An Italian Wars scenario for Pike and Shotte with The Four Arquebusiers

 Just before Covid Steve floated the idea of  Alasdair and Phil and I visiting him for a gaming weekend.  Well events conspired to delay that happening.  Happily, this year over the Bank Holiday weekend we managed to get together.  Steve had set up an Italian Wars game for the Saturday and we had a  Lion Rampant game on the Sunday.  For the Saturday game Alasdair and I commanded the French. Phil and Steve the Imperialists.

There was a great deal of back and forth during the day, so here are a few photographs of some of the action.

A view along the table, with the convent, scene of heavy fighting
nearest the camera

The Imperialist right prepare to advance

On the French left, Phil moves his cavalry to the 
left of the farm

The Imperialist cavalry move round the convent

The French skirmisher cavalry driven back by Imperialist Men at Arms

Phil's Imperial cavalry charge home on mine and engage in a 
struggle which would ebb and flow all day

Phil's pike units begin their advance

Alasdair's cavalry take on Steve's

Screened by arquebusiers Phil's pike advance on the hill
in my centre

The struggle for the hill

Alasdair takes control of the convent

My pike reassert control of the hill

In the centre, the landsknechts drive back Alasdair's Swiss

By the end of the gaming day, the Imperial forces clearly had the upper hand.  All my cavalry units were in a shaken or disordered state and the majority of my infantry had been routed from the field.  For his part, Alasdair had secured the convent, but it had been isolated.  The Imperial gendarmes had driven back their French counterparts and the Swiss had been bested by the landsknechts.  There would no doubt be some harsh words exchanged between the French and their Swiss mercenaries at French HQ in the aftermath of the battle.

Although Phil and Alasdair were unfamiliar with the version of Pike and Shotte Steve and I play they picked things up quickly and the game flowed.  There was also plenty of badinage, especially at some rather extreme die rolling by both sides.

On the Sunday, as time was limited,  we played a game of Lion Rampant, trying out a scenario which may well appear as the Lance & Longbow game at the Phalanx show next month.

The whole weekend was a most enjoyable experience, Steve and Gwen were excellent hosts and it was the general opinion that we should hold a similar event next year.

Vapnartak 2026

 A bit late with this report, though there were extenuating circumstances, of which more, later.  Surprisingly, given the lousy weather we have been having, the trip over the Pennines was not too bad this year.  We were travelling later than usual as this year Steve and I were not putting on a game for the Lance & Longbow society.  Arriving about 10.30, we found that there was still a queue of people waiting to get in, half an hour after the opening time.  However, the club were very efficient handling the queue and we gained entry without too long a delay.

The one game shown as being on the ground floor was not present and it seemed like the number of traders there had been thinned out a little, with some moving to the 1st floor.  This all meant that it was fairly easy to move around.

The games were all on the 2nd floor and 2nd Mezzanine and were all participation games.

The East Leeds Militaria Society had a naval game based on the war between the Imperial and Shogunate navies in 1869.  Steve and I had a go at this and it was very easy to pick up.  The ships seemed to all have different layouts and weights of guns which made for some rather confused fighting and seemingly reckless ramming!  The naval action in the bay was framed by some very nice terrain, forts and port facilities.

This year being the 250th anniversary of the AWI/Revolutionary War, the Brompton Bankers were presenting "An incident at Cartwright's Tavern".

The Crown forces

The Locals

The Revolutionary forces

The Harrogate Wargames Club had an Italian Wars game.

 

Ken Riley had his Germantown game there as well, but it has been extensively photographed on its various outings.   Harrogate also had a Cold War gone hot game,  York wargames Club had two games and there were two "Wings of Glory" games.

The emphasis seems to be more on the trade than on the games, especially larger games; though with the games being placed on the upper floors that is perhaps reasonable.

To return to the late appearance of this report.  Well, after 45 years we are moving house.  This has resulted in some disruption to normal routines, (no figure painting for a good three weeks, no games hosted for nearly a month and all my books being boxed up).  It has taken six months to get to the position that we will, hopefully, be moving soon, but how long it will take to organise things once we do move is anyone's guess.

San Cassiano; a return to the Italian Wars

 For the last 3 or 4 weeks we have been trying to become better acquainted with "Sharp Practice" and we have now (hopefully) reached the stage where games are no longer interrupted by pauses while a particular rule is checked.  With two players and and a 'chit drawer' there is no time for the photos or making notes on the progress of the game both of which inform a post on the blog.  However, this week, we returned to more familiar territory, courtesy of a scenario devised by Steve.

The scenario is set in Italy during the Italian Wars and those two old protagonists the Duc du Merlot, commanding the French forces and the Count of Tempranillo commanding their Imperialist opponents, are both seeking a decisive battle.  The two sides met in the vicinity the minor settlement of San Cassiano.  The French, with their Swiss allies, have a slight advantage in cavalry, whereas the Imperialists have slightly more infantry.  Both commanders deploy in the classic way, cavalry on the flanks and infantry in the centre. The Duc du Merlot entrusted his right wing to the Comte de Malbec and the left to the Comte de Chardonnay.  In the centre were the Swiss and French pike blocks,  two units of crossbowmen, a light gun and a unit of halberdiers, all commanded by Lord Landroter.  Tempranillo entrusted his right wing to the Duke of Barbera and his left to Count Trebbiano.  In the centre Graf von Spatburgunder commanded the landsknecht pikes, a light gun, a unit of halberdiers and two units of arquebusiers.

The view from the Imperialist right wing

The battle began with a relatively slow advance by both armies, with the exception of Chardonnay's stradiots, who galloped forward, intent on driving off Barbera's mounted arquebusiers.  Minor casualties were inflicted by the arquebusiers, but this did not deter the stardiots from charging and unwilling to cross swords, the arquebusiers evaded, falling back in disorder.

The stradiots drive off the mounted arquebusiers

On the opposite flank Malbec continued his rather lethargic advance, perhaps heavy going slowed his gendarmes, but Trebbiano did not mind, as he was reluctant to advance too far and offer a broader front for the French to attack.  A desultory skirmishing between the mounted crossbowmen and mounted arquebusiers began, with the arquebusiers having the better of the exchanges

Little action on the Imperialist left

With his gendarmes seemingly happy to sit on their horses and await events and a messenger arriving from his commander demanding "What are you doing?" Malbec ordered a charge by his light cavalry

This resulted in an inconclusive melee, where both sides ended up having to fall back to reorder.

Meanwhile, in the centre, both bodies of infantry had advanced and the crossbowmen and arquebusiers had begun exchanging fire.  Behind them, the pike blocks had advanced, though to Lord Randroter's chagrin, the Swiss advance had been much slower than that of the French; later, accounts circulated that  reassurances regarding pay had been sought before the Swiss would commit to battle.  In any event it was the French pikemen who charged first and initially pushed back the landsknechts facing them.

The French attack

A second shove by the French caused some wavering in the landsknecht ranks and a third completed their defeat, the remnants streaming from the field.  The Swiss had now begun their advance and as they neared the Imperialist lines the Imperialist arquebusiers shot at them.  This had little effect and in a rather desperate attempt to buy some time, Spatburgunder ordered his halberdiers forward 

The Swiss close in

On the Imperialist right, Barbera's struggle with Chardonnay was reaching a decisive point.  Two units of gendarmes had charged each other and fought to a standstill, both having to withdraw to re-organise.  A second unit of Imperial gendarmes now charged a French unit of men at arms and routed them, but became disordered in the process.

A victory for the Imperial right wing

However, now the French began to gain the upper hand.  First one of their gendarme units charged and routed a unit of Imperial men at arms; then a re-match between the two units of gendarmes resulted in the rout of the Imperial unit. 

A French one...

two...

This left Barbera with a battered unit of gendarmes and a unit of mounted arquebusiers to try and hold back the French attack.  This he was unable to do and soon the gendarmes were threatening the flank of Spatburgunder's infantry

Chardonnay's units threaten the Imperial centre

They already had their hands full.  Spatburgunder had ordered forward a second landsknecht pike unit to try and halt the French advance, but they had fared no better than the previous unit and the survivors were soon streaming to the rear.

The unit of halberdiers had made no impression on the Swiss pike block; the Swiss barely missing a step as they rolled forward.

The halberdiers rout

The Swiss also made short work of the arquebusiers and this left Spatburgunder with only one formed body of troops, his third pike block.   However, they faced not only the now rampant Swiss, but also two units of gendarmes.

As do the arquebusiers

On the Imperial left Trebbiano was having some success.  Not only had he despatched the French mounted crossbowmen, but some unusually quiescent French gendarmes had simply stood as his heavy cavalry charged.  The French had routed and Trebbiano was contemplating a general advance when a rider arrived from Tempranillo ordering a retreat.

A decisive victory for the Duc du Merlot; and the Graf von Spatburgunder will have some explaining to do about the sorry performance of the landsknechts.

An Italian Wars scenario for Pike and Shotte

 What follows is a short report on a recent game at Steve's.  It is over two years since an Italian Wars game featured on the blog, so a reappearance was long overdue.  Once again those doughty campaigners the Duc de Merlot and the Duke of Barbera are facing each other on the field of battle.  Both armies have cavalry on the wings and infantry in the centre; the armies are fairly well matched, the French Gendarmes have a slight edge over their Imperialist rivals, but the Imperialists have arquebus armed troops to take on the French crossbows.  The main grudge match is likely to be between the Swiss and Landsknecht pikemen commanded by Lord Landroter and the Graf von Spatburgunder repectively.  The objective for both commanders is to defeat the enemy and continue their advance.

A view along the battlefield with the Imperialist forces on the left

The battle opened with the Imperial left wing cavalry, commanded by the Count of Trebbiano moving slowly forward, the stradiots towards a low ridge and the gendarmes to cover a gap between the ridge and a wood.  Opposite them, the Comte de Carignan responded by ordering his gendarmes to charge the Imperial gendarmes and his mounted arquebusiers to drive back the stradiots.  The French prevailed in both combats, the stradiots streaming from the field and the gendarmes being pushed back in disorder.

The clash of gendarmes on the French right

In the centre, the French seized the initiative and moved their crossbowmen into the farm and a unit of Swiss pikes down the road to support a second unit of crossbowmen.  Barbera responded by sending a unit of arquebusiers to drive the French crossbowmen from the farm  and requested Spatburgunder to drive off the  troops on the road.  The Graf, seeking an easy victory launched his Swiss pikemen against a second unit of crossbowmen who were supporting the Swiss. 

The French push forward in the centre

Spatsburgunder responds

On the Imperial right the opposing cavalry wings seemed content to merely observe each other, while the fighting was being done elsewhere.  In the centre, the arquebusiers had managed to inflict heavy casualties on the crossbowmen and abandoned their up to now successful tactics, decided to charge.  This ended in failure as the crossbowmen put up a stout defence and sent the Imperial troops back in rout.  Worse was to follow as the landsknechts were defeated by the crossbowmen.  Although the pikemen charged home with minimal casualties, they could not push back the determined crossbowmen.  After losing two rounds of melee the pikemen routed, to much jeering from the French.

On the Imperial left the cavalry had been decisively defeated.  All the units had been driven from the field, allowing the Comte de Carignan to redress the ranks before wheeling towards the centre.

The French right outflanks the Imperialist centre

With Trebbiano's command having been driven from the field, The Duke of Barbera ordered von Spatburgunder to swing one of his pike blocks to the left to try and keep open a line of retreat.   A small Swiss pike block charged and captured the Imperialist light artillery.  This was followed by the French crossbowmen shooting at the landsknechts and inflicting significant casualties.  The 'coup de grace' was performed by the French gendarmes, whose charge shattered the pike block and opened the way for the envelopment of the Imperial army.

Count Tempranillo manged to extract his cavalry and rejoin The Duke of Barbera and von Spatburgunder with the pitiful remnants of the Imperial army.  He found the two men in a rather acrimonious 'discussion' as to the performance of the much vaunted landsknechts.  The Graf was putting forward his view that the feeble performance of Trebbiano's cavalry contributed significantly to the defeat and it was his men who had died trying to save the day.  One thing is certain, that when the  report was submitted to the Emperor, it would make interesting reading.

Many thanks to Steve for devising the scenario and to Bob for commanding the French forces.

San Giovese : a Lion Rampant scenario for the RECON show

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last month, it is not that we haven't met for games, more a question of lacking the 'muse' to help with the reports.  However, we have been busy setting up a scenario for a participation game at the RECON show at Pudsey on the first Saturday in December.  As usual it will be under the banner of the Lance & Longbow Society and we will be using our much amended version of the Lion Rampant rules by Dan Mersey.

Our game this year will be at the end of the period covered by the Lance and Longbow Society, being set in the last years of the 15th century and involve gendarmes, stradiots, pikemen, militia and a variety of missile troops.

The Imperial Right flank deployment

 Our scenario envisages the French and Imperial vanguards encountering each other as they advance to secure the are around San Giovese to provide food and fodder for the main force.  To encourage quick play there is a time limit (this also has the advantage of letting participants know that they are only committed to the game for a limited time).

The Italian allies of the French

Cavalry on the French right

The opposing light cavalry skirmish

Some unfortunate mounted arqubusiers caught in a 'gendarme sandwich'

 The show is on at the usual venue and the orgainsers are hoping to run a bring and buy stall (provided COVID restrictions are not increased of course).  Details of the traders due to attend are here

https://wdwgamers.weebly.com/recon-2021.html

 

Rearguard action at Santa Corona: an Italian Wars scenario for Pike and Shotte

Another of our Skype games, hosted by Steve.  The Imperialist forces commanded by the Duke of Barbera are falling back after a failed attack on a French strong point.  They are being pursued by the Duc de Merlot and Barbera has chosen the Pandemia Pass as a place to set up a delaying action.  The pass has a handy strong point, the Convent della Santa Corona, named after the fragment of the crown of thorns which is held there.

The pass from behind Merlot's force

Merlot had 8 units of cavalry, spread equally between the Comte de Carignan (right flank) and the Marquis de Gamay (left flank), each commander having 2 units of gendarmes, one of men at arms and one of stradiots.  In the centre were the Swiss under Lord Landroter, two units of pike, two of arquebusiers, one of halberdiers and a light gun.

To hold the pass Barbera had the landskneckts commanded by Graf von Spatburgunder, with two units of arquebusiers, one of which was placed within the precincts of the convent, and a light gun.  On the Imperial right the Marquis of Tempranillo had two units of gendarmes, one of men at arms and a unit of mounted arquebusiers.  The Count of Trebbiano was stationed on the left with one unit of gendarmes, two of men at arms and a unit of mounted crossbowmen.

The Imperialist forces holding the pass

As the battle began, the French light cavalry advanced quickly, but the heavier units were rather more circumspect.  It was the same in the centre. The right hand unit of arquebusiers advanced to take on their opposite numbers, but the remainder of the Swiss seemed reluctant to move.  Merlot had had suspicions that this would happen, Lord Landroter had 'happened to mention' during the advance that the area beyond the pass was outside the theatre of operations for which he had originally been contracted and therefore perhaps some financial arrangement needed to be negotiated?   Merlot thought that the matter had been deferred, but Landroter now made the most of the situation.  Something needed to be done as the arquebusiers were isolated, apart from the single light cavalry unit from Carignan's command and the enemy cavalry were moving forward.  Fortunately, Carignan had now got the rest of his command moving and a general melee ensued as more units joined the fray.

The cavalry melee between Carignan and Trebbiano

On the opposite flank a small area of marsh funneled the advance of Gamay's men.  The leading  unit of gendarmes passed to the left of it whilst the men at arms moved to the right, covering the flank of the Swiss.  Gamay's stradiots had been driven back by the mounted arquebusiers, which left the gendarmes exposed to fire.  Not willing to stand for this, the gendarmes charged and drove back their tormentors.  They in turn were charged by Tempranillo's gendarmes and a slogging match ensued.

Merlot had at last persuaded Landroter to advance and capture the pass and the remaining Swiss began to lumber forward.  It was just in time as the arquebusiers had had the worst of the shooting exchanges with their Imperial opponents and were in need of rallying.  The second unit of Swiss arquebusiers moved towards the convent and engaged the Imperialist arquebusiers stationed there.  Making good speed along the road, the small unit of halberdiers swept by the arquebusiers who were attempting to rally and charged the Imperial arquebusiers.  These were driven back with heavy losses and to steady the defence, Spatburgunder sent forward one of his pike units.  The halberdiers had now come under fire from the Imperial light gun.  However, panicking as the halberdiers moved towards them, the gun crew bungled the loading procedure.  This produced a misfire which put the gun out of action.   The halberdiers now charged the advancing Imperialist pikes.  Against the odds, they  prevailed, but at considerable cost, needing to rally before they could advance again

The gallant halberdiers send the landsknechts packing

Things were not going well for Barbera on the wings either.  Tempranillo had managed to push Gamay's leading unit of gendarmes back, but at the cost of committing his second gendarmes unit.  When Gamay responded in kind Tempranillo's leading unit was routed and his second unit disordered by the rout.  Only the need for Gamay's men to rally saved Tempranillo's command because at the same time a melee had taken place between the two units of men at arms.  This had been a hard fought draw, with the result that both units were disordered and had to fall back to rally  On the opposite flank Trebbiano's men had fared even worse.  One unit of men at arms had been routed by Carignan's men at arms and the other had been driven from the field by one of the gendarmes units.  Trebbiano's gendarmes had tried to stem the flow, but had been forced to fall back, saved by their opponents having to pause to rally.

Trebbiano's gendarmes retreat

Merlot now joined Landroter and together they led the remaining Swiss pike block forward.  This large phalanx drove the last of infantry units defending the road through the pass back in disorder.  Barbera now had no option but to fall back, leaving the gallant defenders of the convent to shift for themselves.  They were fortunate that Merlot was in a mellow mood.  He allowed them to join the retreat as long as they left all their arms and equipment behind.  The convent had a renowned guest house for pilgrims and he was assured of a good meal tonight.  In addition, the convent's excellent wine cellar may smotth the negotiations with Lord Landroter.

The final position