Battle of Quistello 1734 - a remote game and some quick map making

This past week I played a most enjoyable remote wargame hosted by Jon of the Palouse Wargaming Journal. The scenario was the Battle of Quistello, 1734, set during the War of the Polish Succession. In the battle, Austrian forces carry out a night march, crossing the Secchia River, and launch a surprise attack on the Franco-Sardinian positions. 

While the battle is very one-sided, as the Austrians catch the French-Piedmontese force by surprise, the scenario has various victory conditions to make it an interesting game.

A photograph from the game (provided by Jon)

Jon provided an excellent briefing document that included the battle’s background, a summary of the battle, full orders of battle, photographs of the tabletop and initial deployments, as well as the scenario victory conditions.

A photograph of the tabletop from the briefing document.

A photograph of the initial deployment from the briefing document.

Jon has run this game several times in recent weeks with other bloggers, and there have already been a number of battle reports posted. So I decided to approach this game report a little differently, mainly because I took very few screenshots during the game as I was so engaged in the game I simply forgot. So after the game, I set about drawing a map and creating counters to represent the forces, so I could show the flow of the battle as it unfolded using the map.

The battlefield map.

The map measures 5 by 4 inches and was based on a photo of the tabletop. I first sketched in the roads, rivers, and canal, then added a few trees and the French encampments. Once drawn, I lightly rubbed a mid-brown pastel across the surface and smudged it to give the map some texture and make it look less stark.

Starting positions.

The map with the counters above, shows the Austrian positions as they prepare to launch their attack after an overnight march. The counters were first drawn, coloured in with pens, then pasted onto card, and finally cut out once the glue had dried.

Game Report…

In the opening moves, the Austrian infantry bypass Quistello and its garrison, cross the Secchia River, and attack the first unsuspecting French encampment.

The Austrians pressed their advantage against the surprised French, while their cavalry moved against the isolated French garrison in Quistello.

The first French encampment is overrun, and its troops fall back. Austrian forces begin to take up positions along the canal, while further to the rear the Quistello garrison is routed. Eventually, the French do manage to reorganise and advance their cavalry from the second encampment.

Finally, the French-Piedmontese forces positioned near the Po River engage the advancing Austrians along the canal, while cavalry clashes occur on the flank near the village of Mirasole.

The Piedmontese infantry launch a counterattack, while Austrian cavalry continue their melee on the right flank. On the left, the French are steadily giving ground.

On the right the Austrian cavalry turn the French-Piedmontese flank and an Austrian victory is assured.

End of Game…

The game was called on turn 7, around the point when the Austrians had broken three of the French-Piedmontese brigades and had also turned their flank near the Po River. While the account may seem one-sided, the Austrians had still suffered casualties, one brigade was broken, and a second was on the verge of collapse. The Austrians gained significant momentum in the opening turns, catching the French completely by surprise, and preferred to take casualties to maintain that early momentum. It was not until mid-game that the Piedmontese infantry began to engage fully, that the Austrian momentum began to slow down.

Next Game…

I was thinking after using the map and counters to describe the game, whether it would be possible to scale down the game to a more compact One-Hour Wargaming style scenario using around 9 units per side. The remote game was played using 26 Austrian units and 23 French-Piedmontese units, and I am unable to field that many units. For the game I will be using my paper soldiers from the War of the Spanish Succession which are currently set up on the tabletop.

War of the Spanish Succession paper soldiers from the book by Peter Dennis. These figures were enlarged when printing and stand 42mm tall.

Using Jon’s briefing notes as a guide, I set up the tabletop. The Blue force is defending and begins with two infantry units and one artillery unit already deployed. All of Red force’s units enters on turn 1 along the table edge, but must divide into two groups, with half appearing on either side of the road (see point C in the photograph below).

The tabletop set up for the scenario

Order of Battle

Blue Force (Defending)

• 3 Cavalry units
• 1 Dragoon unit
• 1 Artillery unit
• 4 Infantry units

Red Force (Attacking)

• 3 Cavalry units
• 2 Dragoon unit
• 4 Infantry units

Reinforcements

• On turn 3 two blue cavalry units arrive at point A.
• On turn 4 two blue cavalry units arrive at point B.
• On turn 5 two blue infantry units arrive at point B.

Victory Conditions

The objective is to occupy the farm and the two villages. Controlling all three counts as a major victory, while holding two is a minor victory.

I plan to play this game solo a few times, which may result in some changes to my scaled-down scenario. I will do a battle report of the last game along with any changes in my next post.