This blog is completely dedicated to Anticamente, three-dimensional wargame with area approach for the ancient period.
In this Blog we will follow Championships, comment the tournaments, discussion the tactics, players presentation and we will show armies and battlefields. So if looking for a place to further this rules, you've found it!
We are coming to second appointment of the year, with Italian Championship 2012 of Anticamente
The tournament will take place in Cremona at Games Academy located in Via Palestro N.3
The start of the tournament is scheduled at 10.30.
Theme of the tournament is Medioeval
Courtesy of the store managers the tournament will be free. Announce quickly your membership to participate to info@tridentebologna.it in order to be entitled to first choice of armies provided by the organization.
Please note that the following variations are also applied to the basic Rules:
Retreat of beaten units – pg. 39
The phrase:”the player that has suffered most destroyed/retreated units must abandon yje hex with his remaining units, stopping in one of the two hexes opposite the origin of the charge, but if it is a draw then the Attacker must retreat.“.
Should be replaced with the phrase:”the player that has suffered most destroyed/retreated units must abandon yje hex with his remaining units, stopping in one of the two hexes opposite the origin of the charge, but in case of a draw will be forced to retreat to which he remained fewer units in the hex. In the event of a equal units the Attacker must retreat“.
Hidden units – pg. 16
Hidden units can be done up to a maximum distance of 3 hexes from the side of placement
In 2008 it looked timidly into the Wargame world the Anticamente rules in Italian language.
In 2010 started the first Italian Championship and almost simultaneously the restyling of the rules, which thus reached its present shape. In late 2010 the rules was translated in English and now finally available in French
Anticamente is growing with its community. You can free download the rules in french lenguage HERE
But with so many Rules available why choose Anticamente? Why invest in a rules that compared to many other has less budget, the development is slower and has less chance of diffusion?
Strange to say, but step by step, several people doing this choice. Crazy? Perhaps, but apparently they are having fun and not seem so sorry of the chosen path. Not many, but they are really aggressive. If you find them on your way you can’t ignore them, because they will dream you with their battlefields, will teach you the real value of your choices on the playing field and make you love the wargame not for the number of people who take part but for the sheer pleasure of it. They don’t play Anticamente, they are Anticamente.
If we are not many today, tomorrow we will be more and after tomorrow even more! And when at last we shall be so many and you’ll look back, you can say: “Beginning, I was there!”
My commitment is to never give up and give all myself in taking forward this project. I’m not drive to marketing decisions, or economic goals, but only into respect of those people. And then I say to you, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers …
What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
The first hexagonal elements we will discuss are slopes. By slope, we mean a hex that has one or more sides at a lower elevation and two or more sides that come are at a higher elevation. The most common hexagon slopes are:
Straight slope
Curved slope
Close curved slope
Slope to enlarge
Slope to enlarge close
In order to make our hexagons modular, it is necessary to maintain a consistent design so all hexes will work together.
The first design constraint to be considered is the Junction Point of the slope. Clearly, the following two slopes can not be joined because the end of the first does not coincide with the beginning of the second.
In order to streamline the hex shaping and fitting process, we recommend you use the vertices or corners of the hexagon as junction points, so it will be easy to match without having to take complex measurements.
A second constraint to consider is the Incline of the slope. As you can see in the following example, two slopes that have the same incline but different junction points do not join smoothly.
Consider the angle of incline to the slope. Too shallow a slope may not be clearly identifiable, while too steep a slope could be perceived as unrealistic. A good compromise is a slope of 45°.
Having considered these constraints you can begin to realize your slopes. First, let’s take a look at making a straight slope.
First draw the two junction points (below) with a pen away from the vertices with a length equal to the height of the hexagon (in our case 1cm). This will allow you to obtain slopes of 45°.
Now, rotate the hexagon and draw the profile of the slope, joining the junction points (below).
Try to avoid making the profile of the slope to angular. Remember that nature is variable and irregular, so be creative. What is important is to start and finish at the junction points. Moreover, always try to arrive at the junction point with a line perpendicular to the side, in order to make the transition from one hex to another as smooth as possible.
WARNING! This profile is too regular.
WARNING! This profile does not meet the
junction point at 90°
That’s the ticket!
Cut along the contour with a saw or foam cutter. Try to keep the cut perpendicular to the surface of the hexagon. Be careful to match the start and end positions. Do not worry however if you middel of the cut
is a bit off, you’ll remove that anyway later. If the cut is particularly complex, take it in successive cuts. Be sure to meet the end of the first cut with the end of you second cut to keep the cut as clean as possible.
Now rotate the hexagon and draw a second profile parallel to the first cut. Don’t worry if the second profile is not perfectly parallel to the bottom edge of the first cut.
Cut a 45° angle, joining the bottom of the first profile with the second, upper profile. Don’t worry if the first few tries aren’t perfectly accurate. Concentrate primarily on the angles at the junction points.
Use a piece of fine sandpaper to smooth the edges of the profile. Don’t be afraid to leave the edges at the junction points a little more crisp.
You can create irregularities on the slope so as to make it even more realistic. You can create irregularities with a flame or solvents. In both cases, the foam will give off hazardous gases, so use extreme caution and work in a well-ventilated area with adult supervision.
If you plan to use a flame, a lighter or a candle will provide more than enough heat. Practice on a few scraps before you apply to your perfectly cut hex.
If you plan to use a solvent, dab on a small amount with an old brush. When the foam becomes soft, press lightly with the fingertips, molding the surface as you go.
Voila! Your sloped hex is finished. You just have to fix it upon a 1cm hexagon with PVA to make the slope as modular as possible.
In the video below, we use the techniques mentioned above to make a hex in about eight minutes.
I want to thank Jay for reviewing the text of the post!
Few time ago we showed a preview of the Army List for Falangiti Armies. The Army List should be used for those armies organized on Phalanx system, derived from Hellenistic Greece, and who were employed during the Punic Wars.
Obviously with Army List will be necessary the miniatures to used it. There are commercial products already available, but we could also avoid making something of our own? Of course not, so here you can preview the first images of the General of a Italic army. The Italians took turns at times in alliance with the Romans, and sometimes with the Carthaginians, then an army good for all occasions.
But where did we arrived? Ah yes, now I remember …
Yeah, it’s polystyrene and what do you thought it was? Probably the first impact with the hexagons it could be just show in the photos, but as we said in the post “ What do you see in this? “, you need to go beyond appearances and begin to see what you can create with this material.
So make the first step and begin to put down some ideas. Assuming you have 42 by 2cm hexagons and 36 hexagons by 1cm, what would you do? Well, here comes my little project, to begin to get familiar with the matter.
Now you begin to see something more in hex
Still can not you figure out what will we to do?! Well, these little hexagons will turn into a river, in some cordon hilly, plains and some wood shed. A small but excellent project to start
After France, Germany also took his first steps towards Anticamente. Here are two beautiful pictures, they can well understand the capabilities of our friendly German dentist Thomas.
For those who still don’t know, Hellana is one of the major Italian convention dedicated mostly to the historical wargame.
Even this year, as in the last 4 years, we have participated in this beautiful event, bringing an Anticamente scenery. The scenario is a Russian fortified City that is attacked from the Mongolian Army. The Druzhina come out from city to confront the enemy in open field and the result will be… well there have been many results, but the best was to amuse all those who wished to participate.
The battlefield was made by myself, the fortress to Alessadro Rocchi and the scenario was presented by Bizzio. Now I leave you to the pictures
Ah, the scenario has also been awarded as the best scenario to participate. No bad, isn’t it?!
When I started to think to make a battlefield with hexagonal elements, one of the first questions I had were: “How can I keep stationary all these hexagons?“.
The problem was serious, on a smooth surface the hexagons move, as you can see very well from this movie, just tilt the plan a little and …
And then I begun to think a thousand ways to keep them still. Small needles, magnets, side panels, double-sided tape, until in desperation I threw a hex on the table in my house and … miracle, the hexagon is stopped dead. Look at the miraculous properties of the “Panno Lenci”
Incredible, isn’t it?! Yes, the Panno Lenci is a special kind of felt, thin, soft and easily purchased at any haberdashery. This Link will give you some more news on Panno Lenci.
I usually buy the red empire, gives the table a touch of class which is not bad
Yesterday I received these beautiful images and a message to Andrea that I want to repeat without much delay. Here’s for you the Andrea’s words
What appears on the photos is a work in progress, because it will remain so until the end of time, but an example of what can be done with the hexagons of polystyrene for a portion of the field to Anticamente.
The original idea was to be able to make a guard tower protected by a river that flows into a lake or sea (you never know they are out rules for Anticamente siege or naval) for the medieval period, but can be used in any way you want, at the center of the field, in the corner and so on and you can “remove” to another field of battle so I could replace it with simple plains.
But even with a varied landscape with winter snow, maybe.
About a year I moved away “voluntarily” by the wargames, but finding this “piece” came to my mind because, for me it is important to the field on which game and how many chances can give the hexagon to prepare a workable sturdy surface wide that give special care to avoid those mounds or thickets to rest on the green baize.
The excellent work done by Fabio and his clan allows just that, combined with the pure play and “models”.
The bridge and the tower are other wonderful artworks by the artist McGijo with which I am sorry not to get these valued.
Trees and vegetation are the Timecast. The effect of water, where they stayed, is the Games Work. The rest, rocks and the ground is “homemade” with chopped charcoal.
The Gauls did not have traveled into the future, but they are there for you to predict the proportions.
Andrea Pagni
I don’t know you, but I hope so think again. I’d like to see not only finished this scenario, but seeing so many others by this artist, who has fully understood the purpose of Anticamente. Come on Andrea, we are all with you!
