Fornovo 1494

 My wargame journey continues unabated, the Club this week was Bolt Action, it was supposed to be Dux Britanniarum but I have not played in years and could not find the time to re-read the rules, so Bolt Action was on standby.

Jimi wanted to play Germans so I brought my Soviets for a nice change, somewhere on the Ostfront a Tiger I had been abandoned by its crew and both sides wanted it, the Russian to either capture or destroy it and the Jerries to rescue it. I took three squads, a sniper, HMG, Dog mine team and a T-34/76. Jimi had three squads a 250/11 with 37mm anti-tank gun, MMG, sniper and mortar, I do have a couple of 250's but not the one he wanted, I do however have a 251/7 with the 37mm so gave that to Jimi, I came to regret being so kind. The Soviets get a free squad in Bolt Action and it can be tooled up to the nines, all for free, I have never liked this but I did take the squad with rifles only, just this once as it goes against the grain.

Tiger, tiger.

The Red tide.

NKVD.

We both moved fairly quickly on the Tiger's position, I started off well and had soon wiped out the MMG team, put some hurt on one of the squads and eventually caused the sniper to move off. Then it all went wrong, the little 37mm opened up with deadly accuracy and my casualties began to climb, to add to the carnage the mortar also managed to bring in some accurate fire and I began to really suffer. My own troops and the T-34 couldn't hit a barn door. As time went on I got Fido or maybe Fidor to run at the immobile Tiger, it was all in vain as I found out the best the mine dog could do was to make the tank immobile, duh. I wanted to bring the T-34 over to knock out the annoying halftrack but I was too late. Jimi got a convincing and well deserved win. He has obviously done a deal with the devil as his luck was pretty good for 'Lucky' Jimi.

Fido or Fidor.

The menace.

Tin can.

Next up was a trial of Pike and Shotte for the Italian Wars, I have information from the internet and the rule book and tried to make sense of it and get some army lists done but once again I found I was out of time, not helped by a flying visit from my sister and brother, much as it was appreciated. So I went for the Fornovo scenario and army lists from the recent book by Rodolfo Verginella, I did drop the Imperial light cavalry who at the end of the day simply went for the baggage train, a wargamer would not do this and use them as a flank attack, so I solved the problem by simply leaving them off.

Stewart's car.

On a walk in Morecambe today.

 Stewart came up from Preston having took the day off work and arrived in a beautiful blue Morgan sports car, excellent craftsmanship. I digress, Stewart took the Venetians and I commanded the French, historically the French won but it is a hard one for a wargamer to win I think without penalising the Venetians. I was especially fearful of my right flank which had no cavalry and my centre which was heavily outnumbered with basically no infantry to talk about, my left had the indomitable Swiss and cavalry so I was expecting good things from this division if I could get them into action quickly enough.

French Army.

Let them come lads.

Move damn you, move!

The battle opened and my right advanced cautiously, thankfully the enemy cavalry here blundered and moved away to the flank, I held the centre back and again lady luck smiled as the leading Italian cavalry were also confused and ended up retreating to the rear (another blunder). I saw it was now time to get the Swiss into action supported by their Gendarmes, they inched forward then gave up, even as the enemy cavalry here also retreated, nothing I could do could get this division to move and take advantage of the enemy's disorder.

Venetian centre in disarray.

My right flank about to go.

Meanwhile my right had attacked the enemy pike as they forded the Taro river, they performed wonderfully and I thought Plan A was going to work, but very quickly as the melee continued my French infantry were badly beaten and dispersed, my right as I had feared had gone. My Gendarmes threw themselves at the French pike in the centre and were naturally beaten back, ouch, still the Swiss refused to move, only the confusion and lack of aggressivenes by the Italian commander in the centre was saving me.

At last the Swiss got into the action and predictably destroyed their opponents, although by then I had lost my Gendarmes on this flank but Stewart had also lost a unit of Lanze Spezzate which evened things a bit. Things now get a bit hazy but the upshot was that I lost my centre and right, Stewart lost his right and also his left, however my Swiss had to run the gauntlet of the Venetians guns to take on his centre and I doubt they would have survived the cannonade. We called it a draw, but I think Stewart had the edge if we had continued.

 

Italian centre still reluctant to close.

 

Swiss giving up under cannonade.

So, what did I think of Pike and Shotte, looking back the battle was actually quite good and fairly exciting, I however detest the rule whereby if you are shot at and receive a six on the die you are 'disordered' and cannot move in your next turn. Perhaps it is the use of the word disordered that offends me the most, I fail to see why a Swiss pike block would take a crossbow quarrel and suddenly stop and disregard the wishes of its commander. Now I can just about live with the fact that some divisions simply refuse to move and I can understand this mechanic but to simply call a halt to an advance by being shot at, which lets face it would be expected, I just see red. I also know that originally these rules were for a close group who fought huge battles on big tables, but on anything less, even a table tennis table units getting to move three times is just simply wrong. In the end I would probably have been just as happy to play this game with Furioso and get a better feel for the period. Yes I might play them again here with guys more familiar with rules from the same stable but no disorder from sixes and no third move.

Venetian camp.

Italian batteries.

I haven't manged any more painting and my Stradiots still sit silently on the paint table no doubt giving me the evil eye. I have one more game to go on Sunday as my son and grandson are visiting, no idea what we are doing yet, after that a bit of a rest due to real life before playing Julian again later in the month.