Basic Impetus 2: first game

Just a short report to update you on the ongoing activities. We were looking for a fast-paced, easy-to-learn, and easy-to-teach, wargame ruleset for ancient to medieval field battles, so we dusted off our 15 mm miniature collection from the shelves to try  Basic Impetus 2. My first miniatures were old Black Hat miniatures, and this scale resurfaces periodically at our club. 

Basic Impetus 2 is the second edition of Basic Impetus, a ruleset written many years ago by Lorenzo Sartori, the owner of Dadi e Piombo, an Italian Wargame Magazine. The second edition is now on sale both as a digital and as a printed copy. 

Our first game was Late Romans (Patrician) vs Early Visigoths. The battle was fought quite straightforwardly with the Late Romans posing little resistance to the Visigothic advance. The Roman Cataphracts kept as strategic reserves were blundered by a Foederati unit retreating directly against them, causing them to receive a disorder marker and later a hit, hindering their usefulness. The only losses in the Visigothic army were made by light cavalry combined shooting.

Conclusions: the game is quite simple, it lacks some nuances that a veteran player may expect (for example there is a reaction fire, but not a countercharge), and that can be easily amended. Some solutions (such as the option to charge only frontally without any pivoting) are a bit old-styled. Anyway, any doubt could be easily resolved with a quick check on the rules (which are about 12-15 pages). These rules could work as a gateway to wargaming, giving some easy notions of strategy while getting used to the general concepts. 

the initial battle lines

the cataphracts (on the right) are smashed by their retreating foederates

the combined light cavalry shooting was the only success of the day for the Romans

the Roman center is on the brink of collapse

Escape from the Crusader city with Lion Rampant

Lion Rampant is a light ruleset that aims to recreate the clashes between retinues during the medieval period. The system is highly flexible and the scenarios included in the book allow recreating many different settings with few adaptations. 

We played a scenario set during the beginning of the Crusaders States. A Crusader city has just been conquered by a large Seljuk force. A group of citizens has taken shelter at a fortress, and as the walls fall, decide to try to cross the city to reach the docks, where some ships, owned by the Maritime Republic of Genoa, are still at bay. We adapted the Scenario "The Convoy" from Lion Rampant, each token representing a bunch of civilians. Due to the urban setting, we decided to use the "reduced models" optional rule from Dragon Rampant to avoid cluttering too many models in small spaces, so we halved the miniatures needed for each unit. The Crusaders started on the NE deployment zone, while the Seljuks entered from the NW and SE deployment zone. The exit zone was the ship at the SW deployment zone.

I won't write up a detailed after-action record here, but overall the game was quite balanced, and until the last two turns all sides had a chance to win it.  The Seljuk player resulted less effective in causing casualties and the Crusaders were good at protecting the foot serjeants' units carrying the civilians, allowing all the three groups to escape safely.

We had great fun, and the reduced models rule worked great. I suggest using it in an urban setting. It is also a great gateway, allowing new players to start playing with a few models. The second edition of Lion Rampant is going to be published in the next few months I hope it will implement this option.

This scenario was actually a playtest for an incoming project, keep following the blog for more details!

And now, some pictures! Crusaders are Normans from Conquest Games, Seljuks from Gripping Beast, and buildings and the ship from CleverPaper.

Rebels and Patriots game (Calatafimi 1860)

 A brief photographic report of our latest game of Rebels and Patriots the black powder large skirmish by Michael Leck and Daniel Mersey from the successful Lion Rampant franchise.

Once again, we refought the Battle of Calatafimi (1860) during The Thousand campaign of Giuseppe Garibaldi against the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. I was able to umpire the game with my friends, following the rule scenario I published in the latest issue of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy (118), which featured three articles of mine, all set in Sicily in different periods. 

This scenario is available as a free PDF on the Karwansaray Publisher website, so don't hesitate to test it and let me know your opinion!

The scenario ran smoothly, with the Garibaldines advance frustrated by the lack of initiative of one unit, which led to uncoordinated advance. The first assault was successful, dealing a lot of damage to the Borbonic Cacciatori Esteri, however, the winning unit wavered, despite the minimum loss, and that gave the Borboni time to reform the line. A unit of Picciotti (fielded as skirmishers) was driven away, leaving the approaching forces unscreened.

From that moment Red Shirts units, advancing one at the time were welcomed by relentless musketry fire, accumulating a lot of casualties. Despite a fierce fight they had to leave the battlefield.

On the other side of the battlefield, a courageous Garibaldine artillery officer repelled a flanking attempt from a Borbonic light cavalry unit, but it wasn't enough to save the day. Did Landi (the General leading the Borbonic army) save the Kingdom?

Bande Amhara

Gruppo Bande Amhara, was an Italian East Africa colonial cavalry unit constituted mainly by Eritrean Ascari and led by Italian officers. A banda was about one company strong, and the Gruppo Bande Amhara was about 1700 men, led by the famous Ten. Amedeo Guillet.

I painted this 9 models unit Bolt Action or Crossfire. Figures are mainly plastic ACW Perry, with some conversion done(colonial helmets and greenstuff for the Eritrean headgear).

The unit is a ragtag ensemble of stragglers and survivors from different squadrons. The battle flag is a simplified version of the "Banda Togni" flag.

The Company of Death

Military history is full of examples of men swearing to die rather than retreat. A remarkable example in the Classic Grece is the Spartan motto "either with shield or on the shield (you will return)" (greek: E tàn e epì tas), which was spoken by mothers and wifes to their men leaving for war. 

This tradition survived well into medieval times, these groups of knights taking oaths before battle often adopted dreadful names as Company of Death or Knights of Death. In the battle of Legnano (1176 AD) between the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League, a group of Italian knights named themself Company of Death and swore to defend with their lives the symbol of the Lombard League, the Carroccio.

Here I present some figures from a later example, taken from the Battle of Gagliana (1300 AD), fought during the Sicilian Vespers war between the Sicilian army and the Angevin French. A group of French knights formed a Company of Death to avenge their relatives killed at the battle of Falconara the previous year. I hope you will read the complete story, along with a scenario for Lion Rampant in a future issue of Wargame Soldiers and Strategy.

I painted some dismounted French knights for their last stand against the Sicilian army. All figures are from Fireforge Games (the standing figures) and Crusader Miniatures (the two wounded ones). I had a lot of fun painting the flag bearer of the Company of Death. The motto is in Latin "Or die or win" (latin: Aut  Vincere aut Morere") and it is taken from Francesco Petrarca's seventh book of Africa (written between 1339 and 1343 AD).

the first casualty

the painting steps for the flag

flagbearer and captain of the Company of Death

the final group of knights

Garibaldines' operations in Calabria, 1860

 Some pictures and a brief after-action report of our latest game of Rebels & Patriots.

The scenario is set in Calabria, 1860. After the conquest of Sicily, the first troops of the Army of the South (Garibaldi's army) landed in Calabria to march northward. The game involved a small garrison of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies in this hilly region. The scenario is Assault at Fort Glory, Paolo was the defender, and Edoardo was the attacker. 

Kingdom of Two Sicilies (Trait: Cunning) 12 points

• 4 skirmishers unit @2 points each
• 1 light artillery @4 points
• +1 skirmishers dummy unit

Garibaldines' army (Trait: Familiar Face) 24 points

• 3 shock infantry @6 points each
• 1 medium artillery

The Garibaldines, army was led by Nino Bixio, but one unit was led by Giacomo Medici. Their plan was simple: a frontal assault supported by the artillery fire. But some rivalries probably existed between the commanders, since Medici's unit refused to take part in the action for most of the game.

The defender led a sortie against the artillery, but the unit was wiped out (even if caused some casualties between the artillerymen). Bixio's unit was the first to approach the walls, but the general was hit by a cannonball and lightly wounded (+1 honor). Medici's unit was unaffected, while the third unit wavered. After a rally, the assault was restarted and fierce fighting across the walls ensued, with the defender pushed back thrice and retaking the position four times. Some Picciotti (skirmishers) reinforcements arrived to help the battered Garibaldines, but they received confusing orders and shoot their allies. On the eve of the tenth turn, the time was called and the game ended. Total honor scored 5 - 1 for the defenders. Suspicion of betrayal and rivalry arose between the Garibaldines. Overall a nice game, we found the scenario a bit easier for the defender, but definitely would play it again.

Medici's unit assaulting the fortification

One of the last assaults

Nino Bixio hit by the artillery fire

The defenders gun

the Garibaldines' artillery

Additions to my Garibaldine and Kingdom of Two Sicilies armies

 A brief update and some pictures of my Garibaldine and Kingdom of Two Sicilies armies. If you wish to be updated more frequently, please follow my Instagram page @arsenaledelnano

Italian Wars of Independence is one of my areas of interest. As a wargamer,  I find the many small clashes very appealing, especially considering I am currently playing large skirmish rulesets stemming from Lion Rampant.

I had a couple games of Rebels and Patriots with my two new 28mm miniatures armies: the Garibaldine army from the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, and their opponent: the Kingdom of Two Sicilies army. I will post some after-action reports one day. After the last game, I felt I lacked variety, so I was prompt to add a couple of units to my armies, and here they are (the bases are not finished yet).

For the Garibaldine, I painted generals Nino Bixio (on the right) and Giacomo Medici (on the left) to serve as officers and to be fielded in an all cavalry unit, even if historically, the Garibaldine had almost no cavalry, except a small unit of mounted scouts (Guide a cavallo). 

For the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, I painted a medium artillery unit, to help fight those pesky red-shirts! Some mistakes were made in the uniforms, but I like the overall result, and will probably order a second unit to paint it correctly rather than correct this one.

All the miniatures are from a relatively new Italian manufacturer, Shako64, which produces an interesting and expanding range for the 1860-1861 campaign. They fit well with the existing Mirliton miniatures and with Perry miniatures size. I will post some comparison pictures another day. The miniatures are mostly painted with new Contrast paints, which I find a bit fiddly with Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic 19th-century type uniforms, but they are still pleasant to use.