1848 Mincio Campaign - Battle of the Bridge of Goito report

After setting up the scenario map and defining the order of battle, I was able to play the battle. Here is the report.

Scenario Deployment (Goito is on the Western side of the river)

All Austrian units deploy on the map first.

The Jagers deploy inside Goito.

Radetzky Hussars deploy near the town.

The two Oguliner Infantry units and the Artillery deploy on the Eastern side of the river, at player's discretion. Their deployment is made before the Piedmontese player rolls to see where and when his reinforcements enter.

Only one Piedmontese unit deploys at start, rest enters as reinforcements.

Aosta Cavalleria deploys on the hill facing south. It can't move on turn 1 because it's regrouping its detachments. From turn 2 it acts as normal.

Other units roll 2 dice for arrival: 1 die indicates turn of arrival; the other die indicates whether it arrives at entry point "A" (the road) or "B" (near the hill).

You roll for each of the following groups:

• 2 Infantry units (9th Regiment)
• 2 Infantry units (10th Regiment)
• Bersaglieri
• Artillery

Deployment at start

The Austrians and the Piedmontese cavalry deploy as shown. The only "challenge" is deciding where to put the artillery. Not knowing where the Piedmontese would enter, I placed it where it could cover the road. It's the more exposed part of the Austrian deployment and if the attackers come strong from that side, the artillery will be valuable.

However, it wasn't so. Only the Bersaglieri ended up entering from "A" (the road), with the rest arriving at "B". Aside from this, all Piedmontese reinforcements arrived early and sequentially (actually, all infantry was rolled to arrive at turn 1, but I decided that the order of march would have an effect, so I made half of them enter one turn after the other): 9th regiment on turn 1, 10th regiment on turn 2, the Bersaglieri on turn 3 and artillery on turn 4.

The first Piedmontese infantry seen from Goito

Goito seen from the Piedmontese infantry.

The Regina brigade is marching in, while the Austrians decide
to move some infantry forward to reinforce the defense

The fact the attackers mostly came from just one side made the Austrian guns useless in that position. At the same time, however, the attacking columns were moving cross-country and would take time to deploy and reach Goito, which in turn would allow the Austrians to reinforce the forward positions. Ultimately, they decided to keep the artillery still in order to target the Bersaglieri or in case the enemy cavalry punched through.

Opposing cavalry face each other while the Regina brigade
starts to deploy in attack formation. Bersaglieri are
threatening the flank, but they won't do much this time.

Under these rules, you can't move the troops at will, they're quite slow (especially if turning) so careful deployment from march to attack formation is vital. The Regina brigade would attack in two lines (9th rgt in first line, 10th rgt in second line) so reserves would be ready if needed, with the cavalry protecting the flanks. Artillery was to be brought up to firing range to help the infantry.

This is why I like NT's rules: you don't concentrate on abstruse rule details or endless lists of modifiers: to win, you have to employ tactics that would really work, so you have to concentrate on those - decision points shape the game and results are indeed more historical than those allowed by more complex rulesets.

The battle was really fun to play and produced realistic results. The Piedmontese infantry suffered some fire from the Jagers, but managed to take the town. The Oguliners decided they couldn't let them keep it, so counterattacked and retook it for the Austrians. The Piedmontese unit from the 9th regiment now was too spent to react, but the 10th regiment in reserve was ready to take its place and attacked Goito again, eventually forcing the Oguliners back again. I liked this back and forth.

The Piedmontese attack on Goito

This was supposed to be a good picture... anyway it's Austrian
point of view after the Piedmontese take Goito

The Piedmontese artillery has deployed at short range while the
Austrians still hope to hold the road

Another view of the same situation, from the other side.

With no fresh reserves, the Austrians couldn't mount another counterattack. This was a good time for them to get the Jagers and at least one unit of infantry back across the river and try a last stand protecting the crossing - the Piedmontese artillery had finally reached close range and was ravaging the defenders. I thought they could wait one turn, but I was wrong, they were cut off from the line of retreat and even if now the artillery was redeployed, it wasn't enough.

By turn 14, the Piedmontese had cut off most defenders from the bridge and started crossing. I decided that on turn 15 the Austrians could still try to blow the bridge up (rolling on the teaser's table, but with the attackers already crossing they had a -1 modifier). They rolled a 1, which meant that the wiring was incomplete: the Piedmontese infantry finished crossing and that secured them a victory.

Endgame

One note on the side battle between the cavalry units on the Austrian left/Piedmontese right. With most attacking forces coming from the hill side, covering the road with infantry was going to be a waste for the Austrians, so they only kept the Radetzky Hussars there. Their objective was to cover the flank and exploit any opening in order to attack the enemy one. At start the Aosta Cavalleria charged the Hussars, but the latter held their ground and actually forced the enemy cavalry back, who however passed both their morale check and therefore remained a threat: the Piedmontese didn't charge again, as they now had a slight disadvantage in hits, but also forced the enemy cavalry to remain there. The Bersaglieri too appeared on that flank, but they uncharacteristically had a very bad shooting and were mostly only a nuisance. Still, they could threaten the bridge, so the Austrians wanted to charge them but couldn't exactly because of the nearby enemy cavalry. It was a game of cat and mouse: every time the Bersaglieri closed, the Hussars turned to face them and the Bersaglieri had to back off, but then the Aosta Cavalleria threatened the Hussars in the rear/flank, and they had to turn again to face them. In this way both sides protected their flanks while the infantry battle went on, but also meant they couldn't influence it. The retreating jaguars tried to help, but they were too were mostly inaccurate in their shooting. The situation changed at the end, when the Austrian infantry was so weakened that the Piedmontese artillery could turn towards the Austrian cavalry: the firepower was finally too much and the Hussars fled, just as the rest of their army was routing as well.

The Austrians are crumbling and the Piedmontese artillery
can turn towards the Austrian cavalry

Notes on the scenario: it ended up being quite balanced. The Piedmontese have superiority but their actual attack pattern depends on where they enter from and they still have to be fairly quick at advancing or risk arriving late at the bridge. The Austrians are outmatched in terms of troops and firepower, but are not powerless and can slow the enemy considerably and have some interesting questions: slow down the Piedmontese before they reach the bridge or contest the crossing? Leave Goito to the Skirmishers or put an infantry unit inside? When to retreat behind the bridge? Where to deploy the artillery? A good range of choices that can make it a different game every time.