Po Valley Campaign - The Battle of Cuneo, 1742

After quite a gap I got the battle on the table yesterday and played the game over two sessions. I used the 8 foot by 4 foot table top.

The available Franco-Spanish forces (aka the Gallispans). French to the left, Spanish to the right. The small round bases are hits which were carried over from earlier in the campaign.

The Austrians to the left, the Piedmontese to the right.

The Gallispans' objective. Cuneo. They had to reach there before being overrun by the enemy. Madonna dell Olmo at the road junction. The French will head up the left hand road and the Spanish to the right, but both meet at Madonna dell Olmo with potential for traffic jams!

Turn 6 of 20. The Austrian and Piedmontese cavalry arrive (right). Piedmontese on the top. Spanish rearguard facing the Piedmontese, French facing the Austrians. The Gallispans are greatly outnumbered in cavalry so they have to use infantry too.

The Spanish infantry are turning off the road before they reach the junction. Being a proud man, their commander the Infante, decides to face the enemy and allow the French to withdraw first. There had been a traffic jam (decided by dice roll) when the two allies' wagon trains arrived simultaneously.

The opposing sides face each other across the Grana. I decided this was fordable, it being late summer. No movement reduction but units had to dice to cross, which did cause some delay and disruption on the Austro-Piedmontese side.

The Gallispans decide that rather than wait to be overwhelmed they would attack the enemy first. Fortune favoured the brave, to some extent, with first blood going to the Spanish. However, given the French cavalry contingent went into the battle already weakened (each unit started with 1 hit) they were eventually routed.

The combined supply train reached the first bridge and were directed to the second bridge upstream of Cuneo to allow the infantry to enter the town. Surprisingly as it happens - they passed this second test for a possible traffic jam.

With the Gallispan cavalry cleared, it was left to the infantry to hold off the Austro-Piedmontese cavalry. Between the two roads, the French foot have been charged by the Austrian cavalry. Again, the defenders beat off the first charges.

Another view of the same stage. The Gallispans still hold the villages of Roata Rossi (left) and Passatore (centre).

After some initial confusion (again determined by dice roll) the Gallispans train crosses the bridge over the Stura and climb onto the ridge on which Cuneo sits.

The last stand of the Spanish rearguard. One brigade has been routed by the Piedmontese cavalry, but the second bravely sticks to its task, their commander invoking the tercios of the past!

The train is almost home. The bulk of the remaining French infantry are in Cuneo. The rest of the Spanish are in line ready to repel the enemy when night has fallen and the Austro-Piedmontese decide that they have lost enough today whilst the Gallispans have been chased away.

Orders of Battle and Losses

Piedmontese

	No. of bases	Hits at Cuneo	Losses at Cuneo
Cuirassiers	4	1
Dragoons	4		2
Hussars
Grenadiers/Guards	2
Musketeers Artillery	16 3	1

Austrians

	No. of bases	Hits at Cuneo	Losses at Cuneo
Cuirassiers	6	2	2
Dragoons	4		2
Grenadiers/Guards	1
Musketeers	12	2
Militia
Skirmishers
Artillery	4

Piedmontese and Austrian Total at Start: c 52,000

Total losses 6 cavalry bases, 3 cavalry and 3 infantry hits. Total c.6,000

Spanish

From France	No. of bases	Hits at Cuneo	Losses at Cuneo
Cuirassiers	2		2
Dragoons
Hussars
Grenadiers/Guards
Musketeers	15		5
Militia
Skirmishers
Artillery	2

French

	No. of bases	Hits at Cuneo	Losses at Cuneo
Cuirassiers	2	1
Dragoons	2		2
Hussars
Grenadiers/Guards
Musketeers	12		4
Militia	2
Skirmishers
Artillery	4

Spanish and French Total at Start: c 40,000

Total losses 4 cavalry and 5 infantry bases, plus 1 hit to cavalry (2 cav hits = loss of 2 bases). Total c.9,000.

Conclusion

So mixed results. The Gallispans suffered 50% more losses than the Austro-Piedmontese, but escaped with their train and artillery intact. They still hold Cuneo and are in a strong position. With no formed cavalry however, they won't be troubling the Queen of Hungary and King of Sardinia with offensive operations again this year. But they might be able to hold on to Cuneo over the winter, giving them a base of operations on the Italian side of the Alps for 1743.

I still have to dice for how many of these losses each side recovers in the campaign. And then work out the next map moves. Both sides will probably dig in on opposite sides of the Stura. The Austro-Piedmontese won't be able to make a proper investment of Cuneo, let alone siege with a sizeable Gallispan army. It's likely that part of the Austrian force will head off back to the Po and help oust the Bourbons from the Parma region. We'll see.

Delays, walks and mags

Bit of a mixed post this. The Po Valley Campaign has been delayed owing to busy-ness. I'll get round to it no doubt, but first I have an on-line game tomorrow with the Three Daves hosted by Jonathan Freitag. 

Part of the delay was caused by going to the Grimsby games at Gillingham the previous Saturday (W 4-1), Cambridge on Tuesday (W 2-1) and watching on the Saturday on the tellybox just gone (a very satisfying 4-0 win over Swindon to secure a play-off spot with a game to spare). Whether we are ultimately successful in the playoffs remains to be seen, but we're making progress year by year so I'm philosophical about it. Tuesday's game was the most satisfying, probably because it was a much tougher game, with more jeopardy right to the end. It finished with a late, late winner which produced such a release of emotion that I think I'm now engaged to five different people I've never met before.

After the match on Saturday I entertained the Margravina with the rare treat of a walk during normal football time (our game was an early kick off). The M decided we should go to the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park to see the Azaleas(?). Word must have gone out on the Facebooks because the World and his wife were there. People were queuing up to take photos, selfies and group pics in front of a particularly popular spot. Here's a few of mine.

Then Sunday we did a circuit on Wimbledon Common. Here's a few pics starting with a snap of the Beverley Brook with swarms of flies indicating how warm it has been lately.

The great thing about walking in new places is you make discoveries like this.

The KRR which grew out of the 60th (American) Regiment trained on Wimbledon Common

This plaque is on the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club's course. I assume some of the residual earthworks form part of the 'landscaping' for the course.

Eartheworks? close to the plaque

Lastly, thanks to a post by Bob Cordery of Wargaming Miscellany, I ordered a couple of back issues of a Spanish military history magazine. They arrived this morning. That should keep me going for months while I painstakingly translate the articles. Or I could just use the photo app on a translation tool, but where's the fun and learning in that?