Swiss Again and Konigsberg Finishes

 I got a call last week out of the blue to say mate Robert would be in the area and if I had time would I like to play something, we had been playing a Chain of Command campaign but that sadly has had to be put on indefinte hold. We decided therefore to do something Italian Wars, I once again looked through the new book to find something not too large and fairly simple, I went for Agnadello. Basically the Venetians were caught on the march and they were decisively beaten by the French after a heroic attempt at holding them off, they were not helped by some of their troops withdrawing and leaving the remainder to be slaughtered.

Robert took the French as he had dabbled in Renaissance warfare a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and had had a French army. The scenario has an allowance for the Venetian and French reinforcements to turn up but I elected to fight without them as we did not have the time so I was hoping that my pike blocks behind the dry ditch would hold off the Swiss and with a bit of luck my right would also hold, otherwise I was doomed.

French on the left, Venetians on the right.

Venetian right.

French left.

I gingerly moved my right flank forward as the French send mounted crossbows around that flank and two Swiss blocks to try and flank the ditch on the left. Surprisingly Robert managed to keep his men from going hell for leather against the Venetians as he sent his Gendarmes against my centre. At least he did up to a point, one of the Swiss units which had been trying to turn my flank gave up and went for the defenders behind the ditch, if they became disordered perhaps I would have a chance. The French Gendarmes in the centre wiped out my Stradiots and to my suprise a small pike block which had had the temerity to attack them, at the same time the Swiss facing my right made short work of my Italian shot, I was struggling to hold back the enemy tide. 

The clash on the Venetian right.

The right collapses.

 

The Swiss breach the breastworks.

 My own men-at-arms were now attacked on my left and were soon whittled down and were ready to run for the rear, further along the Swiss had indeed been disordered fighting over the ditch but were still throwing back my men. On my right my army had gone, there was nothing between my survivors and the rest of the French army, it was over.

Would the arrival of the reinforcements changed the course of the battle, probably not, it is a hard ask that the Venetians stand against the Swiss although I think it is well worth fighting, just in case. My luck had not been great and my guns failed to fire several times as the enemy advanced, Robert also seemed to have the edge with the initiative dice. Nonetheless my troops did not fight as well as the Venetians on the day.

We finished fairly early so I met Robert later for a drink and then returned in time to sort the terrain for Matt and I's last game of the Konigsberg Campaign. We did not follow the instructions as it seemed almost impossible for the Germans to win the way victory points were constructed, but in the end decided to fight a battle on each of the seven tables and see who won. We both had three wins each as we entered the final showdown. Matt had four squads some with a few men down, an MMG and a PzIV, I had a very beaten up platoon with a T-34/85 as support, I doubted the battle would be worth Matt's trip down from Penrith before he won.

An early panzer.

The German infantry surge forward.

Now Comrade!

Matt got off to a good start and managed to win the Patrol Phase and ensure I was stuck in an orchard although to be honest there was really nowhere else for me to go. The Germans came on very agressively and the tank clanked on to the road, a surprise to me at this early stage. As my turn rolled around I set up my infantry in the orchard just out of sight of the enemy, but in the next turn I decided to bring on the T34, boom, up went the Panzer, the game had just changed. To make things worse for Matt I then got an extra turn, my troops moved up in a firing line and destroyed the lead German squad, my tank also put paid to the MMG as the crew broke and left the field, German morale plummeted to 5 or 6.

The Russian defenders await.

A good shot.

More Germans.

The high point for the Soviets.

Then it all went pear shaped, my tank became virtually useless, if lucky it dealt out some shock but couldn't kill anyone, the German infantry left the church and it was my turn to recieve the hurt, a deadly turn from Matt destroyed one squad and cut another in half, I was now feeling the effect of having lost so many men in the previous battle. My NCO's were constantly hit and with the departure of one squad my morale fell from 10 to 5 in jig time. Still I held out hope as I still had a tank, sadly another deadly volley from the Germans took me to 1, even with one die I managed to get the metal beast to fire, but again it was pathetic, my last, slim chance had gone. Matt captured a JOP and it was the end.

It's all over.

The game, it swung my way for a time then back to Matt, victory for both sides was on a knife edge, I just had to hold out, but I didn't, damn tank. So Matt won (Happy Matt?), although I argued that if we had played the campaign as per the rules I would have won, and I am holding on to that, with both hands. We had some really good games from this but I think the overall campaign ladder is flawed in favour of the Russians although at times they seem to suffer from a lack of support points. Who knows, we enjoyed it.

The Roman commanders are now complete, Thrax himself along with two provincial military leaders and four Vexillation commanders. I now have my first close order Lanciarii unit primed and on the desk.

Thrax.

Thrax.

Senior officers.

Vexillation commanders.

I have ordered up three more books now that I am almost finished Douglas Murray's latest bestseller. Budapest I saw in Waterstones and was intrigued, I also saw the Siege of Malta there but got it online. I then read an article on the Hitler book in the Spectator which was interesting and decided me on getting the book, I was surprised that it was published by Osprey.

Swiss!

 Helion Wargames and other stuff editor Charles Singleton was in the hood so we decided to have a game with his newly painted Italian Wars army, and a beautiful thing it is too. I let Charles choose a scenario from the new 'Wargaming the Italian Wars' book and he chose Marignano 1515AD, mainly I think to get his Swiss on the table. 

The battle was a two day affair, on the first there was ferocious fighting as the Swiss tried to breach the French defences and silence their artillery, it was only the onset of darkness which called a halt. The next day the Swiss again assaulted the French line to no avail as the artillery and massed arquebusier fire scythed their ranks, charges by the French cavalry also pinned them and with the arrival of the Venetians even the vaunted Swiss had had enough.

I set the game up as per the new book using Furioso rules, immediately I had my doubts just how effective the cavalry would be, the Gendarmes like the real battle could only throw themselves at the pike blocks to wear them down, they probably could not actually stop them. This meant that for most of the action I simply repositioned the heavy cavalry to attack any pike block which made it across the bulwark, the light cavalry to my front I hoped would annoy the Swiss and cause some casualties and weaken them before they came to push of pike. In the end they too were pulled off to the flanks to give my guns a clear line of fire.

A view from the French position.

The French camp.

The French.

As the Swiss advanced they too had a problem getting the best use out of their artillery and the Milanese cavalry as the battlefield funneled troops between the road and the dry ditch. My artillery at first was desultory to say the least and even with the addition of my missile troops the Swiss easily shrugged off the odd casualty. I decided to let my men at the breastworks take the brunt of the enemy attack then hopefully when they were disordered and struggling send in my Landsknechts to finish them off. A heavy fusilade forced back the first block that tried to force the works but it came back again and managed to maintain its order as it cut down some crossbowmen along with a smaller French pike block. I had moved two Landsknecht blocks up for just this occurance as a large hole appeared in my line, one failed to contact while the other charged in but was pushed back by the victorious Swiss. 

The Swiss left.

Milanese and artillery.

The Swiss advance.

 A second and then a third enemy kiel smashed into my entrenchments, I lost an artillery piece but the defenders held helped by the fact that both of the new combatants had become disordered by the terrain. The main Swiss block on my right was now beginning to suffer as casualties mounted and a second Landsknecht block hit them. I rained down curses on the Germans as even with a wounded Swiss kiel to their front they were pushed back, my cavalry, now set up to hit the enemy in the flank looked on waiting their moment. The Landsknechts took the hint and reversed their backward slide and dealt out enough hurt to disorder their opponents.

Nearly there.

The French in disarry.

A fight between mortal enemies.

 

 

 With all three Swiss blocks held and disordered and with fresh mercenaries ready to enter the fray supported by Gendarmes on the wings we called a halt. Despite the fact that my cavalry had not made one charge due to the outstanding performance of my infantry they would no doubt have mopped up any Swiss survivors who cleared the breastworks. The battle is a huge ask for the Swiss commander but once we got to grips it kept us amused for several hours of fighting back and forth along the defences. I would be tempted to fight it again despite the long odds.

The rest of the Swiss hit the breastwork.

The end.

Charles kindly left me with a copy of the Helion book and if I say so myself it is an excellent wargame guide for the period which covers every aspect from the history to flags and scenarios.

I was in Darlington over Easter for my granddaughters sixteenth birthday and on the Monday we had a walk in a local park and I came upon a Russian cannon from the Crimean War, two had been requested but a political battle ensued between the Quakers, who did not want it, and the locals who did. One was eventually awarded and after a long history ended up in its present position in South Park.

Another unit has now joined the army of Maximinus Thrax, Lanciarii skirmishers. I have decided with almost half the army complete I now need to work on my officers and Thrax himself so commanders are up next. 

Snake Eyes Sunday

 James, Matt and Fran arrived Sunday morning for the third battle in our fictional ACW campaign set in the Shenandoah Valley. Various movements had resulted in James's division being reinforced by forces from Fran's division, on the opposite side Gary's Federal division had similarly had reinforcments from Matt's division, both sides were looking for a result.

Both sides had been surprised by the arrival of new troops the prevous evening, however the Union generals (I substituted for Gary) were still determined to attack as they had the edge in numbers, but only just. The Rebs as far as I could make out were happy for James's depleted division to defend the right flank while Fran on the left, who expected to be the target of the main attack, held the left and no doubt would await events. On the Federal side it was decided Matt would make main effort against James and not Fran while I would hold the right and also await developments.

Troops hidden from view.

Union forces.

Confederate forces.

Bartlett's Creek.

As the battle opened and the blue tide surged forward on my left I decided to push my strongest brigade and a cavalry regiment across the creek and pressure the Rebs who had a battery of guns there which could very quickly become a nuisance for me. This was to become my main effort for most of the battle, I did peel off two regiments to help support Matt near the stone bridge in the centre but this turned out to be a bad idea as I just got in the way and in the end simply denuded my line of two good regiments. The action on my right started badly as the cavalry skirmishers broke and ran for the rear after being canistered, I then sent an infantry regiment across with two more supporting them from my bank of the creek. Again the skirmishers were canistered and at the same time charged by Reb infantry, against all the odds and to my annoyance the skirmishers held and the Rebs retreated! If they had fled the enemy would have been sitting at the bottom of the creek and a perfect target for my supports, I gnashed my teeth.

Union left flank.

Union (me) right flank.

 

Looking over at Matt I noticed he now had a gap in his line as he concentrated on the far right of the Confederate line and the small wood beside the stone bridge, but there was still a flurry of Stars and Stripes approaching the enemy. Back on my flank I charged across the creek and sent the Reb gunners fleeing, I also pushed back their infantry support, things looked good but more Rebs were approaching, I needed to consolidate not keep attacking. Having decided to hold I tried to push more of my troops toward the right while moving artillery closer and recalling those two errant regiments, but it was not to be, every time I thought I had done it I failed morale tests and my troops fled, I eventually had five regiments behind my line either rallying or fleeing. I just could not build a line as Fran moved ever more troops forward, I did manage to knock back an attempt near my centre but it was a half hearted affair simply hoping that maybe I would lose further morale checks or just testing my resolve to hold the creek line.

Matt's main attack.

I probe the Reb left.

The volume of fire now rose from Matt's position and charges were thrown at James's defenders and sadly bounced back, there was now a log jam of Union troops trying to get to the front, at some point however Matt had captured two regiments, one infantry and one cavalry. 

I pulled Matt to the side and intimated we were getting nowhere and would simply continue to lose men to no avail if we kept attacking, the losses on both sides had not been great up to this point and the battle had been far less bloody than Thompson's Farm. My flank could not be trusted to stand and reorganise before Fran hit it possibly causing a collapse. Matt agreed and we withdrew leaving the field to the Rebs.

Matt tries to outflank the Reb defences.

The log jam on Matt's right.

An exciting game and one with some high drama as regiment after regiment on my side fled or ran out of ammo, I did rally some only for others to run leaving me without a prepared battle line, and it had looked so good at the start. Gary himself was shot from his horse at Thompson's Farm and his replacement Col. Schulz had his head taken off by a shell in this battle, BG Sinclair now leads the Third Division, a dangerous job it would seem.

Club night and although Rob had offered Muskets and Tomahawks I felt like something different so offered Chain of Command or Italian Wars, we ended up with four players so Italian Wars it was. I settled on the battle of Scannagallo again, but a mash up of the scenario from Helion's book 'All is Lost' and Rodolfo Verginella's scenario, the only terrain I put down was the dry river bed.

The battle opened and Matt and I suffered from troop delays so almost half of our troops were not on the front line, no big deal as I had decided on a slow start, Matt on the left was happy to advance, especially his cavalry. Thankfully for me Stewart opposite was not keen to push his unenthusiastic infantry forward and for a time I held off his Gendarmes. As the flanks were now engaged the pike blocks slowly advanced under cannon and arquebus fire. This is where I lost my bearings as several melees were happening along the line of the river bed, most troops managed to cross the obstacle without becoming disordered however there were groans from several of the players, me included as 'sure things' turned out to not be the case. I used the sword and buckler rule for the first time and it had a chance of being stunningly successful, or it would have been if Stewart had not saved every casualty it inflicted.

French cavalry threaten my flank.

Landsknechts at push of pike.

French-Seinese in the background, Spanish-Florentines in the foreground.

As the clock ticked down I think we had won on our left and the French had won on their left, the large combat in the centre if I remember correctly was turning out slightly in favour of the French but I could be wrong, it certainly was not in favour of the Spanish at the point we packed up.

I have added yet another unit to the 3rdC Romans, Sagittarii this time, I have still to track down a name for them. Next up is a javelin armed skirmish unit, I am giving these troops the same shield pattern as my close order Lanciarii, as I see them in their other role as skirmishers, even though they did so with armour these boys will not have armour as there is no such figure available. A compromise but I'm happy and the figures do look nice.

I have sadly had to put James Holland's latest book on Italy, dealing with Cassino, back on the shelf, it is boring. Now I have read some very good books by Holland and I enjoy listening to him on podcasts or YouTube but I have been struggling with these on the Italian campaign. It seems to be all over the place, one minute Allied HQ, then a civilian family having a hard time, then soldiers on leave, prostitution and then half way through the book Cassino looms. Author Douglas Murray has saved me as I pre-ordered his latest book and from the first sentence I knew I was on to a winner albeit it a dark subject. So I will have to look and see what tickles my fancy on the reading front military wise.

 

 Mapping is also going forward, I am working on a book covering 1813 and the battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, I have done these before, once to update a military history and the second as part of the Helion Wargames stable. The maps this time are almost direct copies of Russian maps and a couple are intense.

Bautzen is twice as complicated as this.

 If all goes to plan I may have an Italian Wars game on next week with Charles Singleton editor at Helion against his recently completed French army, something to look forward to.