Category: Italian Wars

We played out the battle of Garigliano with two people per side and myself moderating the game. We completed the battle in about three and a half hours using the Pike and Shot rules. The game set up and the unit characterization have been covered in previous blog posts. This post will cover the after action report. I will aim to do a post on how I would improve the game in a few weeks.

The battle of Garigliano 1503 started on the Spanish right near Sujo and Castleforte with the Spanish light cavalry (Jinetes) quickly advancing to engage the Albanian Stradiots.

The Spanish infantry were also quick off the mark and advanced up to Castleforte; while on their right the Papal infantry refused to move and the Papal knights were also reluctant to move.

The Swiss were typically aggressive and decided to march on Castleforte with their three pike blocks. Two are shown on this side of Castleforte and one is on the other side.

The Spanish Jinetes continued their battle with the Stradiots, and were supported on their flank by the Spanish knights. Unfortunately for the Spanish, the French Gendarmes were quick to activate and started to move up in support. They can be seen in the background.

Seeing the Swiss pike blocks encouraged the Papal pikes to start moving forward along with the still slow Papal knights.

Unfortunately for the Spanish cavalry, the massed ranks of French Gendarmes and Archers proved too much to handle and the Spanish were quickly routed.

Near Castleforte the Spanish pikes had been putting up a brave fight against the Swiss, but when two Landschnekt Black Band pike blocks showed up on their flank, things start to look desperate.

The last of the Spanish cavalry were then driven off by the Gendarmes.

Between Castleforte and Sujo, the Swiss and the Papal pikes entered combat, with the Papal Cavalry on the flank for support.

With the Swiss engaged to their front and their flank being charged by the Black Band, the Spanish pike finally decided to call it a day and routed off the field of battle.

On the Spanish far left, things remained quiet near the bridge across the Garigliano. The Spanish decided not to advance in support of the main attack once the main attack stalled. In the background can be seen the French Household Gendarme unit. The French commander had forgotten to move the most elite unit on the table, and now they were too far away from the French commander to receive orders.

The French Gendarmes cleaned up the last of the Spanish arquebusiers near Castleforte; a move that cannot be considered honorable.

On the far right things were not going much better for the Spanish. One of the Papal pike blocks become Shaken and Disordered and was pushed back. The other Papal block was Shaken.

With the Papal pike block nearest Castleforte being attacked by a Swiss block from the front and about to be charged by another Swiss block from the side, things were looking hopeless for the Spanish forces.

The only bright spot was that the Papal cavalry were now in position. However, with the Spanish cavalry and infantry dispatched, the French Gendarmes and Archers moved past the French camp to engage the Papal knights.

At this point the battle of Garigliano was called as a victory for the French. Not a historical result, but a good time was had by all. It was also great to finally get the troops out on the table.

We then carried out a post mortem of the game while eating Italian hoggies and cheesecake. There were a few suggestions on how to change the scenario specific rules, troop deployments and victory conditions for the next time. I will discuss these in the next blog post. We hope to repeat the scenario at a club games-day later in the year.

I have been using the Pike and Shot rules for my Italian Wars project for several reasons. Firstly, most people at our club (The TriState Gamers Society) are familiar with the rule mechanisms as they are similar to other rule sets in the series – Black Powder and Hail Caesar. Secondly, they are a fairly quick set of rules that allow people to easily get into a game.

I also believe that they can fairly accurately represent the Italian Wars period if some of the special rules are applied to individual units. In this article I will discuss how I represent units and how I add special rules to units to make them more historical.

Pike units

1. The Spanish Colunela.

Sir Charles Oman discusses the organization of Spanish Colunelas in his book the History of the Art of War in the 16th Century on page 57. Using this information I have my Spanish Colunela consisting of 5 companies each of around 200-250 men. Using a figure ratio of 1:25 each company is represented by eight figures.

One of these companies are Sword and Buckler figures, two of the companies are pike and two of the companies are arquebusiers.

I represent each colonela by having two small units of Spanish shot (each eight figures) in skirmish order – they can hedgehog with the pike block if needed. I also do not make hedgehogs immobile, but I will discuss this in a future post.

I then have a pike block of 24 figures with 8 sword and buckler at the front and 16 pike behind. In the photo there are only 4 sword figures in the front row, I plan to change this situation in the next few weeks and increase to 8 sword figures.

The pike block is classed as a standard pike block in the rules with these stats:

• Hand to hand dice: 6
• Morale save: 4+
• Stamina: 6

I then give the pike block a Swordsman special rule where Pike fighting against Swordsmen have a -1 on their morale save. This represents the skill that Spanish Swordsmen had in cutting into pike blocks. Also I give Swordsmen +1 on the combat result v Pike as they reduced the enemy’s willingness to stand and fight. This swordsman rule is different than the swordsman rule in the rules.

The pike block also has a hedgehog rule.

The two arquebusier shot units each have the following stats:

• Shooting dice: 1
• Hand to hand dice: 1
• Morale save; 5+
• Stamina: 2

As most opposing pike blocks only have one small unit of shot in support, having two units for the Spanish really represents their increased use of shot well. This difference is not so obvious when only one or two colonela are used, bu when six or more are together it can really make a difference.

2. Swiss Pike.

My Swiss Pike blocks in my initial game were represented as a large Pike block of 36 figures. I may go higher in the future depending upon the battle. Most of these figures are pike, but there are also 6-8 halberdier figures mainly in the front ranks with a few in the rear.

To represent the Swiss, they have some impressive stats along with a number of Special rules:

• Hand to hand dice: 9
• Morale save: 4+
• Stamina 6

The Special rules are:

Bad War, Elite 4+, Large Unit, Double Handed infantry arms (due to the halberds), Ferocious and Hedgehog. All these special rules are as defined in the book. These special rules really make the Swiss an formidable enemy. A Ferocious charge with the double handed weapons can be devastating.

3. Landschnekt Pike.

My Landschnekt Pike Blocks were represented as a large pike block with 36 figures. Most of the figures are pike but there are a number of double handed sword figures in the first few ranks and in the rear ranks

To represent the Landschnekt pike blocks I use some good stats along with a number of special rules:

• Hand to hand dice: 9
• Morale save: 4+
• Stamina: 6

The special rules are:

Bad war, Hedgehog, Double handed infantry arms (due to the double handed swords) and Large Unit.

These rules make the Landschnekts formidable, but slightly weaker than the Swiss.

4. Other Pike.

My other pike blocks are represented by 24 pike figures for the standard size blocks and 36 figures for large sized pike blocks. My French are standard size and my Papal States are large sized.

The stats are:

• Hand to hand dice: 6 for standard sized block, 8 for large block
• Morale save: 4+ for standard and large block
• Stamina: 4 for standard sized block and 6 for large block

For special rules I only have Hedgehog and Large Unit (for the large block only).

Cavalry Units

1. French Gendarmes.

I represent cavalry units using eight figures. The French Gendarmes were the elite of the elite and I will start with their stats and special rules:

• Hand to hand dice: 10
• Morale save: 3+
• Stamina: 4

For Special rules I give them Elite 4+ and Lance.

I also give Heavy Cavalry Charge +1 to every unit of Gendarmes and Heavy Cavalry +D3 to one unit of Household Gendarmes. The standard Pike and Shot rules give the +D3 to all units of Gendarmes, but in extensive play testing we have found that this makes the Gendarmes way too overpowered. Limiting the +D3 to one unit and having the rest at +1 seems to work much better.

2. Papal Knights.

I give the Papal knights stats almost as good as the French, but one less hand to hand dice:

• Hand to hand dice: 9
• Morale save 3+
• Stamina: 4

For special rules I use Elite 4+, Heavy Cavalry charge +1, Lance

3. Spanish Knights.

The Spanish knights are not quite of the same class as the French Gendarmes, so there stats are a little lower still.

• Hand to hand dice: 9
• Morale save: 4+
• Stamina: 4

I use special rules of Elite 5+, Heavy Cavalry charge +1 and Lance.

4. Archers of various nations.

The Gendarmes and knights of most nations were supported by troops known as Archers. These did not carry a bow, but were rather slightly less well equipped versions of the Gendarmes. Their stats are slightly lower, but still impressive:

• Hand to hand dice: 8
• Morale save: 4+
• Stamina: 4

For special rules I use Elite 6+, Heavy Cavalry charge +1. Lance.

5. Jinetes and Stradiots.

These units can be excellent for harassing Gendarmes, especially in groups as they can disorder the Gendarmes with their spears, preventing the Gendarmes from charging. When the Gendarmes do manage to charge, they can use fire and evade to cause casualties over time.

I represent Jinetes and Stradiots by eight figures mounted on Skirmish bases produced by Litko.

The Stats for both types of light cavalry are:

• Hand to hand dice: 6
• Morale save: 5+
• Stamina: 3

For special rules both have the important Fire and Evade rule which models the role of these troops very well. They also both have the Marauders rule.

To differentiate the units I also give the Stradiots the Brittle rule. I do not give this to the Spanish Jinetes as they are a much more reliable troop.

Summary

The above details some of the main stats and special rules that I use for Cavalry and Pike blocks. In a future post I will detail shot units and some of the changes we make to the Pike and Shot rules themselves (I only have a couple of minor changes).

After spending a year painting 28mm figures and constructing terrain and buildings, it was time to roll out the Italian Wars project at our local club. I had 773 figures with 87 flags, more than enough for a play test. I decided to base the game on the Battle of Garigliano in 1503, as the battle was early in the Italian wars and was a decisive encounter.

In this post I will detail the initial set up and order of battle. It a later posts I will detail some of the unit characteristics and rule modifications that I used under the Pike and Shot rules and give an after action report, as well as learnings from the play test. We will run the game again at a local club event near Philadelphia in the next few months.

Short historical background.

In July 1503, the French crossed the Alps into Italy with 20,000 men to do battle with the smaller Spanish Army with around 10,000 men and then march on to Naples. The mighty French Gendarmes were supported by the fearsome Swiss Pike. At the start of November, the two armies found themselves facing each other across the rain swollen River Garigliano, about 50 miles north of Naples.

The French managed to secure a bridge-head across the river under the cover of gunboats brought up the river from the coast. The French had launched several unsuccessful attacks to break out from the bridge-head and the Spanish had tried unsuccessfully to destroy the bridge.

In mid November the rain and snow had got worse and there was deadlock for the next six weeks. Both sides fortified their positions and the ground between them was a muddy mess. A truce was negotiated for the 25th and 26th December. On the morning of the 29th December, the Spanish completed a pontoon bridge that they had been secretly assembling upstream at the town of Sujo. They suddenly appeared on the left flank of the French who were caught totally by surprise. It is at this point our game started.

The Spanish deployments.

On the Spanish Left we can see the Spanish field defenses in the foreground with the French bridge head opposite. The defenses were constructed with a water filled ditch in front of them to represent the flooded ground. Behind the defenses are:

Two large Landschnekt pike blocks each of 36 figures (Foundry figures)

Two Landschnekt small mixed shot units of each of 8 figures (SteelFist figures)

One Italian sword unit of 16 figures (The Assault Group figures)

One Jinete unit of 8 figures (The Assault Group figures)

On the Spanish right we see the town of Sujo, represented by the bell tower and the building in the foreground. Further back we see the town of CastleForte, represented by the castle type building. In the far background you can see the River Garigliano with the Spanish field defenses on the other side of the river.

In the foreground you can see:

Four units of Gendarmes each of 4 figures (SteelFist figures)

These units are painted as Papal States cavalry, which weren’t actually present at Garigliano. I was trying to give a representation of Garigliano with the units that I have, without worrying too much about matching units exactly. The game was more about getting all of my figures onto the table for an initial run out.

Behind the heavy cavalry are:

Two units of large Italian pike each of 36 figures (The Assault Group figures)

Two units of Italian small mixed shot each of 8 figures (The Assault Group figures)

Behind the Italian pike are:

Two units of Spanish Pike each of 24 figures (The Assault Group figures)

Four units of Spanish small arquebusiers each of 8 figures (The Assault Group figures)

Behind the Spanish infantry are:

Two units of Spanish Knights each of 8 figures (one unit of Eureka and one TAG figures)

Two units of Spanish Jinetes each of 8 figures (The Assault Group figures)

This photo shows the Spanish right after the first turn. In the foreground are the unit casualty markers and other game counters (Shaken, Disordered, Winning etc.).

The French deployments

Behind the French field defenses at the bridge-head were some units of the French infantry group. The rest of this group were sleeping in the French camp the the game started.

Two units of French pike each of 24 figures (The Assault Group figures) – one of these units is at the bridge-head and the other is in camp.

Three units of French crossbow each of 16 figures (The Assault Group figures) — two of these units are at the bridge-head and the other is in camp.

On the French side of the Garigliano, in the rear of the photo, are the bulk of the French Gendarmerie.

One unit of French artillery represented by 3 guns (Foundry figures)

One unit of French household Gendarmes of 8 figures (SteelFist figures)

Three units of French Gendarmes each of 8 figures (SteelFist figures)

Four units of French mounted Archers each of 8 figures (SteelFist figures)

On these pictures I put up the back drop to take some photos. Close to the French camp are:

Two units of Albanian Stradiots each of 8 figures (The Assualt Group figures)

The French left had two battalia, the first was:

Three Swiss Pike blocks each with 36 figures (Foundry figures).

These units were near Castleforte in the centre.

The second was:

Two Black Band Landschnekt Pike blocks each with 36 figures (SteelFist figures)

Two Black Band small mixed shot units each with 8 figures (SteelFist figures)

The black band was in the French camp.

There was also a unit of scouts near Sujo represented by a unit of 16 Italian Swordsmen.

This last photo shows a view of the entire table for perspective. In the foreground is the field defenses of both sides and the river Garigliano. In the middle left is the French camp. In the table centre is Castleforte and in the distance is the town of Sujo. The entire table was 5′ x 14′ and was covered by two 5′ x 7′ game mats produced by Killing Fields Terrain. I cut the roads into the terrain mats.

Thanks go to Lou for opening his basement for the play test, as well as to Pat, Bob and Dave for play testing the scenario. With the initial play test in the bag, we plan to run the game again at our local club game day. We have a number of modifications to make to the scenario as a result of the play test. I will discuss the after action report and the modifications in a future blog post. I hope to get to this blog post in the next few weeks.

This blog post is in response to a question on The Miniatures Page (TMP) discussion boards about how many 28mm figures do you need for a pike block. The first picture shows some of my large pike blocks with 36 Papal States figures in each. In these large pike blocks I like the look of three flags per block.

The second picture shows two of my standard sized pike blocks with 24 figures in each. In these pike blocks I like the look of two flags per pike block.