The Fictional Battle of Gioco di Guerra - An Italian Wars AAR

Having done solo and one on one playtests with my adapted Flower of Chivalry rules for the Italian Wars, it was time to stress test them with a group of Rejects.  So, via Zoom, Jonathan, Ray and Dan took up the Valois cause whilst Steve, Surjit and Lee defended Habsburg honour.

For a report from a player's point of view, let me refer you to Jonathan's post - Palouse Wargaming Journal: Clash Course in Flower of Chivalry

Background
King Francis I is marching his army north to overwinter around Milan.  However, Charles V is in pursuit.  At Gioco di Guerra it becomes clear to Francis that Charles is catching up and that he must turn to fight.

The Armies

French – Army Morale : 9 Francois I - Efficient	Imperialist – Army Morale : 9 Charles V - Plodding
Vanguard (Jonathan) De la Pole (initiative 7) 1 x Gendarmes 1 x Swiss Pike 1 x Crossbow	Vanguard (Steve) Colonna (initiative 7) 1 x Men at Arms 1 x Landsknecht 1 x Arquebusier
Main Battle (Ray) Seigneur de Monluc (initiative 6) 1 x Swiss with x/bow 2 x Crossbow 1 x Artillery	Main Battle (Surjit) Pescara (initiative 7) 1 x Colunela 2 x Arquebusier 1 x Artillery
Rearward (Dan) Aubergny (initiative 6) 1 x Gendarmes 1 x Landsknecht 1 x Crossbow	Rearward (Lee) Leyva (initiative 7) 1 x Men at Arms 1 x Landsknecht 1 x Arquebusier

The Deployment

The French are marching and facing north.  The Imperialists have already starting shaking themselves out of march order.  They are facing north-west, towards the French.

A view from the north looking south.
The hills do represent obstacles to movement.  The wooded hexes can only be entered by the missile foot.

A view from the south looking north.  The Imperialist direction of travel indicated by the arrow.

The Battle

Colonna wastes no time, and energy, in rushing to secure the hill that threatens the French left and vanguard under de la Pole.  De la Pole responds by quickly turning and beginning to deploy.  The French rearward, under Aubergny does likewise, taking advantage of Imperialist sluggishness by Leyva and Pescara in the centre and rear.  However Monluc, leading the French Main, does not seem to have got the message and has not moved at all!

Whilst Charles' centre and rearward shuffle forward in unison.  Colonna is finding that his troops need to rest after their dash to the hill.  Meanwhile, de la Pole moves menacingly closer.  At last, the French centre has woken up and turns to deploy whilst Aubergny starts moving towards the southern hill.

De la Pole is now in a position to start engaging.  With great lethality, his Gascon crossbowmen let loose their bolts at Colonna's now exposed men at arms...

... their morale (and armour) dented by the volley, the men at arms retire to lick their wounds.
Meanwhile, Monluc is beginning to advance the French centre towards Pescara's deployed main battle.

With both the Imperialist flanks stalled or needing to rest, Pescara deploys his artillery and stiffens the resolve of his men.  It is clear that the French are going to bring the fight to them.
Seeking to win some sort of advantage, Aubergny issues a personal challenge to Leyva.  Both rearward commanders clashed in a deadly duel, from which Aubergny was carried back dead!

Taking advantage of the lack of command in the French rear, Leyva and the Imperialist rearward obtain the south hill.
On the northern flank, a combination de la Pole's and Monluc's crossbowmen disperse Colonna's Landsknechts.  As the imperialist pikemen's morale collapsed, de la Pole's gendarmes charged Colonna's arquebusiers.  For some reason, the charge was soft and failed to sweep the gunners from the field.

All Battles are now engaged:  Colonna's damaged men at arms barely managing to approach the northern hill; Monluc's Swiss and Pescara's colunela engaged in a titanic push of pike: Leyva's men at arms charging down from the south hill to crash into Aubergny's gendarmes.

The French gendarmes manage to withstand the initial armoured impact while a brutal battle of the pikes continue in the centre.

In swift and decisive fashion, the Imperialist centre and vanguard collapsed.  Colonna's men at arms are done away with by de la Pole's pike.  Leyva's gendarmes are thrown back by the German men arms in the south.  And whilst the Swiss in the centre were annihilated, the colunela succumbed to missile fire which was the straw that broke their weakened back! 

Leyva's gendarmes and pike attack the Imperialist pike defending the southern hill.

In the north, the gendarmes make heavy weather in dealing with the arquebusiers - actually, I made an error in reading a stat line!!!

So, after just under 3 hours of play the French win a decisive victory.

Both armies started with 9 army morale points.  The final score was 7 - 0 to the French.

The dead pile.

Afterthoughts
From a game perspective, the French probably played it better by deploying and holding a line.  This allowed a missile unit from their centre to support Jon's vanguard in its attack on the hill.  The Habsburg vanguard dashing off may have led to that command being isolated and easier to pick off.

From a rules/playtest point of view I was pleased with how things panned out.  I thought that it was fun and completed in just less than 3 hours - and that's with players not familiar with the rules.

I will look at the rules about personal challenges.  Whilst they are a lot of fun and provide some drama and jeopardy, I will probably calm them down a little and limit the number of challenges permitted.

I made a couple of mistakes during the game.  Both being a misreading of a unit's stats line during a melee.  Each unit has two melee factors - one versus mounted, the other versus foot.  I muddled them.  Both times it affected the French for the worse.  So, my error did not impact the result.

I will also take a little time to reflect on those melee factors to consider if small tweaks are necessary.  My first thoughts are that they worked fine.  However, I'll bend some thought towards it.

The command/orders worked well to create uncertainty.  The players were far from able to do what they wanted when they wanted.  However, a sound plan and patience can still be rewarded.

I look forward to feedback from the players.

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.