Today I start talking a little about Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, the first game – designed by me together with Alessandro Zucchini – that will be released under the Ingenioso Hidalgo imprint, the small publishing label I created to follow some projects that are a little more particular or niche than my more typical games.

It is a somewhat risky choice for starting this adventure, because it is a genre, that of the Napoleonic wargaming, with a small but combative audience of enthusiasts that I have come to know over the years, rightly sceptical towards innovation for its own sake, and more often interested in the historical recounting of a little-known battle. It is also risky because it is a challenging game to produce, from the point of view of the amount of material present (for such a small publisher at least).

But if it wasn’t a risky choice, it wouldn’t be a game for Ingenioso Hidalgo, the errant publisher!

Over the next few weeks I plan a whole series of ‘posts’ to tell you exactly what these original elements in the game are: the game format, the formation system, the orders mechanic and the combat resolution one… But I begin with a purely editorial aspect, that of the production of this (first?) print run. After evaluating various possible paths (handing over the design to a bigger publisher, printing in China and looking for a distributor, or going through a crowdfunding campaign), I opted for a more amateurish and somewhat nostalgic path, that of a very limited print run, entirely printed by local printers and assembled ‘handcrafted’ in the basement of my home. This is certainly a somewhat unusual choice in a market like today’s boardgame market, which is often dominated by overproduction (both in terms of numbers and materials), but one that allows me to work with more control, faster turnaround times, and perhaps with a more personal relationship with those who buy and play the game.

This of course means some compromising on the choice of materials, but not on quality. The box will not be wrapped, but with an outer sleeve (like the Columbia games, for example). The maps will not be mounted, but made of good paper. The dice will need the stickers to be attached before the first game. All small choices necessary to be able to do things locally and be able to propose a game at a definitely affordable price (the current estimate is for a cost of around 50 euros).

This also means that Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars will be released with an initial print run of only 500 copies, all numbered and ‘marked with the ‘Barely 500’ program logo, which will be available directly on the Ingenioso Hidalgo website and at the events I will be attending, starting with PLAY 2025, the games festival to be held in Bologna on 4-5-6 April 2025.