Remember that huge game a couple of years ago on Cannae, the one with the rather nifty pic of Hannibal, the one you see at conventions for around $60 or so. Well, the same folks have produced a set of massive games on one of the largest battles of the 19th century: Solferino. (The Italians prefer San Martino, which is where most of their troops fought; the French fought at Solferino.) The key battle of the 2nd War for Italian Independence - 1859, against the Austrians - Solferino is probably the most important battle with the least recognition in modern warfare. If you have any interest in it, if you like your games big with lots of pieces … if you can read Italian (even minimally), and you have stacks of lira salted away, this one is for you. S/SM are two separate games covering two "halves" of the same battle. Combining both games, you get three, 19" x 27" maps sporting one of the ugliest, glaringest shades of yukko green known to mankind (with a white hex grid, no less). At best, it'll test your gag reflex. On the other hand, the 2200 counters - about 1000 of which are combat units - are rather interesting, if somewhat thin. (And I know thin.) While printed on only one side, they do sport their country's flags and contain lots of regimental-level information, the usual strength-morale-movement stuff. The unit scale is 100 per, but the hex scale is 260 yards, which means you get some pretty mean piles (of units). Now, I don't really read Italian; I do listen a lot to Italian opera - and listening to Verdi is de rigeur for full enjoyment of this game, especially as his name had deep meaning for the Risorgimento… most of his early works are highly nationalistic in nature, and his initials are an acronym for Vittorio Emanuele, Re d'Italia - but, again, if you are a wargamer you can struggle through most of this. Interestingly, most of the charts and play aids are in English (a major help); none of the rules are, though. And there are lots of charts, play aid sheets, OoB sheets, and the like. If you've played any of the pre-TCT GBACW games, much of this will be quite familiar. There are some differences, though. The Melee CRT is differential, and the Sequence of Play is Command/Fire Exchange/Move & Melee/Rally. Units that fire, by the way, may not move, a rule which requires lots of markers. There is also intensive use of formation and unit type to determine fire strength, similar in many ways to the Clash of Arms Napoleonic games, which this "Risorgimento" system also resembles. I'll go a step further. If you can't read Italian, but want to play the game, simply take the components and the charts and use, say, the rules from, say, Bloody April with a touch of Bataille des Quatre Bras. That's about where this game is at, so whether or not it's something you'll want to dabble in depends on how much you like early GBACW. The Order of Battle information provided should keep amateur designers in heat for at least a decade. How does it play? Well, to be honest, it took what seemed like three weeks to set up. I then played one turn (which took just somewhat short of forever) to see if I could fathom its mysteries and apply my pidgen Italian… realized that it was 1/2 GBACW, 1/4 Clash of Arms, and 1/4 Italian (dis-)ingenuity… liked the OB historicity, hated the map, thought the system was applicable and understandable,… and realized that playing a game with 2000+ counters for the rest of my born days just for a one column review was not going to hack it. As I said, you like 'em big, this is your bambino. Familiar but interesting system, a blue-plate special for the Monster Crowd. At worst, you get your lira worth in paper. A word of warning. If interested, you may be better off faxing the Camelot people at 0039-2-5693228. The Italian Postal Service is as reliable and honest as a street-bought Rolex. From IES. Write to Camelot S.A.S., Via Piacenza 24, 20135 Milan, Italy. Ain't gonna be cheap. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 7 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com