I finished with the three scenarios I was working on for February 18, 1916. These are interesting battles that are completely unfair to the Italians as they have no fighter escorts. Yet, despite being outnumbered, the Italian held their own. I decided to send these to TFL for the Christmas Special. We will see if it makes the cut. So far I have not heard back from them.
Sharp Practice
Managed to get some painting done. I have a full group of 8 British Legion Infantry done on a painting stick. That with the two buglers and two officers. I have 3 more painting sticks full of the infantry. I am going to continue to work my way through them. Once they are done, I will work on the Horse Holders, and the mounted officer that I bought (Peter Pig through Brookhurst). I am still waiting on order from Old Glory 15s.
I am debating getting some Highlanders from Peter Pig. There is really only one pack of infantry, advancing. I'd like some variation. I have been looking at the Eureka Miniatures line of AWI figures. My concern is that they would be significantly larger than the existing miniatures that I have.
Cold War
Over the weekend, I had a great conversation with a vet from Operation Golden Pheasant (March 1988). I started thinkings about how to apply this to a Cold War game. I had an idea for something like a pint sized campaign with a Sandinista patrol moving across the Rio Coco into San Andrés de Bocay. The Sandinistas begin fighting against Contra rebels and possibly some Honduran troops before US troops arrive and engage to push them back across the river. I am looking at the different militias from the Peter Pig ranges. This could be interesting. I am leaving this as a possibility as i read more up on the operation.
I have US troops and some Soviets that I can use as Cuban advisors or more regular Sandinistas. I would need some more irregular units to field as Contras and Sandinistas. Anyway, it is just a thought. I will probably stick to Europe for my Cold War efforts. But it could make for an interesting game having Sandinistas dropped off by Mi-8 helicopters to head in to attack a Contra base.
Thirty Years War
I keep looking at the thirty years war. I want to game this in a skirmish game. I have looked at the Sharp Practice variants for this but am still not certain if this is what I want. I'd like to have some pike and Shot as well as dragoons. I have some figures but have not painted anything yet.
I am looking to make some scenarios featuring the North Carolina Mosquito fleet and their actions from June 1861 till their destruction in February of 1862. The actions tick several boxes on things I enjoy. They are largely erzatz vessels rather than purpose built warships and it is very early in the conflict before the tactics and technology truely caught up to one another. The Union fleets will be very large. But the nice thing is, many of the vessels match up with vessels that may already be in people's collections since they were involved in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862. Two of the smaller vessels of the Confederate Fleet at Hampton Roads are survivors of the Mosquito Fleet - the only two survivors.
I started on the Confederate Fleet first. In total, there are eleven vessels in the Mosuito Fleet. Their job was to protect the North Carolina Sounds and supply the forts on the barrier islands. In order to get this done, i have been searching Wargames Vault and Wargaming3D for suitable models. I think I have much of it figured out. Maybe.....
Ship Name
Image
Possible Model
Notes
Sea Bird
None
LFG CSS Toscarora
Flagship
Beaufort
None
ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Also part of Hampton Roads set.
Fanny
ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Appomattox
TRM Union or Confederate Transport Modified
Original model is a stern wheeler while this is a screw steamer.
Ellis
ECIC Generic Tugboat Set (Modified)
Black Warrior
None
Hagen Miniatures Schooner
Forrest
None
????
Described as a former canal steamer.
Junaluska
ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Curlew
LFG CSS Samson
A decent match but the main deck under the bridge needs to be closed in.
Raliegh
ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Also part of Hampton Roads set.
Winslow
None
LFG Samson
Described as a sidewheeler tug.
Acronymns:
ECIC = East Coast Ironclads, they sell on Wargaming3D.
LFG = Long Face Games, They sell on Wargames Vault.
TRM = The Raft Miniatures, They sell on Wargaming3D.
The images above are taken from the Wikipedia articles for the vessel or from https://underbothflags.ncdcr.gov/ for the Appomattox.
Several models need modification in order to match the vessel more closely. The Ellis needs a cut down supertructure to match. These modifications may be what I go with to model the Forrest. The Black Warrior is a sailing schooner and the only vessel that is not a steam ship of the fleet. The Hagen Miniatures model is the only physical model in the above list. The rest are all STL files.At this point, I have built and painted only the Beaufort and the Raliegh. I have purchased the miniatures for the Sea Bird, Fanny, Appomattox, Junaluska, Curlew, and Winslow. I will buy the Schooner from Hagen at somepoint as I really like their miniatures. I have several for my Age of Sail games.
I will update based on any new findings. I did pick up a great book on the Curlew by Christopher Olson. He has drawings of the Curlew that makes the Sampson a good match for a model. The differences are minor enough that I should be able to modify it in TinkerCad, provided the model creator gives me permission.
A Big shout out to Thomas at The Raft Miniatures who did give permission to modify his model to make the Appomattox. I have purchased the model and now need to play with it in Tinkercad. Thank You!
I have a big thank you to give to East Coast Ironclads when it comes time to work on the Union Order of Battle.
I was blessed to be able to go on a real vacation last week. My family went on a wonderful cruise. One stop was Nassau, Bahamas. A quick trip through my memory banks revealed that there was something that happened here during the American War of Independence. So I started to research it while in harbor.
At the time of the Raid, it was known as New Providence. In 1776, the town had a pair of forts guarding it. Fort Nassau within the town and Fort Montagu on east of the town. Period maps show Fort Nassau on a hill. Also the Governor's House was also on a hill of some note. Looking at the island from the cruise ship, the hills are more slight rises rather than the high hills of the map. Note the map is upside down with north at the bottom of the map.
From the ship, the area looks like this. This is the where Fort Nassau would have stood.
I managed to find a drawing of what Fort Nassau looked like. (Can't remember where I found it.)
This is the direction towards the Governor's House.
This is the direction towards Fort Montagu which still stands.
There are several sites that feature images of Fort Montagu. Here are a couple that I have gathered.
Across from the town of Nassau is Hog Island. It has been renamed to Paradise Island and is home to the Atlantis Resort now. Given the prices charged by the resort, Hog Island seems more appropriate.
The action took place on March 3rd and 4th. A force of Continental Marines and sailors landed on the eastern side of the island. Their force consisted of some 200 marines and fifty sailors. The town had a paper force of some two to three hundred militia. The regular troops had been taken off the island and were in service in America. Raising the militia was not a simple process and during the course of the action, only a hundred to a hundred and fifty men showed up to serve.
The action consisted of a small party of militia manning Fort Montagu and firing three shots at the marines then spiking the guns and leaving the fort. The next day, the town surrendered to the landing party. The town was under Continental control for two weeks before they left.
The action was underwhelming from a scenario point of view. There is a considerable amount of potential for action though. What I take away from the descriptions of the action is that the Governor seemed to have been doing his best to hinder the defense of the town rather than enhance it. Yet, the Governor was taken captive and hauled off in chains into captivity. Among his complaints were that the Continental Marines and Sailors had consumed his entire liquor supply while taking off the military stores of the town's forts.
There was only one King's ship at the town, the schooner St John. It and a merchant vessel (not sure what type or size) were able to pull out most of the powder stores before the capture of the forts. The governor had prevented the St John from opposing the landings or engaging the small American Fleet. When Fort Nassau did fire warnings to alert the town of the American Fleet presence, the fort was in such a poor state of repair that two of the guns broke free from their positions.
But, this does give a possibility to create a hypothetical campaign based on a defense that could have been. I am working on just such a thing.
Well, I have decided to work on another supplement for Sharp Practice. This time I am focusing on the Kanawha Valley Campaign of 1861. This was an interesting campaign as many of the big personalities of the Civil War made an appearance in this campaign. As a result of the campaign, West Virginia split from Virginia and became a separate state.
The first scenario I am working on is the Battle of Scarey Creek - July 17th, 1861. There are plenty of small interesting actions that took place during this campaign. Hopefully it will prove to be interesting to you as well.
Even though all of my books are in boxes, there is plenty of information on-line for these battles to get me started.
I have been going through my unpublished stuff lately to look for what I want to work on next. Here is what I have found:
1) FLiK 55j - This is a campaign for Algernon Pulls it Off for air combat between the Italians and Austro-Hungarians during the 11th Battle of the Isonzo River. It is at about 50%.
2)Small Warriors - This is a modification for the Kiss Me Hardy Rules to enable reasonable combat between ships below the rate. Currently it has a heavy emphasis on the American Revolution. A couple of scenarios are written but I am aiming to have at least 12 scenarios in total for this one. The rule modifications are complete but need more playtesting. I would say this one is at about 30% done.
3) Malta Convoys - This is a campaign for Bag the Hun. I did a significant amount of work on this back in 2010 but then just stopped and I can't remember why. The scenario revolves around the Italians attempting to stop a convoy of British ships attempting to reach Malta. It is based on a historical convoy that sailed in September 1941 in Operation Halberd. I think it might be at a 25% point. I was planning on making the scenarios compatible for Check Your Six as well.
4) Battle of France June 10, 1940 – 25, 1940 - This is another Bag the Hun scenario set. I have four scenarios complete. This pits French Aircraft against the Italians in Southern France. The layout of the scenarios needs work. I need to go through my notes and see what other scenarios were planned for this. Again, it is an abandoned project from 2010. I was planning on making the scenarios compatible for Check Your Six as well.
5) Ponyri Station - This was going to be a Pint Sized Campaign for Chain of Command. Honestly, it never made it past some initial research. If I had to guess, I would say it is at a 1% complete.
6) Ein-el-Hilweh - This is a Chain of Command scenario for a modern variant. It covers the battle of Ein-el-Hilweh during Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It is actually fairly complete. I would say it is at 90% complete. It is an interesting scenario in that the Israelis enter a town with plenty of armor support but are hamstrung by their rules of engagement. The PLO forces in the town, have no such limitations and plenty of things to hide behind.
7) First Encounters June 1941 - This is a Chain of Command scenario featuring one of the first encounters the Germans had of a T-34 tank. The scenario is complete and was submitted for one of the TooFatLardies specials but did not make it in there. It is ready and I am giving this away to any Patreon supporter regardless of the amount.
8) Saxon Invasion - This is set of six scenarios for Dux Britanarium that I wrote featuring Picts, Saxons and Britons before the Raiders supplement came out. These are functionally complete but the maps are really bad, hand drawn things. Given that the Raiders supplement exists and the campaign system within Dux is so very good, this will not see the light of day. If anyone is interested, just send me an email and I will send you a copy.
9) Wacht am der Limes - This is a modification for the Early Imperial Romans and Early Germans for Dux Britanarium. It is actually pretty far along. The bulk of the work was done back in 2014. I have several scenarios created for it and all of the rule modifications needed. I have based it around the Roman fortifications near Saalburg. Since most of the frontier troops were Auxilia with the Legions being kept farther in the rear, most of the scenarios feature Auxilia (cavalry and infantry). I think I still need to add some artillery rules to satisfy those who want to use their ballista and scorpion models that they have made. But as it is, it is at least 80% done. But if Rich does a Roman modification at some point, this will probably fade into obscurity.
10) The 302nd ENGINEERS - This is a Mud and Blood scenario set based on the actions of the 302nd Engineers of the American Expeditionary Force. I had a Great Uncle that was part of the 302nd Engineers at the time and started to work on this. It is honestly only about 10% done. It needs much more research and work before it goes anywhere.
11) Von Mayr - This is a mini campaign for Sharp Practice v2. I need to get more research to complete this one. It will focus on Von Mayr's Freikorps and the kleinwar that they waged across what was Bohemia during the Seven Years War. It is still in the research stage.
12) Murder and Devastation in Every Quarter - This is the third book in my AWI scenario series on the Revolutionary War. I have submitted this to Rich for publication and it is compatible with Sharp Practice V2. I am hoping for it to be published by this summer. Very excited about this.
13) Action at Sonolenta Aldeia - This is a scenario that I ran years ago. It is written for the first edition of Sharp Practice. It was a fun scenario. It is 100% complete. The map is poor quality but serviceable. It features a British Naval Landing party, a British Infantry Regiment against a French Legere Unit and some cavalry. Basically, it was written for the figures I had painted up at the time. Any interest, please email me and I will send it on to you.
14) Ottomans in Sharp Practice - Written for the first version of Sharp Practice, it is a guide to the troop types used by the Ottomans. I wrote it as I was planning a Russian force and wanted some opponent other than French for them. It is mostly complete. It has a single scenario attached to it that is untested.
15) GreenHill Tennessee scenario- This is an ACW scenario for the first version of Sharp Practice. It features a Union Raid into Tennessee where upon the Union Army encounters some Rebels defending a rather substantial still. It is 100% complete and I have been giving this one away when I have done scenario sales and the like.
16)1864 - Atlanta Campaign - I had big plans for the 150th anniversary of the Battle for Atlanta. I was going to take pictures of the battlefields and have a scenario set for Sharp Practice and They Couldn't Hit and Elephant that covered the campaign. It never happened. I do have some information started. I just never finished the research. There was a scenario in there about Union Cavalry crossing the Chattahoochee River armed with Henry repeating rifles. It was an interesting engagement. Confederate Soldiers actually surrendered just to be able to get a look at this rifle that could keep firing shot after shot. It is still on the to do list but I just have not been able to focus on it or get enough research materials or drive to the battle sites (which are all local to me!). We can call this one 5%.
17) Kanawha Valley Campaign: 1861 - Another first edition of Sharp Practice scenario pack. This is an interesting campaign that took place in what is now West Virginia. The troops were poorly led initially on both sides. There were a number of skirmish sized fights that make it ideal for Sharp Practice. I would now adapt it to version 2 of the rules and add a map campaign to the historical scenarios. I'll be generous and say it is at about 25% completed.
18) Battle of Inyezane January 22, 1879 - This is a scenario for an unpublished modification to Sharp Practice for the Anglo-Zulu wars. It is part of a larger work which was to take a diary and transform it into a scenario set. I began work on this and actually purchased a number of 10mm Zulus to make it a reality. The project did not really move very far unfortunately.
19) A Cutting Out Party – March 18, 1779 - This is a scenario for Sharp Practice where a Royal Navy force is attempting to cut out some rebel ships. It was intended to be a combination of Kiss Me Hardy and SP but I think it is better for just one rule set. It is at about 90% done.
Items that have not left the idea stage
1) A Pint Sized Campaign for the Second and Third battles of Kharkov
2) A Pint Sized Campaign for Syria - I have the Australian official history of the campaigns on Syria, Crete and Greece. I have wanted to do something with them again.
3) A Late War Pint Sized Campaign about Crossing the Oder River - I have a book on it that has some tantalizing details. I also have a book on a Soviet Penal Battalion that is interesting and has some good details. Something may come of this.
4) A final AWI Supplement covering Cornwallis' retreat from the Carolinas.
5) Redoing the first two AWI supplements for V2 of Sharp Practice.
6) A North Africa Pint Sized Campaign
7) Something with the Italians in Albania fighting the Greeks. Vague, I know.
8) Something with Russians for Sharp Practice.
OK. I had no idea that I had that many things started and undone. So far it only looks like a couple would see the light of day anytime soon. If anyone has an interest in seeing any of these, please let me know in the comments. I am stuck as to what I want to work on next. Put up some comments on what you would like to see of the above or something completely different.
I have been looking at Patreon. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sponsoring my scenario writing through this. Here is my thoughts. If someone sponsors me on Patreon, they would have access to the current works in progress. Depending on the funding level, they can have a copy of all of my older scenario books and any future updates to them as well. I was thinking of $1 to $4 would get the current work in progress plus the final version when it comes out and $5+ would get the backlog as well. Patreon is a recurring monthly payment (if I understand it correctly). I would also list the person as a sponsor in current WIP as well for any level of sponsorship. Also, I will take requests from Patreon sponsors for what to work on. This should keep me motivated and writing.
What I am hoping for is a little extra money to spend on research materials with which to base the scenarios on. Anyway, this is just a thought. I really would like your input if this is a reasonable idea or not.
Its time to do a sale. This will last from now till December 27th. All of the scenario books will be 50% off.
In the Name of Roma is now $5.50 The Falcon and the Gladiator is now $5.00 The Coming Thunder is now $5.00 Air Campaign for the Western Desert is now $2.00
In order to take advantage of the sale, simply PayPal the payment to cstoesen@corecard.com and mention the Christmas sale. If you use the one click buttons, you will NOT get the sale price.
Well its been a marvelous week away from work and responsibilities but its time to get back to work. I have much to be thankful for. The biggest thing right now is for a father-in-law willing to drag my family all the way to the Caymans for Thanksgiving. I am very blessed.
ACW Scenarios
But never fear, I was not idle while lazing away in the islands. I have been diligently at work. OK, ok, I was somewhat working on my ACW scenarios. Enough that I think i will get in a few games this week to test some stuff out. There are a number of skirmishes that occurred in Western Virginia that there is only the briefest of mentions made of. Typically there is a date and a loose location of where it occurred. Regimental histories published after the war gloss over these small engagements and frequently ignore them all together. But these are perfect sized scenarios for Terrible Sharp Sword.
So I was playing around with the notion of trying some out. One in particular caught my mind. It was fought between Union 3 months troops whose term of service was about to expire and raw untrained Virginia militia. This was before Virginia had even voted on secession. Many shots were fired but almost no one was hit. Terrible Sharp Sword makes this scenario very doable with the shock system and the training levels that are part of the system.
But what about scenarios larger than company sized? This is where I am starting to struggle. I am thinking of making scenarios at several different scales. I love TSS as a system. There is optional rules to expand units out for larger battles as well. But there are other rules out there that do this too. So I am looking at possibly using They Couldn't Hit an Elephant and some rules from Captain Games. With the battles I am looking at, I am not sure that I will have any big enough for TCHAE. But we will see. I am still only working on things in June/July of 1861 at the moment so its still early.
Welcome
It almost escaped me that Ken Reilly started to follow this blog. Ken is the owner of Yarkshire Gamer. He has some recent posts with a great looking WWII Western Desert Game and some Spanish Civil War stuff going on there. Please stop by his site and visit. Welcome aboard Ken.
I am a Winner
I just received some rather nice treats in the mail when I came home on Sunday. A package was waiting for me with some pill boxes and some dragon's teeth all in 15mm. I had entered the TFL's blog Force List contest for Chain of Command. I placed well (honorable mention or something) and the prize was these great terrain bits.
These are great. I need to paint up the dragon's teeth as I need road blocks for my chain of command games. I will paint up the pill boxes as well. I think these are supposed to represent pill boxes used in England in preparation for the German Operation Sea Lion that never happened. Anyone know if these will work for Soviet pill boxes in 1941? Just curious as I will probably use them for that anyway.
There was more that I was going to tell ya'll about but it has left my mind. Anyway, glad to be home again.
I have so many projects that I loose track of some of them from time to time. I was sorting through my laptop and came across several completed scenarios that were parts of projects that I just either did not finish or I decided that I have no intention of finishing. So that they are not just a waste of space, I decided to do something with them.
The scenarios are from several rule systems and cover a number of periods.
First up is a scenario on the Egyptian assault on the Kibbutz Kfar Darom in 1948. This is an IABSM scenario for use with the Unholy Mess supplement published in one of the TooFatLardies supplements.
Second is a sample scenario from my East Front Supplement for Through the Mud and Blood that Rich promises to publish this Summer. The scenario is a historical battle from 1915 where Russian Jadgkommandos attack a divisional headquarters in the German rear and capture some German generals. It is an interesting adventure in which some accounts have the Russians escaping in captured beer trucks.
Next is a fictional scenario called Action at Sonolenta Aldeia. This is a scenario set in Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars. There are detailed mission briefings and enough details to make a campaign out of the forces provided. Includes not only British Light infantry (sorry, no rifles) but also a Royal Navy landing party that are fighting some French troops. The scenario is designed for Sharp Practice.
Lastly, there is my Greenhill, Tennessee scenario for Terrible Sharp Sword. This is a historical scenario dealing with a Union attack on some Confederate Militia that were protecting some liquor stores.
I have bundled these together and am throwing them out there by themselves for $2. The button will take you to a zip file with the scenarios on my Google Drive account.
While I was at it, I decided to set up a complete bundle of everything that I am selling on the website. This includes both Bag the Hun/CY6 campaign books (Falcon and the Gladiator and Western Desert Campaign), The Coming Thunder and In the Name of Roma in addition to the scenarios above. This bundle is available for $30. Again it will redirect you to my google drive account and a zip file containing everything.
Anyway, hopefully you will find these interesting. Tell your neighbors and friends. Let me know what you think.
... sales that is. Fortunately, it was pointed out to me that Blogger did something odd with the page for "The Coming Thunder." The text was wiped out and replaced with... nothing. That should be fixed now.
I have just received a copy of Charge!(Issue 34). Scott Mingus did a nice recap of the scenario supplement. Thanks Scott. Hopefully, this will generate a little more traffic.
Following on with this, I have been making some real progress now on the East Front Supplement for IABSM. This morning, waiting on my desk at work was not only Charge!, but also IABSM version 3, the IABSM Card Deck and the IABSM tokens. All very, very nice. I am a very happy gamer. Hopefully, I can get some time and put a game together this weekend. Possibly.
On the Bag the Hun front, progress continues on the second desert supplement. Hopefully, I will have more on this later.
I stumbled across a very interesting site: http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com. This has both Soviet and Pre-War German maps of Eastern Europe. I was able to find a 1:50,000 scale maps of the first two battles fought by the Italians in Russia.
The map above is taken from the map L36-16C from that site. In addition to that, I have finally been able to translate some of the Regimental history that I have for the 80 Roma Regiment. The regiment was mounted using the all truck transport allotted to the Pausubio Division and the Torino Division. This enabled them to keep the timetable set for them to move from Voznesensk toward the port town of Nikolaiev. The terrain was very difficult with the roads nearly dissolved in the rain and the constant threat of a Russian attack from the rear guard troops.
August 11, 1941 - The Battle for Pokrowskoje
The Battle for Pokrowskoje was begun when elements of the 1st Bersaglieri Motorcycle Company was performing a reconnaissance of the town. From the descriptions that I have found of this reconnaissance, it appears that it is possible that only one rider was forward rather than the whole company. Bersaglieri Alfredo Santino Lutri and his riding partner were leading the reconnaissance element when they triggered an ambush by the Russians. Apparently, his partner (Germano Narduzzi) was hit early on in the ambush. According to his medal citation, Lutri, continued his mission and returned back to his company commander to report his findings even though he himself was wounded. He insisted that Narduzzi was seen to before he had his wounds examined. While brave, it ultimately led to his own death. His actions provided vital intelligence to the Pausubio Division as it advanced on the town of Pokrowskoje. His actions of putting his wounded partner first sealed his fate and earned the young man the first Gold Bravery Military Medal of the war in Russia.
Interestingly, Lutri's remains had been buried in an Italian Military graveyard in the Ukraine for 60 years. In 2001, as part of the improving relationship with the Ukraine and Italy, many of the Italian dead have been brought back to Italy. Lutri's body was one of those returned. As part of the remembrance ceremonies, a play was written to celebrate the man's life and his selfless actions on his final day.
Once the information was relayed back to the Colonel Epifanio Chiaramonti, of the 80th Roma Regiment, the 3rd Battalion of Major Minchiotti was dispatched to deal with the Russian rear guard. He was reinforced with the 75mm/27 artillery from the 3rd Battalion/8th Artillery Regiment (Pausubio Division), the battery of the 80th Regiment's 65mm/17 artillery and the Bersaglieri Motorcycle Company. The description from Armando Rati's "L'80° Fanteria. La lunga Storia Eroica di un Reggimento Mantovano Diventata Leggenda" does not mention the presence of the 141st Anti-Tank Company. Other sources do mention the presence of the 141st at this first encounter. Rati does mention that they were approached by seven Russian tanks that were driven off by the guns of Captain Caranci. It is unsure if Captain Caranci is from the 141st Anti-Tank company or the battery commander the Divisional 75mm guns. It is not likely that he is the battery commander of the 65mm guns from the Regiment as his name does not appear on the officer roll presented by Rati in his book. I need to search for this name earlier in the book to see if I can find out more.
This (Rati's) is the only account of this battle where the Russian tanks are mentioned. Most record the battle of Jasnaja Poljana as where Russian tanks appear. Instead Rati mentions the presence of Russian Armored Cars at the later battle and no Tanks.
One other interesting tidbit from this all to brief account of the battle, Rati mentions that the Battalion was lead by its scouts (esploratori). Some wondering of what such a unit was, I went to http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com for some answers. They list the scouts as consisting of 1 Officer and 42 men. The best guess of this unit was that it was divided into three large squads of 14 men each. It does not appear that these men had any kind of support weapons such as a light machine-gun. This presents an interesting unit to attempt to field on the table top.
Rati's book contains a nice picture of Italian troops clearing the town of Pokrowskoje on page 72.
The end result of this first battle was the loss of 2 men killed and another three wounded for the Italians. As to Russian losses, this is completely unknown. Rati mentions that many corpses were found the next day and that the enemy fell back to Jasnaja Poljana, the sight of the 80th Roma's second battle. Given this, it is possible to make a guess that the unit fought on the 11th was 469th Rifle Regiment. One of the few accounts where the Russian unit that was fought has been made clear.
I will be making a series of scenarios using this information. Another interesting source that I found was the diary of a medical orderly from the Pausubio Division (http://www.maserada.com/pasubio.htm). He notes that the first action of the division took place in a field of sunflowers. Rati places Jasnaja Poljana as a battle field that was between wheat and sunflower fields. The map at the top shows field boundaries. It is quite possible that both battles took place mostly outside of the towns themselves.
I am trying to figure out if I will be making this into a scenario booklet through the TFL's or just releasing bits and pieces out in Specials or attempting to publish it myself.
