College of Kings

Initial thoughts on the Battle of Pavia in 2025

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.

A 100 figure Foundry Landskecht block that I have in addition to the 196 figure Steel Fist block.

With the two 144 figure Swiss Blocks I have, I am covered.

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.

28mm Afghanistan Force on Force

Yesterday we play tested the modern 28mm Afghanistan Force on Force scenario for Cold Wars 2023. The scenario involved various Taliban units trying to attack the 3rd Para British Forward Operating Base.

The game result was that the Taliban inflicted heavy casualties on the two units of Afghan National Police. Eventually, the British forced the Taliban to withdraw under heavy fire. The British remained within the defenses of the Forward Operating Base rather than coming out to engage the Taliban at close quarters.

As a result of the play test I will be modifying some of the initial deployment positions and adjusting some of the victory conditions. I want to encourage the British player to be more aggressive.

I took most of the photos below before the game started, showing the initial table set up. As I was busy running the game, there are less photos once the game commenced. As a result there are not many images of the actual combat.

Photos of the battle.

An MQ-9 Reaper drone’s view of the board. The FOB on the left and the market town on the right.

Inside the Forward Operating Base – the HESCO bag and barbed wire perimeter can be seen,

The Base entrance guarded by a unit of Afghan National Police.

An Arial view of the other end of the market.

Looking down the market street, with the Taliban taking a roof top position.

Taliban troops in, and above the market.

Taliban rushing past the fish and meat stalls.

Another view of the builders yard and fields.

The view across from the Forward Operating Base.

More back street action. The minivan contained a large IED which was never detonated.

Another shot of the minivan with the IED.

The apartments the other end of town, with washing on the line.

Overall, the play test went very well. The 28mm Afghanistan Force on Force captured the feel of modern combat.

Cold Wars 2023 project update

My Cold Wars 2023 modern Afghanistan project is on a tight schedule. I have a play test in two weeks time and then there is only another two and a half weeks until the convention. the rule set will be Force on Force. This post is just a very short update of some of the things I have been up to for the project.

After the play-test on the 18th February, I will post some pictures of the completed layout.

I still have many things to complete, the most demanding will be painting another 30 Afghan civilians that I am expecting to arrive from Empress Miniatures in the next few days.

As they did not arrive before last weekend, I found that I was short of things to do. So I pulled out two M777 Howitzer kits that have been sitting in my To Do pile. These are from Table Top Tactical Simulations. Although they will not be used in the game, they can provide a scenic piece inside the Forward Operating Base. Over the weekend I managed to assemble, paint, weather and base these huge howitzers.

The lighting for the photo is not great, but the colors do look good in real life. As they are only for scenic effect, I do not need to paint the crew for Cold Wars. The town in the game would be much too close for these guns to be used. Also the game will be full of civilians which would make artillery use impractical.

I also constructed some very nice British vehicles from White Dragon Miniatures. These are two Foxhounds and two Mastiffs. Again these will not be used in the fighting but will be add to the scenery of the FOB.

In addition to the civilians, I have a range of scenery to complete. The items include, blue rain barrels, road signs, explosion markers, and a petrol pump. I also have a large Chinook Helicopter that I hope will arrive to carry some SAS troops. If all goes well everything should arrive soon and should be painted for Cold Wars 2023 in March.

Afghan market town in 28mm

Cold Wars 2023 will be taking place from March 9th-13th. There I plan to run a Force on Force battle with Taliban attacking a 3rd Para Forward Operating Base just outside an Afghan town. As Force on Force requires a lot of terrain for a realistic battle, I decided that I needed some extra buildings and a market for the Afghan market town.

I had previously bought about six, two story Afghan houses from Etsy, and I was pleased with them. So I decided to go back to Etsy for some larger buildings, as I wanted to create height on the table. I found a row of shops/small businesses and a larger concrete apartment building.

Preparing the Afghan market town buildings

Like many of the buildings on Etsy, they had been 3D printed. I washed the buildings in a mild soap solution. I don’t know if it is necessary with 3D printed models, but it is a simple step. Finally, I primed the buildings black with a hand applied Vallejo black primer.

Base coating the buildings

I then spray painted the buildings sand on the outside. As I have a lot to do for Cold Wars, I decided not to detail the insides. I left the insides black. I can always go back and detail the insides later.

To break up the flat texture of the models and to hide any printing layer lines, I took a sponge and applied a layer of a slightly darker sand. This instantly improved the building appearance.

I then added model railroad ballast to the roof and secured with scenic cement.

Weathering the buildings

After the roof of the apartment was dry I got to work with a couple of weathering powder colors. These take some time to apply with a brush, but they really bring the building to life. I then added some Afghan signs to the buildings. I cut the signs from internet photos and printed onto paper. Afterwards, I then applied them with white glue and weathered them. I also added some model railroad graffiti decals. Finally, the door and windows were painted and weathered. I then sealed the buildings with a coat of matte varnish.

The finished Afghan market town

I then took some pictures with some of the market stands that I recently made. I purchased all of these items from Etsy, Internet vendors and trade show vendors. The base is just my kitchen counter as I did not have time to get my desert terrain mat out today. I will be play testing this game early February and I will have some pictures then. I have about 50 Afghan Civilians that I am half way through painting, so they will add to the market hustle and bustle.

The following pictures show the completed scene, which I think captures the feel of an Afghan market town.

1813 24th Division (1st Saxon)

When I first got back in to the hobby in 2017, I purchased figures from Calpe Miniatures to form a Napoleonic Division. Their Saxon figures were excellent and I chose to build the 24th Division (1st Saxon) of Reyneir’s VII Corps. Unfortunately the white uniforms with yellow trim were a little beyond my painting skills for a first project. So I put the figures aside for a while so I could paint other periods.

This December I decided to revisit the project. I set a target of painting the entire division plus supports by the end of the year. While no-where near perfect, my painting skills have improved enough that I am able to achieve reasonable units. Nevertheless, the white uniforms and yellow trim have still tested me at times.

The first units that I decided to paint were the Saxon Prinz Maximillion and von Rechten Battalions. Both have yellow trim. The former has yellow metal buttons and the later has silver metal buttons.

Basing the units

I plan to use General de Brigade and/or General de Armee rules. Each Battalion has four companies each represented by an eight figure base. Each base has an officer on the front right and an NCO at the back left. One base has a flag figure (the flags will arrive in the New Year). I plan to have a command base for each battalion with a Chef de Battalion and a drummer. Each Battalion will also have two bases each of two skirmishers. The company bases are 80mm x 40mm. The skirmish bases are 40mm x 60mm and the command bases will be 40mm x 40mm.

The project scope

The first Brigade of the 24th Division will have two light, a guard, and the two Musketeer Battalions shown. It will also have 6 Jagers.

The second Brigade of the 24th Division will have 4 Musketeer Battalions and a Grenadier Battalion.

The Division will also have two foot artillery Batteries.

Supporting the Division I plan to have Saxon Hussars and Uhlans.

The next units that I plan to paint are the two Battalions of the Prinz Freidrich August regiment. These will have white uniforms with a green trim. I hope to have these two Battalions complete by mid February. However, I have another project to complete for Cold Wars 2023 in March, so timing may need to be flexible.

The Polish Grand Hetman arrives to review his troops.

The Polish Grand Hetman (the great Jeff Wasileski) arrived to review the performance of his troops at Fall In! Below the photo is a quick video showing all of the deployed troops before the start of the battle.

Bila Tserkva 1651

Last weekend we carried out a play-test of the Battle of Bila Tserkva 1651 at the Wargaming Association of Metropolitan Philadelphia. The game will be played at Fall In! at 9am next Saturday. Bila Tserkva is a town in modern day Ukraine, located about 50 miles south of Kyiv. I believe that Bila Tserkva is the Ukrainian spelling and Biala Cerkiew is Polish. In English the literal translation is White Church, which of course required me to build the white Church.

The Battle was between the forces of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Cossacks of Khmelnystsky.

In this post I will discuss the research, give the orders of battle, show the initial deployments, and discuss key features. I don’t want to discuss the play-test itself too much as I don’t want to give things away prior to Fall In!. I will do an after action report following the convention.

Research.

I have used a Polish book by Marcin Domagala titled “Biala Cerkiew 23-25 IX 1651” as the main text to research the battle. There is very little information in English on this battle, so I have spent many hours with Google Translate.

The other main information used to recreate the battle were two period pictures. I really wanted to capture the feel of the pictures while staying true to the account of the battle in the book.

Poles on the left, cossacks on the right.

The main item that I wanted to capture from this first image is the double wagon tabor camp of the Poles. This required a huge amount of work in preparing a load of wagons, but I think that it was worth it. The other item of note is the defenses of the cossacks on the right. These were old, poorly maintained defenses of the Bila Tserkva fort. I also wanted to make sure these were represented.

Polish checkered deployment and the mass of cossacks.

The second photo show the Polish checkered deployment which was typical of their battle tactics of the time. The other item of note from the photo is the mass of cossacks on the right. It was important for me to recreate both of these items. This photo required me to paint a mass of cossacks for this battle over and above the ones I already had.

Order of Battle.

The following is the order of battle that I plan to use. I make no claims as to the accuracy of this order of battle, but I feel that it gives a good representation of the forces used and makes for an interesting game:

Polish and Lithuanian

Overall Command Base
One unit of 8 German Reiter Style cavalry

Center

Heavy Cavalry Command Base
One unit of 8 Winged Hussars
Three units of 8 Pancerni

Infantry Command Base
Two units of 12 German style pike
Four units of 12 German style shot
Three units of 12 Haiduks
Two medium cannons
Forty two wagons, some with small cannons

LEFT FLANK

Noble levy cavalry command base
Five units of 8 Noble levy cavalry

RIGHT FLANK

Polish cossack cavalry command base
Four units of 8 Polish cossack cavalry

Polish cossack cavalry command base
Four units of 8 Polish cossack cavalry.

Cossacks and Tatar

Tatar Overall Command base
Cossack Overall Command base

LEFT FLANK

Tatar command base
Four units of 8 Tatar cavalry
Cossack command base
Four units of 8 Cossack cavalry

CEnter

Infantry command base
Three units of 12 Register cossacks
Four units of 12 Moloitsy cossack
Three units of 30 Cossack Peasants
Infantry command base
Three units of 12 Register cossacks
Four units of 12 Moloitsy cossack
Three units of 30 Cossack Peasants
Three medium cannons

Right Flank

Cavalry command base
Four units of 8 Tatar cavalry

Reserves

Tatar Command base
Four units of 8 Tatar Cavalry
Cossack cavalry command base
Four units of 8 Cossack Cavalry

Deployments for Bila Tserkva 1651

Photos of the Polish initial positions

Here are some photos of the Polish initial deployments going from right, through center to the left.

The Polish right flank showing the mounted Polish style Cossacks

Polish center showing the wagon Tabors with troops out front

Polish center with checker board troops deployment

Photos of the cossack initial positions

Here are some photos of the cossack initial positions:

Key features of the battle Bila Tserkva 1651.

The Battle of Bila Tserkva 1651 took place between two rivers which join behind the Cossack defenses at Bila Tserkva. These rivers are off table. Adjacent to the Ros river on the cossack left were some marshes, burial mounds and apiaries. I felt that it was important to represent these as they had a role in the battle.

The Burial mounds with Bee Hives on the right

Of course the Battle of Bila Tserkva (“white church”) needs a white church and other buildings.

The Polish wagon tabor is an essential element of the game and took a lot of time to build. They are two rows deep rather than the three in the period picture but that is a compromise I was prepared to make for the sake of my wallet and sanity.

The Polish wagon tabors

The final feature that I wanted to recreate was the Cossack defenses and the massed cossacks behind them. I think that I managed to achieve an accurate representation of the images.

Another view of the defenses and cossacks

Summary

This blog post is intended to give some of the background of the Bila Tserkva 1651 game and information on orders of battle and deployments. I feel that I have captured the spectacle that I was trying to achieve. The book and pictures of the battle really helped me design this game.

I will give details of how the battle played out in an after action report in a few weeks.

Trylisy 1651 – final test run

Last Saturday the Wargaming Association of Metropolitan Philadelphia ran the final play test of Trylisy 1651 for Fall In! The By Fire and Sword rules are reasonably new to us. We felt that we needed this additional game to practice and to get the balance right.

Changes.

The Trylisy 1651 game differed from the last time we play tested in a few ways:

I added a number of new buildings that I have recently painted to make the village more substantial. I really liked the new blacksmiths shed and the well.
I increased the table size from 5′ x 7′ to 5′ x 14′ to give more room for maneuver. This created more space, especially on the flanks
I reduced the number of walls, tree lines and field defenses to give the cossacks less of an advantage.
I added two units of Polish Noble Levy, one on each flank, to boost the Polish forces. These units are both insubordinate, which puts a drain on the Polish command points if not carefully managed. Because of this limitation, even though they look like a lot of figures, they don’t make the Polish too strong.
I slightly increased the size of the cossack infantry units as I had some more bases arrive from Litko.

Cossack infantry near the blacksmith shed. Pikes to the front to protect against cavalry.

How the Trylisy 1651 game played.

The Polish Pancerni and Winged Hussars, supported by a unit of Polish style cossacks attacked one side of the village. This attack overpowered the defenders. These cossack used pikes to defend themselves as there was no wall on that side of the village.

Winged Hussars in their starting position

On each flank the units of Noble Levy attacked opposing mounted cossacks, which were small units. After some initial success, the Nobel Levy found themselves struggling to get new orders. The commanders were in the center controlling the attack on the village. The combination of distance and the insubordinate rule meant that they would need three command points to receive new orders. There just weren’t enough command points available at the time. It is the first time that I have seen the command point issue take prominent place in a game. I liked the way it worked.

The new well and Register cossacks defending the wall.

As a result of the massed Polish cavalry and the lack of walls, the cossack center gradually crumbled. The only unit that really managed to hold was a unit of Register cossacks behind a wall. The lack of impetus modifier for the cavalry, and cavalry attacking infantry in defendable terrain, gave the infantry an advantage. Eventually the cavalry managed to break into the village in other areas and even the Register cossack’s position became untenable.

Changes in Trylisy 1651 for Fall In!

In the last play test of Trylisy 1651 the cossacks completely destroyed the Poles. The changes that I made for this game gave an advantage to the Poles which I now need to address. With a new set of rules it is sometime difficult to understand how to get the balance right. The combination of adding two units of Noble Levy and removing the walls around the village was just too much. I need to make a few modifications to get the balance right. However, I need to be careful not to go too much the other way.

Register cossacks defending the village.

I plan to make the following changes for Fall In! to even the balance:

The heavy cavalry consisting of the Pancerni and Winged Hussars will not appear on the table until Turn 3. The initial assault of the Poles will therefore need to be done with the lighter cavalry. This change should prevent the cossacks being completely overwhelmed by cavalry early in the game.
I will give the village a few more walls to make it more defendable.
With the initial absence of Polish heavy cavalry in the centre, I will move the Noble Levy in a bit.
I will have a couple of defendable positions on the flanks. The will allow the mounted cossacks to advance into and dismount. This change will make the mounted cossacks a bit more effective and interesting. It will also give the Poles something to be concerned about on the flank.

The cossack position in the village became untenable

Summary

With these small changes I think that the Trylisy 1651 scenario will be balanced. These games showed the importance of play testing before a convention, particularly with a new set of rules. Being a new set of rules to us, and probably most convention goers, I will limit the players to four. This limit will allow me to teach the rules effectively.

Fall In! 2022, Battle of Trylisy

Over the last few weeks we have been play testing the 1651 Battle of Trylisy in 28mm using the By Fire and Sword rules.

At Historicon in 2021, I ran the 1651 Battle of Berestechko using Pike and Shotte early on the Thursday morning. This Battle took place between the 28th and 30th June, 1651. The cossacks lost the battle and retreated. Eventually the Poles and Lithuanians caught up with the cossacks at Bila Tserkva (white church) on the 24th September 1651. On the Saturday morning at Fall In! 2022 I plan to run the Battle of Bila Tserkva again using Pike and Shotte rules. This game will be reasonably large and will be for 8-10 players.

Before the engagement at Bila Tserkva, the Poles fought a small engagement against some cossack units at village Trylisy on 23rd August. The village was defended by a small garrison of about 600 cossacks. At Fall In! 2022 I also plan to run the Battle of Trylisy on the Friday. As it is a smaller engagement I plan to use the By Fire and Sword rules. As the rules are more complex and detailed, I plan to limit the number of players to four. This smaller game will allow me to tech the rules to anyone who has not played them before and wants to try them out.

At our last club games day we tried the rules for a second time. We caught most of the errors that we made during a first outing of the rules, but made a few new errors. As a result of the game I believe that we now have a good understanding of the system.

Most of the errors that we made the first time involved not understanding the cossack infantry special rules, which give them some defensive options against cavalry. As a result the cossacks got massacred. Because of this game, we overcompensated by giving the cossacks too many defenses, which made it extremely hard going for the Poles. I believe we now have a good understanding of how to achieve a balanced game.

Register Cossacks in the village of Trylisy.

I am hoping that I will get a few players that want to get to learn the By Fire and Sword rules sign up for the game. In my opinion it is a set of rules that really captures the flavor of the period. Due to the size of the rule book they can seem a little overwhelming. But a convention should allow people to try them out.

I plan to have a relatively small number of units. The Poles will have a unit of Winged Hussars, a unit of Pancerni, two units of Polish cossack style cavalry and two units of Noble Levy. The cossacks will have two unit of register cossacks, two unit of moloitsy and two units of mounted cossacks. Each player will have three units to control.

We should easily be able to finish the game of the Battle of Trylisy within the four hours.

For players preferring the larger game, I will be running the battle of Bila Tserkva on the Saturday with way more troops. This game will use the Pike and Shotte rules.

Battle of Ravenna at Historicon 2022

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.

A view looking down the table at the City walls in the background.

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.

Spanish war carts and artillery wait behind 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.

Siege guns threatening the city of Ravenna.

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.

A view of the battlefield from inside the city.

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

Another view from the city – French forces on the left and Spanish on the right.

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.