Snappy Nappy

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

The Game From the
Umpire's Neutral Perspective

by Russ Lockwood

First, the accolades. Another 15-player Snappy Nappy game, and another excellent day at the tabletop battlefield. Everyone exercised command options, attacks, and defense and contributed to their sides' efforts. Of particular note was the number of new players who never laid eyes on the system -- and figured it out by the third or fourth turn. No doubt another game will see these new "veterans" do even better. Well done by all.

What you've been reading is an account of the tabletop campaign, and the decisive battles around Udine between Prine Eugene and Archduke John. For those of you who know a bit about the Italian campaign of 1809, the history that has just been roughly duplicated on the tabletop equates to Prince Eugene's decision to counterattack the Austrians at Sacile--and the results mirrored the historical event.

Historically, Eugene believed he had enough troops to hit the Austrians hard in the Sacile area, stopping the advance and saving the rest of Northern Italy from falling under Austrian occupation. Slightly outnumbered, and expecting re-inforcements to make up the difference, Eugene nevertheless attacked over difficult ground. Initially successful, the Austrian defense stiffened while Austrian numbers and a bit of clever, if slow, flanking maneuvers forced Eugene to call off the attack and retreat back almost into the top of the "boot" of Italy. The campaign degenerated into a stalemate until Napoleon's advance upon Vienna made John pull back to cover his retreating brother's strategic southern flank.

On the tabletop, Eugene marshalled his forces quickly, pushing them forward in the area of Udine (east of Sacile) and meeting the Austrians head on. In some respects, this tabletop maneuver is fairly clever. John's historical deployment of both XIII and IX Korps around Tarvis meant a very slow advance out of the mountains due to few good feeder roads. Historically, the French pulled back almost immediately, which allowed the Austrians to come out without a problem (and an uncharacterisically swift Austrian advance) and push the French westward. But the whole point of tabletop recreations is to try new theories, so...

Table Breaks

Since tables are an important part of the game, let me explain where the tables break off. The Austrian "start tables" began at Spittal/Pontebba and made an "L" when they get to Klagenfurt, heading south almost to Trieste. The main battle table stretches from the mountains to the sea, with the westernmost edge being the Tagliamento River. The next table west stretches between the Taglimento and Brenta Rivers. The westernmost table stretches from the Brenta to Lake Garda, and from the Po River in the south to the mountains near Salurn in the north. The "Tyrol" table stretches across the top of the map, from its most southern points on a Tolmezzo to Neumarkt line.

First Moves

Archduke John has a real problem: a traffic nightmare in the alps. His whole advance extends down one road from Tarvis to Capporetto and to Cividale. There's a parallel road on the east side of the Isonzo River through Tolmin and south to Gorizia, but the bottleneck is Tarvis to Capporetto. To the west, another alp road heads south through Osoppo to St. Daniel, but Osoppo is a French fortress situated between the Tagliamento River and the alps, and its defenses have been improved upon over the past year.

Archduke John has a small force down in the south at Gorizia, covering his southern flank. Historically, John could have brought IX Korps through this southern sector in a two-pronged advance, but fearful of allowing Eugene the central position and defeating one Austrian prong at a time, he opted to consolidate both Korps at Tarvis.

Frimont was in the lead, with units at Caporetto stretching back to Tarvis. A. Gyulai was behind Frimont, from Tarvis back to Villach. Davidovich and his mostly Landwehr command stretched from Villach to Jesenice. Colleredo was just entering Jesenice, but strung back to Bistrica. And Bezan with the Austrian Reserve had just reached Bistrica, but was strung back to Laibach.

Down south, Wolfskeel just crossed at Gorizia, pushing some Light Cavalry forward.

In the Tyrol, Jellacic was centered at Lienz, with a garrison at Tolmezzo. He also had the Tyrolian militia floating around.

For the French, Broussier held Osoppo and St. Daniel, but the rest of his division is west past Splimbergo and as far back as Sacile. Seras (and Eugene) stretched from Udine all the way back through Pordennone to Oderzo. Pacthod was in the area of Narvesa, Congliano, Treviso, and Ponte.

Severoli stood between Padua and Rovigo. Lemarque was supposed to be at Virenza, but was really at Verona! Fontanelli was back in Mantua. Grouchy and Durette were off board and would enter at Peschiera. These were in roughly historical locations.

In the Tyrol, Rusca's Franco-Bavarian division was scattered. He had garrisons at Innsbruck, Brixen, Sterzing, and Bozen, and some other units on the move. Historically, this division was scattered along the main road between Italy and Innsbruck, attempting to march to the north and keep the Tyrol from revolting as well.

The terrain was intentionally tight, with lots of woods and ridges, not to mention the mountains, and a succession of major rivers hemming things in. The Tyrol was especially restrictive, with few roads and limited maneuvering off the roads. The Austrian commander called it a nightmare--obviously the umpire did his job!

Of note were the two fortresses of Osoppo and Palmanova--strengthened and supplied before the campaign. They would be key to channeling the Austrian attack. But I get ahead of myself.

One of the biggest changes between this campaign and previous Snappy Nappy games was the use of a roster sheet to track unit cohesion and combat efficiency (called Morale Levels). Previously, units were marked with colored puff balls, which gave the nemy perfect intelligence about unit capabilities, or I should say, how badly a unit had been mauled. By switching to secret roster sheets, the enemy would have to "remember" the status of a particular unit--adding to the fog of war. That change went extremely well--minimal bookkeeping and maximum uncertainty!

Opening Moves

Frimont and Broussier were facing off almost immediately, and Frimont pushed westward out of Capporetta towards St. Daniel, taking a strategic ridge in between and clearing the road to Cividale. Broussier gave ground grudgingly after several sharp counterattacks, but when Gyulai's Austrian division popped in north of Osoppo and began bombarding the fort in preparation for an assault, he pulled back, garrisoned the fort with more artillery and withdrew his cavalry to cover entrances to the fort. Frimont ground forward, creating a "grand battery" with his artillery and leaving units to keep an eye on Osoppo. He swung slightly south into the woods between St. Daniel and Udine as Broussier's combat ability declined. Ultimately, Broussier retreated across the Tagliamento River at St. Daniel, blew the bridge after several tries, and posted a strong force on the western side to prevent the Austrians from repairing the bridge and crossing.

Wolfskeel in Gorizia was ordered to join Frimont in St. Daniel, except a number of advance elements under Seras were in the way. As Wolfskeel edged forward, additional French divisions started to appear at Codroipo, soon outnumbering the Austrian. Taking losses, he was forced back, eventually retreating over the Isonzo and hastily garrisoning Gorizia. Bezan was brought up to re-inforce Frimont's left and support Wolfskeel, to some effect at stabilizing the line, but the French continued driving to Tolmin.

And yet, that bought Archduke John time to swing divisions to the rescue. The Tarvis traffic jam ultimately cleared, and divisions swung out into line to meet and ultimately force back the French efforts to clear the west side of the Isonzo, although they were in the process of curling around the Austrian flank near the bridge at Tolmin! Attack and counterattack, bombardment and counter-bombardment, and gritty combat swung to and fro between Cividale and Udine.

The Tyrol

Meanwhile, up in the Tyrol, Jellacic's first turn surprise attack by the Tyrolian militia exterminated a complete Bavarian unit at Bruneck, and pesky bands of partisans cut up French supply and isolated French outposts. He advanced westward towards Bruneck.

Archduke John had a second division under Colleredo advance into the Tyrol via Tolmezzo, but one look at the narrow road convinced him there had to be a better way. Archduke John made him leave a garrison at Tolmezzo and pull back to Tarvis for a southern march. Meanwhile, Davidovitch's division, mostly militia-quality landwehr troops, snaked behind Jellacic's advance.

Eugene had thought to turn the Austrian northern flank in the Tyrol, especially after hearing calls for help from Rusca, whose division was rapidly being chopped to pieces in the area around Bruneck. Rusca pulled his garrisons out of Innsbruck and Bozen, which left those pesky partisan bands to cut supply, forcing these French units to turn around a deal with them, when they weren't losing cohesion...

Fontanelli left Mantua and heading north through Rivoli and St. Michael, turning east at Neumarkt. He reached Cortina just about the time Jellacic was tumbling Rusca westward and Davidovich reached Toblach. Davidovitch headed south towards Cortina and the open ground in the Toblach-Cortina-Cadore triangle--which soon became known as the "Cauldron of Blood."

Davidovitch, with landwehr stiffened by veterans, attacked sharply and with initial success, driving Fontanelli back into Cortina and into the foothills surrounding the town. The Italians bent, but did not break in the confines of the valley. Just as French fortunes seems lost, Pacthod emerged on the road from Belluno at the town of Cadore and charged into Davidovitch. Beset by two divisions, Davidovitch was pushed back, but rallied and, incredibly, counterattacked into Cadore with fierce determination. Time after time, the landwehr attacked the veteran French and Italians. That's when partisans appeared on the road to Belluno, cutting French supply to the area...

Back in the South

Colloredo, freed from the Tyrol, passed Gyulai and rounded Tarvis and headed into the Italy, emerging near Cividale. And none too soon, for the French had brought up Severoli and Lemarque in an effort to drive Wolfskeel into the river and shove the Austrians back into the mountain passes. Wolfskeel eventually rallied his forces behind Gorizia, but for a time, the French southern flank was not only secure, but advancing.

Thus came the decisive battle of Udine, with Seras (just about exhausted), Severoli (fresh), and Lemarque (fresh) grinding forward against Frimont (-) and Wolfskeel (-) with Bezan and Colleredo rapidly re-inforcing the Austrian line. Archduke John was in fine fettle, dashing about his front lines shoring up his troops, and eventually appropriating Wolfskeel's 12-pounder artillery before it disappeared behind the Isonzo. Archduke John drew a line in the ground at Cividale and parked artillery and rallied troops to stem the French tide.

The long-forgotten Gyulai, on a rear-area march, then finally appeared over the bridge at Montefalcone and dove into the French flank at Palmanova. Only he didn't reckon on the big French artillery guns placed in the fortress pounding his lead troops, which routed back through their own line, spreading widespread distress on the troops marching up and causing panic on those crossing the bridge. Gyulai could only sputter at the fates as he shook his troops out of line of march and into fighting formations.

Meanwhile, with impeccable timing, a French cavalry regiment swung south by Gorgo and headed to Montefalcone to turn the Austrian flank, or at least delay the division from the decisive battle at Udine. Gyulai countered with rear area Austrian forces and the cavalry withdrew. As Gyulai shook out into combat formations, he ground forward inexorably, forcing the victorious Severoli, caught between Gyulai and the increasingly strengthened Colleredo, to pull back from his drive on Tolmin.

With Austrians driving south from St. Daniel and north from Palmanova, and a steadily increasing pressure on the center, the French buckled.

It was here that one of those wonderful moments in tabletop tactics occurred. Wolfskeel, recrossing the Isonzo as part of the advance and trying to reclaim his artillery from Archduke John, declared that his big 12-pounders would fire at "retreating French." However, those French were really the Austrian Limburg Volunteers, who had advanced in front of the artillery line!

Archduke John screamed, "No! No! No! It's continuing to shoot at these (real French troops)!" Prince Eugene screamed, "He called it, he shoots at it!" The umpire declared, "If you called it and would have shot at it until he (Archduke John) told you not to, then you have to shoot at it." Wolfskeel admitted he would have shot at the Limbergers. Archduke John countered with: "But I'm attached to the battery! Personally!" And so the umpire asked, "just now, or at the beginning of the turn?" "For several turns. I've been shooting at these (French infantry) for several turns--that's why they're running." The umpire looked at Eugene, who shrugged, and made the decision that the Archduke, being Johnny on the spot, personally intervenes in the attempted resighting of the cannon and orders the battery commander to continue to pound the fleeing French, not the Limbergers. He then leaves for another portion of the battlefield with the admonition, "Shoot only at the Shakos!"

The battle continues with fewer Austrians running and more French staggering. Eugene starts to ponder a withdrawal...

Back at the Cauldron of Blood

Meanwhile, Davidovitch seemed on the verge of pulling off a spectacular victory when the French cavalry under Grouchy arrive--a little late due to misread maps, but in time to run over the blocking partisans and storm into the Cadore area. Davidovitch, now facing the three divisions of Fontanelli, Pacthod, and Grouchy, committed his reserve into the attack, and quickly found his militia running. Jellacic, fresh from clearing all the French from the western Tyrol and taking Innsbruck, left a garrison at Bozen and headed for Toblach before Davidovitch collapses and the French cut the line of communications back to Lienz.

Fontanelli and Pacthod finally blew Davidovitch out of Cadore, away from Cortina and back to the ridge south of Toblach. The better part of an Austrian division lay crumbled in bloody heaps, intermingled with the bodies of many a Frenchman and Italian. But there was no pause, no time for rest, and no refitting. Fontanelli and Grouchy sharply followed up the remnants of Davidovitch, who was desperately forming a rearguard at the ridge, and drove the Austrians back, chopping up the rest of the division. Legend has it that not an Austrian survived that battle, but captured messages indicated that at least Davidovitch made away for Vienna.

Toblach fell to Fontanelli, but Jellacic's victorious Austrians were now on the field of battle and delivered a number of counterattacks as they attempted to stuff the French back into the mountains south of Toblach. Pacthod, meanwhile, headed east towards Tolmezzo, the only thing between him and Austian homeland being a single garrison at the town. Pacthod wheeled up his artillery and started pounding on Tolmezzo while detailing portions of his command to cover his line of communications from those pesky partisans.

French Withdrawal

Eugene searched the westward roads in an effort to locate Durette, but alas, the French division was not to be found, having never arrived on the field. Evidently, Bologna suited them fine.

The situation at Udine went from bad to worse as he pulled back westward from Palmanova and blew the bridge on the road to Porteguano. That left Lemarque's French division centered around Codroipo under heavy attack. Indeed, Austrian cavalry attempted to charge the retreating infantry columns, forcing them to deploy in square. Eugene could wait no more. He withdrew over the Tagliamento and, much to the amazement of Lemarque, blew the bridge at Codroipo, stranding Lemarque's division on the east side of the river.

Interestingly enough, at the historical Battle of Sacile, when Eugene ordered a withdrawal, the right most divisions of Seras, Barbou, and Severoli disengaged and crossed the river (in that order) at Bugnera, a few miles downstream from Sacile. Seras crossed without a problem, but Barbou ordered the bridge blown after his division crossed. The order was not carried out, but had it been done, it would have stranded Severoli on the wrong side of the river. Talk about a game imitating history! The divisions and towns were different, but in this tabletop battle, the bridge was blown and a division was stranded!

Operations Halted

It was here that we halted the battle. It was 6:15pm, which meant the troops had fought for six hours, and it was pretty clear that it was an Austrian victory.

Eugene had yielded the Udine battlefield, retreating with small portions of Seras, Broussier, and Severoli. Lemarque was stranded on the wrong side of the river, and while he could order the bridge to be rebuilt, the Austrians would be busy chopping what was left to pieces. Very little would be left, if anything.

In the Tyrol, Rusca (the odds stacked heavily against him from the start) had been eliminated outright, and Fontanelli, though damaged had enough to take on Jellacic. Pacthod was virtually untouched, as was Grouchy. The Tyrol, however, was lost for the moment.

On the Austrian side, Wolfskeel and Frimont were wracked, less so for Colleredo and Gyulai, and Bezan was intact. They could set up a pursuit immediately, although the blown bridges would cause a delay, allowing Eugene to slip westward, but without any real hope of stopping Archduke John.

In the Tyrol, Davidovitch was eliminated and Jellacic would probably be in bad shape soon if the French were to concentrate Fontanelli and Grouchy on him. There was nothing but a regimental garrison standing in the way of Pacthod.

Much would depend on how Eugene and John would continue the campaign. Archduke John could peel off Bezan to intercept Pacthod without a problem--the terrain in the Tarvis/Villach area is no better than the Tyrol--if Eugene pushed him eastward. If, however, he recalled Pacthod for the defense of Italy, Bezan could advance with the rest of the Austrian main army. Indeed, if Eugene were clever and his commanders even cleverer, Fontanelli could "allow" Jellacic to slip by eastward while Pacthod clears Tolmezzo and marches through the Plucken Pass to trap Jellacic between them.

Jellacic and Fontanelli were about even, it would depend on Grouchy to make or break the stalemate. Grouchy may be more urgently needed down south to stem the Austrian pursuit, and could easily move south along the Piave River. Indeed, that may have been Eugene's best option, to reform his army on the west side of the Piave, reinforced by Grouchy and a fresh division under Durette. For a complete defensive posture, he could recall Grouchy and Pacthod, leaving Fontanelli to hold the passes from the North. Or, like the historical Eugene after the lost battle of Sacile, he could pull all the way back to the Adige River to safeguard Italy.

The Austrians would be forced to leave line of communications garrisons as they advanced into Italy--a drain on their forces. They still have the upperhand, though, being able to pick and choose the next meeting engagement. If Eugene decided to pull even further back, say, to the Adige Rive, the Austrians would also be forced to post a "garrison" of at least two full units opposite Venice, which had a strong, albeit defensive, force inside.

Lessons for Umpires and Players

I like the BBQ commentary of the tabletop battle.

First, you get to eat. And yes, I've found players to be in a better state of mind over a burger and beer, and incidentally, less likely to lynch the umpire for one thing or another.

Second, we get to hash out rules/scenario conundrums--and discover that the both sides lament the same thing! Indeed, as an umpire, it is always enlightening to hear that the "fog is thicker on my side of the hill" (so to speak), and listen to players describe the one crucial unit that failed every morale test and routed ignominiously. And of course, it's always unfair when our unit routs because of a string of probability-defying die rolls! Funny, they never remember the one crucial unit that made every morale test...but I suppose we expect our genius tactical plans to work and are surprised only when they fail! It is, of course, perfectly fair when it happens to the opponent.

Indeed, one of the criticisms from Lenny "Broussier" Millman (who didn't eat) was that all that battles came down to die rolls. I can't disagree that all combat comes down to die rolls in this or any other game (except chess et al), but then again, it all depends on how you face off. Certainly, the odds of cavalry breaking infantry squares is very low. Placing your artillery in Osoppo to counter a 24-gun Austrian battery--and driving them off--seemed to work well. On the other hand, if the Austrians build a 36-gun battery and all you have is infantry to withstand a bombardment, I'm not quite sure what you expect will happen other than you are going to take many morale checks standing under a rain of cannon balls. And sooner or later, the odds will catch up. You can always send a message to Eugene requesting some of the artillery reserve.

And yet, despite all these die rolls, the slightly outnumbered (if outgunned) Lenny put up a staunch defense, took some losses for sure, garrisoned Osoppo to prevent its capture (choking off an Austrian line of march, abandoned St. Daniel, withdrew over the Tagliamento River, and blew the bridge! Sounds like a pretty successful delaying action to me.

The OOB in relation to game play posed a particular problem. Snappy Nappy is made for brigade-sized units. This is the first time we went down to regimental level. The proportion of forces is about right, and I compensated by making the terrain 1/2" = 1 mile, double size as it 'twere. Indeed, it played out about the same on a tactical level, but in retrospect, to improve the operational effect, perhaps I should have added an additional size factor to the terrain, perhaps 1/3 of an inch = 1 mile, or simply reduced the size of the impassable mountains to make more table space available for maneuver and bypassing. Certainly the fortresses were probably more restrictive. But on the other hand, it did show why Napoleon picked those two places to strengthen and fortify! The tortuous terrain really worked well in the Tyrol, but when coastal plain met mountain, it was perhaps a little too restrictive.

I probably should not allow field artillery to be placed in fortresses, or at least allow the players to jump in and out so quickly. Eugene figured this one out quickly, sticking a 12-pounder battery in Palmanova and terrorizing the Austrians. Indeed, one shot nailed the first unit in Gyulai's road column, it failed multiple morale checks, and then came the ripple effects of other morale checks as it fled back through units in the column.

On the other hand, something like that did teach the Austrian to space his units out in restictive terrain: nothing like a bunch of panic-stricken infantry screaming to the rear as loudly and as quickly as they can on a relatively narrow road between woods and river--and over a bridge to boot! Oh, he steadied them back down in a bit, and coordinated an attack that ultimately drove the French from the field (although they retained Palmanova), but it was a bit too mobile for the times.

The scenario specific rules worked pretty well. Historically, the Tyrolian-based French and Bavarians were cut in half almost immediately, the remnants ultimately retreating out of the Tyrol to Italy. The rule allowing the surprise strike by the two units of Tyrolian militia simulated that well enough, as they demolished an advanced Bavarian unit and proceeded, with the rest of Jellacic's division, to destroy the rest of the Franco-bavarian division under Rusca. The partisan bands cut supply over and over again, forcing morale checks as outposts were picked off, supply columns caught, and other rear area nastiness that contributes to the discomfort of French troops. Either the French devote many troops to rooting them out, or the debilitating conditions continue.

The French fortress garrisons did well, providing the permanent garrison and stiffening defense. On the tabletop, I made these 6mm troops instead of the 15mm used to make sure the players did not inadvertantly use them in the field. Had Broussier not re-inforced Osoppo, that fortress could have fallen, but it did not, a combination of restrictive terrain and strong position denting any Austrian hopes.

Space Shuttles

Since Snappy Nappy does not coordinate tables (other than the first two turns), clever commanders who can keep the enemy off rear tables can move at warp speed. Certainly the French made use of this nuance to shuffle their reserves quickly into the battle at Udine and into the Tyrol. And the Austrians made use of this by shuttling Gyulai around the entire rear from Osoppo to Montefalcone.

Now, most wargamers being literalists and used to seeing everything on one table, I understand the hue and cry of 'they shouldn't be able to do that because so and so can't march that far and fast.' But the key ideas here are "Fog of War" and "Commander Involvement."

Fog of War means that you shouldn't know exactly everything the enemy has or where it is. This "warp speed marching" represents the commander's ability to position reserves in the first place without tying up a lot of game time handing out troops, positioning them in the table, etc. And, it also represents time periods of skirmishing while the main force consolidates.

Since we're modeling history, and most of us are well-read, and the C-in-C could certainly read a map to see where Austria meets Italy, if we gave a free hand to set up, where do you think most of us would put our force of eight divisions? That's right, we'd bottle up any invasion in the mountain passes and behind rivers. Not much of a challenge, and not very historical, either.

Or, on the offensive, we'd create a deep thrust where we knew the enemy wasn't and drive hard for the rear areas in a blitzkrieg. Again, with perfect knowledge comes perfect plans.

It is an advantage to read history, and perhaps I do a disservice to our more literate players by trying to increase uncertainty. But the point is to test your own skills at recognizing opportunities, discerning disadvantages, and implementing strategies that pit your strengths against enemy weaknesses. But without perfect knowledge, you have to think on your feet a little more.

Let me give an example. Archduke John made a decision back in 1809 to consolidate his two Korps around Tarvis for a single-pronged attack, instead of opting for leaving them split for a two-pronged attack. His uncertainty was that he felt Eugene could concentrate in a central position and hold off one prong while defeating the other prong.

Eugene did not know that a second prong wouldn't develop. Indeed, he received reports of a "southern" force and a "northern" force. But he believed that his forward divisions were no match for the entire Austrian army and his reserves too far away to help immediately, so he pulled back to consolidate, and then launched an attack.

Now, if you, as Archduke John, knew that Eugene would leave the bridge at Gorgo undefended, you might put up a holding force at Cividale while driving the main force through the south to try and pocket the French.

And likewise, if you, as Eugene, knew there was no major Austrian forces in the south, you'd stack up divisions at Cividale to bottle up the Austrians.

But you shouldn't know any of this, and in this tabletop campaign (well, multiple tabletops campaign so to speak), you ultimately don't know exactly where reserves and non-front line formations are likely to pop out. The way to stop any sort of rapid reserve movement, which you may also consider pre-start positioning, is to push a unit onto the other table. Indeed, after watching Gyulai emerge out of Montefalcone, Eugene mentally kicked himself and said he knew he should have stuck a garrison across the Isonzo in the town. Likewise, Archduke John may have been better served by pointing Wolfskeel towards Gorgo and up through Porteguano in a maneuver le derriere, bringing in Bezan through Gorizia instead of Tarvis-Caporetto. Wolfskeel might have gotten hammered, but he would have been on another table and be able to slow down French maneuverings as well as report on what was coming Archduke Johhn's way. It is the same as reading about a battle and wonder why General So-and-so didn't zig left instead of zag right...except you get to zig and zag to see what would happen.

The other point is Commander Involvement, and that means that a wargamer should wargame. We may say we want to practice Napleonic warfare with reserves, delays, and other nuances, but not too many want to be that reserve, or that static sit-around-the-table player. We may not be in the front line at the start, but we all want to work our way there and contribute our own genius. Granted, the French and Austrian rearward formations had some idling time, but they soon got to the front line where they wanted and entered into the fray soon enough--in part due to the swift movements on uncontested tables.

Sunday Morning Quarterbacking

Pardon the pun, but this was played out on a Saturday...

Let me refresh your memory about table edge breaks.

    The Austrian "start tables" began at Spittal/Pontebba and made an "L" when they get to Klagenfurt, heading south almost to Trieste.
    The main battle table stretches from the mountains to the sea, with the westernmost edge being the Tagliamento River.
    The next table west stretches between the Taglimento and Brenta Rivers.
    The westernmost table stretches from the Brenta to Lake Garda, and from the Po River in the south to the mountains near Salurn in the north.
    The "Tyrol" table stretches across the top of the map, from its most southern points on a Tolmezzo to Neumarkt line.

The two most experienced Snappy Nappy players were made C-in-Cs. I had originally thought that inexperienced players would make better C-in-Cs, but the level of organization or disorganization required made that impractical. Of course, neither knew the exact dispositions, although Archduke John had a pre-game advantage as he helped draw up the OOB.

I never thought the main effort would be at Udine. I figured if the French made a stand there, they'd be beaten badly. I called the right outcome, but for the wrong reasons.

I thought that Archduke John would order Wolfskeel to dive for the Gorgo bridge and swing up through Porteguano, with Bezan (being the division closest to the area) backtracking through Laibach to Razneto to Gorizia and pressure Palmanova from the front. This would take advantage of a non-existent French southern front, place Austrian forces on a different table to slow down French re-inforcements, and create a bridgehead over the Taglimento River. It might even winkle the French westward. Or, the alternative was for Wolfskeel to press towards Palmanova and Bezan heading for the Gorgo bridge. It might even be re-inforced by Colleredo swinging around behind Bezan. Indeed, this would mimic a two-pronged strategy that the historical Archduke rejected.

Instead, Wolfskeel headed to St. Daniel without support as Frimont shook out at Caporetto. The traffic jam was indeed a jam as the French, especially endorsed by Broussier, elected for a forward deployment.

In the Tyrol, Jellacic and Davidovitch hammered Rusca as expected, but pulling Colleredo back from the parallel Tolmezzo to Cadore road hampered the attack in the Cauldron of Blood. Although it is true that there is limited maneuvering room, Davidovitch's militia-heavy division should not have been going toe-to-toe with Fontanelli and Pacthod, and especially not when Grouchy arrived. Having more experienced troops enter the fray from the east would have evened things up enough for Jellacic to exploit his explosive offense against Innsbruck (a prize indeed) and to curl around to the south around Neumarkt rather than hurry back to salvage a deteriorating situation.

Here I want to point our an error made by both commanders. The paper map handed to each player with a representation of the tabletops had mountains penciled in. For some reason, even though both commanders started on a table where mountains went virtually road to road (for example, between Tolmin and Gorizia, or between Caporetto and Osoppo), they thought there was room to maneuver elsewhere on the map where mountains were indicated--for example, west of the Tagliamento River. Both tried to send troops there, and to their vociferous chagrin I might add, both commanders complained there was no way through there. Ultimately, Eugene and Archduke John re-routed units. I'll take the criticism that my hand-drawn maps are not exactly to scale like a Michelin map, but I'm sorry, if you're confronting wall-to-wall alps and mountainous terrain in the east, you should be clever enough to figure out that the aforementioned mountains extend all the way through the Tyrol to Switzerland.

In any case, Eugene split his forces, half at Udine and half in the Tyrol. The Tyrol started at 1:1 odds, but the Tyrolian first turn devastation cut that in half. However, bolstered by first one, then two and finally three divisions that ganged up on Davidovitch, ultimately it became a 3:1 fight.

On the other hand, at Udine, it started roughly 2:2 and pushed to 4:2 as Wolfskeel retreated and the French pressed towards Tolmin. Later, with a somewhat rallied Wolfskeel collecting stragglers, Colleredo and Bezan filling in the line, and Gyulai appearing on the flank, it became nominally 5:4 in favor or the Austrians. However, the original two French divisions were so badly battered, it was more like 4:2 in favor of the Austrians. The line started to cave in. And the surprise on Gen. Lemarque's face when Eugene blew up the bridge and stranded the fighting remains of Lemarque's division was precious. I guess he didn't believe anything from Lemarque's division would be able to recross the Taglimento. Of course, the unengaged regiment garrisoning Codroipo didn't appreciate the fireworks!

It is hard to fault the Austrians, for their outcome was quite favorable, smacking three divisions at Udine for the loss of perhaps a half or one, and losing one division (perhaps ultimately half the other) in the Tyrol for the destruction of one Franco-Bavarian division. In addition, the Tyrol was liberated, at least for a time, and there wasn't much to stop them from steamrolling westward for the near future.

For the French, their aggression, while making for an exciting game, proved that the historical Sacile could be duplicated (albeit at Udine) by leaving commanders to their own devices. Eugene could have fell back behind the Taglimento, which would have the additional effect of forcing the Austrians to assault a river line (not an easy endeavor), but I also suspect Wolfskeel would have been shunted to Gorgo rather quickly and the pontoon bridge brought up as well.

Conclusion

Once again, it was an excellent campaign in an afternoon. Those who wish can go back and read the Snappy Nappy 1809 Bavarian campaign can see MWAN 88.

More Snappy Nappy: 1809 Austrian Invasion of Italy

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