The Battle of Saint Gotthard (Turkish: Saint Gotthard Muharebesi; German: Schlacht bei St. Gotthard; Hungarian: Szentgotthárdi csata), of the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664), took place on 1 August 1664 on the Raab between Mogersdorf and the Cistercian monastery St. Gotthard in German West Hungary (today Hungary). It was fought between Imperial Army forces, including Germans, Swedish and French contingents, led by Imperial Commander in Chief Count Raimondo Montecuccoli and the army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Paşa.
As the Ottoman army tried to advance into Hungary, they were stopped on the side of the river Raab where they were charged and defeated by the Imperial forces. As a consequence, the Ottomans signed the Peace treaty of Vasvár a week later, on 10 August. Even though the Turks were militarily defeated, Emperor Leopold concluded a treaty considered favourable to the Ottoman Empire, which shocked most of Europe.
The Turks renewed their invasion in the spring of 1664. They besieged, conquered and destroyed Novi Zrin Fortress on the Mura river in northern Croatia at the very beginning of July. Montecuccoli was still waiting for help to arrive, and this delay was key to the defense of Austria. In July 1664 the Imperial forces were assembled and set out for the River Rába, which separated the Ottoman forces from the Austrian duchy itself. If the Turks were allowed to cross, they would threaten both Vienna and Graz. Montecuccoli intercepted the Turks before they crossed the river but the division of command made effective deployment of troops impossible.
On 1 August 1664, Ottoman forces crossed the river near the monastery of Saint Gotthard and beat the Austrians back. Although initially plagued by disunity, Montecuccoli was finally able to convince Coligny and Leopold Wilhelm of Baden-Baden (commander of the Imperial detachment) to mass their forces and attack the Ottoman troops, who were reorganizing in a nearby forest. The attack surprised the Turks, who fled in confusion back to the river, a large number drowning. The confusion caused by the fleeing troops prevented Ahmed Köprülü (Vizier 1661-1676) from sending the rest of his army across the river and he instead retired from the field.The Battle in an engraving of the era.
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Ottoman casualties were heavy, significantly falling mostly on the elite corps of the army. Köprülü was left with an army of ill-trained irregulars and auxiliaries while Montecuccoli’s casualties were light and mostly in the Imperial contingent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint_Gotthard_(1664)
This game was set up as a chance to try out the Twilight of Devine Right Rules. These are a Thirty Years War version of Twilight of the Sun King. My group is looking for a simple set of rules to play this earlier black powder periods. So, a buddy mine offered to set up the game and run the rules, while another buddy filled out some of the holes in the armies.
The game was set up on a six by four foot table, with the terrain set up to represent the historical field. The table had a river through the center, with woods and towns here and there. There were a couple o bridges and forces where the troops could cross, with the rest being impassible. All the woods and towns were difficult terrain.
The Turks had the larger force that were centered around Janissaries and Spahis cavalry. They were supported be some heavy artillery and light troops. The Turkish had a set up that required them to set up some of their army across the river, with the rest behind the river. Their deployment area included a large wood in the center. The Turkish players opted to set up their infantry across the river, with their front protected by the woods. There mission was to have seven units across the river at the end of the game. The game was seven turns.
The Imperials had the smaller force and deployed on the back side of the board facing the Turks behind the river and woods. Their force contained a number of variable quality Tercios and were supported by different variable quality galloping cavalry and two batteries of small guns.
The Turkish plan was to hod up behind the river with their infantry and push across both flank forces with their cavalry. The remaining Turkish units would reinforce the center.
The Imperials had no choice but to attack into the center to clear the Turkish units to their front and hold the river crossings. There was some confusion on the set up and the Imperials split their set up and had to correct it during game play, but the table was clear to both sides and play commenced.
The Imperials started their advance through the center into the woods. This was a bit slow, due to the terrain, but it gave the players a couple of turns to understand the movement system and how commanders can manage their armies by giving addition orders. While this was going on, the Turks used the time to reinforce their center and feign an attack on the Imperial left flank crossing.
The Imperials moved into position to attack and began the grind forward into the Turkish infantry. The Turks started their attacks to cross the river. The superiority of the Turkish troops in quality and quantity started to show quickly in the center, as the Tercios were ground down after a few turns. The cavalry on the flanks managed to fight each other to a stand still, so no long term successful crossing. With that said, the center was the turning point, as the Tercios stated to dissolve infant of the Turkish muskets. By turn six, the Imperial army was broken and the game was called.
The game happened within a few hours of play. We were happy with the speed of play (taking away the challenge of fighting through the woods). The combat morale system is interesting and very different. We decided we needed to try the rules one more time with a more standard type of battle, so stay tuned!
- Manteuffel
A very nice battle. The armies are really colourfull.