A fantastic Spanish village

Look at this:

http://mattsgamepage.blogspot.com/2011/09/napoleonic-skirmish-using-songs-of.html

Thank you Matt, you did a great job...

DS LB playtest last saturday

This time Diego and Massimo came from Rome with another friend (Federico), and we all played a fictional Scenario set in the Peninsula: British and Portuguese Vs. French. Federico had never played a "Song" game before so he started from zero - and this was a good challenge for the rules. We explained the rules to him before starting, and he was given the Portuguese Brigade, Diego played with the British Brigade + Reserve, while on the opposite side Massimo and me played with a French Brigade each. Above, the battlefield as seen from the French side.
The Allies deployed first along a line of hills, then we deployed our Division which had the order to attack the enemy position and clear the hills. An easy task, considering the superiority in numbers of the French forces.... Above: Massimo's first brigade after our first initiative (turn) with the Portuguese Brigade just in front.
The other side of the battlefield with my Brigade attacking the hill defended by the British Brigade. As you can see, there is no supporting Artillery (my battery was silenced by the effective fire of the Royal Artillery) and I had to pay dearly for this lack...
A nice picture (thanks Massimo!) of our Reserve battery, just unlimbered to cover at least a part of the battlefront in he centre.
Diego adjusting his defence line just behind the slope (very British) recalling a Battalion of Guards from the Reserve and limbering up his artillery in danger, waiting for my unfortunate attack on the right wing.
The "All or nothing" moment: while a Battalion of Lègére attacks and almost breaks the British first line (far right), the French Battalion in the centre does not move, and the one on the left (foreground) falls back a bit due to artillery fire. My attack faltering, and having reached the Divisional Breakpoint, the battle was over and we were defeated.
Total playing time was slightly over 4 hours, but with a full explanation of the rules to Federico (above, right). No major hurdles remain, just small details which are in my opinion not so important to re-write something. The whole system, combat rules and modifiers are quickly learnt even by players totally new to the game (as was Federico) and we never looked at the QRS during the game. That's very encouragung from my point of view....

DS Large Battles (last?) playtest next saturday

Next saturday Diego, Massimo and another friend from Rome will come to Terni for a (last?) playtest of Drums and Shakos Large Battles.
If everything goes smoothly, I hope to start translating the rules into English (this time I wrote in Italian) and start collecting images and pics immediately afterwards.
Pics and comments on monday..... :)

Back from UK

I had an exciting week-end in Newbury (UK) attending the 2-days Convention "Colours": a sort of Paradise for all wargamers, and a Nightmare for all wargamers' wallets...
Waiting for some pictures of the event (Antonio was the Official photographer), below you can see a very well known site: being there we could not resist and shortly visited Stonehenge. It was really a mystic experience.....

Colours and 70K!!

I'll be at Colours (Newbury) next week-end and it will be my pleasure to meet anyone passing by.
A two days full immersion in games is what I need now, and I'm curious to see one of the biggest Conventions in the UK.

70.000 page views is another important milestone for the blog, and I want to thank all of you!!

DS LB playtest session in Rome

Last week Diego and Massimo met at Diego's Club for another playtest of DS Large Battles. Diego brought his plastic 20mm (Bavarians Vs. Prussians) and prepared a scenario, adding some special rules (the Bavarians had to defend a Depot which was worth 1 point for the overall Victory). He also adjusted the battalions size according to their frontage in cm.: he used 3 bases for the Bavarians and 4 for the Prussians to reflect their number. This is accounted for in the rules, and shows - I think -their flexibility. Above the battlefield at start from the Prussian side.
A close-up on the Bavarian Dragoons charging a Landwehr battalion. As I said, Diego elected to have all Prussian battalions as "Big" (4 bases in his arrangement) and also to have cavalry regiments made of 3 bases, for a question of frontage.
A view from the Prussian right of the battlefield: you can see the 3-bases-Bavarian battalions (with skirmishers deployed in front) and the 4-bases-Prussians, all in line formation (with the exception of the Prussians on the left side which are in attack column). The markers on the table are for the Disorder level. And.... oops! one of the Prussian battalions seems to have advanced too much....
Having repulsed the Bavarian attack, the Prussians try to bring some artillery up for the counterstroke, supported by Landwehr cavalry (Lancers). The frontage of artillery batteries in DSLB should be twice an infantry base and I like to put 2 guns and 3-5 crew on each base for visual effect. Diego has his Prussian artillery with a single gun, but the frontage is correct, so it's OK.
The hill on the opposite site of the battlefield, from the Bavarian position. The Prussians are trying to climb up to attack, but only one battalion (right) succeeded in negotiating the slope. In this pic, you can see the Bavarian artillery battery based as I like (i.e. 2 guns, same frontage). The Bavarian ChevauLegere are in reserve, ready to fill gaps.
The Battle ended with a Bavarian victory, and Massimo (above) commanding the Prussian was defeated. (Note the poster on the wall behind him....).
Diego - who won with his Bavarians - made a great job building the scenario and hosting the playtest in his Club. Even more important, he sent me several pages of hints and questions that will be useful for the final trimming of the rules.

I'm back!

Still not 100% combat ready, but I'm here.