Battle of Pavia 1525 - Gus Murchie Memorial Game 2025

Each December, The Devon Wargames Group play a game in memory of Gus Murchie, a club member who passed-away before his time. This year, 2025, is the five hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Pavia, generally regarded as the climactic battle of “The Italian Wars”.

Background: The French de Valois dynasty had a claim to The Dutchy of Milan and three successive
French kings campaigned to incorporate Milan into France; while they captured the Duchy, they could never hold it. The third of these kings was Francis I and after winning the Duchy in 1515 and then losing it, he crossed The Alps in early 1525. 

Francis I of France c1510-15 - Jean Clouet

Milan city was yielded without a fight but the Hapsburg-Imperialists decided to defend Pavia. The city was better prepared for a siege than Francis expected and his commanders advised him to retire to Milan for the winter. But Francis refused as no French monarch had abandoned a siege before. The Pavia garrison commander’s main problem was money to pay his mercenary troops, but with a significant Imperialist forces nearby relief for the city was possible.

Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor moved more forces into Italy, and in 1525 met up with the French at Pavia some 20 miles south of Milan. At first the Habsburg troops were encircled, but then a large Spanish army, using muskets for the first time, attacked the French and virtually wiped them out. The French king, Francis I, was captured and, by the Treaty of Cambrai in 1529, was obliged to renounce his claims to Italy. Six years later Charles V was crowned king of Italy. The Habsburgs had triumphed.

North of the city lies a walled hunting park and large hunting lodge, Castello Mirabello. The park became the home to a substantial part of the French army. To the east was a series of ecclesiastical buildings, known as the Five Abbeys, that barracked Francis’s Swiss troops. 

Charles de Lannoy, Viceroy of Naples, Imperialist Commander

The Imperialists offered open battle but the French refused. The Imperialists aimed to bolster Pavia with reinforcements and money; in the misty morning hours of 24th February 1525, the Imperialists breached the northern end of the park wall. What followed was a rather confusing and uncoordinated series of engagements; Francis was captured along with the death or capture of the flower of France's nobility. Richard de la Pole, the last Yorkist pretender to the English crown was killed too, making this the absolute end of “The War of The Roses”.

Our game: The battle field was divided into five parts each with its own table. There was the French

camp, Castelo Mirabello, the Park, the road to Pavia, the Five Abbeys. Most Imperialist troops

entered from the north of the hunting park or sallied from Pavia. The French forces were distributed

between the various tables.

The main French camp, along with Francis and his Gendarmes, is in the top left and Castello Mirabello shown. Imperialist troops entered through a breach in the wall next to the northernmost gate and there were French troops waiting for them in the park. The Pavia garrison sortied up the Pavia Road, to link up with main Imperialist force but were opposed by the Swiss, from the Five Abbeys. The Imperialist camp was represented in the game but took no part in it.

Our game starts at 6am in mist and darkness; to simulate this, units were deployed using playing cards until spotted. Initially spoting distance is six inches plus a D6 inches rolled each move; as the mist recedes the spoting distance extended until daylight at 8am, when all blinds are revealed. Only when units are spotted were the models put on the table and, if the mist returned (per the D6 roll) they were replaced by a card again. Francis could send out scouts who could interrogate enemy blinds, so he wasn’t totally in the dark.

Initial deployment was historical but the commanders could then act freely. The Imperialists did have a game objective, to get three units of harquebusiers down the road to Pavia, via Castello Mirabello; the French had no objectives. 

The first half of the game moved quickly as it involved mostly blinds, but as visibility improved and the blinds revealed, clashes of arms ensued. What followed was a series of separate engagements between French and Imperialist troops as both sides, as was historical, but not in the same locations. The main park area saw little action as Spanish units closed in on Castello Mirabello, as per their objectives and the Pavia garrison marched directly to meet the relief force along the Pavia Road.

French forces, consisting of Swiss pikemen, moved from the Five Abbeys onto the Pavia Road to oppose the garrison’s sortie. A full-scale battle ensued along the road, as the French tried to stop the garrison linking up with the relief force; pikes blocks clashed and harquebusiers fired. To further deny any link-up, the French had withdrawn their forces in the park to defend the Pavia Road.

As per their objectives, the Spanish advanced towards Castello Mirabello, the lighter Spanish troops moving through the woods to its north and the supporting heavier troops both pikes and cavalry moving through the main park; using the mist as cover Spanish harquebusiers, broke into the Castello, which turned out to only contain the French baggage train.

The French had not been idle and after a short delay, Francis called them all to action. The main French army, led by Francis, marched towards the Castello; clearly a large clash would take place there. French and Spanish pike blocks clashed outside the Castello walls as the French arrived from their main camp. Other Imperialist units continue on their original route towards Pavia and soon appeared on the Pavia Road table, sandwiching the French force between themselves and the garrison sortie.

As the mist cleared Spanish harquebusiers, occupying the Castello, saw King Francis and his gendarmes outside the perimeter wall. With a crescendo of shot the harquebusiers fired at the gendarmes, but only caused one casualty. As Francis was attached to the gendarmes a “risk to leader” test was rolled and Francis was unhorsed. The gendarmes stopped their advance as a remount for the king was produced.

Everywhere units were locked in mortal combat and the battle could have gone either way. The next turn the Spanish harquebusiers fired again at the gendarmes causing another casualty, but Francis had a second horse shot out from under him again. This time the gendarmes were less content to wait for the king’s remount and pressed forward towards the scene of the action, leaving the King and his entourage covered by some skirmishers.

As ill-luck would have it a unit of Spanish light horse, Jinetes, were emerging form the woods behind the Castello and charged the French skirmishers easily scattering them. To their surprise, as they rolled-on they encountered Francis’s party and captured the King. Francis, as a premier European monarch wasn’t going to surrender to a bunch of Spanish roughs, but only to a gentleman of similar status to himself. The Spanish Captain-General. The Viceroy of Naples, was less particular about the company he kept and had been riding with the Jinetes, so Francis had no option than to hand over his sword to the enemy general.

Initially I was surprised that history had repeated itself in our game. The Imperialists had been lucky with the “risk to leader” rolls though. On reflection, the same terrain, visibility conditions and troop types had been replicated in our game as at the original battle, so such the result was perhaps less implausible.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Chas and Alex who were my assistant games masters, the game was too big for one person to coordinate. Some figures were from my own renaissance collection and Chas, Alex, Vince, Everett and Colin contributed many figures too; I certainly didn’t have nearly enough! Likewise, terrain was provided by other club members too. 

Overall, it was pleasing that the DWG has enough resources to put on a large historical refight game of this size. I mustn’t omit, Ian who turned up in period costume and lent out suitable hats from his costume collection; some say the better attire of the Imperialist side is the real reason for their victory. 

https://www.alternative-armies.com/products/furioso-renaissance-wargame-rules

The rules were Furioso by Alternative Armies. Figures were Perry, TAG, Casting Room Miniatures, Steel Fist et al.

My thanks to all the club members who participated sportingly and forgave my mis-steps.

Stephen Huntsman

Editor's Note: I should like to extend my thanks to Stephen for volunteering his services early last year to plan and organise the Xmas game for 2025, that also involved a series of warm-up games through the year, and reported on here on the club blog, to get a group of club players familiar with Furioso. 

It is not easy setting up and running a large game like this, with the coordination required to organise terrain and figure collections held by club members to be made available on the day, and as club chairman my role has been made so much easier by having members like Stephen ready to volunteer their efforts to help make our club the great place it is.

Thank you Stephen, on behalf of the Devon Wargames Group.

JJ

Haufen and Harquebus - Mass Battles in the Age of the Pike.

In November, I was allowed to run the first playtest of the set of Renaissance rules I have been working on for a couple of years. The ruleset, currently called 'Haufen and Harquebus', focuses on the mechanics of large pike blocks from the height of Swiss ascendancy until the redevelopment of linear tactics at Nieuwpoort, with a secondary focus on the decline of chivalry and the rise of firearms on the battlefield.

I have played a few Renaissance rulesets and hold the opinion that most are adaptations of medieval or later ECW/TYW pike-and-shot systems, which to me always feel a little inauthentic to the period. My goal was to represent the power, chaos, and uncertainty that commanders of the time faced, and to allow the strange interactions arising from the melting pot of technology, organisation, and social upheaval the Renaissance presented.

The first scenario used to test the ruleset was my interpretation of the Battle of the Sessia, 1524; the first recorded instance of firearm-equipped troops winning a battle without previously fortifying their positions. This engagement poses a challenge for most rule systems to model accurately or authentically, and several issues became apparent during planning. 

Battles in Lombardy (1521–1525). The engagements at Bicocca, the Sesia, and Pavia are labelled.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battles_in_Lombardy_(1521-25).svg

The Spanish and Italian forces consisted predominantly of firearm troops, while the French relied mainly on heavy cavalry and pikemen. For the scenario to feel authentic, the French should not be able to easily overpower the Spanish arquebusiers in melee, nor should the Spanish be able to annihilate the French with gunfire before they could respond. 

Historically, the French began the battle at a disadvantage, retreating from Italy in good order, while the Spanish only needed to prevent their escape. In the scenario, the Spanish begin with only their light troops, with heavier units arriving later. The French start in the centre and must cross a bridge one unit at a time, encouraging a rearguard action and slowing the Spanish advance.

Units act in initiative order, with initiative determined by rolling dice. Similarly, how far a unit can move and how effective its shooting is are also decided by dice rolls. Most rolls involve a pair of dice, meaning units will generally perform within a predictable range while still allowing for exceptional or disappointing outcomes. 

As a result, the game began with aggressive movement and firing from the Spanish arquebus-armed troops, while the French awkwardly manoeuvred around the small area of open ground. The Spanish arquebusiers quickly overwhelmed the French light troops in the rearguard, who were still armed with crossbows, and the survivors were finished off by the jinetes. Meanwhile, many of the Italian troops, some of them mounted, moved into the marshy ground to set up a crossfire against the advancing French.

The rearguard, however, had begun to form a defensive line in response to the brutal Spanish fire and advanced toward the Spanish with the demi-lancers and French pikemen. The Spanish then moved directly up to each unit’s front to open fire at close range. 

This provides a good opportunity to explain the shooting mechanics: shooting effectiveness decreases over distance, and most ranged units are only reliable within the first twelve inches. However, good dice rolls can extend a unit’s effective range. By closing in on the pikes and heavy cavalry, the Spanish ensured that their shooting would be devastating. If the French survived, though, the Spanish light troops would be left dangerously exposed. 

The gamble paid off; both French units were shaken by the sustained Spanish fire, making it harder for them to act in the following turn. Meanwhile, some gendarmes attempted to assault the Italian skirmishers in rough terrain but stalled at a line of ditches and were decimated in the resulting fusillade.

The French managed to rally some semblance of order and pressed the attack, with a unit of pikemen catching a group of dawdling jinetes and scattering them. The jinetes were presumably busy looting the remains of the French mounted crossbowmen they had finished off in the previous turn; they rolled uncharacteristically poorly for initiative, unlikely but not impossible. This outcome highlights a core philosophy of the system that surprised many players: the jinetes did not have the option to evade. I am not a fan of special rules; instead, the jinetes could evade only by winning initiative and moving away first. In nine out of ten turns, they would comfortably do so, but in this case, it did not happen.

On the other side of the improvised French defence, the demi-lancers lost their initiative roll. Before they could rally, they were shot to pieces; however, since casualties are resolved at the end of the turn, they were able to rally and charge the arquebusiers, managing to push them back and shake them before finally breaking. This represented a desperate last-chance cavalry charge.

At this point, the Spanish pike began to arrive, and the French commanders decided their best option was to commit their entire force to the defence. The Landsknechts, Swiss, gendarmes, and demi-lancers advanced to meet the Spanish. The gendarmes caught two units of Italian shot in the open in succession, preventing any flanking manoeuvres against the Landsknechts, while the demi-lancers charged into the marshes to drive off the Italians firing on the Swiss from within. They were counter-charged by more jinetes, and the resulting chaotic combat left all units badly mauled, with both the demi-lancers and the jinetes breaking.

The Landsknechts then ploughed into the Spanish pike, devastating them and initiating the first push of pike. The Swiss advanced against the surviving Spanish arquebusiers, only to be flanked by Spanish gendarmes and Italian arquebusiers emerging from the marshes on both sides. The Swiss managed to defeat all three units but suffered heavy casualties in the process. They now faced the Spanish Landsknechts and another unit of Spanish gendarmes. The Landsknechts broke the initial Spanish pike push but were left shaken. The Spanish Landsknechts then broke the Swiss, though they too became shaken, and the remaining Spanish gendarmes routed the French Landsknechts. The French gendarmes made one final, desperate charge to break the Spanish Landsknechts but dissolved in the process.

Although there were some teething issues, I am overall quite pleased with how the game played out. Firearms proved decisive but not dominant, requiring short range and careful positioning to be effective, yet often leaving units in risky positions. Cavalry felt powerful but fragile, and the push of pike produced grinding, attritional combats well worthy of being called “bad war.” Terrain played an important role, levelling the field between light and heavy units in close combat.

In terms of balance, the Spanish held a clear advantage in this scenario, but that fits the historical context. Overall, I felt the ruleset successfully captured the feel of Renaissance warfare—brutal, uncertain, and chaotic. Some of the mechanics were a little awkward and will need refinement in future drafts.

Many thanks to Ian, John, Mark, and Mark for being the guinea pigs for this system. It was a great session, and I’m incredibly grateful for all your feedback. I plan to have the third draft of the ruleset completed based on what we learned playing the game.

The Battle of Ravenna 1512 - Furioso.

Battle of Ravenna - Giuseppe Rava.

 

The Battle of Ravenna, fought on the 11th April 1512, was a major battle of the War of the League of Cambrai, and saw a Papal–Spanish army under Viceroy of Naples Ramón de Cardona defeated by France and their and their Ferrarese allies under Gaston of Foix, who was killed during the battle.

The Death of Gaston of Foix, nicknamed 'The Fox'.

The battle was exceptionally bloody and saw both sides making a previously unseen usage of artillery,  and although the Spanish artillery and infantry inflicted massive casualties, Ferrarese general Alfonso d'Este initiated a decisive French flanking of the Holy League with their own guns, defeating the exposed Holy League cavalry and making their line collapse. 

Gaston of Foix then died in action when he attempted to rout the retreating infantry with a cavalry charge.

It was on Good Friday, April 9th 1512 that Gaston's artillery commenced a bombardment of the walls of Ravenna, which eventually caused a breach sufficient enough for the French commander to order an assault by his infantry, however the ferocity of the Spanish defence held despite repeated attacks, forcing the assault to be halted for the day, only to have reports delivered the next day from scouts that a Spanish relief force had arrived from the south and were hastily entrenching on the east bank of the Ronco, one mile south of the French camp. 

At the same time, Gaston received word that the Venetians had fallen on the French supply line and intercepted a crucial convoy of food and ammunition. In a council of war called to assess the situation, Gaston argued that time was against the French; they must attack the Spanish relief army at once. 

Our battle setup was based on the suggested arrangement as set out in Helion's Italian Wars Wargaming Guide - All is Lost Save Honour.

with the following key to the units shown.
Spanish - 1. Papal Men at Arms (Fabrizio Colonna), 2. Spanish Men at Arms (Cardona), 3. Spanish Men at Arms (Carvajal), 4. Spanish Infantry, 5. Spanish Infantry, 6. Papal Infantry, 7. Spanish Infantry, 8. Spanish Infantry, 9. Papal Mounted Arquebusiers, 10. Jinettes, 11. War Carts, 12. Artillery

French - A. French Gendarmes (de Palice), B. Artillery, C. Gascon Crossbowmen, D. Landsknechts, E. French Picard Pikemen, F. French Gendarmes (de Foix), G. Italian Pike and Crossbowmen, H. Mounted Arquebusiers, I. Stradiots, J. Mounted Crossbowmen, K. Artillery, L. French Gendarmes (d'Alegre), M. Italian Pike and Crossbowmen, N. Light Artillery (only if this option is taken) *these were omitted for our game.

The French nobles and mercenary captains agreed to march south and strike the Spanish relief force on Easter morning, before it could reinforce the garrison at Ravenna.

Our game setup ready to go based on the battle map above.

For our game of Ravenna we were using the setup guide from the Helion Wargamers Guide on the Italian Wars, using their battle map as seen above, together with the rules Furioso from Alternative Armies, designed specifically for 15mm which supports their own range of Italian Wars miniatures, but for which we have repurposed for use with the 28mm collections you can see.

https://www.alternative-armies.com/

Italian Wars is well known for its ability to produce a feast for the eye in terms of the colour and variety of units involved and it was certainly a pleasure to just take a moment before we started play to enjoy the eye feast we had after setting up.

I had the pleasure of assuming the roll of General Ramón de Cardona, with John and Matthew allotted commands around the perimeter of the Spanish lines from right to left, allowing me to form a reserve in the rear of the Spanish defence of the two units of Spanish Men at Arms and the rearward Spanish and Papal Infantry, looking to use them to plug any gaps in our line should the need arise.

The Papal Men at Arms under Ramón de Cardona, together with the two units of Spanish Men at Arms under Fabrizio Colonna and Pedro Navarro respectively guard the Spanish left flank and the nearby gun line.

After setting up approximately on the historic arrangement, it seemed likely that the French might try to bombard our flanks and lead with their mounted units, to force that reserve to be committed before attempting to assault the main Spanish line.

Opposing the Spanish left flank French Gendarmes under the Grand Master of France, Jacques de La Palice, form up on the road.

Both French flanks of mounted units advanced menacingly, accompanied by skirmishing Gascon crossbows and firing from nearby French guns that started to cause annoying casualties on Spanish units moving forward in preparation to oppose the threat.

Landsknechts ready to advance.

However the Spanish gunners were able to inflict a bit of return pain as both John and then Matthew advanced on the Spanish left and right with the Papal Men at Arms and Spanish Jinnetes as the plan developed to take the fight to the French beyond the ramparts and to see if we could so tie up and damage the French flanks enough to force them to commit their infantry earlier than planned.

Spanish infantry man the bank and ditch on the Spanish right flank

The Papal Men at Arms got the drop on the Gascon crossbowmen who attempted to evade their charge but were not able to get clear and were brutally ridden down, before the Papal knights were counter charged by the French Gendarmes under de Palice resulting in a to-and-fro melee for several rounds, that eventually broke the Papal troops but left the French badly battered.

Italian pike and crossbows out on the French left flank.

The early fighting on the Spanish right proved very useful for the defence, restricting as it did the ability of the French to bring more units forward along the road by the bridge, passing over and trying to negate the road ditches to their front. This led to a bit of a traffic jam as the following unit of French Gendarmes under d'Alegre managed to throw an activation die roll of 6 seeing them go impetuous but unable to advance past the crush of infantry and guns in their way to get into the cavalry fight going on ahead.

French artillery out on the extreme left flank. These guns would prove problematic for the Spanish defence until their Jinettes (Unit 10) advanced and defeated the French Stradiots seen to their immediate right, and then proceeded to crash into the French gun line, survive the attempted close range shot and then wipe out the French gunners.

On the Spanish left flank the gap beyond the defence lines and the marshy ground beyond served to channel any advances into or out of the clear ground beyond and the French gunners on that flank were made good use of taking pot shots at rearward Spanish units as the French advanced with mounted crossbows to cause yet more discomfort to the troops manning the embankment.

The threat to the flank was only too obvious and so Matthew sent his Jinettes forward to deal with the crossbows, losing a stand in the advance, but managing to pass his morale checks and close with the enemy, to destroy them in the ensuing close combat.

French Gendarmes under the man himself, Gaston de Foix observe the Spanish lines to their front.

The destruction of a unit in melee offers the chargers the opportunity to carry on and contact other units within range, which the French guns were, but only just, and they would get the opportunity to blast the Spaniards with a bit of close range grape and flint before contact. That said the opportunity to severely disable the French threat on the Spanish right flank seemed a risk worth taking and so both Matthew and I watched in anticipation as the French gunners seemed to lose their nerve and miss with all their dice.

The retribution for that miss was not short in coming as the Spanish-lights hit with all but one of their dice and the French gunners failed to save any of the hits received, seeing the surviving gunners take to their heals with the Spanish in hot pursuit as both units left the table, but seemingly forcing an immediate advance by the French infantry towards the Spanish line as their flank attack evaporated in a single turn of combat.

The Papal Men at Arms catch the Gascon Crossbowmen as they attempt to evade the oncoming charge, whist to the left of picture French units are in a traffic jam trying to get forward of the ditched road to their front. 

With the hors-d'oeuvre of the flanking cavalry manoeuvres out of the way, the pace of the game now shifted towards the main-course which saw the French infantry enter stage centre as massed pike blocks moved inexorably forward towards the Spanish embankment, that prompted in return the movement of the Spanish and Papal troops held in reserve to be edged a little closer towards the most threatened areas of the defensive line.

Spanish Jinettes ride out to take on the French mounted crossbows, the start of their dramatic charge that would see them carry on into the French rear and destroy their guns on this flank.

This was the moment for the Spanish arquebusiers to show their worth as the range shortened and the requirement for rapid fire at the approaching enemy columns took precedence in an effort to reduce the impact of the charge to combat and the attempt by French Pikemen and Landsknechts to get over the defences and enter the rear lines.

Midway through our game and the Spanish reserve is committed with all but the mounted men at arms in the centre pushed forward, as the fights on the flanks have started to become stalemated and the French are now going all in against the Spanish embankment.

The Spanish heavies attempt to keep the left flank in a bottleneck allowing their infantry time to win the fight on the embankment.

Each time the French infantry closed on the defences they were met with withering fire which was taking off bases as well as pushing back the attacks, and the mechanism Furioso uses for deciding precedence in the activation sequence took on an even greater importance as both sides attempted to make sure they got their 'fastest and with the mostest' to quote a later historical commander, with supports at the most threatened section of the defences.

Things are getting tense as the initiative dice get placed, and which will determine who gets to punch first in the upcoming assaults or defensive fire rounds.

This also required opposing Generals to be at hand to be able to effectively influence that activation sequence by the use of their added command rating used to increase the activation scores for the most important infantry group as required.

The infantry struggle starts to get up close and personal, as Spanish reserves move up to support hard pressed friends.

The tense struggle to achieve superiority on the line continued for several moves, but in the end the combination of Spanish, firepower, the protection from their defences and the addition of the reserve infantry at the appropriate moment proved superior and one by one the French attack columns were either driven off badly depleted or routed from the table entirely, leaving the worn but victorious Spanish in command of the field, and not having had to resort to using their organ guns, or ribauldequins once as the enemy failed to get over the barricades.

With the main course served and devoured with delight, their now remained the decision to see if the players had room for desert, given that the French were in very short supply of battle fit infantry, light cavalry and skirmishing crossbows, but still possessed some very fine and enthusiastic Gendarmes elite heavy horse, which they were eager to test out, and so the waiter was summoned and the Gendarmes were duly served.

What remaining Spanish heavy cavalry there was trotted forward to contest their advance and proved the benefit of the earlier traffic jam on the ditched road at the bridge, in that The Fox and his knights were the force to be reckoned with and after a short fight drove of their Spanish opponents, threatening in their wake to get in behind the trench works.

However it was all in vain really, as the Spanish infantry were still in relatively good order and still full of fight and the likely break-off by the French compelled by the army losses caused us to end the game at that point, not to mention that one or two of us were looking forward to the game wash-up in the pub combined with a few after-club beverages.

The Papal Banner is on display at the heart of the Spanish defence to let the Spanish infantry know that God is on their side.

Furioso continues to impress as a set of rules in terms of its playability and intuitive systems that are easily acquired with little reference to the QRS, and both Steve and Alex are to be congratulated for sorting out a basing arrangement for 28mm that better suits the rules and formations required in that scale of figure.

However with a big game of Pavia planned for the end of the year perhaps some further thought is needed on the activation process, which is all part of the drama of the game, but may need adjusting from unit level to a battle group arrangement, and I am sure the chaps will be considering options for future games.

The Spanish infantry are victorious having driven off, or about to, their French opponents, with the three '1's for saving dice throws, seen here, indicating another French attack about to fall apart.

Thank you to Stephen and Alex for pulling this very entertaining and enjoyable to play game together, and to John, Matthew, Mike and Sam for their company and creating the drama and fun of playing it.

JJ