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.

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming wargame rules wargaming

Ruletest D: Battles with Model Soldiers – The Battle of Orchard Hill

This game was thrown in firstly because Battles with Model Soldiers was the source of my original ruleset test scenarios for Fire & Fury.

Battles with Model Soldiers is really a 200 page design/ideas book with rules dotted throughout.

The rules I used are explained briefly at the end of this post. A key aspect is alternate moves with losses incurred before any responses. Initiative (who goes first in each turn) therefore matters.

Donald Featherstones book provides basic rules for American Civil War actions. he shows the mechanics through three stepped up siutations

  • infantry only
  • infantry plus cavalry
  • infantry, cavalry and artillery

In this game I used the last stepped up situation of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

Narrative – Near Rome in 1849

In this confused affair a wargaming Napoleon faces off against Garibaldi – I suppose the nearest real conflict would be 1849 at Rome where Garibaldi gave the French a shock defeat.

The forces were

Roman Republic (Garibaldi) on the left

  • Red Dragoon Volunteers in foreground left
  • White Legion Volunteers
  • Roman Artillery (in liberated Austrian uniforms!)
  • Milan Sharpshooters in distance

The French were led by General Oudinot looking a bit like the great Napoleon himself.

  • 33rd Line Regiment right foreground
  • Austrian Artillery on loan
  • 66th Line Regiment in distance
  • French Cuirassiers

In terms of “ground” the battle was fought on a low ridge (no effect on movement) crossed by a rough track (no benefit) and the fenced orchard (inaccessible to all forces).

The rings denote remaining strength – red = 4 artillerymen/5 figures, yellow = 10 figures, blue = 20 figures with green showing 15 figures in value.

What you see is almost what you get – counting actual figures equals strength. I don’t do figure removal normally – using rings and dice to show remaining strength. So 8 cavalrymen on show were actually 10 in value. I also did some selected base removal in this game (for visual effect) just to confuse matters!

The action was brisk!

This game is a bit short on images – it was quick – almost done in 3 moves really……

Move 1

Both forces deployed and marched forward to drive the other from the ridge otherwise known as Orchard Hill.

Move 2 – Oudinot won the initiative

  • the 33rd Line fired on the Red Dragoon Volunteers inflicting 3 casualties at medium range
  • The Austrian artillery opened up on the White Legion Volunteers missing them completely
  • the 66th Line fired on the Roman Artillery and the artillerymen promptly ran away (die throw = 6 hits versus 4 figures in strength)
  • The 10 French Cuirassiers charged the 20 Milan Sharpshooters.
    • Basically a melee is headcount times 1 point for an infantryman or 2 points for a cavalryman.
    • So this fight was on equal points. 1 d6 is rolled per 5 points – 4 dice each. Cavalry get +1 on each dice throw (2 to 7 range possible) for charging.
    • Cuirassiers scored 17 versus Sharpshooters 20.
    • The points tally HALVED equals the damage. So 17 points halved and fractions rounded down meant 8 points of damage to the Sharpshooters. Thats 8 figures lost from the 20 that started the fight.
    • Meanwhile the 20 points of damage halved was 10 and divided by 2 points per cavalryman gave 5 cavalry killed.
    • The survivors represent their basic morale – 10 points of Cuirassiers x 1d6 throw of 5 = 50 while the Sharpshooters at 12 points x 1d6 throw of 6 = 72.
    • The Sharpshooters won while the Cuirassiers retreated with 50% losses. (bit of Roman gloss there…..)

Garibaldi responded

  • The Milan Sharpshooters hit the 66th Line with 4 hits
  • The White Legion hit the Austrian Artillery for six literally – destroying them
  • The Red Dragoon Volunteers charged the 33rd Line
    • 7 remaining Dragoons x 2 pts versus 20 infantry x 1 pt meant 14 points versus 20 points or 4 v 3 dice (round up half or better fractions – 14 points becomes 15 points = 3 dice)
    • Cavalry get +1 for charging. The Dragoons inflicted 16 points damage halved = 8 infantrymen killed
    • The 33rd Line threw 12 in all = 6 Cavalry points damage or 3 actual dragoons killed
    • Now the Dragoons had already lost 3 casualties to firing so were now down to 4 dragoons
    • 4 cavalry x 4 die roll versus 12 infantry x 2 die roll was 16 v 24 or a victory for the 33rd Line
    • The Cavalry retreated

Move 3 Garibaldi won the initiative to move first

  • The Milan Sharpshooters fired on the 66th Line scoring 1 hit
  • The White Legion fired on the 33rd Line scoring 8 hits – destroying the 33rd

Oudinot in Move 3 sent his 66th Line against the Sharpshooters. In the melee the 66th won reducing the Sharpshooters to just 4 men who retired.

The game is almost over!

Move 4 Oudinot moved first

  • The 66th fired at the Sharpshooters but missed
  • The Blue Cuirassiers now returned to the fray

Move 4 Garibaldi

  • The Red Dragoons also returned to the fray
  • The White Legion now closed on the 66th Line
  • The Milan Sharpshooters scored 2 casualties on the 66th Line reducing them to just 10 men.
Move 4 the french right is now under attack – the french left having been destroyed
Move 5 the French Curiassiers charge in as the infantry trade fire

Move 5 Oudinot took the initiative

  • The French Cuirassiers made one last valiant charge into the Milan Sharpshooters.
    • The Sharpshooters killed 1 Cuirassier in turn receiving 3 casualties
    • The Cuirassiers won the melee driving off the Sharpshooters
  • The 66th Line fired on the approaching White Legion scoring 6 casualties (I allowed liberal firing arcs!)

Move 5 Garibaldi

  • The White Legion fired on the 66th Line inflicting 5 casualties in return
Move 5 the French Cuirassiers chase off the Milan Sharpshooters

Move 6 Garibaldi won the initiative

  • The White Legion fired on the 66th scoring 4 more casualities

Move 6 Oudinot attacks in desparation

  • The 66th Line and Cuirassiers charge home against the White Legion.
    • The White legion suffered 2 casualties
    • In return they inflicted 4 infantry casualties with 1 cuirassier loss
Move 6 The last knockings
Move 6 – the 66th Line break leaving the Cuirassiers alone to hold off the White Legion and the Red Dragoons

Oudinot knows the games up and in Move 7 his Cavalry retire covering the rest of his routing forces.

General Garibaldi triumphs capturing the ridge.

Rules used in the Battle of Orchard Hill

Donald Featherstone distributed his many periods (10) rules within the 200 pages of text. The basic rules presented were for horse and musket and his three stepped up situations used an American Civil War example.

My Summary of Rules from Battles with Model Soldiers

  1. 8 moves = 1 dayof daylight and 4 moves = nighttime
  2. Alternate Moves – I opted for “initiative” going to one side for whole move, fire and melee process.
  3. guns picked target after moving is complete
  4. Infantry Firepower
    1. 1d6 per 5 men with muskets/rifles
    2. modify -1 (0″-6″ short range) 1d6 = hit = casualities of 0 to 5
    3. modify -2 (6″-12″ medium range) 1d6 = hit = casualties of 0 to 4
    4. modify -3 (12″-24″ long range) 1d6 = hit casualties of 0 to 3
    5. -1 per dice for hard cover
    6. half casualties for cavalry
  5. Artillery
    1. hit on a 6 @ 18″-36″ then 1d6 = casualties
    2. hit on 5,6 @ 9″-18″ then 1d6 = casualties
    3. hit on 4,5,6 @ 0″-9″ then 1d6 – casualties
    4. half casualties for hard cover
    5. halve casualties for cavalry
  6. Melee
    1. INF v INF = 1pt v 1pt
    2. INF v CAV = 1pt v 2pt
    3. 1d6 per 5 pts fighting
    4. +1 per dice for charging cavalry
    5. +1 per dice attacking rear
    6. half result to get effect in points
    7. half effect for cavalry (they=2pts)
    8. survivors in points x 1d6
    9. compare result – highest is melee winner, loser retreats one full move
  7. Movement
    1. Infantry 12″
    2. Cavalry 18″
    3. Guns 18″ -3″ limber and unlimber
    4. Guns select target in their turn
    5. No firing if moved
    6. Gun target selection is not movement
  8. Morale
    1. Loss of Cin C (not used)
    2. 1d6 is thrown per unit
      1. =1 unit flees the field
      2. =2 retire from the field in good order – will defend itself
      3. =3 surrender
      4. =4 fall back 1 move and rallies
      5. =5/6 carries on

A simple set of rules although for some the melee points technique might feel complicated.

Categories
miniatures painting Vienna Treaty Wars wargaming

No smoke* without Fire! 5 Days in Milan

In the Spring of 1848 a provisional government sprang up in Milan after the Austrians under Field Marshall Radetzky withdrew their troops eastwards to the “Quadrilateral”.

The Provisional Government sought protection from Piedmont under King Charles Albert.

At the same time they raised their own forces.

Here are the Milan Line Infantry of the National Guard in field attire.

* Prior to the Austrians retiring, protests included the Milanese refusing to smoke as the Austrian Government had a monopoly on tobacco sales!

Within a year the uprisings were squashed and Field Marshall Radetzky was a hero of the Empire – complete with Johann Strauss Senior composing the Radetzky March to celebrate the Austrian victory at Custoza in July 1848.

Categories
miniatures painting wargaming

Snapshot

John at just add varnish posted his Waterloo 1815 Austrian artillery from the 1850’s. And as it happens I was gaming with very same figures.

Plastic soldier review certainly did not like the officers samurai sword!

So the game report will be a while coming and in the meantime here is a quick snap. My Austrians are in brown as per the box art.

The battle of orchard hill will feature more Austrian forces
In the distance the 1860 bersaglieri di Vignola have run away after finding our Austrian gunners a bit too sharp at even long range – radeztky would have been delighted
Categories
natural world

Intermission 22c

Natural Colour

Next up will be more on Italian Wars of Independence.