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.

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.