With Historicon 2021 rapidly approaching, I am still preparing and play testing my two games.
Berestechko 1651.
My first game is the 1651 battle of Berestechko. The battle is part of the Khmelnytsky Cossack uprising against the Polish. I play tested this game at a local club games day in May this year. You can find the after action report here. The game performed reasonably well, but there are a couple of modifications that I will be making for Historicon. These modifications are designed to improve the play and lead to quicker combat. As a result of these changes, I have three units of Polish Haiduks on my paint bench that need to be finished. I also want to improve a building or two and paint some additional casualty markers.
The game will start at 9am on the Thursday morning, right at the start of the convention. There is space for eight players. The figures are 28mm. There will be about 600 figures with a large proportion of cavalry. There are also wagon tabors on both sides. I will use modified Pike and Shotte rules for easy game play.
Bicocca 1522 at Historicon 2021
My second game is the 1522 Battle of Bicocca in the Italian Wars. This game is going to be my larger game with a little over 1500 figures in 28mm. I am hoping to capture the spectacle of an Italian Wars Battle with large pike blocks and plenty of flags.
This weekend I play tested one portion of the battle, the assault on the defenses at the sunken road. I wanted to make sure that the game rules for the defenses made assault possible, but difficult. The Swiss managed to get to the defenses and engaged in fierce fighting before eventually being fought back. As a result of the play test I will be making a few minor changes to the rules.
The fight at the sunken road represents about 50 percent of the battlefield and about 50 percent of the troops that I will be using at Historicon 2021. There wasn’t enough space or players to deploy everything for the play test. Here are a few pictures of the play test.
I still have a lot of work to do to be ready for Historicon 2021. There is the villa and grounds for the Villa Bicocca to finish. I have to make a large drainage ditch. I also have to paint a few more units. The Historicon 2021 counter at the HMGS website says I have 73 days left, so I should be ready.
I have scheduled the game for 9am on Friday morning and runs for 4 hours. There is space for at least ten players. In order to complete the game in the allotted time, I will need to keep things moving at a brisk pace. The rules will be Pike and Shotte. Some commands will be simpler to run for novice players and some will have a greater variety of units for experienced players. My aim for both games is to keep things moving fast and to focus on the enjoyment of the games. I will make sure that there are no long debates on rules.