Di-sas-ter

Julian turned up for another Italian Wars game, I had been thinking of earthworks ever since I started my Imperials and especially now that I had moved on to my Spanish contingent, these guys loved earthworks the way I like hot crumpets with plenty of butter. I had managed to put some of these together (more below) so wanted to use them, I had set my sights on the battle of Marignano but couldn't quite find the time to organise it properly, so I came up with a mish mash of Marignano and Bicocca and hoped for the best.

To this end the French army lined the earthworks with arquebusiers and two cannon, supported to the rear by two Landsknecht pike blocks and one Italian (they came out of the box first) on the right flank was four cavalry units and on the left three. Although these could have raced off and possibly caused the enemy pike some anxiety I wanted the Swiss to at least get to the defences to see how the rules worked so I decided to hold them back for the first couple of moves. The Swiss had one huge pike block supported by  two smaller ones on each flank, the cavalry which were a mix and match bunch were on each flank. The pregame event meant two of Julian's cavalry units had become fatigued having had to march through mud in order to deploy, but it made no difference to the game.

Swiss in foreground.

French positions.

Swiss deploy.

In keeping with the idea behind the game the Swiss infantry came on in good style, the French artillery began poorly with long range fire, as the pike blocks got closer casualties did begin to fall and I hoped these would help if and when the pikes breasted the ramparts and my infantry fell on them. Once the Swiss were committed I loosed my cavalry in an attempt to sweep away the enemy horse and then turn in on the engaged pikes, at first this went well and things looked good. I managed to knock back the Swiss pikes opposite my right flank with gunfire but the other two climbed the barricade, I lost a gun and two units of shot very quickly, however the large Swiss centre had become disordered, but so had my left flank Landsknechts as a shot unit retreated through them, this was a heavy blow. The Italian morale held as the shot unit to their front disintegrated, but they lost out on the initiative roll and the large pike block hit them before they could charge in. Mayhem broke out all along the line, my cavalry after doing so well were stopped and began to lose out, I lost another gun as the left flank Swiss finally made it to the breastworks.

 

Main Ward reaches the breastworks.

As they were disordered I saw a chance to hit the enemy hard and turn the tide, Anne de Montmorency personally led a unit of Gendarmes into the enemy flank, we were unsure of how this worked but it did not work in my favour, despite the efforts of Montmorency the cavalry were knocked back and the general could not be found in the retreat. It was now my Landsknechts and the Italians broke under severe pressure from the Swiss, I still had my right flank unit which had been delayed in its attack due to having to manouvre past the surviving shot to their front. With my cavalry losing the fight and only one decent unit surviving King Francis left the field.

The Swiss clear the lines.

 

The Swiss break through.

A great game and a good try out for the rules on fortifications, quite a few questions were raised which I will seek answers for after perusing the rule book again. During most of our games the firing has not caused a great deal of punishment but several times today the Swiss lost stands as they came in to close range, so the Spaniards were definitely on to a good thing with field works., I had hoped this would help when my supports moved in but my infantry let me down and they were too close behind the front line so that when the shot did run or were pushed back they caused disorder behind them. So another step in learning the rules and a terrific set to.

I mentioned my field works above, I bought the gun emplacements from mate Colin at Charlie Foxtrot and he also cut me bases for the breastworks. On the bases I stuck a baton of wood I got from B&Q or some such and then filled it in with Polyfilla, on the back I stuck coffee stirrers and matchsticks, I then painted everything with earth or wood grain, drybrushed and flocked. The emplacements are really nice, the rest will do for now.

On the figure front I painted up more arquebusiers for my Spanish, I also managed to sell several Old West buildings on eBay which I no longer required having bought too many in the first place so I have ordered up more figures, arquebusiers, heavy cavalry, light cavalry and more pikes. I found I had over ordered on pikemen when the big order arrived so only needed a few to put another pike block of Italians/Neapolitans together, see, saving money really.

This week at the club I took part in the new flavour of the month game What a Cowboy from Too Fat Lardies and immediately identified him as the guy who laid the slabs in my back garden. Seriously though all I can say is that the game is not a patch on Dead Man's Hand, in my opinion of course, so who cares. A big thanks to Stuart though who as ever presented a professional game for us complete with all his excellent 3D bits and pieces and helpful cards.

It looks like I shall be going to Partizan after all, a day out with Julian and Stuart, although I do not need anything who knows what I shall see, there are a couple of Helion books I am after.