War and peace

Siracusano: Alex Isabelle Cartaginese: Laura Beltrami Battle of Akragas, aka Agrigento, 406 BC. The Carthaginians have besieged the city of Magna Graecia, and have divided their troops: one part of the army holds the city, while another is somewhere else, ready to intervene if the Syracusans try to send some troops in defense of Agrigento. Which happens. The Carthaginian army is largely made up of mercenary auxiliary troops not particularly well organized. The Syracusans one are instead elite troops, which deploy a fair amount of heavy infantry right on the right side, the slightly scarcer one of the Carthaginian line, which also can count on the availability of war chariots, terrible in skirmishes. The Syracusans choose to divide the battle line in two: while the elite troops advance inexorably but slowly towards the weak side of the Carthaginians, on the left side will remain support troops. In truth, the latter turned out inferior to the Carthaginian soldiers, who put pressure on th...

Athenian: Alex Isabelle Spartan: Laura Beltrami The Archidamian War, first of the Peloponnesian wars, ends in 422 BC, after another 6 years of conflicts. This second part of the war opened with a long-prepared maneuver: Athens decided to raise taxes on the tributaries. The reaction was not long in coming: after a few seasons Cnidus, Eritre, Sesto and Cyzicus, that is all the tributary cities that during the previous three years had not been occupied by the Athenian navy, rebelled en masse, proudly proclaiming their allegiance to the cause of the Spartan rebels. Their money, however, served some purpose: Athens strengthened the army, and then sent it to occupy Thebes, which after a particularly harsh winter saw the fall of most of the troops defending it. The following spring, traitors threw open the doors of the Theban walls to the Athenian militia, a fact which did not translate into real strategic contributions, but which certainly constituted a moral support to the cause of the besi...

Athenian: Alex Isabelle Spartan: Laura Beltrami The year is 431 BC, and the Spartans break the tie: without thinking twice they gather their troops from Corinth and besiege Plataea. It is the beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars. Their troops, which popular tales want to be very numerous, do not scare the Athenians, who put together a variegated and very angry dream team and proceed to engage the besieging army. The resulting clash is the first battle of the Peloponnesian Wars: a no-holds-barred brawl that ends with a head-to-head of the hoplitic phalanxes of the two cities. The Spartans, unprepared for such aggression, flee, abandoning the battlefield and reorganizing further south, in the territories adjacent to Corinth. In truth, the war had already begun far to the north, in Potidea, a rebel tributary city to Athenian power, where Spartan troops had barricaded themselves hoping for reinforcements from the south. Reinforcements had in fact arrived, but not for their faction: a large ...

American: Laura Beltrami Soviet: Alex Isabelle We were camping at the Marmore Falls, an idyllic place if it weren't for the fact that, that day, a hellish downpour was coming down on us, and it kept us in the tent for the whole day. It would have been terrible if it weren't for the fact that we had Twilight Struggle with us. It was therefore decided to review the history of the Cold War. The game begins with a first power struggle in Europe and the Middle East. The political game initially sees the United States respond to the economic crisis in Europe with the Marshall Plan, which opens the door to a shower of American influence in the old continent, and then allows the Americans to establish NATO. The blockade of Berlin in no way prevents the Americans from carrying out their projects. However, they are slowed down by the arrival of Charles de Gaulle at the helm of France. With his arrival the latter, already disputed between the two superpowers, definitively inclines toward...

English: Alex Isabelle German: Laura Beltrami The Battle of Magdeburg, a complex and poorly organized night operation with which the RAF proposed to strike the capital of Saxony, lasted a total of eight hours. Eight hours in the "narrated" life of the game, where each turn corresponds to half an hour of simulated time; about eight hours (but I think even more) even in the real world, where we interspersed the game several times, making it last a total of three nights. On the one hand, some six hundred British bombers, divided into four groups, arrived from across the Channel in the form of a terrifying 250-mile long single line (think about it, a 250-mile line of bombers). On the other hand, the forces of the Nachtjagd, that is to say the branch of the German air force specialized in night fighters. As mentioned, the raid was badly organized. Underestimating the German ability to react, the Englishman opted for a centralized breakthrough in the direction of Helgoland Bay. Her...

Date Game Title Link 26/07/20 Washington's War The war from the armchair click 13/08/20 Bomber Command The battle of Magdeburg click 04/09/20 Twilight Struggle The Central American crisis click 29/09/20 Hellenes The Archidamian War (1/2) click 02/10/20 Hellenes The Archidamian War (2/2) click 28/10/20 Commands & Colors: Ancients The battle of Akragas click 06/12/20 Space Empires Space marauders click 12/12/20 Dungeon Lords Broken tirannies click 31/12/20 Commands & Colors: Ancients The vengeance of Akragas click 01/01/21 Commands & Colors: Ancients The massacre on the Crimissos click 18/01/21 Commands & Colors: Ancients Ticino of blood click 22/02/21 Space Empires On the outskirts of the A...

American: Laura Beltrami British: Alex Isabelle This was "the Washington War" even though George Washington actually fought it very little. The northern colonies in fact soon turned into a sensational stalemate, marked only by occasional Iroquois riots. The American leader actually managed it quite badly and in 1776 he was almost captured: he managed to retreat before the battle, that he would have certeanly lost, and then built a well-garnished outpost in Springfield, where he cowardly remained until the end of the war.  The southern colonies went through a differen story. After the arrival of an English division, South Carolina and North Carolina were scared shitless and returned to fly the English flag, while Georgia, after a year of anarchy, chose to remain loyal to the rebel cause. Twice the congress venue was stormed and occupied by British troops. After the events of Philadelphia and Point Pleasant it was moved to the far south, to St. Mary's, in the devastated Geo...