The Lilies Triumphant

 A quiet day ahead, no large map projects, some tweaking to do with a couple but nothing else except wait for Storm Agnes, what used to be known as bad weather, at least it will keep the weathermen happy while BBC reporters don wellies and look for puddles to stand in and 16 year old females howl that the end is nigh.

No club last night, the school was having a sixth form meet for parents or some such and therefore parking was going to be at a premium, so we decided to give it a miss, I therefore offered a game here in the even more spacious budding War Room. It was going to be Italian Wars as I missed last months game with Julian due to his work schedule, it was a four player battle French vs Imperial/Spanish, Jimi and I were Imperials and Dan and Fran were the French. The sides were equal in units but quite different in the make up of the forces, the French infantry was slightly inferior to the Imperial foot but they had a Swiss pike block to make up for it, their cavalry was superior to the Imperial horse but with a little bit of luck that could be handled. It was a simple game as Dan had not played before and Jimi and Fran had had only one small introductory game at the club, there was a crossroads in the centre of the open battlefield which one side or the other had to capture.

We split the armies into two divisions each, I was opposite Dan while Jimi held our right flank, Dan had held back his Italian pike so I saw an opportunity to race forward and assault his Landsknechts before the cautious Italians could intervene, he also left one of his gendarme units in the rear mistakenly taking them for less armoured Archers, so I also felt that as I had the one elite cavalry unit in our army I could take on and beat his advanced cavalry. On my right Jimi also advanced quickly with his infantry while his cavalry were slowed down due to an annoying hill to their front.

 

Jimi's infantry.

Imperial left flank.

Swiss advance while Old Band wait.

The Imperial army received a Papal blessing so advanced confidently as the battle opened, the French artillery opened up and handed out some heavy losses to Jimi's Landsknechts, a bad start, nonetheless his men drove on. My cavalry were soon in action against Dan's gendarmes and for a moment, just a moment it looked like things were going to plan, then disaster struck and my elite cavalry were destroyed while the others were held up and losing the fight. On the right our plan to put some hurt into the Swiss before they came to blows was in disarray, Jimi's artillery, skirmish screens and Spanish shot failed miserably to inflict casualties on the burghers from the mountains. The best mercenaries in Europe smashed into the Spanish pike block and quickly routed it, this loss caused the nearby Landsknechts to stop their advance and retire, Plan A had failed. Nearby Fran and Jimi's cavalry now clashed and this went too and fro but eventually the French won the upper hand.

French and Imperial Landsknechts clash.

Old Band still skulking.

Just before the end.

I had now managed get one of my pike formations into action but it was a hard slog, my cavalry were in a mess and then the hard fighting pikes were hit in the flank by cavalry sent over by Fran, this was the death knell of the army, the Imperials had shot their bolt and could now only react as the still largely untouched French army swamped the battlefield.

Useless French artillery (Jimi's)

Triumphant Swiss.

And there you have it, a great game and a lovely wargaming spectacle. I had been hoping for a little luck for my cavalry and didn't get it, on my other flank Fran's incredible die luck was the complete opposite of Jimi's. Our plan to shoot up the Swiss as they advanced was a disaster while the French artillery in contrast knocked lumps out of our infantry. 

In other news I finished a second unit of Jinettes/Ginets for the Imperials, light cavalry have still to make their mark on my battlefields and I am not sure they ever will in stand up fights. I also took stock of where I am with the Imperial army, I needed one more pike block and quite a few cavalry units so these were ordered and are on their way, the pikes arrived from Wargames Foundry yesterday. My favourite heavy cavalry types from Steel Fist are out of stock and Simon is unwell so I turned to the Perry's for these, I have went for the metal Scurrours from their Wars of the Roses range which I think will do, I have one unit on the way and if they are OK I will get some more to finish the army off. Casting Room Miniatures do a heavy cavalry type figure but it is not up to standard and is quite wooden and mainly unarmoured. The use of plastic even jumped into my mind, but thankfully only for a few nanoseconds, although I suppose I could drill out the plastic lance and replace with metal, but only in the most dire of cirumstances.

Not a lot on the cards at the moment, mate Matt Crump is recovering so no games here or in Penrith for the moment, nothing else planned for the war room for now and I have guests over the next couple of weekends (I think) so only weekdays are free for now. Italian Wars albeit much smaller will be at the club next week against Simon.

The dice below were left behind as Jimi left last night, they are for sale although the 1, 2 and 3 facings will need refurbished while the 4, 5 and 6 facings are like new.