Risorgimento, Battle of San Martino 1859

[Volleyfire!]

Had our first game of Risorgimento last week using Baccus 6mm figs and BP2 rules with measurements in cms instead of inches.




Every OOB I could find varied slightly, Bruce Weigle's in his 1859 rules being different to the one in BBB, both of which were different to what I could find via Google, so in the end, we settled on something which incorporated all sources as best we could.


We are halfway through, advantage to the Austrians at the moment partly due to their artillery being given the sharpshooter rule, us giving them slightly longer range for small-arms due to them having rifled muskets versus the Piedmontese smoothbores, and the Uhlans having determined charge which when combined with use of their HA meant they were able to force the Piedmontese infantry into square before pulling back to allow their artillery to disorder the square meaning the lancers could then charge home and break them.
Also to replicate the original battle and the poor command and control we made the Piedmontese divisions draw playing cards and they couldn't march onto the table until each division had reached 21 "Pontoon!" 
One great thing about 6mm games, you can actually have flanks 

[Stecal]

beautiful looking game.  Makes me reconsider 6mm

[Norm]

Thanks for posting the pictures, very enjoyable. For BP2, how many bases are you using to represent the basic regiment / battalion? Is it one base per battalion and each of your groupings equals a whole brigade?

[Volleyfire!]

Yes it is 1 base per squadron/battalion. Austrian inf 3 row deep to represent their higher numbers of men per battalion whereas the Piedmontese only have two rows. So 4 battalions including the depot battalion for the Austrians regts and 4 battalions per regt for the Piedmontese as well. 3 bases of skirmishers in skirmish order represent one battalion. I've completed 64 battalions of Austrians so far, just need another 8 to finish the 2nd Army for Solferino, which only leaves another 94/95 for the 1st Army to do, oh and their cavalry And the French  That is almost an entire Corps of Piedmontese on the table there, minus their cavalry which didn't play any part really in the actual battle.
The phone I took the photos on isn't great but I've had an upgrade this week so hopefully tonight's denouement pictures will look clearer when I post them later.

[Volleyfire!]

So we carried on with the game last Sunday. The Piedmontese left flank finally managed to cross the river and form up in line, but lost 1 battalion of Bersaglieri whilst doing so to Jager fire from the woods and Horse Artillery fire to their front. The Piedmont artillery managed to break one regt of dragoons but their compatriots charged the front line of Piedmontese infantry causing them to form square and the dragoons charged home. Unfortunately it was a draw and the 3+ for being in square drove off the dragoons.



In the centre the Piedmontese lost 2 regts of foot to artillery fire, one was caught in column marching to replace the other one that had just been blown away  (Behind the artillery in the centre right in the pic )
The Austrians lost the regt of foot on the road adjacent to San Martino to artillery fire in return.

On their right flank the Piedmontese surged down the 'Valley of Death' and were soundly beaten by the Austrian Uhlans one regt of which, assisted by HA, routed a brigade of Italian foot ( 2 regts of infantry and a battalion of Bersaglieri).
The Italians surged up the hill on the Austrian left flank but were beaten back time and again with heavy casualties.
The butchers bill was 3 regts of cavalry, 1 regt infantry, 1 batt Jager and 1 battery of HA for the Austrian left flank, and 4 out of 8 regts of foot, 3 out of 4 battalions of Bersaglieri, and 3 out of 8 batteries of guns were lost on that flank by the Piedmont forces, basically an entire division wiped out. So history repeated itself really, which we thought was pretty fair.

The Austrian general staff were content with their work.

[Sunjester]

That look spectacular! 

[Volleyfire!]

I'm currently working my way through the rest of the figures so that I can put on Solferino at a future show, Partizan preferably and The Joy of Six. I've done the Piedmontese as you can see above, 2160 infantry 33 guns and 144 cavalry, and one of the two Austrian armies which in total will be 7344 infantry figures 468 cavalry and 116 guns, and I've just begun the French, another 3408 infantry, 648 cavalry and 52 guns as I was getting snow blindness from all those Austrian infantry. I made a start on the French Imperial Guard, but I'm struggling to find references to the cavalry uniforms and horse furniture. Can anyone point me towards a suitable source please? I'm thinking that the cavalry were largely unchanged from the Napoleonic period with trumpeters in regt colours for dragoons, cuirassiers, lancers etc.

[Frostie]

Very nice looking 6mm battle, I have some figures for this period, not enough yet.  Would you mind sharing your OOB with me.

Thanks

[Volleyfire!]

Thanks Frostie, unfortunately with my abysmal memory I can't remember exactly where I picked the OOB up from. I think it might have been in Bloody Big Battles, or 1859 the Bruce Weigle ruleset. Most likely BBB.

[Vanth]

I have been contributing to a fairly large Solferino diorama that is being set up in Germany. The diorama includes several thousands 20mm figures sculpted by Massimo Costa of 42nd Black Watch: I have been doing the Chasseurs d' Afrique and am now working on the Grenzers.

[DintheDin]

Wow!!! A sight to behold! 

[Volleyfire!]

I've seen links to this diorama on Facebook, and I'm blown away by it, it is absolutely stunning work.
 I was wondering where you obtained your references from for the battlefield itself, the topography and the buildings, Solferino itself especially as I want to replicate it in 6mm, and what source are you using for the uniforms please?

[schoey]

Fabulous set of pictures, 20mm is the best scale for mass gatherings, small enough to have many, but also retain a good level of detail.

[Vanth]

I've seen links to this diorama on Facebook, and I'm blown away by it, it is absolutely stunning work.
 I was wondering where you obtained your references from for the battlefield itself, the topography and the buildings, Solferino itself especially as I want to replicate it in 6mm, and what source are you using for the uniforms please?

Hi, the battlefield is being modelled by a german guy, one of the owners of the museum that will host it if I got this right. i think he went to survey the place personally. The place itself has not changed that much since, so I guess you could use some Google Maps reference too. I have something on the S. Martino side of the battle, but it's entirely in italian I am afraid; I can nonetheless send the pdf to you f you want.
For the uniforms,  I have been using Osprey Campaign 207 - Solferino and someperiod plates that have beensent to me by the scuptor himself. Massimo has a huge collection of references regarding that periodandall of the victorian era

[Volleyfire!]

Hi Vanth, I've looked on Google, there is a 360 panoramic view which is useful and a few pictures of the town as it is today which I hope will come in handy. I'm using the same Osprey as you, plus the Franco Prussian War (1) Imperial Troops for the French as a lot of the uniforms hadn't altered much.