To celebrate the 227th anniversary of the Battle of Rivoli, a number of Rejects gathered in Postie's shed on a crisp morning to refight the engagement.
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| Philippoteaux Felix - Bonaparte a la bataille de Rivoli. (Public Domain) |
The battle would be fought using 6mm MDF miniatures from Commission Figurines on a 6 feet by 4 feet table using Volley and Bayonet rules.
The Austrians were commanded by Lee as the commander in chief Alvinczy, and Surjit as Quasdanovich. Other commands would be allocated during game.
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| The battlefield with key features (excuse spelling errors). |
The French were played by Steve acting as Napoleon and Joubert, whilst Ray controlled Massena's troops. Other commands would be allocated during the battle.
As is usual some compromises were made for the sake of playability - terrain, army lists and unit strengths, compression of time etc.
Briefing
The two sides were sent briefings and maps prior to the game.
The French map The Austrian map
The French briefing was as follows:
"Since beginning of the siege of Mantua, the Austrians have made three attempts to relieve the forces trapped there and threaten your gains in northern Italy. You have been aware that Alvinczy has been preparing to move against you. It is only on the 13th when Joubert reports that his outposts have been pushed back from La Corona to Rivoli that the Austrian plan is revealed. That is to send a diversionary force further to the east, via Verona, and to catch and destroy the French forces east of Lake Garda before breaking the siege.
In the early hours of the 14th January 1797, Joubert was ordered to throw the Austrian troops off the Trombalore Heights and away from San Marco. You now know that a large force faces you. Plus, another column is marching along the Adige valley. Massena’s division is already marching and the head of his column is likely to arrive presently. You have also sent for General Rey to move up in support. His time of arrival is unknown.
Rivoli and its plateau is a key feature. Its loss opens access to the region south around Mantua.
The fighting around the Heights is now beginning in earnest. The time is 08:00. The daylight should last until 17:00.
Joubert’s division is deployed on the Heights and at San Marco.
Massena is marching from the south and looks likely to arrive between 08:00 and 09:00.
Rey is on route but has further to march. He is unlikely to reach Rivoli until the afternoon."
The Austrian briefing ran like this:
"This fourth attempt at relieving the French siege of Mantua must succeed. Troops and other resources are almost exhausted and unlikely to be replenished. The plan is to send a diversionary force further to the east whilst catching and destroying the French forces east of Lake Garda and centered around Rivoli.
The enemy outposts have already been pushed back from La Corona to Rivoli. Your aim now is to trap the French by attacking across the Trombalore Heights, assaulting the Rivoli Plain from the Adige and through the Osteria Gorge to turn a flank, and for a detachment sent over Monte Baldo to appear in the French rear.
In the early hours of the 14th of January 1797, your picquets on the Trombalore Heights were pushed back, leaving the French in occupation.
Your assault on the Heights is now due to begin in earnest. The time is 08:00. The daylight should last until 17:00
Alvinzcy and the divisions attacking the heights and San Marco are deployed and ready to advance. Quasdanovich, arrives at 08:00 by moving on along the road in the Adige valley.
Vukassovich is moving down the eastern side of the river. His time of arrival is uncertain, but hopefully by midday.
Lusignan’s division should appear in the French rear as the main assault begins at 08:00. However, there has been no news from him, and his exact location is unknown."
The Armies
For both lists I have used the terminology corps and division for ease of differentiation between layers of command. However, the reality was more accurately division and brigade - for the French anyway.
The Austrian army list is as follows.
The French forces are composed as follows:
Deployment
The game opens with Joubert's troops deployed along with Ocksay's, Knoblos' and Liptay's for the Austrians. As you may have seen from the army lists, other commands enter at various times.
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| The view looking south towards the Rivoli plateau. |
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| The view looking west across the Adige and towards the Trombalore Heights. |
The Battle
The battle opened with a general advance by the Austrians. Alvinczy recognised that they needed to use their numerical superiority quickly.
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| Liptay, Koblos and Ocksay press towards the height and San Marco in the distance. |
Critically, the Austrians knew that the key was Quasdanovich breaking through Osteria Gorge and onto the Rivoli plateau.
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| Austrian arrive and prepare to test the resolve and skill of Joubert's gunners. |
Napoleon quickly dispatched reserve guns to shore up the defences at the gorge.
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| The long shot as the circle tightens on Joubert's position. |
First blood to Alvinczy as Ocksay hurls his grenadiers at Vial's infantry.
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| French regiment thrown back from San Marco. |
Massena's command arrives in column to bring the possibility of easing the pressure.
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| The blank markers indicates the length of the march column. They can move very fast, but are vulnerable if caught like that. |
However, Alvinczy is applying maximum effort to gaining the heights as every possible regiment charges into the outnumbered defenders.
At San Marco, the grenadiers double up with line to test French resilience.
... and Quasdanovich unleashes his uhlans to clear the guns and open up the plateau.
Whilst making notable advances towards capturing the heights, the Austrians are repelled elsewhere.
However, Quasdanovich has a looooong column of troops to push at the French right flank.
Can Massena deploy his troops to help Joubert recover the heights? Well, he was certainly expending a lot of thought and care in doing so. Nonetheless, Joubert was taking the brunt of it... and especially Lebley's division.
By 11am (Rivoli time), Lebley's division was exhausted. It could no longer endure contact with the enemy and had to be pulled back before the division's morale collapsed.
By 11am, the Austrian pincer led by Lusignan had arrived in the rear of Massena's column. However, the French were far more concerned about holding the gorge and retaking the heights.
The Austrian commanders were now having to rally and redeploy damaged units in order to keep up the pressure.
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| The Austrian commanders ponder their next moves amidst mounting redeployment issues. |
Alas, Massena could now bring guns and Monnier's infantry to bear. Plus, their holding of the central position relieved them of some of the command and control issues that their opponents were starting to face.
By 1pm, French numbers were beginning to tell on the heights.
The crisis came quickly for the Austrians. Quasdanovich mounted a ferocious charge at the gunners. The fire and combat was close and hung in the balance, but alas, the infantry supported guns held their position at the gorge.
With continuing engagement on the heights, both Liptay's and Koblos' division cracked. Their excellent efforts all morning having finally exhausted them.
Alvinczy conceded immediately. Having come close at the gorge and failed and with his assault on the heights now blunted, the Austrians recognised defeat.
A hard fought win was greeted with sighs of relief by the French commanders.
Analysis
This was a close encounter with the battle on a knife's edge throughout. All sides played magnificently.
Alas, the Austrians were unable to make the breakthrough onto the Rivoli plateau via the Osteria Gorge. Plus, some critical moments of luck eluded the Austrians. Nonetheless, the battle was poised nicely and seemed well balanced until the exertions and feats of valour performed by Liptay's and Koblos' divisions finally exhausted them.
The rules worked really well, coping with multiple engagements around the field of battle in an efficient and plausible manner. We all enjoyed some of the nuances of Volley and Bayonet, especially the realisation of the critical yet simply applied morale rules for pre and post melee. In fact, the rules facilitated a great deal of drama throughout. Yet the great thing about the game was that the players were less concerned about the rules than about commanding their troops.
On reflection, One change that I might make is to remove one of the reserve batteries from the French. I'm not sure they needed it. Plus, it would add to the dilemma of decision making and deployment. With what they had, they had (perhaps) too much freedom.
I had made changes to the strength points of all units. This meant that the unit strengths did not necessarily correspond with their historical strength. However, the changes made for a better game (I believe) where both sides could play in the knowledge that they had a chance of winning. It was always going to be hard for the Austrians... but the French were sweating too!
Lastly and most importantly, great fun and a good day in companionship was had by all.
