Austrian Jaegers for the 1799 Project

After pushing out a battalion of French legere, painting effort remains focused (temporarily at least) on the 1799 project.  Work is wrapping up on fielding units to complete the OB for Montebello 1800.  To that end, off the painting desk is a ten-figure battalion of Austrian jaegers from AB Miniatures. 

A couple more jaeger battalions would be useful but for now one battalion will do especially for Montebello 1800.  Besides, The Lead Pile is devoid of AB jaegers.  One more French legere battalion remains to muster off the painting desk.  It should move off into the painted box soon.

Early French Legere in 18mm

As work continues filling in the gaps of the Montebello 1800 OB, off the painting desk is one battalion of French legere.  These thirteen figures will be added to the 1799 project and like most figures in this project, all figures are AB Miniatures.  A suitable banner needs to be requisitioned for this battalion and its sister but for now it is ready to march into battle sans flag. 

One more battalion of French legere is needed to fill out the French OB and then all that remains to complete is one battalion of Austrian jaegers.  After that, Montebello 1800 will be ready for the tabletop. 

Of course, Montebello 1800 will not be ready until the several planned attempts at refighting the 1859 battle of Montebello concludes.  The first trial is in progress on the game table now and the Austrians are hard pressed early on.  One oversight is the discovery that I could not muster enough Austrian grenz for the battle and a couple of half-battalions of jaeger had to stand in.  Thought I had sufficient grenz mustered out but that seemed to be an alternative fact.  Depots have been called to fill out the missing grenz battalions.  I imagine these will be seen in the painting queue before long.

Alessandria Light Cavalry

Having an 1859 game out on the table provided even more the usual incentive to get an additional unit for the 15mm 1859 project into the painting queue.  This time, four squadrons (twelve figures) of the Sardinian Alessandria Light Cavalry Regiment trot off the painting desk.

These first rate figures are from Mirliton's excellent Italian War of Independence range.  While I do not field too many of Mirliton's infantry, their cavalry are probably my favorites from all manufacturers.  Excellent sculpts with figures offered in either walking or charging poses.  Many more bags of Mirliton cavalry await in The Lead Pile.  Enough bags I suspect to field all of the Sardinian and Austrian cavalry seeing service during the war.  It really is a shame that Mirliton make no French cavalry (or infantry) in 15mm.  Mirliton French cavalry would be well received, I bet.

Coming off the painting desk soon are three more reinforcements for the 1799 project.  These new recruits include three battalions comprising two battalions of French light infantry and one battalion of Austrian jaegers.

Battle of Montebello 1859 - Setup

Montebello

After having put out the Montebello layout on the gaming table during the Christmas holiday, I finally have some time to begin playtesting the 1859 battle in 15mm.  As seen in the photo of the game table above, the battleground covers the entire 12 foot by 6 foot table.  Much of the area to the east of Casteggio was included so that the 1800 battle could be fought on the same layout.  

From Voghera looking east

The map stretches from beyond Genestrello in the west to far beyond Santa Guiletta in the east.

From Stradella looking west

Using a number of sources, I put together the following brief timeline for the historical battle to provide a sense of the flow of battle.

The French, under Forey, are positioned in Voghera and covered by ten squadrons of Sardinian cavalry under Sonnaz. Three squadrons hold the line of the Coppa River between Verreto and Casteggio.  One squadron holds the high ground at Codevilla. Four squadrons at Pizzale and Calcababbio watch the Staffola River and bridge at Oriolo.  The remaining two squadrons remain at Voghera with Forey.

Movements of French (blue) and Austrians (white)

The Austrian plan was to develop a reconnaissance in force to bring out the French and determine their strength and intentions.  To meet this end, Stadion advances in three columns along the Stradella-Voghera road.  The left column, under Urban, marches by the main road Broni-Casteggio with two battalions from Boer's brigade.  Paumgarten's two brigades (with Stadion attached) in the center column march from Barbianello-Casatisma.  The right column, under Hesse, marches on Oriolo by way of Cacababbio.  Spillberger's detached column marches on Montebello from the north.

11:00am.
Urban at Santa Guiletta is ordered to capture Casteggio.  Gaal's brigade to support if needed.  Casteggio is easily taken and attention turns towards taking Montebello.  If possible, Urban is to capture Genestrello and hold it until the right and center columns can move on Voghera.

12:30pm.
Forey, in Voghera, learns of Stadion's advance.  Half a battery and two battalions of the 74th are ordered to the bridge crossing the Fossagazzo where two battalions of the 84th are already on line.  One battalion of the 74th moves towards Cascina Nuova with half battery while the other battalion of the 74th supports the 84th along the main road.  Sardinian squadrons of Novarra and Monferrato move out in support.

For the Austrians, Gaal leaves Casatisma to march on Montebello with one column using the main road; the other using the Coppa Valley as an axis of advance.  Bils' brigade remains in Robecco.  Having taken Montebello, Urban deploys his guns on the high ground and begins digging in.

Montebello looking from the north

1:30pm.

Stadion and Urban in Montebello discuss the possibility of pushing on to take Genestrello and hold until the other two columns can catch up.  Urban sends one brigade back to Casteggio to prepare defenses while the other brigade is posted between Genestrello and Torraza Costa.  Gaal's brigade is to hold the rail bridge north of Montebello and outpost the line of the Coppa covering Casteggio.  Bils to remain in Casatisma.

2:30pm.
Austrian orders in place when heavy fighting in direction of Genestrello.  Baum advances by railway driving one battalion of the 74th out of Cascina Nuova.  74th counterattacks with support from Blanchard's brigade.  Forey has three battalions at Cascina Nuova opposing two battalions of Baum's brigade.  Six French battalions at Genestrello oppose three battalions from Schaffgotsche's brigade.  Hesse' Austrian wing is held in check by Sardinian light cavalry regiment Aosta augmented by a couple of battalions.

3:00pm.
Austrians lose Genestrello forcing Baum to fall back.  Reinforced by three battalions from Baum, Schaffgotsche barricades Montebello.

4:00pm - 5:00pm.
Forey attacks Montebello with ten battalions.  Blanchard attacks from below while Beuret attacks from the right.  Even though Montebello's church and cemetery are fortified, the French gain ground in repeated attacks.

Casteggio and Coppa River looking from north

6:30pm.

Austrians abandon Montebello, beaten.  Exhausted, Forey does not pursue.

While Forey used his forces at hand effectively, Stadion failed to bring his superiority in numbers to bear.  Forey gained local superiority first at Genestrello and then at Montebello to drive the Austrians back across the Coppa River.

Montebello 1859 Order of Battle

Each box on the OB represents either one battalion, one squadron, one battery, or one-half battalion of light infantry.

My plan is to set up the forces and fight it out this weekend using my own rules.  For the first trial, the game will start about 2:30pm with the Austrians already in control of Genestrello and the French ready to attack.  Follow up replays may start at 11:00 allowing both sides much more flexibility.  It has been a couple of years since the 1859 collection has been out on the table and the rules have had no workout since the Battle of San Martino at that time.  If all goes well, I may reset and give Neil Thomas' Wargaming 19th Century Europe a try. 

Well, that is the plan anyway.  Will history repeat itself?

Stradiots with Crossbow

A quick return to the 28mm Great Italian Wars project to field a trio of mounted Stradiots with crossbow.  With this Impetvs stand of light cavalry, the collection can now put on the field three such stands.  One stand is armed with lances, one armed with bows, and now this stand armed with crossbows.

As the other two Stradiot stands mustered before, these three figures are from Perry Miniatures.  Crisp detailing on the figures as expected from the Perry brothers with a number of (the all too familiar) tiny vent flash tidbits.  Seems like I never remove all of them until the figure is almost finished.  Oh well.  I do enjoy Perry figures!

Next up for the Italian Wars project will be two skirmish stands of Italian bowmen from TAG. 

Top Commenters Gift Card Drawing

I enjoy receiving feedback from readers.  One feature of maintaining a wargaming blog is that a blog entry may have many views but most readers lurk rather than leave a comment.  That is fine.  Those that leave comments are greatly appreciated.  Those visitors who routinely post comments are honored.  The purpose of the Top 10 Commenters widget allows identifying the most prolific followers. To show my appreciation and gratitude to the cadre who not only take the time for a visit but also to compose a reply, I offer a drawing of one USD$25 Gift Card to one reader on the Top 10 List.  The Gift Card can be chosen by the recipient and valid towards any vendor allowing purchase of an electronic gift card.  Amazon.com is an example of a book vendor fitting this criteria as are Eureka Miniatures, Brigade Games, and Newline Designs.  There are many others.  If the winner can find a vendor offering this capability, I will purchase the gift card and send the voucher on via email.       Entries are weighted by rank.  That is, Gonsalvo at the top of the rankings receives 10 entries.  Dartfrog in Slot #2 receives 9 entries down to Scott MacPhee in 10th place with 1 entry.  Drawing will be by Simple Random Sampling with weighting by rank.  That is it.  On to the drawing... And the winner of the USD$25 Gift Card is:

Selection Method	Simple Random Sampling

Input Data Set	PWJ2017
Random Number Seed	195687001
Sample Size	1
Selection Probability	0.018182
Sampling Weight	55
Output Data Set	SAMPLESRS

Obs	USER	COMMENT	J
1	DARTFROG	9	5

DARTFROG!  

Congratulations, Jake.  A good way to begin 2017 with an unsolicited gift.  Please send me your email details along with your vendor of choice.  If for some reason you wish not to receive the voucher, I will draw again.

N.B. 18JAN2017 - Dartfrog requested a Warlord Gift Card as his award.  It has been sent.

A Few More Moors

A foursome of Moorish horsemen make it out from the painting desk.  After picking up a bundle of BTD cavalry from the late fall sale, I need to work my way through the pile of Reconquista cavalry.  One quartet of Arab cavalry pulled out from the painting desk in December and this stand follows not too far behind.

One more stand of Arab cavalry is on the workbench to follow closely on its heels.  Before that third Moorish cavalry stand is called up for service, a Spanish heavy cavalry stand will muster out.  With balance of power in the cavalry arm leaning decidedly towards the Arabs, many more Spanish or Christian cavalry need to see action at the painting table to even the odds.

Under Impetvs, this stand will rate as 'CM' which I denote using four figure stands.  Looking at my painting log, seven units for the project were added in 2016.  All but one unit was cavalry.  Still, many many more cavalry remain in The Lead Pile.

When will the collection see action on the gaming table?  Sometime in 2017 with a testing of Basic Impetvs 2.0.