Magenta 1859

[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

[Leman]

Westmarcher, try www.6mmacw.com where you will find a tutorial on how to make flexible roads from caulk.

[Chris Pringle]

Seconding Mollinary's comments - I have been to Magenta and you really can't see very far at all. Hence the LOS limitation rule in my BBB scenarios for Magenta and Montebello, and the railway embankment blocking LOS.

Chris

[Westmarcher]

Westmarcher, try www.6mmacw.com where you will find a tutorial on how to make flexible roads from caulk.

Thanks, Bob (and also thanks to Chris and Hertsblue).

Wife has booked a last minute holiday to Garda on Lake Garda. What's on the other side of the hill? Rivoli (Ok, Napoleon I). What's south of the lake? Solferino. Will I get to visit them? Probably not!      Still, Osprey Solferino book suggests a bus may be possible to San Marino where the Sardinians fought.  Annoying thing is, we've previously holidayed at Desenzano and Sirmione which are a lot closer - but that was before I read theOsprey title. D'oh! 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

There is a pretty reasonable cycle route. Barrie from Timecast has done it before, 18miles all round as I recall?

[mollinary]

Thanks, Bob (and also thanks to Chris and Hertsblue).

Wife has booked a last minute holiday to Garda on Lake Garda. What's on the other side of the hill? Rivoli (Ok, Napoleon I). What's south of the lake? Solferino. Will I get to visit them? Probably not!      Still, Osprey Solferino book suggests a bus may be possible to San Marino where the Sardinians fought.  Annoying thing is, we've previously holidayed at Desenzano and Sirmione which are a lot closer - but that was before I read theOsprey title. D'oh! 

I seem to recall a pretty nice restaurant at San Martino, just outside the entrance to the tower and Museum. Perhaps you could lunch there - pretty nice views!

Mollinary

[mollinary]

Just found it on Trip Advisor. It's the Osteria alla Torre at San Martino delta Battaglia.  Have a look at the reviews, it sounds as if my impressions from last October are borne out by a lot of other reviewers.  Have a great break!

Mollinary

[toxicpixie]

I'll book the flights immediately!

Whose card are we using?



I holidayed up at Lake Garda many years (1st Gulf War!), sadly was too young to be very concerned about the '59, but I was quite excited that our "Cold War Gone Hot" games might be about to have some real evidence based trials :S

[Leman]

Further up the lake on Monte Baldo are some WWI trenches.

[Chris Pringle]

If you get a chance, check out the Vittoriale, Gabriele d'Annunzio's estate on the west side of the lake. Amazing place.

Chris

[Westmarcher]

Thanks for the ideas and recommendations, guys. Have been trying to do some swift research on the feasibility of visiting San Martino Della Battaglia but looking increasingly problematical for a variety of reasons (e.g., my location, transport, selling idea to Mrs W.). As I indicated earlier, it would have been better if I had been aware of the proximity of the battlefield when on a previous visit to Lake Garda when we stayed at Desenzano. Even so (as my research also confirmed), it would not have been straightforward from there either as the US wargamer, Jonathan Freitag confirms in the attached link to his blog, Palouse Wargaming Journal.

http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/battle-of-san-martino-battlefield-walk.html

For me, this might turn out to be the next best thing. I also thought it might be of interest to all 19th Century fans. The blog not only includes a good report on the battlefield as seen today (well, 2009) but also 4 or 5 reports on his war-game of the battle also (please see the the following links - these should help you navigate to the all of the relevant reports) plus there are numerous other reports on the Risorgimento.

http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/battle-of-san-martino-1859-batrep-1000.html

http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/battle-of-san-martino-1859-batrep-1200.html

Leman) - I've also visited Monte Baldo on a previous visit and 'yes' was unaware of the possibility of finding WW1 trenches (d'oh!). Had it in my head at the time that the frontline was much further north so it never crossed my mind. But had noticed signs of the front line on the way to an earlier trip to the Dolomites. Liked your Magenta in 15mm report btw.  
Moll - navigated some of the area using google maps and google maps street view. Also looked at the website of the Osteria all Torre. Building looks the part for the era (although possibly built after 1859?) and very enticing (good Trip Advisor reviews as you say).
Chris - again, visited Gardone in the past and unaware of the Vittoriale! (note the recurring theme here?). We'll see how things pan out on this visit.
Toxi - A Pendraken Forum Convention at Lake Garda sounds like the bees-knees (in the meantime, be sure and e-mail me your card details).