The Battle of Novi August 1799

An Untimely Death

by

Acies Edizioni

 Alexander Suvorov is considered one of the greatest Russian Generals. He never had a chance to fight Napoleon, which might have been blessing for his legacy. Suvorov did, however, always win in battle against any of the other French Generals. All that Napoleon had gained in Northern Italy was lost to the Austro-Russians under Suvorov (Napoleon was in Egypt and the Middle East at the time). After Novi, Suvorov was ordered to Switzerland to help out the Austrians once again. Because of their defeat, he was trapped in the Alps by future French Marshal Andre Massena. He was able to extricate himself with minimal losses and for that was made the fourth Generalissimo of Russia. He died of disease shortly after. Barthélemy Catherine Joubert was originally part of Napoleon's earlier Italian Campaigns. He had been marked for greatness by Napoleon, and had he lived would probably have been made a Marshal. Unfortunately for him, he was one of the first French casualties of the Battle of Novi. Acies Edizioni has made games about two of Suvorov's battles, including this one.  They have also made other great games about obscure battles and campaigns in Italy. 

 

 

 This is what comes in the box:

One game-map

2 sheets of counters and markers

3 Player Aid Cards

Rule booklet

Historical commentary

The scale is 1 hour per turn, about 500 m. per hex,

Each strength point (SP) stands for 50-150 men for infantry

and cavalry (basing on their efficiency rating), and 3-5 guns.

Designer: Enrico Acerbi

Complexity: 3/5

Solitaire suitability: 4/5

 This is from Acies Edizioni about the game:

 "The war of the Second Coalition on the Italian front was becoming a nightmare for the French Republic. Defeat after defeat (Cassano d’Adda, Trebbia) the exhausted French army was pushed away from the northern Italy by the vigorous offensive of the Austro-Russian army led by Suvorov. For this reason, the Directorate decided to call another general, Barthelemy Joubert, at the head of the army. The Directorate ordered General Joubert to immediately attack Suvorov and to make every effort to free Tortona. On the morning of August 15th, the noise of the first shots of the battle of Novi begun to fill the air. Joubert rode to a little hill to better assess the situation. Few moments after his arrival, a bullet hit him in the chest, killing the young general almost instantly. An untimely death."

Contents

 I am always impressed by Acies Edizioni components for their games. The box is light compared to some and there are not many parts inside. However, what you do get is well worth your money. The Rule Booklet is made of almost hard stock, and it is in full color. It is only twenty-one pages long but has everything in the rules that you would expect from a Napoleonic game. The eighteen-page Historical Commentary is worth at least half of the game's price, if not more. There are three full-sized Player Aid Cards included and they are all double-sided. The first one has the setup for Scenario I on one side and the setup for Scenario II on the other. The second has the setup for Scenario III (the whole Battle of Novi), with the French setup on one side and the Coalition on the other. The last one has the Combat Results Table etc. and, on the flip-side has the Terrain Effects Chart. The counters are nice looking with small portraits on them. They are a little 'busy' compared to some others. The only thing about the components that you could complain about is the thinness of the counters. The Map is a thing of beauty. All of the terrain is easy to pick out and to know what each hex has for terrain. Kudos as usual for the Map. All-in-all, the components are up to Acies Edizioni standards. 

Game in progress

 This is the Sequence of Play (I wanted you to see the entire Sequence):

 "3.1. Game Turn

Each Game Turn is divided in 3 phases.

Each Phase is divided into various segments

according to the Command activation rules.

Each Phase must be resolved in the exact order

given below.

Any action taken out of sequence is a violation of

the rules.

A - Command Phase

This phase is divided in 3 segments:

A1- Orders

The Army/Wing Commanders may assign/

change Orders to Formation’s Leaders

(Generals). The command range of the Leaders

must be checked and “Out of Command”

markers must be placed on those units beyond

that range.

Each player places the Formation Chits, reverse

side up and one per box, on the Priority Track.

They then assign orders by selecting an Order

marker to place under each Formation Chit

keeping it hidden. The numeric sequence on

the Track dictates the sequence (alternating

between players) of each Formation’s future

activation.

In this segment “Independent Columns” can

be created. To do so, place the corresponding

Column or Brigade Chit on the Priority Track.

Their Leader should already be on the map.

A2- Weather

Specific rules manage the Weather during the

battle turns.

Note: In Novi this segment is not relevant, since

the weather was hot and clear throughout.

A3- Initiative

Each player rolls ld6 to check initiative (see

6.0). The initiative player will start the Action

phase (B) first.

A4- Initiative Commands

An independent (see A1 above) or Out of

Command General can try to change his Orders

performing an Initiative Check.

Roll 1d6 and if the DR is equal to or lower than

the General’s Initiative Value, that Order can

be changed.

B - Actions Phase

A player activates his first available Formation

(see A1).

Each Formation performs all of its Action

phase segments, before progressing to the next

Formation to be activated.

This Actions Phase will continue until all the

Formations have completed their actions.

Note: the 1st Player (Initiative Player) begins

with the Chit in Box 1 and activates the

corresponding Leader (and his Formation).

When this activation completes, the 2nd Player

activates his Chit in Box 1... the activation

sequence passes from one player to the other

until all Leaders has been activated.

The Action Phase is divided into 6 Segments.

B1- Reorganization and Rally

Players can attempt to reorganize their

Disordered or Routed units if their Formation’s

Order allows for it.

B2- Replacements and Reinforcements

The active player returns to the map, those

combat units belonging to the activated

Formation previously eliminated (see 12.0 and

13.0).

Reinforcements belonging to the active

Formation can enter the map in March Column

at this time, in the hexes specified by the

scenario’s rules.

B3- Movement

Activated units move according to their

Formation’s Orders. Artillery that moves must

be flipped onto its “Moved” side; it cannot

perform Bombardment when it is in this state.

Once the movement of all activated “In

Command” units is complete, individual “Out

of Command” units of the active Formation can

attempt to change their generic Defend Order.

B4- Bombardment

Artillery units of the active Formation, not on

their “Moved” side, can execute bombardments.

Use the Bombardment Table.

B5- Combat

Combat is resolved in a series of segments as

outlined below:

B5.1- Attack declarations

The player declares his attacks and place the

markers, “Attack” or “Attack?” according to

their Formation’s Orders.

B5.2- Retreat before combat

Some defending units (e.g., Light Cavalry)

may retreat before combat.

B5.3- Defensive Bombardment

The defensive player may perform a defensive

bombardment with any artillery units, if not in a

“Moved” state, present in those hexes declared

under attack.

B5.4- Assault

All Efficiency checks are performed and the

attacks are resolved on the CRT.

B6- End of Phase

The activated Leader counter on the map is

turned facedown, displaying the reverse with

the letter “A”, and a new Actions Phase begins;

the opposing Player now activates his first/next

available Formation in the Priority Track.

C - End of turn phase

When ALL Formations (both sides) have been

activated the Game Turn marker is advanced on

the Turn Record Track. All Leaders on their “A”

side and all artillery with on their “Moved” side

are flipped face up.

Then the new turn begins with Phase A."

 Hopefully this will show you exactly how much thought has gone into the rules. It should also show you how it was designed from the ground up to be a Napoleonic game, compared to some Napoleonic rules that seem more at home in World War II.

 Command and Control of your forces are the key to this game. There are no pigeons or wireless sets for you to convey your orders. These are some of the parts of a Napoleonic battle that Acies Edizioni has put into the rules:

Elan Attack - For French Generals with a value of 3 or higher.

Advance and Skirmish

March and Build

General's Initiative Check

Artillery in Melee

Cavalry Harassing

Cavalry Retreat Before Combat

Emergency Squares

 This list just scratches the surface.

 Once again Acies Edizioni, and the designer Enrico Acerbi, have given us a great Napoleonic battle to fight, even if it is almost unknown and it doesn't even have Napoleon present. Thank you Acies Edizioni for allowing me to take another of your Napoleonic period games for a spin. I enjoyed the game very much. Right now, you can get a great deal on some games bundled together. Please check them out.

Robert 

The Battle of Novi August 1799:

Novi 1799 | Acies (edizioniacies.com)

Acies Edizioni:

Acies edizioni (edizioniacies.com)

 Lepanto

A Sea Turned Red By Blood

Sunday, October 7th, 1571

by

Acies Edizioni

 This battle had some of the most legendary corsairs and Muslim and Christian leaders of the 16th century one one side or the other. It is true that the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 saw the Ottomans as losers and unable to conquer the island, although their corsairs and navies were still were the scourge of the Mediterranean. One of the Christian commanders whose fame, or infamy, has lasted even until today is Don Juan, yes that Don Juan. When you have a piece written about you by Mozart you know you have hit the big time. However, he was far from the only notable commander at the battle. These included:

On the Christian Side:

Don Juan de Austria (an illegitimate son of Charles V)

Sebastiano Venier, ( Venetian Commander later Doge of Venice)

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma

Marcantonio Colonna, Captain General of the Church

On the Ottoman Side:

Dragut, (referred to as 'The Greatest Pirate Warrior of all Time')

Müezzinzade Ali Pasha, ( The Muslim Overall commander)

Occhiali, (born an Italian farmer, he became Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet)

Şuluk Mehmed Pasha, (Commander of the Turkish right wing at Lepanto)

 A Holy League was put together under the auspices of Pope Pius V. This League was to counter the naval threat that the Ottoman Empire was to the entire Mediterranean. Don Juan was given the banner of the fleet, blessed by the Pope, on August 14th 1571. The stage was set for a decisive naval battle between the Ottoman Empire and the various Christian nations in the Holy League. It ended as a victory for the Holy League. Casualties on the Ottoman side were: 80 galleys sunk, and 117 captured. 30,000 Ottomans were casualties, with another 8,000 captured. The Christians suffered 7,500 casualties. The battle apparently captured the imagination of poets all over Europe. Even James the I of England composed a piece (when he was still just James VI of Scotland).

 This is what comes in the box:

3 Maps all at roughly 22"x 33" 

6 Player Aid Cards

Rules Booklet

Player Booklet

2 Full Countersheets

The map scale is 1:60,000 each hex is roughly 1000 meters

Turns represent one hour each

The Game is fine for two-player or solitaire

 

 I am usually not a connoisseur of box art, but for this game I will make an exception. It shows a Muslim and Christian ship locked in deadly combat. The map area is, as you can imagine, very large. Being a sea battle the maps are, except for information tracks, pretty much two shades of blue. Not that you would expect anything else. The counters are 1.5 cm, or roughly 10/16". The countersheets I received are a little problematic. I usually use a pair of scissors to cut out my counters to cut down on cardboard dregs. The way these were made you have to use scissors or an Exacto knife to get the counters apart from each other. This is not really a big deal. However, do not expect them to just pop apart from each other. Some of us care about clipped corners etc., and some of us do not. I would just be careful separating these counters. The Rules Booklet is in full color with many illustrations. The rules themselves only take up fourteen pages, with a further six pages for a nicely done Order of Battle. The Player Booklet has three pages of examples. The rest is a wonderfully done eight page history of the battle. 

 The Sequence of Play is:

Action Phase: Activation Marker or Special Chit Pull

A. Maneuver Segment

B. Battle Segment

C. Recovery Segment

End Turn Phase

 As you can see, this game uses a chit pull system for each Group of Units in the scenario. There are also Special Chits in the mix. If you pull a special chit before any Group Activation Chit, that Special Chit is removed from play for that turn. The only caveat to that rule is the Wind Direction Chit. That can be pulled at anytime to change the wind course. This was one of the first sea battles that cannons  played a big part in. In many ways the actions of the fleets at Lepanto would have been recognizable to sailors from the Punic Wars. Ramming and grappling, and then the soldiers of each ship fighting it out as if on land was the norm for the battle. The weight of metal as far as cannons is greatly on the Christian side. The unit counters represent either one large ship or a group of galleys. Each side had a left, center, and right contingent. In Front of each Christian contingent were a few huge Venetian Galleasses. These were somewhat sedentary, but were bristling with cannons of all sizes. If the player gets lucky these will cause havoc in the Ottoman ranks before the main fleets engage. 

There are rules for:

Artillery Fire Attacks

Reaction Fire 

Leaders

Leader Losses

Ramming

Grappling

Boarding

Shallow Water

Damage

 Mast Down

 Fires Aboard

Sailing/Rowing

 

 So, just about anything that could happen in a sea battle at this time.

 

 The game has these scenarios:

Battle of Lepanto Scenario: Full Battle All Three Maps

Lions At Sea: Uses Only The Northern map

Lepanto Clash: Uses Only The Center Map

Waiting for Doria: Uses only the Southern Map

 The game was setup as a two-player game, but it can be played solitaire better than most. The Chit Pull System makes this easier, but the game rules also lend themselves to solitaire. Of course, I think any game can be played solitaire, some with a little more finagling than others. The Christian side definitely has the weight of metal on its side. The Spanish Infantry on the galleys also helps. However, the Ottomans are no push-over and can hold their own. I think that the side that comes up with a better plan, and is able to actually implement it, will win. That sounds like advice from Captain Obvious, but it pretty much goes for every game ever made. The Chit Pull System, and the way the game throws the 'friction' of war at you makes for a tense game. One on one the Christian side should win, but if the Ottomans are able to sweep around the Christian right flank (their actual battle plan), it will be a long afternoon for them.

 Victory is determined by deducting the Ottoman Victory Points from the Christian Victory Points total. A negative number is an Ottoman Player victory. Total points between 0-20 means a draw, and 21 and over is a Christian Player win.

 I was surprised to find that there have been a few games on the Battle of Lepanto. Most, however, are pretty long in the tooth. Europe before and after the reign of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor is one of my favorite times of history. So, I was more than happy to see this game come in the mail. It might be a niche product, but any grognard worth his salt should get his feet wet with this game. Forget about Nelson, or angle of fire, and go back to when men had to fight on a rolling deck as they would on land. Thank you very much Acies Edizioni for allowing me to take this for a sail. Please check out their game Durchbruch on the Battle of Caporetto.

Robert

Lepanto: A Sea Turned Red By Blood:

Lepanto 1571 | Acies (edizioniacies.com)

Acies Edizioni:

Acies edizioni (edizioniacies.com)

My review of Durchbruch:

Durchbruch The Austro-German Attack at Caporetto - October 1917 by Acies Edizioni - A Wargamers Needful Things

 Moravian Sun

December 2nd, 1805 Battle of Austerlitz

by

Acies Edizioni

 The Battle of Austerlitz has a lot of games based on it. Not as many as Waterloo as far as Napoleonic games (The Bulge of Napoleonic games), but a still a good number of them have been made. Even the newest of tyros to Napoleonic warfare knows at least something about it. It was nicknamed 'The Battle of the Three Emperors" (Napoleon, Francis I of Austria, and Alexander I of Russia). In reality it was not that much of a battle. Napoleon's Grande Armee was honed to a fine point, and his way of warfare was still unknown to most of Europe. On the French side, there was some doubt about Davout (The Iron Marshal) being to able to march his troops fast enough to be present for the start of the battle. Besides that fact, the French had everything in their favor. The Allied Coalition, number 3 out of 7, attempted to do a mirror image oblique attack of what Frederick the Great used in his battles. In reality, it became a parody of an attack by Frederick, much like the French at Rossbach. The Allies leisurely set up their attack, and slowly marched to attack Napoleon's right flank. Davout having appeared on time due to the incredible marching power of his 3rd Corps, 68 miles in 48 hours, was able to fend off the attacking Allies. Marshal Soult was then commanded to take the Pratzen Heights in the Allies' center, which they had thoughtfully left almost empty of troops. The battle was a foregone conclusion. Napoleon's Grande Armee destroyed the Allies, and the history of Europe was changed for the next nine years. So, let us see what Acies Edizioni has done with this famous battle.

 Here is what comes with the game:

One Game Map - 85 x 60 cm.

216 Counters  - 5/8" Sized

280 Counters - 1/2" Sized

Five Player Aid Cards

One Rule and Scenario Manual

Two Six-sided Die

 The game is designed by Enrico Acerbi. The game system is called "Vive La France - Empire", and has been used in the games 'Massena at Loano, and Wise Bayonets. I did a review earlier of Wise Bayonets, and the link will be below. Hexes are meant to be 450-500 meters and the turns represent one hour of time. 

 The components are well done as a whole. The map is a colorful, much like a traveler's map, representation of just the main area of the battlefield. The different terrain is easy to distinguish for the player. The unit counters are the 1/2" sized ones. They use the normal NATO designations, are easy to read, and the colors are pleasing, at least to my eyes. The 5/8" counters are used for the commanders and the administrative counters. The commander counters have a small picture of the commander in question on them. The administrative, rout, force march etc., counters are small, but still easily readable. All of the counters are easily disconnected from the cardboard sprue. As a matter of fact, most of them had popped out during shipping. The Rule Manual is in color and is done in large print, thank you. It is twenty pages long, but pages 16-20 are the scenario rules and a concise but well written Historical Background. The five player aid cards are full sized and in color. Four of them are double-sided with the fifth being a single page. All in all, the production quality is right up to par for what I expect of Acies Edizioni games. 

 The game comes with two scenarios:

Campaign Game - Begins at 07:00 on the 1st of December and ends at 18:00 of December 2nd

Battle game: Begins at 06:00 of December 2nd and ends at 16:00 at the same day 

In the Campaign Game scenario there is a Night Turn

 This is the Sequence of Play:

A. Command Phase

 1. Weather

 2. Orders

 3. Initiative and Priority

 3.1. Initiative Test Die Rolls to Change Orders

B. Action Phase

 1. Rally

 2. Reinforcements and Reconstituted Units

 3. Movement

 4. Bombardment

 5. Combat

 6. End of Phase

c. End of Turn Phase

 The game uses the term Efficiency in the rules, roughly the same way other games use the term Morale.

 Austerlitz is a hard game for a designer to make a game out of, simply because the two sides are so disparate in terms of efficiency, morale, and generalship. The Allies attack on his right flank, which is exactly what Napoleon wanted the Allies to do. It is almost as if Napoleon were in the Allied late night commanders meeting of December 2nd. This was the Napoleon of old with an undiluted and fully trained Grande Armee at his back. No one could have withstood the Grande Armee that day. The designer has made the game as historically accurate as possible. Therein lies the crux. How to make the game enjoyable for two players. The first obvious choice is for the players themselves to pick the less skillful of them to play the French. The Battle Scenario pretty much forces the Allied Player's hand as far as following the historical plan. However the addition of the Campaign Scenario mitigates the uneven playing field a bit. The Campaign Scenario does not force the Allied Player to do anything and so they are given a clean slate. It is true that the Allies are marching to the battlefield, and not set up and ready to attack. They are, however, given a full day without the French Player having Davout's Corps and some other troops. The Allied Player must use this extra day to its full advantage. How does the game play? In my eyes it shows exactly what the Allies were up against going at France's First Team. In some ways the Allied Player is really just trying to do better than his historical counterparts. The French Player can win, but should in my mind at least try to do as well as Napoleon or better to really consider the game 'won'.

 The game system does a good job of showing how Napoleonic battles were actually fought. They have been described as 'Rock, Paper, and Scissors' on a grand scale. The play centers around you giving 'Orders' to your different organizations, and how that either helps you or hampers you to deal with the developing battle. The chance to change or ignore the order originally given at the beginning of each turn gives a player the ability to possibly pull his irons from the fire. The game shows that command and control was not only the key to Napoleonic warfare, but could be the weak link in the chain during it. As the Allies, your Generals are pretty much 'fire and forget' weapons. They will usually not be able to adjust on the fly. The French Generals mostly have the ability to adjust to new situations and exploit them.

Thank you Acies Edizioni for letting me review this very good game about a battle that before this I had no real interest in. As usual, with a game about a battle or campaign I do not know enough about, I was forced to hit the books. This is the wonderful part of games that try to give the player exactly as it was historically, and not try to skew everything so that it is 'gamey'. 

Robert

Acies Edizioni:

https://en.edizioniacies.com/

Moravian Sun:

https://en.edizioniacies.com/para-bellum/moravian-sun

AWNT review of Wise Bayonets:

https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2020/07/wise-bayonets-17-june-19-june-1799.html

Wise Bayonets

17 June - 19 June 1799 Suvorov at the Trebbia

by

Acies Edizioni

  Alexander Suvorov (the last Generalissimo of the Russian Empire) is supposed to have fought sixty-three main engagements and won them all. Some military historians wish that he and Napoleon had been matched against each other during Wars of Revolutionary France. Some of the maxims that are attributed to him sound almost like they came from Napoleon's mouth:

"A strong pursuit, give no time for the enemy to think, take advantage of victory, uproot him, cut off his escape route."

"When the enemy is driven back, we have failed, and when he is cut off, encircled and dispersed, we have succeeded."

"One minute decides the outcome of a battle, one hour the success of a campaign, one day the fate of empires."

 In one way his views differed entirely from Napoleon's. Suvorov is often quoted as saying:

"The bullet is foolish, the bayonet wise."

 However, another saying attributed to him is more in sync with Napoleon's view of firepower:

"Fire opens the gates of victory."

 In 1799, while Napoleon had his hands full in Egypt, Suvorov was given the onus of reconquering Italy from France. In this he was matched against the French Generals Moreau and Macdonald. Moreau's part in this campaign is slight. Macdonald, on the other hand, was to feel the full fury of Suvorov and his Russians and Allies at the two day Battle of the Trebbia. Macdonald also had a storied career and was made a Marshal Of France. However, he was not in the same class of generals as Suvorov. So, this is the backdrop to Acies Edizioni's game about this battle. This is what comes with the game:

One Game Map 84x60cm.
216 5/8" counters and 140 1/2" counters
Four Player Aid Cards
One Rules and Scenarios Manual
Two six sided die

 The game uses these charts and tables:

Terrain Effects Chart
Combat Table
Initiative Track
Casualty Table & Losses Box (on the map)
Turn Record Track (on the map)

The game scale is:

1 turn: 1 hour (2 hours turns 1 and 12).
1 hex: 300 m (about 328 yards).
1 strength point: 2-300 men for infantry, 150-200 men for cavalry, and 2-3 guns.

 The rulebook is in full color and in large print. It is thirty-five pages long. The English translation of the Italian rules is very well done and there is no discernable Yoda speech. The designer, Enrico Acerbi, has included an excellent eight page historical commentary on the campaign and battle of the Trebbia at the end of the rulebook. The rulebook does not include samples of play. The map is well done, and shows the mostly open terrain dominated by the Tidone creek and Trebbia river. There are some higher elevations at the lower edge of the map, but the terrain is mostly clear, except for the marsh hexes next to both the river and creek. The fords and wooden bridges over both river and creek are the salient points to be aware of. The unit counters are 1/2" in size, and are very colorful, but easy to read. The general counters are 5/8", and come with well done small portraits of them. The marker counters (square, charge, etc.) are also well done. It comes with four separate paper like Player's Aids. Three are double-sided and one is single-sided. They are Initiative Track and Losses, Combat Tables and Terrain effect Chart, and the French and Russian setup pages. While not being of hard stock, they are printed in large type and are easy to read. The game itself comes with four scenarios, these are:

Scenario 1: The Battle of Tidone Creek - June 17th, 1799
Scenario 2: The Second Day - June 18th, 1799
Scenario 3: The Last Attack - June 19th, 1799
Scenario 4: The Campaign Game - June 17th-19th,1799

 The victory conditions for all of the scenarios is a combination of controlling hexes and inflicting Strength Point losses on your enemy.

 The game has a few nuances that you normally do not find in most tactical games. One of these is the ability of some artillery units to fire cannister. The weather plays no part in the game; during the battle it was hot and sunny. The games I have played have been touch and go affairs just like the actual battle. This is the Sequence of Play during the Command Phase:


"A. Command Phase
This phase is divided into four segments:
1. Command Segment
Units which are within the radius of their commanding officers are considered to be in command. The units beyond this radius are out-of-command (Place an Out of Command "OOC" marker on top of the out of command units).
2. Orders Segment
The Players check their Chains of Command. In this segment, it is possible to change old orders for new ones (5.3). The player may also declare "independent" brigade (s) in command (5.4).
Out of command officers maintain the order they had in the proceeding game turn, but they can try to change it in their activation (5.5)
3. Initiative Segment
The players roll a die to decide who goes first (7.0), and organize their formations on the Initiative Track (7.1).
4. Reorganization Segment
Players can try to reorganize their Disordered or Routed units if the type of order they received allows for it (19.0)."

Austro-Russian Counters

French Counters

 The game continues with an Action Phase in which Bombardment, Combat, Movement, and Attacking all take place. It might seem a little deep, but it is no harder to play than any other Tactical Napoleonic game, and a lot easier than some I own. The rules work on a tactical scale, and seem to allow, or force the player to use their units in a historical manner. The game does not feel like you are moving generic anytime units across the map. In some games you can substitute Heavy Cavalry for tanks and the action plays out like a WWII game. This is not one of those games. It plays out as a Napoleonic warfare game. As mentioned, it is not as deep as some tactical Napoleonic games, but it has enough bells and whistles to make a grognard happy, and not make a newbie run from the table screaming. 

1st Turn Setup, North and South are switched

 As far as the actual gameplay, this is a battle that should not have been fought. Macdonald was outmatched in wits and soldiers. He believed that help would come from Moreau that never appeared. In truth, Macdonald's force could very well have been wiped out or mauled much more severely than it was. The French can credit their soldiers' tenacity in saving their army. Playing as the French on the first day scenario or the campaign scenario, your first order should be to march quickly and grab all of the passages across the Tidone. Then you have to hold onto them no matter what. The French have more troops than the Allies early in the day. However, the tide changes with each passing turn. Playing as the Allies you can either try to hang onto at least one of the fords or the bridge over the Tidone, or wait until more of your force arrives during the day. For the second day and the campaign scenario, at least the French have the Trebbia River line to fall back on.

game in play shot

 Thank you Acies Edizioni for allowing me to review another of your fine games. My next review from them will take us to the Battle of Austerlitz for their game 'Moravian Sun'. These two games, and a third earlier one 'Massena at Loano', are based on the Vive la France: Empire rules system. The system is of medium complexity and is solitaire friendly.

The photos are from Adriano Visconti; many thanks.

Acies Edizioni:
https://www.edizioniacies.com

Wise Bayonets:
https://www.edizioniacies.com/para-bellum/wise-bayonets

My review of their game 'Durchbruch':
https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2020/02/durchbruch-austro-german-attack-at.html

Robert

Durchbruch

The Austro-German Attack at Caporetto 1917

by

Acies Edizioni

  It is the Fall of 1917. Austro-Hungary is hard pressed because of the immense losses of manpower on the Eastern Front earlier in the war. The Austro-Hungarians need Italy knocked out of the war as quickly as they can be. Either that or their whole army might crack, and if they fall Germany is right after them. The Austro-Hungarians cannot do it alone. They have needed Germany's help as long ago as 1914.  There had already been eleven Battles of the Isonzo, and Italy and Austro-Hungary were bleeding each other dry. The new Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I knew it was only a matter of time before one or the other country broke through on the Isonzo Front. He appealed to the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Of course, he didn't run Germany at the time; Hindenburg and Ludendorff did. Ludendorff turned down the idea, but was overridden by Hindenburg. A relatively small force of German divisions was added to the mix for the attack. The attack's success has been attributed, at times, to the German Stosstruppen and their tactics. What isn't well known is that both the Italians and Austro-Hungarians had their own shock troops. The Italian troops were called Arditi, and the Austro-Hungarians were called Sturmpatrouillen/Jagdkommandos. The Austro-German attack at Caporetto broke the Italian Front wide open. It was at Caporetto that Erwin Rommel won his Pour le Merite. So the battlefield is mountainous and the Austro-German force must break through in a very short timetable. Ludendorff wants those divisions back for his spring offensive. I have always been very intrigued by the Battle of Caporetto and the Italian front in World War I, and have read everything I could get my hands on about it. How does Acies Edizioni's game stack up?

This is what you get with the game:

Two 23" x 33" Maps
Two counters sheets ( 5/8" counters)
Each Hex is 1" Wide
Six Full Sized Glossy Colored Player Aids
 Morale Check
 Combat Table and Modifiers
 Barrage Communications and Stacking
 Terrain Effects Chart
 Italian Army Setup
 Austro-Hungarian and German XIV Army Setup
 Rulebook
Two Six-Sided Die

Every day is divided into two turns. The first day
has one more Preliminary Phase.
A hexagon on the map corresponds to about
1000 meters.
The unit counters represent infantry battalions/
regiments and minor units.

 The maps are spectacular. With the large hex size and the colors chosen they are very easy to read, and figure out what terrain is in each. The Player Aid sheets are likewise extremely large and very easy to understand. The counters are also very well done. They have a lot of information on each one, but are not cramped, and are easy to read. The Rulebook is in full color and is only twenty pages in length. Once again, the rulebook is up to the standards of the rest of the components. This is my first look at a wargame from Acies Edizioni and I am really impressed.

 The Rulebook seems small, but sometimes very good things come in small packages. 

The game comes with three scenarios:
October 24th Scenario (One Day Scenario)
October 25th Scenario (One Day Scenario)
Caporetto's Breakthrough Scenario (Campaign Scenario; It Lasts 10 Turns)
 Each scenario has the Austro-German Player adding up his Victory Points and comparing them to the Victory Conditions. He gains points for Victory Hexes and eliminated Italian Counter Steps, and loses them for each Counter Step he loses.

 Continuing with the Rulebook, the game has rules that deal with the following:

Making a Passage through No Man's Land and First Line Trenches
Bridge Destruction or Repair
Fog of War
Mountain units
Engineer units - These can make a Passage, Repair or Destroy Bridges
Machine Gun Companies
German Pioneer Units Gas Attacks
Assault Units and Rommel
First Turn German Bombardment
Dummy Markers used on both sides

 This is along with all of the usual stacking and Zone of Control rules etc.

 The game is based on the Chit Pull method. At the start of the game the Austro-German starts with four Chits (Corps), and the Italian starts with three. Once all of the Chits are pulled, then that is the end of one turn. This is the Sequence of Play:

1- Bridges - construction or demolition Segment
2- Command Segment
3- Artillery Segment
4- Movement Segment

5 - Assault Segment

There are many exceptions to the normal rules on the First Turn. Such as: 

All Austro-German artillery can fire in the Preliminary Phase.
Up to 20 Austro-German units can move and attack in the Preliminary Phase

The Austro-German player must pick one of three plans before the start of the Campaign Game. These are:
The Conrad von Hotzendorff Plan - Large
The Boroevich Plan - Limited
The Waffentreue Plan - This is the one that was chosen.

 So, how does it play? It plays extremely well, and in my eyes captures the history of the battle to a T. This does not mean that every game plays out the same with a guaranteed German victory. Far from it; the design allows either side to be able to pull out a victory. The chance for the German Player to try out the different plans also leads to an increase in playability and the longevity of the game on your table. Playing as the Germans, you should play 'hell bent for leather'. The German Player's advance and attack plan should be to ignore Italian strong points and go for infiltration first. The German Player must always be conscious that he loses a Victory Point for every step lost. Playing as the Italian Player you have to know when to cut and run. He must use every chance he gets to stay in front of the Austro-German Units and make them fight for any and every piece of ground he can. The German Player only gets a Victory Point for every ten Italian Player Steps lost. So, the Italian Player can afford to trade troops for time and space. The game comes with excellent components, and the designer has added all the rules that deal with everything that happened in this battle. My hat is off to Acies Edizioni. 

 There was some problems with the first Rulebook and Players Aids that had been sent out. In talking with the designer, what happened was that the printer was sent the first files and not the redone ones (none of us have ever done that :) ). So anyone who purchased the game was sent out the second edition rules ASAP. The 'living rules' are exactly the same as the printed second edition.

Acies Edizioni link:
https://www.edizioniacies.com/

Durchbruch link:
https://www.edizioniacies.com/para-bellum/durchbruch

Living Rules link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bNrgR82KKg_D_GqQnVVFcL7vQcarKS_W/view


Robert