Battle of Montebello 1859 - Game 3

Having experienced a close result in Game 2, Jake and I held another Friday Night At The Fights on March 3 to give Montebello 1859 another go.  With a draw in Game 2 and each player having a renewed interest in tackling the problems faced by both commanders, the game was reset and player commands remained as in Game 2.  That is, Jake commanded the French and I commanded the Austrians.  To see Jake's revised plan for approaching the task at hand, please see Operation Design Montebello Part Deux.

On to the game!

Initial deployments and troop concentrations

Rather than attacking Cascina Nuova, Baum pulls back
 to defend the northern approaches to Montebello.
Two squadrons of 12th Hussars come forward to lend support.
One battalion of 74th Line advances from Cascina Nuova to
 harass the Austrian hussars.

French small arms fire drives the Austrians back from the 

Genestrello bridge.  Forey is operating under a more 
 aggressive plan than in prior games.

While the jaegers in Genestrello dish out punishment to the 74th,

Beuret's brigade breaks out from Genestrello bottleneck to drive

off Austrian support.

Is the French plan to contain and then bypass Genestrello?

With Sardinian cavalry swarming to the north of Montebello,

 Austrian infantry form a barrier to contain the aggressive Allied
 horsemen.

Rather than fight deployed Austrian rifled muskets, the

 Sardinians make a dash for the railway bridge!  A bold move
 that drives the Austrian covering force back across the railway
 bridge in disarray.

Sardinian light horse seize the railway bridge over the Coppa!

In a hammer and anvil approach, Hesse advances to press
 Blanchard's brigade against Baum's forces in the fields north
  of Montebello.  Attacks against Calcabobbio go in.

The noose tightens?

Flush with success, Sardinian cavalry push on, taking both
 the main bridge at Casteggio as well as Castegggio itself!

Even with Sardinian cavalry running amok in the Austrian

 rear, Hesse continues to press Blanchard.

Preparing the defense of Montebello

Paumgarten reacts to push back the impetuous Sardinian cavalry.

Spillberger marches on the railway bridge while Gaal confronts
the Sardinians on the eastern approaches to Casteggio.

Sardinian cavalry pushed back across the Coppa.

In the north, French retake Calcabobbio

Situation when action called as an Allied Minor Victory.

Blanchard's brigade holding Hesse in check.

As commander of the Austrian forces, this scrap was a real nail-biter.  Austrian casualties were heavy and while The White Menace bent, it never broke.  French battle plan to strike deep into the Austrian rear while simply cordoning and bypassing Genestrello and Montebello paid dividends exposing the Austrians to a few near embarrassing moments.  With Austrian reserves nearby, the impudent Sardinian cavalry could not hold their gains without infantry support.  In the end, both Genestrello and Montebello fell to French aggressions and Forey claimed a minor victory on points.

With two FtF battles in the books within one week, the rules are surviving contact nicely.  As Austrian commander, I forgot to include the large battalion modifier during fire but that may not have made much difference in overall play.   A few tweaks will be put in place prior to the next game but most remain as is.  Next game?  Yes, we plan to fight Montebello one more time with commands reversed.  I bet Jake will not forget Austrian large battalion modifiers!  One tweak to the scenario: Austrians may activate all three wings once enemy forces have crossed the Coppa.  In the prior games, Austrians could only activate two of their three wings on any given turn.

Can I better Jake's result as French commander?  We will see.