An Italian Wars scenario for Pike and Shotte

 What follows is a short report on a recent game at Steve's.  It is over two years since an Italian Wars game featured on the blog, so a reappearance was long overdue.  Once again those doughty campaigners the Duc de Merlot and the Duke of Barbera are facing each other on the field of battle.  Both armies have cavalry on the wings and infantry in the centre; the armies are fairly well matched, the French Gendarmes have a slight edge over their Imperialist rivals, but the Imperialists have arquebus armed troops to take on the French crossbows.  The main grudge match is likely to be between the Swiss and Landsknecht pikemen commanded by Lord Landroter and the Graf von Spatburgunder repectively.  The objective for both commanders is to defeat the enemy and continue their advance.

A view along the battlefield with the Imperialist forces on the left

The battle opened with the Imperial left wing cavalry, commanded by the Count of Trebbiano moving slowly forward, the stradiots towards a low ridge and the gendarmes to cover a gap between the ridge and a wood.  Opposite them, the Comte de Carignan responded by ordering his gendarmes to charge the Imperial gendarmes and his mounted arquebusiers to drive back the stradiots.  The French prevailed in both combats, the stradiots streaming from the field and the gendarmes being pushed back in disorder.

The clash of gendarmes on the French right

In the centre, the French seized the initiative and moved their crossbowmen into the farm and a unit of Swiss pikes down the road to support a second unit of crossbowmen.  Barbera responded by sending a unit of arquebusiers to drive the French crossbowmen from the farm  and requested Spatburgunder to drive off the  troops on the road.  The Graf, seeking an easy victory launched his Swiss pikemen against a second unit of crossbowmen who were supporting the Swiss. 

The French push forward in the centre

Spatsburgunder responds

On the Imperial right the opposing cavalry wings seemed content to merely observe each other, while the fighting was being done elsewhere.  In the centre, the arquebusiers had managed to inflict heavy casualties on the crossbowmen and abandoned their up to now successful tactics, decided to charge.  This ended in failure as the crossbowmen put up a stout defence and sent the Imperial troops back in rout.  Worse was to follow as the landsknechts were defeated by the crossbowmen.  Although the pikemen charged home with minimal casualties, they could not push back the determined crossbowmen.  After losing two rounds of melee the pikemen routed, to much jeering from the French.

On the Imperial left the cavalry had been decisively defeated.  All the units had been driven from the field, allowing the Comte de Carignan to redress the ranks before wheeling towards the centre.

The French right outflanks the Imperialist centre

With Trebbiano's command having been driven from the field, The Duke of Barbera ordered von Spatburgunder to swing one of his pike blocks to the left to try and keep open a line of retreat.   A small Swiss pike block charged and captured the Imperialist light artillery.  This was followed by the French crossbowmen shooting at the landsknechts and inflicting significant casualties.  The 'coup de grace' was performed by the French gendarmes, whose charge shattered the pike block and opened the way for the envelopment of the Imperial army.

Count Tempranillo manged to extract his cavalry and rejoin The Duke of Barbera and von Spatburgunder with the pitiful remnants of the Imperial army.  He found the two men in a rather acrimonious 'discussion' as to the performance of the much vaunted landsknechts.  The Graf was putting forward his view that the feeble performance of Trebbiano's cavalry contributed significantly to the defeat and it was his men who had died trying to save the day.  One thing is certain, that when the  report was submitted to the Emperor, it would make interesting reading.

Many thanks to Steve for devising the scenario and to Bob for commanding the French forces.

WMMS 2024

 A very pleasant day for our trip down the M6.  For once the traffic was light  and we were able to make good time.  The car park was all but full when we arrived, but fortunately someone was leaving just as we were searching for a place and we got parked up fairly quickly.  As usual there was a good range of very well presented games on offer, to complement the spread of traders who catered for most wargaming needs.

I took the camera along and below are photos of some of the games.

First a fantasy game by "One in 6" set in Middle Earth "Where was Gondor when the West Fold fell?"  The group used a mix of  the "Dragon Rampant" and "Lion Rampant" rulesets, which is why the units have the dice next to them to record casualties

 Nearby, the Wryley Retinue  had a Thity Years War game

The Spartans also chose a Thirty Years War theme with their Breitenfeld game.  The figures are the 'epic' scale pike and shotte from Warlord Games

I am not sure which group was responsible for this "Wellington in India" game, but it was certainly eye-catching.

Alumwell Wargames Club presented this AWI game

A group of gamers from Leamington put on this 'Billhooks' game.  The city walls are interesting as they are card construction and can be folded flat, which makes transport and storage easy.

The Shrewsbury Wargames Club had a medieval siege game which really caught the eye, with two castles 

There was an ACW game of the Battle of Frederick

My apologies to the organisers of the games I have not featured here.

One of the features of the Alumwell show is the space devoted to the modelling side of our hobby and there were copious examples of the very fine work carried out by dedicated modellers from 10 societies.

A very pleasant day out.  The show is well orgainsed and the venue has enough room to allow for the relatively free flow of visitors.  Steve and I had a busy day looking at games, chatting and making the odd purchase.  As always we saw old friends and caught up with their gaming/ painting progress.  One thing I must acknowledge is the friendliness of the game presenters.  There seemed to be a definite effort to take the time to answer questions and chat about rules, scenery and figures.  It was great to meet so many people who obviously really enjoy their hobby and are keen to share that enthusiasm.

Catlow's Worth; A Kelhamshire Scenario for Pike and Shotte

The third installment of the mini campaign to raise the siege of Edgerton House is set at Catlow's Worth.  A 'worth' is an old Kelhamshire word for an enclosure; and the enclosures owned by Richard Catlow figure prominently in the action which follows.

Following Sir Victor's failed attempt to raise the siege of Edgerton House, he was falling back to a more secure area.  However, Lord Melchett was not willing to let his old adversary 'off the hook', and was prosecuting a vigorous pursuit.

View along the battlefield, the Parliamentary army will
 take up a position on the right of the picture

View from the Royalist start line

Sir Victor has 4 units of foot, 4 of horse, a unit of dragoons and a light gun.   Sir Victor has ordered Colonel Robinson to deploy the cavalry on the right of the line and Colonel Wanless to occupy the fields (Catlow's Worth) and cover the road .  The dragoons were ordered to the left to cover that flank.  

Robinson's cavalry

Bentham and Ireby's regiments still moving towards their positions

Mytton , Leck (blue flag) and the artillery  moving into position

Parliamentary dragoons

 In addition to his Lifeguard. Lord Melchett has 4 units of cavalry and a unit of dragoons with Sir Royston a Dammes,  3 regiments of foot and a unit of commanded shot and lagging some way behind, two medium guns.
Lord Melchett deployed his cavalry on the left with the foot on the right together with Lord Melchett and his Lifeguard.  Sir Royston wasted no time in sending the dragoons forward to occupy the woods by the road junction and bring the leading Parliamentarian cavalry unit under fire.  Once the dragoons had begun to move into the trees he sent his largest unit, Ashton's, forward .  He also sent Bracewell's regiment towards the left to pin the Parliamentarian cavalry positioned behind the stream.  De Lisle's and Catlow's regiments were held in reserve.  Meanwhile, Nicholls had ordered the commanded shot forward into the woods near the enclosures and Clifton and Bradshaw's regiments to advance between the woods and the road.  Lord Melchett moved to the right with his Lifeguard and Smethurst's regiment.

The Royalist cavalry and dragoons

The Royalist foot with Lord Melchett and his Lifeguard

The action began with a clash between  the regiments of Ashton and Thursby.  A protracted melee resulted in both units having to withdraw to reform and recover.  However, Sir Royston had the advantage of having units available to exploit the situation, while Robinson's other regiments were on the other side of the stream and risked disorder crossing it to engage the enemy.  

Thursby's and Ashton's regiments clash

Sir Royston ordered De Lisle's regiment forward and they crashed into Thursby's regiment while they were still recovering.  It was all over in the blink of an eye and Thursby's were soon routing back along the road.  Sir Victor galloped over to try and stem the rout, but was swept from the field in the maelstrom of horses and riders.

Thursby's broken by Bracewell's fresh regiment 

Sir Victor fails to stop Thursby's rout

De Lisle didn't pursue his beaten opponent, but paused to reform.  This proved to be a costly error as  they suffered significant casualties from a salvo from Bentham's regiment and were then charged by Bannister's regiment of horse.  This forced the Royalists back and for a time peace returned to this area of the battlefield.  In the enclosures matters were coming to a head.  

The Parliamentarian foot and artillery had been slow to take up their positions, particularly Leck's regiment nearest the road.  To their left, Mytton's regiment had been engaged in a musketry duel with the commanded shot and had the worse of the encounter, though their greater stamina had allowed them to continue firing while the Royalist musketry had slackened.

The Royalist's advance on the enclosures

To the left of Mytton the dragoons were firing at Smethurst's regiment which was advancing towards them.  Heavily outnumbered the dragoons had little chance of holding their position, and if they fell back it would create a gap which could be exploited by Lord Melchett's Lifeguard.  The colonel of Mytton's regiment saw the threat and decided to redeploy his regiment to face the left and fire into the flank of the Royalist infantry.  This unexpected order caused confusion within the regiment and the manoeuvre was much delayed.  Seeing the confusion, the commanded shot seized their chance and moved quickly to the recently abandoned hedge of the enclosure from where they were could fire into the flank of Mytton's regiment.  In the event, the Parliamentarian manoeuvring  had been unnecessary, as Wanless had ordered his reserve regiment, Ireby's, to move to the left to assist the dragoons.  In the end, Mytton's regiment had to fall back out of the enclosure and defend the hedge there. 

The Royalists charge home

In the right hand enclosure battle had been joined.  Leck and the artillery had the opportunity for only one round of firing before the Royalist regiments charged home.  The gunners decamped almost immediately, leaving their gun and heading homewards.  Leck's regiment held back the more numerous Clifton until Bradshaw's regiment crossed the hedge and threatened their flank.  As the Parliamentary infantry edged back, a final push from Clifton routed them.

Ireby had arrived in time to see Smethurst's regiment push back the dragoons.  He charged the Royalists, but got the worst of the encounter and had to fall back to reorganise.  Sir Victor returned to the battlefield to find that three quarters of his infantry were falling back, his artillery had been abandoned and that his cavalry were heavily outnumbered.

In the distance he could see Sir Royston readying his regiments to exploit the disorder in the Parliamentary forces so he ordered Robinson to disrupt any threatened attack.  Robinson had only two weak regiments available, but he did what he could.  Kippax's regiment was sent across the ford to attack the flank of any attack along the road and Bannister's regiment moved up to block the road itself.  Meanwhile Sir Victor  and Wanless were doing their best to rally and then shepherd their battered infantry from the field.  

Sir Royston launched Ashton's regiment forward to complete the rout, with his other regiments moving forward in pursuit.  Robinson's units attacked the much larger Ashton but could do little to slow the advance.  It was left to Bentham's foot to try and hold off the pursuit.  Night saved them from total annihilation , but they paid a heavy price.

Lord Melchett was pleased with his victory.  Taken together with the capture of Edgerton House, the campaign could be seen as a success.    Sir Victor had been giving a thorough drubbing and there may be opportunities for further gains while the Parliamentary forces reorganised themselves.His one concern was the artillery.  It had taken far too long to get to the battlefield and paid little part in the action.  If only he could get it to be more mobile.