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.