Osprey Games - The Silver Bayonet: Italy - The Shades of Calabria review With T.C. Stephen becoming the third author of The Silver Bayonet, we review the latest expansion: Italy - The Shades of Calabria. Above: Left to right: Grenadier, Sapper, Conscript, and Agent Provocateur. T.C. Stephen becomes the third author to add to the world of The Silver Bayonet, taking readers to early 19th Century Calabria in his new expansion for Joe McCullough’s Gothic-horror Napoleonic skirmish game. This book begins by painting a vivid picture of the history and landscape of Calabria, detailing remote villages perched dramatically on hillsides, the ruins of Greek and Roman antiquity to be discovered, and expansive forests adding their own dose of drama. This somewhat wild and rugged terrain is, of course, going to be a challenging locale for your Silver Bayonet Units to do their work in. The author describes the geography as ‘a dichotomous concoction of both wondrous beauty and terrible danger’, which sounds like a great start for our horror-themed adventures in Italy! Napoleonic reality meets horror gaming The book takes the challenges that the environment and natural hazards presented to Napoleonic-era troops, and adds monsters and myth to the mix. Local wildlife is made all the wilder, the sometimes-brutal weather (including the hurricane winds of the scirocco) add to gaming challenges, and other hazards get a mention, too, such as the 1783 earthquake that ravaged Calabria, and the subsequent banditry that became a way of life. This is all covered in a rich and descriptive introduction that takes up the front fifth of the book, but the history and detail is then carried across to the gaming systems. It seems the author has delighted in working these elements into the Unexpected Event tables, the Bestiary, and the different scenarios, and it’s great to see historical inspiration adding interesting friction to the gameplay. You’ll deal with challenges presented by sudden weather shifts, impassable roads, marauding brigands, French invaders, Calabrian insurgents, and more in the games you play. There are the more supernatural elements, too; key to Calabria is the mysterious Green Mist, which veils the darker magics of necromancers. It obscures visibility and quite dramatically reduces shooting accuracy. Targets more than 7" away are at -1 to hit when the mist blankets the battlefield, and more than 14" away they are at -2. This makes the safer ranged attacks that players tend to use much less appealing, and it doesn’t take a tactical genius to see that much of Calabria’s combat will be up close and personal. Above: Left to right: Provincial Soldier, Light Infantryman, Irregular, and Officer. Under the Microscope Calabrian Briganti (bandits) are rooted in the region’s history of
