Snappy Nappy

The Austrian Invasion of Italy 1809
Archduke John vs. Prince Eugene

Campaign Introduction

by Russ Lockwood

Chaos. Pure and utter chaos. Prince Eugene frowned slightly as a gaggle of division commanders surrounded him. Every one of them was offering advice in abundance, even if they did not know the exact situation, but surely they all knew how to set it aright. I had enough of this from my stepfather Napoleon, he thought to himself, remembering the multitude of messages pummeling his headquarters over the past few months.

Tagliamento, Piave, Adige, Po -- the rivers he knew so well now rolled through his memory of the messages.

Hold here, retreat there, if this, do that. You'd think that Napoleon had nothing better to do than dictate letters on Italian strategy. Eugene smiled slightly at that thought, then smiled a little more at the memory of a message that said to him, no, boldly assured him, that the Austrians would attack no earlier than mid-May. Here it was, April 10, and the Austrians are pouring over the frontier exactly as his spies had inferred...and exactly as he had reported to his imperial majesty, only for his warnings to be ignored.

Well, Eugene pondered, if he could be wrong about the invasion date, what else could he be wrong about? Fall back to the Adige indeed! L'Emperor wasn't here and didn't know the people--and these are my subjects now. I will not abandon them to the deprevations of the Austrians!

My divisions scattered, some units half formed, and the Tyrol a powderkeg ready to explode into open rebellion. Eugene reviewed names and numbers as he looked over the map. His eye fell on the Isonzo River line, and the road leading back to Tarvis and Villach. Patrols noted Austrians marching towards Capporetto.

Now, if only these commander know-it-alls would shut up and let me think, I'll pick a place further east than the Adige River, Eugene thought. Broussier screams to attack. Seras wants to fall back behind the rive line. Fontanelli wants to be in the front line. Lemarque and Pacthod will go along with anything I say. And Rusca. Who knows what he'll do. At least there's no shortage of optimism. "Mon generals," he said with the just the right degree of confidence tinged with alarm, "let us turn to the defense at hand."

Chaos.

Pure and utter chaos. Archduke John frowned slightly as a gaggle of division commanders surrounded him, each vying with the other to lead the attack and vanquish the French foe. Glancing at the map, he traced the road network that had led him out of Austria and into Italy...and little doubt he had caught the French napping. The passes were entirely clear of troops, and the forward dispositions of the French left much to be desired. Still, the idea of uniting the VIII and IX Corps around Tarvis proved to be both a blessing and curse. Concentration of force meant support and numbers, but also meant traffic jams and delays.

The Tyrol was his, and he knew it. Secret communications with Tyrolian patriots meant they would come over to the Austrian side--as they had traditionally been--and harry the French rear areas as well as provide crucial manpower. The Italians were surly, but the Tyrolians will help us considerably.

Well, well, well. Who to send where? He drew his fingers into a fist and slammed it onto the table. "Here!" he shouted, bringing his commanders' noise to a halt. He uncoiled a long finger and stabbed at St. Daniel. "Here is where we'll destroy the French first, and there!" he almost shouted while pointing at Sacile, "There is where we'll destroy the Italians!"

What's a Snappy Nappy?

So began another Snappy Nappy game. For those that are unfamiliar with Snappy Nappy, it's my homegrown rules set that portrays Napoleonic campaigns on an operational level. We've already done the 1809 invasion of Bavaria, the 1813 Spring Campaign, the 1813 Fall campaign, and the 1815 Waterloo campaign. This time, I set up the 1809 campaign for Italy.

Several design ideas make Snappy Nappy different from other more tactically oriented rules.

First, each two-stand infantry and cavalry unit represents a brigade, although you can scale this up to small divisions (as we did in the Fall 1813 game), or down to a regiment (as we did for this 1809 Italian campaign game). This allows for larger scales with easy to handle units. Artillery units representing 16-24 guns (with the same ability to scale up or down) are one stand.

Second, you play Snappy Nappy across multiple tables, not just around one table (although, I note, some folks play SN on one table because the rules mechanics are simple, yet reflect period flavor). In this 1809 Italian campaign game, there was one 5'x9' table, two 4'x7' tables, one 4'x8' table, and one 2.5'x10' table. This represented all of Italy north of the Po River and east of the Adige River/Lake Garda as well as the Tyrol region and some of Austria. In other words, the cities in the "four corners" were: Innsbruck, Mantua, Klagenfurt, and Trieste. Each table edge was either a river or mountain, so that you eliminate the problem of seeing/firing off an edge to another. You can only cross rivers at bridges--although I will allow an artillery bombardment of a town or enemy unit across a bridge. And of course, the most important table holds the drinks and munchies.

Third, the ground scale is PROPORTIONAL between the operational and tactical. In other words, when I create the tables' terrain, I slug it to 1" = 1 mile (or 1" = 1/2 mile depending on the size of the campaign area), so that a 12" road movement represents a day's march on average. However, the actual stand size, firing charts, etc are slugged 1" = 150 yards and about 1/2- to 1-hour time frame. Obviously, creating tables at the 1" = 150 yards would not get you all of nothern Italy and the Tyrol unless you had a nice sized gym and the terrain to match. So, by overlaying a tactical scale atop an operational one in proportion, you can fight the entire campaign in an afternoon...and in my basement.

Fourth, the game is played in real time. Although Snappy Nappy has a turn sequence, NO effort is made to coordinate the turn sequence across the multiple tables. Players play at their own speed. I will amend this to say that the first and second turns were coordinated in an effort to allow the new players to get used to the sequence. After that, it's every player for himself!

Fifth, all communications must be written and sent through me the umpire unless the commanders are on the same table and in base to base contact (then they can talk normally). I time stamp the message (based on my watch--no others allowed) and then deliver the messages in about 15 minutes or so, and up to a half and hour for long journeys. Thus, there's a time lag between messages, and of course, if you as C-in-C are not there and can't see the situation, you must depend on the messages before issuing orders. Thus, orders can be out of time synch with reality on the battlefield, and yet, the C-in-C is making plans based upon old news. It all gets quite deliciously chaotic at times for division and corp commanders trying to adopt appropriate orders, not to mention the C-in-Cs reading whiney messages about lost battles and needing re-inforcements. And if the C-in-C doesn't respond immediately...

Nasty Tricks

A couple of nasty tricks are played on the commanders to further disorient them and induce more fog of war. The tables are separated and spun, which is to say, that if one table's north faces the furnace, the next table's north faces the stairway, and the next faces the door, etc. Furthermore, marching off of one table does not mean marching onto the adjacent table. Indeed, march off the table by the furnace in one direction and you end up on the table by the water tank. March off in the other direction and you end up on the table behind the staircase.

I keep to actual OBs, but will vary the commanders' names and juggle forces so that the players who have read up on the campaign before hand will not have an undue advantage over those who have not. For example, I started Jellacic's command in Lienz, even though historically Jellacic was in Munich. Much, of course, depends on how many people show up. I get a rough count and then assign forces based on priority. As players come by, I add their forces to the mix. Some forces never get into the game--well, no one came.

For example, I planned this 1809 Italian campaign game for around 12-14 people, but with up to 18 positions. I invited around 30 people. A week before the Saturday game, I got a head count and found about 14 definites coming and 5 maybes. In my experience, maybes rarely show up--especially if you've given them 2-month notice. So, I set up 16 positions (I left out the Dalmatian front of Stoiwich and Marmont). As it turned out, 15 people came, which meant one French division failed to arrive. Oh well, Durrette was coming from Bologna...guess he was a little slower than normal leaving.

Sure, you know who is on your side and where they are standing in the basement, but when the game begins and you are involved on your table, most commanders start to get tunnel vision. You don't know exactly where your buddy Joe General is. He's supposed on your left on another table, but he can barely hold on to dice, can't hold his liquor, and hasn't held a left flank in a dozen games. Worse, you can hear him voicing oaths around mid-afternoon and his opponents are cheering! Hmmm. Maybe it might be time to pull back a unit into reserve and send it poking around to the left just to be on the safe side!

As for the rules simulating movement, formations, combat, melee, and morale, they are rather simple compared to the chart-ridden rules sets we normally use. Everything fits on one side of one page, and if you can't figure out the basics by turn three or four, you should take up a different hobby! It is a morale-based system of "losses" consisting of several Morale Status steps (representing everything from morale to troop losses to disorganization), with the capability to collapse quickly if you handle your force poorly, or stage remarkable momentum if handled effectively--or you're just one of those generals who follows a "lucky star." Simple, but subtle.

Whether you perform Napoleonic tactics or not is up to you, but the rules reward smart tactics and punish stupidity. By the way, in this game, General Pacthod was an 11-year old who played a pretty smart game of Snappy Nappy against his elder opponent, doing clever things like softening up targets with artillery, concentrating his attacks, and never over-extending his advances. Guess who's French division was in great shape by the time the game ended? Indeed, except for a garrison in his way, being pummeled by artillery, naturally, he was poised to invade Austria!

1809 Preliminaries and Set Up

The plan was to assemble at 1000 to 1030, rules brief from 1030 to 1100, divide up commands and commanders from 1100 to 1130, and then lead them all down to the basement battlefields from 1130 to 1200 noon. The actual game would start at noon and run until 1800--a full six hour afternoon of continuous battle.

One point: Always set up troops on the table before you begin. Never ever, ever let the players set up the troops. Inevitably, they'll dilly and dally for an hour creating the "perfect" set up. I'd rather they fight their way out of an adequate setup for that hour.

I supply each player with a clipboard, the one sheet of charts, a one-page map of the entire playing area (NOT divided by table--and purposely so. More fog of war!), and one blank sheet of paper for notes, orders, etc. They also get one of those marvelous MagWeb.com rulers, a d10, and a pencil.

In addition, the C-in-Cs, in this case Prince Eugene and Archduke John, are supplied with a two-page situation summary which outlines their forces, locations, and any information about enemy dispositions. In addition, there are special scenario rules and general rules to keep in mind. This is also the place where I get to try out additional rules. For example, in this game, I tried rules on line of communications and bridge destruction/rebuilding.

I'll reproduce these below, but for example, the Austrian player has special Tyrolian militia deployments and rebel bands. The French player has special fortress garrison units. Both sides had to pay attention to lines of communications (a new rules tryout for this game).

The actual unit roster with all the morale levels is kept downstairs. They'll have a few moments to familiarize themselves with their units, and then it's time to follow the orders given upstairs. The more fog of war, the better--and that includes not every commander knowing every other commander's forces and capabilities.

The commanders began assembling at 10:00, with enough appearing (in part due to road construction delays en route) by 11:00 to begin the briefing. This was over by 11:30 and commands assigned immediately. Additional commanders rolled in by noon and were plugged in where needed, although without the benefit of a full briefing. The game officially started at 12:15.

More Snappy Nappy: 1809 Austrian Invasion of Italy

You can find a downloadable map for this campaign in the Warlore section at: Operational Map. MWAN 116 did not include a map of the Italian-Austrian theater.--RL

Back to MWAN #116 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2000 by Coalition Web, Inc.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com