The Battle of San Martino, 24 June 1859

When Jonathan of Palouse Wargaming Journal offered to host a remote wargame for the Rejects, there was no way we were going to turn down the opportunity.

He gave us a choice of periods, so we chose the Franco-Austrian War of 1859.  It's a period that I have taught as part of the unification of Italy, though I have never looked at the battles of the various wars of Italian independence in any detail.  That made this a welcome moment to deepen one's knowledge.

Background

The origins of the war of 1859 are a little convoluted, but essentially find their short term roots in the machinations of the Sardinian-Piedmontese Prime Minister Camille Cavour.  His foreign policy goal was to have a kingdom of Northern Italy, ruled by the Piedmontese monarchy - Victor Emmanuel II at this time.  This would require kicking the Austrian Empire out of Lombardy and Venetia first.  To do this Cavour obtained an alliance with the French emperor Napoleon III, and engineered a dispute with Austria whom he manipulated so they were seen as the aggressors.

And so to war!

The big battles are those of Solferino and the Battle of Magenta.  Bloody affairs, where more Frenchmen died fighting for Italian independence than Italians.

Jonathan provides an excellent introduction and background to the game.  He also has his battle reports as well.  His narrative style is worth the visit.  So, I won't reinvent the wheel.  Just follow these links 

Palouse Wargaming Journal: On the Table Today is...

Battle of San Martino Part 1

Battle of San Martino Part 2

Rules: amended Fields of Honor on a grid

Figures: 15mm

Victory Conditions:

Major: Hold San Martino, Contracania, bridge to Madonna del Scoperta, and Pozzolengo.

Minor: Holder of 2 of 3 San Martino, Contracania, bridge to Madonna del Scoperta. Austrians must hold Pozzolengo too.

Deployment

The Austrians were comprised of me (Benedek and Wavervliet), David (Lippert) and Lee (Philippovic).

Our Starting positions are as shown - both images courtesy of Jonathan.

The Sardinians were Ray (Victor Emmanuel II), Ian and Steve.

The Sardinians started the game with Mollard's brigade on the table with the other two arriving.

The Austrian battle plan was for David to advance slightly left and towards Contracania.  I (Wavervliet) would edge forward slightly to keep the right flank, while Lee (Philippovic) would attack through the centre towards Ortaglia and San Martino.  The reserve artillery and cavalry would move to take position just in advance of San Donnino.  Of course, we had discussed a Plan B depending on how the arriving Sardinians were deployed.

In all of this we had decided to use our main advantage of better small arms to out-range the Sardinians and only charge when necessary and when the Sardinian position had been softened up.

The Battle

The game was played over two sessions.  I must say at the outset that Jonathan proved to be a gracious host and an excellent umpire.

Ray was absent for the first session so Steve took command of Mollard and Arnaldi.  His first decision was to charge his cavalry at the jagers on the Austrian right.

However, the Sardinian cavalry seemed to lack punch, with the jagers throwing back one of the squadrons.

David (Lippert) on the Austrian left pushed up onto the plateau of San Martino.  Philoppovic advanced into the Austrian centre.  Meanwhile, the reserve artillery and 4 squadrons of cavalry started their movement to be ready to bolster the left flank and help protect the bridge.

Steve (Mollard) quickly sent his cavalry against David's artillery on the road, and persisted in his assault against my jagers on the right.

Alas, Mollard's cavalry prove to be a disappointment.  With one having to withdraw from the face of the guns, and the other being destroyed in melee with the jagers.

But there is no relief for Steve's horseman when they find themselves wiped out by rifle fire from Lee's (Philippovic) advancing jagers.

Looking down the table from the Sardinian end, Ian (Morozzo) brings on his troop; splitting his command on the two flanks of Victor Emmanuel's forces.

Steve (as Arnaldi) had previously moved up the centre towards San Martino, and taken cover in the vineyards.  From which he would never abandon during the game.

It looked like the Austrian reserves might just make it to the right flank and the town of San Donnino in the nick of time.

Throughout, David (Lippert) on the plateau has been pouring small arms fire at the towns... but to little real effect.  Though his units were themselves taking casualties.

The Sardinians, especially Ian (Morozzo) managed to grab the initiative and advanced aggressively on the flanks.  However, The two brigades in the centre seemed to be struggling to deploy through each other.

With a clear and imminent threat to San Donnino we, the Austrians enact Plan B and make a leftward shift to provide some cover for the bridge and Lippert's (David) flank.

Ian (Morozzo) grabs the initiative and throws his cavalry forward and onto the flank of David's infantry in front of San Donnino.  Ian cuts through the line and forces them into the town.

On the Austrian right flank, effective artillery and small arms fire induces a nervousness in the advancing infantry, and seems to pin them back.  

Whilst on the left flank, fortunately Benedek and the reserve arrive to contain the immediate threat with first a rapid deployment of a battery...

... and then a charge by Austrian hussars into the rear of Sardinian cavalry. The Italians are wiped out, but not before they overrun the imperial battery.

At the end of the first session of play, the positions are shown below.

For the second session, Ian and David were unable to attend, but Ray did.  As such, Ray took over command of Ian's brigade on the flanks, and Lee assumed command of Lippert's brigade on the Austrian left.

Lee consolidated the Austrian position on the left and slid into the centre with Philippovic's brigade.  Meanwhile, I began advancing on our right.

The Sardinians' were, rightly, content to withdraw to avoid casualties whilst holding San Martino, and the towns and the defensible terrain around it.

The long artillery duel on the road was finally concluded with Lee destroying the Sardinian gun.

As the clock slowly counts down, the Austrians advance on the right and Lee (Philipovic) is moving back up onto the plateau.

At this point, the start of turn 8, Jonathan rolled to see if this would be the last turn.  Anything but a one on a d10 would see another after this.  Alas, Jonathan rolled a one.  Exactly what the Sardinians wanted.  Effectively, this now guaranteed a Sardinian win.

Steve (Mollard and Arnaldi) delivered charges at the advancing jagers in the centre right...

... but honours are even with one victory each.

Seeing an opportunity to catch a lone bersagieri unit, two squadrons of the Austrian reserve are released by Benedek to cut down the wayward Sardinians...

Which is exactly what they did!  Whilst at the same time dispatching, with an effective artillery barrage, Italian troops skulking in the woods on the left flank.

The Austrians decided to charge the Sardinians in the vineyards.  But the imperial troops were obliged to retire when they made no headway.

And so the turn and the game ended.

Conclusions

This was a superb game which was excellently organised and hosted by Jonathan.  The rules, with Jonathan's adaptations, really worked well for remote gaming via Zoom.  The scenario was well conceived and well balanced.  The umpiring throughout was even handed, good humoured and helpful throughout.

As for the result.  As the Sardinians held the towns of San Martino and Contracania they were declared to have achieved a minor victory.  Well done to Ian, Ray and Steve who played well and contributed to an enjoyable occasion.

The Sardinians did what they had to do - hold and defend, and they did it well.  

As for us, the Austrians, we were not aggressive enough early enough.  In this, as commander in chief, I have to take the burden of responsibility for this decision.  I was too focused on the Austrian advantage of having longer range small arms and a little fixated on defending the line of communication - Pozzolengo and the bridge to Madonna del Scoperta.  I felt that we had time to degrade the Sardinians at arms length.  We did not!

David and Lee played magnificently as Lippert and Philoppovic respectively.  They handled their brigades ably and in good order.

As a last word I should comment that the second session saw unbelievable morale rolls from all sides, for example one Sardinian unit came under heavy fire from artillery and two infantry units.  Seven hits were scored and Steve saved them all!  This undoubtedly kept the casualty list to the barest of minimums, and caused some mirth and exclamations of disbelieve amongst all present.

A splendid game in splendid company.

Wargames Rules No 3 - Volley and Bayonet

I have to confess that when I find a set of rules that I like, I do tend to stick with them.  And for the job that they do, I think Volley and Bayonet works.  But having said that, except recently (see here), I haven't played these for... a decade and more!  Hopefully the Rivoli project will radically alter that state of affairs.  However, it perhaps says something about the mechanics that there is something that always draws me back.

This choice is quite unusual for me, as I tend to choose rules that are specific to the tight period or conflict, for example They Died for Glory for FPW.  Whereas, Volley and Bayonet is a broad set to cover the horse and musket era from c.1700 to c.1870.  In this respect, I believe it might be the thing that scratches that itch to play the big battle rather than a part of it.

Another thing of note are the design notes.  You may not agree with them all, but Frank Chadwick certainly makes clear the rationale for the systems in Volley and Bayonet.  Have a look here.

Scale

A jump that needs to be made in player imagination is that one infantry and cavalry base (typically 3 inches by 3 inches for Napoleonics and after) represents a regiment or brigade.  So what you are playing with are formations.  Not individual units.  The player does not even worry about line or column etc..  The assumption is that the brigade and regiment commanders will deal with that stuff.  You are the general commanding the army, and that is your only concern.  So "like" number one is the player is the commander in chief... not the colonel or sergeant!

3 French divisions defend against 3 Austrian.

Command and Control

There is none!  

Not strictly true... there is a command radius between division commanders and their brigades. To be out of this really inhibits forward movement and can leave a brigade disordered if it does. When a unit is disordered it is one bad decision away from routing and/or being permanently disordered.  It actually makes a player conscious of command and control issues without elaborate mechanics having to be employed.

Movement

Movement is ENORMOUS.  If you play the full scale an infantry brigade can move 16 inches; heavy cavalry up to 20 inches.  But it works!  Remember this is truly grand tactical and it has to be appreciated that one turn equals one hour.  However, terrain, manoeuvring, and the presence of the enemy can soon limit those massive moves.  Plus, fast unsupported advances can invariably lead to unwelcome outcomes.

You can scale down to half move rates and missile range - especially good if you choose to halve the size of the bases.

Morale and Division Exhaustion

One of the things that I like best is the division exhaustion rules.  Each unit has a strength value which can degrade with losses.  Typically a Napoleonic brigade (one unit) will have a strength of 4-6 (1 strength point equates to c.500 men).  The units in a division contribute their strength to the Division Exhaustion.  So, when a division typically suffers 50% loss of strength points across its units, the division must take a test to see if its morale collapses.  As you can imagine, this is not good news if it happens.  

The point score of the Division Exhaustion test can be adjusted to reflect the quality or resilience of the division - say down to 40% losses for a fragile division; up to 60%, for a high morale, very resilient division.  So, not only does which unit have its morale rating, but the division exhaustion level can be applied to this as well.

In short, these rules are simple but on greater reflection are actually quite nuanced.  The mechanics do allow for the forms of fighting in the 18th century, and also later with the advent of rifled small arms and artillery.

I just need to play them more!

Save the Factory - Aerial Dogfight

The Rejects got together for their regular Paint and Chat session via Zoom.  But this time we engaged in some dogfighting instead of painting.

Lee, Ian and Steve represented the RAF in their Spitfires.  Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe were piloted by David and Ray.  The German bombers were controlled by the umpire.

The starting positions were that the RAF were vectored in on some raiding DO17s with the mission to stop them from reaching the beer factory.  The BF109 top cover were close at hand, but could appear from any of the yellow markers.

All pilots started as experienced.  Their level could rise by getting kills.  However, it could drop if killed.  Killed pilots would reappear at one of the yellow markers.

The winners would be individual with the most points (2 per kill) and the side with the most points.

The starting positions.

Starting position as seen from behind the Spitfires.

...and seen from the DO17s.

At this point my ability to umpire and take photos utterly collapsed.

What I can say is that poor Ian kept on getting in the way of teutonic weaponry and was shot down twice.  Once by a bomber and another time by Ray.

By the end of the game the dogfighting was intense with Lee and a bomber damaged.

Final positions of the combatants, except one...

Steve had managed to leave the dogfight and concentrate on the raiding DO17s.  He successfully shot one down, but failed to score on the others before they dropped their bombs on the Stella Artois Beer Factory.

Steve desperately trying, but rolling bad dice.

An enjoyable time seemed to be had by all.

With 2 points for a kill and modifiers according to finishing skill level, Ray (Luftwaffe) and Steve (RAF) were joint first with 3 points each.

Ian was last with -1 !!

Overall, the Luftwaffe won with 3 points to 2.  The German fighters did their job of protecting the bombers.

The Catholic Army on Parade

The Catholic army has been completed and here is the result.  All figures are from Irregular Miniatures' 2mm ranges.

This is the full army set in array.  The gens d'armes forming the first line with French pike and shot units and a Spanish tercio in the second and the Swiss pike in the third line behind some artillery.  The town is made from the excellent 2mm buildings from Brigade Models.  They are from their Mediterranean range.  I have some of the medieval/renaissance buildings for this period waiting to be painted.

A closer shot of the lines.

A view from the rear ranks.

The Spanish tercio.  I'm not sure that I am happy with this.  For impact, I'm inclined to make the pike block larger.  I'll ponder on this.

The photo is more blurred than I thought, sorry.  Here is a birds eye view with a tape measure down to give a sense of scale.  Basically the gens d'armes line is 60cm long.

A closer view of the rear of two of the French pike and shot regiments.  

The French constantly struggled to find enough pikemen, so often had units with a large proportion of shot.  The Huguenot foot often had no pike at all!

These two represent the Catholic/Royalist old bands or regiments and have a proportion of 2:1 - essentially what was aimed at.  The raised Catholic regiments and bands often had a ratio of 1:1.

Here's a photo of the two foot units with a 15mm French Franco-Prussian War unit behind it for scale comparison.

And... the same units with a tape measure as well.

This picture shows three units of gens d'armes as viewed from behind.

I should at this point say that my mustering of both Catholic and Huguenot armies are based on the Battle of Coutras, 20th October 1587, with the express intention of using that as a foundation from which to expand.

My army list for the Catholic army at Coutras is not perfect but this is as best as I can make out.

Commander:  Ann, Duc de Joyeuse

Joyeuse's Gens d'armes
Lavardin's Gens d'armes
Montigny's Gens d'armes
Mercurio's Stradiots
Picardy Pike and Shot Regt.
Tiercellin Pike and Shot Regt.
Cluseau Pike and Shot Regt.
Verduissant Pike and Shot Regt.

Now to get on with Henri of Navarre's Huguenot army.