Early Renaissance in Usk 2014
Italian Wars French vs Caroline Imperialists
Game 1 Italian Wars French vs Ming Chinese
Game 2 Italian Wars French vs Scots
Game 3 Italian Wars French vs Caroline Imperialists
Game 4 Italian Wars French vs Ottoman Turks
Abergavenny welcomed us the preceding evening into its ample Welsh bosom (although the point at which the couple running the B&B we were booked into might have forgotten our reservation was a touch hairy….as come to mention it were some of the ample Welsh bosoms as well). Luckily we avoided meeting any of our ex-teachers round the back of the local branch of Iceland, and emerged relatively unscathed from a variety of hostelries and a rather nice non-Indian restaurant with a feeling of almost grown-up-ness..
The lists for the Italian Wars French and Caroline Imperialists from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Usk can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
The table was set - a bare board this time, which in certain exposures of camera looks to be an expanse of snow-covered fields punctuated by the odd forest, village and ploughed field. Our opponents were a more normal Spanish Italian thingmyjig, and had some irritating terrain to advance through and past in order to bring us to battle.
What's going on here then?
The Spanish deployment has been somewhat compromised by what could potentially be some useful terrain, but only if they adopt a very defensive stance. The French plan is based on dealing with the Spanish army piecemeal on the assumption that they will spread across the table and try and use the terrain, and so the French have a very strong left hook balanced by a competent but fundamentally holding force on the right. This leaves a big gap down the middle as a form of "refused centre" ploy - relying on the rough terrain in the centre of the Spanish line to prevent the Spanish putting any meaningful force down the middle of the table themselves
The left had both Reiters, both Gendarmes and a Swiss Kiel… mighty meaty indeed
The right was filled by skirmishing fluff and a huge unavoidable block of Landsnechts, who were starting to suspect that their role in the morning's battle might well be to die slowly whilst the rest of the army did the real business elsewhere…
Landsknechte Re-enactors
The opposition had their own cloud of skirmish crap as well, but in the battle of crap, he who has most crap often wins… and that was a lesson the enemy LH feared they might be being taught relatively early on in the proceedings
On the left a rather strange tactic had seen the enemy Gendarmes turn and retreat to the back of the board, possibly to get out of range of our small artillery battery, perhaps to wait for reinforcements to redeploy to their flank, or maybe just for a cup of tea and a sticky breakfast bun… who knows. Anyway, our enormous wall of proper troops advanced steadily and coherently, all whilst continually glancing to their right in wonderment at the big empty space that lay there bereft of any of our troops at all. In the proper middle a bizarre combination of Average Reiters and Arquebusiers advanced together, more in hope than in any sort of good judgement
What's going on here then?
Both sides are still jockeying for position, fairly evenly matched but unwilling to commit with the Spanish being more unwilling than the French by some margin as they have rather strangely pulled back their Gendarmes on that flank. The Spanish have really only committed two units of skirmishing LH to delay the French, but they are now themselves at risk. The French have too many horse on the left, and have redeployed a unit of Reiters into the previously empty middle of the field.
The enemy crap had been well and truly frightened off by the arrival of the unarmoured melee-weapon-less carbine armed horse, but their pikemen were making haste towards the Landsnechts, and a house-load of arquebusiers were making their way through the village, emerging the other side festooned with all manner of pies, bottles of wine and still-damp undergarments all purloined form the kitchens, cellars and back-yard washing lines of the local populace.
The left had a much less complex issue to deal with - how to pretend they cared about 4 enemy LH enough to keep them engaged, but not threatening them sufficiently to cause them to bugger off and go hunt down our marooned artillery park. Luckily, 6 Average pistol-armed Reiters were in place to fulfil the "we're threatening you, but even if we pull our worst nasty face, we still know we struggle to be genuinely frightening" role with some aplomb.
On the right again, and even for a flank where skirmishing was supposed to be the modus operandi, suddenly things were shaping up very much like 2 lines of troops preparing for a proper battle..
The left again and the enemy lurch into forward motion, having now redeployed enough stuff to get close to parity with the advancing wall of French and Swiss (and don't forget the Reiters!). The enemy LH had also by now finally decided that maybe Guns were a better prospect than a 14-man Swiss pike Kiel, and were heading off into the uncharted wilds of the middle of the table…
The Landsnechts were in! And against a rather retro-looking but decent quality Colunela to boot - a tiny formation with a narrow frontage that allowed the optimistic Landsnechts to flip out a halberdier and also clip the Spanish arquebusiers too, hoping for a spectacularly lucky "lost to Heavy Foot in the Open" cohesion test outcome in their favour (and also cutting down the amount of shooting coming the way of the many skirmisher units making up the rest of the flank
Rules Hint - Colunelas are generally a bit crap, as they are small for starters, and if they lose a single base they have no files of 4-deep pike. Any shooting casualties therefore really need to be avoided before combat
Seeing either an opportunity for personal glory, or realising that the Kiel were the only combat troops on the entre flank the French general piled in to give his personal encouragement to the German pikemen as they made heavy going against the Colunela.
What's going on here then?
Both sides are being sucked into a large and currently static combat on the right, but whilst the Spanish have committed 3 units, the French have only one large Kiel committed leaving their other units on that flank free to either fall back or do something else. In the middle what was once a huge gap become interesting, as both sides look to seek advantage by pushing units forwards to threaten each others flanks and influence the combat on the right.
Stone the Crows, Hold The Front Page! Something was happening in the middle! The Spanish had pushed a unit of arquebusiers out of the enclosed field in order to protect the flanks of their colunela, but this suddenly created a viable target for the Reiters! This was such a rare occurrence that they could not resist, and galloped forwards to the sound of the sub-par enemy musketry, losing a base as they went.
The left was moving towards a like-for-like matchup, apart from the Reiter/LH combination in the foreground of course… imagine the shock echoing around Renaissance Europe as not only were 2 units of Reiters in play, both now had beatable opponents in front of them too!
The Landsnechts were now locked in battle against not one but two whole Colunela, as well as the Arquebusiers who were still feeding extra bases into the combat. The French general had by now fallen to a well-aimed pike thrust from the opposing Spaniards… leaving the entire flank a little light on commanders…
Landsknechte Re-enactors
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Reiters charge home.. with their phenomenal "no impact POAs for their actual weapons, but sneaking a cheeky one in for Horse vs MF in the open" advantage!
But, that one POA was pretty much enough, and shortly the arquebusiers were fleeing in rout, ridden down by the most unfashionable troops on the table! The Reiters continued to pursue, aiming to ride the arquebusiers like a chariot and sneak in 2 moves each turn to try and get to the Spanish artillery park in the process…
What's going on here then?
The decisive blow in the middle looks to have cost the Spanish at least 3 units, with their artillery park and baggage now defenceless against the pursuing French Reiters. But on the right the French Landsnecht Kiel is starting to struggle as the Colunelas facing it steadfastly refuse to lose bases. The left hand flank is now inching towards a decisive clash, with both sides puzzled as to who has the slight upper hand...
With the Reiters in good form, the French had rushed a spare general across to shore up the Landsnechts, and in the form of a mid-season managerial casualty the performance of the team picked up almost instantly, dropping a DISR marker on the Colunela, who were now also overlapped by the French arquebusiers in a melee comprised almost entirely of Mikes Models figures..
The Spanish LH were taking their time chasing down the gunnes, and the French gunnes were finding their range. The Spanish lost a base, making them only one death away from autobroken. Their race to the gunnes was a game of chicken with high stakes on both sides.
As the landsknechts and Colunela got bogged down into some serious slogging, the remaining cloud of crap on the right started to coalesce into a series of sharp exchanges of fire, with the greater numbers of French troops holding the upper hand.
The slow and interminable move towards combat on the right was inching forwards on both sides, with the Spanish now bringing in 2 Colunelas to shore up their line and match off against the irresistible force that was 6 Reiters. Woot Woot!
The Spanish LH galloped forwards at full pelt, dodging cannonballs as they rode their horses like they were the Pony Express pursued by a tribe of angry Indians !
The Landsnechts were now living every aspect of the mid season managerial change simile, as their momentary uptick in performance slumped again back down to the actual level of performance that their true quality belied. They were Fragmented, and even the Arquebusiers could see the writing on the wall - they marched forward, contracting out of "I'm worried if you rout" distance in the process..
A fascinating faceoff had emerged on the left - finally. The Spannish foote could not risk charging the French mounted, and the French had little appetite to go in just yet either, with their secret weapon the Reiters suddenly again finding themselves centre stage, and their usually rather disappointing shooting abilities now miraculously had almost all the time in the world to take effect against an enemy not prepared to charge in against them and their colleagues
The Spanish LH closed on the French gunnes - not losing a base but still managing to lose cohesion as at 3 bases they were now testing each time they were hit
Game over for the Landsnechts! Beaten by Colunelas, they fled in dismay and puzzelement towards their own baseline
Abandoned by their General their rout soon outdistanced the disciplined and intact Spanish Colunelas
What's Going on Here Then?
The Landsnechts are gone on the French right, but the loss was well telegraphed, and the rest of the French forces here will easily manage to escape to safety, or are considering . The Spanish units responsible for the victory now have no credible opponents and nowhere to go, and the Arquebusiers are at some risk of being ridden down by French horse - so the tradeoff is perhaps not as bad as it looks for the French.
The Spanish LH did their best to close the distance between them and their gunnes, but at the last moment the final casualty was inflicted on them by the artillerists! The hand of the INfante himself descended from the very heavens above to take the now-broken unit off the table and home no doubt to face some sort of no doubt painful inquisition …although they would of course have the benefit of experiencing it in their own language
With the Landsnechts now gone, the only proper troops on the right were a unit of unarmoured carbine-armed horse. Having been encouraged greatly by the success of the Reiters in the middle, they too gave it a bit of a punt against an in-the-open arquebus unit.
And it started bloody well working again! The Arquebusiers were on the slippery slope down the cohesion ladder down the stairway of despair to end up on the su-basement floor of the department store of embarrassing debacles, picking up a bargain end of range humiliating defeat in the end of competence sale…
But, Hold the Front Page! Combat on the Left! After almost 3 years of careful planning, inch perfect drill and GPS-satellite (military algorithm accuracy) manoeuvrings the two lines had come together in an almost mirror image matchup in which skill would count for almost nothing in a fest of dice occasion exactly like what Barker Intended,
Shed loads of dice got rolled, some hit, some missed, some even missed, were re-rolled and hit (or missed), and stuff generally happened in big sloppy gobbets of eau d'battle. Monster!
Look ! Lots of hits all round, but more hits on this side of the battle line than on the other, so that's got to be good, right?
FoGR hint - in common with many rule sets, rolling lots of 6's with your troops is almost always really useful in FoGR
As if anyone still cared, skirmishers chased each other aimlessly on the far right. Now, lets get back to the two interesting bits, with the Carbine armed horse vs the DISR arquebusiers, and the dirty great battle over on the left that we've been waiting for all game. This picture is basically a filler to create a pause for dramatic effect, isn't is? It's not even in bleedin' focus! Get us to the action!!
Oh. Well, clearly this is the answer to the 4 Average Carbine Horse vs 8 Arquebusiers question. No proper troops left on the right of the table at all now….
And almost no Spanish Gendarmes left on the left either - the French nobility were making decisive strides towards mopping up the wing in fairly short order..
Yet again the Swiss had conspired to get themselves into a situation where they were able to take on 2 enemy units at the same time, as a Spanish Colunela charged the flank of the already engaged Kiel. That cover just about all of the units here… apart from one Spanish Colunela and the 6 Reiters who were facing off a while ago… wonder how that's been going?
O-M-G! The Reiter fire, assisted by the still-alive gunners team has obliterated the Colunela and suddenly the Reiters are masters of the entire flank ! How did that happen???
What's going on here then?
The French are now close to adding 4 enemy units on the left to their tally from the centre and the odd skirmisher caught and eaten on the right. Losses are stacking up for the Spaniards and their army is getting dangerously close to defeat as the French have troops in position capitalise on their victories, whereas wherever the Spanish are winning they have little but empty table to claim for their victories.
There are some proper troops on the right….but they are all Spanish, and they have no opposition to fight as the French skirmishers fade into the woods and out of sight…
A perfectly terrible round for the French general-led Gendarmes sees the bones of doom give Mr Le Gendarme and his Noble Mateys a swift and decisively pointy-shoe'd kicking in the codpiece area as they sought vainly to beat up the last, clinging on by the fingernails,dregs of the Spanish gendarmes..
FoGR hint - 6's may be good, however 3's are almost always really bad. Especially when you need 4's to hit, and can re-roll 1's and 2's. So, this is like, really, in these circumstances, the absolute worst dice roll ever. Meh.
But at least one unit knows how to roll dice - the Spanish are in real trouble now…
And with that, the game draws to a conclusion with the Italian artillery park and baggage now in the hands of the French who have cleverly reversed their false centre to feed units down the gap and picked off enough other bits and pieces along the way to finish the job! The Result is a huge win for France!
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Italian Wars French Commander
Coat d'Arms! A fantastique victoire was won today on this ennobled field, with some of the most French troops on the table performing well, and the only real downside being that I will not have to pay those hapless German mercenaries this time around, on account of them being totally "morte" on the end of some Spanish stickery-pokery. So, not a total loss then either
Unusually for my armies, today we managed to exercise both patience, and the demons from the prior game as well by firstly taking our time to set up a clever attack, and allowing enough passage of bounds for our admittedly limited shooting to have a drip-drip-drip effect to weaken the enemy for a decisive strike, and secondly by beating some enemy Gendarmes in a pretty much equal fight.
Above and beyond all of this however was the fact that we came up with something which could clearly be described and also seen to be "a plan", with our refused centre and our heavily weighted left hook. Not only did this mean that as the game progressed we sort of knew what we were supposed to be doing, but also when things went badly wrong (with the evil little Germans and their horrible pointed sticks) we were not dishearteened (well, the Germans probably were a little miffed) and we carried on to ultimate glory for me and for France
Finally, another demonstration of the fearsome but previously well hidden under a bushel like qualities of the Average Shooty-Pistol 6-pack Reiter - decisively tipping the entire left wing in our favour with their Colunela-shredding qualities, and then striking down the potentially stubborn unarmoured, close-combat-weaponless loose formation foot they came across in the open to make a surging run to close out the game. The troops type of the future - and a future full of more glories and victories I'm sure it will be too. Allonz-ee!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Fortune favours the brave they say, but here I think fortune probably realised that even for a buffoon such as you, statistics meant every now and then you still deserve some luck and as a result took pity on you and offered yo a small advantage in some evens combats, for the first time in many battles.
Whoever was in command on the right deserves some sound thrashings - this poor excuse for an officer can only be likened to a small puppy - he ran around excitedly, leaving little messes behind for other people to clean up. How can you expect to take on 2 Superior pike units with just one average one? The Colunela is not the best formation in the world, but it's weakness is in how quickly it declines in effectiveness in the face of shooting, and here you had no shooting to contribute to that outcome!
On the left you did work hard to engineer small advantages from a series of fundamentally even matchups, and eventually those came to pass in your favour - but the pace of attack was such that your right wing almost had time to lose the game before you managed to get to grips, and that with an enemy who put literally no forces ahead of you? Blitzkrieg? I think this was more like Glacierkrieg in terms of enthusiasm and vim in pressing the attack as your occasional flashes of adequacy were marred by an attitude of apathy and indifference.
If we break down the outcome here, most of yoru points were ratcheted up by some Average Horse riding down foolish arquebusiers who ventured out of a field, and then in some evens matchups where fortune favoured you more than the enemy. You have however added points to the tally on the board, and so at least that is of benefit in the long run. With performances like this your Captains should go far, and the sooner they starts, the better. Let's move swiftly onto the next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
You can also comment, "like" or give feedback on these reports on either the Madaxeman.com Facebook Page or the Madaxeman.com Blogger Site.
Game 1 Italian Wars French vs Ming Chinese
Game 2 Italian Wars French vs Scots
Game 3 Italian Wars French vs Caroline Imperialists
Game 4 Italian Wars French vs Ottoman Turks
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