Sheffield Modeler

I came across this on the BBC website. Whilst not specifically about wargaming, it is 'adjacent'. Enjoy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2kgve7pk0o.amp 

Italian WAS Campaign Background Reading

In my last post on the subject of my proposed Po Valley Campaign for the 1740s I mentioned my next steps. Firstly:

• Identify orders of battle
• Set-out campaign objectives

So to tackle both of these I started reading. I read the relevant parts of the book below. And I searched on t'internet. I found this which gives a very brief, but useful overview of the Italian theatre in the WAS:

https://warhistory.org/@msw/article/the-war-of-austrian-succession-in-italy-1740-1748

I'd recommend it to anyone who's vaguely interested in the subject. I used it to draft a brief narrative. I wasn't able to find a lot of other resources in English on the subject. The usual rule seems to apply: if the Brits (and later Americans) weren't there it might as well not have happened in the Anglophone world. At least there is something on the subject - more than say on the War of the Polish Succession*. At least Britain had some involvement via the Royal Navy (and subsidies to belligerents) in the WAS in Italy.

* The book peaking out from underneath the Anderson does have something on the WPS in northern Italy.  Alexander Burns' 'Infantry in Battle 1733-1783', a Christmas present I was in the middle of reading when I decided I needed more background on the WAS in Italy.

One resource I found, in a slightly odd location was this:

https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com/2020/09/30/what-was-the-war-of-the-austrian-succession/

It is another useful overview, of the whole WAS, with a section on Italy. There's LOTS more of interest on that site.

Wikipedia is pretty limited on the subject. And there are some dead ends. For example, you can find a Wiki page on the Second Battle of Casteldelfino (1744), but the link to the First Battle (1743) leads you back to the Second. But if you search in Italian you can find both, though to be fair, they are also brief. I've found before when searching for stuff for this period on Wiki that you can often find things in other languages when they are not available in English. Translation is relatively easy these days with all the tools available, but to be honest, a lot of it is fairly clear if you have a smattering of the language (or even a related language) and military terminology. I like to have a stab at reading it first then use a translation tool to check and fill in the gaps/correct my errors.

So, that lead me to this resource in Spanish:

https://arrecaballo.es/siglo-xviii/guerra-de-sucesion-austriaca-1740-48/

Naturally there is going to be a lot more available in Spanish as they were one of the major participants. Arguably, if it wasn't for the Spanish, there wouldn't have been much campaigning done in Italy. Austria had its own wish list but being occupied fighting in Germany and the Low Countries, it probably wouldn't have started fighting in Italy at that time, but for the Spanish Bourbon family's desire to acquire new territory. The Arrecaballo site has a handy little table of army strengths (although for France and Austria this includes numbers elsewhere). However, I am confident I can infer numbers from elsewhere.

So all of this reading has helped give me a better idea of what went on. I had a rough idea of campaign objectives but it helped expand on that and fill in a notable gap: the Austrian wish to re-gain the Kingdom of Naples.  In addition I found a few maps which have helped me flesh out my sketch map. It still needs a bit of work but it's nearly there. I have quite a few notes to review and make sense of, which I'll be doing this week.

The main areas of the prospective game that I still feel are somewhat lacking are supply and intelligence. I want to have some simple rules/guidelines that are admin light but permit these important aspects to be 'modelled'. Somehow.

I'm aiming to get things ready for next week as the Margravina will be away and the youngsters are back at uni, allowing me a relatively free hand in the evenings. There is the small matter of a football match to go to, but knowing the weather forecast and the track record of that place, there's a good chance it will be postponed.

Better get cracking!

On the campaign trail again

As trailed in a previous post, I've been thinking about getting another campaign going. The options were both to be set in the War(s*) of Austrian Succession: Italy or the Austrian Netherlands. I plumped for Italy, and specifically, the northern theatre, as I want to make more use of the Piedmontese and Spanish armies I painted. I realise I could say the same about the Dutch, but it's 2:1 The Austrian Netherlands can come later.

* I prefer "Wars" as I see it more as a, sometimes loosely, connected set of conflicts. The Habsburgs and Bourbons continued to fight after the end of the Prussian-Austrian conflict (1st and 2nd Silesian Wars). The Spanish Bourbons were already fighting the British when the Silesian Wars kicked off, and for a couple of years, the British were 'auxiliaries' of the Habsburgs in the Low Countries. Similarly the Anglo-French colonial conflict had a life of its on.

This campaign will be different from my previous foray into the WAS in Italy as that was for the whole of the war and the whole of Italy. Also it was really a hex map game with figures for counters. This new campaign will be more like the recent Saxon campaign with point to point map moves and actions fought out as table top games with figures.

My first step was to map the map. I've basically traced modern Italy, mostly the Po valley from west of Turin to the Gulf of Venice. As well as the Po and other major rivers, I have marked in key roads and towns. Each town being a day's march apart.

It's a bit rough at the moment. I intend to shade in the Alps and the Apennines and sea. Many towns (dots) have been left unnamed simply for legibility purposes. Actually, also because where roads cross the mountains I've spaced the towns closer together so the same distance takes twice as long to cross. There is very little scope to cross the mountains laterally as evidenced by the road network and my main focus is on the Po valley. There are different options for east-west movement - decisions will be diced for at each nodal point based on a rough assessment of probabilities.

Two key things to work out now:

• Orders of Battle
• Campaign objectives and scope

The Saxon campaign had a very limited window - based on the weeks leading up to the end of 1745 and it had to be completed within my time off at Christmas and New Year. The Po campaign will have more time, both in historical setting and in playing time. My immediate thought on objectives is the Spanish aim to recapture Milan and Parma from the Habsburgs. But it will be more complicated than that as there are 3 (possibly 4 or 5) other parties:

Austria: obviously wanting to keep Milan and Parma

France: generally helping Spain (as they were ruled by the same family firm) and weakening Austria in the context of France's struggle for hegemony in the Low Countries and Germany

Piedmont-Savoy (aka the Kingdom of Sardinia): to remain independent and to stop Spain taking Milan and avoid being surrounded by Bourbon territory.

Naples: part of the Bourbon family firm. The ruler owed Spain a favour for help in recovering the Naples for them in the War of the Polish Succession

Britain: traditional foe of France and Spain, and ally of Austria on the basis of my enemy's enemy....

The hard part will be setting an end point. If Spain captures Milan and Parma, will the game be over or will Austria have a chance to grab them back as they wouldn't have just given up, unless they reached exhaustion point. And that would at least partly depend on what was happening north of the Alps.

Other bits and pieces to ponder:

Sieges will be abstracted - I'll probably adapt the siege section from my previous Italian campaign. Though I might be tempted to try Siege Works.

Intelligence: who knows what and when. Some simple scouting points maybe.

I will also have to adopt a mechanism for ensuring rest days are taken, and a way of tracking these.

Battles will be played out using Twilight of the Soldier Kings or WRG 1685-1845 depending on the scale.

Last but not least, I will think about some simple supply rules.

So more thinking to be done!

List again!

As it's the season for folk committing to getting things done, I thought I'd dust off the list I prepared back in October and see where I'd got to. After an initial splurge of activity I lost focus for a few weeks. So not only did I get my Resolutions in early, I also dropped them early!

To be fair to myself, I did spend a fair bit of time on getting number 14 done - preparing the New Year campaign. I actually did better than that. I ran the campaign too. I'll give myself a medal.

I started chipping away at getting the French SYW flags done. However, that's been on the back-burner for a few weeks now. And I also made good progress on the 6 and 10mm village people, sheep and pack animals. But they're not complete, so that's 4 tasks in an unfinished state. The Puritan side of my mind is nagging me to get it done. But my cavalier side is looking at more interesting things to do. I would rather play with my toys - I enjoyed doing the big campaign deciding battle The Battle of Plauen

In idle moments today and yesterday I've been pondering another Italian campaign (WPS or WAS era) and getting out the craft knife to carve a black-powder era artillery urban fortification ('Vauban fortress' in plainer English). I actually dug up some maps for the Italian campaign on the Royal Collection Trust last night.

Anyway, here's the updated list. Re-ordered so it doesn't look like I've done things out of the correct order.

Tentative Order	Job
1	Finish river pieces
2	Check stock of magnetic paper and bases
4	Paint houses
3	Order storage boxes
5	Paint walls
6	Paint and base trees
7	Rebase Greeks and Persians
8	Prepare New Year Campaign
9	Flag SYW figures (French priority)
10	Paint villagers (6 and 10mm)
11	Paint sheep
12	Paint pack animals
13	Try Alala!
14	Try Siege Works rules
15	Paint wagons and gun teams
16	Decide what to do with SYW odds and sods
17	Paint petard crews etc
18	Make fortress
19	Ottoman painting guide
20	Order Irregular Ottoman army
21	Paint Ottomans
22	Run ECW siege campaign
23	Make AWI boats
24	Maybe rebase some Romans
25	Build & paint sailing ships

By the way, item 20 is stalled due to them being (temporarily) unavailable on the Irregular website, though I note that the individual components are available.

Saxony 1745 Campaign - Closing moves

I totted up the troops remaining to Leopold and Rutowski after the battle and came up with the following numbers of bases (2 bases making up a brigade):

Rutowski

Cuirassier 4

Dragoon 3

Hussar 3

Uhlan 2

Grenadier/guard 4

Musketeer 7

Grenzer 2

Heavy Artillery 0

Leopold

Cuirassier 8

Dragoon 6

Hussar 4

Grenadier 1

Musketeer 11

Fusilier 2

Heavy Artillery 3

With Frederick's arrival on 14th the Prussian totals are:

	Total	Observation Corps	Field Army
Cuirassiers	12	0	12
Dragoons	10	2	8
Hussars	8	2	6
Grenadiers	5	1	4
Musketeers	18	8	10
Fusiliers	2	2	0
Artillery	5	2	3

The Observation Corps under Leopold* remained before Dresden whilst Frederick took the field army to tackle Charles. 

*Frederick decided the old boy need a rest, though cynics said the King was jealous of his old Field Marshall's success.

Against Frederick Charles could only muster:

	Charles
Cuirassiers	4
Dragoons	2
Hussars	2
Uhlans	0
Grenadiers	2
Musketeers	12
Grenzers	0
Heavy artillery	2

Fairly even in infantry but massively outnumbered in cavalry. Charles opted to remain within the environs of the Königstein fortress. However, by the 16th heavy snows began to threaten to block the passes. Fearing the icing up of the Elbe, Charles elected to retire into Bohemia before his supply lines were cut. He would tell the court he had done everything he could on behalf of his sister-in-law, the Empress-Queen, to succour the Elector-King (the Elector of Saxony was also King of Poland).

The Saxons were left to negotiate a peace with the Prussians.

In a mellow tone

I had cause to remember this band earlier. I didn’t nt remember the cause. Very, very romantic when they sing in French. With this song I can imagine M.Broom (qui est surnommé le joyeux) dancing with Mme Broom. And pourquoi pas, eh?

Love the way the usually pretty unvoiced e is vocalised. Reminds me of those films c1990 based on Marcel Pagnol books. And of the Little Sparrow of course.

https://youtu.be/FbqLa7vNiEY?si=Ucc6ObjLUqK2wy6B

Saxony 1745 Campaign - The Battle of Plauen, 13th December

A dramatic battle was played out in the early afternoon and late evening today. Play was interrupted when the Margravina returned from her supervision of the gardens of the Invalidenhaus. Your correspondent, ever the attentive spouse, attended upon his lady until she retired for the night.

So here, with text beneath the pictures, is an account of the battle fought near Dresden.

The view looking north along the Weissritz from Eckersdorf to Plauen (where the channel splits at the top). The Prussians under Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau are advancing from the west. The hills in the middle distance on the right become steeper and inaccessible to cavalry where the snow covered trees are. Grünne's Austrians guard the southern flank on the high ground.

Closer view of the main Prussian lines

The Saxon position in the centre

The Prussian left's view. Plauen in the background.

Looking along the main Saxon lines

Turn 10 (4 turns = 1 hour for campaign purposes, with a maximum of 8 hours). Action is joined in the centre as Prussian cavalry sweep round on the right. Prussian infantry and cavalry crossing the Weissritz is engaged by Saxon chevauxlegers.

Austrian hussars join in the attack on the Prussians crossing the stream.

Turn 13. The action becomes more general along the stream. Losses are beginning to mount on both sides (note the round bases). The Prussians have successfully crossed the stream in the south (at a cost). Firefights along the banks of the stream will go on for most of the battle.

Close up of the centre. The Austrian hussars have been repulsed (right) but are keen to have another go.  A face-to-face fight is going on between the Prussian musketeers and Saxon guard and grenadiers (centre) which the Saxons will win.

Turn 15. Overall, losses have been even, trading brigade for brigade as the trans progress. It is slow going for the Prussian cavalry trying to cross the hills in the south (foreground) but the Saxon position is beginning to look vulnerable on this flank.  In the centre however, the Prussian infantry is on the verge of disappearing. This will present Rutowski with a great opportunity to roll up either flank of the Prussians. However, will he be able to take advantage before the Prussians roll his army up from the south? 

A close up of the hole emerging in the Prussian centre. Each circular base represents a loss. 3 losses and an infantry brigade (2 bases) is removed from play. Incidentally, I had to pad out the Saxon foot with Bavarians (hence the light blue coats). Cavalry is represented by Austrians and Prussian Bosniak Lancers (as Uhlans).  I have enough Saxons for the SYW but I clearly NEED many more for the WAS.

Next turn, that gap in the Prussian line has become more obvious as the forward unit has been chased off.

But over on the right only 1 battered Saxon cavalry unit remains. What is left of Grünne's wing is retreating across the hills. This wing survived a couple of Wing Morale tests before finally crumbling.

Turn 18. Whilst 2 Saxon infantry brigades cross to the Prussian side of the stream to exploit the gap, the guard/grenadier brigade has been attacked in the flank by Prussians and has been routed.

Soon after, the Saxon centre fails a Wing Morale test. Grünne's Austrians are making their way to Dresden, when their morale also fails. They must have been spooked by the collapse of the Saxon centre.

2 wings down out of 3 and the Saxon army must take an Army Morale test. A failure! Here we see just the Prussians remaining.

The Saxon losses. In the box, bottom, are the units removed through cumulative losses/routing. The ones outside the box are those units who routed following failed wing/army morale tests. In campaign terms the majority of the latter are eligible for use again, whilst smaller proportion of the latter will return.

Prussian losses inside the box top. Most of these would be available again in the campaign, but the Prussians would lose a couple more bases for losses still on the board.

So overall a decisive victory for Leopold in 'not quite Kesselsdorf'. Will it be enough to win the campaign. I've assumed many of  the Saxons and Austrians make it in to Dresden. Elsewhere, Charles is 2 marches away with 18,000 Austrians and Saxons, but so is Frederick with another 30,000 Prussians. The Prussians have a clear advantage in numbers now. I'll run through some more campaign moves tomorrow (1 January).

Which just leaves me to wish you all a Happy New Year, and thank you all for following, commenting and supporting during 2025.