Here is a quick video after action report of the Pavia games at Historicon. The video covers the historical background to the battle, the layout of the battlefield and the inspiration behind the project (the Pavia tapestries). It then gets into the table top battle which is an amalgamation of the five games that we ran.
Here is also a quick overview photo of the game. This weekend I will do a wrap up of the Pavia project with lots of photos and a discussion of the results and recommendations for running the battle.
I am now coming down to the final admin tasks for the project. One of the most important is to prepare the Pavia unit data sheets.
I have a number of requirements for the data sheets:
Ideally each player should be able to accomplish most of the tasks with one double sided, laminated data sheet.
The data sheets should be easy to read and clear.
The data sheets should include all units under that player’s command. I don’t want players having multiple data sheets for different units.
The data sheets should be in the theme of the game, be colorful and good looking.
I also wanted to have the name of their commander and a photo of the commander model on the top of the data sheet for easy recognition.
The front of the data sheet has stats for each of the units under the player’s command. The reverse side has the key rules with modifiers – essentially a Quick Reference Sheet with most the stuff the player needs to run the game.
There will also be some secondary sheets with some of the other key rules and the break test on the back. There will be about eight of these secondary sheets around the table for when players need them. However, for probably 90% of the game, the single sheet will be enough.
Example of unit data sheets.
Below is an example of the front of the data sheet. You can see the commanders name, command rating, image and the value he adds when he joins a unit.
Underneath are the two types of unit he commands with their stats.
At the bottom are details of the special rules pertaining to the units under his command.
Unit data sheet
On the reverse will be the key rules for the game.
Quick reference sheet
The two pages are then laminated back to back.
Data sheet file
Here is a file with all of the data sheets for each of the commanders.
I am now ready to go with the completion of my Pavia unit data sheets. You will note that there are a few custom rules in some of the data sheets. The main ones are for large pike blocks and the effect of mud at Pavia. In my after action reports I will discuss how these rules influenced the game.
My next post will come after Historicon with an after action report. The convention starts in nine days time and as soon as the table is set up I will post photos in various hobby FaceBook groups.
At the time of writing this post, Historicon is less than two weeks away. The only major task left to do is print out and laminate the unit stat sheets, although I may make another fifty trees if time permits. I am now in the stage of Final preparations for Pavia.
With the weather being good this weekend I wanted to layout all of the terrain mats to check that everything fits together and to lay the park walls out on them to ensure that they are all the correct length. This post will show the images of this test layout. I know that the subject matter is not overly exciting, but it was a job that needed doing. It also gives an overall impression of the size of this project. In two weeks time I will be posting a lot of images of the final set up at Historicon. That should provide a lot more eye candy for regular readers.
The layout.
A number of post back I presented a drawing of my table design for the terrain mats. To save scrolling back, here is that drawing again:
This drawing shows the terrain mats that I will use for the park. There are another two terrain mats that I will use for the city of Pavia and the Five Chapels area. Each of the terrain mats are 4′ x 6′ giving a total playing area of 168 sqft.
In the drawing the brown areas are muddy areas that will be used for the woods. The green areas are the more open areas. The blue area at the top center is the Vernavolo stream.
The park mats.
The following images show the terrain mats for the park. I laid out the park walls and the Castello Mirabello to check how things fitted. There is a lot more terrain to go on the table, but it wasn’t necessary to lay it all out for a test fitting. I really liked the look of the brown areas of the woods verses the more open green areas. This difference should really pop once the trees are laid out.
This first image shows the overall layout with the walls and the Castello Mirabello. It was lucky that I did the layout as one or two of the wall sections needed a little trimming to fit correctly. After the photos I made the required adjustments to the walls. To show the shear size of the table the next image shows the walls with a 28mm figure. The above photos don’t really capture the size of the walls.
On the subject of scale, the Castello Mirabello is a huge terrain item, occupying an area of 26″ x 26″. In the first photo it looks like a small item, but the next image shows a close up.
The final image shows the walls where the Vernavolo leaves the park.
For this section I modeled the wall on the image of the same area in the Pavia tapestries.
Mats for the city of Pavia and the Five Chapels
The final two mats are for the city of Pavia and the Five Chapels. You will notice that in the top right corner there is the edge of a river. This is the Ticono and I will place the famous pontoon bridge from the Pavia tapestries across this river.
Summary of Final preparations for Pavia
The Final preparations for Pavia are now in the how stretch. It will be great to see how everything comes together on the table at Historicon. This test fit of the mats has given me a lot of confidence that everything will fit and that there will be space for movement and a good game. If you have signed up to play at Historicon, I look forward to seeing you there.
I will be posting a load of photos in a couple of weeks time.
