Category: Italian Wars

I don’t like to claim that I am doing research on the Battle of Pavia 1525 as I am not going back to primary sources. However, I am doing a lot of reading about Pavia from various authors of different nationalities. In this post I hope to discuss how I plan to reconcile different accounts of the battle to create a table top event.

Books on Pavia

The following is a list of the main books that I am reading, I will list them in the order of importance to my recreation of the Battle:

• The Battle of Pavia, 24th February 1525 by Jean Giono. Translated from the French Le Desastre de Pavia.
• Da Marignano A Pavia. Le guerre italiane de Francesco 1 (1515-1525) by Luigi Casali and Marco Galandra (written in Italian)
• The Art of War in Italy 1494-1529. Taylor, F.L.
• History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. Sir Charles Oman
• The Italian Wars. Volume 3. Francis I and the Battle of Pavia 1525. Massimo Predonzani and Vincenzo Alberici
• French Military Campaigns 1214 to 1542. By Colonel Hardy de Perini. Translated by G.F.Nafziger.

Problems with the books on Pavia 1525.

I have six books that form the bulk of my reading on Pavia 1525. The problem is that they give six substantially different accounts of the Battle of Pavia. The summary of what they all agree on is essentially the French were surrounding Pavia, the Imperials arrived and got into the park, the French gendarmes were killed by arquebusiers, the French King was captured and the imperials won. Details of the battlefield, initial deployments, strengths, movements and combats all vary. To recreate the battle by reconciling these accounts is all but impossible.

Some of these inconsistencies come from interpreting some of the source documents differently and from some of the writers of the source documents only having a limited understanding of what was going on around them. Others come from poor research and accepting long held false views of the battle.

Some of the accounts just don’t make sense when I read them. I can’t reconcile what they say with the actual layout of the battlefield and basic military tactics. I have spent many hours trying to resolve the accounts and recreate the battle on a map.

How to resolve the inconsistencies.

I had a moment of inspiration the other night when I was trying to resolve what happened at Pavia 1525 so that I can recreate the battle as a war-game on the table top. The inspiration was that I am not trying to recreate exactly what happened. All I need to do is have a good estimate of the main elements of each force, their abilities and their locations at the start of the Battle. Then I need to have a good understanding of the constraints of both the battlefield and the weather.

If I have a good understanding of these items, then the players are free to move their troops and fight in any way that they want. They can create their own Battle of Pavia. I don’t need to understand exactly when and where each unit moved in the real battle. I am not forcing players to move in a pre-ordained way. This methodology is consistent with the way that I run all of my games. I never force players to act in a certain way; they are the commanders.

The constraints of the battlefield terrain

In a previous post I discussed the location and the type of woods in the park. These woods and how I represent them are key to the flow of the battle.

The next key item is the walls of the park and their limitations. I accept the premise that the gates in the wall were not sufficiently large enough to allow an entire army to pass through, a breach had to be made. There is some discussion of this being in the North wall between Due Porte and Porta Pescarina. Others suggest that it is in the East Wall between Torre del Gallo and Due Porte.

I was originally of the opinion that the breach must have been in the North Wall near Porta Pescarina due to the restrictions of the woods. However, if we believe this view, we must also explain how the troops got outside the park near Porta Pescarina. To get there they must have also breached the wall near Due Porte to get into Parco Nuovo to the north. Due Porte means two doors – one entered the Parco Vecchio to the South and one entered the Parco Nuovo to the North.

I did not show the wall extending North from Due Porte to surround the Parco Nuovo on the above map. This omission was because I did not think that this wall was relevant at the time. I now believe that it was very important. There is no mention of this second breach in any of the texts so I do not believe that there were two breaches.

Instead I believe that the main Imperial army breached the park wall somewhere close to Due Porte to avoid the problems with the woods nearer Torre del Gallo. I also believe that the light arquebusiers initially heading rapidly to Castello Mirabello probably passed through Due Porte into Parco Nuovo and then entered Parco Vecchio through Porta Pescarina. As these troops were fewer and lighter, they could have gone through the gates and not required the wall to be breached.

The other main constraint is the Vernavola. Due to the wet weather this river was not passible in the Southern half of the park except around Torretta where there was a raised road. The river was only again passible at Castello Mirabello due to a road bridge. It was also passible further north between Cascina Repentita and Porta Pescarina. The other item of note around the river was the raised road running along the East of the river from Pavia to San Genesio. This road allowed travel through the marsh area and also provided a barrier for protection against artillery. Other than this raised road the battlefield was essentially flat.

The Vernavola is important to the recreation of the Battle as it provides an impassible barrier between the troops deployed to the East and those deployed to the West. Once the French troops are committed to one side of the river, they cannot influence the battle on the other side of the river. This terrain feature is also important when considered with the morning fog. Different elements of the French army are out of communication with each other. This means in the recreation of the battle it is important to not allow them to communicate with each other if they are not in contact.

Constraints of the weather.

The weather also provides a number of constraints. In addition to the morning fog, the late winter weather was cold and wet. Not only does it influence movement through the woods and prevent crossing the river, but it also impacts the ability of the pike blocks and heavy cavalry. The ground was wet and muddy. This prevented the pike blocks getting a grip and being as effective as usual. For the heavy cavalry, while it would not prevent an initial charge, the ground would tire the horses and prevent multiple devastating charges.

The initial locations of troops at Pavia 1525.

As I mentioned, the initial locations of troops is going to be key in setting up the game. Once we have decided where the Imperial troops can enter the park, which I discussed above, the French troop starting locations are the main issue.

Now many of the sources agree where the Swiss, Landsknechts, Black Band and Light Cavalry were located. So none of these are too much of a problem. The main issue is where the King and the Gendarmes were located at the start of the Battle. Jean Giono believes that they were near the Cascina Repentita and others believe that they were further South. I will discuss the locations of both sides in the next post.

Conclusion on gaming Pavia 1525.

Deciding on the battlefield and weather constraints, as well as starting positions of the troops allows a game to be played without a full understanding of the actual movements of all units in the battle. With the diverse accounts of the battle, this may be the best that is possible. There is plenty of scope for different war-games to interpret the vast amount of information available very differently. As a result I expect many different representations of Pavia by war-gamers in 2025.

An update to the painting, I am working on about 100 arquebusiers (Landsknecht and Italian) and 30 Spanish Jinetes. These are all additional troops and will be added to my collection.

I recently made a post on “The Italian Wars War Wargaming” Facebook page about fork supported muskets at Pavia. Everyone was very polite, but various people suggested that muskets were not around in 1525. Various dates were suggested for the introduction of muskets including 1540s, 1550s and 1560s.

Not one to be deterred by the collective hive mind of the wargaming community, (especially after having discovered that the collective narrative for the Battle of Novara was completely wrong) I set out in search of more information.

1) Taylor – The Art of War in Italy.

My first reference is a favorite for War-gamers, Taylor – The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529.

Page 50-51 “..from 1516 to 1521 the Spanish army added to the military value of the infantry firearm not only by adopting the new invention of the musket, but also studying carefully its tactical employment..  When the war began again the ascendancy of the Spanish arquebusiers and musketeers over the other nations soon became very marked ”.

This section seems to imply muskets being different to arquebuses.

Page 46.  “… the Spaniards brought into the field a larger and improved firearm which came to be called the musket.  It was six feet long and fired balls weighing two ounces.  Its weight necessitated the use of a forked rest., but its unwieldiness was compensated by its great killing power – its ability to bring down two cavalry men with one shot.  For a time this new weapon was classed as an arquebus, and it is therefore difficult to trace its rate of increase.  Occasionally it is referred to as a part of the artillery owing to it being transported by horses on the march”.

The references of these statements are the Memoirs of Du Bellay. Bk II page 189 

Rustow, Geschichte der Infanterie Vol 1 Bk III pg 221-5

Nardi, Isolerei della città di Firenze Bk V Chapter 35

I don’t have access to the primary sources used by Taylor. I am referencing them so that others can seek them out.

2) Jean Giorno, The Battle of Pavia

My second reference is Jean Giono, The Battle of Pavia, 24th February 1525. The reference comes from page 154 where he talks about the French Gendarmes.

“Now they are at grips with seven or eight thousand light fusiliers wheeling in among them from left and right, shooting at point blank range; they are also under fire from “forked arquebuses”, (the machine guns of those days), that have been set up in the second wood” .

There are some areas of the account of the Battle by Jean Giorno that I am skeptical about. However, his account of the Battle is one of the most complete that I have seen. He also uses a wide array of primary sources which he discusses in some detail. I am therefore inclined to believe his discussion about arquebuses and “forked arquebuses”. His account clearly differentiates the two weapons.

3) Paulo Giovio

I have seen some accounts on the internet about Paulo Giovio discussing the Spanish Infantry using a new kind of firearm at Pavia in 1525. It is reported that the new firearm was heavier than the arquebus and could sometimes kill two French men at arms with a single bullet. I do not have this text. I only reference it in case others wish to explore it in more detail.

What do we know about fork supported muskets at Pavia?

We see a couple of credible references to a firearm that is heavier and different to a standard arquebus being employed at Pavia. Both of these references discuss a fork to support the weapon. Taylor also discusses the ability of this weapon to cut down French Gendarmes despite their armor, and even go through two cavalry men. There is also reference to the weapon being six feet long.

Now to support the conclusion that there were forked muskets at Pavia, I would like some additional evidence. Ideally I would like some art pieces displaying the battle to show the forked musket being used. To date I have not found it displayed in any of the tapestries, wood cuts or paintings that I have looked at.

In the absence of the display of a fork supported musket at Pavia in the artwork, I turned to looking for an example of such a musket in a museum.

NRA firearm museum.

The NRA firearm museum has in it’s collection a Spanish musket that “was likely made circa 1530 in Madrid, Spain and was intended to be used with a forked rest”.

I spoke to the museum Director, he kindly allowed me to post pictures of this weapon on my blog. I thank him and the museum for this permission. He also agreed to go and measure the overall length of the musket and reported that it is 57.25 inches. This length is a little shorter than the six foot (72 inches) reported in the historical texts. This means that it may not be the exact type referred to in the texts, but nevertheless shows that forked muskets were present around the time of Pavia.

Now 1530 is not 1525, but it is very, very close. We now have a Spanish forked musket from 1530 that is 57.25 inches long. This weapon certainly supports the possibility that the Spanish used forked muskets at Pavia.

There are additional images at the NRA website at this link

Figures for the forked supported muskets at Pavia

For my recreation of the Battle, I am convinced of the presence of fork supported muskets at Pavia. I will be employing these weapons in my recreation of the Battle.

Now I haven’t found a figure that I like for these Spanish forked muskets at Pavia. I know that I would buy 50 figures if I could find some figures that I like. Otherwise, I may need to do some conversions.

One major 28mm figure manufacturer has said “I could see us adding one or two miniatures” when discussing these fork supported muskets at Pavia. So I have a question for the community. Would you consider buying these figures if they are introduced prior to the anniversary of Pavia? Let’s show that it would be worth it for a figure manufacturer to add these weapons to their range.

The last blog post on Pavia 1525 was my initial attempt to understand the rough scope of the project. I am now starting to research the battle a little more and as a result, my initial understanding may change. You will see in this post that there have been a number of changes and refinements in how I will approach the battle. Expect these type of details to continue to change for a while as I read more and discuss more with fellow hobbyists. Hence the title of this blog post: Pavia, this week’s thoughts.

Hopefully this evolution will show readers how I go about developing a large battle for a convention and will not be too confusing.

Books

I have purchased two books in the last two weeks. The first is “The Battle of Pavia, 24th February 1525”. This book is by Jean Giono a French Historian and was first published in 1963. The first English translation was published in 1965 and that is the copy I bought. The price was not cheap at $44 including shipping. I received this book in a few days and it is absolutely phenomenal. It has risen into my top three books on the Italian wars. The book has a whole chapter on the troop numbers and detailed movements (although no maps). It also gives a detailed description of the terrain. The Historian is very detailed on his use of primary sources. Unless better information comes to light, I will be using the account of the battle in this book as my main reference.

This book certainly replaces the recently published Helion book as my main source. I don’t want to be too critical of the Helion book, but the account of the battle in that book just never made much sense to me. There did not seem to be any tactical reasons for some of the troop movements that were described. In short, I just don’t believe the account of the battle in the Helion book.

The next book that I have purchased is an Italian book by Luigi Casali and Marco Galandra, “Da Marignano a Pavia. Le guerra Italiane di Francesco I (1515-1525)”. it will be a few weeks until this arrives as it is coming from Italy. It was $31.27, plus shipping, which was a little more expensive due to the international shipping. I am hopeful that this book will give a good account of the battle, but I will review it when it arrives.

Terrain.

One of the main things that I like about the book by Jean Giono is that it describes the terrain and its impact upon the battle. In particular it details the woods, marshes and boggy ground. There were four main woods, as shown in the map below. Wood 1 had very dense undergrowth making it very difficult to navigate. It consisted mainly of black poplar and elder. Wood 2 had drier ground and there was practically no undergrowth except for a few bushes. The trees were oaks, pines, sycamores, with poplars along the banks of the river. Wood 3 was also not too dense. Finally, wood 4 was similar to Wood 1 but the undergrowth was even thicker and the ground more marshy.

Wood 1 made the entry to the park along the East wall almost impossible and the breach in the park wall was made near Port Pescarina. This is my first problem with the Helion book account of the battle.

In future blog posts I will detail how I believe units were deployed and moved during the battle. For now, there are two addition points that I want to make on the terrain for gaming purposes:

1. The Battle of Pavia 1525 took place in February. Other than the few pines, most of the trees would be without leaves. To create an accurate visual spectacle, I need to take this into account when modeling these huge woods. I also need to differentiate between woods that are clear and those that have dense undergrowth. I want to do this differentiation with both the rules and the modeling. As we shall see in future blog posts, these terrain details significantly affected the course of the battle.
2. There were many areas that were marshy or boggy. Again I need to accurately represent them and consider how they affected the battle. If you have ever played rugby on a water logged ground and had to scrum in it, you will know it is very difficult to get a firm grip. This problem gets worse the longer the game goes on as the ground gets churned up. Now imagine this ground with 3000 heavily armored Gendarmes or a 2000 man armored pike block. The units are just not going to be able to get the same grip in a fight as they would on solid ground.

My sketch map of the Battle of Pavia 1525, showing the main woods and other key features.

Troops for the Battle of Pavia 1525.

My understanding of the troops involved in the Battle is evolving and everything is still not clear to me. Below is my latest understanding of Pavia 1525. What is starting to become clear is that the number of arquebusiers that I need is way above the number that I have had to paint for earlier battles. Garigliano had a very low number of arquebusiers. This number increased for the later battles of Ravenna and Bicocca as the Spanish manned the defenses. Pavia shows the change of tactics (particularly by the more forward thinking Spanish) and the number of Arquebusiers is immense – I will need to get painting and I already have a couple of orders placed. The changes during the Italian wars is one of the reasons that the period is so interesting.

The other item that I discovered this week was that the Spanish used some heavy 6′ arquebuses supported by forks. These fired a two ounce ball that could pass through two Gendarmes. There are several credible primary sources that support the use of these weapons. There does seem to be a belief amongst the wargaming community that weapons supported by a fork were not used until at least 1650. I just don’t believe this to be the case from the reading that I have done.

Never one to go along with the view of the masses, I will be deploying some of these heavy arquebuses on the Spanish side. I just need to figure out how to make them as there are no suitable figures. My ideas for making these figures is a subject for a future blog post. I do still believe that the majority of the arquebuses were the lighter ones, but I will have 20-30 of the heavier ones on the battlefield.

1) French troops for Pavia 1525.

• Light Cavalry commanded by Charles Tiercelin. There were 2000 men which at the 25:1 figure ratio means that I need 80 figures. About 700 were Albanians, so I can use the 32 Stradiots that I have. I have another 32 mounted shot figures which I will use to represent the light cavalry. This means that I will need about another 16 figures. I do have about 24 more unpainted mounted shot from SteelFist so I have enough figures for these. An 80 figure light cavalry command will make a great battle.
• Swiss Pike commanded by Florange. There are various estimates of the amount of Swiss in the command of Florange. 3,000 seems about right. I have seen mention of two blocks so that would give 1,500 in each block, so I could represent these by two blocks of 64 figures. I easily have enough troops for these blocks. There is also reference to 4 culverins.
• Infantry of the Duke of Alencon and the troops of Medici. This is one area where I need more information on the number of infantry. I have seen numbers as high as 10,000men or 400 figures. I suspect the final number is a little lower. I also need more details on the composition. I have 96 French Crossbow, 72 French pike and 96 Italian shot, so I have the basis of this force.
• Black Band Landsknechts. There were about 5,000 men or 200 figures. A pike block of 144 figures with around 50 arquebusiers in support would seem about right here. This keeps the arquebusiers are 25% of the total.
• Men at Arms. Reports state 1,200. The more I investigate, the more I believe that this number is lances and not men. When I view tapestries and paintings of the battle, the sheer number of mounted knights supports the theory that this is lances. Now the next issue is how many men are in a lance. I have seen arguments of as high as six or eight. I don’t think that is the question. The question for me is how many mounted fighting men were in a lance. I am not worried about dismounted squires and the like. I am happy to represent a lance by one Gendarme and two mounted knights (or Archers), giving three figures per lance. The 1200 lances would therefore be represented by 144 figures. I have a lot of mounted knights, but with the Spanish ones, I am suspecting that I need another 80-100 figures. 144 mounted French knights will be an impressive sight. They will all be SteelFist figures.
• Swiss at the Five Chapels. Again there is some discrepancies in the number but I estimate around 5,000. I am struggling as whether to use two 100 figure pike blocks or to use some units with halbards and swords for more close in fighting. Either way, I should have enough figures.
• Artillery – I will go into details on the amount and locations of the artillery in future.

Imperial troops for Pavia 1525

• Men at Arms. There are reports of 800, again I will assumes that these are lances, giving 2,400 men. This number will mean that I need 96 mounted armored figures.
• Landsknechts of Frundsburg and Mark Sith. There are reports of around 12,000 men which would be 480 figures. If we assume that 25% are shot this would mean 120 shot and 360 pike. I imagine having two pike blocks each with 166 pike and 30 shot. The remaining 60 shot would then be deployed as a separate group given to the Marquis del Vasto to seize the Castello Mirabello. I need to calculate how many more Landsknechts that I would need to paint, but it could be a fair number.
• Arquebusiers of the Marquis del Vasto. The battle description says there were 3,000 lightly equipped arquebusiers in this group that raced to the Castello Mirabello. They consisted of Spanish, Italian and German. This would be 120 figures.However, we need to remember that 60 of these have been contributed from the Landsknechts, so I need another 60 figures. I am currently painting these figures. It should be noted that these are not the heavy arquebusiers discussed earlier.
• Light Horse of Charles de Lanoy. There were 1,500 light horse or 60 figures. I have 32 Jinetes at the moment and have just ordered another 30.
• Spanish foot. I believe that there were around 6,000 additional Spanish foot but I need to confirm this number; this would mean 240 figures. I would represent this with 150 Spanish pike and sword which I already have, 120 arquebusiers (I have about 100) and about 30 heavy arquebusiers which I need to model.
• Garrison at Pavia under Antonio de Leyva. This garrison is about 9000 men which is composed of about 3,000 Spanish and 6,000 Landsknechts. There are also about 200 dismounted knights. I will represent these by 120 Spanish arquebusiers, 240 Landsknecht with a combination of sword, shot and halbards (I just don’t think that they would be pike) and 10 SteelFist dismounted knights. The majority of these figures would be new figures.

The Battle of Pavia 1525 – today’s conclusion.

I am starting to get more of a feel of the battle. Future posts will cover the unit locations and movements during the battle of Pavia 1525

The 500th anniversary of the 1525 battle of Pavia is coming up in 2025. Obviously I will need to put the Battle of Pavia 2025 on at a major convention to mark the anniversary. I had the pleasure of speaking to the Yarkshire Gamer last weekend and the subject came up. He mentioned that he is also planning to recreate the battle and implied that it was going to be the largest recreation of the battle ever done. Now I cannot let that go unchallenged. Now given his phenomenal painting rate, he may put on the largest battle, but it is my intention to make him work for it – just to keep him honest. There is nothing like a bit of friendly competition to encourage great things.

With that said, I have just started researching what I would need to do and get a sense of the scope of the project. I have a lot more research to do, but I thought that I would share some initial thoughts on how I might create this massive project.

The first thing that I need to decide is the figure scale. Given that there are somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 troops on each side, for a total of 50,000 to 60,000 troops in total. I need a figure scale. At 25 to 1 that would give 2,000 to 2,400 figures on the table. Given my existing collection, I think that that amount is a manageable amount for me to achieve. Especially since I have other projects to do, like my Saxon Napoleonics.

What figures do I need.

Now looking at some of the key troops. On the French side there are:

• 1,200 men at arms (other sources suggest higher – which is fine with me as I have plenty of Gendarmes). This would require 48 figures or more.
• 2,000 light horse. This would require 80 figures. I have plenty of light horse for these units
• 6,000 Swiss. Sources that I have read so far indicate that they were in one smaller and one larger pike blocks. The Swiss would need 240 figures, which I could deploy in one 100 figure and one 144 figure pike block, which I already have.
• 5,000 Germans, or 200 figures. I need to research these numbers but I suspect up to about 25% may have been shot, and about 75% in the pike block. In which case I would need a Black Band pike block of 144 figures. Initially this number seems easy as I had a 196 Black Band pike block for my battle of Ravenna. However, we need to remember that the Spanish army also contains Landsknechts.
• 4000 Italians or 160 figures. I need to understand how many were shot, but shot figures are easy to paint and I am probably close.
  • 6,000 French or 240 figures. Again the issue is finding out how many are Pike and how many shot. I do have a lot of French crossbow, so again it should be fine.

On the Spanish side are:

• 12,000 Germans in two pike blocks of 6,000. These would require probably two pike blocks of 196 figures plus associated shot. With the Landsknecht pike needed for the French, I probably would need nearly 650 Landsknecht pike plus some shot. As I only have around 300 Landsknecht pike, they are going to be the largest figure time commitment.
• 5,000 Spanish or 200 figures. I have just enough here.
• 3,000 Italians or 120 figures. I still need to assess these.
• 800 men at arms or 32 figures. Again I have more than enough.
• 1,500 light horse or 60 figures. Again I should have enough.

It should be an impressive game if I can pull it off. The large pike blocks would be 2 of 196 figures, two of 144 figures, one of 100 figures. There will also be four Spanish units of around 60 figures each. There may be additional smaller Italian and French pike, but I need to research to confirm.

What terrain do I need.

The largest (by area) terrain feature that I need is the park and it’s walls. One interesting fact about the park is that the centre of the park contained the Vernavola river/stream. This river was surrounded by an impassable marsh and ran through the centre of the park. This terrain feature got me thinking; from a wargaming perspective it offers an interesting opportunity. I could potentially put the park on a 10′ x 16′ table. No-one would actually need to reach the river and marsh in the middle, so it could just work. If I could pull it off, it would be an impressive gaming surface.

The walls themselves, assuming I did the park on a 10′ x 16′ table, may need something like 45-50′ of walls and gates. I think that these would be easy to construct and will not be an issue. I need to research the walls and gates a little more, but the vision I have is to do them a realistic height. My guess from photos that I have seen is that they would be about 3-4″ high.

The two main features of the park are the woods and the Castle Mirabello. I would need to buy a lot of trees. Also I would plan to construct the Castle as a 2′ x 2′ or larger building to be the centre-piece of the park.

I would also need to make the rivers and marshes. There is a lot of scope for some artistic flair on these features.

In addition to the park, there is lots of potential for action around the city walls of Pavia. The French were camped on all four sides of the city. Fortunately I created the city walls for my recent battle of Ravenna. My aim would be to have a further 5′ x 16′ set of tables running as at “T” to the park. On these tables I would put the city.

My current thinking is that I would use these walls as the start of the city, but I may double up the size. In addition, the one thing that I would love to add to the city is the Castle Visconti in the centre. To construct this castle would be a huge undertaking but is an aspirational goal.

Next steps for the Battle of Pavia in 2025

I think that I have identified the broad scope of the project for the Battle of Pavia in 2025. The next step is some research. Luckily I have some time for this endeavor, but I need to make a plan.

Historicon 2022 was held at the Marriott in downtown Lancaster PA between the 20th and 24th July. On the Saturday I ran the Battle of Ravenna, once in the morning and once late afternoon/early evening. Each battle took four hours to play.

Running the battle at Historicon

We initially advertised the game in program for eight players. However, we managed to fit quite a few extras in and I think that we had about twelve players per session. The Battle was run with the much appreciated help of Pat, Lou and Bob from the Wargaming Association of Metropolitan Philadelphia. It takes a lot of support to keep a game of this size moving along efficiently.

The Battle of Ravenna game was run using the Pike and Shotte rules, which tend to work reasonably well in a large game in a convention setting. They give a flavor of the period and allow player unfamiliar with the rules to join in easily. To help I make easy to read unit sheets for each player – an example can be seen in the photo above.

I believe that the game had close to 1300 figures. The largest single unit was the Landsknecht pike block with 196 figures. There were also nine other pike blocks with 36 figures. These units were supported by huge amounts of Gendarmes, light cavalry, arquebusiers and artillery.

How the games unfolded.

Both of the games ended in a French victory (as in real life). However, the paths to victory were very different. The first game saw the Landsknechts race out to attack the defenses, only to get repulsed after a fierce struggle. This loss left the rest of the French forces to assault the defenses which had been depleted by units moving to protect against the Landsknechts. In the second game the French players were more cautious, with the French crossbow screening the Landsknechts from the massed war carts that were a feature of the battle. In the end, it was also the French center that again managed to beat the defenses.

In both games the light cavalry battle between the Jinetes and Stradiots on the French left flank was intense. In the second game the Jinetes managed to get behind the French position and attack the artillery and threaten other units.

Also in both games the heavy cavalry battles between the French Gendarmes and the Papal Knights on the French right flank was a more cautious affair than in real life. Both sides were hesitant to engage in both games.

The terrain

The Ravenna city and walls and the siege works around them were just a back-drop to the game. The actual Battle of Ravenna had relatively flat terrain with only Spanish field defenses. However, I do have plans to use these city walls for a different game in the future and I bought three discounted trebuchets from the Miniature Building Authority in the dealer hall.

Overall I was happy with how the city and city walls turned out. They took a while to both plan and build.

To prevent this post becoming too long, I will now just show some pictures from the Battle of Ravenna games. In a future post I will do the orders of battle that I used.

Photos of the battles

Last year at Historicon, I did the Battle of Bicocca 1522. The Battle had quite a lot of scenery required for the action including the field defenses and the villa Bicocca with the large Italian Gardens. You can see a report on the Battle here. This year I will be doing the Battle of Ravenna. The problem that I have is that the battlefield itself is limited in terms of scenery, I want to make the table look as impressive as possible for Historicon. The Battle was fought when the Spanish and Papal troops came to relieve the city of Ravenna from siege by the French. Although the city played no part in the battle, the Ravenna city walls were a backdrop to the battle.

Models for the walls

The solution was obvious, I needed to make the city walls of Ravenna as a backdrop to the battle. After searching the internet for a suitable kit to represent the Italian style city walls I came across the range by Tabletop World from Croatia. They are walls originally made for fantasy, but by selecting the right models from their range I was able to get a great looking wall. At first I was initially nervous about ordering from Croatia, so I placed a small order. It arrived without issue, and the company was a joy to deal with; so I then placed a larger order for the rest of the parts.

After washing the parts with soapy water, I spray primed them in black. After a couple of days I them sprayed them brown and sealed them with a coat of matte varnish. I then used a beige paint to paint the walls and then used various powders for different tones and weathering effects.

The base

Once the base painting had been done I wanted to check the layout with some city buildings. The total area is about 2′ x 4′. I didn’t want the buildings to be taller than the city walls, so I raised the walls with 2″ of foam. This meant that only the church tower could be seen rising above the walls, similar to the woodcut.

2″ foam used to raise the walls.

I kept the foam pieces at a maximum of 24″ in length so that they would be transportable. This decision meant that I needed three foam base pieces. Once the layout had been done I then shaped the base foam using a cheap woodland scenics hot-wire foam cutter. I then painted and sealed the foam with my usual mixture of brown paint, Elmers glue and model railroad ballast.

Blending the base into the terrain

I then needed to make sure that the base would blend with my terrain mats rather than just sit on them. So I cut and glued some terrain mat pieces to the edge of the foam.

Some terrain mat glued to the foam to blend in to the terrain mat.

This technique is the one that I used for the field defenses at Bicocca and it worked well in that case. However, it didn’t seem quite right in this situation, so I folded the terrain mat pieces underneath and glued them. It seemed to work much better.

The next stage was to blend in the terrain mat to the foam at the top, so I made up some more of my paint/elmers/ballast mixture. After shaving the fur mat on the top I proceeded to apply the mixture to blend things in.

Finishing and detailing.

The last stage was to add various woodland scenic flocks, grasses and bushes.

That meant that the outside was finished. For inside the city I was planning to use some cobblestone mats (from Novus designs) for the city to sit on. This still meant that I needed to finish the foam on the inside. To provide a pleasing transition I made some earth retaining walls from balsa and then weathered them.

The city is now complete for Historicon, all I have to do now is finish about 60 Landsknechts. Here are a couple more views of the Ravenna city walls and buildings.

Yesterday I did a test run of my 1512 Battle of Ravenna for Historicon. I will be running this game twice at the HMGS Historicon convention. Once on Saturday morning and once later on Saturday. It is for eight people at a time, but I can probably fit a few extras in. I was not originally planning on doing another Italian Wars game at Historicon. However, when the theme was announced as “World in Conflict: Italy” it really forced my hand.

Ravenna for Historicon

This post is not designed to give too many details of the battle, game, or talk about the results of the play test. I will cover those topics in future posts. The aim is just to show a few photos of the test run as as a sort of advertisement for Ravenna at Historicon.

The test run was designed to make sure that the game is balanced, as an unbalanced game is typically not great for a convention. I also wanted to make sure that it allowed all of the players to get into combat quickly. The test run was a success with the Spanish war carts performing well and the stats for the field defenses giving a very playable game. I will make a couple of minor adjustments but nothing too serious.

The Cavalry battles on each flank were a little constrained by the space, but at Historicon I will have extra room on each flank which should make for some exciting charges.

The battle was between French forces and Spanish forces that had been sent to relieve the Siege of Ravenna. Therefore the table at Historicon will include a few buildings to represent the city of Ravenna. These will not influence the game play but should add a nice scenic touch.

The figures include many of the figures that I used last year at Historicon for the 1522 Battle of Bicocca. However, there are new figures including the 196 figure Landsknecht Pike block. This block will be one of the largest 28mm pike blocks ever put on the table at an HMGS convention.

A few extra photos.

Thanks to Lou, Pat, Walt, Bob, Steve, Scott and Eric for assisting with the play test. I hope that Ravenna at Historicon will be as fun as last year’s Battle of Bicocca.

Here is my Battle of Bicocca after action report. The 1522 Italian Wars battle was refought on Friday morning in the Grand Ballroom at Historicon 2021. It was originally for ten players, but we managed to fit in two or three extras.

Bicocca after action report

The battle was laid out on a “T” shaped table using 4 sets of 5′ x 8′ tables. The battle involved over 1600 figures in 28mm, all of which I painted since I got back into the hobby in 2017. All of the terrain was also hand-built, kit assembled or kit-bashed.

Without going too much into the Historical details of the battle, the Spanish had set up defensive positions along a sunken road near the Villa Bicocca north of Milan. Their left flank was protected by a marsh and their right flank was protected by a large drainage ditch. The Spanish were supported by their Landsknecht allies and the Milanese army was arriving from Milan to protect the bridge across the drainage ditch.

Against the Spanish was the French army. The French commander did not want to assault the prepared Spanish positions. Their Swiss allies threatened to head back to the Cantons if they did not attack and so the French commander reluctantly agreed. The French also had the Black Band of Giovanni as a scouting force and the army of Venice approaching the Spanish from the marsh side.

Our battle differed from the actual battle in that we allowed the Venetians to attack through the marsh and we allowed the French to commit significant forces to attacking the bridge over the drainage ditch. These changes meant that the Spanish were threatened not only from the front, but from both flanks. The Spanish overall commander would have to decide how to commit his forces to defend against these threats and these choices ultimately proved critical in deciding the outcome of the battle. Now to begin the Battle of Bicocca after action report.

Initial Spanish deployments.

The main Spanish force of arqubusiers and artillery was deployed at the field defenses at the sunken road. These troops were supported by two very large Landsknecht pike blocks. Out front of these troops were four units of Spanish Jinetes which are light cavalry. The Jinetes were to remove the Black Band screening forces so that the artillery at the defense could fire on the advancing Swiss pike.

In reserve at the camp were four Spanish Pike blocks, some Spanish artillery and a unit of Spanish knights.

Arriving on the Spanish right were the Milanese cavalry and infantry. Their role was to protect the bridge across the drainage ditch on the Spanish right.

French initial deployments

The French Gendarmes and other heavy Cavalry were on the French left facing the Milanese. The open table was designed to allow a fast moving cavalry battle.

Next to the French cavalry, near the vineyard were the French infantry.

In the center were the two massive Swiss pike blocks. They were ready to assault the prepared defense head-on. Supporting the Swiss was the French artillery and the Black Band of Giovanni to screen the pike blocks. the table was set up as a “T” shape to allow the Swiss room to advance against the defenses.

On the French right were the Venetians. Their job was to get through the marsh and pressure the Spanish right through the Villa Bicocca and its gardens.

Opening moves

On the left the French cavalry wasted no time engaging the Milanese cavalry. This resulted in a sweeping cavalry battle that lasted most of the game. The Milanese player fought this battle very well, but just had no dice luck. His efforts did result in keeping the mighty French Gendarmes away from the Milanese infantry.

Covered by the bold French cavalry advance to their left, the French infantry started to make progress towards the bridge over the drainage ditch. The Milanese infantry moved to engage them. All of this was done with the sound of church bells coming from the church (this was not done with Renaissance technology, but by bluetooth speakers and my iPhone).

In the center the Swiss Pike blocks started their advance. Ahead of them fierce fighting erupted between the Spanish Jinetes and the Black Band.

The Venetian tactics

On the Spanish left, near the marsh and Villa, was perhaps the most decisive of the opening moves, and the one that would have the most impact upon the result of the battle. The Venetians were only a small force consisting of light cavalry (Stradiots and mounted arquebusiers), foot arquebusiers and a couple of pike blocks. The light cavalry, unimpeded by the marsh, made a lightning raid towards the sprawling Italian gardens at the back of the Villa.

The speed of this advance spooked the Spanish commander. Rather than send a small screening force to protect the easily defended villa, they sent the entire Spanish reserve of four elite pike blocks towards the gardens. In addition they moved one of the massive Landsknecht pike blocks towards the villa. The Landsknecht pike block therefore vacated the position behind the field defenses and was no longer able to defend against the advancing Swiss pike blocks.

Not only did the Venetians draw the pike blocks across to face them, but they enticed them to advance through the gardens. The advance of the Spanish through the gardens was slow due to the need to stay in formation. It therefore took them a long time to make progress. More importantly, every turn that they spent advancing into the gardens would take a turn to get back out to support the main defenses.

The Venetians, once they had sucked the Spanish in, kept on harassing them with mildly effective shot as they slowly withdrew back towards the safety of the marshes – not wishing to engage the vastly superior Spanish forces. This was a tactical masterpiece by the Venetians, who Paul, who commanded some of them, will talk about for years.

The middle battle.

On the Spanish right things were not going well for the Milanese cavalry. Despite excellent tactics, the dice just would not roll for their commander and their force was slowly reduced by the relentless French Gendarmes.

This French Cavalry victory protected the flank of the advancing French infantry and allowed them to battle and push back the Milanese infantry after much fierce fighting.

In the center the Swiss Pike blocks continued their advance. The Spanish Jinetes fought valiantly to try and clear out the Black Band skirmish force to allow the cannons on the field defenses to open fire on the Swiss Pikes.

With the Swiss pike almost at the defenses, the Spanish commander realized the tactical error of over concentrating on the Venetians. It was too late to recover.

The end game

On the Spanish right, the French infantry continued to make progress. The Spanish moved their reserve artillery to fire on them from the other side of the drainage ditch, but this fire was ineffective. The French would go on to capture the bridge, leaving an unopposed advance to the Spanish camp – with all of the reserves committed against the Venetians.

In the center the Swiss reached the field defense. The pike block from the urban cantons was almost unopposed with the Landsknecht pike block that was due to face them having been diverted against the Venetians. The arquebusiers put up a valiant fight for a turn, but were never going to stop a massive Swiss pike block.

The Swiss pike block from the rural cantons also hit the defenses. They were met with the Landsknechts in prepared positions. The clash of pikes between the two was intense and lasted three or four turns. Eventually the Swiss got the upper hand and managed to push back the Landsknechts, but the battle was close until the end. We were left wondering if the both Landsknecht pike blocks had remained at the wall and had even been supported by a couple of Spanish Pike blocks, could the result have been different? I suspect that the Spanish would have held.

The final result

In the end both Swiss pike blocks crashed through the defenses at the sunken road. Nothing was between them and the Spanish camp. With the camp being attacked by the French infantry and the Swiss Pike, the battle was over. The Venetians were the only forces not to make it to the Spanish camp, but they had been instrumental in the result of the battle.

Conclusion

I hoped that you enjoyed seeing and reading this Battle of Bicocca after action report. The battle had gone very differently from how I expected it, but that made it more fun. With attacks on the Spanish center and both flanks, the game was always going to come down to both the frontal assault of the defenses and how the Spanish deployed and committed their reserves. I had not expected the Spanish to over commit against the Venetians, even to the point of pulling the Landsknechts away from the defenses. The Venetians tactics were a masterclass.

I hope that everyone that played had a good time. The positive comments that I received from players and those that walked by were pleasing, particularly as this convention was the first time I had hosted games at a con.

I was also very pleased to receive an award for the game. This made all of my efforts on this Italian Wars project for the last three or four years worthwhile.

Update 27th November: HMGS just officially announced the Best of Show award and it was awarded to my Battle of Bicocca game. Considering the number of great looking tables at Historicon (see my last blog post), I was honored to receive Best in Show.

I am now considering what to do as my next project. The favorite may be the 451AD clash at the Catalaunian Plains between the Romans and the Huns. That project would need about 1500 cavalry – it wouldn’t be ready for 2022, but maybe 2023.

With my game of the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon only three weeks away I have just completed the final pieces of scenery for the table. With it being a sunny day in Philadelphia I wanted to layout the main scenery items on my deck to check they all fit together. I also wanted to check that there will be enough maneuver space for the troops. As the terrain will cover three 5′ x 8′ tables, I have no space large enough in my house, so the deck was the only option. As it was a little windy, I did not layout some of the lighter items such as trees, vineyards and orchards.

The layout

The terrain will be two 5′ x 8′ tables side by side with another 5′ x 8′ table intersecting in a “T” formation. This last 5′ x 8′ table will be where the Swiss march up the table for the inevitable clash with the Landsknechts at the field defenses.

In the center where the “T” shape joins will be the 6 feet of field defense at the sunken road. The Spanish arquebusiers and Landsknecht artillery will man the defenses. The Swiss Pike covered by the Black Band of Giovanni will march up the table to assault the defenses. To the right of the defenses is the Villa Bicocca with the marshes in the back-ground. The Venetians will make their way slowly through the marsh to threaten the Spanish left flank.

Construction of the ditch

To the left of the field defenses is the drainage ditch with a bridge going across it. The drainage ditch itself is impassable and protects the Spanish right flank. The only way across for the French will be the bridge, which the Milanese are racing to protect. If the French get across the bridge they will be into the Spanish camp and in the rear of the Spanish positions.

I constructed the drainage ditch from a 1′ x 4′ piece of mdf. I then lined the edges of the board with Killing Fields fur, textured the edges, painted the surface brown and varnished the center to represent water. Finally, I added flock and other terrain items. The rocks were molded using Woodland Scenics molds.

In this photo you can see some of the geese that I added to complete the scene. The geese are from the Assault Group.

I am now comfortable that I am ready to put on the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon. The terrain fits together well. All of the players will have plenty of room to move their forces and fight. In addition, the terrain should look full once the trees, extra buildings and Spanish camp are laid out. The terrain will be a great back-drop for the 1600 figures that I plan to deploy.