College of Kings

Garigliano 1503 – game set up

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.

The Spanish Left in defensive positions near the river Garigliano.

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)

Spanish initial deployments on the right near Sujo. Castleforte is in the middle of the table with the River Garigliano in the background.

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.

View of the units on the French side of the Garigliano

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.

Pike Blocks

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.

Two large Papal States Pike blocks each of 36 figures (6 wide, 6 deep)

Two standard French Pike Blocks each of 24 figures (4 wide, 6 deep)

Italian Wars Buildings

This post is just to show three buildings that I recently made for my Italian War Scenery. They were made using dental stone molded in Hirst Arts molds. I will do another post showing how I constructed the buildings. The building are a Castello (based Castel Pietraio near Sienna, where I spent a few days on holiday), an outer building and a bell tower. I am currently building the bells to insert in the tower and will move on to the church later this year.

The first photo shows the three buildings with some landschnekts (Foundry), a Papal pike block (TAG) and some Papal Knights (Steel Fist)

Overall the buildings are quite large compared to those that most people use for 28mm figures, but I really wanted to make something quite impressive to go with the Italian Wars figures. These are the first three buildings that I have ever built, and overall, I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

28mm Italian Wars Castello, out building and bell tower

This next photo shows a more ground level view. I like how the lions head on the castello wall turned out. It started life as a lions head fantasy shield that I purchased on the internet.

28mm Landschnekts pike block advances on the Papal States pike block

The next two photos show more of the bell tower.

28mm Papal Troops hold off Landschekts near the Castello

The final photo shows the bells that I am constructing to go inside the bell tower. They are made from a stained balsa support and counter weight, wheels and brackets from an old napoleonic canon I had spare, and rope and bells from a model ship building supplier. I hope to be able to finish and insert the bells into the tower next week.

Here is a picture of Castel Pietraio near Siena, on which this model was loosely based.

Review of Black Hussar’s Saxon Artillery Crew – SA011 and SA016

Black Hussar make three different packs of Saxon Artillery Crew each with four figures in. Each package costs 7.00 Euro. I decided to purchase a total of four packs (two of SA011 and two of SA016). I did not purchase any of the packs with forage caps. The four packs gave a total of sixteen figures which was enough to crew my battery of Saxon guns from Calpe.

28mm Saxon Artillery 1813 — The four crew members manning the gun with the brigade command near by.

In the pictures shown there are three figure from pack SA011 and one figure from pack SA016. All of the figures arrived with minimal flash and needed very little tidying up. There is also a lot of detail on the figures which makes painting easy compared with some figures from other manufacturers. Although Black Hussar do make the Saxon Artillery pieces, I had already purchased three 6 pdrs and one howitzer from Calpe, which I am very pleased with; so I cannot give a review of the Black Hussar artillery equipment.

I particularly liked some of the detail on the trousers with the piping on the front of some figures being easy to see and paint. I also like the fact that some figures had overalls rather than the piped trousers, which gave some variation in the unit. I painted one of the figures with white overalls and one with grey overalls.

The only real issue I have is the figure carrying his shako; it seems to me like a pose that you cannot use multiple times in the same battery as it is not a neutral type pose; but this comment just reflects personal preference.

Painting

For painting I mainly used Vallejo Model Color paints. I will give the paint numbers below alongside the color description. I did use a few Vallejo Game Color paints, these are indicated with a *

For the jackets I used three greens: 980 Black Green for the base, 970 Deep Green for the main color and 967 Olive Green for the highlights

For the red trim I used three colors: 859 Black Red for the base, 908 Carmine Red for the main color and 957 Flat Red for the highlights

For the white trousers I used: 990 Light Grey followed by a number of thin layers of 72.101* Off White

For the grey trousers I used: 992 Neutral Grey for the base, 991 Dark Grey for the main color and 990 Light Grey for the highlights

For the sashes I used: 875 Beige Brown with 847 Dark Sand on top

The gold was: 72.055* Polished Gold

The face and hands were: 955 Flat Flesh with a very light wash of 73.204* Flesh Wash

Basing

For the basing I put each of the figures on a LITKO 20mm x 20mm base. The gun rests on a LITKO 60mm x 60mm base and can be put onto the limber base when required. The bases are then put onto a 60mm x 100mm LITKO magnetic formation tray with a couple of extra 20mm x 20mm bases to fill in the spaces. The formation tray allows removal of figures for casualties. As you will notice from the pictures I still need to finish the formation tray edges.

There is always a lot of discussion on the painting of Saxon Artillery pieces, with the temptation to paint them bright yellow and black. I wanted to avoid what I have heard referred to as “Bumble Bee” artillery. I therefore used a yellow ochre color which was then heavily painted with a sepia wash to tone the brightness down and highlight details. The barrel was then painted a bronze color with a black wash do highlight the depth and also tone it down. The black is always difficult to paint to achieve depth without making it look grey. I have tried a couple of techniques which work well enough, but I am still looking for a better solution on the next gun.

Summary

These figures from Black Hussar work very well with the Calpe guns and I will be looking to purchase some more when I get around to my second Saxon artillery battery.

Review of Black Hussar’s Saxon Foot Artillery Officers – SA017

As part of my 24th Saxon Division, I need two foot artillery batteries as part of the Artillery Brigade von Roth. For the first of these batteries I purchased some very nice Saxon artillery pieces from Calpe – three 6 pdr guns (Code SA1) and one howitzer (Code SA2). I will do a separate review of these guns in the next few weeks.

Although the guns are excellent, Calpe does not currently have any Saxon gun crews or limbers, which presented a problem. My search for a solution led me to Black Hussar Miniatures, who recently bought the figures of Westfalia Miniatures. Black Hussar produce a range of 28mm Saxon figures including artillery pieces, artillery limbers and train horses, artillery officers and artillery crew. In the last few days they also released artillery train drivers (I will be placing an order for these later today). From the pictures on their website, it looked like I had found a solution to my artillery personnel problems.

Ordering process.

The first thing to note is that the company is German and when you go to the website it is in German. However, there is a little button at the top right of the home page that allows you to select English. Even though not everything translates and some of the translations are not perfect, selecting the English language button makes the site easy enough to navigate. I quickly filled my cart with some gun crews, officers and limbers and then went to the checkout. There was a problem with paying through the website which I could not resolve; I don’t know if everyone has this problem or just US shipments or Safari users. To get around the issue, I submitted the order without paying as they suggest – they state that they will not ship the order until they receive payment. I then recorded the amount that I owed and went to paypal and manually sent the amount owed to the paypal address on their payment page. I was a little worried by this process, but it all worked out very well. I have done three orders like this now and each one was received within a couple of weeks.

Review of the figures and the painting of the figures

I was impressed with the Saxon artillery limber and train horses and will review these once I have completed painting them. For now, I will concentrate on reviewing the Saxon Foot Artillery Officers (Code SA017). The pack was 4 Euros for the two figures which seemed a fair price.

The figures all arrived in good condition with minimal flash. I washed the figures and painted them with Vallejo 74.601 grey primer; I use this primer for figures with any significant amount of white or light grey on the uniform and I use the 7 fl oz bottle to save money.

Natural poses with one officer in Bicorne and one with a telescope

The figures were a joy to paint, even with my modest skills. They have a lot of details clearly defined, are in natural poses and had very open stances which made getting to the details reasonably easy. The figures also fit very well with the Calpe figures in my collection in terms of height and build.

Excellent details on the back with texture on the jackets

For painting I mainly used Vallejo Model Color paints. I will give the paint numbers below alongside the color description. I did use a few Vallejo Game Color paints, these are indicated with a *

For the jackets I used three greens: 980 Black Green for the base, 970 Deep Green for the main color and 967 Olive Green for the highlights

For the red trim I used three colors: 859 Black Red for the base, 908 Carmine Red for the main color and 957 Flat Red for the highlights

For the white trousers I used: 990 Light Grey followed by a number of thin layers of 72.101* Off White

For the grey trousers I used: 992 Neutral Grey for the base, 991 Dark Grey for the main color and 990 Light Grey for the highlights

The gold was: 72.055* Polished Gold

The face and hands were: 955 Flat Flesh with a very light wash of 73.204* Flesh Wash

I then based the figures on a 50mm x 50mm plywood base from LITKO. I use 50mm x 50mm for my brigade command bases and 100mm x 100mm bases for my divisional command bases. I painted the base brown and then used Woodland Scenics flock (a couple of colors) on the base secured with their scenic cement. I will probably add a few tufts of grass and other details later in the week.

Summary

The ordering process has a few quirks to navigate, but it was not too complicated. The company quickly shipped my figures and they arrived in good condition. I was very happy with the figure quality and they offer an excellent solution to commanding my Saxon Artillery Battery equipped with Calpe guns. My next job is to paint the 16 artillery crew from Black Hussar Miniatures so that my guns can take the field of battle. Once they are painted I will post a review of the gun crews [Foot Artillery Crew 1 (SA011) and Foot Artillery Crew 3 (SA013)].