Categories
Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

Ruletest B: The Battle of Symmetry Ridge: Piquet Field of Battle 1848-1861

The Battle of Symmetry Ridge

Following on from three simple battles using Fire & Fury, Piquet Field of Battle is the next ruleset for consideration. Published in 2011 – 20 years after Fire and Fury and card driven the ruleset should give a different feel.

The battle comprised the same forces that were used in the Fire and Fury ruletest A3 covered in a previous post.

The objective was to secure the ridge and drive off the opposing force.

The Forces this time were……….

The Austrian Right Flank

Austria

  • Left Flank – Brigade Von Baden (Orange Facings)
  • Centre Left – No1 Field Artillery Battery
  • Centre Right – Erzherzog Albrecht Brigade (Red Facings)
  • Right Flank – 5th Graf Radetzky & 8th Ferdinand, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha Cavalry Brigade
Piedmont Left Flank

Piedmont

  • Left Flank – National Guard Milan Brigade
  • Centre Left – “A” Battery Field Artillery
  • Centre Right – Bersaglieri di Vignola Brigade
  • Right Flank – 3rd & 6th Piedmont (Lancers) Cavalry Brigade

The Battlefield itself is slightly altered from that used in the Fire & Fury battles.

The road bisects the battle field on the diagonal but notionally there is a ridge which it crosses and where an enclosed Orchard is located.

a 4’x4′ table set up works just fine for these tests. Alas these excellent light weight but sturdy german made Lidl sourced picnic tables have been OOP for 4 years. Crikey they even have 4 height settings in the legs…………….my Kloster Arens encounters made good use of this variable height capability
The Orchard on Symmetry Hill (some of the model trees were planted in the 1970’s!). The Austrian Artillery have Unit Integrity of 2 (most infantry have 3) with a Defensive Dice 1xd6 (like all other units) plus Combat Dice 1xd10 again like most of the units in this battle

The Orchard is inpenetrable to all arms for all the remaining rules to be tested. So in effect it is a flank and divides the action into two areas.

The fence supplier is unknown but the orchard dates from the early 1970’s – by german model railway company Noch, not bad for 50 years of play.

In Field of Battle (FoB) terrain is classed for its impact on the game.

This means the orchard is a Class II line of sight blockage and a Class IV movement restriction.

Unit integrity is the key variable for each unit in the game. It reflects status/morale/strength as a variable.

Combat Capability is defined as a Dn (where n=an even value in the range 4-20) so thats D4,D6,D8,D10,D12,D20.

Opposed rolls is the way results are determined.

Command radius determines the limit of a leaders influence on the battlefield and is a variable (Dn x 10 = command radius in inches)

Initiative is determined by opposed rolls of the two Leaders respective dice. The difference equals the total initiative each side can use in this part of a turn. Turns get complicated but the game does not!

The winner of the opposed roll decides order of play.

you can still buy 2nd edition card decks, I have yet to consider moving to 3rd edition.

The game is card driven and a deck for each side needs to be determined. In this case both sides used the exact same variables so ended up with identical card decks. In most games the playing decks would be asymmetrical.

Piquet is essentially an asymmetrical game. Therefore winning has to be defined to ensure the asymmetry does not simply distort the game one way each time.

The forces all elected to “march” with the Austrian left using the road benefit

On Turn 1 Step 1 the Austrians scored 9 on d10 against Piedmont just 4. This gave the Austrians 5 initiative points as the ACTIVE player.

In the event the Austrians drew 5 cards none of which were for movement. Essentially the army just stood transfixed.

Piedmont (REACTIVE player) now promptly drew some excellent cards for move and melee.

Piedmont have already secured the ridge
Piedmont right wing crash into the Austrians strung out on the road, a now regretted ploy.

The opposed roll dice off in Piquet is usually with different dice as factors peculiar to that melee move the players dice up or down the scale of d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/d20.

The Lancers went from d12 to d12+3 scoring 3 on the dice and adding 3 = 6

The Von Baden Brigade went from d10 down to d6 mitigating some negative factors through a discard of a tactical advantage card drawn in the ill fated Austrian Initiative as the ACTIVE player. Von Baden scored 3 on the dice.

The difference = 3 hits on the Austrians. This equated to 1 unit of integrity which is the value of 1 UI for all arms.

The Piedmont Lancers won the melee going out of command while the Von Baden Brigade lost unit integrity and the army morale lost 1 point. The Bersaglieri were not so fortunate……

Each Army started with an Army Morale Rating of 4 – determined by the make up of the Army x a variable 1xd12. The range being 3 to 50.

The No1 Austrian Field Battery made short work of the impulsive Bersaglieri.

The Bersaglieri threw their defensive dice in the opportunity fire step. A 1 on the die!

The Austrians had their eye in, with a D10 moving to D12+1 and with a die roll of 4 scored 5. So 4 hits on the Bersagleri meant 1 unit of integrity lost plus a spare hit.

The Bersagleri retired 4″.

Piedmont also now saw their Army Morale drop from 4 to 3.

Piedmont still had initiative and the next cards drawn were Artillery Firepower and Infantry Firepower. Firing is permitted at any time a unit is ready to fire, these cards tell you a unit has reloaded. Hence the puffs denote units who have fired and cannot fire again until they get a firepower card from the deck.

It means you don’t know if that unit will be able to fire when charged…………the sort of randomness that many “face to face” gamers quite simply will find too constraining.

For the Solo Wargamer such an approach offsets the lack of the live opponent uncertainty and simply adds to the narrative.

“A” battery Piedmont Field Artillery open fire on the Erzherzog Albrecht Brigade.

“A” battery went up 2 from d10 to d12+1 threw 6 = 7

In response to this fire the Erzherzog Albrecht Brigade threw 4 on their d6. with 3 hits they lost 1 unit of integrity and another army morale point and went out of command.

The first round of initiative ended. And we are still in game turn 1!

The Austrians won the dice off again and gained 5 initiative.

The Austrians drew another 5 cards which included a lot of LULL’s – basically nothing happens.

They did managed some movement cards to get their troops into line.

On the Austrian Left Flank things were heating up

The Piedmont initiative started badly with an Army Morale card which meant testing for the army morale. failing the d12 throw meant all units went out of command (OOC).

“A” battery opened up again OOC but had no effect.

No other cards were of use and some more LULL put paid to the Piedmont initiative.

The next initiative die roll saw Piedmont win 8 to 2 giving 6 initiative points to them.

  • Artillery fire caused more damage to Brigade Erzherzog Albrecht
  • another round had no effect though
  • no other cards could be played

The Austrians had a mixed hand and did manage to inflict some more unit integrity loss as well as army morale reduction.

The next dice off saw the Piedmont grab the initiative again with 5 points advantage.

  • firepower was at first ineffective from the Bersaglieri and Milan Brigades
  • Bersaglieri then managed to attack the Austrian artillery again causing 1UI damage along with 1 army morale reduction
  • The Milan brigade then blasted the Piedmont Cavalry Brigade inflicting 1UI loss and a further army morale point deduction.
  • LULL and ARMY MORALE and MANOEUVRE cards followed

The Austrian response was

  • their artillery again damaged the Bersaglieri who lost 1UI and army 1 morale point
  • but then ARMY MORALE came up for the Austrians who had to die role their leadership dice of d10 against a d12 because their Army Morale rating was already reduced to zero.
  • the throw was lost

As a result of losing this throw the Austrians quit the field.

A victory for Piedmont and King Victor Emmanuel.

The faster attrition through loss of army morale eventually worked against the Austrians

In effect this was all one game turn if you say the exhaustion of the deck is a game turn. Both sides had unturned cards.

The Milan Brigade eventually got into action and probably delivered the losses that tipped the balance in favour of Piedmont.

The game did feel different to Fire & Fury however it did play at the same sort of pace. I had played Field of Battle Piquet before which certainly helps as the processes are unusual.

I have some more reports coming, before concluding this rules test series.

Categories
metal miniatures miniatures painting Vienna Treaty Wars wargaming

The Painting Pedestal: 22c – 1848 Danish Infantry

So far this year the Painting Pedestal has been a bit wonky with some units not even reaching the pedestal

  • Milan National Guard 1848 – here
  • Battaglione Bersaglieri di Vignola 1860 – here

So belatedly my third offering this year finally makes it to the pedestal.

The First Schleswig Holstein War was fought between the Danes and the Prussian driven German Federation – aka the Holy Roman Empire. The Danes won but the Prussian steamroller was just getting going – in 1864 the 2nd war with Danish defeat, heralded the misery of 80 odd years of German led mayhem across Europe. However it is reported, you can argue it was weakness on the part of France and the United Kingdom to stand up for territorial integrity, that condemned Europe to decades of Prussian agression.

In 1848 the Danish Infantryman was clad in red tunic and blue trousers with a bell style shako plus white belts and straps. The bell style shako had evolved from the Napoleonic era shako, both of which were also to be seen in civilian fashion changes on the journey from tricorne to bowler hat.

Almost as soon as the war started the soldiers ditched their shakoes and donned their fatigue hats – bright blue kepi’s. Add in the new all dark blue uniform with black belts and straps gets you a soldier looking not out of place in the American Civil War that was raging 15 years later.

This Piedmont unit from 1859 gives you a rough idea of the transformation in 1848 danish military uniform. The Danes led the way, not just the Prussians.

The metal figures are from Irregular Miniatures. Being 20mm they are at the small end of 1/72 so they get some extra basing to reduce the height disparity with the many 1/72 and 25mm figures I have.

Irregular Miniatures sell them under their Colonial range.

Here are some more views of the unit.

The units are set up for Piquet rules – 4 bases equals a unit.

The 3 figure basing was an idea I picked up from an article in Lone Warrior – magazine of the Solo Wargames Assocation. The article was a cost cutting exercise for DBA armies where the advent of element basing undermined the need to consider figure scale and to have full ranks. Peter Pigs Conquerors and Kings also advocated 3 figure basing as did their Bloody Barons medieval ruleset.

I am quite taken with this unit so will probably add to this force.

I will probably use Neil Thomas’s book – European C19th Wargames which gives you rough army lists to play his rules and scenarios from the book.

For the basing I used my standard three colour paintwork (burnt sienna + yellow ochre + very pale yellow/white dry brush all over budgie grit/pva. This time I have gone for paler washed out grasses. And I am quite pleased with the result.

The flag was an afterthought. I suddenly realised I had the flagstaff from Irregular with no flag! Now I could probably have bought a Danish flag online. But I had started to make crude flags from dried out screen wipes (basically I bought some wipes and found that they had lost their alcohol content). The end result is a rough paper that takes colour easily. I simply used some permanent ink colouring pens. Marking out was the longest task. So very quick – but I suspect I will change them if I get a chance.

So that is the 1848 Danish Infantry unit ready to march!

Categories
wargame shows wargaming

2022 Partizan Perambulation

Partizan at Newark Showground made a welcome return for me in 2022. Last visited in 2019 this show or rather the pair – “the other Partizan” that happens in the Autumn, had both become a regular destination for me.

This years show built on my trips to Vapnartak (masks still very evident as well as much caution) and Hammerhead (obvious relief as constraints eased) so I should not have been surprised that Partizan was “many in earnest”. I felt there was a lot of catching up conversation going on, which maybe meant slightly less participation? Yet the enthusiasm was so obvious – people discussing, looking and yes playing games – simple pleasures throwing dice and moving pieces.

And there was the other simple pleasure of admiring other peoples work. Conversations seemed easier and the enjoyment palpable.

For once I had no shopping list – 2 years of on online buying had emptied my pockets? Well no – quite simply I have been sticking to my projects and actually painting my figures and even gaming. That has meant less erratic moments for the Wargaming butterfly.

First up are the games that were on show. I concentrated on just a few for photos. on reflection mats seemed to be a theme for me!

commercial mat – not to my liking but I liked this Pike and Shot display by Mr Mike Spence.
Plenty of eastern cavalry – polish?
I really enjoyed reading Robert Frosts The Northern Wars 1558 to 1721, where a lot of actions involved storming defences – as shown here.
Excellent read if you can get a copy.
The pikemen gather

The 40mm Mr Ian Smith and friends was a glorious display of Napoleonic soldiers and fantastic scenery.

Napoleonic infantry columns advance
Artillery drop into action
Cavalry advance beneath the walls of an imposing town
The British Light Infantry and redcoats appear in the distance
I really liked the town walls
Excellent attention to detail made this a model come alive

The Immortals presented an excellent medieval action

The terrain was the first thing that caught my eye which is terrible because the figures are absolutley fantastic. But the terrain caught my eye becuase it looked so good in itself!
The painting schemes used here are simply fantastic even though I know medievals lend themselves to being pictured.
On the hill English foot await the cavalry attack while admiring the fantastic detail of the grasslands that surround them.
Behind the french lines are some equally fantastic buildings of another town – all scratch built.
This table won the “mat award” for me.
It was all about the Bretons and their succession……….
nearby I think was Mr James Morris and Chums? anyway his dark ages game was fought over Sherpa fleece – it was good and he kindly showed the process of turning this product into a usable table mat – top marks

Over to another Eastern European battle – no details gathered

traditional boards slightly textured worked ok for me.

Fast forward to 1833 and Westbury Wargames with their “two brothers war” in Portugal where all manner of nations piled in for another go just a few decades after Wellington and his Portuguese allies had fought their way through to Spanish held France.

Traditional scenic boards with some nice set pieces and out of shot excellent buildings (again scratch built)

And thats it. Well I did get distracted by mats and terrain this year. The terrain mats are a gift for the time hungry and space hungry gamer which is the most common type of wargamer I suggest. I think it is more the case that, at shows where displays are a product of a different amount of effort the textured cloths seem to be the better bet for “a look”? However I have seen some tables where the “hirsute” cloth swamped the poor figures who looked as though they were wading through 2m high grass.

All in all the displays I found were excellent and inspired me to wargame, which is what it is all about.

What did the other big sell do to me – the trader tour!

I impulsively fell for some pendraken and warbases material – invariably so. Usual suspects being bases plus some dice.

Gamers grass seems to be winning my texture competition and I am going more bland as well. You live and learn – my Austrian rifleman have demanded sunglasses to tackle the luminous green grasses they are striding through………..

The man in the “corner” shop hailed from Birmingham and brought many an interesting box for the 1/72 gamer. They were at T22 in the trader zone – see map at the end.

I fell for this station……..

But was too late for its mate the Italian church – curses.

I took this warbases church instead
Long gone – these out of production miniart romans are not everyones cup of tea even if the artwork is enticing
even rarer the cavalry are very nice. Not sure when my interests will return to the late roman period?

If you cant wait for me to paint these then try visiting https://comitatusgaulois.wordpress.com/

Chariobaude offers up a great range of painted Late Romans.

My current preoccupation is middle nineteenth century where in plastics you get the “plastic soldier review” much disliked Austrians. Failing this in 20-25 mm its really just Irregular Miniatures at each end so to speak 20mm or 28mm. I have posted a picture of 20mm Neapolitans posing as 1848 French at Rome elsewhere on this blog.

Irregular 20mm Neapolitans posing as French 1849 at Rome.
Austrian Artillery are always useful while the Carabiniers will get head swops – wearing kepis or stovepipes to become something useful. Plastic Soldier Review liked these horsemen……

I will be back in the Autumn for the Other Partizan

The free figure was nice – I might even paint him.
A nicely laid out and well organised show – very well attended! A hobby back to some of its social life

Categories
wargame rules wargaming

Rules Test A3: Fire & Fury 1848-1861

This is the third of a series of battles testing the simple aspects of Fire & Fury (1st edition).

As before Marshall Radetzky and his Austrian forces are engaged with the Piedmontese of King Charles Emmanuel.

The commanders are equal rating under the rules and each move initiative is diced for on opposed d10 dice throws.

All the units have the same Brigade effectiveness rating of 4/3/2 Fresh/worn/spent. As the battle rages units decline in effectiveness going from 4 though 3 to 2 rating. This value modifies the opposed d10 dice rolls which are characteristic of the game rules.

The start of the action – the infantry are in attack columns meaning better melee potential sacrificing the firing line. Piedmont in the foreground await the marching Austrian Imperialists.

The Forces are

Austria

  • Left Flank – Brigade Ritter Von Benedek (Green Facings)
  • Centre Left – No1 Battery Field Artillery
  • Centre Right – Brigade Von Baden (Orange Facings)
  • Right Flank – 5th Graf Radeztky & 8th Ferdinand, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha Cavalry Brigade

Piedmont

  • Left Flank – Pinerolo Infantry Brigade
  • Centre Left – “A” Battery Field Artillery
  • Centre Right – Bologna Volunteers Infantry Brigade
  • Right Flank – Piedmont Lancers 3rd & 6th Regiments

The initiative went with the Austrians who as one “well handled” moved forward in one line.

In response some “desultory fire” came from the Piedmontese.

in turn the Piedmontese line move forward “well handled”.

The Piedmontese advance in line
The Austrian line becomes slightly ragged
Modified opposed rolls of d10 are at the heart of Fire & Fury. This is a contrast to more recent tastes for d6 roll to hit and saving throws. Actually there is something about the instant dice off. Especially as it did not feel like my memory of opposed dice rolling under WRG 6th edition where the factors made most throws pointless – accurate maybe but not enjoyable.
The Austrian No1 Battery drops into action and disorders the Bologna Volunteers. To their right The Hussars drive back the Pinerolo Brigade in disorder, while the Austrian Brigade Ritter Von Benedek silence the “A” battery piedmont field artillery. Brigade Von Baden issue a “telling fire” disordering the Lancers.

The Austrian Hussars had achieved a breakthough and promptly fell upon the Piedmont “A” battery field artillery.

The attack “faltered” miraculously for Piedmont, as it looked like their whole line was about to collapse under the first assault. (hussars rolled modified = 4 against artillery unmodified max die throw of 10).

everywhere the Piedmontese managed to rally. But “lively” and “telling” fire from the Austrians continued to cause problems.
The Piedmontese “A” field battery hold their own.
Finally Brigade Ritter Von Benedek chase off the Piedmontese Artillery while Brigade Von Baden move on the Bologna Volunteers and “drive” them back with loss. The resulting breakthrough took the infantry into the Lancers who were “swept” from the field
Effectively the Austrians have the advantage and as evening falls the Piedmontese retire

It was all over so quickly – one swift attack by the Austrians and the Piedmontese turned tail! The Empire is restored, the rebels suppressed and folk can return to drinking coffee and smoking in the cafes of Lombardy…….

Victory Points are usually won by destroying enemy units. The emphasis is not on objectives. Not surprising as a 1990’s era ruleset rarely made objectives the focus. Not so today where often it is the dominant aspect of working out the winner.

Here Austria accrued 7 victory points versus 2 for the Piedmontese.

Just to be clear – no arrangement was made in these battles – the die rolls were as you see them. I suspect it was such as the hapless artillerymen holding off rabid hussars that caused so much ire when these rules were first published.

The rules contain outcomes with descriptions that feed a narrative easily. Telling fire or desultory? you know which one is having an impact.

The Fire and Fury rules (FaF1ed) use scales to help the gamer play Gettysburg on the table top! So the Brigade is the key unit size. Battalions and Regiments don’t figure. This actually also narratively worked for me, which I had not expected.

All in all three very enjoyable games.

Before I conclude my thoughts on FaF1ed, I will run some more rulesets out for a canter.

Categories
wargame rules wargaming

Rules Test A2: Fire & Fury 1848-1861

King Victor Emmanuel gathered some more troops and returned to the battlefield, this time his infantry were supported by some cavalry.

Austria (furthest away) versus Piedmont(nearest) in Game A2

The forces were

Piedmont

  • left flank – Pinerolo Brigade
  • centre – Bologna Volunteers
  • right flank – 3rd & 6th Line Cavalry (Lancers) Brigade

Austrians

  • left flank – Brigade IR59 Von Baden (orange facings)
  • centre – Brigade IR28 Graf Latour (green facings)
  • right flank – 5th & 8th Hussars Brigade (5th Carl Albert, Konig von Sardinien with 8th Ferdinand, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha)

I used Fire & Fury Rules 1st Edition with no amendments. Again each unit had identical Brigade effectiveness 4/3/2 fresh/worn/spent ratings.

Initiative was diced for with unmodified d10 opposing rolls.

Again Charles Emmanuel and Marshall Radetzky faced each other. As it happens the 5th Hussars were already being renamed Marshall Radetzky given Piedmont had turned its back on the Empire.

The Marshall won the initiative no doubt buoyed by success in the previous engagement.

However both infantry units were “tardy” in moving to contact while the Hussars galloped ahead.

The Piedmont Lancers advanced with the Bologna Volunteers
The Austrian Hussars galloped headlong towards a somewhat hesitant PInerolo Infantry Brigade
However it was the Piedmont Lancers who made first contact being “well handled” charging into the Brigade Von Baden
The Lancers had the worst of it with their “attack checked” and being forced to retreat (in this case the variable dice came up with just 2″ – inches). Being disordered and very close to the enemy brigade things looked bad for the Lancers.
The Bologna Volunteers took the worst of a long range fire fight becoming disordered – but they rallied with “elan” while The Piedmont Lancers managed to rally but simply to “hold position”
While the lancers were holding, the austrian Hussars had also been a bit too keen and the Pinerolo Brigade has forced them back in disorder. The Hussars also rallied with “elan” and charged the piedmontese infantry. In the centre the Brigade Graf Latour charged the Bologna Volunteers.

In the opposed rolls using modified d10’s the results were

  • Graf Latour scored 6 against the Bologna Volunteers scoring 12, the minus 6 forced the Austrians to retreat 8″
  • The Austrian Hussars scored 9 while the Pinerolo Brigade could manage just 4, the Piedmontese Infantry were driven back
Here the Piedmontese left wing is collapsing while the Austrians are forced back in the centre and on their left.
Move 4 Piedmont win the initiative but trying to rally, the Pinerolo Brigade “break”, the Bologna Volunteers “hold” while the Lancers manage a “tardy” charge, The Austrian Von Baden brigade disorder the Lancers but fail to stop the charge.

In the melee there is nothing between the Lancers and Von Baden so a “desparate struggle” begins.

As the melee continues (desparate struggles play out extra rounds before the next move) the Lancers get the upper hand (“7 plus” result being difference in the opposed rolls) and the Von Baden brigade is swept from the field.
While the Von Baden Brigade quit the field in the centre a charge by the Graf Latour Brigade only just fails and the two centre brigades are left facing each other.
Which trumphant cavalry will swing matters in the centre?
The Austrian Hussars ignore the infantry melee and make for their natural enemy – the Piedmont Lancers
In the centre although driven back the Graf Latour Brigade fail to break the Bologna Volunteers
While the Pinerolo and Lancer Brigades rally with “elan” the Bologna Volunteers are only just holding on “wavering”. Desultory Fire all round means melee’s resume.

The Lancers charged home against the Austrian Hussars. The Hussars “checked” the Lancers charge forcing them back.

Move 6 and the Austrians have the initiative with the Graf Latour Brigade “well handled” and charging the Bologna Volunteers while the Hussars charged home again in a “tardy” way against the Lancers of Piedmont.

The Bologna Volunteers held and the “attack faltered” for the Austrian infantry who lost many men.

The Hussars drove back the Lancers inflicting heavy casualties, and they achieved a “breakthrough”. Yet it was hollow and the Lancers were able to retreat intact.

With the Pinerolo Brigade somewhat recovered and the Bologna Volunteers still in control of the centre the Austrian Brigade Latour retreated – covered by the Hussars

As evening draws in the Austrians quit the field. No victory celebrations for the Marshal tonight.

Categories
wargame rules wargaming

Rules Test A1: Fire & Fury 1848-1861

This rules test used the 1990 1st Edition ruleset called Fire & Fury. No rule amendments were applied except to deal with the minimal number of units on the board.

My starting point was actually Donald Featherstones Battles with Model Soldiers and his three battle scenarios to show rules in action.

  • ruletest A – just infantry
  • ruletest B – infantry plus cavalry
  • ruletest C – infantry plus cavalry plus artillery

So first up is the all infantry affair. Having never used these rules before it was an easy way into them.

The table set up is shown below in the first photo with two brigades per side each of 4 bases.

Piedmont Forces led by none other than King Victor Emmanuel comprised

  • The righthand Brigade comprised the Bologna Volunteers in red banded kepis
  • The lefthand Brigade comprised the Brigade Pinerolo

The Austrians were amazingly led by Marshal Radetzky (brought out of retirement yet again)

  • The righthand Brigade comprised IR28 Green facings: Graf Latour
  • The lefthand Brigade comprised IR59 Orange facings: Leopold, Grossherzog von Baden

Uniforms are anything but, as my figure painting interests have ranged from 1848 to 1870! So 1848 uniforms will jostle with those of 1859 or even 1866/70. It was a period of much change in weapons and warfare which in turn influenced what soldiers wore.

The Brigade Effectiveness table is your starting point.

I gave all units a 4/3/2 rating = Fresh/Worn/Spent. This factor which declines during the battle modifies the basic die rolls for manoeuvring and combat. You can see this is a key way to show uneven forces from actual battles.

King Victor Emmanuel marched confidently towards the Austrian Line. Marshall Radetzky was confident these Piedmontese would be driven from the field.
The Generals are not attached. Attaching Leaders to brigades confers benefits to events.
Both forces changed formation (requiring a D10 + modifiers against a manoeuvre table of results). They adopted field column formation.
Each turn starts with an initiative test – the winning General has the advantage of moving first as the ruleset is a IgoUgo turn based game. The rules are actually set up for refighting Gettysburg so each scenario defines the order of play. My solution was to assume both Leaders to have equal effectiveness through opposed rolling an unmodified D10 each.
Both forces were very close now and the next initiative would give significant advantage. So far the Piedmontese rolled high…….
The Piedmontese rolled high again opted to move and fire as well as changing from field column into line. The Austrians got their fire in first (opportunity fire) but this was “desultory”. I like the terms used to describe outcomes. The Austrian brigade leaders were not used to measure firing effects.
Desultory fire all round and generally a lack of manoeuvre……….
until the Austrian Brigade Von Baden disordered their Bologna Volunteer opponents
on Move 3 the Austrians now managed to get into line and charged the Piedmontese. The Pinerolo Brigade managed to disorder the charging Austrian Brigade Graf Latour whose own fire was desultory before their charge was a success.
The Pinerolo Brigade were driven back with significant losses (this is always a randomised value so can lead to interesting follow ups)
Meanwhile the Austrian Brigade Von Baden were outstanding with their “elan”, charging home. The Bologna Volunteers were swept from the field, one base skedaddled (ran away), one stand was captured and the rest retreated a full move in disorder

This last event was I guess, what a lot of complaint was about when the rules first landed. Evenly matched forces could play out a massive swing on the “opposed rolls”. The Austrians rolled 7 up and 4 up to get the Bolognese “swept from the field” and “driven back”.

In the Wars of Italian Unification forces often melted away before renewing an attack with more vigour.

So maybe these rules might bear further examination

Narrative

On this occasion King Victor Emmanuel decided to lick his wounds and retired from the field damaged but not yet defeated. He would return to the fray……….

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming Military History Vienna Treaty Wars

Huzza as the Giro goes Hussar!

The Giro (The Italian Pro Cycling Annual Event) started in Hungary this year and I had been wondering how to weave some music into this blog – more of that later – or you can rush to the end piece except you miss charging Hussars and cyclists.

Either way you get two sets of Hussars………one red and green and one in black.

First up was the stage 1 run from Budapest to Visegrad via Esztergom. A pretty flat stage across the rolling countryside west of the Visegrad Mountains with a 4km uphill finish at Visegrad just beneath the Castle that dominates the Danube Valley at this point.

Visegrad is located at the turn of the Danube where its easterly journey suddenly turns south for Budapest. This knuckle of the Danube, north of Budapest, has forever been militarily important. Esztergom slightly to the west of Visegrad was a Roman Fortress.

So what has a pro cycling race in Hungary got to do with this erratic wargamers military ramblings? Well of course I am erratic so sometimes my stories are a bit odd. In this case though its fairly straightforward. The Hungarians chose to race some Hussars with the cyclists!

In the middle of the race up pops some Hussars doing circles in a field

But they are by the road…………

These chaps are the black uniformed variety – no idea the unit or uniform era although with all that shako braiding it looks mid 19th century – the Hungarians revolted from Austria in 1848………

And then they start to form a column…….

and here come the cyclists…..

who wizz by………

but wait the horse gather pace……..

and one Hussar draws his sabre…….

and is joined by a colleague more interested in not falling off………

The sabrer is away……….

And he is now galloping faster than the cyclists can ride…….

a few Hussars have straggled……………….

And to finish this section a bit of live action………

The Giro and for that matter the Tour and Vuelta races all showcase a lot of castles and stage 1 of the Giro offered up some Hungarian gems…….

Now roll back to February 2019 and the castle hill in Buda for some different Hussars and a piece of music

Not sure which unit was taking part but back in 2019 I was in Budapest. As it happened Hungary was hosting a NATO discussion on Russian medium range missile developments – at the time that seemed rather boring. But what do you do when a few dignitaries rock up at your big castle on the hill in Buda?

Roll out some Hussars……

The man with the tash and a short handled broom was the collector of Horse muck……

A military band and the Hussars were paraded for the Dignitaries inspection……

Lay on some martial music, a band and some hussars. The music? well Hector Berlioz composed the choral music – “damnation of faust” which includes the same music as Liszt’s Rhapsody No15. Both probably drawn from the Nicolaus Scholl composition of 1820.

Are you ready?

I will go with Berlioz as his piece was first performed in Paris in 1846 on the eve of the Revolutionary wars that exploded across Europe at the time Marx and Engels were publishing the Communist Manifesto (1848). The Italian Wars of Unification were spread between 1848 and 1870 and were replete with Hussars although it should be noted the kepi wearing horseman was to grow rapidly in popularity.

These Hussars wear a stove pipe or tapered shako popular from the 1820’s and a likely precursor to the kepi all courtesy of the French wars in North Africa.

The Hungarian March is a near contemporary of the Radetzky March composed for the great Austrian Victory in the Po valley against Piedmont and her various Italian allies. It was a period of some very famous military music even if the historians didn’t rate the armies of the day compared to those of Napoleon, Wellington and others.

Not sure whats up next… maybe some more on Budapest.

Categories
Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

Prelude to Wargames Rules tested II*

Which rules are best for mid 19th century warfare. Of course it helps to know which continent your on because apparently the North America Civil Wars were nothing like those happening in Europe…..

My current preoccupations are with the Italian Wars of Unification that, depending on your viewpoint, ran from 1820-1871 or 1848-1870 or even just 1859-1861!

Whichever timeline you choose the events threw up numerous conflicts across the Italian peninsula.

My previous rules shortlist included

  • Neil Thomas 19th Century European Wars – reviewed here previously
  • Table Top Battles by Mike Smith – reviewed here previously and here
  • Gentlemans War by Howard Whitehouse
  • Practical Wargaming by Charles Wesencraft
  • Piquet by Brent Oman
  • These last three were considered here and here for my Kloster Arens Encounter

I guess I had settled on the Neil Thomas set with Mike Smith’s Table Top Battles offering a solution for larger battles generated by my mythical campaigns.

The thing is I had not actually tested Piquet for this period so that was still an unknown. And so was A Gentlemans War for that matter.

And then at Hammerhead 2022 I played Fire and Fury. It reminded me that this ruleset had caught my eye the odd decade ago (!) only to fade away.

I enjoyed the participation game and to cut a long story short, tracked down a 1990 1st Edition courtesy of Dave Ryan at Caliver Books. It included some photocopy extracts of post publication comments which suggested a lot of improvements! There were a lot of complaints at the time it would seem. Nice touch from Dave Ryan to include these contemporary articles with this ruleset.

With so much negative noise why bother with them though? Well they have continued to be published. And it seems they have been morphed into other era’s. My Hammerhead participation game was for the Renaissance: Perhaps this endurance shows the core mechanics work for lots of gamers.

I thought, just maybe an ACW (American Civil War) ruleset might suit my 19th century European wars in Italy after all.

The Italian Wars of Unification fit between the Crimean Wars and the Franco Prussian War while they also bracket the American Civil Wars.

Next up will be some simple tests of Fire & Fury to start with.

*In 2020 I was all Anglo Saxon and shieldwalls and tested a few rulesets to see which might work for me.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battaglia_di_Curtatone_e_Montanara.jpg

This image is to be found in an excellent Wikipedia page about the Italian Wars of Unification.

Categories
life natural world

Intermission 22d

Its Spring and a flurry of colour…………….

A blaze of yellow
Glorious Tulips
Primrose
Dark to Black Tulips are not everyones cup of tea but the edges on these are fantastic
this flowering alpine green leaves really set off the miniature pink and yellow flowers
More Pink – this time a spikey Tulip

And even the trees are beginning to bud

ok so this is a mediterranean pine tree – after 15 years in a pot – grown from seed you get these neat little cones – tree fruit if you like.
Categories
wargame rules wargaming

Fuoco e Furia or Feuer und Wit, battles in the Po Valley?

I have been searching for rules that offer that “something” – that dimension that enhances gaming a certain era. You could call it flavour because most rulesets are basically the same – dice throwing, card turning, measurement, maths, probability and movement around a table sized gaming space.

And of course we all like different flavours.

The Po valley in Northern Italy has seen great armies and leaders pass through, throughout the centuries. Mid 19th century warfare as an era is probably seen by most as a backwater – certainly when it comes to Italy. I guess the wars that get remembered are the Franco Prussian War and of course the American Civil War. These wars it could be argued, framed the next 100 years of global history and perhaps still do.

Back in the Po Valley it was the case of an old empire in retreat.

It was also the time that got us from Napoleon to Kaiser, musket to rifle if you like. Smoothbore and Rifled guns operated side by side.

Battles in the Po Valley in the mid 19th century were short and hurried affairs. But some incurred great loss of life that was noticed. Notable for their apparent lack of professionalism – something about no scouting, lots of surprises and a distinct lack of strategy. The accounts – many contemporary bear out the first two criticisms.

The great strategist Napoleon fought in the Po Valley at the end of the 18th century and his battles were very much confined by the geography. I think his Napoleonic Grand Strategy is more about what went on in the whole of Europe. His wars should been seen in that context. So I would argue Radeztky in 1848 was no less able than Napoleon in achieving his strategic victory in the Po Valley. The difference is that Austria was not fighting a pan european war. But it was fighting battles in the Po Valley.

The issue of poor scouting and too much surprise actually makes for more interesting wargames and throws up opportunities to make a game more interesting. It perhaps beckons to the more erratic ruleset?

For many the war across the Atlantic in the United States is not to be compared – different continents with different outlooks, society and geography.

And yet to my untutored eye while the ACW might have had a grand strategic aspect (western and eastern theatres?), it also seems to have had some campaigns driven by geography limiting the options available to a General. Perhaps there were similarities between these apparently very different wars fought on separate continents?

Even so I had set my mind against looking at the American Civil War as a rules source for my mid 19th century European interests: A case of less is more – something wargamers are often not very good at – me included.

But……

The very nature of limited professional armies, volunteer forces, often with ineffective leadership and disorganisation plus similar technology means that the wars in the Po Valley, seemed quite complimentary to those of the Amercian Civil Wars (ACW).

A bit of a ramble to explain how belatedly, I have considered using ACW rules for my Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU) battles. In particular Fire and Fury.

http://www.comune.torino.it/canaleturismo/risorgimento/webapp/battaglie/index.html

The Wiki Commons licensed image shown here is to be found in an excellent Wikipedia page about the Italian Unification Wars. The image shows a classic hill top town – in this case being attacked by the Sardinians (Piedmontese) while defended by Austrians.