Game World Day 2014

In Turin, on June 1, 2014, it was held the Game World Day. My club (La piccola armata) was involved in the event with a couple of demonstrative tables.

The themes of the year were: the Studio-Tomahawk's rulebook (Saga) …

… and an ACW house rule system prepared by one of club members.

The location was one of the historical square of Turin. The building in the photo is rear of “Palazzo Carignano” where there is the first Italian parliament.

There were, obviously, many children attract by the miniatures world ...

…  my position was the usual … the painting table

It was a very funny day but, as all public events, this day was not possible without the help and the willpower of many people

A brief note for the SAGA table and the Vikings vessel:  they were prepared by one of club member and, from this prospective, I think it is possible to admire better his skills.

Bolt action - first battle

Yesterday I played for the first time at Bolt Action. Ten of other club members started to play it times ago deciding to prepare their armies in 1/72 scale.

I had not read the rule book but only seen some battles fought by other. The rules are easy and thanks to the patience of Giancarlo I was able to play.

We chose a random scenario (ie maximum attrition). I led a group of German Afrika Corps against British paratroopers for 7 rounds.

Unfortunately for Africa Corps was a defeat with the destruction of a Stug III Ausf G and two infantry companies against a single British jeep.

The table and the scenic elements are prepared by Ezio and Flavio and they are amazing.

I took some pictures

Obviously I painted the Afrika Corps. It was the first time I prepared plastic 1/72 miniatures and after the game aI took a couple of other photos

Celtiberians

The Celtiberians were one of the ethnic groups in the pre-Roman Iberian (the actual Spain).
During the Second Punic Wars they were allies of Carthage and some of them crossed the Alps under the Hannibal's command.

The Romans spent years to pacify those tribes but, at the end, the Iberia becames a Roman province. Celtiberians served as auxiliary unit during the Roman Empire period.

I prepared some bases of these tribes as Dbmm Aux

Scutarii, generally  were equipped with a sword, a great oval shield (scutum) and heavy javelins The design of the roman legionaries' sword (the gladius) was largely influenced by the blades carried by these troops.

Caetrati were equipped in a similar way but they use a smaller shield called caetra

Dbmm 2014 Torino

On April 12 and 13 my club ("La piccola armata") organized the annual Dbmm tournement. Unfortunately I could not be one of the partecipants but I took some pictures and I had the opportunity to know some other Dbmm players.

All the tournement details (ie rank, players, armies) can be find at the following address:
> http://www.lapiccolaarmata.it/
or
> http://www.tagmata.it/

A picture of all the players in front of the building that houses the club

A quick overview of the different tables

As it is possible to see above. The tables and, consequently, the struggles were many. I concentrated my attention on two of them:

- Ming chinese vs Later Swiss

 

The battle was for all the time a pursuit by the Swiss army while the Chinese continued to hit the enemy with their artillery. At the end the Swiss reached the enemy but they lost the camp. 

- Ottoman vs Siamese

An overview of the initial movements 

the main struggle took place on the Ottoman right flank

At the end the battle was substantially a draw even if the two players decided to continue the fight after the regular time.

And finally the awards painted by one of the best painters of the club: Flavio

Late Imperial Roman Army 15 mm

I started to paint miniatures around twenty years ago.  I'm keen of roman history and so my choose was a logical consequence. In that period I was a student  and, to save money, I bought a box of 15mm Essex roman army. Acting on impulse I painted them without a real study of the uniforms, weapons, shields and so on.

Last December I took again my old miniatures and I decided to re-painted them ... the situation could be substantially reported in these photos

On the left site the new version ... generally I prefer the 28mm. The detail level of 15mm is not hight as I would ... I did my best

Today the situation it is a bit changed ... 

The army composition is based on Dbmm book 3: 20 psiloi, 11 light cavalries, 17 blades, 18 auxiliaries, 12 warbands, 2 artilleries, 5 command groups and 11 regular cavalries ... around 290 miniatures.

This time I prepared the army better. I don't want to write a book on late roman army but I think that it is necessary a brief introduction. 

First of all a detail: late roman army is the Roman Empire force from Costantine's reform (around 4th century) till the fall of its western part. In that period the high command was divided between emperor, magister peditum, equitum, dux and the term "legion" was only a memory. The army included many units that maintained names and titles more for  tradition than for a real specialization. 
The army was, to be brief, divided between palatini/comitatenses/scholae (the field army) and limitanei/pseudocomitateneses (the border force).

The cavalry

The first line is composed by cataphractarii. Their equipment shows Sarmatian influences with armoured horses, the long lance called contus and the scale armours (lorica squamata). The Notitia Dignitum reported that only a unit of these cavalrymen remained in the west during the 5th century. Effectively the Cataphracatarii were more frequent in the east. 

Light cavalry was the core of the mounted reserve of the 3rd-4th century. The three units on the left are equites sagittarii the other are equites illyricani. The sagittarii were created probably in the east to help Roman army against Persian and Hunnic troops. On contrary Illyricani were recruited from the frontier of the Balkans.

The infantry

In the foreground of the second photo the bulk of the roman army: some comitatenses units. From left to right: the britones seniores, the lanciarii iuniores, the prima flavia gemina tracia and the armigeri defensores seniores. All 17 blades of my army are a unit described in the Notitia dignitatum and all shields are handmade.

Another photo with some details of a command group back 

Limitanei and pseudolimitanei

Limitanei were the "border army" and they are  wrongly considered a militia of local farmers. They fought incessantly the barbarian raids and it is therefore likely that their combat readiness and experience were higher.
As for my comitatenses forces all auxiliaries were specific Notitia units. In the foregorund from left to right: the fortenses, a unit of auxilia palatina, the cornuti seniores, the batavi, the iovii iuniores gallicani
Shields of the second lines are based on the Italian villa armerina mosaics.

And to complete a group of Goths warbands

Goths were a Germanic tribes that played an important role in the fall of Roman Empire but for centuries they served as auxiliaries in Roman army.

British and French Napoleonic Army Cavalry - Part 3

To complete my Napoleonic armies I prepared some cavalry squadrons.

For the French I painted two regiments of heavy cavalry: one of carabiniers, another-one of cuirassiers, and two units of dragoons

The picture above represents four bases of the 10th cuirassiers regiment; with the carabiniers they were the shock cavalry of the Napoleonic period. During Waterloo battle Napoleon deployed on the field twelve regiments of these soldiers. The regiments generally were armed and equipped identically. The only differences was the colours of the collars and of the cuffs.

The carabiniers unit on the centre of the picture is a squadron of the first regiment. I painted them in their campaign dress (blue in stead of white) even if frequently I saw them ...  in some wargamers' posts ...  with the parade uniforms.

The units of dragoons I painted are the 7th and the 10th. They were largely used during peninsular wars but only two regiments of these cavalrymen were on the field during the 100 days campaign.

The British regiments I prepared are all of light cavalry

In particular I painted twelve bases of  the 7th Hussars and  four of the Verdun 1st squadron.

The British hussars had a marginal role during Waterloo campaign but 7th regiments were largely involved during peninsular wars with the 10th.

Finally I tried to recreate, thanks a couple of photos, the effect of a French cavalry charge against a British square