Review of Death and the Landsknecht

I've purchased Warlord Games' new Pike and Shotte supplement, 'Death and the Landsknecht', as well as their new command figures.  So, I thought that I ought to do a quick review of the supplement.

Now, I don't use Pike and Shotte for either of my Renaissance projects (Great Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion).  Nonetheless, I was interested to see what they might include and whether there was any potential use I could make of this tome.

First up, it is sensibly organised with the following 'chapters':

A history

The troops and weapons

Leaders and generals

Special rules

The army lists

Scenarios

Rules for gaming sieges

A campaign to play

Further reading

The history section is an appetite whetter. It is helpfully concise to quickly acquire the ebb and flow of the wars. At the same time, it doesn't fall into the trap of being weighed down by the numerous twists and turns.  It gives enough. The assumption (I think) is that you either know the period and that's why you want the book, or you are new and excited about period and will follow up later with more detailed reading.

A sample of the history section.

I think the theme of giving 'enough' information without getting too bogged down in detail continues throughout.  It is certainly true in the troops and weapons section. It mentions all the troop types a gamer might wish to represent, along with their 'tools' of the trade.

The leader section is handy and short.  When reading one history of the wars, I compiled a list and got around 60 leaders and generals before I stopped.  This is far more select.  One drawback is that its focus seems to be on the period up to around 1525... so, Pavia and just after.

I found the special rules section drew my attention.  It included some useful information on the different formations, such as the Spanish Colunela, and how to simulate them in Pike and Shotte.  If you are unfamiliar with the formations then this is a good starter.  I enjoyed this part.

The army lists are interesting to read too.  I don't use these rules. Nor do I use army lists.  However, I can see how I might adapt and use these for creating 'balanced' fictional encounters if I was minded to.

What was very pleasing was that lists were included for the Peasant Wars, English, Scots and the Ottoman Turks as well.  The latter opens up using your Venetian and/or Imperial armies in the Balkans.

The scenarios are a nice mix of battles.  Again, the focus being pre-Pavia.  Possibly because it was increasingly sieges thereafter, and possibly to avoid straying into battles in the wider Habsburg-Valois wars.  Who knows?

The OOBs are obviously designed on a points basis to fit with the rules and this supplement.  So, if you are looking for detailed orbats you will be disappointed. Each vanguard, battle and rearguard is given a points allocation and a sense of the troop types you should 'buy'.  The exact composition is down to you.  This has an advantage of allowing gamers to select to match their collection.

There is a helpful section on playing siege games.  Whilst geared to to the rules they could give ideas to those looking to explore this area of the conflict.  For me, I have neither the models, space to store, nor the current inclination to dabble in siegecraft.

Lastly, comes the campaign.  The authors have set it around Milan circa 1515.  This kind of fits in with the general focus of the supplement.  It reads okay. In very simple terms it's a two player game (they say two teams or sides). You dice to see how many battles in a campaign season and of what type.  These are played and then renown is earned at the end of each season.  Depending on results, players can gain a various numbers of towns.  Armies can be worn down over a number of seasons.  Victory goes to the side that either captures all the towns, has the most towns after a certain number of seasons, or one side is too worn down to continue.  There's more to it than this quick description suggests and it requires my closer inspection.

Last thoughts
I did hesitate about purchasing this.  I couldn't see how it would add anything to my understanding of the period that I hadn't acquired through other sources and from Helion's "All is Lost Save Honour".  Nor am I a player of Warlord Games' Pike and Shotte rules.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing how the supplement translated troops and formations of the period to their rules.  It is a nice book to look at - as you might expect.  Plus, having someone's take on scenarios and armies is interesting and may come in useful at a later date.

If you know a lot about these wars and don't use Pike and Shotte then this may not be useful other than expensive eye candy.  Moreover, there isn't much for those interested in the wars after 1525.

I also purchased some command figures at the same time.  All now prepped and awaiting some colour.

Some other Warlord Games command purchased at the same time: (L to R)Old Emperor Maximillian; Young "Max"; and the freebie with the supplement, Richard de la Pole - the last Yorkist claimant to the English throne and leader of the Landsknecht Black Bands at Pavia.

These are new command figures from Warlord Games:  Bartolomeo D'Alviano; Gaston de la Foix; and Giovanni de Medici of the Black Bands.  All of them plastic.  I don't know if Warlord have changed their "recipe" but the plastic is different from previously and have an hard rubber feel when trimming.

In short, I'm glad that I bought the supplement but it won't be an essential asset.  Please bear in mind that this is my view.  Others may see things differently.

Great Italian Wars Solo Game

With my home empty of family, I seized my opportunity to commandeer the dining room table to try out my battle mat and get my Italian Wars models deployed for action.

I have two sets of rules written for this period. One to accommodate fast games in the One Hour Wargames vein. The other, more suited for bigger and longer games.  This opportunity gave the chance to try out the latter which are based on my French Wars of Religion rules with a number of amendments.

I'm not going to pretend that the forces are historical in composition.  I need a bit more of everything, but what I currently significantly lack is light cavalry.

The Game
This is an encounter. The winner is the side that forces the other to break first.

The forces arrayed. The Spanish to the left. The French to the right.

The Spanish disposition.  Totally three arquebusier units, one deployed artillery, one mounted men at arms and two landsknecht pike units - one with arquebusiers attached; the other with sword and buckler.

The French force consisted of four crossbow units, one deployed artillery, two gendarmes and a Swiss pike block.

The Spanish made the first advances towards the French.  Possibly to try and limit the space available to the gendarmes.

The French gun would prove to be better positioned than the Spanish.  Its early shots were quite effective against some arquebusiers who strayed into range.  

Both sides continue to advance.

The Spanish were clearly hoping to inflict some damage on the gendarmes to even up the inevitable contest that was coming.

The French gun continued to enjoy an open field.  The closest Spanish arquebusiers finding the fire particularly galling...

... prompting an unplanned and rash advance to get stuck in and deal a blow against their tormentor. 

However, this hot-headed action left them even more exposed to the artillery and now the Gascon crossbowmen.
It became a case of now you see it...

... now you don't!

Meanwhile, closer to the town, the Spanish do some shooting of their own against charging gendarmes.

Whilst the gendarmes lost a little cohesion, it did not stop them from annihilating the arquebusiers.  The charge and impetuosity to ride down survivors would leave the gendarmes blown and somewhat disordered.

A unit of French gendarmes have punched a hole in the Spanish line.  However, they need to restore some cohesion before becoming effective again.
Meanwhile, the Spanish pike has moved into striking distance.

A view down the line.

The Spanish grab the initiative and charge the Swiss as the men at arms and gendarmes charge each other.

A mighty cavalry clash.

With the Spanish arquebusiers able to cause some damage earlier, the Spanish horse win and drive the gendarmes back... battered but not destroyed!

Might rivals clash.

But Spanish use of sword and buckler men to support the pike is enough to counter the quality of the Swiss, who are pushed back.  Yet ready to return to the fray.

Behind the Spanish lines the disordered French gendarmes are now harassed by the Spanish gun.

Unable to regain cohesion, their morale starts to suffer as they put distance between themselves and danger.

Meanwhile, their noble friends engage the Spanish men at arms again.

However, luck and feat of arms is speaking Spanish today.  Nonetheless, both sets of armoured horse are left exhausted by their exertions.

It's a close run thing, but with the French seeing their gendarmes in a poor state and the Swiss knocked back, their hearts are no longer in the fight.  The decision is to cede the field and extricate themselves as best they can.

This comes as some relief to the Spanish who fear the damage the gun and crossbow might do.

However, with two landsknecht blocks bearing down on the Swiss, a number of the Gascon crossbowmen are doing the maths!

Afterthought
A Spanish victory, but closely contested.

I had fun and the rules, amended for the early 16th century, worked very well.  I do need to look at the value of units to determine victory.  With the French Wars of Religion version, each unit is worth one point towards a victory.  Here I'm strongly inclined to give certain units two points, especially armoured cavalry and pike blocks.  It, hopefully, removes the temptation for a player to only go after the softer targets in order to accrue the points.  I can't have a side losing when it still has all its pike and gendarmes intact... that sounds like madness!

I'm still very slowly painted gendarmes.  My next outing with these will be to test out the fast play rules.  This game took around two and a half hours.  With more units and if played with action and luck cards, I imagine possibly three plus hours - to account for player thinking, consultation and dithering time.  Hopefully the fast play rules will do the job in an hour... I will be timing it closely.

Postie and Ray Destroy Probability - A WW2 Rapid Fire Reloaded Battle Report

Strangely enough the Rejects do not play World War Two games very often.  So, it was a treat to have something different:  different period; different umpire, Dan; different location, at Dan's home.

Dan put on a good looking and very enjoyable game.  However, it will be defined by Postie and Ray (especially Ray), first defying then rejecting entirely the laws of probability.

The rules were Rapid Fire Reloaded.  The scenario from "The Canadians in Normandy" book.  The models and terrain were from Dan's 15mm collection.

The scenario map

The scenario

Steve and I took command of the German defenders, who started hidden and able to give ambush fire.

The Canadian attackers were led by Postie and Ray,

The Game

The Canadians were tasked with capturing the village held by the Germans.

The Canadians arrive.

They quickly started moving their infantry and armoured support.

Flying forward to do a recce to find the defenders, a company with PIATs debussed from a universal carrier.

What they uncovered was two 75mm PAK 40s and a 105mm gun.  These quickly dispatched the recce team to another place!

The German anti-tank guns swiftly turned their attention on the advancing Shermans and destroyed one with alarming ease.

The Canadian line advances.  So far, they have managed to fail rolls to lay down significant smoke.  Nor have they been able to hit anything.  Though, to be fair, it's all long range at the moment.

With the Canadians attacking towards the German right, the defenders decide to limber up and relocate some artillery to counter.

With the attackers now advancing through the wheat fields, it is looking fairly promising for the Canadians.  If only they could hit and destroy the enemy units.  It seems that the Dice Gods have turned their backs on Postie and Ray.

With the same Pak 40 that took out the first Sherman, a second Sherman is hit and brews up.
This will be the gun that defies and destroys probability.  I cannot tell you how many dice they rolled to try to destroy this piece.  In one turn I believe that every Canadian asset that could shoot at it, did.  And missed.  The Dice Gods had not deserted Ray and Postie... They had died!

Moments later, the third Sherman is targeted, hit and destroyed by the relocated 105mm gun.

Postie and Ray are smiling but the grins seem a little fixed and the teeth clenched... how I laughed!

To make matters worse a die was rolled to see if the burning wrecks caused the wheat field to catch light.  Guess what!  Dan rolled a one, the field caught fire and the Canadian infantry had to move quickly out into the open.

With no armoured support and infantry being gunned down from well positioned defenders in the village, the attackers decided that their objective was now unobtainable.

So, a German victory.

This is the first time that I have played Rapid Fire.  It was a bit of a learning curve to begin with.  However, by the afternoon session of the game, the mechanisms were clicking.  This was an enjoyable and fast game.  It could have been a very different experience and result if Postie and Ray could have landed some hits, but if there was a dice roll to mess up, they messed it up.  In the end, the Canadians had lost 8 infantry stands, 1 PIAT team, 1 carrier and 3 Shermans.  The Germans lost one of their PAK 40s.

Well done to Dan for umpiring and hosting.  It was a fun day.  I look forward to Dan putting on more Rapid Fire games.