End of the War in Italy

Well that didn't last long! I played one more hour from about 4 to 5pm and got through the year 1743. By the time the rival forces went into winter quarters I think I played things through to a conclusion. Probably.

At the end of 1742 the French and Spanish had to retreat back across the Alps, with their displaced Neapolitan cousins because they had not taken any fortresses on the Italian side. The Royal Navy had been driven away from their blockading stations by early winter storms (determined by rolling a double on 2D6 to indicate there had been an "Event", and then a roll with a D8 to determine what the event was. The Piedmontese were able to retire to their fortresses and recover their strength. Due to Imperialist advances across southern Germany (determined by an earlier Event roll) the French had to divert one of their 3 bases to the Rhine. The Austrians ended up winning at this point through the capture of Padua and were able to keep their whole force (4 bases plus a siege train) south of the Alps as a result. One badly battered force of Neapolitans had to over winter in Liguria with their (as yet) neutral Genoese friends. Genoa had to remain inactive until directly attacked. The Bourbon forces couldn't recover much due to not holding enough cities, but I bent the rules a bit to allow some recovery, otherwise the odds would have been heavily stacked against them.

For 1743 I introduced a method of determining order of activation, copied from Peter at Grid Based Wargaming - but not always. Peter used Scrabble tiles but I used pairs lettered plastic beads of the sort small children, are necklaces out of. Each force had a bead, with a matching bead 'in the hat', and the forces were activated in the order the beads were drawn out of the hat. Simple but effective, and it stopped too much telepathic co-ordination of forces. For example if the British were activated, and wanted to land guns to form a siege battery, they couldn't gamble on the Austrians being able to move a force into the same hex before the enemy could take the guns. 

The campaigning season started in April with the Austrians on the march in northern Italy to attempt to clean up the remaining unclaimed cities before the Bourbon forces could cross the Alps (passes were blocked until late June). Meanwhile the Piedmontese sat tight, holding on to the King's patrimony. [Historical note: the Gallispans occupied Savoy (a duchy belonging to the King of Sardinia, i.e. Piedmont) on the 'French' side of the Alps]. An Austrian force in Nice embarked on ships hoping to be escorted to Naples At the same time the Neapolitans in Genoa boarded a fleet as the quickest way to get back to protect their kingdom in the south. One of the three British flotillas appeared off Naples and landed heavy guns, protected by Marines and shore parties. The latter were not shown as being too small a force. The Neapolitans not actually having a base handy, could not interfere.

So who would make it to Naples? The Austrians or the Neapolitans? Well the answer would be determined by a sea battle between the remaining 2 British flotillas and the combined Franco-Spanish ships. This was 'played' purely as a dice roll - I hadn't bothered to finish the little ship models as they are so damned fiddly! Equal forces (2x5 points each) plus 1D6 each. The result was a narrow British win - 1 loss to the British and 1 each to the Spanish and French. This allowed the Austrians to travel to Naples to prosecute the siege. The siege of Naples started in June, and the Neapolitans must have let their defences go to ruin. i.e. the allies got lucky - a 1 in 3 chance meant the city fell in the first month. I rationalised it out this way. Poor maintenance and operational security, led to an ammunition store, in a casemate under a bastion, being exploded by a mortar blast (lobbed from a bomb ketch). The explosion wrecked part of the bastion face and influential citizens persuaded the governor not to allow the ancient city to be subjected to a storming. King Carlo VII slipped out the back door and made his way to Gaeta, where he boarded a sloop and made his way to Valencia and became a guest of his half-brother Fernando VI of Spain.

More bad fortune for the Bourbons happened that month when their combined ships were narrowly beaten again by the British. The small Neapolitan army disembarked and looked for a land route to Naples.

In July the British packed up their guns and re-embarked in Naples harbour. The Austrians, after placing a small garrison began the march across the peninsula to Bari. Up in the north, the French and Neapolitans began their passage of the Alps in the direction of Turin, crossing from concentric passes. The Spanish likewise headed slowly along the mountainous coast east from Toulon. After crossing the Po, an Austrian army put Piacenza under siege. They were joined by the Austrian force that had wintered by Turin.

Piacenza fell within a few short weeks. The Austrians were gobbling up the cities in the plains before the Bourbons had a chance to get there. The best hope for the latter was to put pressure on the Austrians and their allies by taking Turin, and to this end, the French, covered by the Neapolitans built their lines around the Piedmontese capital. Aided by fair weather, the British arrived off Bari by the end of August. The following weeks they landed their guns again and readied themselves for the arrival of the Austrians.

Whilst the siege of Turin began in earnest, the Austrians invaded Liguria. In response the Spanish moved to relieve the Genoese. In open battle the Austrians inflicted significant losses on the Spanish who retreated back to the Alps Maritimes. Worried about the attack on the capital, the bulk of the Piedmontese army (those not in Turin) left Cuneo to challenge the besiegers.  By the narrowest of victories, they forced the Neapolitans away from the city, exposing the French lines. The French gave up the siege and mirrored the Neapolitans' retreat into the Alps. Simultaneously, whilst one Austrian corps arrived at Bari, another began the siege of Genoa.

As October turned to November, Carlo VII and his court in exile debated whether to sue for peace. Probably influenced by his fellow king, Fernando, Carlo decided to carry on the struggle. i.e. I let the dice decide. This proved fatal. Bari surrendered before almost a shot had fired. The governor had heard what damage those infernal English bomb ketches could do, and no doubt encouraged by a 'doucement' from the bourgeoisie, he allowed the Queen of Hungary's troops to enter the city. Genoa soon, whose small army was allowed to march out with the honours of war, went the same way, and the war in Italy was all but over. Or was it?

The position at the end. The cities with black rectangles are those captured by Austria. Milan was already theirs at the start, and Florence belonged to Maria-Theresa's husband but was technically neutral.

So why did the war last only 3 years in the game and not the 7 years of history? Probably the main reason was I hadn't got the balance between the opposing factions right. There wasn't much opportunity for the Spanish, for example, to seize or hold cities in Italy. I should maybe have allowed them a force in northern Italy to start with. that would slow the Austrians down, and perhaps give the Spanish an opportunity to replenish their forces. Having said that, I did allow the Neapolitans to storm all the way up to the north, when historically, they didn't get that far for whatever reason. Another big factor was making the mistake of leaving the Neapolitan cities largely undefended.

I now need to decide whether to pack the whole thing away, or leave it up and give the Bourbons a leg up so to speak, and to carry on. I'm minded to do the former.

This was the second such campaign (the first being at New Year 2023 when I wargamed 'the whole War of the Austrian Succession in Europe). Would I do another one? Yes, absolutely. Maybe at the next New Year holiday.