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.

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.