RISORGIMENTO  1859
                                                THE BATTLES

                                                               GMT

Review
By  LODOVICO BADALI

INTRODUCTION

In this review, we will analyze the game “ RISORGIMENTO 1859 “, by GMT, about the section covering the two major battles of the war ( Magenta and Solferino, in addition there is the scenario San Martino, which can be played as a separate battle even if it was part of the greater battle of Solferino ).  
In the first part of our work, we will start giving a look to the maps and the counters; then we will proceed with the general rules and with the rules specific for each scenario; finally we will write about the charts and tables. In the second part, we will write our considerations about the game, the subject and the various aspects of this historical-military simulation, and then we will focalize our attention on each scenario, giving our opinion about the various battles’ tactics for each player and other information.

 
MAPS AND COUNTERS

As we have seen above, in Risorgimento 1859 there are three scenarios ( here, we do not count the Campaign Game ) and three maps. The first one is for Magenta battle; the other two are the North Map for Solferino battle, used also for San Martino scenario, and the South Map for Solferino. As a general view about the maps, we can write that they are well done. Each map shows the various terrain features with great accuracy and each terrain feature is easily distinguishable from the others. Each type of terrain ( natural or manmade ), where the two battles take place, is present and there is great attention even for the less important particulars. Some mistakes are present about the names of some localities, but some names are really of difficult spelling for non-Italian speakers ( for example, in the Solferino South Map, there is CAMPO DI MADOLE, in realty the name is CAMPO DI MEDOLE). However, the maps are really a great work of art. Now, we will write shortly about each map. 
MAGENTA MAP. The map can be dived into sections: the western part, made by the TICINO river and the few hexes of clear or woods terrain; the eastern part, which comprehends the towns of Magenta and of Robecco, with other minor villages, the artificial canal NAVIGLIO GRANDE, several hexes of clear or marsh terrain and the great expanse of high-cultivated terrains. The first part is practically unused ( except for the arriving French reinforcements ); the second one is the centre of the battle. This second part is divided ( from west to east ) by the railway south of which there is the important rail/road centre of Magenta and the town of Robecco. In addition, there are several minor roads crossing the high-cultivated terrains and one major road that, like the railway, brings to Milano. The Ticino River is un-crossable except through the rail/road bridge of PONTE NUOVO DI BOFFALORA. On the map, there are the Turn Record Track, the French Activations track, the Austrian Activations track and the Terrain Key. The Turn Record Track reports when the French and Austrian reinforcements arrive, the two turns of Heat and the two final turns of Night. The French Activations Track has three spaces, one for each French corps ( Imperial Guard, II Corps, and III Corps ). The Austrian Activations Track has six spaces, one for each Austrian corps plus the reserve ( I Corps, II Corps, III Corps, V Corps, VII Corps, and the Reserve ). 
SOLFERINO MAPS. There are two maps used for the Solferino battle: the North Map and the South Map. The first one is also used for the San Martino scenario. The North Map shows the area ( from west to east ) from an ideal line joining the two towns of LONATO ( in the north ) and of CASTIGLIONE DELLE STIVIERE ( in the south ), to eight hexes eastern of the town of POZZOLENGO. The same area is comprehended ( from south to north ) between the hexes-line one hex southern of Castiglione delle Stiviere to the hexes-line one hex northern of Lonato. The map shows the three towns of Lonato, Castiglione delle Stiviere and Pozzolengo plus several minor villages and various farms. In addition, there are several minor roads and trails, a portion of the railroad that brings to Peschiera, some portions of two major roads, one deep stream, some minor streams, a little part of the Lago di Garda in the northeastern corner and the Turn Record Track ( used for both Solferino and San Martino scenarios ). The most part of the map ( all the eastern and the southern portions ) has difficult terrains, with several elevations, sloops and woods: only the hexes in the northeastern corner ( near the Lago di Garda ) are clear. The South Map ( used only in Solferino scenario ) shows the area ( from west to east ) comprehended by a hexes-line eight hexes western of the town of MEDOLE to the town of VOLTA. The north map-edge is overlapped by the southern map-edge of the North Map and the south map-edge is formed by a hexes-line five hexes southern of the town of GUIDIZZOLO. In this area, there are the towns of MEDOLE, CAVRIANA, GUIDIZZOLO and VOLTA, two artificial canals in the south-western corner of the map, several villages and farms, trails, minor roads and one major roads plus one castle ( near the village of Solferino ). In addition, there are some parts of only three minor rivers and one hex of lake. It also contains the Map Key. The South Map has only few hexes of clear terrain ( around the town of Medole, called CAMPO DI MEDOLE and around the town of Guidizzolo ): the remaining part is divided in two major types of terrains. In the northern and eastern part, the map has hills, sloops and woods, in the southern and eastern part, it has a great number of light-cultivated hexes. The two maps together show a very difficult battlefield, with great advantages for the defender and few hexes that do not give protections. In other words, an interesting place for a battle, which gives many troubles for the attacker and, at the same time, sufficient space to manoeuvre a great number of troops. The Turn Record Track starts from the turn of 5 a.m. ( for the Solferino scenario ) or 7 a.m. ( for the San Martino scenario ) and ends with the 8 p.m. turn for both scenarios. There are three turns of Heat and three turn of possible Rain, it also shows the Allied and Austrian reinforcements’ turn of arrival ( for both scenarios ) plus the turns in which the Reserves are released.
COUNTERS. In Risorgimento 1859, there are three types of counters: combat units ( infantry, cavalry and artillery ), commanders ( brigadiers, corps’ commanders and OCs ) and several types of markers. 
The counters for the combat units are divided in three types: infantry, cavalry and artillery. On the counters, there is the silhouette of the corresponding unit ( an infantryman for the infantry, a cavalryman for the cavalry and a gun for the artillery ). Each counter reports a variable number of information.
An infantry unit has: its unit’s name, the name of its brigadier ( who can change from one scenario to another ), the nationality colour ( the background of the counter ),its corps affiliation ( represented by a colour band on the top of the unit ), its brigade symbol ( a square, a star or other ), its cohesion rating and its movement allowance. The unit’s name is its historical name ( all the infantry units are battalions ). The name of its brigadier indicates the commander, at brigade level. The nationality colour shows the nationality of the unit ( blue for French, Red-Orange for Piedmont, Light-Gray for Austrian 1st Army, Dark-Gray for Austrian 2nd Army ). Its corps affiliation indicates at which corps the unit belongs. Its brigade symbol indicates at which brigade the unit belongs ( in Risorgimento 1859, the combat units, of any type, are grouped in brigades and then the brigades in corpses ). Its cohesion rating represents the ability of a unit to withstand the vigour of combats. Its movement allowance shows the maximum number of MPs a unit has per activation. The back of the counter shows the unit disordered. There are two types of specialized infantry units: Jaeger/Chasseur units and Light Infantry units. The first ones show the same information than a line infantry unit, the unique difference is that their cohesion rating is in a yellow box ( it indicates that the units can fire before the melee combat or they can retreat before to be attacked by an infantry unit ). The second ones have only one difference, their cohesion rating is in a white box, which indicates that the units can fire before the melee combat, but not retreat before combat and that the units suffer a -1 penalty when attacking in a melee combat. 
A cavalry unit shows the same information as an infantry unit, with one addition: the indication if that cavalry unit is Heavy Cavalry ( H ) or Light Cavalry ( L ). The two types of cavalry units have specific properties that we will describe below. Differently from an infantry unit, a cavalry unit represents a regiment, not a battalion. 
An artillery unit has the same information than the two other types of units with the exception of cohesion rating. Artillery units have no cohesion, instead a number that indicate the Maximum Range of Fire followed by a letter, which indicates the Gun Type ( F for Field, H for Heavy, Rf for the new French Rifled Field gun, R for Rockets, only in Solferino scenario, and F with a head of horse for Horse Artillery ). The maximum range of fire depends from the artillery type: for F type, it is of seven hexes, for H type it is of nine hexes, for Rf type it is of ten hexes, for R type it is of nine hexes, for Horse Artillery it is of six hexes. Much far away an artillery unit fires, worse its fire is. The back of the counter of an artillery unit shows it disordered; disordered artillery cannot fire.
The commanders’ counters are divided in three types: Brigadiers, Corps Commanders and OCs. Each counter has two sides: the front for an Active commander, the back for a Finished commander ( we will explain deeper the use of them below ), the unique exception is the counters of OCs that have only one side. 
The Brigadier’s counter ( front ) has the following information: Brigadier’s Name, Division/Corps to which he belongs, Rank, Command Range, Commitment DRM, Movement Allowance, a letter that indicates in which scenario he is present ( M for Magenta, S for Solferino: San Martino scenario as a part of the Solferino battle has no specific indication for it ), Nationality Colour, Brigade Symbol ( naturally the brigade that he commands ) and Corps Affiliation represented by a colour band on the top of the counter. The Brigadier’s Name is the historical name of the commander. The Division/Corps to which he belongs shows at which division ( the game has not division level commanders or formations, this is only for historical information ) and at which corps his brigade belongs ( the information is showed by a number for the division followed by a Roman number for the corps ). Rank is one star for the brigadiers. Command Range is used to determine if a unit of his brigade is in command or not: the number shows the command range of a brigadier measured in MPs. Commitment DRM is a rating, expressed as die roll modifier, used when any of his in command units wishes to attack ( see below ). Movement Allowance is the maximum number of MPs a brigadier has per activation ( normally twelve ). The letter indicates the scenario in which he is present. Nationality colour ( the colour that forms the background of the counter ) indicates the nationality of the brigadier. The Brigade Symbol indicates the brigade under his command: the symbol on the brigadier counter is the same to that on all the units of his brigade. The Corps Affiliation shows at which corps his brigade belongs ( and naturally the brigadier himself ) and is the same for all the brigadiers, their brigades and the units of the same corps. 
The Corps Commander’s counter ( front ) has the following information: Corps Commander’s Name, Corps/Army indication ( showed by a Roman number for the corps and 1A or 2A for the Army, this last only for the Austrian corps commanders ), Rank, Command Range, Continuity, Movement Allowance, Nationality/Army Colour, Corps Affiliation represented by a coloured band on the top of the counter. Corps Commander’s Name is his historical name. Corps/Army indication shows the corps under his command and, only for the Austrians, the Army to which his corps is attached. Rank is three stars for the corps commanders. Command range is the number of hexes that a brigadier from that corps must be within to be Under Orders. The Continuity rating is used in several occasions ( for a second activation in a row, for the corps demoralization’s check and for a third activation of that corps ), in other words, it indicates the ability of a corps commander to make his corps acting at its best. Movement Allowance shows the number of MPs a corps commander has ( normally thirty ): a corps commander can move only one time in a turn, during the Corps Commander Movement Phase in the End-Turn Phase. Nationality/Army colour functions exactly as for the brigadiers. Corps Affiliation is the coloured band on the top of the corps commander’s counter and on the top of all the brigadiers and the units of the same corps ( the coloured band is different from corps to corps ). 
The Overall Commanders counter has only four information: the OC’s Name, the Nationality Indication, the OC’s Initiative Rating and the Movement Allowance. There are four OCs: Emperor Napoleon III ( present in Magenta and Solferino scenarios ), King Victor Emmanuel II ( present in Solferino and San Martino scenario ), Gyulai ( present only in Magenta scenario ) and Emperor Franz Josef ( present only in Solferino scenario ). The Nationality Indication is the French flag for Napoleon III, the Italian flag for Victor Emmanuel and the Double Eagle for Gyulai and Franz Josef. The OC’s Initiative Rating is used only as a DRM for Initiative Determination at the start of each turn. The Movement Allowance is thirty MPs for all the OCs ( they can move in the same phase of the corps commanders’ movement ). In realty, the OC of each side is the player, so the only scope of the OCs’ counters is to provide a DRM for the initiative.
In addition, there are several types of markers, here we give only a list of them, their use will be explained during the course of the review: SQUARE, FINISHED, ARTILLERY FIRE-1/2 MOVE, AWARE, TURN, MUD, SURPRISE, DON’T CROSS NAVIGLIO, CROSS NAVIGLIO, BRIDGE BLOWN, OUT OF COMMAND, HORS DE COMBAT, STRAT MOVE, HITS and two not used: DEPLETED and RESTING FOR RECOVERY. 

GENERAL RULES:
THE COMMAND SYSTEM, STACKING, TOWNS, REINFORCEMENTS, FACING, ZOC

THE COMMAND SYSTEM. The Command System is used to determine an army’s efficiency, its ability to use its resources. There are three level of command: Brigadiers, Corps Commanders and Overall Commanders. 
The Brigadiers are the commanders of Brigades: this is the first level of command. Each unit is part of a brigade ( there are some exceptions that we will see below ). We have seen above the various indications on each combat unit and on each brigadier. A brigadier moves with his brigade, when his corps is activated. The most important ratings on his counter are: Commitment DRM and Command Range. The Commitment DRM is a rating, expressed as a die roll modifier, used when any of his In Command unit wishes to attack ( see below ). The Command Range is used to determine which of his combat units is In Command. Units not within range are Out of Command; however, if a unit is outside its brigadier’s range, but adjacent to a unit of the same brigade that is in command, it, too, is considered in command. This range is the number of Leader Movement Point ( not hexes ) over which a leader may extend his influence. Brigades can be either Under Orders or Without Orders. When a brigade is activated and is Under Order, the individual units that are In Command may: Move, Fire ( only artillery, Jaeger/Chasseur and Light Infantry units ), Attack ( not allowed for artillery units ) and Rally ( if they have not done any of the above ). If an activated brigade is Without Orders, or there are individual units that are Out of Command they may: Move ( but not adjacent to an enemy combat unit ), Rally ( if they have not moved ); they may not fire or attack, but they defend normally. Brigadiers that are Without Orders can attempt to change that to Under Orders. To do this the owing player roll a die, modified by the brigadier’s Commitment DRM: if the adjusted die roll is four or less, his brigade is Under Orders, if the adjusted die roll is five or more, that brigade may not do anything, except rally. 
Corps Commanders are the second level in the Command System: each of them commands a corps, which is formed by a variable number of brigades. Corps Commanders provide initiative and orders for their brigadiers. Each Corps Commander has three rating: Range ( in this case, Range is the number of hexes that a brigadier from that corps must be within to be Under Orders ), Continuity and Movement Allowance. Brigadiers that are within range of their corps commander are Under Order: those that are not are Without Orders. A brigadier that is Under Orders has all his combat units within range as In Command, except for those who are not within range: a brigadier Without Orders has all his combat units Out of Command, regardless where they are. Each corps commander has a Movement Allowance of thirty and moves only in the End-Turn Phase, during the Corps Commander Movement Segment. However, if a corps commander moves more than twelve MPs worth of hexes, he is flipped to his Reverse Side, which has lower ratings. He may be returned to full status after any Corps Commanders Movement Segment in which he does not move more than twelve MPs. The Continuity Rating is the ability of a corps commander to activate his corps out of a free activation. The Continuity Rating is used in several occasions, which we will explain below. Here, it is sufficient to write that in order for a corps commander to pass the Continuity Roll that die roll must be lower or equal than the corps commander continuity rating, in other case the die roll fails. There are two special cases regarding the corps commanders: the first one is the commander of the French Imperial Guard, the second is the King Victor Emmanuel II. The commander of the French Imperial Guard, St. Jean d’ Angely, has two Range ratings, four and six: the second one is used only in the case he is within one hex of Napoleon III. The King Victor Emmanuel II acts as both Overall Commander of the Piedmont Army as well as its ( sole ) corps commander: brigadiers treat him as a corps commander. 
The third level of the Command System is represented by the Overall Commanders. In Risorgimento 1859, the player represents the abilities of an army’s overall commander. The sole purpose of the OC counters is to provide a DRM for Initiative, which he may do as long as he is on the map. In the Initiative Determination Phase, each player rolls a die, modified by the initiative rating of the historical OC (i.e. the counter ); the high roller gets the Initiative for that turn. The player with the Initiative gets a Free Activation ( see below ), indicating which corps command he wants to start that turn.
Before to write how the Activations works, we write shortly about some specific rules concerning some combat units and their status in the command chain. 
For the artillery units, most of them are assigned to a specific brigade: however, there are also a minority of batteries that are “ Reserve “. These batteries may never be commanded by infantry brigadiers, they may be treated as an individual command when their corps is activated (i.e. all the non-attached batteries are moved/fired at the same time). 
For the cavalry units there are three cases: French, Austrian and Piedmontese. All French cavalry is assigned to a specific brigadier. The Austrians have cavalry assigned either to individual corps or to the Army Cavalry Reserve. Corps-assigned cavalry has no leader; one unit per brigade may be commanded by any brigadier in that corps. Army Reserve Cavalry is led by a named brigadier. Individual Piedmontese cavalry unit are assigned to brigades. In addition to the above special rules there is another called Massed Cavalry Attack ( only available for the French and the Austrian ). A player may decide to use his cavalry in a Massed Cavalry Attack. Each player may undertake one Massed Attack per turn and he must announce it. The eligible cavalry units must Charge when activated; units that do not charge are considered to not have been activated. The procedure is different for the French and the Austrian ( the Piedmontese cannot make Massed Cavalry Attack ). The French player selects a cavalry brigadier: all cavalry units within that cavalry leader’s range are eligible for Massed Cavalry Attack. To activate a Massed Attack, the player uses the Corps Activation to which the chosen leader belongs. This is considered to be that corps' activation: however only the massed cavalry units are used, the others remain inactive. For the Austrian the procedure is similar, with three differences: 1 ) 1st Army cavalry may not combine with 2nd Army cavalry; 2 ) there are only three brigadiers eligible to lead a Massed Attack ( the leaders are Voparterney, Palffy and Zichy ); 3 ) the Austrian uses the Reserve Activation for this. Finally, there is a specific rule for the Austrian Reserve Units. Certain Austrian units are activated by treating them as an ersatz corps. These units are: the 1st Army Reserve batteries and the cavalry brigades from the 1st and 2nd Army. All these units are considered active when activating the Reserve ( the Reserve has a continuity rating of two ). 
Now we write about the activation system.
A player’s units are activated by corps. Corpses are activated individually, either by Free Activation or Continuity. When a corps is activated, all the brigadiers, with the brigades under their command, belonging to that corps are activated, regardless where they are ( brigadiers can be Under Orders or Without Orders, single units can be In Command or Out of Command, as we have seen above ). Normally a corps can be activated twice in a turn, however a corps can be activated a third time in a non-Weather turn ( this is called Extended Activation ). A Weather Turn is a turn of Heat or Rain ( see below the specific rules in the Play-Book The Battles ): in these turns the normal number of activation is one, a second activation is considered an Extended Activation. In order for a corps to be activated a third time, the player must roll a number equal or less than the continuity ranting of the corps commander: if he succeeds, the corps is activated a third time, otherwise the corps commander is Finished ( put a Finished marker on him ). A player may attempt Extended Activation only once per turn ( not per corps per turn ). If a corps gets an Extended Activation, it incurs in two penalties: 1 ) for each unit that moves, roll a die and if the number rolled is higher than the Adjusted Cohesion of that unit, it incurs a Hit; 2 ) each unit that attacks ( fire does not count ) earns an automatic Hit. After a player has undertaken all his actions with his activated corps, he may either Pass play to his opponent or try to activate another corps. In order to get this, the player must roll for the Continuity ( as seen above ). Whenever a player has the Initiative and it is his first activation of the turn, or the opponent fails a Continuity Roll, or Passes, the player gets a Free Activation: he may activate any corps ( not already activated two times ) without rolling the die. If a player gets two consecutive activation segments, his opponent gets a Free Activation, after which the opponent may resume his Continuity Rolls. No corps may be activated twice in a row ( the only exception is if the player has only one corps available for activation ). Whenever one side has Finished and the other has corps that may still be activated, the following happens. 1 ) The first corps selected has a Free Activation; 2 ) for all subsequent corps, the player rolls the die to activate, if the roll passes the Continuity Rating of the corps commander, that corps gets a normal activation, otherwise the corps is activated but may not attack. The Activation Phase ends whenever one of the following occurs. 1 ) Both players voluntary pass consecutively in either of the following order: Austrian, then French; or French, then Austrian, then French; 2 ) neither player has a command eligible to be activated.
STACKING. There are seven rules covering the Stacking in Risorgimento 1859. 1 ) Up to TWO infantry or cavalry units of the same brigade may stack together. 2 ) ONE artillery unit may stack with one infantry or cavalry unit. 3 ) THREE artillery units may stack together. 4 ) When using Strategic Movement, only one combat unit may occupy a hex. 5 ) When in Reserve status, units may over-stack at no penalty. 6 ) Infantry in a Town has special restrictions. 7 ) Markers and Leader do not count for stacking. Stacking restrictions apply at all times, except during an attack ( units must move in the attacked hex in order to attack ). Artillery may fire regardless where it is in a stack: Jaeger/Chasseurs and Light Infantry may fire only if they are the top unit in a stack.
TOWNS. Towns ( not village ) have their peculiar rules. A player may stack up to three infantry units, or two infantry and one artillery units, in a town hex, regardless of their parent organization. Cavalry stacking restrictions still apply. If two or more infantry units are stacked together in a town hex, they gain the following advantages: 1 ) they have all-around, six frontal facing and ZOC; 2 ) when living the hex, or attacking out of that hex, they may do so through any one hexside. Only two units may attack out of a Town hex and a unit that starts its movement in a town hex that is tacking advantage of town stacking pays an extra MP to leave that hex. Cavalry does not gain any benefit from a tow hex; they may not charge an enemy in a Town hex. 
REINFORCEMENTS. Reinforcements enter the game in the turn listed in the Reinforcement Arrival Scheduled for the scenario ( see the Play-Book below ). They enter when their corps is activated. Reinforcements may enter using Strategic Movement, if they are eligible. Enemy units cannot move closer than three hexes to an entry hex, until all the reinforcements are entered the map ( in other words, a player cannot block the entry of enemy reinforcements by occupying the enemy entry hex ).
FACING. The position of a counter ( facing, adjacency, and zone of control ) has an impact upon what a unit can and/or must do in the game. All units must be faced in a hex so that the top of the unit ( the side with its unit name ) faces along one of the hexside. All units in a hex must be faced the same way: the three hexes to the front are called the Frontal hexes, those behind the Rear. There are two exceptions to the rule above. 1 ) Stacked artillery, or artillery stacked with an infantry, do not have the same facing. 2 ) To protect against a cavalry charge, non-Jaeger/Chasseur infantry, may form a Square ( put the Square marker on them ): to do so the unit must not  be adjacent to an enemy unit and must spend 1 MP. Square confers the following effects: 1 ) units in a Square cannot move; 2 ) all hexes adjacent to the Square are frontal; 3 ) all units in the Square may fire, but they fire separately; 4 ) cavalry add one to their Charge Commitment die roll when charging a Square. Facing has no effect on movement and a unit is free to change its facing at any time. A unit may attack only into its Frontal hexes. Rallied units may change facing.
ZONE OF CONTROL ( ZOC ). Infantry and cavalry units exert a ZOC into all three frontal hexes; there are no ZOC to a unit’s rear ( artillery and disordered units has no ZOC ). A ZOC does not extend across impassable hexsides or into town hexes, through bridges, up sheer or steep hexsides. A unit in Heavily or Lightly-Cultivated hex exerts a ZOC only into the one hex directly to its front ( ZOCs extend into any frontal hex directly connected by a road or trail ). 

GENERAL RULES:
SEQUENCE OF PLAY

Here we give a look to the Sequence of Play and to all the rules correlated with the specific steps of it. Each turn follows a set sequence.
A .INITIATIVE DETERMINATION PHASE. In this phase, each player rolls a die, modified by the Initiative Rating of the OC; the player who rolls high gets the Initiative for the turn. The player with the Initiative gets a Free Activation, indicating which corps he wants to start that turn. 
B. ACTIVATION PHASE.
1. RESERVE PLACEMENT SEGMENT. In this phase, each player may place brigades in Reserve, placing a Reserve marker upon the brigade’s commander ( in some scenarios, some Brigades start in Reserve ). All In Command units in a brigade, regardless of proximity, are together placed in Reserve. They may voluntary be brought out of Reserve only in the Out of Reserve Segment. Units in Reserve: 1 ) may not move, fire, or attack; 2 ) may overstack while in Reserve to the extent that all units from the same brigade may stack in one hex; 3 ) may rally and/or recover, being in Reserve is the only way a unit can Recover. If any enemy combat unit moves within three hexes of any unit of a Brigade in Reserve, that brigade will be released involuntary from Reserve. In this case, upon such voluntary release, any reserve units that are overstacked get an “ interphase “ in which they can move one hex to conform to stacking rules. 
2. CORPS ACTIVATION SEGMENT. The Initiative player selects which of his corpses he wishes to activate. When a corps is activated, he may perform available actions with all of the brigades in that corps. Each brigade finishes its actions before the next brigade goes. The individual units In Command in a Brigade Under Orders may do the following actions, in this order: Move, Fire ( if eligible ), Attack, and Rally ( if they have not done any of the above ). The individual units In Command in a brigade Without Orders or the individual units Out of Command ( even if their brigade is Under Orders ) may: Move, but not adjacent to an enemy unit, Rally ( if they have not moved ); they may not fire or attack, they may only defend normally. It is always possible for a brigadier Without Orders to attempt to change his status in Under Orders ( as we have seen above ). 
Movement.
Movement Allowance ( MA ) represents the maximum number of Movement Points ( MPs ) that any unit may “ normally “ expend during a single Activation Segment. MP costs depend on unit type and terrain entered: movement into/across certain terrain types will cause certain units to become Disordered. Units using Roads ( Major or Minor is the same, with the only distinction that a Major Road is never effected by Rain ) pay the Road cost instead the normal cost of the terrain in the hex; in addition a road reduces the cost to cross elevated hexsides ( naturally only if the unit moves along the road ). Trails halve the cost to enter a specific type of hex; Railroads are treated as if they were Trails. Running Water are treated as follows: 1 ) the River Ticino ( Magenta Map ) is impassable, except on bridges; 2 ) Canals and Deep Streams are impassable for some unit types, in addition infantry crossing such hexsides incurs an automatic Disorder; 3 ) Shallow Stream are treated as indicated in the TEC; 4 ) Fords are present where a road crosses a stream without a bridge. The hexsides where the elevation changes are called Slopes, there are three types of Slope: 1 ) Gradual, one-level change; 2 ) Sharp, two-level change; 3 ) Sharp, three-level change. All hexes at level four or five are considered Rough Terrain. In Solferino scenario only, there are Ridges that represent sharp, but narrow, rises in elevation, the cost to cross a Ridge is based on its elevation change, as listed in the TEC. Certain hexes/hexsides are impassable ( some for all the types of units, others only for some types ), in this case the “ one hex “ allowance rule ( see below ) does not allow passage of impassable hexes/hexsides. There are some rules regarding the               Heavily-Cultivated hexes on Magenta map ( see the Play-Book below ), for the effects of the Light-Cultivated hexes see above the specific ZOC rules. Towns and village are treated differently in terms of movement and combat benefits: hexes with only one building are treated like the other terrain in the hex. There are some specific rulers regarding castles ( there are only two, one above the village of Solferino, the other is Monte Rolondo at Magenta ). Only one unit ( not cavalry ) may gain the benefits of a castle, all the other units are considered outside it. When the castle is attacked, the units outside it are treated separately and attacked separately. Each unit moves separately and one unit’s movement must be completed before another can begin: a unit’s facing has no effect on how or where it may move. A unit can always move one hex, regardless of available MP, if it is permitted to enter that hex at all. Artillery units that fire may also move, but they may use only half of their MA for that segment: they may first fire, then move ( in such a case mark the artillery unit with ARTY FIRED ½ MOVE marker ). This is the only exception to the normal sequence ( move, fire, attack, and rally ): an artillery unit may fire either before or after moving. Cavalry units may not move adjacent to an enemy combat unit unless such movement is part of a Charge: artillery units may not move adjacent to an enemy unit unless the two are separated by impassable terrain. No unit may move within two hexes of an enemy Entry Hex until all reinforcements have entered the game. When a unit moves adjacent to an enemy unit there is a cost in MPs in addition to the terrain cost: moving adjacent has different costs depending from several factors. The costs to move adjacent to an enemy infantry or cavalry units are different. 1 ) All regular infantry pay +2 MPs to enter an enemy ZOC. 2 ) All regular infantry pay +1 MP to move adjacent to any enemy combat unit, but not into a ZOC hex. 3 ) Light infantry and Jaeger/Chasseurs pay +1 MP to move adjacent to an enemy, including a ZOC hex. 4 ) There is no MP cost to move adjacent to an enemy artillery unit not stacked with infantry/cavalry. 5 ) Cavalry may move adjacent to an enemy unit only as part of a Charge, though there is no additional MP cost. Units most stop upon moving into an enemy ZOC: if they move adjacent to an enemy unit, but not into its ZOC, they do not have to stop. If a unit starts movement in an enemy ZOC, it may do three things: 1 ) stand still; 2 ) stay and change its facing one hexside; 3 ) it may leave the enemy ZOC at a cost of one additional MP and it cannot enter directly into another enemy ZOC. If an enemy infantry unit is about to move adjacent to a cavalry unit, the cavalry may react by withdrawing two hexes away: horse artillery is considered cavalry for the purpose of this rule. The enemy infantry may continue to move, if it has sufficient MPs. 
Jaeger/Chasseurs units may, withdraw before an enemy unit move into their ZOC, to withdraw the unit moves one hex to the rear. The enemy unit may not move further, but the withdrawing unit may not Reaction Fire ( see below ).
There is a specialized type of movement, called Strategic Movement. A unit using Strategic Movement ( SM ) have a Strategic Movement marker on it to indicate that the unit is performing a SM. Using SM, the unit’s MA is double, however, when using SM: 1 ) no unit may start or move within three hexes of any enemy combat unit; 2 ) units may not move in any Heavily-Cultivated hex unless it is by road; 3 ) units may not move in any Lightly-Cultivated hex unless it is by road or trail; 4 ) only one combat unit may stack in any one hex.  The maximum MA of a no-horse artillery unit using strategic movement is ten ( horse artillery use SM like infantry or cavalry ).
Fire.
Artillery. Artillery may fire any time it is activated, once per activation segment: artillery can change fencing and fire in the same phase, beside artillery may fire in Reaction, during an opposing player’s activation segment. Artillery fire is resolved by rolling the die for each firing unit, with various adjustments: artillery fire affects all units in the target hex, individually. The effectiveness of the fire depends from the gun type and the range. There are five gun types: 1 ) F, field; 2 ) H, heavy; 3 ) R, rockets; 4 ) Rf, rifled; 5 ) an Horse head, horse artillery. The maximum range in hexes of an artillery unit is printed on the counter ( for example, an F , field, artillery unit has a maximum range of seven ): range effects are used as a DRM to the fire resolution. If artillery units of the same corps are staked together, or in adjacent hexes, they may combine fire if they are within range of the corps commander: when combining fire, add two to the roll for each additional battery. French artillery may combine fire only when stacked in the same hex, Piedmontese batteries may never combine fire. Artillery firing at a range of two or more hexes can fire only if they can see the target ( in other words, they must have a Line of Sight, LOS ). LOS is blocked in four cases: 1 ) any intervening hex is of a higher elevation than both target and firing hex; 2 ) any intervening hex is Woods, Heavily-Cultivated, or a hex occupied by a combat unit ( friendly or enemy is the same ), and neither target nor firer is at a higher elevation than that woods/occupied hex; 3 ) the firing hex is higher than the target and higher than the intervening Woods or Heavily-Cultivated hex, and if the obstruction is halfway between the two or closer to the target; 4 ) the target hex is higher than the firing hex and higher than the intervening woods or HC hex, and if the woods is halfway between the two or closer to the firing hex. If both target and firing unit hex are higher than intervening obstructions, fire is allowed ( remember that Woods, Villages, Towns and Castles are treated as being one level higher than the hex they are in ). If the target is not adjacent, an artillery unit firing from higher elevation gains the following benefits: +1 DRM if firing down two levels, +2 DRM if firing down three levels. If the target hex contains only Jaeger/Chasseurs ( a Dispersed Target ), the artillery unit has a -2 DRM to its fire. On the other side, if the target hex contains two or more non artillery units ( a Massed Target ); the artillery gets a +1 DRM. Artillery may fire during an opposing player’s activation, this is called Reaction Fire. An artillery unit may do one of each type of Reaction Fire for each activation segment ( of the opposing player, of course ): 1 ) Counter-Battery Fire, an artillery may fire back at any artillery unit that fire at it ( this fire is not simultaneous; it occurs after the original fire and the application of its result ); 2 ) Pre-.Attack Fire, an artillery battery that is about to be fired at ( by Jaegers/Chasseurs or Light Infantry, see below ) or attacked ( see below ), or into whose frontal hexes an enemy unit moves, may fire at any one frontal hex. To resolve the artillery fire, roll a die ( modified by: range, terrain, combined fire, elevated fire, massed or dispersed target ), then consul the Artillery Fire Table for the result. There are four possible results: 1 ) NE, No Effect; 2 ) CDR, Cohesion Die Roll, roll a die and if the roll is less or equal than the target’s cohesion rating, nothing happens, otherwise the target ( for target we mean all the units in the target hex ) become disorganized ( flip the counter/s on the Disorganized side ), this is a NE, No effect, result on artillery; 3 ) D, All units in the target hex become disorganized; 4 ) D+1, All units in the target hex become disorganized, one unit receives 1 Hit ( see below for more details on results and Artillery Fire Table ). 
Jaegers, Chasseurs and Light Infantry. The only units that may use Small-Arms Fire are Jaegers/Chasseurs and Light Infantry: the first ones have a yellow-boxed cohesion rating; the second ones have a white-boxed cohesion rating. Small-Arms Fire-capable units may fire only if they are on top of a stack. Jaegers/Chasseurs units and Light Infantry units have specific capabilities. Jaegers/Chasseurs: 1 ) may only fire, they may never attack; 2 ) if stacked with non-Jaegers/Chasseurs units, and the stack is attacked, ignore the Jaegers/Chasseurs; 3 ) pay only +1 MP to move adjacent to an enemy unit; 4 ) when an enemy unit moves into a Jaegers/Chasseurs ZOC, and this is the only unit in the hex, the Jaegers/Chasseurs may or stand and defend ( they may use Reaction Fire ) or withdraw one hex to the rear ( without Reaction Fire ), but the enemy unit cannot move further. Light Infantry: 1 ) may fire and attack when activated; 2 ) when attacking with any Light Infantry, the attacker incurs a -1 DRM to his attack die roll. The Small-Arms Fire has a range of one hex: in order to fire, the player rolls a die, which is modified only by terrain and/or by disordered status of the firing unit, and find the result on the Small-Arms Fire Table. Units may not combine Small-Arms fire: units capable of Small-Arms Fire may do so only once per activation segment. Much like artillery pre-attack Reaction Fire, small arms fire may occur during an enemy activation segment ( however, each unit may perform reaction fire only one time in each segment ). The result of Small-Arms Fire is either No Effect ( NE ), or else the target unit gets 1 Hit.
Attack.  
Infantry. Any active infantry unit ( except for Jaegers/Chasseurs ) may attack any enemy unit ( s ) in its ZOC: attacking is voluntary; a single activated unit may attack into only one hex , even if both frontal hexes are enemy occupied, in this case the owing player choices the hex to be attacked. If there are two activated units in a hex, they may either combine and attack into one hex, or split and attack into one different each. Defenders stacked together are combined. Attacking units from the same brigade may combine their in one attack if: 1 ) they start stacked together, or 2 ) they start in adjacent hexes. If attacking separately, the order is up to the attacking player. There are five attack restrictions: 1 ) Artillery may never participate in an attack, if stacked with infantry or cavalry, the artillery suffers any retreat results incurred by the other unit, it may not be used to absorb Hit result, if attacked alone in a hex it is automatically eliminated; 2 ) Cavalry may not attack, it must charge ( see below ); 3 ) Jaegers and Chasseurs may not attack; they defend only if they are the only units in the defending hex; 4 ) Light Infantry may fire and attack/defend; 5 ) Disordered units may not attack. Attacks arte undertaken by activated units that began the activation In Command, and are conducted after all movements and fires has been completed. Attack is always voluntary: an activated unit may lunch an attack on any enemy unit ( s ) in its Frontal Hexes. In order to attack, a unit must enter the enemy-occupied hex, and then the attack resolution takes place: in order to enter an enemy hex, each unit must pass a Commitment die roll. The owning player rolls a die, which can be adjusted by several factors, if the adjusted die roll is equal to or lower than the adjusted cohesion, the unit must enter the enemy hex and attack; if the adjusted die roll is higher than the adjusted cohesion of the unit, it may not move or attack. The die roll is adjusted by: 1 ) the number of Hits the unit has taken; 2 ) the Commitment DRM of its brigadier, if the unit is within his range. If two attacking units are stacked together, only the unit on the top of the stack must pass the Commitment Check, if it fails neither units may attack. Stacking restrictions do not apply in the attack/target hex during the attack, but they returns in effect after the attack resolution ( in other words, if the attacking moves four units, from two different hexes, in the attacked hex and the defender is compelled to retreat, only two of the attacking units can remain in the attacked hex, the other two must return into their departing hex ). Attacks are resolved, one hex at a time, in order the attacker wishes: to resolve the attack both players, the attacker and the defender, roll a die modified by any applicable DRMs ( see below ), the result is the number of Hits inflicted upon the opposing unit ( s ). There are several applicable DRMs; the following are used either for Infantry Attack and Cavalry Charge ( sometimes in both types of attack, sometimes only for the infantry attack or the Cavalry Charge ). Attacker DRMs: 1 ) Strength Comparison, if the attacker has more units than the defender, he earns a DRM equal to the difference, the DRM is always positive and applies only to the numerical superior player; 2 ) Higher Cohesion, if the attacker has a unit with the highest cohesion, he adds one to the die roll; 3 ) Position DRMs, if any units are attacking by entering the target hex through the target’s rear hexside, the attacker adds one to the die roll, if attacking units are attacking through both front and rear hexsides, the attacker adds two; 4 ) Terrain DRM, the attacker checks the Terrain Effects Chart for any Terrain DRM ( normally a Terrain DRM is in favour of the defender, but in some cases, it could be in favour of the attacker ); 5 ) Strategic Movement, if defender is using Strategic Movement, the attacker gets +2 DRM; 6 ) Morale, if any defender unit is from a brigade “ Hors de Combat “ ( see below ), the attacker gets a +1 DRM; 7 ) Unit Type, if all defending units are Jaegers/Chasseurs, the attacker gets a +2 DRM; if only some are Jaegers/Chasseurs, they do not count ( as seen above ); if more than half of the attackers are Light Infantry, the attacker incurs a -1 DRM; 8 ) Cavalry Charge vs. Infantry, if more than half of an attacking force is Light Cavalry charging infantry, the attacker incurs in a -2 DRM; 9 ) Cavalry Charge vs. Cavalry, there are three possible cases: A ) Heavy Cavalry charging Light Cavalry receives a +1 DRM; B ) Light Cavalry charging Heavy Cavalry incurs a -1 DRM; C ) If the attackers or  the defenders are mixed type, there is no DRM; 10 ) Surprise, An attacking unit gains a +2 DRM ( see below the specific rules for Magenta scenario ). Defender’s DRMs: 1 ) Strength Comparison, the same rule to that of the attacker ( with reverse roles, of course ); 2 ) Higher Cohesion, same as for the attacker; 3 ) Disordered, if any defender is Disordered, the owing player subtracts one from his die roll; 4 ) Infantry defending vs. Cavalry, add two to the defender’s roll. Artillery units alone in a hex are automatically eliminated when attacked, however the attacker first must pass Commitment for the attack. Any time the attacker has suffered fewer Hits than the defender, he may attempt to Continue his attack: he may do so only with the units that remain in the hex after meeting stacking limits. In order to continue his attack, the player rolls a die, subtracting the difference between enemy Hits suffered and victorious Hits suffered, and compares the adjusted die roll to the adjusted Morale of the units that intend to attack again, two cases are possible: 1 ) if the adjusted die roll is the same or lower than the adjusted Morale, the units may move into any one hex adjacent to the original battle hex and attack any enemy unit, using regular combat rules; 2 ) if the adjusted die roll is higher, the units stay in the original battle hex and cannot move or attack again. At the conclusion of any Continued Attack, regardless the result, the units that have performed a Continued Attack suffer 1 Hit each. 
Cavalry Charge. To attack an enemy unit, cavalry must Charge. In order to charge, an activated cavalry unit must be In Command: charges are conducted after all movement and fire has been completed. Charge is always voluntary. To charge, a cavalry unit must charge into the target’s hex, starting at least two, but not more than three, hexes away. A cavalry unit may charge only against target it can see before it started its Charge move: disordered cavalry cannot charge and a cavalry unit must roll for Commitment in order to continue with the charge. Cavalry units that start their activation adjacent to an enemy combat unit may either stay there or move away, they may not charge: cavalry may never voluntary move adjacent to an enemy combat unit except during a charge. The type of terrain determines whether a cavalry unit may or may not charge, there are four possibilities: 1 ) cavalry may not charge into non-road or non-trail Heavily-Cultivated, Marsh or Woods hex; 2 ) cavalry may charge into a Heavily-Cultivated hex if moving via Road, but incurs a -1 DRM ( in addition with other DRMs ); 3 ) cavalry may never charge into any Castle, Town or Village hex regardless the road’s presence; 4 ) during charge movement, a cavalry unit may not move through any hex, or across any hexside that would cost more than two MPs. Cavalry has the peculiar ability to avoid, or instigate, an infantry attack either by moving away at the first sign of danger, or by charging into the oncoming units. Whenever an enemy infantry unit moves into a cavalry ZOC, the cavalry unit must take one of the two following actions: 1 ) react by withdrawing two hexes away; the enemy infantry may move into the vacated hex ( at least ), and then continue moving up to MA; horse artillery are treated like cavalry for the purposes of this rule; 2 ) react by countercharging the incoming infantry; that combat is resolved instantly, with the countercharging cavalry as the attacker, it is not necessary a Commitment roll by the countercharging cavalry. Cavalry may not use Reaction if it is in the ZOC of a different enemy unit at the time; disordered cavalry may use reaction to withdraw, but not to countercharge. Cavalry may countercharge only into hexes into which it could normally charge. 
Combat and Fire Results. Combat causes units to suffer Hits, Disordered and Retreat. The term “ Hits “ represents more than just the loss of manpower: all Hits are cumulative, in order to keep track of them, place the Hit marker ( with the appropriate number of hits ) under the unit affected. Combat results from either attack or fire may include Hits: hits are always applied to the hex as a whole. There are three effects of Hits: 1 ) the number of Hits that a unit has accumulated is used to determine its Adjusted Cohesion ( Adjusted Cohesion= Basic Cohesion – Hits suffered ), unless the rules say specifically to use the “ printed “ or “ basic “ cohesion, when the cohesion of a unit is used or when a die roll is made against it, the Adjusted Cohesion is used: 2 ) the instant a Unit has accumulated Hits greater than its Cohesion Rating ( the Basic Cohesion ), the unit is eliminated; 3 ) Hits have no effect on a unit’s basic ability to fire or attack/defend; however the number of Hits affects the Commitment die roll and the calculation of Higher Cohesion for The Attacker or Defender DRMs ( see above ). 
Disordered is a result incurred from Artillery Fire: to indicate this status, flip the unit to its Disordered side. Disordered units may not Artillery Fire, attack, Charge or Countercharge; the Small-Arms Fire ( the peculiar ability of Jaegers/Chasseurs and Light Infantry ) is allowed. A disordered unit incurs the following DRMs: 1 ) when defending against attack -1; 2 ) when firing small arms -1. If a disordered unit suffers a second disorder, it remains disordered and incurs 1 Hit: disordered artillery units that suffer another disorder result are eliminated. 
A third type of Combat Result is Retreat: it applies only to the aftermath of an attack; it is not used in fire. In order to determine the loser of an attack, after all Hits have been applied, use the following list of priorities ( use the first one that applies ): 1 ) the player whose units received the most hits must retreat; 2 ) the player with the unit with the lowest Adjusted Cohesion ( in order to determine the current Adjusted Cohesion, also apply the hits suffered in that combat ) must retreat; 3 ) the side which has a brigadier in the combat wins, the other side must retreat; 4 ) the side with the brigadier with the superior Commitment Rating ( -1 is better than +1 ) wins, the other side must retreat; 5 ) the attacker retreat. An attacking unit must retreat into the hex ( s ) from whence it came. A defending unit forced to retreat moves into any hex adjacent to the target hex of the combat, following these preferences: 1 ) it may never retreat into an enemy- occupied hex; 2 ) it may never retreat into a hex that was occupied by an enemy unit prior to the attack; 3 ) it will retreat into the least costly hex ( in MP cost terms ) available; 4 ) if it retreats into an enemy ZOC ( which it may do ) it incurs an additional hit. If a defending unit is unable to retreat, it is eliminated. 
Leaders can be affected by fire or attack results. There are three cases in which this is possible: 1 ) they are stacked with units that receive an artillery fire result of D+1; 2 ) they are stacked with units that receive two or more hits in an attack; 3 ) they are alone in a hex and an enemy combat unit moves adjacent. In all these cases, the owing player rolls a die: if the roll is seven or higher that leader is Finished for the turn. This means he may not be used for any of his game functions until the next turn. 
Rally. 
Any unit that has not moved, not fired and not attack may Rally. In order to rally, a unit must not be adjacent to an enemy combat unit. If a unit rallies, the player simpler flips the unit to its front side ( the side showing the Normal Status of a unit: i.e. the side of a unit in Good Order ). 
3. CONTINUITY SEGMENT. When the player undergoing B2 finishes he may now either: 1 ) Pass play to his opponent, in which case the latter goes B2, or; 2 ) Roll for Continuity by selecting a new corps ( not the same corps just activated ) and rolling against the selected Corps Commander’s Continuity Rating. If he succeeds, he returns to B2: if he fails, his opponent goes to B2. When all corpses are finished or players pass in succession, go to Phase C ( see above, The Command System, in General Rules, for more information ). 
C. END OF TURN PHASE.
1. RECOVERY SEGMENT. In this segment, from each unit in Reserve status (i.e. belonging to a Brigade in Reserve ), a player may: 1 ) remove Disordered status (i.e. flip the unit to its front, Good Order, side ) and 2 ) remove two Hits. A player may never remove the first Hit taken by a unit: this hit is permanent. In other words, units in Reserve may be able to Rally ( flip the unit to its Good Order status ) and make Recovery ( remove the hits ). 
2. OUT OF RESERVE SEGMENT. Only in this segment, a player may voluntary bring a Brigade in Reserve out of Reserve status. In order to do it, he simply removes the Reserve marker from the brigadier in command of the brigade to bring out of Reserve. 
3. MOVE CORPS COMMANDERS. In this segment, players may move their Overall Commanders or/and their Corps Commanders, following the rules we have described above ( see The Command System in General rule ). 
4. DEMORALIZATION SEGMENT. In this segment, the effects of combats, their attrition on the units, are verified for the corpses ( even if a Demoralization of a corps depends upon the brigades Hors De Combat that belongs to that corps ). 
A brigade may become “ Hors de Combat “ ( HDC ) when more than one-half of its units are either eliminated or disordered. This status is determined at the conclusion of a brigade’s activation (i.e. during the Activations Segment ): in order to indicate it, put a marker Hors De Combat on the brigadier. No units in a HDC brigade may attack, nor may they voluntary move into an enemy ZOC: however, units may still fire, move and rally ( obviously they may defend ). Players may use Recovery and/or Rally to bring a brigade out of HDC status:  when a brigade no longer qualifies as HDC, remove the marker. We write here about these rules even if a brigade may become HDC in an Activation Segment and may return to normal status during an Activation Segment and/or a Recovery Segment. However, the HDC status of brigades has an important impact on the Demoralization of their corps ( see below ): this is the reason because we write here about the HDC status. 
Corps Demoralization. In this segment, the players determine if one or more of their corps must undergo a Demoralization Check: Demoralization is determine by corps. The players roll the die for each corps that has at least one brigade that is HDC, the die roll is adjusted as follows: 1 ) add to the die roll the number of HDC brigades; 2 ) subtract from that roll the Corps Commander’s Continuity Rating. If the adjusted die roll is seven or higher ( this is the Demoralization Level ), that corps is Demoralized ( in order to keep track of the demoralized corpses, we suggest to put a HDC marker on the box, that corresponds to that corps, in the Corps Activation Track, the Corps Activation Track is on the map for Magenta and on a Player Aid Chart for Solferino: there are not specific markers to indicate a Demoralized Corps ). If a corps has become Demoralized, it: 1 ) must roll for Continuity each time it is selected for Activation, even if it is a Free Activation. If it fails the roll, it is considered to have used up one of its possible activations for the turn; 2 ) may not attempt an Extended Activation; 3 ) it is subject to possible “ Corps Withdrawal “ during Rain ( see Solferino scenario rules ). Once a corps is demoralized, it remains demoralized: changing the HDC status of its brigades has no further effect. A corps that becomes Demoralized may never recover its original status: demoralization, for a corps, is a permanent status.
5. START A NEW TURN.

PLAYBOOK, THE SPECIFIC RULES FOR:
MAGENTA, SAN MARTINO, SOLFERINO

Here we write about all Battles- Scenarios specific rules, we omit the map used ( we have already written about them at the beginning of this review ), the Length of Game, the Balance, the Initial Deployment and the Reinforcements ( this is a review, not a re-writing of the game ).  
MAGENTA; JUNE 4, 1859. 
Variable Reinforcements. The Austrian 2nd Army Cavalry Reserve spent the entire battle east of Magenta: however, the Austrian player has the possibility to get it; the same is true for the Lilia’s Division ( which, historically, did not token part in the battle ). Starting in the 1500 turn, and at the beginning of each subsequent turn, he rolls one die for either of the two above ( only a die roll per turn is allowed ), on a roll of eight or nine, he may bring in either: 1) all the units of the 2nd Army Cavalry Reserve, or; 2 ) all the units of the Lilia’s division.
Initiative. The French player has automatically the initiative for the first turn, and then the initiative is determined as per normal rules. 
Demoralization. The Austrian V Corps and 2nd Army Cavalry Reserve do not suffer demoralization. 
Terrain. In order to represent the orchards and vineyards ( the most part of the terrain present on the Magenta map ), all level two hexes are considered Heavily-Cultivated. There are five exceptions: 1 ) town, village and castle hexes are treated as different terrain ( the farmhouse hexes, the ones with only one building having the name preceded by C., that means Casa, house, in Italian are considered Heavily-Cultivated hexes ); 2 ) Monte Rolondo ( an high near Magenta ); 3 ) the Magenta town cemetery; 4 ) Fortifications hexes west of the canal; 5 ) hexes that contain a Major Road ( Minor Roads and Trail do ease movement and extend the ZOC, but they does not negate the fact that the hexes, where they are, are Heavily-Cultivated ). Units using Trails or Road to speed movement through the Heavily-Cultivated hexes may not stack: they do not pay the cost to move adjacent to an enemy unit, if the enemy unit is in a Heavily- Cultivated hex and does not extend a ZOC into the hex. Because of the feature of Heavily-Cultivated terrain, the units could pass right each other: to simulate this, there is the specific rule of “ Awareness “. If a unit in a Heavily-Cultivated hex moves adjacent to an enemy unit, but not in its frontal hex, as it enters the hex, and the player wishes to attack with that unit, he must roll the die to see if his unit is actually “ aware “ of the enemy. To roll for Awareness, the unit must have the necessary +2 MPs to move adjacent normally: if the unit has not those MPs, it may move adjacent, but the player may not roll for Awareness. To check for Awareness, roll the die, there are three possible results: 1 ) on a roll of 0 to 4, the moving unit is Aware of the enemy, may then change facing and attack, gaining Surprise ( see below ); 2 ) on a roll of 5 to 7, the moving unit is Unaware of the enemy unit and may continue to move; 3 ) on a roll of 8 or 9, the moving unit is Unaware of the enemy unit, non-moving unit may undertake its own Awareness check, if it becomes Aware it may immediately attack the moving unit, complete with Surprise. If a unit succeeds in attaining Awareness, that Awareness last as long as the unit remains in contact with the enemy unit of which it is Aware. Once a unit voluntary breaks the contact, Awareness is lost ( use the AWARE markers to keep track of possibly confusing situations ). Units that start their movement adjacent to an enemy in a Heavily-Cultivated hex do not roll for Awareness; they are considered to be aware of the enemy unit. For cavalry to use their ability to react, they must be aware an enemy unit is present. A unit attacking after gaining Awareness gets a +2 DRM ( this is the effect of Surprise, use the Surprise markers to show it ); the target may not Withdraw or use Reaction Fire before the attack, it may use Reaction Fire if fired upon. The Magenta battlefield gives several problems to the artillery, because the Heavily-Cultivated terrain blocks the LOS. However, there are two exceptions: 1 ) artillery in a hex may fire straight “ down “ Trails and Roads in Heavily-Cultivated hexes; 2 ) artillery units in Magenta hexes are treated as higher than the surrounding hexes for purposes of gaining LOS, however that LOS is limited to a Three-Hexes Range from any Magenta hex. 
The canals on the west side of the battlefield were “ militarily “ un-crossable: the same is true in game terms.
Each turn, starting with the 1200 turn, the Austrian may attempt ( only one attempt per turn ) to blow a bridge crossing the Naviglio ( the great canals eastern of Mincio river ). In order to do it, the Austrian must have an infantry battalion start the turn adjacent to the bridge and the Austrian cannot be in the ZOC of a French unit: attempting to blow a bridge is a unit’s action for that segment. The player rolls the die, on a roll of 6 to 9 the designated bridge has been blown ( use the marker showing a bridge blown to note the fact ). 
The Fortifications, however they historically were of different types, are lumped as one type in the game.
Night. In this scenario, there are Night Turns, during which the following restrictions are applied: 1 ) no Small-Arms Fire is allowed; 2 ) artillery range is limited to two hexes and, at that range, ignore the Range Table DRM ( see below ) and apply a -1 DRM to any artillery fire. 
Special Historical Rules. There are some special rules, concerning movements’ restrictions, for the players who whish to follow historical events.
 This rule reflects exactly the historical situation: no Austrian unit may cross the Naviglio until Gyulai arrives ( 1300 turn ). There are three exceptions: 1 ) they may move into fortification hexes west of the canal; 2 ) the restriction applies only to voluntary movements; 3 ) if the only “ safe “ path an Austrian unit has is to cross the Naviglio, it may do so, however, it must attempt re-cross as quickly as possible.
This one above reflects historical happenstance, even if it gives much advantage to the French, as he knows what the opponent will not do. To counter-balance this, the game provides two markers: one having “ Cross Naviglio “ written on it, the other “ Don’t Cross Naviglio “. At the start of the game, the Austrian player randomly, and blindly, selects one: he has not to tell his opponent until he asked to prove his actions, if allowed to cross he may do so only starting the 1100 turn. 
This rule simulate the historical fact that, despite the fact that Austrian detachments stationed north of Cuggione had been pushed out of their position by Mac Mahon’s advancing troops ( in this battle, he led the north-to-south approach of five brigades under his command ), Clam-Gallas ( an Austrian corps commander ) still believed that the main French attack would be west-to-east. For player wishing to simulate this fact, there are the following three rules: 1 ) no Austrian unit is allowed to move north of the major road until the 1100 turn; 2 ) units already north of the roads may not move further northwards until they can gain a LOS to a French unit to their north, or the 1100 turn, whichever comes first; 3 ) the Sicilian Uhlans may not move until the 1100 turn. 
Historically, in the battle of Magenta, the Austrian employed the Sigmund Regiment, which was made up of Austrian Italians: during the fights, this regiment had not obeyed the orders to attack the French, despite the best endeavours of its commanders. To recreate this fact, the first time the Austrian wishes to Commit a battalion from that regiment, rolls for commitment normally, but if the die roll fails not only the battalion does not attack, but even it is marked with “ Sigmund/No Thanks “ marker. In this case, the battalion may not move adjacent to a French unit at any time during the reminder of the game. 
Victory. The French has two types of victory: an immediate victory and a victory determined at the end of the game. The first one is achieved if the French controls ALL hexes of Magenta at the end of any turn; the second if he controls the three northernmost hexes of Magenta and there are not In Command Austrian units occupying any Road hex from Magenta westward to the mapedge. 
The Austrian wins, if the French fails to achieve his objectives. 
SAN MARTINO; JUNE 24, 1859 
San Martino, although part of the Solferino battle, was fought pretty much as a separate action, some kilometres to the north of the main battle: this is the reason for which it is possible to treat it as a separate scenario with own specific rules.  
Piedmontese Reinforcements. With the exception of few units, the great part of the Army, including the two brigades entering as reinforcements, starts the battle in Reserve. Each turn, starting in the 0800 turn, the player may release one brigade per Activation Segment ( a maximum of two per turn ).
Austrian Reinforcements. As for the Piedmontese, the main part of the corps starts the game in Reserve: then, each turn, starting in the 0800 turn, the player may release one brigade per Activation Segment; the last group to be released must be the VIII Corps Reserve Artillery. 
Starting with the 1100 turn, the Austrian player may, if he wishes, bring in either Koller’s or Gaal’s brigade ( both from the V Corps ), or both: in this case the player can use only the infantry units of the two brigades; for each brigade he brings into the game, he losses two VPs. When bringing in one of these V Corps brigades, roll a die for each battalion: if the roll is greater than the battalion’s cohesion, give that battalion a number of hits equal to the difference ( this represents the pounding they took from the French I Corps artillery at the start of the main battle, i.e. Solferino ). 
Initiative. The Piedmontese automatically has the Initiative for the first two turns ( 0700 and 0800 ): after that the players roll ( the VIII Corps has an initiative rating of four ). 
No Continuity. The Continuity rule ( see above ) is not used because there is only one corps per side: therefore, the player who gains the initiative may choose to go either first or second. Then, the players alternate activating corps, until both players have gone twice, after that the player with the initiative can attempt an Extend Activation. 
Movement Exception. No unit may voluntary move into or through the SW corner of the map. The two Piedmontese brigades, Pettinengo and Cucchiari, when released from reserve, may exit off the map at hex 1040 and then, after one turn, enter as reinforcements through hex 1026. 
Demoralization. The Demoralization rules are not in effect, thought the Hors de Combat effects are.
Rain. Historically, at about five pm, a torrential downpour was unleashed, complete with gale-force winds: this fact practically ended the battle. In the game, in turns which indicate a Rain Check ( having an R# ), every time a player rolls a nine while checking for continuity, he must roll again; if the roll is same as or lower than the Rain Check number on the turn track, the thunderstorm has hit. When it starts raining, the turn is finished, except for the Demoralization Segment ( even if there is no Demoralization in this scenario ). Rain has five additional effects on any subsequent turn: 1 ) double the MP cost of all Level 1 and 2 hexes for the rest of the game; 2 ) roads and trails have no effect on movement costs, all roads and trails are treated as other terrain, the only one exception is the Major Road inside the Towns and running from Castiglione to south; 3 ) add one to all Streams and Canals MP costs; 4 ) fords do not exist; 5 ) no Small-Arms Fire is allowed during the first turn after Rain. 
Victory. At the end of any turn in which the Piedmontese occupy hex 3407 ( the centre of the town of Pozzolengo ), he wins. At the end of the game, the player who is occupying the listed objective, gains the VPs for that hex: the player with the most VPs wins. The Objectives are ( the first number is VPs for the Piedmontese, the second for the Austrian ): San Martino 5/2, San Donnino 2/3, Pozzolengo Town hex 5/2-Village hex 3/1, Ballino 2/0, Madonna de la Scoperta 3/4. Remember that the Austrian looses 2 VPs for each V Corps brigade he brings in as reinforcements.
SOLFERINO; JUNE 24, 1859
Initiative. The French player automatically has the Initiative for the first turn: after that, it is determined by normal rules. If the Allied player is using Napoleon’s rating, he must activate a French corps as his select choice. 
Austrian Reserves. Historically, the most part of the Austrian army was asleep at the hour in which the Allied initiated to move. To recreate this, the most part of brigades are in Reserve at the start of the scenario: this means that, apart for the 1st Army Cavalry Reserve, all at start Austrian corpses are in Reserve. During the first two turns, an Austrian corps may be released by a Release die roll: when the Austrian player first activates a corps, which has units in Reserve, roll the die ( for attempts in the 0600 turn, subtract two from the die roll ), there are two possibilities: 1 ) if the adjusted die roll is the same as or lower than the corps commander’s Continuity Rating, that corps is now active, however it may do anything else that segment; 2 ) if the die roll is higher than the corps commander’s Continuity Rating, the corps remains in Reserve. At the start of the 0700 turn, all Austrian corpses are automatically released. 
Because of the distance between the VIII Corps and the main part of the Austrian army, the VIII corps releases reserves a bit differently: 1 ) the Austrian player may activate and release any one brigade for the 0600 turn; 2 ) starting with the 0700 turn, the Austrian may release one brigade per VIII Corps Activation Segment ( maximum two per turn ).
The 1st Army Artillery Reserve and the two Army Cavalry reserves are treated as one corps for activation purposes; the Continuity Rating for this ersatz corps is 1: it does not count as a corps for Demoralization purposes. 
Piedmontese Reserves. Four brigades start in Reserve: beginning with the 0700 turn, the player may release one brigade per turn. The units of Pettinengo’s and/or Gozzani’s brigades that have just released from reserve may exit the map at hex N1040: then, they may return the next turn as reinforcements through hex N1026. 
Rockets. The Austrians have a battery of rockets ( the 11th Raketen Battery of the IX Corps ): these fire like any other artillery unit, except that they may fire only once per Activation Segment and they may not use Reaction Fire.
Rain. In turns which indicate a Rain Check ( having an R# ), every time a player rolls a 9 while checking for Continuity, the player must roll again; if the die roll is the same as or lower than the Rain Check number on the turn track, the thunderstorm has hit. When it starts raining, the turn is finished, except for the Demoralization Segment: moreover, when checking for Demoralization of corps, add one to all such die rolls. After checking for Demoralization, the player must now check to see if any of his demoralized corps will withdraw. Roll for each demoralized corps: 1 ) if the roll is the same as or lower than the Corps Commander’s Continuity Rating, the corps stays; 2 ) if the roll is higher than that rating, the corps must Withdraw. When a corps withdraws, all its units are removed from the map, whenever they are. Rain has the following additional effects on any subsequent turn: 1 ) double the MP cost of all level 1 and 2 hexes for the rest of the game; 2 ) Roads and Trails have no effect on movement costs, treat all Road/Trail hexes as other terrain, the only exception is the Major Roads inside the Towns and the Major Road running from Castiglione to south; 3 ) add one to all Streams an Canals MP costs; 4 ) fords do not exist; 5 ) no Small-Arms Fire is allowed during the first turn after Rain. 
Victory. When it starts raining, either part may decide to give the opponent Victory: otherwise, the game proceeds until the end of the 2000 turn, at which point the victory is determined by victory points. A side gets VPs for enemy demoralized corpses and for controlling Towns: 1 ) a side gets ten VPs for each enemy corps Demoralized; 2 ) a side receives the following VPs for controlling Towns ( the first number shows the VPs gained by the Austrian, the second one those by the Allied ), Castiglione 50/0, Medole 35/5, Cavriana 5/15, Guidizzolo 5/20, Pozzolengo 5/25. 

CHARTS AND TABLES

The Charts and the Tables specific for Magenta. The Magenta scenario has its specific Terrain Effect Chart that shows the various types of terrains used in the scenario and the various costs to enter into a hex of that type or to cross a hexside of that type: the various costs depend from the type of unit; Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Commander. In addition the Terrain Effect Chart shows the effects of a given hex or hexside upon the Fire, Attack or Charge. At the bottom of the Chart there are a Key that is used to interpret some particular codes used for particular types of hexes and a Notes that is used to aid the players to apply correctly the effects of a particular type of hex on movement or the effects of a particular types of hex or hexside on Fire, Attack or Charge. 
In addition, there is the Awareness Table, which is used to determine the effect of Awareness rules in the Heavily-Cultivated hexes ( see the specific rules above ). The Table reports the various possibilities that can arise from the situation in which a combat unit moves adjacent to an enemy combat unit.
The Charts and Tables specific for San Martino and Solferino. Like in Magenta scenario, San Martino and Solferino scenarios have their specific Terrain Effect Chart ( one table for both ). The Charts is divided in the same sections as those for Magenta, with the addition of the effects on Movement, Fire, Attack and Charge of the Hex Elevation Changes. This addition is necessary for two reasons: the first one is that the Elevation Change has no effect in Magenta; the second, and more important, is that the terrain ( either in San Martino and in Solferino, but especially in this last one ) is very rich of slopes of any types ( Gradual, Sharp, Steep ) and of elevation’s changes that the player have to be very carefully where they move their brigades. Below the Chart, there are a Key and a Notes: both have the same use of that in Magenta; naturally, they are more complex due to the more types of terrains and the richness of different types of terrain’s feature that a player can find in these two scenarios ( especially, in the second one ): finally, there are the various and numerous effects that the Elevation Changes cause on Movement, Fire, Attack and Charge. 
For Solferino, only, there is the Corps Activation Card to show which corps has been activated and how many times. The Card is divided in three lines: the first one for the French and the Piedmontese Activations; the second for the Austrian 1st Army Activations; the third for the Austrian 2nd Army Activations. Each line is divided in a number of boxes corresponding to the number of corpses ( the Piedmontese has a separate box, at the right of the boxes in the French line, for their Army that is treated as a corps for all purposes, including activations ). The French line has five boxes: Imperial Guard, Commander St. Jean d’Angely, Continuity Rating 4; I Corps, Commander Baraguey d’Hilliers, Continuity Rating 4; II Corps, Commander McMahon, Continuity Rating 5; III Corps, Commander Caronbert, Continuity Rating 4; IV Corps, Commander Niel, Continuity Rating 5. Then there is the Piedmontese Army box, Commander King Vittorio Emmanuele II di Savoia, Continuity Rating 3. The Austrian 1st Army has three boxes: III Corps, Commander Schwarzenberg, Continuity Rating 2; IX Corps, Commander Schaffgotsche, Continuity Rating 2; XI Corps, Commander Veigl, Continuity Rating 1. The Austrian 2nd Army has four boxes: I Corps, Commander Clam-Gallas, Continuity Rating 3; V Corps, Commander Stadion, Continuity Rating 2; VII Corps, Commander Zobel, Continuity Rating 2; VIII Corps, Commander Benedek, Continuity Rating 5. Then there is the Austrian Reserves box ( as a separate box ), No Corps Commander, ( nominal ) Continuity Rating 1. 
The General Charts and Tables.
There are two Artillery Fire Tables: the first one is the “ Artillery Fire: Range Effects Table “; the second is the “ Artillery Fire Resolution “.
The first Table is divided in four line, each of which is for a Gun Type: the first line is used for F type Artillery: Horse/Field Artillery, Field Artillery ( Piedmont ) and Field Artillery ( French/Austrian ), each of which is treated separately, even if all of them are comprehended in the same line. The second line is used for H type Artillery: Heavy Artillery ( Piedmont ) and Heavy Artillery ( French/Austrian ), each of which is treated separately, even if all of them are comprehended in the same line. The third line is used for Rf type Artillery: Rifled Artillery ( only French ). The fourth line is used for R type Artillery: Rockets ( only Austrian ). Then the Table is divided in several columns that show the Range in Hexes from the artillery unit to the target hex: there are ten columns, from a range of 1 hex to a range of 10 hexes. The Range gives a DRM for the artillery fire, depending upon the type of artillery and the Range from the target: the DRM can be positive, zero or negative. 
The second Table shows the effects of the artillery fire on the target hex. Depending from the modified die roll, four results are possible: die roll <=2, the result is a NE ( No Effect ); die roll 3-5, the result is a CDR ( Cohesion Die Roll ), in this case the player must roll for each unit in the target hex, if the die roll is higher than the unit’s Cohesion Rating, the unit become disordered, otherwise there is No effect; die roll 6-8, the result is a D ( Disorder ), all units in the target hex are disordered; die roll 9+, the result is a D+1 ( Disorder and One Step Lost ), all units in the target hex are disordered and one unit gains 1 Hit. The Table also reports the various Artillery Fire’s DRMs and a Key that serves to interpret the results of the artillery fire. 
The Small-Arms Table serves to show the result of the fire made by Jaegers/Chasseurs or Light Infantry. There are only two possible results: modified die roll <=3, No Effect; 4+, 1 Hit. There are only two possible modifiers: -1, if the firing unit is disordered and/or  -/+? Terrain. 
The Attack Result Table is used to determine the outcome of a male combat. The Table has four possible results: modified die roll <=1, 0 Hits on Enemy; 2-5, 1 Hit; 6-8, 2 Hits; 9+, 3 Hits ( the number of hits are the total number of losses inflicted on the defender or attacker stack, not per unit: naturally, if the defender/attacker has only one unit, this last receives all the hits ). In addition, the Table reports the several DRMs for the attacker and for the defender. 
Then, there is the Abbreviated Sequence of Play, which gives the players a pro-memory of the various phases and segments in a turn: A. Initiative Determination Phase; B. Activation Phase, 1. Reserve Placement Segment, 2. Corps Activation Segment, 3. Continuity Segment; C. End of Turn Phase, 1. Recovery Segment, 2. Out of Reserve Segment, 3. Move Corps Commanders Segment, 4. Demoralization Segment, 5. Start a New Turn.

THE GAME SYSTEM AND THE SCENARIOS: THEIR STRENGTH AND THEIR WEAKNESS

The subject of RISORGIMENTO 1859 is certainly not so present among the thousands of historical-military simulations that exist, as the importance of that war had on the history of Europe and, as consequence, on the World. The reasons for this fact are various ( the specificity of the subject, the shortness of the war, the lack of a great number of capital battles, the fact that the greatest number of wargames are made in USA, who are, it is natural, more interested in their Civil War than in the Wars of the Italian Independence and more others ). However, there are several good games about the Second Italian War of Independence ( the Second One was the most important among the three Wars of the Italian Independence ) and we have selected RISORGIMENTO 1859, because we think, our opinion naturally, that it is really a very good game ( not only the Battles Game, but also the Campaign Game: two games in a box, very good! ). We want to add some other words about the choice of this wargame for a review: in realty, there are two main reasons: first of all the importance of the topic, then the game itself with its capacity to recreate that historical realty. 
The Second Italian War for Independence was the product of the wiliness of the Piedmont to form an united and independent Italy, by enlarging the Piedmontese boundaries, in union with the ideas that were so care to the Italian patriots. If this was the Piedmontese view, the France’s interest was to create a united state in the Northern Italy in order to have a buffer state, sufficient great, between it and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire: a buffer state that could have been an important allied when and if the time would have come. However, a second great power was interested in the Italian independence and this power was England. It wanted to aid the Piedmont to unify the whole Italian peninsula with the prospect to have a continental nation, with the sufficient greatness and resources that could have been an important pawn in the continental balance of power. An Italy, comprehending only the northern part of the Italian peninsula, would have been a too week nation for the English purposes. Therefore, on a side, the France gave its aid as men and blood and its project failed; on the other side, the England gave money and its political support, without only one drop of English blood, and it won. Naturally, this is a simplified narrative of the intricate history of the period, but the substance is this one. These facts do not means that the Italy was born as a puppet state of the England, as the following history of the Italy can demonstrate: they only give us the correct frame to interpret the topic of the game Risorgimento 1859. The born of the modern Italy changed not only the subsequent European history, but also the World history: these two things demonstrate the importance of the Wars for the Italian Independence.
The second fact, which had an important pound on our choice, is the game and its system. Risorgimento 1859 has the interesting characteristic of a interactive game ( become so common in the more recent history of the wargames ) and what we much appreciate is the fact that its interactivity is voluntary, not random ( as in other games of the same designer: for example, June 6 or Triumph & Glory ). Here, the players may decide what they want to activate and the sequence in which their corpses are activated is, for the most part, decided by the players’ choices. We, it is right to write, have a great consideration of the interactive games: we think that the use of the Igo-Yugo sequence is very suitable to recreate the contemporaneity of the actions on a battlefield. What gives some problems to our judgement is the random sequence of activations, that can not only generate a sequence for nothing realistic, but also can create situations in which a not lucky player has its activations when what he want to activate is not capable to be effective. In other words, the random draw of chits from an opaque cup may recreate the confusion of a battle situation; but too often, it becomes so subject to the uncertainty and to the fortune of a player that its results are often on the contrary way of a good historical recreation. For these reasons, we appreciate the system of Risorgimento 1859 even much. In this game, we can find the recreation of the contemporaneity of the actions with the will of the players to activate the corps that they think to be the most suitable in a given situation. This does not means that the players are always in control of the entire course of a turn: there are several factors that are out of their control. We give only two examples, but we think they are the most important: 1 ) the willing of the opposite player; 2 ) the possibility to get only one free activation, then, in order to get a second activation in a row, the players must roll against the continuity rating of the commander of the corps they want to activate and even with the best commanders, the result is not obvious. About this particular of the game system, we can add the fact that a  player may have two activations in a row, and then the turn passes in the other player’s hands with all the uncertainties of the case. Beyond its activations’ system, which we think is not only the centre of the game, but also its most important aspect, there are several other aspects that give the game not only a great playability, but also even a good adherence to the historical realty. We can mention the combat rules, that recreate the increased strength of the infantry and artillery ( in respect of the Napoleonic Era ) and the weakness of the cavalry, the command system, that gives the players a good reconstruction of the command chain in the middle of the XIX century, the movement rules, that show, in an effective way, the problems of moving combat formations till too rigid. All these rules allow the players to understand the warfare of that epoch without any difficulty in learning them. Then, we may pass to the demoralization rules, about which we have some reserves. First of all, we must write that the rules themselves are clear, easy to learn and they show the effects of attrition and losses in combat upon the brigades and the corpses: they make their job in an easy way and the players have not difficulties using them. Under this point of view, they are very good: playability and a sufficient historical adherence. What we find not good is the fact that a corps may become demoralized if the owing player rolls a die with a result of seven or more, adding to the die roll the number of brigades Hors de Combat and subtracting the Continuity Rating of the corps’ commander. This system is really too random and it can create situations that we think are unrealistic. Just one example: in Solferino scenario, the corps under the command of MacMahon has four brigades and the Continuity Rating of the commander is five; considering that nine is the number much higher that the French player might roll, it is clear that it is quite impossible that MacMahon’s corps becomes demoralized. In other words, if the French player rolls nine, which becomes four due to MacMahon, it is necessary that at least three of the four brigades are either Hors de Combat or eliminated, but there is only a 10% of possibilities of rolling nine with a die with ten faces. In the case that all the four brigades are Hors de Combat, or even eliminated, the French player has only 20% of possibilities that his corps collapses: as it is clear, this is an unrealistic situation. It is true that the commanders have an important influence on the morale of the troops, but it would be unrealistic to give them the possibility to make miracles: finally, MacMahon was a good corps commander, but certainly not an Alexander the Great, a Caesar or a Napoleon. We have proposed some Variants to the Rules ( already on web Grognard ), especially the rules governing the demoralizations and we think that our variants may make the demoralizations less random and may give a greater adherence to the realty. We could add some others remarks on the game ( for example, the inconsistence of the presences of the Overall Commanders, the rules governing the LOS, the hole in the command chain with the absence of the Divisions’ Commanders ), but we think that these aspects are out of the designer’s intents much than a failure of the designer or a failure of the game itself. Then, in our opinion, the game is a good military-historical simulation with some aspects that could be much balanced and that could be much adherent to the realty of the possible facts on a battlefield. In this sense, Risorgimento 1859 is a good game ( none is perfect ) with a great playability that allows the players to recreate this war with a system that is funny to play and sufficiently complex to give the players an idea of the war and the warfare in middle of the XIX century. In addition to the game system, we want to spend some words about the material. The box has a good and captivating graphics; the maps are designed very well and the players has no difficulties to distinguish the various terrains’ types; the counters seem miniatures of the infantrymen or cavalrymen of that epoch and, what is more important, the Rule-Book, the Play-Book and the Charts and Tables are clear, easy to learn and essential in what they have to tell to the users. We can write, without any problem, that we find the general graphics of the game very good. In addition, if the game system is the most important aspect of a wargame, its material has an important role and it would be an injustice to omit it. 
At this point, we think that the best way to write more deeply about Risorgimento 1859 would be to analyze the three scenarios: we are sure that having some things more concrete to write about, might be more suitable for our intention to write a comprehensive review of the game. 
The first scenario about which we will write is San Martino, then Magenta and finally Solferino. This choice is due to the graduate complexity of the three scenarios and the number of counters and rules used in each of them ( both things also have an impact on the general complexity ). 
SAN MARTINO. The primary intent of the San Martino scenario is to give the players an easy scenario, with few counters and a restricted use of the rules, as introduction to the system and a good point of start. Under this point of view, the designer’s intent is plenty achieved: having few counters, the players may concentrate to the best use of the rules and the peculiar capabilities of each type of unit under their control. We can add that the dropping of the greater part of the Activations’ Rules gives even much the players the possibility to concentrate themselves on what to do with the various types of units: in this way, the players are greatly facilitated to master the game system. In addition, the fact of having few counters allows the players to give the necessary attention to the tactics they want to use and to the general strategy best suitable for the battlefield. As scenario for itself, San Martino is perfectly balanced and each of players has a 50% of possibilities of victory. The Piedmontese has the number, the Austrian the best corps commander, Benedek, the defensive positions and best troops. It is not easy for both players to achieve their own victory conditions: the Piedmontese and the Austrian must work very hard to prevail on the adversary.
The first one must conduct a battle of attack, he must conquer the major number of objectives among San Martino, San Donnino, Pozzolengo, Ballino, Madonna de la Scoperta, before the final turn: in addition, there is the possibility to achieve an Instant Victory if at the end of any turn he occupy the central hex of the town of Pozzolengo. We prefer to put apart the Instant Victory, which is too difficult to achieve and which could create more problems than it is able to resolve ( however it is always possible to have an incompetent Austrian player! ). If we consider the other type of victory, we can see that the Piedmontese player’s way is long and difficult, terribly difficult. His adversary can create a great defensive perimeter around the major part of the objectives and the Piedmontese does not have the strength for attacking everything, everywhere: he must select the point, the moment and the enemy units that are easier to defeat. In order to do that, he can count on a good advantage in number of troops: this advantage gives him the possibility to use some of his brigades to press the Austrian, while the greatest part of his army may conduct the main attack where the enemy is, or seems to be, weaker. Due to the few hexes suitable for an attack, it is quite impossible to opt for a battle of encirclement, the Piedmontese is quite obliged to conduct an hasty assault with a good amount of losses ( not only for him ). We think that the best tactics might be the echelon assault, using the worst units to inflict the first losses to the Austrian units and then having the best units intact to give the decisive strike on an enemy already weakened by the first assaults. A good thing should be to avoid as much as possible the powerful Austrian artilleries, but in realty, this is quite impossible: the Austrian player has a good amount of artillery units, several suitable places where to displace them and a not too large space to defend. Then the Piedmontese must attack the enemy artillery units with frontal assaults, for the major part of times. It is obvious that he must aspect heavy losses and many units disorganized; but, counting on his advantage in number, he has the strength and the possibility to destroy them. It is not an easy job, but what we think is more important is the fact that after some turns spent in destroying the Austrian artillery units, he could conduct his attacks against enemy units that are not protected by the friendly artillery fire: at this point it is very difficult for the Austrian to stand. Destroying the enemy artillery batteries could seems too bloody at the first time, but, after some turns, when those damned batteries are eliminated from the map, all the advantages of acting so will be rewarded. San Martino has a good number of turns, then the Piedmontese has the possibility to attack, to recover his units and two attack again for at least three times: this means that he has the possibility to correct some mistakes and the possibility to change some aspects of his tactics conduction. However, this does not mean that he has time and sufficient resources to change his mind and to adopt a completely different strategy: he must have clear in mind the general battle plan before to start the game. So, we suggest to the Piedmontese player to think with attention to what he want to do during the battle: after setting up the game, ten-fifteen minutes of study of the situation on the map should be mandatory for him. After that, the Piedmontese must conduct his assaults without mercy for the enemy and for his troops: he has not sufficient time to change his mind, so it is better to go on with a not too good idea than to try another way.
On the other side, the Austrian is inferior in number, but with good troops, a decent number of artillery units and with his Benedek, who is really a security: beyond that, he can count on good defensive positions, which give the Piedmontese few chances on where to do his main effort. San Martino gives his adversary some objective, beyond the central hex of the town of Pozzolengo, but all of them are difficult to reach and they could cost heavy losses to the Piedmontese. In this scenario, it is not used the rule on the Corps Demoralization, as a consequence the Austrian Player has only one objective: to conserve the major number of Victory Hexes, regardless the number of losses ( it is obvious that he must pay a particular attention at the fact that the Piedmontese must never control the central town of Pozzolengo: it would mean a Instant Defeat ). He is inferior in number, but superior in quality; he has good defensive positions, which he must defend until the death, and he can count on better troops with the support of a considerable amount of artillery units. It is important to defend the key hexes with the best units supported by the artillery ( an infantry battalion in stacking with an artillery battery should be the best solution ) and to have some reserves near the defensive perimeter. Starting with the consideration that the Austrian does not have the quantity of troops necessary to defend the whole defensive perimeter with a wall of units, he is compelled to study very well the map and to find the most suitable places where to put its strongpoints. He must use his imagination to tray to find where his adversary could make his maximum effort and there he must stand using its top units. We are conscious that this is not an easy job, but if he is able to individuate even only some good places more suitable for the defence and to imagine at least a part of the Piedmontese plan of attack, he has the best chances to win the game. What is important to remember is that it is not necessary to defend all the objectives until the end, the Austrian player must “ only “ defend the key objectives and make the others very expensive to conquer for the Piedmontese. About the Variable Reinforcements, they might be very useful and a great aid, but they cost two VPs: then, if the Austrian player decides to use them, the best advice we can do is to bring in them at the first opportunity. The cost for them is always two VPs, so it would be nonsense to pay two VPs and to use them for less turns than it is possible. A good ally to him could be the Rain, that is surely an ally much for the defender than for the attacker, but it is better not to count on rain too much.
MAGENTA. This scenario is, about us, the most intriguing and the most challenging of the three: there are numerous specific rules that give its particular peculiarities to Magenta ( Variable Reinforcements, Terrain, Night, and Special Historical Rules ). First of all, Magenta is the classical battle of all or nothing; there is only one objective for both players the control of the town of Magenta: who gains it wins, the other losses. Another important aspect is the map, which is for the major part covered by Heavily-Cultivated hexes, a great green expanse that seems endless. Both players must consider the particular aspect of the Heavily-Cultivated hexes ( which have their own specific rules, see above ) before to start the game. The nature of the terrain compels to adapt a player’s strategy to it and to consider the tactic effects of the difficult of movement, the limited use of the ZOC, the Awareness Rule and the LOS restrictions. The remaining part of the map is for the most part unused, with the Ticino river, the woods hexes along it and the few hexes playable contain some other “ problematic “ terrains, like the Canals, the Bridges and the Fortifications. It is impossible to play Magenta without to consider the special nature of the battlefield with deep attention. 
After this short introduction, we will write about the possible strategies available to both players, starting with the French, who has the difficult task to gain what the Austrian already has in his hands. 
The French starts the game with only two brigades on the map, the main part of his army enters as reinforcement, starting with the first turn ( the 1000 turn ): he has two great directions of attack: the first one is from west to east; the second is from north to south. In the first one there are two brigades and one cavalry regiment from the Imperial Guard and then the III corps units ( plus a brigade attached from the IV corps ); in the second one the five brigades of the II corps under the command of MacMahon, two brigades of light infantry from the Imperial Guard and one Piedmontese cavalry battalion ( apart for three units, the two Piedmontese brigades arrive at the last turn: too late for any purpose ). All the units in the first direction of attack, including those that start the game already on the map, must cross the Ticino river by bridge Ponte Nuovo di Boffalora and then must cross the Naviglio Grande ( a deep, impassable canal ) using the existing bridges in order to reach Magenta. All the units in the second direction of attack start to move along two roads ( one thirteen hexes western of the other ) from the northern map-edge in direction south, south-west towards Magenta: they have already crossed the Ticino river and the canal Naviglio Grande, but between them and their objective ( the town of Magenta ) there are a wide expanse of Heavily-Cultivated hexes with few roads. Considering how the French forces are divided, we can find two main directions of attack, both of which have their own peculiar obstacles to overrun. The first force, that one that attacks in eastern direction, has no problem to cross the Ticino River: the difficulties arrive when it attempts to cross the canal Naviglio Grande. There are eight bridges and two rules that give the Austrian the possibilities: 1) to destroy the bridges on the canal, starting with third turn; 2 ) to cross the canal, in order to occupy some fortifications on the west bank of the canal. It is not sure if the Austrian may or may not destroy a bridge, but there is the possibility and the French does not know which bridge the Austrian will destroy; as consequence, the French player must to conquer as soon as possible some bridges, at least three or four, those nearest to the main road that cross the map from west to east and that conducts to Magenta, in other words the three or four central bridges. There are other bridges along the north section of the canal, but to reach them costs a good amount of time and it is possible that when the French units arrive, the Austrian has already destroyed them: finally there is a bridge near the south map-edge, in the town of Robecco, but the town itself is surrounded by heavily-cultivated hexes and after passing the canal, the French has a long way to reach Magenta, and all the hex are…heavily-cultivated. Following the considerations above, we think that the three/four central bridges, starting with the bridge Ponte della Boffalora, are the easiest to reach, even if not to conquer, and this is the only one practicable way. The second important thing to remember here is the possibility that the French player has found Austrian troops on the western bank of the canal ( here, we refer to the rule “ Cross Naviglio “/ “ Don’t Cross Naviglio “ ). If the Austrian has the possibility to cross the canal and to position his units in the entrenchments on the western bank of the Naviglio, in order to defend the western side of the three central bridges, the French has one more obstacle that could stop his troops for several turns. Obviously, he does not know if the Austrian has in his hands the chit that allows his units to cross and in absence of any security, he must consider the worse situation for him; then, it is mandatory to take the central bridges as soon as possible, even if this means numerous casualties, as in the historical realty. On the French way towards Magenta, there is another great obstacle, after the bridges on the canal, the Heavily-Cultivated hexes that start from the eastern bank of the canal and continue until Magenta and beyond: there is only one main road, all the others are minor roads. As consequence, the French must fight hardly even after to have crossed the Naviglio. He can count on good troops and good commanders, but his works is extremely difficult. He must be fast to cross the Naviglio with the minimum losses and then he must to continue to attack the Austrian without mercy: the type of terrain compels him to use the roads ( main and minor ) to avoid the high costs in MPs of the Heavily-Cultivated hexes and also to avoid the Awareness Rule as much as possible, a rule that can give more than one bad surprise. It is obvious that he must aspect to find Austrian units on any road and even a shattered unit could become an obstacle not easy to overcome. Finally, if he is able to reach the town of Magenta with a valid number of troops, he must aspect to find the town well defended by the enemy: in other words, the first direction of attack is a challenge that the French must not underestimate. The second direction of attack has no canal or bridge to cross but a great expanse of Heavily-Cultivated hexes is between the French troops and the town of Magenta. Here the French is in front of two choices: the first one is to avoid the predictable Austrian blocks on the roads by moving only into non-road hexes, the second is to speed the movements using the roads with the imaginable consequences. Before analyzing the two possibilities, it is necessary to remember the composition of the forces that move from the north map-edge. The entire force is composed of seven brigades ( five of the II corps and two from the Imperial Guard ): on paper a powerful force, but if we look at it in detail, we can find that it is less powerful than a player could think. The two brigades from the Imperial Guard are composed exclusively by Light Infantry and Chasseurs, the II Corps has several units of Light Infantry and Chasseurs and in addition the cavalry brigade has many problems to move and to fight in Heavily-Cultivated hexes: then, the French player must consider that he has not an irresistible force, even if his units are better than the Austrian ones. At this point, we must consider the two possible ways of approach to Magenta that the French player has: the first along the roads, it is faster but it surely encounters a hard resistance from the Austrian troops; the second is slower, but it is impossible for the Austrian to control all the possible across-country ways. Another problem is the fact that the French must decide from the first turn of arrive in what manner he want to move his units from the north map-edge towards the town of Magenta, he has no time to see the result of the main direction of attack  ( that one from west to east ). After considering all these factors, we can suggest to use the roads and to move as fast as possible, during the first turns the Austrian troops are ill positioned and ( if the players use it ) the Special Historical Rule “ Moving North “ gives the Austrian some restrictions about moving north during the first turns. It is normally that the French could aspect that his adversary would tempt to stop, or at least to slow, the movement of the French units and that the struggle to reach Magenta could be very hard, but we think that the second ways is a non-sense. It is sufficient to count the number of hexes from the north map-edge to the town of Magenta and to consider that an infantry unit can move no more than two hexes in a Heavily-Cultivated terrain in order to understand that there is no time to move cross country: in addition, it is easy to predict that the Austrian will not remain passive to watch the French troops moving without doing nothing. Finally, we can be sure that our preceding suggestion is the only one possible for the French and then…the skill of the players and the rolls of the dice are the master of the battle. And we must to consider the fact that after the difficult approach to the town of Magenta the French troops must fight to conquer it; the French player must aspect to find the town well defended and with troops already fatigued it is not an easy job to conquer it. 
On the other side, the Austrian has few strategic and tactical problems; what really counts is to control the three northern hexes of the town of Magenta until the end of the game. The special rules can be dived in two sections: 1 ) rules that affects both players and 2 ) rules that affects only the Austrian player. In the first section, we can put the Special Rules for the Heavily-Cultivated hexes; they have a great impact on the movements and if they can create difficulties to the French, the contrary is equally true; for the Austrian is even harder than for the French to move his slow units to position them where it is need a strong defence against the French. Therefore, it is important that the Austrian moves it units with great attention on where the French could pass: this advertise is the same either for the units defending against the French attack from the west, either for those defending against the attack from the north. Correlated with the preceding rules are those on the Bridge Blowing: the Austrian must attempt to destroy the greater number of bridge, especially those ones nearer to the to Magenta, it is obvious that it is impossible to destroy all the bridge, but every bridge destroyed is one way of attack that the French cannot use. In this way, the Austrian reduces the number of bridge to defend and can concentrate a major number of troops in a minor number of points. In the second section, we can put some rules ( like “ Austrian Movement Restrictions “, “ Naviglio Play Balance Option “, “ Moving North “ and “ The Sigmund Regiment “ ), which could create some problems to the Austrian. The last one is insignificant on the play. The third one gives the Austrian some turns without the possibility to move north, but in play balance term, it is less heavy than a player could aspect; the better thing is to be ready to move north at the first opportunity with no reluctance. The first one exclude the use of the second, which excludes the use of the first: In this case, we suggest using the second, which gives much flavour to the battle and an initial uncertainty on what the Austrian could do. If the Austrian can cross the Naviglio, he has a great opportunity to create several difficulties to the French who must fight for a bridge that can be destroyed before he could reach it; in this case it is important that the Austrian crosses the canal when the French has already positioned his troops in order to catch him by surprise and to compel him to attack the Austrian units in the strongpoints ( there is no time to find another point of attack less defended ). If the Austrian cannot cross the canal, he must defend with confidence in the passing of time and in the bonuses that the defence against an attack across a bridge gives; he has lost only a chance, not the game. What is important to have in mind is the fact that the French must conquer at least the three northern hexes of Magenta, any other result is an Austrian Victory: then, you can destroy all your units, but if Magenta remains Austrian, you win the game. 
SOLFERINO. This big battle produces a big scenario with two maps and over five hundreds of counters. It is really a magnificent view, when the maps are positioned on a table with the beautiful coloured units on it; it gives a sense of power and greatness. After this very good approach, the players are in command of two great and powerful armies, capable to fight turn after turn, attacking, defending and counterattacking. 
The French-Piedmontese Army is magnificent: good troops, good commanders, and a better overall structure of the whole Army with great fire capabilities in conjunction with high-cohesion units. On the other side, the Austrian is inferior in every aspect, but what is worst are the Austrian commanders, at every level from Franz Joseph to an unknown brigadier. 
At this point, it is important to remember that due to the nature of the battlefield, the entry-hexes for the Allied and the starting position for the Austrian, the scenario is divided in two separate battles ( as in historical realty ). The Piedmontese, on the north map, are in front of the VIII Corps of Benedek and the French on the south map, and partly on the southern section of the north map, are in front of the remainder of the Austrian Army. We think it would be too long to give too many advises about tactics or strategies for both players; we will give only some start-points and a final consideration on the scenario. 
The French player starts the game with all the units out of the maps ( with the exception of some Piedmontese brigades ), but his units enter the maps when the Austrian are still in Reserve, so he can take advantage to move before the first Austrian brigades are released from reserve. However, after some turns, he must fight hardly to open the way towards his geographical objectives and the nature of the terrain, especially between the two maps, is difficult and gives great advantages to the defender. Here we give only an advice to the French player: attack every Austrian unit on your path, play a battle of destruction in order to earn the ten VPs for an Austrian corps demoralized and if you conquer some geographical objectives, better, but the fact is not so important for the victory. The French corps can have several brigades HDC or eliminated without having the risk that the corresponding corps becomes demoralized; on the other side, an Austrian corps is very vulnerable to the demoralization. If you see how many VPs gives each territorial objective, you can find that it is easier to destroy an Austrian corps than to conquer a town as Pozzolengo. The Austrian has only two possibilities: 1 ) stand and fight to defend the terrain, in this case, the French can earn a good amount of VPs only demoralizing the Austrian corpses; 2 ) fly away without giving the French the opportunity to demoralize the Austrian corpses, in this case the French wins conquering without difficulties the territorial objectives. 
For the Austrian, we are sure there is not any possibility to win, if the adversary plays with a decent level of interesting in gaming and a little amount of skill. The weakness of the Austrian corpses is out of doubt and for all of them ( with the exception of the Benedek’s VIII Corps ) only one brigade HDC or destroyed is sufficient to put a corps into demoralization and with Rain ( it is very, very difficult that it does not happen ), the Austrian is even more vulnerable to demoralization. 
In game terms, we could write that Solferino is a splendid scenario, where every rule and every aspect of the game system can be explored, with a problem of no secondary importance…the victory conditions. We think that giving the same points for a French demoralized corps and for an Austrian one is absurd ( it is sufficient only one example: the French Imperial Guard has seven brigades and gives ten VPs; the Austrian XI corps has four brigades and…gives the same ten VPs! ). In addition, ten VPs for an Austrian demoralized  corps is not only too, too much, but also this rule gives the French player the opportunity to play only in order to demoralize Austrian corpses, without great conquest on the battlefield: a really nonsense. We have proposed some Variants ( already on web Grognard ) to Risorgimento 1859 and in these Variants is included a different way to count the VPs for the Solferino scenario: we think that the only way to play this scenario in a competitive mode could be to use our Variants. 
Try with the original system and then with our modifications and then confront the results: we are sure that the second possibility gives the game a real balance and the Austrian player a chance to win. Try.