Pavia Refight

Today I went up north to my mate Robbie's for a game of Pike and Shotte. We'd arranged the game at the York show and today was the day. Tom came over as he's moved up that way, along with John and Colin. Robbie had arranged to fight Pavia, a straight refight using the set up from the book. Rob would provide the French, I'd bring along the Imperialists.

On arrival we diced for sides, John and Colin would be on my side, Tom would partner Rob.

 

This is the site the slumbering French awoke to on the morning of Pavia, Imperialists emerging from the dawn.

 

A view up the table, the French and Swiss are trying to pass their command rolls, and failing miserably, much to the Imperialist amusement!

Johns' Italian and Spanish can be seen advancing on the right, my Landsknechtes advance (slowly) in the centre.

 

Colins' cavalry and light infantry command set off around the woods on the left flank-

 

 

Only to be met by the cream of the French Nobility screened by Stradiots.

This was going to be a see saw engagement all day.



 

 

 

Rob being embarrassed after ANOTHER lucky dice roll.

The Landsknechtes get stuck in to Toms Swiss in the centre.

 



 Push of pike.

 

 The Swiss arquebusiers first hold up Frundsbergs pike block then push them back, eventually breaking the command, they didn't even need the Swiss pikes!!!

 Frundsbergs command falling back after losing two pike blocks and having three Shaken units are finished as an effective fighting force.

 

 

During the game Robs C-in-C had been killed along with his Gendarmes, Colin had taken the wood and secured the left flank, John had broken the Black Bande and taken the French Command post, this gave us enough victory points to win even though Tom had held up and pushed back my Landsknechtes in the centre.
I'm still not sure about Pike and Shotte but it gives the opportunity to have a big game with minimum fuss. I'll give them another couple of goes to see if I can get my head round them, otherwise they'll be Ebay bound.
Rob, John and Colin have very good blogs, which can be found here-
http://slimreidy1.blogspot.co.uk/
 http://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.co.uk/
http://carryingsonupthedale.blogspot.co.uk/

I know Rob and Colin do a lot better write ups than me so treat yourselves and have a gander.



Landsknechte pikemen

Every now and again, just like most gamers, I hit the proverbial 'painting wall' where I can't get going and spend more and more time away from the painting table. I used these little fellers as a way to overcome this and get my enthusiasm running again. I loved painting these and at some time in the not too distant future I can see me painting another block, or two.

 

 

 I've two pike blocks of 40 men each, based so I can split them down to 20's,  24's or 36's as the game dictates. Within the two blocks there's a mixture of manufacturers but mainly I have one block of Wargames Foundry figures and the other of Pro Gloria figures with a smattering of Peter Gilder figures. On the matter of mixing manufacturers figures I've always done this, an extra mm here and there adds variation.

A good friend of mine, John Reidy of the Independent Wargames Group  ( Robbies' Blog link- http://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.co.uk/  ) always put a mounted commander in his pike blocks and I really liked the effect so, as any self respecting wargamer would do - I pinched the idea, hence the Gendarme with the standard in the front rank.

 

All the standards are printed on cloth from Petes' flags, link-   http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.com/

When I game with these I like to advance in echelon covered by a cloud of skirmishers, they don't manoeuvre very well so I use a straightforward 'advance to contact' policy. Sometimes they steamroller the opposition, other times they get caught in the flanks and bog off back home pretty sharpish but I love 'em an will keep employing 'em.

 

The Pro Gloria lads.

 

The Foundry boys.



 

Close up of the Gendarme standard bearer.

I hope you like the Landsknechtes, I don't as yet have any Swiss, no doubt this will change when I expand my French army- so much to do and enjoy!

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.

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.