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!)

100.000 page views!!!

During the week end this blog reached the 100.000 page views, a result I would never predict 4 years ago when I started. I want to thank all wargamers and friends from all over the World for this achievement. To celebrate the event, I will soon post a complete batrep of Drums and Shakos Large Battle on my new terrain (French vs. Russians) and here is a picture of my last week end activity...

My first attempt at painting 1:2400 ships was quite successful, and the Age of Sail game I had in mind since long took shape in less than 2 days. I want to thank Fabrizio Passatempi for the inspiration he gave me during the S. Marino Con last week end, when I played a sort of Star Trek game with starships, moving on a hexagonal grid.
Once again, thank you for reading and keep following this blog
Sergio

Back from Dadi.com

A fine week end in the Republic of S.Marino for another edition of Dadi.com. The Con was held a usual in the Congess Centre of the Best Western Hotel Palace, on 2 different floors: at ground level the boardgames and the wargames at 1st floor. This edition (the 3rd in S.Marino, after many held in Crema University) produced mixed feelings: on one side I think that  - as a wargamer - I could find everything I expect from a Convention. Miniatures, accessories, terrain elements for building scenarios, nice tables, participation games, rules, books and a big Bring & Buy. The down side was probably the number of visitors, not comparable with last editions. The economic crisis certainly bites and this could be one of the reasons people decided to skip this edition.
Anyway, being there as a normal visitor again (after Agliana) i tried a couple of games, spent some money and met with pleasure Mark from Stonewall Figures who - together with Magister Militum and Worean - were the 3 foreign exhibitors of the Con.
One of the best table IMO was an ACW scenario in 28 mm, representing a part of the battle of Gettysburg. I took a couple of pics of it (below).

Above, the table from the US side...

And the yelling Rebels about to attack.
Saturday afternoon I was invited by my fellow ARSM Club members  (Maurizio and Mauro) to play a SYW battle using Minden Rose ruleset, and I accepted with pleasure.
I was given command of the right wing, and the order to attack the Austrian line with my brigade of Grenadiers. I obeyed orders and mission was accomplished...

While my Cavalry held against the Austrian Cavalry (on the hill), my 4 Battalions brigade of Grenadiers broke the Austrians near an "L-shaped" hedge. In the above picture you can see a couple of routing Austrian Battalions pushed by my Grenadiers, and that was the crucial moment of the battle.

Dadi.com in San Marino

Next saturday and sunday I'll be with Andrea at Dadi.com in the Republic of San Marino.
Two days of gaming, free entrance and a lot of wargames, miniatures and boardgames in several halls of a Convention centre. Hope to see some of you there...

The difference between...

Pictures I made with a smartphone, and pics made with a real camera and by someone who knows what he's doing...

 ...and the last pic is for my scratch-built vineyard (with grapes).

Thanks to Giuseppe, who spent a couple of hours in my gaming room shooting and trying to adjust the lights.

Another table

After taking some more pictures, I decided to make a new arrangement, this time doubling the rubber foam underneath (so that pins have a better grip). I distributed the batting in a different way, with only 2 major hills, and used very few pins.  I suspect that - for what concerns pins - the fewer the better to avoid wrinkles.
I also wanted to display my new (and growing) collection of Dave Graffam Model paper buildings that I love and strongly advise you all to give them a try. They are cheap, wonderful and easy to mount. You can buy them  in Wargame Vault site.

The village (note that the position of the battlecloth is the same as the previous pics, but terrain looks completely different).

 A view from behind the river with the Curch of St. Fringibuffo on the right (and my plastic boxes full of accessories above it).

Jumping on top of the bell tower, here's a view of the Village and the hill in front of it. The village is enclosed in low walls from 3 sides, and has the river behind.

For the last pic I used the remaining light blue rubber foam to create a sort of screen behind the table.
Not too bad, I think...