Piacenza 1746

"Piacenza 1746" is Enrico Acerbi's board wargame, published by Europa Simulazioni, which depicts the "Battle of Piacenza" which was fought between a Franco-Spanish army and the Austrian army near Piacenza, in Northern Italy on June 16, 1746. It formed part of later operations in the War of the Austrian Succession. The result was a victory for the Austrian forces, led by Prince Josef Wenzel - Prince Franz Josef I and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm were among the notable combatants.

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748) was a dynastic war, initiated by the European powers to counter the legitimate claim of Maria Theresa Habsburgs (1717-1780) to maintain control of all her family possessions, when her father, the Emperor Charles VI, died in 1740.

Federick II of Prussia was the first to act. He invaded Silesia as he wanted to reach a glorious military success and the beginning of his reign. Maria Theresa reacted prompted, and two alliance sides formed for the war with all the major European countries and many minor states involved.

In 1745, the war extended to Italy, where France and Spain were in arms against Austria and her ally, Savoy. After a sound defeat near Alessandria, the following year the Austrian side soundly defeated the French-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza, which marked the end of the French-Spain attempts to defeat Maria in Italy: "I want to hope that this event will dispel from the minds of my enemies the desire to totally banish myself from Italy"

Highlights:

• regimental-level warfare in the Age of Reason
• highly interactive sequence of play, focused on manoeuvre
• formations move in "linear mode", the typical way of fighting a battle at that time
• a 22" x 25" fine-art map , based on ancient map of the battle
• detailed order of battle
• limited play time