Saturday, September 20, 2008

Digression- any Savoyard fans out there?

"Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, King of Savoy, victor of Assietta and all-round crafty dude extraordinaire"

While perusing the Internet for all things War of the Austrian Succession related, I've come across a number of relevant and interesting sites. I've updated my links to include one I found on the Savoyard army- "the Prussians of Italy", and a state that gave a good account for itself in the War of the Austrian succession, in 1747 giving the French a good drubbing in the mountains at the Battle of Assietta.





"Bandiere e uniformi sabaude" is worth a look for anyone wanting to recreate the army that fought Louis XV on France's southern flank. In Italian, but with a little help from a translation software program- and a little patience- there is much the site has to offer.

Although with stiff competition from the Spanish, the Army of Piedmont-Savoy also may very well win the prize for having the prettiest flags in the War of the Austrian Succession!

5 comments:

Der Alte Fritz said...

Google the battle of Camposanto in the WAS. there is a lot of information and orders of battle out there

Robert said...

Camposanto would be fun, and I've been tempted over the years to get into it. I see from his blog that Kannonkreuz is doing this battle in 28mm as I write this.

Right now, though, The Marquis is remaining firmly in the Low Countries and along the Rhine. If he does end up going farther afield, it may be to the other end of Europe, as far as the Turkish Empire in the Balkans!

Bluebear Jeff said...

I'm beginning to realize that I really don't know much about the War of Austrian Succession.

Thank you for continuing to highlight it.


-- Jeff

Der Alte Fritz said...

I actually like the WAS better than the SYW. Tactics were still in fluctuation and there were no hard and fast rules for how armies performed. You also get the diverse Pragmatic Army fighting against Marshal Saxe, one of the best generals of the 18th Century (maybe THE BEST), the French Maison du Roi is in the field in full force as are the British Household contingent, you have the Dutch, Saxons and Savoyens etc. Much more variety in this war than there is in the SYW.

Robert said...

I prefer gaming the War of the Austrian Succession as well, as you can probably imagine!

For all the reasons you mention, plus that by the end of the SYW you had artillery becoming increasingly powerful and more of a battle-winner, presaging Napoleonic warfare.

I also prefer the uniforms then- Prussians apart, the cut of the uniforms was just that little bit looser than they were to be later, and the wigs (an important consideration!) a little fuller.

And of course you get to paint Prussian dragoons in white!

And I agree with you about Marechal Saxe. He doesn't seem to get the attention he deserves in wargaming circles.