Das Weiner Schnitzel Kreig, 1848 - Raiding The Baggage Camp

Background

'Il Cacciatore' having rapidly retreated from Trauberk, had fallen back to his temporary camp by the church of Our Lady of Brezje, located in a small valley. Leaving a small guard for the camp, he had set off to reconnoitre the surrounding countryside, looking for any opportunity to raid and disrupt the Wiener Schnitzel trade.

Things were rather different in the village, where the local newspaper, the 'Trauberk Thunderer', had been full of nothing but praise for Leutnant Joseph 'Fighting Joe' Radetsky and his troops. Whilst the celebrations were still going on, news reached 'Fighting Joe' that the Italian Legion's camp was not too far away and lightly guarded. As he gathered his forces together, the villagers pleaded to be able to come along and liberate some stolen goods, to which he assented and the 'Trauberk Terratorials' were formed.

Austrian Freikorps OOB

Leutnant 'Lightning Joe' Radetsky - 28 Honour

3 x Line Infantry

2 x Jaegers

1 x 'Trauberk Terratorials' (Skirmishers)

1 x Dragoons

1 x Light Cavalry

Italian Legion OOB

2nd Tentente 'Il Cacciatore - 10 Honour

4 x Camp Guards (Small Line Infantry, but no Line Infantry special rules)

2 x Line Infantry

2 x Skirmishers

1 x Dragoons

Scenario D: Bullets & Beans

The scenario is the same as per the rulebook, with the Austrians needing to sack the enemy camp as quickly and thoroughly as possible, before 'Il Cacciatore' and his troops return. Naturally the camp guards need to hold on as long as possible, in the hope that helps arrives at the earliest opportunity...

The Action

As always, the annotated photos will give a flavour of how the game played out, so without further ado...

An overview of the table, with the Austrians coming on from the left, the Italians from the right. the baggage camp is in the centre of the table.

One of the camp quarters, with some quick knocked up carboard tents.

The church of Our Lady of Brezje.

More camp guards.

The last of the camp quarters.

The Italian Legion, with Dragoons and Skirmishers on the flanks, Line Infantry in the centre.

The Austrian Light Cavalry and Dragoons.

Line Infantry and Skirmishers.

Jaegers and the Trauberk Terratorials.

The end of Turn 1. The Austrians got off to a patchy start, with partial movement and 'Fighting Joe's' unit suddenly finding itself low on ammunition (Double 1 rolled). The camp guards managed to Disorder a Line Infantry unit as the main Italian Legion force all arrived on the table.

The Austrian Light Cavalry move to the flank to cover the advance.

Line Infantry come under fire.

The Jaegers and Trauberk Territorials move up to threaten the church quarter of the camp.

The end of Turn 2. As the Austrian advanced, the Jaegers and Trauberk Territorials poured fire into the camp guards by the church, reducing them to half strength. There was some return fire, but to little effect, whilst the main force continued to move forward to support the camp guards.

The Italian Dragoons (top right) move forward to cover the Austrian Light Cavalry.

Austrian Skirmishers close in on the camp.

The Austrian Line Infantry try to move forward.

The Austrians come under fire.

The camp guards by the church are at half-strength and disordered.

The Italian Line Infantry struggle forward too.

Italian Skirmishers line some rocky ground, from where they can shoot the Austrians.

At the start of Turn 3, the Trauberk Territorials charge the camp guards by the church...

...wiping them out, as another unit is Broken from shooting.

The end of Turn 3. The Austrians have managed to clear half the camp of their guards, as the Line Infantry continue to press forward. A poor Turn for the Italians as they fail to shoot when it was urgently needed.

Italian Dragoons engage the Austrian Light Cavalry.

Combined firing allows...

... 'Fighting Joe' to close up to the camp outskirts.

Italian Skirmishers arrive to try and support the camp guards.

The Italian Line Infantry are still not close enough to provide support.

The end of Turn 4. As the Trauberk Territorials sack part of the camp, the rest of the Austrian force presses their advantage and try to clear the rest of the camp. One unit of camp guards Routs after a failed morale test, but fortunately does not cuase major problems to the rest fo the units. The Austrians have a slight advantage...

Jaegers enter the camp ready to try and sack it, as the Trauberk Territorials sack the camp by the church.

Camp guards Rout (red & yellow dice) as the Line Infantry finally arrive and begin to form up to provide support.

At the start of Turn 5, the Austrian Skirmishers charge their Italian counterparts and Rout them!

The end of Turn 5. As the Austrians continue to sack the camp, the Austrian Light Cavalry Break the Italian Dragoons. The Italians continue the fight and suddenly there is welcome news that a unit of Line Infantry has been sent as reinforcements!

The Italian Dragoons retreat Broken (top).

The Austrian Jaegers and Skirmishers come under sustained fire, but all manage to pass their Morale tests.

The Italians still hang on to their camp and its baggage.

Welcome reinforcements await to arrive on the table.

The end of Turn 6 (note I forgot to change to Turn number!).  Both sides suffer units retreating Routed or Broken, with the Italians having the worst of it! the Italian Line Infantry reinforcements fail to arrive and both sides hold their positions as their flanks are exposed as the Skirmishers retreat or Rout.

The Italian Dragoons Rout after a failed Morale test.

Camp guards Rout...

... as does another one.

Austrian Skirmishers Rout too.

The Trauberk Territorials retreat Broken.

A view from the Austrian lines, as the camp is empty of troops.

A similar view from the Italian positions.

End of Game

With both sides having lost their Skirmishers and having little opportunity to sack the camp or save it, without great risk to their troops, both sides withdrew leaving some baggage to the Italians and some being taken away by the Austrians. Quiet descended upon the battlefield, as both sides counted the cost of the action.

The Butcher's Bill. The Austrians lost two units of Skirmishers, the Italians the equivalent of two Line Infantry units, a unit of skirmishers and one of Dragoons. A heavy price paid by the Italians at the end of the day.

The Campaign

Another successful action by 'Fighting Joe' Radtesky saw him promoted to Kapitan and another chance to roll on the Traits table, giving him 'Fortuna Belli', a very useful Trait indeed. Once per game he can re-roll one set of dice rolls by either side.

Honour - 31

'Il Cacciatore' finally managed to put up a decent defence, but at some cost to his troops, but at least he has been sent some much needed reinforcements.

Honour - 11.

Post Game Thoughts

A closer game this time round and certainly one that could have gone either way, but the Dice Gods once again favoured Austria. In no particular order, some thoughts on the game and campaign in no particular order:

• Playing solo and with a narrative campaign does give me a lot of flexibilty in terms of driving the campaign forward. A case in point being the 'Trauberk Territorials', which I added 'free' to Radtesky's force, keeping them with 'Native' stats, but using them as Skirmishers. Likewise the Italian Line Infantry reinforcements will be added to 'Il Cacciatore' next game.
• I keep forgetting the Light Cavalry do have the ability to shoot, which i did remember half way through this game!
• I'm getting more used to using Skirmishers, as they make for a very useful 'screen' for the line Infantry as they advance.
• As before, 'First Fire' & 'Volley Fire' really can be game changers, if you can get them into the right position early on.
• The Double One's & Sixes cropped up a few times this game, affecting Radetsky's unit adversell as it ran low on ammo at the start.
• The game took about 90 minutes to play, give or take, but would be much quicker if I didn't take notes or photos.

What's Next?

I'm going to take a slight pause in the campaign, as I don't want it to feel all too rushed. I certainly have ideas for the next scenario, but want to take my time to decide upon which course to take.

In the meantime some painting will hopefully carry on and possibly some one off games using other rules, such as 'Honours of War'. It's been a while since I used them, ditto the Commission Figurine mdf figures and the OHW scenarios. Plenty to keep me occupied.

Thanks for reading and as always any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.