Battle of Magenta, 4th June 1859

The first session of this three week game was held on 2nd November, teams were sorted out with Steve and Nigel taking the French side and Mike W, Rupert, Mike N and Phil taking the Austrian side.

The game was using Dave's 2mm collection and showcased his new 2mm playing boards, as seen in the pictures. Rules used were the 'Bloody Big Battles' set.

The game started with the French entering the table on the West and Northern edges.  In the west, the French foolishly tried to cross the border river & canal in front of the Austrian guns.

Led by the Imperial Guard they came a real cropper, when the guns opened up the Imperial Guard was shattered and the following columns held up behind them for the rest of week one.

To the north and North West additional french Corps came onto the battlefield forcing Austrian forces in the North West to retire back and form a hasty defensive line some distance back form the northern table edge.

Again, this Austrian line held for the rest of week one, whilst the French Corps, manoeuvred to prepare for an attack.

Finally a third Austrian Corps entered the table in the South East and marched to re-enforce the norther n line.

Week Two saw John join the Austrian forces and lead a fourth Austrian Corps on to the South Western edge of the battlefield.

Meanwhile a firefight and a series of melees ensued on the northern front, with a series of French attacks and fighting withdrawals by the Austrians facing them.

Finally this was countered when the Austrian 3rd Corps formed a second line behind the northern front and opened up additional bombardment on the French lines..

Swapping over to historical events - the battle took place near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire on 4 June 1859.

Napoleon III's army crossed the Ticino River and outflanked the Austrian right forcing the Austrian army under Gyulai to retreat.

The confined nature of the country, a vast spread of orchards cut up by streams and irrigation canals, precluded elaborate manoeuvre.

The Austrians turned every house into a miniature fortress. The brunt of the fighting was borne by 5,000 grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard, still mostly in their First Empire style of uniforms.

The battle of Magenta was not a particularly large battle, but it was a decisive victory for the Franco-Sardinian alliance.

Patrice Maurice de MacMahon was created Duc de Magenta for his role in this battle, and would later go on to serve as one of the French President of the Third French Republic.

2mm Teaser

by Dave 'Bug Eyes' Vallance

It gives me great pleasure to announce that all the infantry, both French and Austrian, have now all been finished for the 1859 war in Italy. The French alone amount to nearly 9,000 infantry figures (I may have missed one or two though).

I was going to do the facings, belts, scabbards etc, but they take sooooo long to do as in the monster scales, I gave up.

Three battalions of French takes me about an hour from undercoat to sticking onto the bases. Bigger stuff takes me three HOURS to put the undercoat on, once I convinced the buggers to stay stuck on the painting strips I use and not keep falling off!! And they only cost me a few pence and not a kings ransom for biggies...

Just some more French artillery to do, then the scenics (which is being built by myself).

Once ready, for your entertainment and delight, I'll be putting on the Battle of Magenta, 4th June 1859 (the colour Magenta comes from this battle, purportedly from all the dried blood on the white Austrian uniforms).

This battle is much bigger than the little on I put on way back in January 2018 (Battle of San Martino, which actually came after Magenta) and there will be room for several players.

So, watch this space...
...will the French wipe the floor with the pompous Austrians, or will the 'Kaiser's children' give the ' Les Pantalon Rouge'  a good thrashing?

Figures from www.juniorgenera.org