Garibaldi all'attacco! - Jan 26, 2017

Last week, after a lot of months of stop, I played again at “Garibaldi all’attacco!”. 

The scenario I played was a simple game with 9 battalions against other 9. We used the tournement rules system but I must point out that no miniatures showed in the photos below are painted by me. Scenario rules are easy:

- for each unit destroyed you receive 1 point

- on the middle of the table there is a green square. The player with more miniatures at the end of the 8th turn on it gains 2 points. 

Initial deployment. 

We moved our units using the “column of march” orders to reach the obj as soon as possible.  My opponent reaches it before me while I take the control of the hill. 

My hunter unit has been repelled and the enemy continues to keep the obj. The main struggle took place down the hill on my right wing but the red shirts enthusiasm is blocked by the fire of my unit. 

On the left and on the center I lost two units but the enemy wing is destroyed. 

On the right my unit on the hill eliminates the enemy and starts a maneuver to take the last enemy unit on the flank. 

To protect his commander my opponent decided to hide it in the wood but the scenario is finished. 

At the end we reach together the obj but I win for the difference of units fallen. It was a very quick play …. it takes us around 1 hour and half… but an easy way to review the rules thanks to Paolo M. and the patience of my opponent Massimo.

Starting battles, 20/21 Jan 2017

On January 20 and 21, 2017 the club's house has gone back to his "normal life". Unfortunately I couldn't take part to these battles but below there are some photos of last Friday. 

It is possible to find them also in our official internet site: www.lapiccolaarmata.it. If someone would like more details please do not hesitate to contact me using this blog or the contacts reported in our web official page.

The pictures below show an Acw and an Italian independence war scenario. These battles were the first ones played in the new club location.  

As I reported in other past posts, Paolo M. published - around an year ago - his wargame rulebook (Garibaldi all'attacco! - Ed Chimelli). The period covered by these rules are the Italian independence wars but Paolo and other club members are studying a new wargame system for American Civil Wars.

Below other photos of "Garibaldi all'attacco!" scenario that is already playing. It is possible to find more information regarding this rulebook using the link reported in the right part of this blog and called "in cacciatori"

Vikings

I’m sure that every person that is keen on ancient wargaming know something about Vikings. 

Furthemore, after the success of tv series broadcasted by History Channel "Vikings", I think that the interest of the public is generally increased about this people so, in my opinion, it is not necessary to tell further of them. 

I finished to paint them in December but I found the time to post the pictures only now. 

A part of them took part to "The strongest" battle that I played a couple of weeks ago. My initial idea was not to paint Vikings but to use the Gripping beast's sprues to convert them. So the miniatures are a mix of plastic/metal Gripping Beast Saxons and Vikings to which I added Warlord Celts. 

The original Vikings sprue included a couple of warriors with long axe but ... around an year ago ... I bought a blister of four Gripping Beast's varangians and so I decided to include them into my band. I decided (as in the picture above) to glue a shield on their backs to increase the color contrast … the effect is not bad. 

I painted also some standard bearers. The flag is very large but also in this case, including them into a shield wall, the effect is choreographic. 

I decided to add the shield with the bloody hand shape to this miniature because it gives him the brutality I believe was typically of that period. The shield shapes are a mix of Gripping beast and Little big men studio. Designs are perfect but sometimes it is difficult to remove their lucid effect.

Below some battle scenes with Vikings shield walls crashing each other

To the strongest! Jan 6, 2017

Today we played a test battle using a new rulebook: "To the strongest!"

Unfortunately, at the moment our new club house is not completely available,  so we played in another place.

During the Christmas Holidays Riccardo M. bought this new rulebook that is a set of rules to recreate Ancient and Medieval battles. The system mechanism is simple and I can confirm that, for the armies we decided to use, it works well. We played it with Vikings and Saxons without light infantry and cavalry. 

"To the stongest!" is produced by BigRedBat and it doesn't use dices. To simulate the movements, the melees and so on you have to use 80 playing cards. The same cards that you can use for poker or other traditional card games. Other peculiarity of the game is that there are no rulers because the movements are set with a grid.

As I reported above we decided to use Vikings and Saxons. The army lists prepared by Riccardo are inspired to the Brunnaburgh battle.

The Saxons have four troop contingents:

- Athelstan King of Wessex: 3 combined units of Thengs and Ceorls

- Mercia troops (leaded by Edmund Althelstan's brother): 3 combined units of Thengs and Ceorls

- A Vikings contingent with the hero Egil Skallagrimsson

- Two dismounted units

Break point: 13

Also the Vikings have four troop contingents:

- Olaf Guthfrithsson King of Dublin: 3 Vikings Hird

- Owen's Welsh teulu: 3 units

- Lowland Scots spear: 2 units

- a unit of Pictish warriors.

A view to the initial deployment and the table. We used sewing pins to indicate the grid

Only a part of the miniatures were historically accurate. Unfortunately we haven't Pictish warriors

Scots painted by Riccardo M.

Vikings painted by me

Another view of the Vikings painted by me

A detail of the fanatics we used as Pictish troops (painted by me)

Saxons painted by another club member

Below I have synthesized a kind of battle report

Initial movements. 

Part of the Vikings unit on the left wing failed the movements so the Vikings formation starts to be a not uniform

The melee starts. The first Saxon's general dies. In this game generals are attached to the unit. Every time the units is hit you have to test if the general dies. The Saxons were not very lucky

A view of the battle in different moments. On the left the Pictish unit (allies with the Vikings) broke the enemy front

On the center Athelstan moves forward but the Vikings line remains steady

The battle is continuing as a shield wall against another shield wall but the Vikings destroy two units and another Saxons general dies

At the end Vikings forces win 13 against 0