"SoA Battleday: Montaperti" Topic

The Society of Ancients battle day was held last weekend at Bletchley, and reports are starting to filter in…

[ This image from Phil Steele's blog. Others can be seen here: link ]

This from Richard Lockwood, the organiser, on the SoA forum:

Well that was another Battle Day. I think it was a good day's gaming, we had seven games going, so a little down on previous years but that is probably down to my choice of a (to UK gamers at least) "non-mainstream" battle. So a little self-indulgence on my part this year!

I got the sense that all the games were enjoyed by the players. That may sound a bit of an obvious thing to say, but what I am trying to say is the games seemed absorbing and challenging. So I take from this that the choice of battle was a decent one despite it not being well known.

Many richly-deserved prizes were won – among which Best Terrain was a hard-fought duel between Pete Kershaw's DBMM terrain and Mark Craddock's Armati terrain. This year the prize went to Pete Kershaw's DBMM terrain. Overall Best Game went to Phil Steele's set up, using Impetus rules, beautifully-painted 15mm figures with hand-painted banners, and effective terrain.

I am hoping we get good write-ups for Slingshot – I think the way people approached this battle will be very interesting.

More here: link

And there will of course be AARs and various write ups in Slingshot in due course.

Next year's battle will be Hydaspes.

Cheers,
Aaron

One of the bloodiest battles in medieval Italy

A great day for Ghibellines giving other 300 years of fredoom for Siena. The battle made Arbia (little river) red coloured" Dante Alighieri.

What a great day you guys must have had. I am a bit envious that we don't have anything like that here in my area. Thanks for sharing. Montaperti is a fascinating battle.

Allen

In addition to the hub event in Bletchley, England, I understand there were Satellite events at Guardian Games in Portland Oregon (DBA and Warrior) and, on the Sunday, at Hellana near Florence (DBA).

Anyone can set up such an event, from a single game to a more substantial gathering or a stand at a show.

In past years I know of similar satellites in Scotland and New Zealand … Indeed, a few years back I did receive live updates and pictures from the Glasgow event at the BattleDay (so with an international association like the Society of Ancients, we do support whatever initiatives members can take to broaden the coverage) …

(Montaperti: award winning terrain from the DBMM group)

In the end, of course, it will be through sharing the reports and feedback in the pages of Slingshot that the Society will hope to offer some sort of universal member access.

The preparation was greatly aided this year by discussions on the Society's Forum, where scenario designers were able to share information about the armies and in particular the Tuscan landscape as they developed their presentations. I found this very helpful.

Watch out for Hydaspes next year … the heart of the ancients period, massed elephants and Alexander the Great – it is bound to be a popular project I am sure ..

Phil
Ancients on the Move

Bellisima

I ran the same game in 40mm using Day of Battle at Havoc in Shrewsbury Mass on the SOA Game Day. I also ran a 40mm what if using Saga. The scenario pitted a hastily assembled force to guard the bridge and keep the Sianese (sp) from crossing over to attack the Florentine army. For that game I used 4 Norman armies. Worked fine.

dayofbattle.com

We ran that battle as well using Big DBA. We had fun and the Guelfs lost big time.

In my Day of Battle game I used the first loss of a knight unit to the Florentines to trigger the revolt. This also triggered the release of the guard cavalry guarding their religious wagon. Then each player added +1 to their roll for command cards. Most players failed and could not give commands except for their Warlord command. When the second knight unit was lost the flank march arrived. This triggered the Sienesse release of their wagon guard knights. Ouch

In Basic Impetus players activate by choice, unit by unit. I placed the potential Ghibelline sympathisers in reserve and allowed the Florentine player to activate them or not as required … however, if activated, they would take a loyalty roll – and control would be transferred to the Sienese if they failed.

The odds were not revealed to the players …

More on the Impetus game Ancients on the Move/Montaperti (2)

Phil