Something we’ve not done for a very long time…..part 1

I’ve just been reviewing some of my troops this week and. It struck me that a game set during the French Revolutionary Wars, in Italy was long overdue. The Russian campaign in Italy and Switzerland was what kicked off my French Revolution collections (a small tightly contained campaign), and look where we are now with thousands of the buggers belonging to a wide variety of nationalities. 

The Russians only had these ex-Piedmontese mountain
guns by way of artillery.

Anyway this was to be a fictional but plausible encounter between the Russians and French in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Suvorov, having cleared Italy of the French, has been ordered to withdraw through Switzerland to join up with Korsakov’s army at Zurich. (We know how that ended). 

On Thursday John the Red came over and we played the opening stages of this battle, with the Russian covering force attempting to deal with the French advance guard which was hot on their heels. The outnumbered Russians had to hold for six moves by which time the rest of the army would appear. This would hopefully set the scene for the main battle on Saturday. 

We used Valour and Fortitude for both games, with some appropriately amended army sheets for the Revolutionary French and Russians as well as new sets of fate cards.

So here’s what transpired during our Thursday afternoon engagement. South is at the garden end of the table. The rivers and streams were only crossable for infantry at half speed. Nobody else could cross due to the steep and heavily ‘shrubbed’ banks. Apart from the walls everything else was just window dressing.

From the north, the French can be seen approaching in the distance. I have one Russian brigade on the left,  another, of grenadiers, on the right, supported by by puny cannon and a brigade of Russian cavalry (who should not have been there historically but I couldn’t find my Austrian cavalry. There were also lots of Cossacks well in advance of my brigade on the left.

My mountain guns didn’t fire a shot all game.

The Russian right advancing on the approaching French under heavy artillery fire.

The French left wing. Their right wing across the river was making terribly slow progress against the Cossacks.



French cavalry about to charge and defeat their Russian counterparts.

The best option to delay the French was to launch my grenadier battalions against their left wing, a move that was initially successful but ultimately a failure as all four grenadier battalions were driven back or routed.

The high point of the grenadiers’ assault.

Thankfully we had played the requisite number of turns and the Alpine night fell with a thump. Technically (and in reality) the Russians had taken a beating but had prevented the French from compromising their position and their soon-to-arrive reinforcements. The men of the match award went to the Cossacks who did a fine job slowing down the French advance on the right.  

Now to re-orientate the table through 90 degrees for part two on Saturday.