Marsaglia battle - October 4, 1693

A couple of days I was talking to another member of my club about the different activities "La Piccola Armata" did in the last years so we started to see old photos. 

Photos of a scenario we prepared years ago to re-create the Marsaglia battle and watching them we realized that we have never insert them into a post so why not to do it now?

The Marsaglia Battle was part of the Nine years' War fought in Piedmont between the French army of Marshal Catinat and the army of the Grand Alliance lead by Amadeus II of Savoy

 

The French forces arrived from Susa valley and took up position in order of battle near the village of Marsaglia (a little town close to Turin) 

 

On October 4, the duke of Savoy attacked the French army with his whole army  but …. unfortunately ... the Great Alliance lost the battle

 

Miniatures are 15 mm and mainly painted by Marco G. (French and Savoy troops), Alberto (Spanish units) and Luca. A great work that I could not share even if it was prepared some years ago.

German Raupenschlepper Ost

Some months ago, thanks to Ivano's advices, I started to use oils colors to weathering tank miniatures. In my view these techniques are not easy to apply so I decided to start with some old 1/72 models. 

Years ago Mondadori, one of the most important Italian publishing company, presented a series of publications about the WWII tanks world. Most of them were 1/72 Altaya models and now it is easy to find these miniatures for five/ten euro each. For me these models are suitable to be used as tests. To be honest the first model I painted was not exactly a tank but a tractor ... a German Raupenschlepper.

I didn't find original color photo of this truck … the only one I found is an image of a prototype in a museum

I think that it few wargamers could decide to write a post for a tractor but it is a strange model and the perfect one to start.

The original miniature I bought was this …

… and I changed a bit its aspect …

It was conceived in response to the poor performance of wheeled and half-tracked vehicles in the mud and snow during the Russian winter. This vehicle was produced in two variants  but I painted only the basic cargo carrier. 

I think that it was mainly utilized for the Eastern Front but I did some pictures with a Pak 40 in a Mediterranean theatre too

Bolt Action - Pacific island fightings

This Saturday Nevio, Riccardo and Ivano played a Bolt Action scenario taken from "Empires in Flames".
Unfortunately I was playing on another table so I could not follow them as I would but not to share some photos of their awesome miniatures it is a crime. 

Ivano Painted the Americans while Nevio and Riccardo were the authors of Japanese forces

The first MMG prepared by Ivano …

… and the second one placed into a defense tower 

Also Riccardo and Nevio prepared their machine gun

A Japanese squad that assault a little US company

Some details of Ivano's US marines and … 

 

… some photos of Japanese companies

 

To finish the photo of a Japanese sniper and the assault to a US position

 

Black Powder - Battle of Maida Jan 5, 2019

This Sunday Ezio prepared a scenario to play with Black Powder 2.0. The idea was to re create the battle of Maida. It was a not very known fight between a British expeditionary force and a French division fought near the Calabrian city of Maida in the south of Italy. 

We played with around 400 miniatures … 180 British soldiers and 210 French. All models are 28mm and are painted by  Flavio … below an example of the high level of miniatures Flavio can create

I lead the British forces with Maurizio while Ezio and Filippo were the Frogs commanders. 

Historicans describe the real battle as a typical fight of that period with French columns against British lines. In our scenario the French object was to break the British forces within the 7th turns while the expeditionary force had to defend the hills on the left of the table.

We started creating a typical English line while the artillery in the center and the Royal Corsican Rangers on the right (along the shallow Lomato River) hit the enemy 

Ezio and Filippo ordered to their soldiers to create the battle columns to march against the hill while on the left … 

…. the French light cavalry is blocked by a line of the British army

We concentrate the battle on the centre of the table and … after the British artillery is forced to leave the table … 

… the battle becomes a clash of infantries 

the first French column reach the British brigate that defend the right wing. For two turns the English men keep the position but at the 5th turn are forced to retreat

Unfortunately the Highlander attacked by the second French column did not resist for more than one turn 

The counter attack of the English light brigate in the 6th turn is not sufficient …

... to avoid the attack on a flank of the remaining brigates on the hill

We ended the game at the 6th turn with a French victory. This time we do not respect the history because in the real battle the British were the winners but this is not a great problem for a wargamers ... it will be for the next time