I am house/cat/plant sitting this week and I am away from my wargaming paraphernalia - so, I began looking at some of the non-painting/non-playing options I could pursue.
Of late, I've been inspired by people taking historical battles and making scenarios from them. The problem, for me, is that I only rarely if ever have the necessary kit or space for those kinds of games. However, One Hour Wargames scenarios often approximate a historical situation (beyond the ones that inspired their creation), and those take up very little space and are forces I can muster.
So, taking my interest in the Battle of Pozzuolo del Friuli (October 1917, part of what is commonly called 'Caporetto', and which features Lancieri), I applied the OHW approach.
None of this has been play tested yet and I probably won't until I get home.
Rules will be some version of my modified One Hour Wargames Machine Age rules (here and here and here).
The Map:
Click to enlarge |
The result is a sparse looking map admittedly - just like those in OHW.
In this case, the land around Pozzuolo del Friuli is pretty flat and is mostly farmland, at least in modern photos. Scattered trees won't look out of place (but provide no cover bonus), but there are no forests or woods playing role in the battle according to my one and only source (see link below).
Situation:
Army Sizes:
Austria-Hungary 60th Infantry Division: 8 units
- Two Heavy Infantry
- Four Infantry
- Two Assault Infantry
Options:
- May swap up to one Assault Infantry for Forward Observation Officer
- May swap up to two Assault Infantry for Infantry
- May swap up to two Heavy Infantry for infantry
Italian Force: 6 Units
- One Heavy Infantry of the Bergamo Brigade
- One Infantry of the Bergamo Brigade
- Four Lancieri of the Lancieri di Novara Regiment
Options
- May swap up to one Lancieri for one Infantry
- May swap up to one Heavy infantry for one Infantry
In the historical event, the Austro-Hungarians had a division vs an under-strength infantry battalion and an under-strength cavalry regiment. To reflect this, rather than doing a 6 vs 4 game which Neil Thomas does, I went with 8 vs 6. I get to use more of my toys this way.
A variant to consider is to allow eliminated Austro-Hungarian stands to enter via the road north of the village on subsequent turns to better reflect their numerical superiority.
While I came up with representative forces, I thought it might be fun to have some "legal" tradeoffs, for replay value. Note, my tradeoffs are limited by my collection, not by anything remotely historically influenced. I left out arditi as a swap for the Italians, as they were not present, but I suppose if you want to go down the "what if?", why not?
One reason I wanted to formalize my scenario idea is to lend some direction to my figure painting queue - having a defined scenario I know I need to focus on making two more cavalry stands, so 4 more figures.
Deployment:
My layout is inspired by the Flank Attack (1) scenario but adjusted to reflect the historical situation. The deployment zones I've specified allow for some options while keeping the general idea intact.
- The Austro-Hungarian 60th infantry division approaches Pozzuolo del Friuli from the Northern table edge.
- The two Bergamo infantry units are deployed in the village of Pozzuolo del Friuli.
- The Lancieri di Novara deploy to the east of the village.
Game Length and Turn Order:
Victory Conditions:
- For minor victory, must occupy the village by the end of turn 15.
- For victory, must occupy the village by the end of turn 15, uncontested (no Italian unit within range to attack)
- For major victory, eliminate all Italian units and occupy the village before 15.
Italy:
- The Italians win a major victory if they still hold the village with at least one unit at the end of turn 15.
Once I get a chance to play this a few times, there will likely be some changes, but I figured I'd share what I have so far just in case it's of use to anyone else.
Nice scenario. It will be interesting to see what changes you make after a few games.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter. I am doing my best not to fiddle with the scenario until I've actually given it a try.
DeleteIt all sounds very interesting John, and will be a great chance to use your WWI figures once again! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brad! At the very least, it's been a fun way to do hobby-related activity with none of my hobby supplies handy.
DeleteThank you for enlighten me on this battle, which I hadn't heard of before. I guess the Bergamo Infantry was in fortified positions in buildings in the village?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like an interesting scenario for a game. I hope you'll make a battle report when you've tried it.
Thank you, Roger. The wiki article is silent on details and the only book I found on the battle is in Italian (which I can't read - although I'm tempted to buy it and an Italian-English dictionary). Given that the infantry didn't arrive until noon on the day of the battle, which was underway by 14:00, it doesn't sound to me like they would have had a whole lot of time for fortifying - but I'm not a soldier, and perhaps not much time is needed?
DeleteOnce I get a chance to get it onto the table I will definitely post a report.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. It is not so easy to find Internet materials about wargaming WW1 on the Italian front (i.e. it’s impossible; no one is interested in this front…). You, and your house rules, are a point of reference for me! I can't wait to try this scenario (1/72 scale, no 54mm I’m sorry).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Gianluca! It's aways a pleasure to hear from someone else interested in gaming WW1 Italian Front. It is indeed nearly impossible to find wargaming materials for the Italian Front. When I first started on this project, I was going to do it 1/72 - sometimes I think maybe I should have gone that route!
DeleteIn case you haven't come across it, there's a free ruleset called "Orizzonti di Gloria 1900 – 1930" available for download here: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/freewargamesrules/images/3/3d/Gloria.pdf/revision/latest?cb=20141117134726
It has some scenarios for Italy in WW1 - I'm not convinced they are exactly representative of what they claim to be, but I was excited just to find them! The rules are in Italian, which I can't read (but I use Google Translate).