Magenta 1859

[Hertsblue]

Played at our club this Sunday, this was a Franco-Austrian encounter using the Bloody Big Battles rules.

After a clash with the French army of Napoleon III at Montebello, Count Gyulai's Austrian army has fallen back behind the River Ticino and established itself on the line of the Naviglio Grande canal, there to await the French advance. There are five available bridges across the canal in the vicinity of the small town of Magenta, those at Buffalora, Ponte Vecchio and Robecco, and the two carrying the main Milan road and railway. There is another bridge at Turbigo (off table), to which Napoleon has dispatched Camou's Guard Voltigeur division and Epinasse's division from MacMahon's 2nd Corps on wide outflanking movements.



Gyulai has disposed his forces thus: Schwarzenberg's III Corps in a line, with his right on Buffalora and his left on the railway line; Clam Gallas's I Corps from there to Magenta itself and Liechtenstein's II Corps on the other side of Magenta. Stadion's V Corps and Zobel's VII Corps are still coming up from the south.



The Austrian right, with Buffalora in the foreground.

The French emperor now orders Mellinet's Guard Grenadier division to clear Ponte Vecchio and establish a bridgehead on the other side of the canal. at the same time Vinoy's division of Niel's 4th Corps will cross at Robecco, whilst the divisions of La Motterouge (2nd Corps) and Renault (3rd Corps) attempt to fight their way across the road and railway bridges.



The Imperial Guard Grenadiers throw themselves into Ponte Vecchio and clear it, holding on in spite of frenzied and somewhat disjointed counter attacks by Clam Gallas. Vinoy's division also hangs on to Robecco against Liechtenstein's entire corps.



The French attacks on the bridges have stalled and both divisions are taking punishing casualties. Napoleon is looking anxiously northward, hoping to see Camou's guardsmen in the distance, advancing along the canal. Gyulai is also wondering where his V and VII Corps have got to. Clam Gallas's men have shot their bolt and have fallen back on Magenta.



Vinoy continues to hold out gamely in Robecco.



At this point Camou's division appears north of Cuggiono, whilst south of Robecco Paumgarten's brigade of Stadion's V Corps and Reischach's division of VII Corps finally turn up.

The game ended at that point as time ran out. We had played four moves (the equivalent of 8 in other rules) in two and a half hours, and there was probably another three moves left in the game-day. As for the result, well the French had successfully got across the Naviglio Grande and were menacing the Austrian right, but they had not made anything like the progress the actual forces had in 1859. The result was, as the saying goes, hotly debated.

 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Cool report!

[Techno]

Like it, Ray !
Cheers - Phil

[Chris Pringle]

Thanks for the AAR. Great pics! Sorry you didn't have the extra hour or so you needed to complete the game.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[toxicpixie]

Cracking looking game!

Great stuff

[Leman]

Super report. Funnily enough that is the next BBB battle planned down the Liverpool club. 

[Chris Pringle]

And also funnily enough, last night I introduced a newbie player using the scenario for Montebello, the battle that was the prequel to Magenta. This has turned out to be one of my favourite scenarios, it's great as a "training" game for new players, while still presenting enough interest for us veterans. And it fits on 4'x4' and you will surely finish it in under 2 hours. Really good for two players; not quite so good if you have more, as there aren't that many units.

(The scenario is online in Flickr and in the Yahoo group files.)

Chris

[Leman]

Thanks for the reminder about that. May well introduce the new player using Montebello before moving on to Magenta.

[Le Manchou]

Excellent! thanks for the report!

[bigjackmac]

Great stuff, I appreciate you posting the batrep.  BBB is looking more and more interesting...

V/R,
Jack

[Hertsblue]

Thanks for the comments, fellas. The Franco-Austrian War is probably my favourite of the late nineteenth century conflicts, not least because the infantry weaponry is equivalent on both sides.

One thing we did discover; bases for the various BUAs are critical (I ran out of suitable bases at Buffalora) if you want to avoid arguments over who is entitled to fire out. 

[Westmarcher]

Liked the report. In 15mm? Also like the fact that you don't appear to need a lot of miniatures / bases to run a big battle. How many players?

Also found the layout very attractive. I'm looking for decent roads that are flexible enough to drape over terrain features and long enough to minimise separation during the game. Bought or home=made? Like the bridges and railway lines also. One day this era methinks. 

[Chris Pringle]

Just posted a blog report of my Montebello game.
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

Made a bit of an effort with the scenery this time. A bunch of pics here.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127771552@N03/sets/72157650298765074

Chris

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good reports, lovely photos, luck Neph!

[petercooman]

 

[Leman]

Flexible roads - try Total Battle Miniatures, Timecast or Fat Frank.

[Hertsblue]

Liked the report. In 15mm? Also like the fact that you don't appear to need a lot of miniatures / bases to run a big battle. How many players?

Also found the layout very attractive. I'm looking for decent roads that are flexible enough to drape over terrain features and long enough to minimise separation during the game. Bought or home=made? Like the bridges and railway lines also. One day this era methinks. 

No, they're 10mm Pendraken, Westmarcher. We were playing 1 base = 1,000 men, which produced brigades of between three and five bases. In retrospect, I would have gone for 1 base = 750 men, which would have given us slightly bigger brigades. There were two players per side, with me umpiring.

The roads were Total Battle Miniatures (I believe, not mine) whilst the bridges and buildings came from various sources I've collected over the years.

[Chris Pringle]

Westmarcher, the BBB Magenta scenario requires 70 Austrian 1" bases (59 inf, 4 cav, 6 guns, 1 rocket) and up to 65 French & Italian (58 inf, 2 cav, 5 guns). Even scaled up to 1 base per 750 men as Hertsblue is suggesting, you are still talking under 100 bases a side. This is exactly the point of Bloody Big Battles - to make big battles feasible with reasonable amounts of troops, table space, time and players.

Chris

[Womble67]

Great looking game Ray, thanks for sharing

Take care

Andy

[mollinary]

Funnily enough, I was in Magenta over the weekend. Lots to see, many significant sites from the battle are still recognisable. The most notable thing, however, was not what you could see, but what you could not.  The lines of sight are terrible, and there is no chance whatever of seeing what is going on at any of the crossings of the canal from any of the others. The only open terrain is on the eastern side of the canal coming in from the North ie where the French and Italians who crossed at Turbigo eventually came down.  There really is no natural defensive position for the Austrians north of Magenta, so it is no surprise that much of the real fighting took place there. It is a great battlefield, and highly recommended for a visit. We also took in Palestro and Montebello, and they also have much that is unchanged.  At Montebello the railway is a key feature, as its embankment cuts the field east west and allows no visibility across it north South. The ditches still form the only sort of defences on the low ground.

Mollinary