Finally, I got around to playing Camposanto. I played the game without any special scenario tweaks to Twilight of the Soldier Kings, other than to treat the armies as single 'wings' with army/wing morale being necessary at 50% of units lost. The game took about 45 minutes.
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| After 2 turns, the Austro-Piedmontese are advancing slowly to contact. The cavalry are keeping pace with the infantry to have the extra support when contact is made. An Austrian foot unit on their right is taking hits from Spanish gunfire. The second line of Spanish infantry are marching to their right flank to prevent them being outflanked. |
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| A couple more turns in, the cavalry has clashed and after resisting manfully, the Spanish are routed, a brigade of Piedmontese infantry having swung into the combat to led more support. The main infantry lines are engaged in firefights. The allies artillery battery on that flank has been beaten by counter-battery fire, suffering a loss in two successive turns it has been removed from play. In the infantry battle on the allied right wing, the Austrian brigade has been destroyed. First blood to the Spanish! |
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| Two brigades of Austrians bear down on the Spanish Guards. Off to the right (just out of shot) the Swiss (in Piedmontese) have routed the Spanish Castilian brigade. |
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| After 9 turns the allied cavalry is in contact with the Spanish 2nd line infantry on the far right of the picture. The Austrian Pandours are engaging the left wing of the Spanish line to stop them from helping the right wing. An allied has turned to their right and is bearing down on the Walloon Guards. The Swiss and main Austrian infantry force are closing in on the Spanish in the centre. |
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| Next turn both the Spanish and the Walloon Guards have been defeated, as have the infantry on the Spanish far right. |
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| Another view of the same turn. It's all over for the Spanish. A comprehensive defeat. |
Reflections:
10 turns is a brief game for me with TOTSK, but the size of forces was small. The sides were fairly balanced, with the Spanish having more infantry but fewer cavalry and artillery. I think the mistake I made with the Spanish was to move the second line to the right so there was effectively only one line of infantry in the middle. There was little support for the first line who were therefore more likely to lose morale tests. Of course there were two units on the Spanish left who were pinned by the Austrian light troops, and not able to help much. The allied units in the main area of action were all supported. A benefit of their 'oblique attack' (the Austrian FM Traun's plan).
I've packed the game away now as the Kriegskabine will be used by the offspring for a last gathering before one goes to study Colouring-In. Will I run it again? Hmmmm! Maybe, but I'm not feeling it at the moment.
The Spanish could not even make good an escape? Looks quite decisive. Would you play Campo Santo again on some else's table and in 15mm?
ReplyDeleteThey didn’t have a chance. I didn’t set any time/turn target (which I really should do). Notionally the Spanish have to resist an attack for X turns to allow the baggage to clear, before attempting to slip away. I probably will return to it at some point. It’s a small enough board to set up.
DeleteIn answer to your questions, the answers are yes and yes.
Chris
I am picking Jon's questions weren't even mildly hypothetical!
DeletePoor Spaniards indeed!
DeletePerhaps you need rules for darkness?; the battle started late in the day and some units got lost in the dim light and smoke.
ReplyDeleteNeil
You’re right Neil. I will give it more thought.
DeleteChris
Might have been quick - but as Jon said, it looked decisive. Perhaps play it again against live opponents and see what happens, cos it looks like a good scenario. What make are the buildings by the way? Me likey.
ReplyDeleteThe buildings are Leven. Just tried to look for their website and it’s disappeared! That’s a real blow.
DeleteChris
Mick is recovering from surgery and is training his family up to get things back on track, or so I've been told. Also the website was hit by that major outage that affected many games companies some months ago. Hopefully it will back soon'ish...
DeleteGood thing know Steve. Thanks.
DeleteChris
Well that was quick, but as you say, with a small game this can often be the case. Good post game thoughts too:).
ReplyDeleteCheers Steve. I’ve come round to the idea of re-running the game, and giving someone me thought to Neil’s comment about the fading light.
DeleteChris
Seemed like the Spanish were up against it from the off, Chris, and they were on the backfoot the whole game. Brevity isn't necessarily a bad thing though, as long as it was enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish actually took first blood, silencing an Austrian battery, and taking an infantry unit to within a gnat’s wotsit of destruction before close contact.
DeleteChris
Short can be sweet. From your account it sounds entertaining and challenging for the Spanish. It also sounds worthy of a second outing in order to apply your reflections.
ReplyDeleteI think it's equally difficult for both sides. There wasn't much in the way of twists and turns for my liking. Maybe if I thought a bit longer and harder about it, it would be different. I have a tendency to under think when playing solo.
DeleteBut there is enough in it, as you say Richard, to try again. And apply the lessons learned. Another one would be to make sure the Spanish cavalry have infantry support - so adopt a more defensive posture with them.
One other thought would be to make the units half the size, and have twice as many of them. That might provide more scope. Hmmm!
It's very nice to see somebody else playing Camposanto. 45 minutes even for a battle small like this is impressively short. I see the benefit of that small scale and the very clear table with not much more then some buildings. For some more spirit of the battle I would like at least some segments of the river. But I see that the scenario maybe represent such a simple battlefield. Normally the Spanish lose because the Allies just have better troops except the Waloon regiments and Spanish guards. Thank you for your report. I see, that I have to visit your blog more often... Cheers from Further Austria!
ReplyDeleteI agree. Some more terrain features would be good. I need to make some more. The river, I decided, was unnecessary apart from a bend which restricted movement.
DeleteIn my game I made all the troops equal in quality, with a slight benefit for the Spanish and Walloon guards. I don’t know enough about this theatre to justify making decisions about the relative quality of troops. But I will enjoy learning more.
Servus!
Chris
Gee Chris, 45 minutes may be a new world record! :) Short or longer, it looked great with your newly painted figures on the field.
ReplyDeleteSupports are critical to the morale tests in Twilight of the Sun King so I presume similarly for Twilight of the Soldier King?
Regards, James
Yes, you're right James. Supports are critical in Soldier Kings. That works really well in my opinion. Especially for cav, who shoot off a long way if there's no support and they're beaten, but only a short distance if they have support a base width back.
DeleteAnd thanks for the compliment!