33rd Battle of the Isonzo - part 3

 

The Alpini assault was followed up by two companies of Arditi assault troops.  Meanwhile the Bersaglieri battalion moved up, encouraged by it's very noisy band.

But down the hill came the Austrian reserves and further unpleasantness ensued.

The Arditi took the position - just - but here come the stormtroopers!

The Bersaglieri managed to see them off - at a cost...

...and soon the rest of the battalion surged up to the top.

Just in time, the Austrian CO skulked off with his mountain gun battery...

...while down below the Bersaglieri band practiced for the surely inevitable victory parade.

A very entertaining game to run - well done to all the players for entering in to the spirit of the thing and for donating photos.

And finally: 

In the comments in the 32nd battle (see here), regular reader Brad DeSantis mentioned that his grandfather had fought - in the Alpini - during the Great War.  I duly named one of the figures as Caporal Maggiore Victor DeSantis.  Not only was he (the figure) present at this battle, but unlike a lot of his chums, he survived!  A small tribute to his service.

Czecho engineers and traffic controllers

Having established a probable need for more Warpact bridging kit I had a rummage in some boxes to see what was in stock.  Quite a bit as it happened, including a Skytrex set with Zil lorries, pontoons and roadway sections.  I painted them up a Czechs as I have plans for a couple of games where they might have a role.  I used the roadway sections to form a deployed bridge and couldn't resist adding a traffic control detachment with an H&R UAZ-469, a motorcyclist and of course a man pointing!

 

33rd Battle of the Isonzo - part 2

 

The Italian attack was led off by the Alpini battalion - off they went, dodging between the shellbursts.

Meanwhile, atop Hill 177 an  Austrian company was comfortable in it's trenches...

...until they fell victim to a well-aimed (or just plain lucky) Italian stonk.  Ouch!

The Alpini seemed to be doing well, as their timing skills were put to the test...

...but the Austrians weren't giving in easily.

From the valley it looked a very big hill!

Casualties soon mounted in among the Alpini.

Eventually the Alpini prevailed, but as they consolidated their position...

...the Austrians moved forward their reserve company.

Were the Austrians about to counter-attack?

        Would the Italian artillery ever hit anything else?

                    Find out in part 3 coming soon!

33rd Battle of the Isonzo - part 1

 The earlier, 32nd battle (see here and many other posts), was a fun game to run and play.  Having added to my Italian forces last year, another visit to this front seemed timely.  Thus it was that a few of us gathered to wonder at my latest creation - an even bigger tabletop mountain!

The Italian starting positions are in some or all of the woods nearest the camera, The Austrians are atop the alp.

Italian Brigade HQ admiring it's quarters.

All the old favourites were here - the Italian soup kitchen.....

...and the Austrian senior officers' latrine!

Having set up and issued briefings, the next step was some air recce...

...the Italians found what they were pretty sure was a mountain...

...while their opposite numbers were able to hazard a guess that an attack was imminent.  Well done chaps.

The Italian heavy artillery batteries firing from off table.  Or another table.

This was the debut outing of a rather lovely FIAT lorry.

Meanwhile, uphill, the Austrian gunners sneak forward a mountain battery.  What a rotten trick!

The opening bombardment.  I made both sides' gunners fire blind- the Austrians from behind the mountain and the Italians from behind a screen.  The results were entertainingly erratic.

A commanding position!