Risorgimento 1859 : Preparing for Battle

Having painted and based a reasonable  number of figures for my 'Risorgimento' 1859  Italian campaign project, I have recently managed to complete some scenery too, and found I had enough of both for battle to commence. 

This has all been inspired by Neil Thomas' excellent book Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878, and I took a look at his suggested scenarios for a first game - one thing Mr. Thomas does very well is scenarios.   As I have limited space and not too much 6mm scenery, and have not used the rules before,  I thought a small battle would be the best place to start. It turns out he has just the thing: Scenario 5 - The Minigame.   This is designed for a table only 2 feet ( 60cm ) square, and five units per side - ideal for me. 

The terrain is very simple - a  village at a crossroads, a wooded area and a hill. Using my Hexon terrain and  6mm scenery I was able to create the table layout  quite easily.

The Battlefield: North at the top 

 

The hexes have no bearing on the game - just very easy to use and give a nice look! As you can see I don't have many trees, but there were just enough ( from Heroics and Ros, I think ) to mark out a 'wooded' area.  Buildings are from Timecast and roads MDF from Pendraken, 'surfaced' and painted by me. The village and the hill are objectives for both sides - to win, both must be controlled by the end of  Turn 10. 

Dice were rolled and a table consulted to decide on army composition. The resulting Austrian force was as follows: 

        2 x Line Infantry

        1 x Skirmishers

        1 x Cavalry

        1 x Artillery

   Quite a nice mix of an 'all arms' force. 

Their Piedmontest opponents came up with quite a different army: 

        3 x Infantry

        2 x Artillery 

This could be interesting!   

Next, roll for sides: Piedmont won an opposed die roll, and opted to be 'Defender', which seemed sensible given their lack of fast-moving troops. As Defenders, the Piedmontese now rolled to discover their baseline - the dice determimed this would be the Southern table edge.   

Finally 'Pre-Battle Events', an interesting way to introduce some 'friction'  - quite fun for a solo gamer. Each side rolls a dice and consults another table : the Austrians rolled up 'Flank March', meaning that two of their units will appear on either enemy flank. At least one of these must be Cavalry, and none may be Artillery.     Another die roll will decide upon which of Turn 2, 3 or 4 they arrive. 

Piedmont was less fortunate, rolling up a 'Bogged Down' event -  one Artillery unit is eliminated. Not so good! 

Here are the resulting armies: 

Austrian attackers

   

defending Piedmontese

 

Figures are a mix of Baccus metals ( they have a Risorgmento' range for this exact period )  and Commission Figurines MDF ( a  polyglot mix from their ACW and Napoleonic ranges ) 

Working more or less from the suggested  army lists which are also in the book,  the units are organised as follows: 

Austrians:    Line Infantry ( 2 units)  Average Quality, Rifled Musket, Loose Order 

                    Skirmishers  (Feld-Jagers)  : Elite,  Rifled Musket

                    Cavalry  ( Cuirassiers ) :  Average Quality

                    Artillery : Smoothbore 

  Piedmont:   Line Infantry  (2 units) : Average, Rifled Musket, Loose Order 

                     Grenadiers (1 unit ) :  Elite, Rifled Musket, Loose Order 

                      Artillery : Smoothbore. 

Conveniently, both sides get just one Elite unit, and artillery are equally matched - the Austrians just have that one unit advantage owing to the poor quality of Piedmontese roads! 

Now to deployments - Defender first, each side within 15cm of their baseline, omitting the Austrian 'Flank March' units.   Here's how they deployed:

Initial setup - Piedmontese nearest the camera

The defending Piedmont general secured the hill objective with a unit  of infantry and his guns, placed his Grenadiers more centrally by the road,  and  was wary of a possible flank attack through the woods, hence placed his other infantry unit on there.  The Attacking Austrian general was obliged to use his cavalry unit and one other for his Flank March - he chose his next-fastest moving unit, the Feld Jagers. That gave something of a quandry there were only  remaining 3 units - two infantry and one artillery -on the table at the start. How to attack against superior numbers?  He decided to 'demonstrate' at first, placing one infantry unit  on the road through the village, guns in the centre and the other infantry unit  out on his right ( East ) flank.  The 'Flank March' force arrival time  was diced for - they would appear on Turn 3, and on the  East table  edge. The more open flank would allow freedom to the cavalry, and hopefully allow the hill objective to be assaulted promptly.  The Piedmontese may have made a mistake in assuming the woods on their left might be infiltrated..   

Here's an 'aerial view', taken perhaps by an intrepid passing balloonist 

 The scene is set, the forces are about to engage. At the time of writing, the game has not yet been played through, so we will have to wait for the next post here to see the outcome. Let's hope it's an interesting one!  Until then, keep well everyone.