During the Covid lock-down the painting of the lead pile continues with some work on the Poles and Tatars. I have finally finished the entire Tatar force of 98 figures. For the cossack uprising project I have also completed 24 Polish Pancerni.
First off here is a photo of the 3 units of 8 Pancerni. The figures are all from The Assault Group. I decided to keep them fairly uniform in contrast to the Cossacks and Tatars that they will be facing. I like the way that they turned out with all of the flags and pennants.
To accompany the Pancerni, I will be fielding a unit of winged hussars, a unit of Reiters, five units of noble levy and three to four units of Polish Cossacks.
The photo above shows the Pancerni facing off against the Tatar horde. They are a little outnumbered at the moment so I hope to get some more figures painted over the coming weeks.
The next photo shows the size of the Tatar horde. It took me quite a while to paint this entire Tatar army. The figures are Steppe Nobles from Aventine Miniatures and the horses are from the Assault Group. I will now be taking a short break from painting Poles and Tatars and moving on to paint some mounted and foot cossacks, hopefully the war wagons will arrive soon.
The Tatar figures are quite versatile. I am also using them as Huns in a small 450AD army that I have put together (280 points in Hail Caesar rules). During lock-down I also completed a couple of Frank War-bands and a small group of archers to support them. The Franks are all from War-games Foundry. It is nice to have an ancients army without having to do to much work over and above the painting of the Tatars that I did for the Cossack uprising project. I plan to take on a club member’s late period Roman army once normal gaming resumes.
Earlier this month my copy of By Fire and Sword – Player’s Edition arrived. The rule book was $20.00 plus $9.75 shipping from Wargamer LLC. The shipping cost seemed a little excessive given the size of the book.
The reason why I ordered the Player’s Edition is that I wanted to explore the rules without spending too much. The Task Force rule book is $40. I am also aware that there is an older rule book that includes the army lists that sold for even more. As the army lists are all on-line and can be obtained in a free pdf from the Polish website, the Players Edition seemed a good low cost way to see if I liked the rules. The one thing that is not clear is whether the Players Edition and the Task Force rule book are the same set of rules or not. It would be great if someone could let me know.
The rules are written to cover the period that I am interested in, the cossack uprising in the 1650s. In fact the creators say that it focuses on the Polish battles between 1640 and 1676, so a perfect fit for me.
Firstly I want to give some details on what I am looking for in a set of rules for the period. I plan to play battles with over 1,000 figures of 28mm. I also plan to host these at the local club where we can often have 8-12 people wanting to join in. Normally I have 2-3 people who have a working knowledge of the rules but do not play a set of rules regularly. The rest of the players pick the rules up as we are playing. I therefore need a set of rules that give a flavor of the period, but are also reasonably fast play and easy to pick up. The mantra of Lou in our club is that a good set of rules needs to be Fast, Fun and give a Flavor of the period (the three Fs)
For this reason I have been a fan of the Pike and Shotte rules for my Italian Wars battles. My first thought of rules for this Cossack Uprising period was also to use Pike and Shotte with a few custom rules for the period (such as some to allow Cossack War Wagon defenses). However, I wanted to have a look at By Fire and Sword to see if it was a good alternative or, at the very least, provide a basis for some custom rules for Pike and Shotte.
Before I delve into the rules themselves, I need to get perhaps my largest criticism out of the way first. The font, type size, line and word spacing are just terrible for me. Here is an image of one page of both Pike and Shotte and By Fire and Sword.
The Pike and Shotte page is on the left and the By Fire and Sword Page is on the right. The Pike and Shotte rules are well laid out, spaced and easy to read. I have found it all but impossible to read the By Fire and Sword without glasses and even with glasses it can become difficult when my eyes become tired. Also, maybe because of the translation from Polish to English, reading the rules can become hard work and difficult to understand what they are getting at. I have read the war wagon rules five times and I am still not entirely sure of what they mean. For this reason I am interested to know if the Task Force book is the same rules but in a larger format to make it easier to read.
Having got this initial criticism out of the way, I can say that the rules are worth giving some time to. I should note that I have not yet played a full game with them at the club, but I have been through them a number of times at home. My opinion may change a little after a club game.
The rules were written for the writers own range of 15mm figures based on their standard bases. All of the distances and ranges are in cm. To use my 28mm figures I plan to just convert the cm to inches and I think that everything will work just fine. I also think that as long as the bases of each army are roughly the same, there should be no problem for a friendly club game.
The first thing that I like about the game is the Initiative and Orders concept that they use. The overall commander and the commander of each regiment (and possibly a subordinate) are given a number of command points. This is often 3-4 for the overall commander or 2-3 for a regimental commander. It can be less for less well commanded troops like levy cavalry. These points can be used for a number of different command activities like issuing orders, rallying troops, modifying the skill or morale of troops, or delaying shooting. A commander can also pass down any command points that he does not plan to use to a lower level commander. The commander can also assign a number of command points to improve his die roll when trying to get initiative at the start of the turn. These command points ensure that a commander and his subordinates can focus their time and attention on critical areas of the battle. I believe that the way the command points are used will have an outcome over how the battle develops and who ultimately wins.
The orders are also well thought out. You can assign troops a move, charge or defense order. The type of order that a unit is given effects how it performs in various stages of a turn. For example a unit with defense orders can fire earlier in the turn and has certain shooting advantages. One particular rule that I like is that a unit with a Defense order can delay its fire to any point in the turn with the expenditure of a command point. This simulates an officer controlling the fire until the optimum time.
The movement section seems a little more complicated than the free movement of Pike and Shotte and consists of movement and maneuvers. Personally I don’t think that this complexity adds much to the game. I believe that it is aimed more to the tournament type of play that the rules were undoubtedly written for. For a club game I think that they will just slow things down.
The firing and combat sections of the game are very similar to Pike and Shotte. You take a certain number of D10 depending on the troop shooting value and the number of bases/troops. You then modify the dice role by a small number of factors to see if you can role under the skill value of the unit to hit. The one minor point here that I dislike is that rolling low is a good thing – it is very counterintuitive and I generally don’t like rules that work in this way. One interesting rule is that hits at long range have to be re-rolled to hit, I think that this is clever way of handling the effect of range. However, it could probably be handled more quickly by adding a factor to adjust the die roll.
Like Pike and Shotte, units that are hit get a save. The unit has to roll under its armor value to save. Again rolling low is better. The one thing that I don’t like on this armor save is that it has to be modified by the effectiveness of the weapon firing at you. Any time that you have to ask your opponent for information to be included in your roll it tends to slow the game down. Pike and Shotte does not have this problem.
Figures bought from the rule writer are typically based three figures to a base. Casualties are recorded by a combination of markers and removing bases from play. One or two casualties are indicated by a marker with the third casualty causing the removal of a base. A unit is typically three or four bases each of three figures. Using the combat system in the rules may require units to be mounted in a similar manner. As my figures are individually mounted, this basing would not be an issue other than requiring some new movement trays. However, as I will discuss later, I probably won’t be taking this step.
The combat resolution is similar to Pike and Shotte where the casualties suffered by each side are compared and then adjusted by a few modifiers to see who wins. The loser needs to test morale. Speaking of morale, there are a few circumstance which will lead to a unit needing to take a moral test. To take a morale test the units morale value is modified by a few factors and then the player needs to roll under the morale value on a D10. Again a low die role is good. A commander can spend command points to improve the chance of a unit passing. There are three morale levels each with their own consequences – good, disorganized or flight. Losing a morale test drops the unit one level, losing by a lot can drop the morale two levels. Rallying back to a good level from disorganized or flight level is done by spending command points and carrying out a new morale test.
There are rules for the army motivation to see when an army breaks, although I don’t plan on going into detail on those rules here.
There are also, like Pike and Shotte, a number of special rules that allow troops and armies to be customized to act like their real life counterpart. These custom rules are very good to represent this period and I may be using modified versions of some of them in my Pike and Shotte games.
Overall, there are a lot of things to like in the By Fire and Sword rules. I particularly like the command points and orders concepts. When I look at the movement, firing, combat and morale sections, there is nothing inherently wrong with the rules. They are similar to Pike and Shotte, but (in the words of Rick and Morty) just with more steps.
I think that the By Fire and Sword rules have sacrificed some playability to make them more suitable for tournament play. There is nothing wrong with this approach, it just is not tailored to club or convention day games that I like to play.
What I will probably try to do is take the command points and orders systems and integrate them into Pike and Shotte – where the command and control systems do not give me exactly what I am looking for. By adopting this approach, I won’t need to base my figures to be compatible with the rules. I will also be using some of the relative unit stats to craft some stats for the Cossack Uprising as well as incorporating some of the special rules for units and armies. The organization charts on-line are also an invaluable resource. Overall I think that the $20 was well spent and I would advise anyone looking at the period to consider reading them. By Fire and Sword is certainly interesting and some of the ideas will allow me to introduce greater period flavor into my games.
Having just finished my Tatars (100 mounted figures), I have started to move on to Pancerni cossacks of the Polish army. The Polish cavalry will consist of three units of Pancerni, one unit of Winged Hussars, one unit of German style Reiters and five units of Noble Levy. The first unit on the block is a unit of the Pancerni.
The figures for the Pancerni are from the Assault Group. I plan to have seven figures with a lance in each group plus one figure from the command pack, to give a unit of eight figures. This means that one unit will have a drummer, one unit will have a trumpeter and the final unit will have an officer.
I decided to contrast the rag-tag nature of my cossacks, tatars and noble levy cavalry with a more uniform look to my Pancerni and winged Hussars. I therefore painted all of the figures in a very similar manner, even down to using the same decals on the saddle cloth. The decals were from Veni Vidi Vici and are their 28mm white Maltese cross decals, which make a very nice rendition of the Polish style cross. I was not expecting the decals to turn out as well as they did, but I really think that they make the unit. I have now ordered a pack of the same decals but in 15mm, so that I can use them on the banner below the trumpet on the trumpeter.
The flags and pennants were from Battle Flag. I used flags from their 28mm Polish range. I brought several packs of their pennant flags so that I can have a slightly different pennant on each group of Pancerni and Winged Hussars.
Overall I am reasonably happy with how the Pancerni cossacks of the Polish army turned out and I am looking forward to painting the next two units of them. However, ten minutes ago the postman arrived with my 8 Winged Hussars from Warlord Games. These Winged Hussars may just jump the queue.
I have been painting my Italian Wars project for the best part of two years. I still have a number of units that I am in the process of painting for the Battle of Bicocca, but I decided that I need to work on one of my other projects to keep me sane during the quarantine. The project that I chose was the Khmelnytsky Cossack Uprising of 1648 and in particular, the 1651 Battle of Berestechko.
In this post I will give an overview of the scope of the project and show some photos of some of the first units off the paint bench. The main protagonists of the Khmelnytsky Cossack Uprising were the Zaporozhian Cossacks, with their Tatar allies against the Polish forces.
The first units off my paint bench will represent the Tatars. I have chosen the figures as they are typical Steppe cavalry and will be able to be used in games to represent anything from 400 AD Huns, Tatars allying with the Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century, to Tatar in the Khmelnytsky Uprising. When representing early Tatar, I will eventually add some Tatar flags and when representing 17th Century Tatar, I will eventually add a few muskets.
So far I have painted 56 of these Steppe Cavalry figures. Here are a few photos of the growing horde.
The figures are Aventine Miniatures Steppe Cavalry. When I chose the figures I bought some samples from Footsore, Gripping Beast and Aventine. My personal preference was for the Aventine figures as they came with a lot of attachments to personalize the figures. However, the Aventine horses did not suit my personal tastes, so I decided to use horses from the Assault Group. Luckily Aventine sell the riders without horses and The Assault Group sell the horses without riders. The Aventine figures fit perfectly on the Assault Group horses.
My plan for the Battle of Berestechko is to have the following figures:
Polish:
1 Group of 8 winged Hussars
3 Groups of 8 Pancerni
10 Groups of 8 Noble Levy Cavalry (Pospolite Riszenie)
2 Groups of 16 Haiduk Infantry
Cossack/Tatars
12 Groups of 8 Mounted Tatars
5 Groups of 8 Mounted Cossacks
4 Groups of 24 Cossack Infantry.
For the Pancerni, Haiduks and cossacks I will be using figures from the Assault Group. For the Winged Hussars I will using Warlord figures. This leaves the large group of Polish levy noble cavalry which no-one makes in 28mm. For this figures I plan to use a mixed selection from the Assault Group ranges. I will use a combination of Cossacks, Hungarian light Hussars, Hungarian light horse and Ottoman Akinjis. The reason for the selection is that some of these nobles would have worn clothing similar to the cossacks, but their style was also influenced by the Hungarians and Ottomans of the period often with feathers in their hats. this mixture should allow me to represent the levy noble cavalry.
I will also need some wagons for both sides to make the defended positions.
Next up on the paint bench are 40 mounted cossacks.
I have seen the question of can you ever have too many Landsknechts asked, but never the question can you ever have too many Swiss? Here is an update on my Swiss pike blocks.
I am currently painting figures for the battle of Bicocca that I hope to put on at Historicon 2020. One of the main elements of the battle were the two Swiss pike blocks, one from the Rural Cantons and one from the Urban Cantons. Each pike block was about 8,000 men which at a 50:1 figure ration is 160 figures. I have chosen to represent each block by a 12×12 block of 144 figures and 16 skirmishers with arquebus or crossbows. This comes out exactly to the 160 figures each.
All of the Swiss are now ready for Historicon
Each of the Swiss pike blocks has about 15 flags each, which makes them look quite impressive on the table. I have placed Urban Canton flags on one pike block and Rural Canton flags on the other pike block; how to select flags for Swiss pike blocks was discussed in my recent blog post on Swiss Flags. As the Swiss at Bicocca were in French service I have also added about three flags with the French cross to each of the pike blocks.
Some French cross flags can be seen mixed in with the Swiss Canton and city flags.The 4 units of 8 skirmishers up front with two light guns.A closer view of the advancing pike blocks with the bear command base up front.
Next on my painting list for Bicocca is some SteelFist Landsknecht flag bearers. I have two 10×10 (100 figure) Landsknecht pike blocks, one has flags for Imperial service and the other has flags for French Black Band service. I will be painting about six Imperial Flag carriers so that I can convert the Black Band pike block to Imperial Service. It should be fun having two large Imperial Landsknecht pike blocks go up against the massive Swiss Pike blocks when I finally get to play the Battle of Bicocca.
This post is a quick update on the Black Band of Giovanni de’ Medici that I am painting for the Battle of Bicocca game that I am planning to put on at Historicon 2020. The initial post in January gave some of my thoughts on the unit composition.
Unit composition
I had initially planned to have:
24 pike
32 arquebusiers
16 mounted shot
8 medium cavalry with lance and burgonet
1 command group of 2 mounted figures representing Giovanni
I have stuck reasonably well to this list, but I did paint 16 medium cavalry rather than the initial 8 that I had planned; this was mainly because I had them in my lead pile. Extra medium cavalry can always be used in a game and I can always repurpose them by using an alternative flag.
The command base still needs to be completed over the next few weeks; I plan to use two SteelFist Gendarmes and paint Giovanni in some black armor that I have seen in a portrait of him on Wikipedia. I might also add a few hunting dogs to the command base, again from SteelFist Miniatures. I also have ordered a few more Black Band of Giovanni flags from Pete’s Flags which I will add to the medium cavalry and the command base on the basis that you can never have too many flags.
Photos of the figures
Here are some photos of the Black Band:
16 mounted shot at the front in skirmish order, a mixture of crossbows and arquebusiers from The Assault Group. The skirmish bases are from Litko.The 16 medium cavalry using figures from SteelFist miniatures using their Archers (REN.16/17/18) with some of their LAN.26 pack of Burgonets to replace the standard helmetsA pike block of 24 figures with 4 groups of 8 arquebusier figures in skirmish order up front. The infantry are all from The Assault Group.The medium cavalry are still waiting for their flags which I expect to arrive next week. I may add a third fag to the pike block.
Final thoughts on the Black Band of Giovanni
Overall this representation of the Black Band of Giovanni will give one player an interesting mix of units to command. They certainly don’t have the raw power to mix it up with large Swiss Pike Blocks or massed Gendarmes. However, they are more than capable of maneuvering and using their shot units to deal damage to the enemy while having the support of the pike block and medium cavalry if the enemy start to get too close.
This force is certainly not as colorful as some of the other units in my Italian Wars collection, but they do make a cohesive force. I quite like the way that the dark red and grey color scheme worked out.
Yesterday at our local club’s game day, I was able to get out my Italian Wars troops for a refight of the 1513 Battle of Novara (Ariotta). John and Lou took the Swiss troops while Pete and Dave took the French.
The initial set up was broadly in line with the recent blog post on the Battle of Ariotta. I did make a few changes:
The Swiss Pike block C on their left flank I increased from 24 to 36 figures to give them a fighting chance.
I added two “small” artillery pieces to the forces on the Swiss left flank. These turned out to be reasonably ineffectual, so did not make much difference to the game.
The Swiss reserves were increased from one pike block of 36 figures to two pike blocks of 36 figures. These were never intended to be deployed as they arrived too late for the battle. However, the French player did not know this information, so it kept them honest as in the real battle there was always the threat that they could arrive.
Here are a few photos of the initial deployments:
Two units of Swiss “Enfant Perdue” in skirmish order emerge from the woods.
The Swiss “Enfant Perdue” in skirmish order emerged from the woods near the village of Ariotta to start the game. Their job was charge at the French cannons to try and capture them. In the actual battle this attack failed, but in our game, due to some fantastic command rolling on the dice (snake eyes), Lou manage to assault the guns on the first turn. The guns were initially disordered due to the Swiss surprise attack so this reduced the effectiveness of the fire. The three French guns quickly fell to the Swiss, who then decided that they didn’t want to man the captured guns, but instead decided to assault the Landsknecht arquebusiers coming up in support.
A view from the French side of the Enfant Perdue exiting the woods to start the battle. The marsh can be seen to the right.
The main French force was deployed the other side of the Marsh. This consisted on the French infantry and a mass of Gendarmes. They were facing Novara, expecting the Swiss attack to come from the front. The Swiss had other ideas.
The deployment of the French facing towards Novara, expecting the Swiss advance from the front.A closer view of the French. Note the disorder markers near the French to simulate the surprise of the Swiss attack. These would be removed at the end of the French first turn (although the elite Gendarmes could roll it off at the start of the turn).The French camp behind the Gendarmes
Here is a view of the entire table of the Battle of Novara (Ariotta).
A view of the whole table. Note the small unit of Stradiots covering the French flank. The Stradiots were on guard duty so they were not disordered to start the game.The French showing the commander labels.
The Swiss on the left flank were off the table to start the game. The picture below shows the Swiss pike block C, the two small canons and the Milanese knights. Also shown are the two reserve Swiss pike blocks which never actually deployed on table.
After the initial success of the Enfant Perdue, the two main Swiss Pike blocks emerged from the woods, one to the front of the Landsknechts and one to their flank. The unit on the flank then immediately moved to engage, while the one to the front decided to move towards the French infantry (as actually happened at the real battle).
The most bloody engagement of the game.
The French decided to completely ignore the plight of their German mercenaries and proceeded to send all of their cavalry and half of their infantry towards the Swiss left. The half of the French infantry that was meant to move towards the marsh and the Swiss right, failed several command rolls and refused to go the aid of the Germans.
Pete, who was commanding the Landsknechts was therefore left to fend for himself, which is exactly what occurred at the real battle. There was a bloody clash with the Swiss Pike block which had emerged on their flank. This clash went back and forward over about four or five turns with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Eventually the Landsknechts, with no support arriving were completely wiped out, again, as happened at the actual battle.
This defeat left the two massive Swiss pike blocks to march on the flank of the French main forces. Some great command rolling again by Lou enable them both to fly down the table.
The Swiss marching unopposed on the French flank.Lou celebrating the victory over the Landsknechts and Pete pondering what could have been if he had received support from the French.
The Swiss once they appeared on the French flank quickly routed the French infantry that was meant to go to the aid of the Germans, leaving them to march unopposed into the French camp.
On the French right the gendarmerie commanded by Dave had pinned down the small Swiss force and had quickly routed the Milanese knights and overrun the Swiss artillery. They then surrounded the lone Swiss pike block on that flank. John, who was commanding this small Swiss flank force was coming under great pressure.
The Swiss pike block set their pikes to receive the Gendarmes and prepared for a bad day.
The pike block quickly became surrounded by the Gendarmerie. but valiantly fought off several rounds of attack. A unit of Gendarmes and a unit of archers became shaken and retreated, it was 2 : 0 to the Swiss. A third wave of attacks came in with units attacking both the flank and the front. With all of the damaged that they had suffered, this was too much for the Swiss, who routed off the table.
But John and his small band of Swiss had done their job. They had drawn the attention of the entire French Gendarmerie away from the main Swiss assault on the other flank. This had enable the Swiss commanded by Lou to rout the Landsknechts and half of the French infantry and then march into the French camp.
As in the real Battle of Novara (Ariotta), the French cavalry then decided that enough was enough. With no desire to engage the two massive Swiss Pike blocks without infantry or artillery support, they decided to leave the table in good order in the direction of Milano, bragging about how they had routed a Swiss pike block.
The final view before the French Gendarmes decided to leave the field of battle.
Overall I was really pleased with how closely our game simulated the real Battle of Novara (Ariotta). This result was achieved without the players knowing much about the battle in advance of the game. There were a few minor differences:
The enfant perdue managed to over run the French guns in our game due to some incredible die rolling.
Robert III de la Marck, did not manage to take any gendarmes over to support the Landsknechts and rescue his son.
The small Swiss force on their left flank saw far more action in our game than in the real battle and they were destroyed in our game.
It would be interesting to see how the Battle of Novara (Ariotta) would play out if the French commander chose to ignore the small Swiss force on their right and send the majority of their infantry and cavalry in support of the Landsknechts. If the cavalry could fix the Swiss pike, their artillery and crossbows could rain down fire into the immobile pike blocks. But that is a game for another day.
Next weekend I will be hosting the Battle of Ariotta (1513) at our local club’s Game Day. I needed to sort out which figures I will be taking so I decided to lay everything out on the kitchen counter to make things easier. It has been a while since I have had all of the figures out, so it surprised me how much the collection of Italian Wars in 28mm has grown.
The current collectionA closer view of some of the Swiss and Landsknecht pike blocks
I have about 200 cavalry and 900 infantry figures painted at the moment. My first figures arrived from SteelFist in December 2017, so this quantity represents about two years of work.
I am aiming to finish my collection of Italian Wars in 28mm later this year and I am planning for a total of around 300 cavalry and 1,100 infantry. That should allow me to represent any of the battles in the Italian Wars. Most of these figures should be on display at Historicon in July 2020, where I am hoping to run the Battle of Bicocca as a participation game.
I plan to take a lot of photos next weekend during the Battle of Ariotta game, so look out for an After Action Report in the next few weeks.
I am considering running the Battle of Bicocca (1522) at Historicon in Lancaster, PA in July 2020 as part of the Wargaming Association of Metropolitan Philadelphia. In looking through my troops and trying to work out which I was missing, I noticed that, in addition to needing more Swiss(I always seem to need more Swiss) I would need to paint some Black Bands of Giovanni figures.
At Bicocca there were around 3,300 men from the Black Bands according to some of the references that I have. I have found very little in the way of the composition of this group at the battle, so that gives me some latitude on how to represent them.
Composition of the Black Band
At a scale of 50:1, I would need around 70 figures. From the book “The Black Bands of Giovanni” by Maurizio Arfaioli, the ratio of pike to arquebusiers in the foot troops in 1527-1528 can be found. This book gives a figure of between 55-75% arquebusiers and the rest pike men or men with “arms corte”. Although the information in the book is for a period five years later, this ratio is a very good starting place for the infantry.
For the cavalry, I plan to have a couple of units of mounted shot as these seem to be part of the black band. Mr Arfaioli also discussed the presence of light horse called alla borgognona (Burgundian) lancer. He goes on to describe these units as more medium type cavalry with a lance, corselet and burgonet. The SteelFist archers seem perfect for these troops.
So the final composition that I am looking to paint for my Black Band is:
24 pike and men with pole arms.
32 arquebusiers
16 mounted shot
8 medium cavalry with lance, corselet and burgonet
Total 80 figures – slightly more than the 70 that I was originally looking for, but still around the right number. I also think that the mix gives a really balanced force for one of the players to command. I will also need a command stand.
Painting the Black Band
The first units that I have painted (completed over Christmas) are the mounted shot armed with a mixture of crossbow and arquebuses. I used figures from The Assault Group for these units; I stayed away from the firing poses as I remain to be persuaded as to whether these units fired from the saddle or dismounted. The flags are the rather splendid devil flags from Pete’s Flags.
Two units of mounted shot in Skirmish order. Each unit is eight figures (on two movement trays of four figures each)
On the colors of the unit, I wanted to make them a little different from the brightly colored troops in my armies. However, I did not want them in all black as some sort of parody of the Black Band. What I settled for was a theme of dark grey and dark burgundy colors with leather and cloth garments mixed in. The horse furniture I kept very simple with leather colors. I was very pleased with how they turned out, with the black devil flags with gold trim, I think that they make a very obvious unit on the table without being too bright. They look a mean bunch.
I just love the devil flags from Pete’s flags. They make the unit unique.
The foot troops from The Assault Group should arrive later this month, so I should be able to paint up the rest of the Black Band by the end of February. In the meantime, back to painting Swiss!
The Battle of Ariotta in 1513 was a decisive victory for the Swiss and was one of the last truly dominating battles for the famed Swiss pike blocks.
In the Spring of 1513, Louis XII was still angry at having lost the Duchy of Milan. The King selected La Tremouille to lead a 12,000 strong army including a large contingent of Landsknecht.
The army consisted of about 6,000 German pikes, 4,000 Gascons and Navarrese, 1000 lances and 1000 light horse, including stradiots. There was also a good amount of artillery.
Tremouille crossed the Alps without opposition by taking an unexpected pass. The small Swiss force was taken by surprise and sought refuge at the town of Novara. Records indicate that there were about 4,000 Swiss at Novara. Desperate messages for reinforcements were sent back to the Cantons and a relief force of around 8,000 pikes was sent.
Tremouille set siege to the town of Novara, where the Swiss had been joined by a small force of a few hundred knights and the duke Maximilian Sforza.
On the 5th June, the Swiss reinforcements could be seen approaching Novara, and Tremouille decided to withdraw towards Milan. That evening he set up camp near the small farming village of Ariotta. He assumed that the Swiss would need to rest after the long march from the cantons, especially as some of the troops would not even arrive until the next morning.
The Swiss had no intention of resting, but instead marched on the French camp ready for a dawn attack. They silenced their drums on the march to give no indication to the French that the attack was imminent. What followed was a daring attack of surprise and movement which kept the French off balance. The Battle of Ariotta had started.
Order of battle and deployment
We plan to play the Battle of Ariotta at our club game day in February. We will be using a 5ft x 14ft battle area. The following map and notes detail the initial set up and troops that will be used. This deployment is base on information in the book “La Battaglia dell’Ariotta”.
The initial deployments
The game will start with the Swiss approaching from the bottom of the map along the road from Novara. The French will be deployed in the positions shown on the map, while the majority of the Swiss units will initially be off table.
Swiss Forces and deployment.
Swiss Pike blocks A and B attacking the Landsknechts
The game will start on Turn 1 with the Swiss Enfant Perdue emerging from the woods to charge the French guns.
2 units of Enfant Perdue each of 8 figures in skirmish order armed with Halbards and Swords.
This attack was ultimately unsuccessful in the battle, but it does give the Swiss a chance of surprising, capturing and using the French artillery. It will also give the main Swiss Pike block some cover against the artillery.
On Turn 2, the main Swiss Pike block A of 6,000 men will emerge from the woods.
Swiss Pike block A of 100 figures (10 rows wide x 10 rows deep).
In the battle this pike block was held in place for a while by some French Gendarmes and received heavy casualties from the artillery. However, it eventually got to grips with the French pike and crossbows and routed them, before turning its attention to the Landsknechts.
The Swiss player may choose to deploy pike blocks B (3000 men) and C (1,000 men) onto the table on Turn 2 or any turn after. Until they are deployed their presence will not be made known to the French. In the actual battle, these units marched unseen by the French and achieved total surprise. In the battle pike block B was tasked with attacking the Landsknechts and pike block C was intended to cause confusion in the French rear and prevent the Gendarmes effectively countering the main Swiss pike blocks near Ariotta.
Swiss Pike Block B of 64 figures (8 rows wide x 8 rows deep)
16 Swiss Halbardiers supporting pike block B (8 rows wide and 2 rows deep). This unit may be added to the pike block to increase the stamina and attack values or may operate as a separate unit.
In the battle the Halbadiers operated as a separate unit and attacked the Landsknecht arquebusiers before supporting the pike block and attacking the Landsknecht pike block in the flank.
The final Swiss Pike block C marched to the rear of the French army along a canal. It was hidden from the French during this march. Its main roll is to threaten the French camp.
Swiss Pike Block C of 24 figures (4 rows wide x 8 rows deep).
Milanese Knights consisting of 8 figures.
The Swiss reserves in the actual battle did not arrive from the cantons in time to play a part. The lead units entered the field as the French were routing. However, the French scouts were aware of the approaching reserves and this certainly played a part in their tactical choices in the battle. They did not want to send all of their units against the two main Swiss Pike blocks and leave their rear exposed. When I run the battle, once the Swiss player has deployed pike blocks B and C, I will make the French player aware that their scouts have observed another pike block approaching along the road. Depending upon how the game is progressing, I can then choose to make this pike block available to the Swiss at any time.
Swiss Reserve Pike block of 36 figures (6 rows wide by 6 rows deep).
French forces and deployment
French pike – a bit like bringing a knife to a gun fight with the large Swiss and Landsknecht pike blocks in the game.
The French Gendarmes will initially be classed as disordered due to the surprise attack. They are elite so they will have a chance to roll this off at the start of Turn 1
1 unit of Household Gendarmes (8 figures)
3 units of Gendarmes (8 figures each)
4 units of Mounted Archers (8 figures each)
The French Artillery will also start the game disordered. They will be deployed facing the road emerging from the woods. They will be the first units to see the approaching Swiss.
3 units of French Medium artillery
The Landsknecht pike block will start the game disordered, but the two units of shot will start the game in good order. The shot were the first units to respond to the Enfant Perdue approaching the French artillery.
Landsknecht Pike block of 100 figures (10 rows wide by 10 rows deep)
2 Landsknecht shot units each of 8 figures
The French infantry will also start the game disordered.
4 units of French crossbow each of 16 figures
2 units of French pike each of 24 figures (4 rows wide by 6 rows deep)
The French Stradiots will start the game in good order as they are performing scouting duties on the French flank.
1 unit of Stradiots of 8 figures.
Terrain
The terrain for the Battle of Ariotta is relatively simple, we will be playing on a 5ft x 14 ft table.
The three key items of terrain are the small farming village of Ariotta, the woods and the marshes.
No fighting took place in the village of Ariotta, but it represented the left flank of the French army, so it is important that it is represented. I am in the process of building the village and I hope to have it finished for the February game. Here it is at the moment.
Ariotta village, still needing some work before the game.
The next item of terrain will be the woods. These woods were used to obscure the advance of the main Swiss body. Key will be the distance between the artillery and the edge of the woods. I am to make this distance around 18-24 inches. This should give the Enfant Perdue a small chance of reaching the artillery.
The main item that will need to be included is the marsh area. I plan to make this by imbedding some static grass mats from Killing Fields terrain into their Teddy Bears mats. I will post some pictures of the marshes when I am done. The main tactical reason for the marshes will be that they limit the French Gendarmes (and other troops) to one move distance per turn (in Pike and Shotte rules, troops can potentially move up to three moves per turn) and they will not be able to claim the lance bonus when charging in the Marsh. These marshes will therefore limit the attacks on the Swiss pike block A as happened in the real battle.
The game
We plan to run the Battle of Ariotta in February. I still need to finish the terrain and to paint a few more figures. I have the Milanese knights, the Swiss Enfant Perdue and halbardiers and a unit of French crossbows still to Finish. Once we run the game I will post a full review. I am looking forward to this battle as it is not the usual type of game with two armies facing each other across the table. How the French respond to being attacked on all sides will be key. If they can decisively deploy their forces they should win. If they fail to take tactical control, they will be routed as occurred in 1513.
