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Saturday, October 10, 2020

Taking Command at Bassignana, 1745

Battle of Bassignana. Photo courtesy Andrè Hanselmann
After having participated in Andrè's Battle of Quistello game earlier in 2020, I accepted the commander's role of Spanish General de Gages when he slated the Battle of Bassignana for his gaming table.

Like Quistello, Bassignana was not a remote participation game in the sense that I would be commanding my troops throughout the battle.  My role, as commander of the Spanish wing under de Gages, was to write initial orders to my commands, communicate with the French Marechal Maillebois, and attempt to influence nearby formations toward my plan of battle.  Each commander was allowed a specific number of communications before the battle began.  After that, no more communications.  The players would use these pre-battle instructions to guide battle flow toward victory.  Game participants would attempt to carry out my orders as they deemed appropriate.  The possibility of orders falling into enemy hands was a risk.  In Bassignana, a number of orders fell into enemy hands or became lost in transit.   

At the Battle of Bassignana, the Franco-Spanish armies deployed along the Tanaro River facing the combined Austro-Piedmontese armies as illustrated in the diagram below.  The Franco-Spanish army must take Pavone, Rivarone, and Bassignana for victory.  Either take those three objectives or destroy the opposing army.  Rules in play would be Honours of War.

For a full treatment of the battle with OBs and after action reports, please visit Andrè's blog at:
Initial dispositions, Bassignana.
Map by Andrè Hanselmann
For this post, I plan to simply provide some of the decision-making process behind the Spanish initial plans of battle.  Unfortunately, as will be seen for those venturing off to read Andrè's excellent accounts of the battle, my brilliant plans did not survive contact with the enemy.  Not only that, but de Gages, being a Dithering general, had great difficulty even getting his plan into motion.

De Gages' Spanish army is composed of columns A and B in the diagram above.  De Gages own force (A) consists of three small infantry battalions. Pignatelli's force (B) contains two cavalry regiments.  Arambou's column (C) of which I hope to convince to join my attack has three small infantry battalions, one small cavalry formation, and one light artillery battery.

With French Marechal Maillebois in overall command, I awaited instructions from French HQ.  After allowing for appropriate time in which to receive an ADC from Maillebois, I formulated my own plan of action.

With the village of Rivarone held by one militia, one grenadier, and one light battery, Arambou was ordered to demonstrate against this position with his artillery and one infantry battalion.  While the enemy commander, de la Chiesa was pinned in Rivarone, the remainder of Arambou's command would force the Tanaro and attack the Piedmontese outpost laying between Rivarone and Bassignana.  Pignatelli's cavalry would support Arambou's attack.  Once defeated, Pignatelli and Arambou would advance to secure the Po river bridge.  De Gages' three infantry battalions would force the Tanaro, screen the Austrians in Bassagnana without becoming heavily engaged, and press on to the bridge over the Po.

The initial objective of the Spanish army was to secure the Po bridge before Austrian reinforcements could cross over in support of their scattered forces on the south bank of the Po.  Only when the Po bridge was secure would Spanish forces turn toward reducing the defenders of Rivarone and Bassignana.  De Gages' hope was that the French could handle the enemy in the south and then drive to take Pavone.  See planning map below: 
Franco-Spanish plans of attack.
Map by Andrè Hanselmann
At the last moment before setting his plan into motion, de Gages received an ADC from Maillebois into his HQ.  Opening the package, de Gages saw the following letter from the French Marechal:
Courtesy Andrè Hanselmann
This missive translates to:

Monsieur!
Please allow me to present to you my plans, which will most probably find the approval by his royal highness the infant of Spain. I have already some plans in my mind how you could act against the Piedmont position in front of Arambou. Arambou's infantry could form line against Rivarone and his cavalry could be so kind to support Pignatelli's horse. Three regiments will be sufficient to overwhelm the Piedmont cavalry between Bassignana and Rivarone.
I will personally assist your attack on the Piedmont center at Rivarone with my own cavalry under Danois.
Please be so kind to confirm the arrival of my message.
Your most obedient
Maréchal de Maillebois

After reading the instructions from Maillebois, de Gages quickly wrote a reply, handed it back to the Maillebois' ADC, and bid him adieu. De Gages' reply to Maillebois read,

My Dear General,

Your ADC has successfully delivered your instructions.  Arambou's cavalry will support Pignatelli in driving the Piedmontese from between Rivarone and Bassignana.  The primary mission of the Spanish on this day is to drive on the bridge on the Po to prevent the enemy from reinforcing its troops on the south bank.  After the bridge is seized and enemy reinforcements cut off, I will turn upon Bassignana and Rivarone to drive the enemy from the field.  Arambou's remaining command will observe and harass Rivarone until either your force comes up to attack or the bridge is secured.  In either event, Arambou will join in on an attack against Rivarone.

Yours,
de Gages
Battle of Bassignana. Photo courtesy Andrè Hanselmann
To see how this battle played out, please visit Andrè's blog to read the two part battle account of Bassignana (links provided above).  Andrè presents a very engaging battle report presented in both German and English with lots of helpful in-battle photos.  The battle is fought in 1/72nd.  Great job, Andrè!

34 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this interesting game and the link to Andre's blog Jonathan.

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  2. Jonathan, what a lovely presentation, the sort of thing you look back on at the end of the year as being a significant wargaming experience.

    Love the idea about commander letters. As I was reading your account and you came to the point of writing back to Maillebois, my mind drifted to the issue of written communications being captured and there it is in André’s account, an intercepted communication - excellent.

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    1. Andrè did a terrific job on this battle including handling all of the logistics of order writing and deliver. While I would have enjoyed seeing the Spanish taking a more active role and carrying out my battle plan, de Gages mad a good anvil to Maillebois' hammer. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

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  3. A really great concept Jonathan - I did drop by Andres blog to see the results - not a great day for the French/Spanish combo!

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    1. Yes, it was a fun, distance participation game. I sent orders and stood by waiting to see my brilliant plans unfold. Well, or not!

      The Franco-Spanish actually won the day as the French crushed the Piedmontese.

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    2. Oops my error - I kind of speed read Andre's report and obviously came to the wrong conclusion - talk about the fog of war!

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    3. Easy to miss the conclusion with all of the back and forth action.

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  4. looked like fun, and the input from ten different players certainly adds to a decent amount of command friction.

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    1. It was fun, Lawrence. Communication was hit or miss with dispatches getting lost or intercepted. One was never certain in which state the battle plan existed.

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  5. A really interesting and intriguing way to do remote gaming. Definitely warrants some further thought and investigation. I feel the need to try something similar if as we seem to be go into further lockdown. Although ten players is very ambitious !🤔

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    1. This was an interesting format in that remote players set the battle plan, issued orders, and then hoped for the best. I did something very similar many years ago with the Battle of Raab. That was great fun.

      Ten players shouldn't be overwhelming. Six were remote issuing orders. After all pre-battle orders were written, three players attempted to implement those orders on the gaming table.

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  6. Thanks Jonathan, an interesting insight into how Andre set the scene for his tabletop game - an excellent use of resources and an insight into the "Fog of War". Cheers Greg

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    1. You're welcome, Greg! This was a fun exercise and as I mentioned, this is the second time Andrè has done a battle like this. The first I participated in was Quistello.

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  7. A great concept by Andre and nice to read the idea behind your orders and how they didn't go to plan or even reach the commanders.

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    1. Good to see you enjoyed this, Steve! My plans did not go off as planned but despite those failures, the Franco-Spanish Army pulled off a victory.

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  8. Nice exploration of remote gaming and the fog of war!
    Best Iain

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  9. Sounds a great setup. Must check out André’s blog

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    1. Please do pop over to Andrè's. I am sure he would a enjoy seeing a comment too.

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    2. I’m glad I did! It’s a treasure trove.

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    3. Indeed, especially if you enjoy walking tours of the local region and re-enacting.

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  10. Glad you had fun with this remote experience. You may rightfully take credit for the victory for having a brilliant and well thought out plan. whether or not your plan was followed is inconsequential! 😀

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  11. Nice report Jonathan, we might all be doing remote games for some time yet.

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    1. The future may be in remote gaming. If so, I will miss the in-person camaraderie.

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  12. Sounds like a really interesting game to be part of Jonathan. I'll be off the check André's blog for the details (I did not know of his blog previously, so it's great to be introduced to another blog too!)
    Regards, James

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    1. It was an interesting game. As I mentioned, this was the second game of André’s in which I have participated. Good to see you are off to visit Andre’s blog. Looks like he had an excursion over the weekend with some excellent photos.

      Great to see you stopping in, James!

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  13. Many thanks for your kind blog post.

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    1. Thank you for putting this interesting battle together for our enjoyment!

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  14. That sounds pretty cool, and I'll be sure to follow up on the game proper.

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  15. Impressive "remote" gaming, Jonathan. I can only imagine how important well-written orders can be.

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    1. Even with good orders, my command had difficulty getting on the move.

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