Ascari - African Battles of the Italian Army 1890-1895

Africa, 1890-1895.This Company level game tells an epic that took place in Eritrea, the first Italian Colony, and the story of loyal soldiers who fought for Italy through the depiction of four main battles, which saw them as protagonists: the two battles of Agordat against the Dervishes, Amba Alagi and Coatit against the Ethiopians. A bonus Scenario depicting the battle of Metemma between the Dervishes and the Ethiopian Emperor Johannes IV is also included.

The Italian flag started to wave on the shores of the Red Sea in 1882, after the purchase of the port of Assab by a private company, which sold it later to the Government. Eritrea colony, after the first months of Italian administration, started to grow, increasing the area of influence among the surrounding tribes, thus starting the struggle with the Empire of Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, and reaching the borders of Sudan.

Some minor clashes between Italians and Dervishes, which in their effort to expand had already defeated a large Ethiopian army at Metemma (1889), had already occurred in the area of Agordat in 1890 (first encounter of Agordat, 27th June 1890) where the Italian Colonial Troops, composed of mostly by Ascari, won the day against raiding parties of Dervishes. After the clashes with the Dervishes, with the brilliant victory of Agordat (21st December 1893), the Ascari encountered their natural foe, the Ethiopian Empire. In the game they pass from the last victory against them at Coatit (12th January 1895) to the defeat at Amba Alagi (7th December 1895), where the entire IVth Battalion was totally destroyed.

Contents:

Four 59x41 cm maps (printed on two sided sheets)

216 5/8" counters

A Player Aid Card

A rule booklet with scenarios and an historical background