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Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Solferino: Assault on San Cassiano

When we last looked in on the Battle of Solferino (See: Solferino: First Contact), the French army, under General MacMahon, was in motion against the Austrian I Corps.  In the western approaches to San Cassiano, Gault's Brigade of Decaen's Division supported Villaine's cavalry and Maneque's Guard. The balance of the French Corps advanced east across the Medole Plain.
French advance along two axes.
French advance on the Medole Plain.
Seeing the casualties suffered in the first gaming session and one week before Session #2, I wondered if either army's plans would change based upon the situation on the ground.  For the Austrians, their defense in depth was keeping the French at bay.  In the Medole Plain, Austrian artillery wreaked serious destruction upon Castagny's Brigade.  In fact, by the beginning of Session #2, Castagny's Brigade was already broken.  Advancing in the open against artillery is not advised.
Austrians, on the high ground, await the attack.
What about French high command?  Was MacMahon satisfied with his current plan of attack?  Perhaps, not. 

Seeing the difficulty in taking the ground around San Cassiano, the plans for the French right changed.  Instrumental in this decision were wasteful casualties suffered from concentrated artillery fire on the approach across the Medole Plain toward Cavriana.  No longer was a direct march on Cavriana considered.  Elements of LaMotterouge's Division would veer north to support Decaen's attack near San Cassiano. 
Bringing up reserves,
the French left prepares to attack the heights.
Douay's Brigade veers to the north.
Having driven back the Austrian jaegers, the French left wing prepares to push up and onto the heights.  Elements of the French right will need to pin the Austrians in place while the left attacks.  Bringing up the numerous French guns including the 12 pounders from the Reserve Artillery, the guns unlimber and open up.  The guns' goal is to soften up the defenders before launching multiple attacks.  Some Austrian line infantry fall back into the valley in search of cover to escape the bombardments. 
Defenders suffer from artillery fire
while the French prepare to attack.
Austrians, suffering from artillery and musketry,
 fall back into the valley.
The French attack!

Villaine's cavalry brigade leads off the attack, advancing over the rough ground on the hills to the north of San Cassiano.  The horsemen are driven back after only advancing a few hundred yards.  Their advance is stopped by a deadly volley from Austrian infantry positioned along the spine of the hill.  Villaine's cavalry brigade is wrecked.
On the left, Villaine's cavalry breaks.
Seeing the French cavalry scattered, French infantry respond pouring fire into the Austrian defenders from multiple directions.  Austrians positioned on the ridge suffer mightily.  Still Hoditz' Brigade holds on.  In attacks and counterattacks, the two armies wrestle for control of the ridge.  Hoditz' stout defense with support from Reznicek is throwing the French timetable behind schedule.  Without a breakthrough soon, can San Cassiano be successfully assaulted?  
Douay’s Brigade moves to support the French left.
View of battle from the east.
Despite the loss of Villaine's cavalry, Maneque's guard and Gault press on up onto the heights.  Maneque and the 1st Voltigeurs take the farm on the ridge while the 11th Chasseurs take the adjacent farm complex.  Maneque falls.  MacMahon, himself, rides over to take direct command of this offensive.  The French have a foothold on the heights above San Cassiano! 
The French attack!
Austrian casualties are heavy
in the firefights among the farms.
With the French now on the heights, superior firepower sends the Austrians tumbling back into the valley.  Caught in a deadly crossfire, 1st Battalion 16 IR is destroyed.  Reeling from mounting casualties, first Hoditz and then Reznicek's Brigades break.  Among the chaos, 2nd Battalion 48 IR, with Hoditz nearby, clings onto San Cassiano. 
Austrians waver as pressure mounts.
With heavy casualties and lost ground,
Stankovic's Division is wrecked.
Surrounding San Cassiano,
Stankovic's Division gives ground as it breaks.
With Stankovic's Division broken, Montenuovo orders his division to move forward to form a second line of defense in front of Cavriana.  While Montenuovo repositions, Hoditz' battery is lost from enemy assault.  The Austrians have lost control of the heights overlooking San Cassiano.  Seeing Stankovic's Division in retreat, Maneque and Gault press on against the Austrian right.  Has the Austrian right been turned?
Overhead view looking south
 as Austrian right is pushed back.
The French press on against the Austrian right.
Meanwhile, back at San Cassiano, Gault and Doauy's infantry are closing in on the town.  Still, the defenders remain firmly entrenched in the village as artillery fire and musketry pour in.  To isolate San Cassiano completely, the high ground must be taken.  Reinforcements are on the way!
French close in on San Cassiano.
Algerian Tirailleurs on the way to San Cassiano.
At this point, we called an end to Session #2.

Both San Cassiano and Cavriana remain in Austrian hands but the grip on the former is looking tenuous.  

What about the action on the Austrian left?

While there were some cavalry clashes on the plain, Austrian artillery, in great numbers, prevents any serious thoughts of making headway on this front.  That could change.

At the end of the session, each army had two brigades broken.  The French saw Villaine and Castagny broken.  The Austrians counted Hoditz and Reznicek broken.  With army breakpoints of three brigades wrecked for the Austrians against four brigades lost for the French, the Austrian cannot afford seeing a third brigade break.

What about casualties?

The rosters tell the tale.  Red losses are from Session #1.  Blue losses are from Session #2.

Compared to the Austrians, the French suffered comparatively fewer casualties in Session #2.  With two brigades broken and Desvaux' cavalry nearing that point, the situation is becoming desperate.  

As seen from the Austrian roster above, Reznicek took a real pounding in Session #2 as he tried to maintain the forward defensive line.  He went from light casualties to wrecked during the session.  Casualties are rising for both Mensdorff and Paszthory too.

One more gaming session remains as we reach for a conclusion to the Solferino battle in the next installment.  The outcome could be close!

46 comments:

  1. Most spectacular Jonathan kudos for managing all those units and the instructions from the various online antagonists. The action is every bit as bloody as the real battle, the French look to have the numbers for the next phase, but?

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    1. Thanks, Phil! It may be a big task stage managing a large remote game but someone has to do it!

      We will see if the French can muster the numbers to carry them to victory in the next episode.

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  2. An exciting and desperate amount of fighting, looks really good.

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  3. Super account Jonathan. Whilst Lee and the Austrians continued their insane dice rolling. This portion of the battle did feel like we were getting the troops to the right places and untangling earlier error of deployment. It was hard but fun. I love games that set dilemmas... even if sometimes self inflicted.

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    1. Thanks, Richard! Lee's dice were other worldly. Looking at his casualty counts after Session #2, most of his command has passed onto the Other World!

      Sometimes, getting out of a jam is more challenging and just as much fun as getting into the jam and seeing easy success.

      I did suspect I witnessed changes in the French plan at the start of Session #2.

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    2. We did make some changes. In particular was the right hook which we hoped could be screened by the cavalry.
      Cassiano was a Hougoumont moment. We should have contained and bypassed it. Too much energy was poured into it.

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    3. Using cavalry to screen your infantry would have been solid play. Even bringing Villaine across to the plain to screen would have been useful. Containing San Cassiano and bypassing may have paid dividends too. So much time and energy were consumed in taking San Cassiano and never fell!

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  4. I know I asked last time whether artillery was too deadly, it still seems to dominate! Though perhaps my napoleonic (favoured period) artillery is actually under-powered.

    When orders are changed, does that become a private communication between the player and your good self, or does the zoom style game mean everyone is privy to all conversation?

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    1. Norm, you did ask about the lethality of artillery last time! My answer remains the same!

      Given that the French were able to concentrate five batteries against the heights and the Austrians out on the Medole could concentrate as many or more batteries, would you not expect measurable losses from five or six concentrated batteries. Even in a Napoleonic battle, five batteries masse against a target ought to open huge holes.

      If anything, the Austrians on the ridgeline suffered fewer casualties from artillery fire than expected due, in part, to Lee's heroic Morale Tests. Perhaps, the players will weigh in with their thoughts on artillery lethality?

      As for orders, players could communicate through chat. I never knew when orders actually changed. I only saw and moved units when ordered to do so. Their opponents only saw and heard what I did.

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    2. I don't think the artillery was anything other than what one might expect from the period. The difference from the French point of view was that the Austrians could concentrate batteries from quite early in the game. Whereas us French were slow to deploy our batteries in order to maximise impact. Plus, Austrian morale rolls were extraordinary. Knowing what I know now, I would play the game a liitle differently.
      As for orders, we communicated via Whatsapp.

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    3. Excellent, on-the-ground feedback! Thank you!

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    4. Weighing in, I have to agree with Richard. Our artillery had clear fields of view across the plain and could concentrate on each French infantry wave as it approached the high ground. We had a target rich environment!

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  5. Tremendous looking battle and what a scale ! You will have earned a medal by the end of it 🎖

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    1. This was a big one, for sure! Loads of fun for me. Hopefully, an enjoyable experience for all of the players too.

      My reward is seeing the large battle, over multiple sessions, through to the end with players still engaged and anxious to play.

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  6. Impressive action - and certainly very bloody. The real thing must have been pretty horrific...

    Cheers,

    David.

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    1. David, the real battle was very bloody and the largest European battle since Leipzig. The ossuaries on the different battlefields are stacked with bones from those fallen in battle.

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    2. Very grim! I thought I remembered that the Red Cross was founded as a direct result of the battle and so it was - Henry Dunant founded it in 1863 after his experience of seeing the wounded after the battle back in 1859.

      Cheers,

      David.

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    3. You have a good memory, David!

      Say, I got to see your WSS French flags in action today in a remote game with Tony from http://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/. I was commanding the British army. I will let Tony tell the tale...

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  7. Spectacular game and a bloody tussle

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  8. My money was on the French after the first session, and I would be prepared to back them even more after this session now they have gained the heights.

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  9. As already commented above, Solferino was quite a bloody one and this game is certainly going down that same road. Really like the idea of presenting the casualty rolls to give a better idea of the mounting casualties.

    As for the battle itself, the French seem to be gathering momentum now, putting all their pressure to bear on the narrowest of fronts. Actually this seemed initially a disadvantage for them as they could not put their superior numbers to use but credit to the French players for turning this into an advantage, leaving the Austrians no room to deploy more than a few units at a time.

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    1. Thanks, Mike!

      Showing the casualty counts at the end of each session provides for a good sense of the ebb and flow of battle. It also demonstrates which units carried the brunt of the fighting.

      French plan morphed after the first gaming session. As Richard says above, this change was out of necessity, fluidity of the situation, and a change in their path to victory.

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  10. I'm still traumatised from day 2's battle. We did change our plan, mainly trying to correct the mistakes we French made in the first game. Not sure how you remembered all the details on the game Jonathan, it certainly was a bloody affair!

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    1. Ray, what I don't remember, I make up!

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    2. Sounds like my approach to battle reports 🤣

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    3. I almost always recall the general flow of battle. The in-game photos help to trigger memories of the details.

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  11. I thought my impression of the first AAR was that, without Lee rolling exceptionally good dice, the Austrians would already have been dans la merde at the conclusion of the first session ....this seems to be confirmed by some comments above, and indeed, seems like he did a repeat performance in the second session! From this, I believe the French will suddenly crash through and win, as luck like that cannot last indefinitely, and it seems like lucky dice may be all that is keeping the Austrians in the game.

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    1. While Lee threw above expectations in Session #1, if you look at casualty counts for his division at end of Session #2, you will see that Lee suffered horrendous casualties. Lucky dice may be helping the Austrians out but the French are on a tight timetable. Taking both San Cassiano and Cavriana within the allotted time is not so easy even in the best of times. Ask the French how they feel about attacking east across the Medole Plain when faced with an abundance of Austrian artillery.

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  12. Another fine AAR there Jon and both sides have taken a right old battering. Too close to call as to which side will break first, looking at the rosters and the state of the units therein.

    Rather like our BBB games, often massed artillery forces you to seek shelter on the reverse slopes, which happened here to the Austrians. Even worse when you have to face Prussian Krupp guns!

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    1. Thank you, Steve! Both sides have taken a pounding but the outcome looks undecided to me.

      One day, I will begin a Prussian army so that I can experiment with Krupps on the battlefield.

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  13. Great review of the second session. It was a bruising game and by this point I think all players were mentally exhausted. I certainly was! Looking forward to your review if the final stage of the battle.

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    1. Glad you approve, Lee!

      Mentally exhausted? I hope the game was not that fatiguing.

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    1. Indeed! Good to see you back and commenting again, Markus!

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  15. Awesome looking game and very much a meat grinder!
    Best Iain

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  16. Quite the endeavour keeping track of all that Jon! Surely those Austrian dice rolls cannot continue?

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    1. Quite the endeavor, for sure. If you want to see if the Austrians’ luck holds, read the final episode.

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