1848 Mincio Campaign - Battlefield at Goito

After tackling the crossing at Valeggio of the main army, now it’s time tackle the crossing at Goito, which historically was more challenging for the Piedmontese. Again, some tweaking of the actual terrain will be needed, because the area around Goito is very flat.

I will use Grant’s original first tabletop teaser (Bridge Demolition) as a basis because it represents the historical situation well. Austrians are defending and trying to blow up the bridge in order to slow down the Piedmontese. As I told here, however, the Piedmontese actually arrive earlier than historical, forcing the Austrian Brigade under Wohlgemuth to try to contest the advance more than historical.

In order to scale down the teaser to OHW-like map dimensions and army size, I decided to roughly halve the forces involved, which still keeps the original 1:1.5 defender/attacker ration. The Austrians will have 4 units, the Piedmontese 6, which is a common OHW scenario size, plus I will add one unit to each side. Therefore force ratio will be 5:7. OoB will be as follows (using Neil Thomas’ Wargaming 19^th Century Europe rules):

Defenders: Austrian Army – Brigade Wohlgemuth from I Corps

(Army Quality: Good)

Radetzky Hussars: 1 Cavalry unit (Average)

Kaiser Jagers: 1 Skirmisher unit (Elite, Smoothbore Musket)

Oguliner Grenz IR: 2 Infantry Units (Average, Smoothbore Musket, Close Order)

Artillery: 1 Artillery Unit (Average)

Ludwig Freiherr von Wohlgemuth

Attackers: Piedmontese/Sardinian Army – 1^st Division (General D’Arvillars) from I Corps

(Army Quality: Good)

Aosta Cavalleria: 1 Cavalry unit (Elite)

Bersaglieri: 1 Skirmisher unit (Fanatical, Smoothbore Musket)

Regina Brigade (9th and 10th regiments): 4 Infantry units (Average, Smoothbore Musket, Close Order)

Artillery: 1 Artillery Unit (Average)

General Federico Millet D'Arvillars

Some notes on the OoB:

The basis for the Order of Battle for this scenario is taken from the historical order of battle of the units involved, adapted for play balance. Unit quality is based on Neil Thomas' army lists, amended as described below following my judgement.

Sardinian/Piedmontese cavalry proved to be equal or superior to the vaunted Austrian cavalry in many occasions, and this was recognized by their opponents too, something that was later confirmed by their performance during the 2nd Independence War in 1859. In 1848 however their good quality and élan was hindered by the poor use the Piedmontese command made of the cavalry as a whole. The two heavy cavalry divisions were mainly held in reserve for "decisive blows" that never materialized, and as a result were underutilized. Rest of the cavalry too proved good when engaged but rarely used successfully at the strategic level - something that was corrected after the war.

The Aosta Cavalleria regiment can therefore be equated to a dragoon cavalry regiment, with Elite status due to its élan and quality. The Radetzky Hussars, on the other side, are rated Average and not Elite as in the rulebook, because I feel it's more realistic of their actual performance during the war.

The Austrians get a boost in skirmisher quality however: the Jagers performed well in most engagements and while they weren't as "fanatical" as the Bersaglieri, in my opinion they were still good enough to warrant an Elite rating. The Bersaglieri fought at the Bridge of Goito for the first time in their history, and their legend started here. They were supplemented by the small Griffini Legion (Lombard Volunteers of very good quality) and the Real Navi (marines) small battalion of 300 men. I include all these in the Bersaglieri unit.

Regarding line infantry, the Sardinians would have a major advantage over the Austrians in numbers but the need to quickly strike at the Austrians before they could blow up the bridge means they may not have time to muster the full division. Therefore only Regina Brigade of D'Arvillars' 1st Division is represented, with 4 units that roughly equate to its two regiments (9th and 10th). The Austrians have the Oguliners Grenz IR, and here I have 2 units of them roughly representing their two battalions, which is more than historical because I feel that Wohlgemuth, being closely pressed by the Piedmontese, would keep his forces united. Regarding unit quality, the Regina brigade was noted as being some of the best troops in the Piedmontese army, but they still don't warrant more than an Average rating, as do the Oguliners.

I note Army Quality in case someone wants to use the optional command rules from Neil Thomas’ Wargaming 19^th Century Europe rules. During the historical battle, both sides proved to be competent and professional, and neither proved to be superior to the other in pure generalship. Neither Wohlgemuth nor D'Arvillars showed superior generalship during the campaign, but the small engagement also means they could easily keep control of their forces in such a compressed area, justifying a "good" rating for both forces. Players willing to reduce this can make both as "Average", which may hurt the Piedmontese more than the Austrians in play balance terms due to their need to strike fast, so do this only if you feel the attackers would otherwise be too strong.

The Battlefield:

The original map from Grant's Teaser looks fairly good already, and I used it as a basis for my scenario. At first I  decided to include a road (mentioned but not shown in Grant's map) that forks so it can connect both attackers' entry points A and B, reducing the hills to only one - the real battlefield being mostly flat with some small heights roughly there. The result was this one:

I liked it but after checking the historical map from the Habsburg 2nd Military Survey, I noted the road doesn't fork where I thought.

The roads link a bit farther than the town. So I revised the map to look more like the historical one:

Historically, Piedmontese troops converged on Goito from the road, but then in the end deployed in a half circle while their point units attacked the town and bridge. I will keep the original teaser random entry to add some uncertainty to the scenario. The two possible entry points of the attackers are the road (entry point "A") and a point slightly to the right of the hill (entry point "B") which roughly corresponds to what Grant states in his teaser and fits the historical scenario well. I will roll for random reinforcement arrival as in the teaser.

Initial deployment will see the Austrians all deployed on map, on both sides of the river, while a single Piedmontese cavalry unit will be on the hill. Rest will get to the battlefield from turn 1 onwards, depending on die roll. The Piedmontese have 14 turns to reach the Bridge. if They can't cross the bridge by that turn, on turn 15 I start rolling for the explosion, using Grant's table from the teaser.

Stay connected because the battle report will follow soon!