The Battle of Tiramasu River, A Great Italian Wars Hex Rules Play Test

Having played a solo game with my hex based Renaissance adaptation of the Flower of Chivalry (see Italian Wars Solo Fast Rules Trial on Hexes), it was time to test it out via Zoom with a couple of Rejects.  Ray and Surjit were invited and duly took up their commands, French and Imperialist respectively.

The battle is loosely based on the Scenario 12, An Unfortunate Oversight, from One Hour Wargames.  The main change is that I've deployed the Imperialists already crossing the river.

Following the incredibly interesting comments to Jonathan's post, Palouse Wargaming Journal: The Blogging Effect on Battle Reports - do visit and read, I highly recommend it - I will resist my usual pattern of interrupting the narrative flow with explanations about the rules and their application at points during game... here goes.

The Armies
The French:

Commander in Chief - Duke Renard the Fox (Ray)

Vanguard led by Robert du Fleuve

2 units of gendarmes

Main Battle led by Johann von Berg

1 landsknecht with attached crossbow

2 units of crossbow

Rearward led by Giacomo Fiat

2 units of Swiss pike

2 units of crossbow

1 artillery

The Imperialists:

Commander in Chief - Duke Albrecht von Spiegelei (Surjit)

Vanguard led by Karl von Beysen

2 units of mounted men at arms

Main Battle led by Fabrizio Via

2 units of landsknecht

2 units of arquebusiers

Rearward led by Antonio de Algarve

1 landsknecht with attached sword and arquebusier (a colunela)

2 units of arquebusiers

1 artillery (already deployed)

Position and direction of travel of the two armies.

The Background

Duke Renard is aware of an approaching Imperialist army led by his great rival Albrecht von Spiegelei.  Renard is determined to control the crossing of the river Tiramasu and marches to secure the bridge.  However, he has been sloppy in reconnoitring the river and is unaware of a ford.  Albrecht, however, is more efficient with his scouting.

With an autumn fog covering the river valley both armies make for their crossings of the Tiramasu, blissfully ignorant of each until the sun starts to burn off the morning mist.

Albrecht quickly deploys his gun to cover his army as they ford the river.  Renard finds himself having to untangle his troops from around the village.  Both Albrecht and Renard are alarmed to find themselves marching with their flanks to the enemy.  Equally, both know that to control the river crossing they have to either destroy their opponent or control the heights that overlook the valley.

Albrecht quickly deploys his men at arms to cover the flank of his army.  Whilst he urges his Main Battle across and towards the hill, Antonio de Algarve acts rashly by throwing arquebusiers towards the town and the others into the river instead of waiting to use the ford.

Meanwhile, Renard is shaking his head in disbelief as his Battle commanders act in a hesitant and sluggish manner, doing nothing more than turning on the spot.

With Robert du Fleuve quickly positioning his gendarmes, Albecht his brimming with confidence as he watches the shuffling French forces struggle to manoeuvre.

Taking advantage of the hesitant French, Albrecht pushes du Fleuve and his men at men forward slightly without engaging to protect the flank of his advancing main Battle.  However, Albrecht is concerned that Giacomo Fiat seems unable to control his rearward.  Forcing Albrecht to exert his influence to try and keep things moving.

As Albrecht struggles with his rearward, Renard is starting to fume.  His Battle commanders continue to lead their troops without any sense of urgency.  Renard battle lines remain unformed and vulnerable.

As both sides jostle for position, artillery, arquebusiers and crossbowmen exchange shots with little impact.
It is at this point that the commander of the French Main Battle, Johann von Berg, issues a personal challenge to Duke Albrecht.  Not wanting to appear cowardly, the challenge is accepted.  In an chivalric clash of arms, Albrecht is struck down.  His entourage carry him with honour from the field.  Johann and Renard are amazed and delighted.

With Albrecht dead and no hope of a quick escape, the Imperialist troops find themselves in a position that they have to fight on.
Fabrizio Via swings his Main Battle into line by the hill.  De Algarve finally deploys his colunela.  However, von Beysen seems to have a moment of indecision and leaves his men at arms without purpose.
With Renard's Battle commanders now warming up with the sun and showing some urgency, the French are looking increasing dangerous.  Throwing crossbowmen to the river to contact Algarve's arquebusiers and positioning the gendarmes that make the German men at arms look rather exposed.

As du Fleuve worked on deploying his gendarmes, he drew too close to Antonio de Algarve who issued a personal challenge.  Du Fleuve, exhibiting his fiery temperament, quickly accepted.  The duel was without quarter and damaging to both sides.  Algarve was captured.  However, du Fleuve did not live to savour this moment as he succumbed his wounds.

While von Beysen hesitated, his cavalry took matters into their own impetuous hands and charged recklessly forward.  Seizing the opportunity, Renard countered with the gendarmes.  The result being the ruin of some of the empires finest knights.
Meanwhile, by the river, the arquebusiers were seen off.  The Gascons confirming the fearsome reputation.

With the battle lines now established, Renard was growing with confidence as he observed his numerical superiority.

Whilst the French line looks daunting...

... the Imperialists have plenty of hard hitting troops.

Both Renard and the remaining Imperialist commanders recognised that the climax was at hand.  Renard was able to seize the initiative and charge into contact.  On the French left, landsknecht crashed into the Spanish colunela but was unable to force them back.

However, the French rearward led by the courageous Giacomo Fiat fell on Via and his German main Battle.  With great push of pike, the French dispatched a unit of landsknecht.  The Imperialists were creaking at the seams. 

The End

At this point we had to call time.

To determine the victor, we referred to the army points.  The French won 10 - 2.

The army points dice - 2 points left to Albrecht (RIP) and 10 to Renard the Fox.

A crushing defeat as the dead pile below reveals.

The dead pile, to which we should add Duke Albrecht von Spiegelei, Antonio de Algarve, and the French Robert du Fleuve.

Afterthoughts

After a faltering start, this ended as a fine victory for Renard (Ray) and the French.  Albrecht (Surjit) started well but his commanders became more errant as the game went on.  Of course, Albrecht wasn't around either!

This was a lot of fun!  I was very pleased with the rules and the type of game they provided.  It's not often that umpiring a game is free from stress but this was and it was damned good fun!

The players picked up on the system quickly enough and seemed to appreciate that it felt right and enjoyed the occasion.

All in all, a thoroughly good morning of remote gaming.

WW1 Planes for Postie

A bit of a diversion.  Postie (Stuart) kindly gave me two boxes of Warlord Games landsknechts.  In return, I offered to do a little painting for him.  I expected to be working on some medieval knights, as I have done in the past. But no! Instead, he gave me World War One planes to do.

These ones are all circa 1914 to be used with his early war rules. 

All planes appear to be 1/300th scale.  Not sure of the manufacturer.

From left to right, starting at the top:
French Moraine-Saulnier N x2
German DFW B1, Taube monoplane
British Moraine monoplane, FE2b

My favourite is the Taube.  It's funny how the thinking was "if a bird flies, make the plane look like a bird."

The following are for later in the war.

Top row is 3 crashed planes: British, German and Turkish.
Bottom row: British Bristol F2A, British Sopwith Pup, German Fokker DR1 and German Fokker E111.

All in all, I got my box of Landsknechts very cheaply.

Now, I can get the paint brushes back into Renaissance mode.

Renaissance Cavalry Armour in Vienna

More Armour, I'm afraid.

Whilst in the Neue Hofburg, I wanted to take time studying the cavalry armour in the period of the Great Italian Wars.  In particular, I was keen to see the horse armour.

The horse armour was made in 1477 but is almost identical to that used by Emperor Maximilian in 1514, especially the face and neck defences.
The knight's armour was assemble c.151.  It may not be clear on the photograph, but there are signs of thrusting and slashing on the armour.

I was intrigued to see the metal covering on the reins.  A lot of miniatures are painted with coloured reins.

 - see notes on photo above -

I liked seeing the gold on the face armour.  Something I may do more of.

 - see note on photo above -
I was quite taken by the ear protectors for the horse.  The ornamentation and embossing on the rear is intricate.

The armour for this horse and knight, used in both tournaments and in battle, was made c.1526.

Seeing gold on the front boss and the metal straps on the rear flank are also features often ignored or painted on miniatures in various colours.  Perhaps some combinations done in metal is a consideration.

 - see notes in last photo -

Finally, this painting - whilst religious/fantastic in nature - gives a nice contemporary observation of mounted knights.  In this case, the horse covering highlights the damask designs popular at the time. Noting, also, the cover for the reins and the presence of big plumes on knight and horse.

St George and the Dragon.  Painted by Leonhard Beck, around 1515.  This was one of a number paintings commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I between 1512 and 1518.  

In short, more gold and a mix of the metal trimmed and cloth trimmed horse straps and reins.

If this makes no impact on my painting, at least it was interesting to have the opportunity to see some primary sources.

An Aside
When visiting the Kaiser Crypt, where almost all the Habsburg are laid to rest, it struck me that only two areas were obviously remembered by the public.  The trio of tombs with Emperor Franz Josef, his famous, controversial and much adored Empress Elisabeth (better known as Sisi), and their son Rupert.  Rupert brought tragedy to the family by killing himself, after having murdered his lover in what was a suicide pact.

The second part was the tomb of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.  I was quite surprised.

Thanks again for your patience.

Hex Adapted Koenig Krieg... Again!

In a slight diversion, I decided to revisit my favourite set of mid 18th century warfare rules and slightly amend my attempt to adapt Koenig Krieg rules to play on hexes.  See here for the first trial:  Koenig Krieg Variation Takes Shape!

From the original trial - 3 years ago - I only changed the position of units so they face a vertex of the hexagon instead of a side.  This is to more clearly define the front, flanks and rear of units.  I also introduced a limited amount of unit stacking.  More on that later.

With those things in mind, Steve and Dan joined me in a limited test game.  It was quite simple, Austrians and French marching towards each other.  Similar sized forces, though the French had more cavalry and the Austrians more infantry.

Each infantry brigade also contained a light gun.  The Austrian infantry units were larger.  However, their morale was no better than the French ones.  All units started in column.

Koenig Krieg is a game of actions.  In an action a unit can choose to one of the following: move 2 hexes, change facing/formation, backstep 1 hex or fire.  Typically, an infantry unit in line has one action; a cavalry in line has 2 actions.  The rules allow for the Prussian infantry to get extra movement but I don't tend to play this.

The Austrian columns advance.

The French brigades make their way forward.

Both sides advance towards each other.  The Austrians, Dan, being keen to anchor their flanks on the towns.  The French, Steve, looking to work his cavalry around those flanks.

On the southern flank, the Austrian cavalry quickly advance to check any French flanking movement there.  However, the French dragoons have quickly positioned themselves to catch some infantry in column and prevent the Austrians getting to the town.

In Koenig Krieg, movement and shooting takes place in the Action Phase.  This is then followed by a charge and melee phase.  If initiative can be controlled it can give the controlling side some benefit.  For example, it might allow an infantry in column to change formation in anticipation of an enemy charge.

Regardless of the phase, controlling initiative is important in either acting first or forcing the opponent to act.

Austrian cuirassiers give the French heavies a lesson.  Forcing them to retreat in haste.  However, they are not destroyed and may return to cause problems.

On the northern flank, the French dragoons catch the Austrian columns who run in disarray.

In melee, there are dice modifiers.  Not just additions and subtractions but also multipliers.  One multiplier is x2 when charging a flank or rear; another is x0 if caught in column.  Amongst others, these simple mechanisms mean that playing to the period of linear warfare and protecting flanks is advantageous.

One French dragoon exploits the situation to pursue on of the retiring columns.

While the other, crashes into the flank of the Austrian line.

After the melee phase, there is an exploitation phase.  This is where victorious charging units can redress their facing and/or continue their charging.  For cavalry, this is risky as they could become uncontrolled and race off the table!

Unable to recover from the flank attack, the Empress' infantry retreats...

... but is followed...

...and destroyed.  As were the two units in column.  This was not good news for Dan.

However, the Austrian cavalry was now on the exposed French southern flank.  Plus, the French had three units in retreat and their dragoons were out of command.  So, despite the Austrians losing 3 units, the battle was still in the balance.

Command and control is simple but works.  When a unit is out of command it must pass a dice roll to move (1-4 for cavalry; 1-2 for infantry and artillery).  So, once the lines engage and retreats occur, command and control friction is quickly introduced to the game.

The Austrian line advances into charge range of the French infantry.  Partly to engage; partly to put distance between themselves and the dragoons in their rear.

On the northern flank, the French infantry were able to overlap the Austrians with both frontal and flank attacks.  Now you see it!

...now you don't!

However, the rest of the Austrian line held.

Throwing back one French charge and destroying another French infantry regiment.

But on the northern flank, the French exploited their success and wiped out what was left of a brigade.

The Austrians passed an army test to remain.  However, time was called on the game.  Both players agreed to a draw.

Afterthoughts
We were all pleased with the game and how the rules worked with the adaptations for use on hexes.  In fact, it gave a very enjoyable game that flowed smoothly.

The Austrians had lost 5 out of 10 units.  The French had lost 2 out of 10 units.  However, one French cavalry was still in retreat, as were 2 infantry - both of whom had been severely mauled.

Interestingly, despite being able to stack infantry neither player chose to.  I have to confess to preferring the single lines.  I may just remove the stacking.  It gave little advantage anyway, other than preventing massive breakthroughs after a melee.

I will now reflect on how it played out.  At the moment, the only thing that I would change is the determination of victory.  In Koenig Krieg, it's based on a dice roll at the end of every 4th turn.  Getting more difficult with increasing losses.  I think this allowed the Austrians to take more losses than seemed likely.  I'm considering moving to a countdown system - something like having a number (say half the number of units) and minus 1 point for each destroyed unit and minus 1 when a brigade reaches half strength.  I'll ponder on that.

A question.  I see conflicting accounts of the use of squares in this period (1740 to 1786).  The rules allow it, and I know that the Austrians used massed squares against the Ottomans.  What are your thoughts.  Should infantry squares be part of 18th century European tabletop games?