"War of Austrian succession" Topic

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On the above link you will find the following battle in the file War of Austrian Succession.

Rick (TMP Baldrick) and I played a War of Austrian Succession game on Saturday night. Just
a fictional one but the scenario was that the Franco/Spanish army was
retreating down the mainland of Italy with the Austrians and Piedmont armies
in hot pursuit. The Neapolitan brigade has been ordered to hold a stream and
rough ground area while the Franco/Spanish retreat. He had to hang on to the
little hamlet of Weezeloni for 8 moves.

The Piedmont Savoy Sardinian army was leading and therefore given the task
of dislodging the Neapolitans. This was harder than you might expect because
every time the Piedmont troops looked at the Neapolitan uniforms they either
fell about laughing or ended up vomiting. (

The Farnese battalion had purple coats, pink waistcoats, cherry cuffs,
yellow neck cloths, dark yellow tape lining on their tricorne's, white
gaiters over cherry trousers and silver buttons!!!)

Having got over the shock of seeing the Farnese and the Abruzzo Regt (decked
out in pale yellow, with red waistcoats and trousers, and cherry cuffs) the
Piedmontese advanced quickly.

There were four battalions of Neapolitans, one regiment of dragoons and a
battery of 3pdr guns. Rick chose to put the rather plainly dressed Real
Napoli in a wood to his left flank These troops wore bright red uniforms
with white cuffs etc and being way out on the flank gave them the chance to
pretend they were not part of the rest of the fancy dress Neapolitans! A
creek ran between them and the main body who were gathered around Weezeloni.
The foreign (Belgian) battalion Namur were in the little hamlet itself,
where the bright pink facing of their white uniforms was less visible behind
the barricades…..and the Abruzzo in front, watching the stream at the
point where a ford crosses it. To his right the Farnese took their purple,
pink and cherry uniforms into a small wood and prepared to defend the flank.
His small artillery battery was in front of the hamlet, his dragoons
(Lavorno) to its right and the general skulking behind them.

To the four battalions, one dragoon regt, and light battery of the
Neapolitan rearguard the Piedmont Army deployed six battalions of regulars,
one of Vaudois light infantry and some companies of Michiletti Sardi light
troops. They had no cavalry but were supported by a howitzer battery and one
of 3pdrs, although the latter never did get into action.

The requirement was for Rick to hold Weezeloni for eight moves in order to
win, which would leave enough time for the Spanish and French to escape the
pursuers.

The companies of Michiletti Sardi attacked around their left of the centre
wood. The centre had a road running through the large wood and two Piedmont
Battalions attacked down this in column. Two others passed around their
right of the wood to attack Weezeloni frontally. The remaining two
battalions were to cross at another ford off on the right of the Piedmont
front and they were screened by Vaudois light infantry.

The Sardi commenced proceedings by skirmishing down to the stream, which
they crossed and then brought the Farnese under quite accurate fire that
didn't actually last very long, but for the two moves it did last, the
Farnese exchanged musketry with the Sardi on very unequal terms. By then the
Farnese had had quite enough and took to their heels leaving Rick's right
flank completely exposed.

One Rick's left flank the 'Real Napoli' put up quite a good fight but
outnumbered three to one eventually had to give way. None the less they took
quite heavy casualties first and their Grenadier company held on a further
move after the others had departed. During much of this they were under
bombardment from the Piedmont howitzer battery. That all took about six
moves of the game to resolve, after which the Vaudois were able to attack
the left flank of Weezeloni with the two regular battalions in support.

In the centre things got off to a bad start for the Piedmont army. The
Neapolitan artillery battery actually hit something….much to our surprise.
..and the Abruzzo battalion proved difficult to dislodge. Although attacked
around both sides of the wood these stalwart lads stood and poured volley
after volley into the Piedmont columns. Eventually the Piedmont troops were
able to clear the woods, rocky ground and cross the stream, at which point
they were then able to deliver some deadly volley fire into the Abruzzo.
However instead of breaking the battalion merely retired up the slope to the
very edge of Weezeloni where it made another stand supported by the Namur
battalion fighting from the buildings.

Over on his right flank Rick decided he would halt the Michiletti Sardi with
a charge by his Dragoons, after some skirmishing by the dragoons had failed.
The charge was not such a good idea and combined musketry from the Sardi and
a line battalion advancing up the road quickly emptied their saddles. The
remnant took to their heels, so now out in the open the Neapolitan General
retired into the Hamlet to take cover with his Belgian foreign battalion.

There were now six moves expended so with time running out I threw the
Piedmont battalions forward quickly. One ran into the Neapolitan battery,
took casualties from canister, but then charged home killing the gunners.
Another thrusting at the Abruzzo were stopped in their tracks by a volley of
fire from them and the Namur that left them shaky and with almost a third
casualties. However after morale tests the Piedmontese were able to charge
the Abruzzo with the bayonet. This was too much for our yellow coated
friends who took to their heels. Another battalion urgently thrust at
Weezeloni hoping to dislodge the Namur within the time limit. Unfortunately
for them this went a bit awry as they took a very punishing volley before
meleeing. When the melee did come the Namur were able to hold on due to the
presence of the general and time ticked over to move eight. They held the
Piedmont one last time and then voluntarily fled before the Vaudois and
Sardi could cut them off.

Lots of casualties to both sides. More than I would usually expect in an Age
of Reason game as the rules seem to have most units running away long before
they did in this game. I presume that was just a fluke of the die, but it
did make the game very exciting. Hopefully the Neapolitans will be able to
be reinforced before the next battle, when the Borbon Dragoons are due to
arrive…splendid in Orange coats with lemon facings as well as various
other colours here and there!

Wow! I had not expected that many photos. I am off to buy some breakfast and will enjoy the show later.

Weezeloni? Spent too much time in the damp climate of the Low Countries.

Cheers,
Robert

Nearly all my fictional towns have 'Weezel' in them somewhere. The HQ for my Prussians is GROSSERWEEZELODER. It is just past the village of Klienerweezeloder near the river Weezelstenkch in the province of Uberweezel which was originally Ost-Weezelpee but the residents changed it.

Enjoyed the slide show with breakfast (croissants and coffee). Just like watching television, but without the commercials and dribbling voice over commentary.

Casualties galore. I believe you have half as many casualty figures as ones standing upright. Good report and a nail bitter.

Cheers,

Could you tell us what rules you are playing?

Aren't the Neapolitan flags supposed to be a brown-off white-pink tricolour or is that under Murat?
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Thank for the eye-candy!

Think about all those poor Napoleonic Neapolitans soldiers having to repeat: 'It's not pink, it's *amaranth*!'.

lapatrie88 – Per Mal's last paragraph of his post, he's playing Tod Kershner's "Warfare in the Age of Reason" rules from Emperor's Press. The rules have been around since 1992, but still give a good game.

Dave Gamer wins the prize. I am using the 2nd edition of Warfare in the Age of Reason.

Dave may pick up his prize….a lovely big kiss…from any Neapolitan Farnese regimental recruiting station.

Andy Gamer….the flags are mostly unknown. Just one on actual record. However the King of Naples was the son of the King and Queen of Spain, so I decided to go with something similar. The white flag bears the coat of arms of the Neapolitan King. There is one known flag so that is used. The others I made by taking the coat of arms for the region the troops come from and applying that to other Italian flags I was able to find from the same region (if possible) in an earlier period. I didnt go for a later period because you are right and they were of Napoleonic style under Murat. The one we do know features a mix of Italian style and Spanish, so I opted to change some colours for red and yellow but remain with the general style.

Not historically correct, but I made an effort to make them look reasonable…and unless the information does come to light…there is not much for a wargamer to criticize!

Oh…and Andy Gamer…I do rather like Neapolitan ice cream!

Yes, Mal, the supposition for the Colonels' Colours is similar to the Spanish but with the Neapolitan Bourbon arms replacing the Spanish and the ribbon or chain of the Order of the Holy Spirit around the arms. I'll see if I have anything on the Ordinance Colours. And I'm sure I've read that the King's Regt (ex-Spanish-Irish) also kept their harp flag.

Any help would be much appreciated andygamer. I like to be accurate.

Nice!!

IR1

You Guys got me thinking of the Must-Have Neapolitain brigade I must desperately need… and I started scratching around… and found the following link. I have not read the whole thing yet but wanted to share for the illustration near the top…
Admittedly it is later than the period you were disgussing but I thought the Colonel's colour interesting…

PDF link

Was there not an article on Neapolitain uniforms from the eighteenth century somewhere on the net? I remember reading it, and I seem to recall that it was Naples… but I cannot find and the computer I had it book-marked on is but a faded memory of corrupted hard drives and antiquated technology…

Bring back the hand loom!

Disgussing? Omigawd… I am beginning to spell the way I think! I put it down to the obsession with lateral thinking in modern business… but…
Sincere apologies to all… I am ashamed!

I have Stephen Manley's book in my hand,the War of the Austrian succession Part VIII,Uniforms of the Italian States 1740-48 (Piedmont-Sardinai, Genoa, Moden and the Two Sicilies) and The Reale Farnese are listed as having blue coatds red facings and the coat is without collar or lapels,buff belts and they had the habit of wearing a buff belly box rather than a cartridge box on a shoulder strap..brass buttons yellow hat lace he also says breeches are the same colour as coats

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I can't vouch for the accuracy of this site, but it seems pretty comprehensive.

I believe that site only covers Piedmont-Sardinia.

Manley does suggest that light damage has rendered over 250 years many colours, especially blue, a very different shade from that originally depicted..blue has become crimson or brown yellow a pale green and red a light pink ,

Or maybe purple, that would explain the vomit inducing Neapolitans.

Oops, you're right Jeroen72. I know I had something on the Neapolitans somewhere…

brown, purple, crimson..shrug blue gone bad in the sun..

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this site, but it seems pretty comprehensive.

That is an excellent site that I have used a lot. The information seems to closely match data from other sources.

Yes, Mal. Giancarlo Boeri wrote an article about the colour distortions in the Divisas Y Antiguedades documents by finding the original bills for the cloth in the Naples archives. (BTW, their tricornes were made of Canadian beaver fur.)

Here are the Italian Royal Guards whose coats are actually blue:
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I've been busy lately, but I'll see about getting around to scanning a few more of the plates. And I think I've got a translation of the Boeri article typed up that I can post here or at the NPU site.

Thanks Andy Gamer.
I'm also looking for the names of some Neapolitan Generals.

I've added a few more unit images and created a photo 'set' of the Rivista Militare Europea publication.

There's a non-colour version of the coat-of-arms showing the placement of the Order of the Holy Spirit chain, the Golden Fleece chain and another chain although I don't know the Order. (There's no dragon visible, but it reminds me of a St George drawing. I don't associate the Archangel Michael with riding a horse but if those are wings, it might be an Order dedicated to him. If they're not wings but a flying cape, then maybe it's an ancient warrior--although that still doesn't give me any idea of what the Order could be.) I don't know if it's Charles VII/III's arms as King of the Two Sicilies or as Spanish king.

The manuscript's frontispiece has a version of the arms with a sort of joint chain with the Golden Fleece and the Holy Spirit medals. It's a much simpler set of arms than the above. I think it might be Charles' arms for the Two Sicilies because the booklet is subtitled The Neapolitan Army of Charles VII.

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The trophy of arms clearly shows cross of Burgundy flags that matches the supposition made in the very brief introduction to the booklet that says the flags are unknown but undoubtedly followed the Spanish practice of the white Colonel's Colour featuring the royal arms; and Ordinary "Sencilla" flags featuring the cross of Burgundy. I don't know if the red and blue striped flags are real (if they're for the Swiss and Walloon foreign, why have so many shown in ratio to the Burgundy ones?) or maybe they're decorative only. (But then why show the 'real' Burgundy ones?)

I've got several OBs for the Italian campaigns that I'll see about getting to you other than the Nafziger ones you've probably already seen. Maybe they include some Neapolitan generals' names too.

Mal
Seemingly the album link is now empty?
I'd really like to enjoy at leisure the Reggimento Farnese!

(The Farnese battalion had purple coats, pink waistcoats, cherry cuffs, yellow neck cloths, dark yellow tape lining on their tricorne's, white gaiters over cherry trousers and silver buttons!)

Here it is, Abdul. (The album was moved off the main page and into the list of albums on the right-hand side of the page very near the bottom of the scroll-down list.)
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Thanks andygamer, I had not realised the link would change when I moved it into the album list. Next time I will save before sending a link.

"Giancarlo Boeri wrote an article about the colour distortions in the Divisas Y Antiguedades documents by finding the original bills for the cloth in the Naples archives. "

Did this article ever appear anywhere, Andy? I've got a copy of the Naples book reprint on order but would love to see the Boeri on the true colours.

Sorry for the too-long delay in reading and replying to your query, 1ngram. I hope you're still reading here! :)

It was published in Rivista Militare but I don't know the issue number because it only shows the page numbers and not the issue number or month on the page-bottoms. :(
It's post-1991 at least.

It was titled/subtitled "Divisas y Antiguedades [de todas las Tropas que estan al glorioso servizio de S.M.S. … 1755"]; and was by Giancarlo Boeri, illustrated by Guglielmo Peirce.

The only corrected illustrations are for the Italian Royal Guards (blue with red facings; silver lace); the Royal Macedonia (all red with blue facings and vest; silver/white lace); and the Naval Regiment (blue faced red; gold officers' lace; men unlaced).

There is a chart of the colours listed while not being illustrated; and there are further short written descriptions of the uniforms too. (All in Italian.)

Still here Andy. Found the article in issue numero 1 of the 1992 Rivista Militare (many thanks for the info). Acquired the Naples book (sheets) reprint a month or so ago. Now if I could only find info on the flags.

Cheers, 1ngram. :)

Very much enjoyed the Battle report too thanks for the unintended "bump" :)