BBB – The Battle of Castiglione, August 1796.

For our Napoleonic game, we decided to play the Battle of Castiglione (1796), using Bloody Big Battles (BBB) as the rules.

The battle in 1796 was one of several battles that were fought at different times at that particular location in Northern Italy.  Most notable was the Battle of Solferino in 1859.  The site of the 1796 battle was also at Solferino, but Napoleon named the battle after his headquarters of the night before, which was located at Castiglione, a few miles to the west of the battlefield.

The Battle of Castiglione on 5 August 1796 occurred during Austria’s first attempt to relieve the siege of Mantua.  The overall Austrian commander, FM Graf Wurmser, divided his army into four columns and advanced upon Mantua along four different routes.  The advance of a strong Austrian army (albeit a separated one) compelled Napoleon to lift the siege and order the concentration of his army.  Napoleon then maneuvered to attack each Austrian column in turn, striving to defeat them in detail.  On 3-4 August, a portion of Napoleon’s army engaged the Austrian right hand column led by FML Quosdanovich, and forced it to retreat.  That victory then enabled Napoleon to order his forces to converge upon the next Austrian column.  That column was led by FML Baron Davidovich and FML Baron Sebottendorf, under the direct command of Wurmser himself, and was deployed a few miles to the east of Castiglione.  Wurmser decided to stand and fight, hoping to buy some time for the garrison of Mantua to prepare for a renewal of the siege.

The key terrain on the battlefield was a long, relatively narrow, and steep ridge that runs East-West, which we placed along the long axis of our 6X5 foot table.  The ridge itself had several high points along its length, and was covered with vineyards, orchards, walls, scrub, rocks and other impediments, and was thus classed as rough going along its entire length.  The village of Solferino was located at the center of the ridge, near the center of the table, and was overlooked by the 23m high Rocca Tower (constructed in 1022).  A thin strip of forest ran along the steep northern slope of the ridge.

North of the ridge, the ground was broken by low hills, rough going, and fordable streams (August is the dry season).  South of the ridge, the land was almost completely flat, open farmland, except for an isolated, very low elevation known as Monte Medolano.

The ground scale on the table was one inch equalled 60 meters.

Our scenario was adapted from the excellent book, “Castiglione 1796” by Bernhard Voykowitsch, and this scenario from Jemima Fawr’s blog:

The Battle of Castiglione 1796: A Scenario for ‘Napoleon’s Battles’

We decided on a figure scale of 200 men per infantry base, 120 men per cavalry base, and 5-12 medium and/or heavy guns per artillery base (French batteries were 5-7 guns and Austrian batteries were 12 guns (or half batteries of 6 guns), which reflected the French superiority of this arm).  We then divided up the men in each brigade to create infantry units of 4-6 bases and cavalry units of 2-4 bases.  This gave us 33 French units vs. 25 Austrian units, which was a good sized game for six players.

In BBB terms, all units on both sides would become Spent upon taking hits equalling half of their bases, and all of the infantry was rated “Tactically Inept” to reflect the vulnerability of their close order formations to musket and artillery fire.  All of the French infantry were rated as Skirmish, but only the Austrian Grenzers had the Skirmish rating.  The Austrian infantry was restricted to using Line or March Column formations.  The French had the option of using the Supported Line formation which equated to attack columns at this scale.

Before the battle, the Austrians constructed two redoubts, both of which were only large enough to hold one battery.  The redoubt on Monte Medolano was fully built and gave a +2 cover and close combat benefit.  The redoubt on a knoll in front of the Rocca Tower was unfinished and only gave a +1 benefit (and also benefitted in close combat by being on a steep hill).

The forces were set up in their historical starting positions.  Sebottendorf’s small command was set up on the Austrian left, around the redoubt on Monte Medolano in the south.  Davidovich’s large command stretched from there, through the redoubt on the ridge, and into the forest on the northern slope of the ridge.  Colonel Shubirz’s small advanced guard was thinly deployed across the broken ground in the north.  Colonel Weidenfeld’s brigade would enter the table from the NE corner on Turn 7.

For the French, Augerau’s large division faced Davidovich’s and Sebottendorf’s forces on the ridge and on the flat ground in the south, supported by Kilmane’s small reserve division on its right flank.  Massena’s large division, which had withdrawn earlier in the day in an attempt to trick the Austrians into remaining in position, would enter the table on Turn 1 from the NW corner.  A brigade from Despinois’ division would enter the table behind Augerau on Turn 2.  Two brigades from Seurier’s division (under Fiorella) would enter on Turn 4 from the east end of the table, behind the Austrian left flank.  This maneuver by Fiorella’s force was an example of Napoleon’s famous “manoeuver sur les derrieres.”

There were seven Objectives:  both redoubts, the village of Solferino, the villages of Guidizzolo and Cavriana in the Austrian rear, and the two road exits to the NE, which were the Austrians’ lines of retreat to the Mincio River.  To win, the French had to capture and hold five of these objectives at the end of 12 turns, which would equal Napoleon’s historical victory.  If the French could capture all seven objectives, it would represent a major victory.

One Turn 1, Massena’s division arrived in the NW and began to make its way through the rough ground in the north.  Kilmane’s reserve division advanced to threaten the Austrian left flank.  Augerau’s division made an immediate assault on the Austrians on the ridge, which was bloodily repulsed.

Napoleon then sent an aide-de-camp to remind Augerau that his mission was only to pin the Austrians until the French flanking forces arrived and made an impact.  Augerau took the hint, and deployed his men to shoot at the Austrians, who replied with their own, less effective, fire.

A charge by Kilmane’s cavalry on the Austrian left was defeated, as was a second charge.  Massena’s division, somewhat fragmented by its advance through the rough going, made contact with the Austrian right, and was repulsed by defensive fire.  So far, the Austrians were being pressed everywhere, but were still holding.

The Austrians’ luck soon turned.  French fire silenced the battery in the redoubt near the Rocca Tower, and created a gap in the Austrian line on the ridge that the Austrians could not immediately fill.  At the same time, Wurmser was advised via courier that two French brigades were arriving from the east.  Wurmser’s response was, “Well, we can’t do anything about that!” and he ordered all his forces to continue holding the line.

From that point, the Austrians swiftly collapsed.  Augerau led his troops to exploit the gap on the ridge and assaulted the Austrian troops in front of Solferino.  Massena sent two units to assist Augerau, and the entire Austrian force on the ridge was defeated and forced to retire, leaving only a spent unit to hold Solferino.  On the flat ground in the south, French skirmish and artillery fire had weakened the Austrians to the point that a renewed wave of assaults under the watchful eye of Napoleon started to break the line, and soon the Austrians began to retire en masse.  In the north, Shubirz’s advanced guard provided the only bright spot for the Austrians.  His troops recoiled slightly but continued to hold against greatly superior numbers.

Fiorella’s brigades took the unoccupied objective at Guidozzolo en passant, and his leading units soon reached the outskirts of Cavriana.  That is when the Austrians threw in the towel, concluding that they probably could hold the two road exits in the NE, but conceding that Solferino would certainly be lost, and Cavriana was likely to be lost.  Wurmser ordered a general retreat, and handed Napoleon a historic victory!

• TJ