Working on a new game!

After many, many yeats I'm working on a hex-based, introductory wargame that will cover different historical periods. I'm very excited by this new project that will be published by Ganesha Games in the (near?) future. For the moment I'm playtesting the game with the help of some of my friends. They are all boardgamers, but none of them have ever played wargames with miniatures.

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/

DSLB batrep (with pics!)

Fabrizio and his group of players are staging a 1815 Campaign in these early months of 2014. They play with 1/72 figures on a very nice battlefield. After their last battle (last week) Fabrizio was so kind to send me some pictures and a quick batrep.

At game start, the French win the initiative and occupy the village in the centre of the battlefield. Unfortunately, a quick turnover prevents them to properly support their avant garde.

The British counterattack and succeed in taking one of the village's sector at a heavy cost.

The French are unable to keep the pressure, and the British stabilize a front line and advancig on the right, destroying a French battery. The French withdraw to secure positions.

The situation for the French is critical, and they try to relieve the pressure with some cavalry charges... to no avail.

A strong attack on the French left. The Imperial division seems to be on the eve of collapse.

One final counterattack by the French gets no results, and the game is over due to the break of the French forces (10 BP vs 7).

A special thanks to Fabrizio and his guys for the pics!

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.

Black Powder in Rome (again)

To properly close 2013, I went to Rome on December, Saturday 28th to play a BP game with Diego.
He prepared a scenario set in Spain, where a strong British force attacked a Fench rear-guard with the aim of breaking the French siege of a nearby town.

 While Andrea, Massimo, Paolo and Diego2 played with hundred of Zombies, I chose to play the French side, and tried to organize a defense against the overwhelming British force. I must say I succeeded and, even if I lost the village, I delayed the Lobsters advance for a long time.

It was as usual a nice wargaming day (we also tried a new Greek restaurant for lunch) in the ARSM club in Rome.

61-65 AWI version

Here are some pictures taken by Stephen Huckaby during a recent AWI game, played with 61-65 rules adapted (by them) for the period.
Stephen said the game was a ot of fun. Hope you'll enjoy the pics.

 I have no batrep, hope Stephen will provide some more details soon...

Smile, you're on TV!

Me and Fabrizio being shooted by Regional Channel RAI 3 during GiocaPerugia.

2 days at GiocaPerugia

I was in Perugia during the last week end for the CON GiocaPerugia. I took part together with Andrea (who organised the first, unofficial tournament of "Of Gods and Mortals" - his last game published by Osprey) and Massimo (presenting his game "Ferrum et Gloria" about Gladiators).
It was the first edition of GiocaPerugia and we all were curious about the fantastic location chosen: the famed Rocca Paolina, i.e. the underground of the old fortress of the City. I must say the location was impressive: a kind of dungeon where people playing Vampire Live games were really *at home*. Even if it had some drawbacks (some drops of water spilling from the ceiling, and a difficult access) it was a nice experience.
I brought "100 dice" because of it extreme portability, and played a couple of games that gave me at least one more hint to trim the rules. Below, some nice tables from the wargame area:

 15mm figures, rules "A la Guerre!" by Gualtiero Grassucci. A battle in England around 1690.

 A fantastic 3D small table built for "Battlesworn" (Andrea's new fantasy game).

My 100 dice table with French and Prussian forces during the SYW. Many friends came by to say hello or play a game: below me with Alessandro Salini, one of the playtesters of 100 dice.

Finally, as there was a perfect replica of the Throne of Swords, I could not resist the temptation to have a pic sitting on it. So I did, with the typical expression of a real Baratheon King :)

100 Dice 5.0 test

A quick post to inform you that last saturday we had another playtest session of 100 dice with Diego & Diego from Rome. I wanted them to use version 5.0 of the rules (a lot of minor changes and a major one) and see if the game flowed as usual. The result was good. They played a two days battle set in the ACW, with extensive use of rifles and unformed units.

 Above, the situation at the end of the first turn. After the secret deployment, the Rebel player had to reinforce its left flank, threatened by an aggressive advance of the US cavalry.

The burned dice pools, turn marker (the big yellow die) and Disorder markers. I have to thank once again Diego & Diego, coming every time from Rome to assist me in these playtest sessions that are not as fun as a "normal" battle. Rules are discussed, changed, than discussed again. It is sometimes a trial and error process, because once you modify something you are never sure that the change won't affect (in a bad way) the building blocks of the game.

Altar of Freedom test

Always looking for innovative sets of rules, I bought Altar of Freedom (by Greg Wagman, published by Iron Ivan Games) and the scenario book All quiet on the Potomac, that contains all major battles of the Eastern front in the American Civil War. After trying the rules solo (which is not the best option considering the secret bidding procedure) last saturday I invited my friends Diego and Diego from Rome to give it a try.
I set up the Champion Hill scenario, explained the rules, and we finished it in 3 hours - just in time for lunch.

AoF is a game about commanding quite great bodies of troops (the basic unit is the brigade) that does not care about formations, and has very simple rules for movement and combat. As the author stresses in the designer notes, it is all about Command and the Generals' attributes (that DO change from battle to battle).
The heart of the system is the procedure for taking control of the clock (i.e. a sort of initiative that allows the player in control to set the pace of the battle) and I must say it works very well, as you have endless possibilities of trimming your bid for Priority points. The game has been designed for 6mm miniatures with the classic 6x3 cm. bases, but we played with my 15mm figures, based for Fire and Fury, on magnetic, 8x4 sabots. Above, you can see 2 US brigades "in column" and below the table after a couple of turns, with the Confederates defending the bridge on the Vicksburg road.

Knowing nothing about the rules, the US player was maybe too timid in his approach and surely I made a mistake adding Forney's brigade (an optional rule) to the rebel roster, because the Confederate won easily after the 8 turns of the scenario, avoiding the capture of the bridge by the US forces.
In AoF, small arms fire is quite ineffective if you want to break your enemies: close combat - and a wise use of supports - is what you need. You always (ALWAYS) need to have a reserve and this is something I like a lot, as players of my games know very well. Below, a Confederate Division deployed for an attack.

In all, a very good game in my opinion. NOT for those players who like the details of micromanagement, formations, wheels and "you can't do that", but great if you want to play all major battles of the ACW (the second scenario book will be available in 2014) in few hours, on a 120x180 table, and with a relatively small amount of figures.