Thoughts on Montebello

All is quiet on the battlefield of Montebello.  In fact, the table has been dormant for the past two weeks with no activity at all.  Well, besides figures and sorting projects piling up on it.  That will soon change, though.  Richard has agreed to a rematch from our earlier game (see No Duke of Montebello).  For the next episode, we will swap sides and refight the battle from a different perspective.

Birdseye view of battlefield.

Before that game hits the table, time for a little reflection on the battle, its historical counterpart, and the rules.

Looking back at the battle report linked above, the game offered a tense battle as the French Army under Lannes scraped out a dramatic last‑minute victory.

Game Recap

Against the odds, Watrin’s French division assaults O’Reilly’s advanced position at Rivalta through the tall rye fields surrounding the village.  Initial attacks are repulsed, but repeated assaults eventually break O’Reilly after brutal fighting south and north of the village.  The Austrian jaegers are finally compelled to give up their defense of Rivalta.  As the French push on to the west, Vogelsang brings up his reinforcements to Cascina il Giardina while Schellenberg reaches Montebello.  Ott tries to form a defensive line as the Austrian army falls back toward Casteggio.

Attack on Rivalta.

To the south of Rivalta, the 28th Line ejects Austrians from Cascina il Giardina after repeated attempts to take the strongpoint.  Lannes then leads his hussars in a devastating charge that destroys an Austrian infantry battalion and overruns a retiring battery.  Unfortunately, Lannes falls in the confusion.  The Austrians are not done yet.​

Lannes leads the charge!

Austrian dragoons countercharge and scatter the depleted French cavalry.  Seemingly out of nowhere, a third hussar unit strikes unsupported Austrian infantry.  With the combat raging and both formations on the brink of collapse, the Austrian infantry are scattered and Vogelsang's Division breaks.  With O'Reilly and Vogelsang broken, Ott is compelled to quit the field.  Lannes gains victory with a razor-thin margin.  It could have tipped the other way.

The destruction of Vogelsang.

Post-Game Thoughts

Montebello offers challenges to both players and scenario design.  With both armies arriving piecemeal and a tight timeline to clear the highway, the French are forced into attacking at unfavorable odds.  When Watrin first attacks Rivalta, the defenders hold about a two-to-one advantage.  As the fighting builds with fresh reinforcements reaching the field, the battle emphasizes a measurable quality‑versus‑quantity dynamic as well as trading space for time.  A situation that Ott and Lannes, themselves, faced.  Players faced the same conundrum.  That is, how best to utilize the forces at hand.

With Lannes' qualitative advantage and ability to pick and choose the place and timing of attacks, as Ott, I fell into a similar trap.  When Watrin's initial attacks were repulsed, O'Reilly made the decision to stand and fight at Rivalta.  Only as more French reached the battlefield did he realize his mistake.  By the time Vogelsang approached from the west, it was too late for O'Reilly.  His formation was wrecked and in retreat everywhere.  Vogelsang tried to bring his division up and hold Cascina il Giardina but that stronghold could not be held after repeated attacks.  In the vicious fighting around that stronghold, Vogelsang's Division was wrecked.  With two of his three formations broken, Ott was forced to yield the field of battle.

The flow of the tabletop battle broadly followed the historical battle.  While the fighting may have played out with variation, the end result was the same.  That is, Ott's command was forced to retire from Montebello and head back to Alessandria to lick its wounds.  Five days later fighting would resume at Marengo.

Now, scenario design and often rules' writing remain as works-in-progress.  This refight offers similar thoughts on amending scenario details.  Having realized the historical result in the first outing, how much really needs to be tweaked?  While Victor/Chamberlhac played a role in turning the battle historically, in this playing Chamberlhac barely reached the field.  Same can be said for Schellenberg on the Austrian side.  

Schellenberg arrives.

While providing a good-sized game for two players, Montebello presents a more difficult path for multiplayer games since reinforcements arrive throughout the game.  This might lead to players not getting into the action right away.  Meeting engagements offer unique challenges for multiplayer games.  To steer the game toward this end, the next refight will see game duration lengthened from 8+ turns to 10+ turns while unit arrival times will see some compression.  The caveat, here, is that reinforcement compression may alter the already finely balanced arrivals to match the historical situation.  Do you come down on the side of history or player engagement?  Should arrival times be adjusted based upon the number of players present?  That is, keep historical times in a two or three player game but compress arrivals for larger multiplayer games so that everyone is involved within a turn or two?

Before I take command of the French Army in the next game, there is much to consider.