is sent by the CinC to help the Elite Brigade, facing an entire enemy Cavalry Brigade on the hill in front.

 TURN 4 After a lot of struggling the Russian Cavalry Commader succeeds in deploying his brigade on the hill with the Horse Arty just between two Uhlan Regiments. Cossacks screen the flanks. The Infantry Brigade deploys in the centre, but its right flank is dangerously "in the air", as the rightmost battalion fails its activation...
On the French side the entire line is now formed, and the CinC sent in another Dragoon regiment from the reserve, to deal with the Uhlans on the hill. An exchange of artillery fire causes the Russian Horse battery a DIS (green cube).

TURN 5  A clash of sabres and lances on the Russian left wing: the French Dragoons charge the Uhlans and destroy them, opening a hole that the Cossacks would be called to close. At the same time the Horse battery manages not to be destroyed by the frontal charge of the other French Dragoon regiment. All along the line the Eagles march forward. The Russian Infantry commander manages to deploy a battalion on the far right but it is already at DIS 3 (red cube) and therefore about to rout.

 TURN 6 French Dragoons charge again the Horse Battery, this time destroying it. They are both quite spent now (DIS 2, yellow cube) while the remaining Uhlans and the  regiments of Cossacks are still unscathed. In the Centre, the Elite French brigade moves forward pushed by its Elan and sends a Russian line battalion back with losses. In the very centre, a terrible exchange of artillery fire sees the Russian battery taking damage, while on the far right of the Russian line the crumbling battalion of the prevoious turn is routed. The Russian CinC commits the whole Reserve and prepares the Grenadier brigade to enter the fray.

 TURN 7 Disorder and casualties mount as you can see from the yellow cubes on the table. The French push forward, breaking the Russian first line in dfferent points, but the Russian General manages to build a very strong second line, forming a Grand Battery just outside the Farm wall. The Russian Cavalry brigade reforms downhill, while the Grenadier brigade opens up to cover as much ground as possible, and the Russian Cuirassier Regiment, sent from the Reserve breaks a French Elite battalion in the centre.

TURN 8 French Dragoons are exhausted (DIS 3) and have to withdraw, leaving the wise Russian cavalry Leader in command of the hill. The Grand Battery fires routing another French Elite battalion in the centre. Both sides reach their breakpoint, but the French Division has gained more ground, being in Russian zone 2 with two units in command and with less than 3 DIS. Therefore the game ends with a French marginal victory, but it was very close....

DSLB for ACW (house rules)

Ronan, a French wargamer, has recently tried his version of DSLB for the Amercican Civil War.
Being an interesting experiment, I wanted to share his ideas with you...

The link:

http://smolensk.homelinux.org/?p=1342

enjoy! (thanks Ronan!)

Pics, pics, pics!

Finally, I succeded in posting the pics from the SDS BIG Battle I organised on december 9.
Above the 11 players that came to Terni from Arezzo, Rome and Florence to play the One-Day-Battle. It was set in 1813 some time before Leipzig. We had three table 120x180 cm.: Centre, West and East. One CinC was present at the battle (Filippo from Florence, commanding the Allies), the other (Massimo from Rome, commanding the French) was in Rome, connected by sms and e-mail (and occasionally, voice). Below is the "clock" I used as a Master/Referee to keep track of the time and of the flow of Orders and communication between the Generals.

 As you can see from the above pic, we were playing the 6:00 AM turn, and there are messages set to arrive at 6:30 and at 7:00. Below the felts I used to represent up to a Brigade in different formations (deployed and in march). I said "up to" because the real amount of battalions/regiments was secret. The felts are numbered and I kept track of who's who..

 Below, the West table with Federico from Roma moving his troops. He played against Andrea from Florence and Antonio with their Russians. Federico's Bavarians performed very well.

 Below, the Central table. Here Marco and his Aid-de-Camp (his son Giovanni) battled against Diego, who commanded the Russo-Prussian Guard. Felts were removed after the troops were spotted and moved out of them.

 Below the East table were Narciso's Prussians met with Alessandro's left wing of the French Army. Felts were - of course - color coded (Black for the Prussians, Blue for the French, and Green for the Russians).

 That's me, writing a message to the French CinC in Rome from one of his Generals. Note how small is the paper with the order: this also was intentional, to avoid writing too many details.

And finally, Filippo (the Allied CinC) studying the map I sent in advance (and realizing it was slightly different from the reality). The experiment was quite a success, with a French minor Victory. The game started after 10 AM and ended about 5.30 PM. There are many improvement to make to get a perfect battle, but I think that it was a good start.

DS LB Big Battle next Sunday!

For next sunday, december 2nd, I organized a Napoleonic Big Battle in our Club, using a simplified version of DS LB.
10 Generals will be involved (1 CinC and 4 Subordinate Generals per side) in a 3-tables-clash of 3 Corps per side (plus a reserve).
The CinC will play far from the gaming tables and ALL Generals will communicate only through written "letters", unless they move in contact with another.

A bit of role playing, unreliable maps and other events will influence the outcome of the game.
One Side will win, but also a single general (who could be on the loser's side).
If the whole thing works, it could be a nice (if time consuming) alternative to the one vs one usual play.

We should have pics and recaps after the event...

After a long silence..

...here I am to announce what I'd like to do in the coming weeks.

I'm going to post some Design Notes, divided by topic, to give all of you a sort of "backstage" for different aspects of the game.

Why am I saying I'd like rather than I will? Because - as the long silence of the subject may suggest - my time is very limited at the moment as my everyday job is absorbing all the (limited) resources of my brain.....

Drums & Shakos Large Battles available in pdf

As title suggests... :)

DSLB is now available in pdf on the Ganesha Games website

www.ganeshagames.net

Finally we did it!

Hope you'll enjoy the game

Done!......

I reviewed the final English version of DS LB, and passed to Andrea the last (few) corrections.
Now it is just a question of putting all pieces together and the game should be released.
I WON'T say when this time :)

This evening...

...I'll make a final check on the English text, then I should give Andrea the green light for the release. A few more adjustments and we should be ready.

OK we're late...

The pagesetting of the English version is requiring more time than anticipated. Andrea has to shift all illustrations, as English is about 20% shorter than Italian. But we are almost there....
Please bear with us.

DS LB English version

Andrea is working on the pagesetting of the English version, and we should release it in the next few days....

I take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Wealthy year 2012 full of gaming and... Victories!
Sergio

Let's retry

The first small print run of DS LB went wrong. The book is nice but there was a mistake in the pages order. Second print run today, we could have some copies in the evening...
Let's keep fingers crossed.

First printed copies of DS LB

This evening I'll see the first printed copie of DS LB, straight from the printshop.
Very excited about that...

Editing of the English version is ongoing, and we hope to have a first draft very soon.

Nuovo Forum in Italiano su SDS (ed altro)

Rispondendo alle diverse richieste che mi sono giunte recentemente per un Forum su SDS in italiano, ho deciso di creare un gruppo yahoo apposito.
Ho diramato già qualche invito, ma chiedo a tutti voi di postare un commento qui se vi volete iscrivere, oppure potete iscrivervi direttamente: cercate tra i Gruppi Yahoo

drums_shakosITA

Cerco anche volontari amministratori che mi possano coadiuvare nel compito.
Il forum dovrebbe servire per far circolare meglio le informazioni sul gioco (in realtà SUI GIOCHI dato che riguarderà tutti i miei giochi Ganesha), condividere battle report, foto di miniature e quant'altro....

In response to several requests I received recently for an Italian language forum about SDS and other historical Ganesha Games, I created a yahoo group in italian. Interested players can post a comment here or drop me an email...