Milanese V Borgia Papal battle report

Well another Bank Holiday and as usual our lass is working, so another big game is on the cards, a rematch against Tom, Milanese V Borgia Papal at 6000pts a side- what's not to like!
So here we go again, something a bit different this time tho, I drew a map of my troops positions on a map beforehand and Tom set his army out without knowing where the enemy was, trying to second guess where your opponent will set up is fun and makes for a different type of game.
Tom set up a reinforced left flank with most of his cavalry looking to roll up my line from the end!

 

 this was my right flank, not a lot to stop the might of the Milanese nobility, some timid skirmishers and a couple of mercenary crossbow bands.

 

Detail of Toms' left flank, masses of heavy cavalry covered by light horse and backed up by mercenary pike block- talk about overkill!!

 

 

Toms' centre, mercenary pike supported by militia pike and heavy cavalry.

 

Toms' right flank, militia handguns behind earthworks. This will cause problems if I charge with knights- no bonuses for chargers, trust Tom to come up with a sneaky tactic- good on 'im.

 

Papal centre, Landsknechte pike blocks and Spanish foot troops,

 

Papal left, just the same as Tom, massed cavalry covered by light horse. Pity they weren't on the other flank.

 

Turn 1 and the Milanese flank attack begins-

 

On the opposite flank the Spanish rush forward to engage the skirmishers in the wood, taking casualties all the way.

 

The Milanese heavies plough into the crossbows- only one result here!

 

The centre comes to grips,  

 

Papal right flank and the breakthrough happens, militia handgunners are no match for seasoned Spanish pikemen, the militia route and cause havoc on their way off the table.

 

 

Spanish pikemen decimated by crossbow bolts eventually get to grips with their tormentors, Landsknechte pikemen at 'Push of Pike' behind.

 

Milanese cavalry reforming after crushing crossbows under hoof! note the lack of Papal troops after seeing the devastation and fleeing rather sharpish.

 

View from behind the Milanese centre,

 

Push of Pike

 

 

The Milanese centre breaks and Spanish pike hit the heavy cavalry at the halt.

 

Then they wished they hadn't as they are wiped out, the Milanese heavy cavalry pushing forward to threaten the Papal Knights. Milanese mercenary pike defeat, route, persue and wipeout one Landsknechte pike block.

 

Milanese heavy cavalry come under arquebus shot, six saves required on a 4 up- four threes and two twos- Tom shakes his head in disbelief and swears profusely at the dice, Windy would be proud of that roll.

 

The Milanese left hook in full swing, I've opened the door trying to tempt them off the table!

 

 

The left hook is too late, the Milanese centre is all but destroyed, three more bad leadership rolls and it's all over, the Duke of Milan throws in the towel and the dice out the window!

 

The final charge of Papal knights against a valiant but decimated mercenary pikeblock.

 

Spanish swordsmen hold the village.

 

Another great game over with tales of heroism and cowardice to tell on both sides.

It's Partizan next week at Newark, I hope I remember my camera as there's always a bunch of decent games on show.

Sheffield Triples

Well yesterday I attended Sheffield Triples with Windy, the first thing I remembered when we arrived was that I'd forgotten me camera so no pictures- I hate forgetting my camera, especially when I've charged the battery and put it on the worktop ready for the morning- old timers setting in early I think.
So here goes, a picture less description if anybody's interested. Firstly the parking charge, £5.00 a car, seems steep but after parking at Salute, not so bad. Another £5.00 each to get in, (£3.00 if you're an OAP-  not me yet but Windy had a giggle) and what do you get- well this year quite a lot. After the move from the Octagon a few years back this show went down in my estimation, no atmosphere, poor games and a sort of ' we're only doing it for the money' feeling. So much so that last year I didn't go. This year however, from the first smile at the door, I felt good being there and there was a genuine enthusiasm around the games

James Roach was in attendance with his Zorndorf game. I've met James on numerous occasions and have always been impressed by his knowledge about the subject and his painting style. His blog details his painting regime and the output is astounding, I would have thought the output of painted figures would mean they were 'average' at best- nope, not this bloke- detailed, shaded, well based and presented, top class.

Like a Stone wall put on a huge Seven Years war battle, excellent figures and terrain as always. To be fair there were quite a few good games on show, by good I mean well presented, nice terrain and decently painted, based and 'flagged' figures. There were a couple of basic games where the club terrain and 'three colour painting' figures were being used, presumably these games were floor fillers.
John Grant put on a Musket and Tomahawks game that I'd have loved to play in.

The trade was well presented with the big hitters in attendance, Dave Thomas, Foundry, Old Glory and Curteys, Dave Lanchester had a few quid off me as usual. Warbases were a there with an ever growing range of decent gear.

One noticeable thing was the abundance of well painted 40k very cheap stuff in the bring and Buy, it wasn't selling, probably because of Games Workshops' policy of rehashing their rules every couple of years, and at 50 quid a shot it gets expensive to keep up.

All in all a decent day out, some nice games and some 'required' purchases, I say required but as we all know if we don't support the traders they won't be there anymore. Was it worth the parking charge and admittance? probably, the people I spoke to presenting the games were all very chatty which I like, the trade was good, the premises is bland- can't be helped I suppose- was I enthused to go home and paint/game,- yes, due directly to the friendly attitude of the lads putting on the games. The final thing I always consider is - would I go again next year?- probably, but there are better shows around- York, Partizan, Fiasco & Derby to name four that are local to me.

PS after writing this I've seen James Roachs' Olicanaladsgames blog and I don't think I'll be attending Triples again. It was going to be either Triples or Partizan this year but we decided to do both, next year it'll just be Partizan. Please see James' blog for details.

Papal Vs Milanese battle report

Another Monday Bank holiday and as usual our lass is working, being a nurse she works a lot, bless her. So it's phone calls to arrange a game, and being a full day game it's going to be a big 'un.

Tom's got a day pass from his missus and he's got a lovely Scottish medieval army - lots of pikes or long spears. As this is going to be an Italian based game the Scots are going to be classed as mercenaries in his Milanese army. I'm going to field a Papal army without any Spanish allies. We decided on 6500 points a side, this should give a decent sized game.

Initial deployments, down table shot.

Toms' right flank, Italian pike and mercs.

Toms' centre, mercenary pike and heavy cavalry.

Left flank, three heavy cavalry units, off shot are the Stradiots, mounted crossbows and light lancers.

Papal centre, Landsknechtes.

Papal left flank, Romagnol pikeblocks and Italians.

Papal right flank, three heavy cavalry units, off shot are mounted crossbows and a unit of Italian shot.

 First moves were a general advance by both sides, ineffectual artillery fire and the customary goading of both Generals, chicken impersonations abounded but neither of us took the bait- yet!

 

The Papal mounted crossbows were charged by their counterparts and decided discretion was the better part of valour, as the dice show these lads were very discrete and head off home, followed as usual, by Toms' laughter !!

 

Papal left advance infront of the hamlet, the Milanese pike and Scottish mercs stand back and enjoy the view. The skirmish screen has started picking off a few pikemen, annoying but inevitable.

 

The right flank was dominated by cavalry, jostling for position to get the first charge in.

Another down table pic after three moves, both armies advance and size up the opposition.

 

The centre clashes and the Papal Landsknechtes  come off best, the right hand pike block charged in and, with the Doppelsoldner special rule, got the upper hand, hence the Momentum marker behind.

The Scottish got the charge in on the second Landsknechte pike block but fluffed it in spectacular fashion! They failed their break test and panicked their neighbours, both units were run down leaving a huge gap in the Milanese centre.

 

Note the large gap in the Milanese line filled with Landsknechtes, much taunting was enjoyed by the Papal Legate.

 

The left flank gets to grips.

 

After being peppered by crossbow bolts the Gendarmes lost their patience and charged the light cavalry, much to their surprise they actually caught them and, as usual when Gendarmes strike light cavalry- wiped them out.

 

Back on the left flank the Italian and right hand Romangol pike blocks broke, the centre stood firm - good lads, however, the Milanese were out of breath and couldn't catch the fleeing Papists. This would cause them problems as the pike blocks rallied and returned to the fray.

The Milanese take the road.
 

 

The Papists rally and return. They then break the Milanese and carry the field.

 

Right flank and there's not much left, the Milanese broke one unit of Papal heavies but couldn't catch them, in turn the out of position victorious Milanese unit was charged by two units of heavies and routed, this caused another two units of cavalry to call it a day and they legged it leaving the field for the Papacy.

 

Tom then threw in the towel and we called it a day.

We both agreed it was a hard fought game and could have gone either way, the main reason the Papal army was victorious was they managed to catch and wipe out units that fled from melee, the Milanese couldn't catch a cold.

There's another Bank holiday at the end of the month, hopefully another game report will follow. Before that we have Sheffield Triples show, I'll put up my thoughts on that in due course.