16th Century Gaelic Irish

February 2, 2019, 12:39 pm

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Hobby wise this year has started the same as last, with more work on my Gaelic Irish army. I have completed some of the slighty later released Perry Irish from their Wars of the Roses range, we just need Michael Perry to finish the Irish cavalry! I was also inspired by Simon Chick's clever conversions of some of the Perry Miniatures Galloglass, https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=109822.30, using the Steel Fist Miniatures Landsknecht heads and was keen to have a go at some myself. This is probably the third idea of Simon's I have shamelessly taken for my own collection!

Perry Miniatures Irish Kern with two-handed weapons from their Wars of the Roses Range

With regard to the heavier armed and armoured Kern and the handgunners I have done very little conversion work. Sculpting a few beards and moustaches onto some of the figures is all I have done to add variety to them. With regard to the handgunners Ian Heath, in his Armies of the 16th Century, states they were first recorded in Ireland in 1487 and were supposedly used in Knockdoe in 1504. When the English employed Kern to fight in Scotland and France in the 1540s some were armed with guns so these figures will be useful as mercenaries for my Mid-16th Century Tudor army or alternatively as enemies for them during the conflicts the Tudor Government had with the various Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Lords in the 16th Century.

The heavier armoured Kern are great sculpts and I am particularly impressed by the fact one of the figures has an armoured arm similar to the dart wielding figure in the Códice De Trajes, shown below. It's a mystery how this armour would have been worn securely but it's nice to see that attention has been paid to the historical images. A Kern in another image from Henry VIII's reign also wears some form of gauntlet and is shown in my original post on the Irish: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/01/of-kerns-and-gallowglasses-is-supplied.html, from the start of last year.

Irish from the Códice De Trajes c.1547. Note the arm armour worn by the Kern on the right - quite how this would stay on is another question!

Perry Miniatures Irish

From left to right, Irish Galloglass, Kern with some armour and two-handed weapons and Irish Handgunners.

Perry Galloglass with Steel Fist Miniatures and Warlord Games head swaps.

When it comes to the Galloglass I spent a little more time converting these using a variety of heads from both the Steel Fist Landsknechts and the Warlord Games Plastic Landsknecht kit.  The eagle eyed amongst you may also notice I swapped a couple of the axes as well, changing them for a couple of Galloglass axes I discovered I still had from the old Vendel Miniatures range of Gaelic Irish, now no longer available. I thought this was a nice link back to my first attempt at a 16th Century Irish army which has long since been sold on Ebay.

After a few of these headswaps the figures become even more evocative of the fantastic Dürer image shown below. As a quick digression, since my original post on the various types of Irish infantry, I have come across an interesting theory on this image. As this work is dated to 1521 it is likely that it was completed while Dürer was in Antwerp. Irish style swords were made in Germany and exported from Antwerp and Irish "Brats", the warm cloaks they wrapped themselves in, one is worn by the central figure below, were imported into the European mainland via the city so these items would have been available in Antwerp at the time. During this period Antwerp was famed for its processions at civic festivals where the citizens dressed as different foreigners and Dürer is known to have dressed up a young German as a Native American Indian for another piece.

This then brings up the question as to whether the image was based on genuine Irish soldiers, which it of course could be, or was it based upon some of Antwerp's citizens having fun and dressing as the Gaelic Irish! If they were genuine Irish troops from 1521, which wars were they serving in and how common were they on the mainland? Gaelic Irishmen certainly fought in the Dutch Revolt towards the end of the century but were they a presence much earlier? I quite like the idea they may not have been Irish at all but the Flemish in fancy dress! Or maybe they were drawn from a description given to Dürer. Who know's what the truth is but I always find these kind of questions fascinating when looking at these images from the past. I couldn't find the actual article which goes into detail about this but it is listed here: http://www.openbibart.fr/item/display/10068/1073027.

Until those Perry cavalry make an appearance that is probably it for the Irish for now.  Finishing a few bits and pieces to round off my 1540s collection and accompany my recently finished Landsknechts is next on the agenda.

Dürer's image of Irish Soldiers, 1521.

The Galloglass - the front 3 figures on the left have plastic heads from Warlord Games Landsknecht Boxed Set and the front 3 figures on the right all have Steel Fist metal heads from their 16th Century range.

Another image of the converted Galloglass, or are they Flemings in fancy dress?

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The Battle of Stoke Field - 1514?

February 5, 2019, 2:19 pm

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This weekend I was visited by one of my fellow reenactors Jason Flint, who portrays a 15th Century Galloglass. His efforts can be seen on his instagram account which is well worth a look: https://www.instagram.com/jason.flint87 . We are of course both well aware that the actual Battle of Stoke Field was fought in 1487 but we wanted to do a game that featured lots of Irish troops and as the actual 1487 Battle of Stoke Field was quite unusual for the Wars of the Roses, featuring the FitzGerald Irish and Martin Schwartz's mercenaries, we thought it would be fun to do a 16th Century version of the battle. Yet again the indomitable Richard de la Pole, already seen a few times on this blog, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-last-white-rose.html, was on hand to provide the perfect veneer of historicity. We played out a scenario that saw the son and younger brother of the two lead protaganists of 1487 face each other in scarily similar circumstances in 1514!

As always I used the adaptation of Lion Rampant that Stuart Mulligan and myself have slowly been writing and rewriting for our games. The figures are more representative than anything and we used casualty markers to note the deterioration of units. The photos were taken during the game by myself and Jason and a good way to get a sense of the ebb and flow of the battle is to read the captions below them. I have to admit that when the game got especially dramatic in the centre fight I stopped taking photos for a while but I think a good flavour is given nonetheless. Jason took control of Richard de la Pole and his rebel army while I commanded the Royalists under Henry VIII.

The two armies deployed for battle. In the foreground are De la Pole's Landsknechts with some Enlglish rebels. Further up the hill and in the trees are the FitzGerald's and their Irish troops. Opposite De la Pole is Charles Brandon with his retinue infantry and some hastily raised levies, while most of Henry's troops are deployed in the field on the hill.

The Second Battle of Stoke Field - 1514

Following Henry VIII's invasion of France in 1513 and the death of France's ally, James IV, at Flodden, Louis XII has struck back at England by despatching Richard de la Pole and a force of Landsknechts in an invasion attempt. In a rerun of events 26 years before where De la Pole's elder brother John was killed, the last Yorkist heir has sailed from St Malo in Brittany to Dublin where he has allied with the 9th Earl of Kildare, who's uncle died in the original invasion attempt. With a mixed force of German Mercenaries and Irish Auxiliaries they have landed in Lancashire and been joined by addtional troops rallying to the Yorkist cause.

A clever propaganda campaign launched by the De la Pole and the French has led to confusion for the Tudor regime. Henry's forces have been distributed throughout England fearing multiple landings and even a possible attack from Scotland, a nation which has proven particularly resilient following Flodden. Knowing Henry and his army to be in the centre of the country, at Nottingham, De la Pole has headed straight for him, and as fate would have it they have met close to the River Trent at Stoke.

De La Pole knows how his brother faired all those years before but feels this time God is on his side and things will go differently. In a few days he could be Richard IV, King of England...

A closer look at Richard de la Pole's Landsknechts and English rebels.

The 9th Earl of Kildare's Irish prepare to attack in the cover of the woods.

The Scenario for the game is a variant of Blood Feud, L from Lion Rampant, page 56. Henry must try to kill De la Pole and De la Pole must survive. Each army composes of two retinues for Lion Rampant. The two retinues in each army act indepently:

Richard de la Pole's army

Richard de la Pole - The White Rose

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Richard de la Pole and retinue)
2 Units of Landsknecht Pike                             
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot                                   
1 Unit of Shire Archers                           
1 Unit of Shire Billmen                                         
1 Culverin                                                         
1 Unit of Border Horse 
                           
The Geraldines

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare)
2 Units of Galloglass                                                       
4 Units of Kern                                                           
2 Units of Horseboys                                                   
1 Unit of Shire Archers                                 

Sir Rhys ap Thomas's cavalry hold Henry's flank while the retinues of the Marquis of Dorset, Lord Herbert, Baron Audley and the veteran Sir Edward Poynings take the field in support of the King.

Henry VIII and his Gentlemen Pensioners. Cardinal Wolsey can be seen organising the army's logistics in the next field, perhaps he is a little premature in wearing the red of a cardinal - he wasn't made one until 1515!

The Royal Army of Henry VIII

Henry VIII's Retinue

1 Unit of Kings Spears (Henry VIII)                     
1 Unit of Demilancers                                         
2 Units of Garrison Archers
2 Units of Garrison Bill                                  
1 Culverin                                                           
                                   
Sir Charles Brandon, newly appointed Duke of Suffolk

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Sir Charles Brandon)
1 Unit of Garrison Archers                     
1 Unit of Shire Archers                           
1 Unit of Garrison Bill                             
1 Unit of Border Horse                           
1 Culverin                       
                       

The Kern begin proceedings with a spectacular charge....

.....which falters just as they are about to unleash a rain of arrows and javelins on the Royal forces.

Initially things look daunting for the thin line of cavalry on the Royal left flank.

The clash started with a surge from the FitzGerald Irish with the whole of the Earl of Kildare's army charging forward. De la Pole was more cautious, waiting to see how events turned out on his right before committing his forces fully. Unfortunately for the rebels just as the Kern looked as if they would be able to unleash a hail of arrows, javelins and arquebus shot into the ranks of Henry's army, they faltered. The brief pause was all the time the Royalist forces needed to compose themselves and send a storm of arrows in the direction of the oncoming Kern and Galloglass.

While the arrow storm caused destruction similar to that of 1487 it also brought down an unexpected high ranking casualty. Despite the Earl of Kildare being in the full harness of an Anglo-Irish Lord he was caught by a chance bow shot and felled. The rebel right flank was shaken and began to fall back without even reaching the Tudor lines. Most of the Irish retreated but some of the Galloglass refused to flee only to be trapped at the hedgerow by the Royalist arrows. De la Pole had to do something if he wanted to achieve success where his elder brother had failed.

As the Geraldine Irish falter it gives the Government forces a chance to slaughter them with a hail of arrows...

...and through sheer bad luck their heavily armoured leader - Gerald FitzGerald, the 9th Earl of Kildare, is struck by an arrow!

As most of the FitzGeralds fall back a group of Galloglass take refuge from the arrow storm behind a hedgerow.

At the other end of the field De la Pole sent forward some of the English troops that had rallied to his banner, still not committing his professional Pike blocks. While light horsemen attempted to out flank Henry's right flank, a group of rebel archers waded into the river and began to shoot at the Duke of Suffolk's troops. To start with this looked to have no real effect so the Landsknechts were finally sent into the fray. As the Landsknecht artillery began to the fire the Pikemen and Arquebusiers marched towards the Tudor army.

At the other end of the field some of the English troops who have rallied to De la Pole's cause attempt to outflank Brandon's men. As light horse ride into the village to attack...

...Longbowmen wade into the river with De la Pole's state of the art light artillery starting to fire on the Tudor Army.

So far the action has been on both flanks, finally De la Pole's centre advances.

What is left of Kildare's army rallies in support of Richard de la Pole.

As most of Henry's army races to reposition from the hill as the Landsknechts advance on the thin Royalist centre, held by Sir Charles Brandon and his men.

The Royalist Gunners panic under the pressure of the assault - repeatedly failing to fire the gun after a couple of longer range shots.

De la Pole's men lead a disciplined attack on the Royalist centre.

As Henry's troops descend the hill the fighting can be seen in the distance.

The scene just before the biggest clashes of the battle.

Initially Richard de la Pole's attack on the centre met with success. Sir Charles Brandon's troops that held the right flank of the Tudor army finally broke under sustained pressure from the rebel archers and artillery. While the shire archers Henry had hastily levied kept up a withering rain of arrows from the cover of the cornfields the Royal artillery got off a few shots at the advancing Landsknechts but as the pressure of the enemy advance built the gunners panicked and repeatedly fumbled any attempts to blast the pikemen at close range.

As the White Rose's men advanced Henry's main force realised it was not in a position to aid Brandon's forces. They started to redeploy and move to the centre of the field to support Brandon. The remaining FitzGeralds saw this and, having rallied, led a second charge at Henry's army. The veteran of both Bosworth and the 1487 clash at Stoke, Sir Rhys ap Thomas, led the Royalist Demilancers into the Irish to hold them back but he was quickly defeated by Kildare's retinue and sent fleeing back into the fields! Some of the Galloglass got to into the Royalist positions and crashed into the Royalist lines. They had brief success but the numbers against them told and they were brought down by more archery.

Sir Rhys ap Thomas leads his Demilancers in an attempt to finally rout the FitzGeralds - they still have some fight left in them and, despite the loss of their leader, the Earl of Kildare's retinue sends them fleeing back towards their own lines!

Emboldened the remaining Galloglass attack the Royalists across the hedge. They send the archers reeling but once they have composed themselves the archers strike back and once again the Irish fall prey to the warbow.

In the chaos at the centre of the field Sir Charles Brandon engages in a one on one with De la Pole - echoing his fathers clash with Richard III nearly 30 years earlier. Unlike that fight this was not to be a mortal struggle as the two are separated in the melee and De la Pole lives. In the distance one of De La Pole's Pike Blocks assaults Henry's troops across the hedgerow. It is a savage fight but the combination of armoured billmen with archers in support defeats the German Pike.

The battle reached its climax in the centre with half of De la Pole's Pikemen leading an assault on Henry's forces as they moved to support Sir Charles Brandon and the other half crashing into Brandon's centre. In the chaos Sir Charles Brandon and Richard de la Pole briefly exchanged blows fighting amidst the carnage in the cornfields. They were soon separated and Brandon rued his failure to bring down his King's enemy. The Landsknechts attacking Henry's men through the hedgerows became disorganised and though they pressed on for a second attack they were pushed back and defeated. De la Pole's men in the cornfields had more luck overunning Henry's cannon as well as Sir Charles Brandon whose retinue was smashed in this engagment.

The White Rose was no fool. Although his men briefly held the centre of the field with Henry's guards closing on him and the Irish a spent force he knew it was time to flee. As his professional infantry made an orderly withdrawal his horse was brought foward and he set off to find a ship back to France. Henry VIII had spent the entire encounter at the rear of his army surrounded by his elite Men-at-Arms and had hardly covered himself in glory. While Sir Charle's Brandon had been brought down having traded blows with the infamous White Rose, Henry had never even had to move.

Sir Charles Brandon has not only let De la Pole escape, he is now struck down by the disciplined German Infantry of De la Pole.

The Landsknechts then go on to capture the Royalist artillery but it is too late. De la Pole, in the top left corner, knows the day is lost and retreats with the troops he has left in order to make good his escape.

This was a really fun game to do and it all could have gone so differently. I think I may try it again, with possibly only a few minor tweaks. Jason was a great opponent, he is a keen wargamer as well as a reenactor and was unlucky that the Irish attack let him down really badly. The failure to activate the Irish Retinue's first unit two turns in a row really left the Irish open which was then coupled with the complete fluke of the Earl of Kildare being brought down by an arrow! I think there may be some more Tudor Rebellions or Anglo-Irish clashes to be fought between us in the future!

The "Generals" - A FitzGerald Galloglass and Tudor Captain!

1540s Artillery Pieces

March 4, 2019, 12:58 pm

≫ Next: Piero the Unfortunate and the Garigliano

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Following on from the 1540s Landsknechts I posted up at the start of the year work has continued on the Mid-16th Collection, the most recently completed figures for which are a couple of artillery pieces and crew. The guns and crew are by The Assault Group, one crew is from their Tudor range and the other from their Valois range. The Fleur De Lys badges have been removed from the French figures. As with a lot of the collection I was keen for both guns to have fairly generic crewmen so that they can be used for a variety of armies.

While I really like the TAG figures I did reposition these a little as the artillery crew all come open handed, ready to hold the various artillery swabs, powder scoops or ramrods which TAG also provide. While a few figures look great holding these I'm never keen on the whole team doing so. Both crews have a figure with a linstock. These are easy to make by simply gluing cotton around a piece of wire so it looks like the match wrapped around the linstock. One crew is in the process of repositioning the gun after it has recoiled, as gamers and modellers I think we often forget the fact guns would fly backwards when shooting. One crewman reaches for the bucket to swab the gun before the next charge is loaded. The other crew are in the process of ramming the shot home, having loaded the powder charge.

I think the crew work well in fairly drab outfits and complement the other TAG figures for this era. A pike block with marching shot in front has been included in the photos to add a bit more flavour. Period wise I would use them for the 1530s through to the early 1560s at a push. I have also finished another 16 shot for this collection and am currently working on some later Gendarmes. After these will hopefully follow a couple of Mid-16th Century command bases. This 1540s side project has moved slowly along in the background and it would be good to add some more bits and pieces to the collection so I can start using it for some later Renaissance Rampant games. Hopefully the "Camisade of Boulogne" is not too far off!

Mid-16th Century heavy guns and artillery crew by The Assault Group. The Watermill in the background is also a new purchase.

The artillery open fire as the Pike and Shot begin to move forward.

One team are in the process of rolling the gun forward after it has been fired while the other team are pushing the shot home as part of the reloading process.

The Assault Group guns and crew from behind.

Piero the Unfortunate and the Garigliano

March 26, 2019, 2:36 pm

≫ Next: The Siege of Venlo, 1511

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This weekend a friend of mine visited who is also a keen painter and collector. Tom specializes in the Hundred Years War and has recently started his own blog, https://englandswarsinfrance.blogspot.com/, which is definitely worth a look. Tom was keen to try an Italian Wars battle and I thought this was a great chance to get out my early Italian Wars collection and write up a scenario set during the war for Naples, fought between the generals of Louis XII of France and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain at the very start of the 1500s.

The Banks of the River Garigliano 29th December 1503

Gonzalo de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan, had defeated the French at Cerignola in April 1503. This began the turning of the tide in a war in which both France and Spain attempted to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. Following their defeat the French had successfully reinforced the garrison of Gaeta forcing Gonzalo to retreat and defend the coastal route to Naples against an advancing French army. Gonzalo's army held the banks of the river Garigliano while the inland route to Naples was defended by determined Spanish garrisons. A stalemate developed along the banks of the river in which the French attempted to force their way across the Garigliano using a pontoon bridge but the Spanish doggedly defended the banks using trenches and earthworks. Through early November 1503 the French launched three attacks from their bridgehead but could not dislodge the entrenched Spanish. The stalemate was finally broken by a Spanish surprise attack, and subsequent Battle of Garigliano, after they had built their own pontoon bridge further upriver at the end of December 1503.

The scenario is set as the stalemate between the Spanish and French armies both entrenched on the soaked and sodden river banks is broken by the daring attack upstream. Gonzalo de Cordoba and the Italian Condotierre Prospero Colonna have crossed the river on a bridge constructed in stealth with the Spanish Vanguard and have begun to role up the demoralized and soaked French troops in their billets.

Further down stream and nearer to the coast the French still hold the fortified bridgehead which they established weeks beforehand under the leadership of Francesco Gonzaga, the Marquis of Mantua, but were unable to break out from, hemmed in by Spanish trenches and earthworks. With the success of the attack upstream Fernando de Andrade, in charge of the Spanish Rearguard which has remained in the trenches, has launched an attack upon the fortified bridgehead with a force that includes a body of German Landsknecht sent by Maximilian I as well as Spanish Light Cavalry.

Amongst the French force is Piero de Medici (also known to history as the Unfortunate), the ousted ruler of Florence. Piero di Lorenzo de Medici was the eldest son of the famed Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence in all but name. Following his father's death he also assumed de facto control of the renaissance city but was unable to rule in the same manner. His unassertive behaviour in the face of the advancing French in 1494 led to an uprising in Florence, the people being stirred up by the apocalyptic preaching of Girolamo Savonarola. While Savonarola himself came to an unpleasant end, the Medici were exiled from the city until Piero's brother, Giovanni de Medici, became Pope, assuming the name Leo X.

Despite his priveledged start in life Piero did not have the same success as his younger brother, Giovanni. He was serving as a captain in the French army and was at the French bridgehead during the Spanish assault at Garigliano. According to Charles Oman's "Art of War in the Sixteenth Century", Piero was organising the evacuation of the French guns from the bridgehead back across the Garigliano and had boarded a large boat with an artillery piece. As he moved off some routing infantry clambered into his boat and capsized it, all of them drowning in their armour, including Piero. Hence the moniker "the Unfortunate"!

Piero de Medici or Piero the Unfortunate

We join the game during the attack of the Spanish Rearguard, under Andrade, on the French bridgehead. In the chaos Piero de Medici must attempt to load up some of the French Guns as the army retreats back to Gaeta in the face of the Spanish advance. He must then try and escape himself, avoiding a dip in the Garigliano! A rather grisly event to focus on perhaps, but his potential escape does make for an interesting "what if".

The shoreline part of the table, seen in the photo below, represents the banks of the Garigliano and the boats to evacuate the French forces. The pontoon bridge itself is not represented on the table but is assumed to be somewhere behind the French defences. Three Guns can be seen further up the table. They can be picked up by other units and moved as per the War Chest Wagons in the scenario the "King's War Chest" on page 51 of the Pikeman's Lament. They could not fire or fight as they were assumed to be in the process of evacuation. I have to admit we made a bit of an error during the deployment here as 4-6 points of Piero's retinue were meant to be positioned with the guns, awaiting their Italian comrades but we forgot this part of the scenario and placed all the Italians advancing from their side of the table. I think it could have made a big difference if a unit had already been placed with the guns. The deployment of Piero de Medici and Fernando de Andrade's retinues can be seen below.

As soon as a gun was moved from position we diced for the reinforcement retinues entering. They would enter on a 5-6 on a D6 the first turn after a gun was moved, then a 3-6 and then automatically. The reinforcing units could enter on a move activation.  The French reinforcements would arrive from the within the French earthworks by the small church and the Spanish from their own trenches which can be seen just beyond the guns in the photo below.

The objective of Piero was to drag the guns with his retinue to the shoreline and thus evacuate them. Once this was done he was then free to board a boat and leave as well. The Spanish objective was to stop Piero's escape and drag the guns forward, leaving the table between the French earthworks and their own trenches.

The initial deployment. On the right is Piero de Medici's Italian retinue in French service. They are attempting to defend the original French bridgehead. The banks of the Garigliano can be seen in the foreground and the guns that need to be withdrawn are at the far end of the table, beyond which lie the Spanish Trenches. Fernando de Andrade's retinue are on the left. The French reinforcements will arrive along the river bank by the Church, they are assumed to have been defending the bridgehead slightly further up the river. The Spanish reinforcements will arrive at the far end of the table from their own trenches.

As always we played the game using the ever evolving Renaissance Rampant rules that Stuart Mulligan and myself have been adapting from Lion Rampant and The Pikeman's Lament. Tom chose to lead Piero, and his Italian and French forces, so I took the Spanish under Fernando de Andrade. The photos are all from the actual game. Again as always the best way to follow the action is probably to read the narrative under the photos. I appreciate there is quite a lot going on in this scenario, the historical Battle of Garigliano was itself quite a disjointed spread out event, so I hope it is relatively easy to follow!

The French at the bridgehead

Piero de Medici's Italians in French Service

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Piero de Medici)
2 Units of Italian Infantry
1 Unit of Italian Pikemen
1 Unit of Italian Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Italian Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Italian Mounted Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Stradiots

French Retreating Reinforcements

1 Unit of Foot Knights (The French Captain)
2 Units of French Pikemen
2 Units of Aventuriers
1 Unit of Franc Archers
1 Unit of French Ordonnance Lancers

The Spanish Rearguard

Fernando de Andrade's Landsknecht and Light Cavalry Assault

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Fernando de Andrade)
2 Units of Landsknecht Pikemen
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
3 Units of Spanish Jinetes

The Spanish reinforcing from their trenches

1 Unit of Foot Knights (The Spanish Captain)
2 Units of Spanish Arquebusiers
2 Units of Rodeleros
1 Unit of Spanish Jinetes
1 Unit of Stradiots

The Landsknechts and Jinetes under Fernando de Andrade race towards the guns while Piero de Medici's Italians also surge forward in an attempt to get the guns to the river.

The Italian Stradiots have clashed with the Jinetes in the open ground between the trenches and earthworks. Around the gun battery the Italian Crossbowmen and Landsknecht Arquebusiers exchange fire.

The Landsknecht Auxilliaries sent by Maximillian I have grabbed one of the guns and start to fire into the Italian infantry who are grateful of the cover provided by the trench.

Initially both the Italians and Spanish facing them advanced in an organised manner, keeping close together ready for the oncoming fight. The Italians had left their arquebusiers to defend the earthworks by the river bank. As the Italian Crossbowmen grabbed one of the artillery pieces so to did the Landsknecht Arquebusiers. The Jinetes pushed back the Italian Stradiots while the Landsknecht Arquebusiers began a ranged battle with the Italian Crossbowmen at the gun battery.

In the centre the Landsknecht pike assumed a close ordered formation and withstood a couple of bloody assaults by the Italian shield armed infantry. Having lost the Stradiots on their flank the Italians were now harrassed by the Jinetes as well as having to face the advancing Landsknecht. One body of Landskencht Pike were badly mauled in the fighting but the melee mainly swung in favour of the Spanish and suddenly Piero's position was starting to look dangerous.

The Spanish Jinetes ride out to harass Medici's forces.

The Italian Swordsmen and Mounted Crossbowmen attempt an attack on the massed Landsknecht Pike but they are constantly under attack from the Jinetes on their flank.

The Italian Pikemen have secured a gun and begin to drag it back to safety. Their crossbowmen, both mounted and on foot have been seen off by the Landsknecht and Jinetes while the Italian Infantry have come off the worse in a series of bloody clashes with the Lansknecht Pike.

As the Italians make an attempt to get back to the banks of the Garigliano they are looking more and more vulnerable to the Spanish.

As Andrade's reinforcements poured forward from the Spanish trenches Medici, with his Pikemen dragging one of the guns, began his attempt to get back to the riverbank. This became something of a chase scene with the Italian Pikemen being defeated by the deadly combination of Landsknecht Pikemen with Jinetes skirmishing all around. Piero managed to grab the abandoned gun with his bodyguard and slowly pulled it back to the river, all the time being pursued and skirmished with by the Jinetes. They whittled his bodyguard down one by one with their javelins but miraculously Piero managed to get back to the French earthworks where more French Infantry and a few light cavalry had arrived to support him.

At this point Piero's resolve finally broke and he fled, dissappearing anonymously into the ranks of the advancing French. Did he drown in the river as happened in the historical battle? Who knows. The French reinforcements had arrived and flooded into their earthworks in an attempt to halt the Spanish advance, maybe being able to recapture their guns in the process.

Spanish Infantry emerge from their trench line and begin to advance on the beleaguered French bridgehead.

As infantry pull the gun to safety Piero de Medici's position is looking more and more precarious.

The French infantry, who have been holding the bridgehead with the Italians, enter the field. Can they get to Medici in time to save him or any of their guns?

Attacked by the Jinetes and Landsknecht Pike the Italian Pike block is defeated leaving Piero extremely isolated and being pursued by Fernado de Andrade!

A view of the whole battlefield. The second Spanish retinue can be seen emerging from the Spanish trenches and passing through the French fieldworks. Medici can be seen in the top left being pursued accross the field by the Jinetes and Andrade. The French can be seen entering the field in the distance.

Having seen the Italian contingent disintegrate the Landsknecht being moving the captured cannon.

Spanish Arquebusiers cross the first line of French defences that have been protecting the French bridgehead since November.

Still attempting to bring one of the guns back safely and having lost most of his return to the javelins of the Jinetes Piero is attempting to reach the lines of his French allies.

The Spanish have two of the three guns and are now fully accross the initial line of French defences. Piero de Medici can still be seen , he has made it to the French ranks but his retinue has been destroyed and he now dissappears in the chaos. The French prepare to take on the Spanish assault.

The final line of French defences are manned by Crossbowmen on the left, Archers in the centre and Italian Arquebusiers on the right. The Arquebusiers are the only remaining troops from Medici's retinue.

The French bravely tried to stem the tide but things simply went from bad to worse. Their cavalry sallied out of the earthworks only to be defeated by the Jinetes while the only remaining body of troops from Piero's retinue, the arquebusiers, looked to be in the perfect defensive position. They were ensconced within the earthworks with the Spanish advancing into range. As they were about to put the matches to their guns they leapt from the earthworks and charged into the Spanish Arquebusiers, in a moment of heroism or madness! They were defeated in the brief melee and fled.

As the Spanish began to drag the captured guns from the field yet another stroke of bad luck struck the French. The Spanish Arquebusiers, flushed from their victory in the melee with Piero's men, stormed the French earthworks and then opened fire from one of the earthern bastions. The French Captain, who was doing a good job of maintaining the discipline in a chaotic situation, was struck dead instantly in the hail of shot. This led to morale crumbling amongst the remaining French who desperately tried to escape the Spanish assault by running to the pontoon bridge, taking to the remaining boats or simply trying to swim for it. The Battle of Garigliano at this stretch of the river was over.

The Italian Arquebusiers role a double one in an attempt to activate and shoot the Spanish - a blunder - as a result they go charging into their Spanish counterparts. Is this heroism or insanity? They come off worse in the clash and flee the field.

The Spanish prepare to overwhelm the French bridgehead. Their Arquebusiers can be seen on the right, about to climb over the earthworks.

Some of the Spanish troops are detailed with safely removing the captured guns.

When it looks as if nothing more could go wrong for the French and Italians defending the bridgehead they are struck another deadly blow. The Spanish Arquebusiers mount the French earthworks and then fire upon the retinue's captain and his bodyguard. The French captain falls dead in the volley and discipline in the French force evaporates. The bridgehead has been taken and the French guns captured by Andrade and his Spanish troops.

It was a fun game, especially the drama of Piero's attempted escape while being chased and constantly attacked by the Spanish Cavalry. He very nearly made it to the boats as well! I do regret that we forgot the Italians were initially meant to have troops at the guns as it could have made things a lot closer. That being said it's not the first time I have forgotten something key in a wargame and certainly won't be the last! Despite some appalling dice roles and failed activations Tom is keen to revisit the Italian Wars for another game so I am sure in the future there will be another clash. It was great to have a chance to use all my very early Italian Wars stuff, much of which I haven't gamed with before.

The table is still up and ready to be transformed into the 16th Century Low Countries for my next clash with Stuart. The Siege of Venlo, 1511...

The Siege of Venlo, 1511

April 1, 2019, 12:02 pm

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This weekend Stuart of https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/  visited and we played a series of games that we have been planning for a while now, all based around the Siege of Venlo in 1511. This siege was part of the Guelders War and was a campaign where Henry VIII provided 1,500 Englishmen in one of his first forays in overseas aggression.

Venlo, 1511

The roots of the Guelders War, like most of the conflicts of the early 1500s, lay back in the 15th Century. Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, had lent a sum of money to the Duke of Guelders and as a guarantee of repayment it was agreed that Charles would assume the Duchy if said repayment was not forthcoming. Suffice to say the Duke of Guelders failed to repay Charles and thus the conflict began. By 1511 the Hapsburg Low Countries were under the leadership of Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximilian I, following the death of her brother Philip IV in 1506. Margaret was trying to retake Guelders by force by laying siege to Venlo on the river Meuse. Henry VIII was allied to Maximilian I, and thus Margaret, as he would be when he invaded France two years later in 1513, and had sent Sir Edward Poynings and 1,500 Englishmen to aid the Hapsburgs in the campaign.

There is not much, in English at least, available on this campaign but over the past couple of month's I have been looking for information on Poynings involvement and Hall's Chronicle has a couple of pages detailing some of the events that took place. If you have the patience, and inclination to decipher it, this source is online: https://archive.org/details/hallschronicleco00halluoft/page/522. I have quoted some passages from it below, which, once you get used to the old spelling or lack of it, have plenty of information from which a few great wargaming scenarios can be taken. In the passages below, I have added the extra text in brackets just to help a little with the "translation" into modern English.

As per usual all the photos are of the actual games. For rules we used our Renaissance Rampant hybrid of Lion Rampant and The Pikeman's Lament. For the Guelders forces we used a combination of Landsknechts and then various English or French unit profiles to form the various militia forces. For all of the games Stuart played the English under Poynings while I took control of the Guelderlanders. A brief write up on the highlights of each game is included, as always following the captions under the photographs is probably the best way to see how they played out.

Margaret of Austria as a widow, after 1518 - Circle of  Bernard Van Orley.

Brymuoyst Castle or Kasteel Grubbenvorst, Thomas Hert's English guns have fallen silent after battering down some of the bulwark and now the archers prepare for the assault.

The Storming of Brymuoyst

"Tharmie to the nombre of x M of the ladies part (Margaret of Austria), & xv c Englishmen passed through Brabant, & came the x daie of August beyng s Laurece daie, before a litle castle stadyng on the higher side of the river of Mase (Meuse) called Brymuoyst (Grubbenvorst?) strongly bulwarked, in the whiche wer c men belongyng to the bastarde of Gelders, with a capitain called Lankesell van Gelder, whiche robbed & spoyled all the parties of Brabat (Brabant). Thei within shot fiersely at tharmy as it passed by, and did them litle hurt. The same night Thomas Hert chief gouernor of theglish (the English) part made his approch of his ordinauce, & in the morning bet doune as much as might be beaten doune for the bulwarkes, & the next daie beyng the xi of August the castle was assaulted valiantly, & taken by force, & the capitain and lxxx & odde me were slaine and xix taken, of which xi were hanged, Ihon Morto capitain of c Englishme, & one Guiot an esquire of Burgoyn (Burgundy) criyng Burgoyne S George: there was one Englishman slain and no more". Hall's Chronicle.

On their way to Venlo, as they passed through Brabant, the English and Margaret of Austria's forces passed Brymuoyst castle. This seems to have been Kasteel Grubbenvorst, https://www.absolutefacts.nl/kastelen/data/grubbenvorst.htm although amusingly if you follow the link and translate the text it says the castle was destroyed by Scots troops in the service of Maximilian I in 1511. I am pretty sure this is the place Hall is refering to. It was assaulted by the English and Burgundians and it's lawless captain killed.

For our scenario the English deployed outside the castle and were assaulting it. Brymuoyst's garrison were inside the buildings and could leave any building on a move activation. They needed to get out of the castle and make for the river in an attempt to escape before the English got to them. Once the English reached the castle they could try and set it alight as per the "Sausages without Mustard" scenario in Lion Rampant page 50. Once all the buildings were burning the Guelders troops could no longer escape.

The English Objective was to stop the Guelders troops escaping. The Guelders troops had to try and race across the board to the river and escape.

The Guelders Defenders - Lankesell van Gelder in control of the Bastard of Guelder's men

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Lankesell Van Gelder)
2 Units of Shire Bill (Guelders Infantry)
1 Unit of Franc Archers (Guelders Archers)
1 Unit of Aventuriers - (Guelders Crossbowmen)

The English Attackers

1 Footknights (Sir Edward Poynings
1 Unit of Shire Bill (Sir John Morto)
2 Units of Garrison Archers
1 Culverin

The English form up to assault the castle.

The Bastard of Guelder's men make a run for the River Meuse....

...while their archers and crossbowmen distract the English.

The fight started well for the Gulders Rebels with the garrison's archers and crossbowmen keeping up a steady rain of arrows and bolts on the English attackers. While the English were engaging the missile armed troops Lankesell Van Gelder and his band of infantry (or outlaws!) climbed over the earthern bulwark and headed for the river. Things seemed to be going the way of the Guelders forces and the English Archers were taking casualties. The bowmen soon proved their worth in Margarets forces however and silenced the garrison's crossbowmen, even though they were in a strongly fortified position.

The English pulled back to block the escaping infantry, allowing the castles archers a chance to get away as well. Once in the open the Guelderlanders came under a rain of arrows and were also fired upon by one of the English culverins. Not to be stopped Lankesell Van Gelder made it down the hill and personally defeated Sir Edward Poynings. Poynings was injured and dragged from the field by some of his archers. The Guelderlanders could not make it out though. The archers were silenced by the English Bowmen and Sir John Morto's billmen and Poynings bodyguards, including Sir John Digby, charged up the hill and into the castle's garrison as they attempted to escape. Those left, including Lankesell were cut down or surrendered to the attacking English. Brymuoyst or Grubbenvorst Castle had fallen.

The English Archers press the attack through the castle's ditch.

Lankesell Van Gelder leads the Bastard of Guelder's men out of the castle that they have been trapped in and attempts to flee via boats on the river.

Lankesell is no coward though and engages Sir Edward Poynings in hand to hand combat. A veteran of Bosworth, Ireland and an earlier Low Countries Campaign he may be, but Poynings is injured and only just rescued by his men.

Poynings may have been removed from the field but all is lost for Lankesell Van Gelder. As they attempt to escape he and his men are cut down by the English Archers and Guns, before being captured and defeated by the Men-at-Arms and Billmen. Brymuoyst is taken.

Margaret of Austria's gunners attempt to bring Venlo's walls down.

Assaulte on the Trenches

"The siege thus continuyng, not without skirmishes, xxix daies sir Edward Pounynges (Poynings), sir Ihon Dighby (John Digby) dined with monsire Rony and all other Englishe capitaines and petie capitaines, dined with an Almain (German) called Clene Anderlyne, except sir Mathew Broune, and Ihon Fogge whiche kepte the felde, and Richard Wethill whiche kepte the trenche and was sore besette: and in the dinner tyme, thei of the toune issued out on thenglishmen hurt and toke, one Sheldwiche  of Caterbury prisoner, and one Miles: and thenglishmen hurt and slew many of theim, and comeplled theim to returne by force of Arrowes, and so thei reculed with one prisoner. For Miles, whiche was led betwene two of the Gelders, perceiuying rescue commyng,  after as he came to an hill, thrust the two Gelders doune the hill before him, and so ranne back to his compaignie, which thyng the two Gelders that led him perceiuyng ranne to Sheldwiche and slew him, The Burgonions (Burgundians) perceiuyng, that sir Edwarde Pownynges was displeased with this chaunce, exhorted him with his menne to assault the toune, whiche, by thaduise of bastard Emery answered was that the cause was theirs, and not his Maisters: And if he gatte the toune by assault, the king his Master, should not haue it, but if they would geue the assaulte, he would ioyne with theim, whiche thing would not do because thei had kinsmen and frendes, within the toune: sauyug one daie a fewe Almaines assaulted a Bulwerke and wer slain and taken". Hall's Chronicle.

The battlefield for this scenario was set up to represent a segment of the walls and moat of Venlo and the English trenches and guns outside. Both retinues of the Guelders raiding force were deployed at one end of the table with the retinue of Sir Mathew Brown at the other. The large gun battery was considered impassable terrain and was included as a scenic item to really give the flavour of this being a siege. The Guelderlanders had the two prisoners Sheldwiche of Canterbury and Miles with them having already raided a part of the English trenches. They had to make their way across the field and pass the deployed English retinue to leave at the opposite table edge as they were assumed to be making their way back to an open gate further around the walls.

The two prisoners were placed with two units of Guelderland Troops. Units with a prisoner moved at a maximum of 6" but could otherwise behave as normal, save evading and skirmishing. If the unit with the prisoner was destroyed, routed or battered the prisoner would run 8" towards the nearest English in each English turn. If the prisoner reached the English unit the token was removed.

There could only ever be two prisoners in play but if one or more escaped then the Guelderlanders could capture prisoners by routing, destroying or making a unit battered in combat. A retinue leader could also be captured by loosing a challenge. The winning unit then had a token placed by them and had to leave via the opposite table edge with the token. If they routed, were battered or were defeated in combat the unit lost the prisoner as with the starting two prisoners. Running prisoners were automatically recaptured if an enemy unit moved into contact with them.

Once the first attack in combat or via missile fire was made between the Guelderlanders and the defending English then on the English turn a D6 roll of 5-6 meant that Poynings retinue, racing back from dinner, could enter from behind the Guelderlanders. On the next turn a 3-6 would allow them to enter and 3 turns from the first clash they could automatically attempt to activate to enter. The Retinue of Poynings entered via move activations.

The Guelderlanders would gain 5 glory for each prisoner they escaped the table with and the English gained 10 glory if no prisoners were taken.
The moat counted as rough terrain and offered +1 armour as cover.
The trench was rough terrain unless infantry were moving straight down it and offered +1 armour as cover unless both units were in the trench in which case neither had cover.
The Sconces were not rough terrain and offered +2 armour as cover as long as the unit had at least one base in the sconce. Similarly the Earthworks did not count as rough terrain but would give +2 armour for units on the correct side of the defences.

The Guelderland Sally

Guelderland Landsknecht
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Landsknecht Captain)
2 Units of Landsknecht Pike
2 Units of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers

Guelderland Militia

1 Unit of Demilancers (Guelders Captain)
2 Units of Mounted Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Picard Pike (Guelders Militia Pikemen)
1 Unit of Shire Bill (Guelders Infantry with Polearms)
1 Unit of Aventuriers ( Guelders Crossbowmen)

The English

Sir Mathew Brown and Richard Whethill in the trenches

1 Unit of Footknights (Sir Mathew Brown)
1 Unit of Garrison Billmen (Richard Whethill)
1 Unit of Garrison Archers
1 Unit of Shire Archers
1 Organ Gun

Sir Edward Poynings

1 Unit of Foot Knights  (Sir Edward Poynings)
2 Units of Garrison Archers
1 Unit of Demilancers (Clene Anderlyn)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike

The English trenches are thinly manned as most of the Captains and Petty Captains dine with Monsire Rony or the German Captain, Clene Anderlyne. The Guelders raiding party can be seen in the distance with a couple of English Archers fleeing down the trench in front of them!

The Guelderslanders have sallied out of one of the town gates, overrunning the English trenches. In the left foreground one of the English prisoners can be seen.

The defenders of Venlo are heartened to see the large raiding force moving with impunity through the English trenches.

Sir Mathew Brown and Richard Whethill hastily gather the troops to defend the trenches as the Guelders sally approaches.

The Guelderland Landsknecht choose to bypass the English attempt to stop them by simply wading through Venlo's moat.

With one of the prisoners in tow the Duke of Guelders Landsknecht push on through the moat and past the gun battery.

As Sir Mathew Brown's men raced to defend the trenches against the oncoming attack the Landsknecht forces in Venlo's employ decided to avoid them and waded through the moat, hoping the close proximity to the town's walls would deter the English from trying to stop them. The Guelders Militia forces were not so fortunate and made the ill fated decision to attempt to steamroll the thinly held English trenches. The Guelderlanders knew the main English force would soon be upon them so a unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers and some crossbowmen formed a rearguard, each group holding a sconce while the main forces made their way back to the gate.

The Landsknecht force in the moat, although slowed down considerably, passed by the English trenches with relative ease. For the militia and garrison troops moving through the trenches it was a very different tale. The English ran to their positions and thinned the ranks of the Guelders Sally with their arrows. The Guelders force did make it to the English and in a series of vicious hand to hand fights they defeated the archers and Sir Mathew Brown with his accompanying Men-at-Arms. One of the English prisoners was freed in the confusion and made it back to the ranks of his company. Another Englishmen was briefly captured by the attacking townsmen but he too was then freed as they were pushed back into a trench.

The Guelders militia forces have been stopped by the defending English. Their Captain and his men are sent fleeing back down the trenches in a hail of arrows.

The Guelders Mounted Crossbowmen attempt to clear a way through the trenches but again the arrow storm is too deadly.

The Rebel Landsknecht march on, wading through the moat. One Pike Block is detailed with moving to aid the Guelders Militia.

Temporarily outnumbered by the Guelderland Sally Sir Matthew Brown and his archers put up a valiant defence...

...they rescue one of the English prisoners and fight off the Guelderlanders as they attempt to storm the earthworks.

The Guelders Militia Pike capture another fleeing Englishman in the fierce fighting over the trenches but he is soon freed as Sir Edwards Poynings and the other English captains, their dinner interupted, have made it to the fray.

The Guelders Militia, despite the hard fight, thought they had made it through the English lines but they were mistaken. Behind them Clene Anderlyn and his cavalry road into the trenches. They chased off one group of Guelders Mounted Crossbowmen and then rode down the fleeing Guelders crossbowmen who had been forming a rearguard for their compatriots. The Landsknecht Arquebusiers in the sconce fired at Sir Edward Poynings, now recovered from his fight at Brymuoyst, but Poynings and his bodyguard stormed the earthwork and defeated them.

The Landsknecht in the moat thought they were in the clear, even sending one block of Pikemen back to aid the militia, all be it too late. Sir Mathew Brown's English weren't defeated yet though and wheeled an Organ Gun into the path of the oncoming Landsknecht. It fired upon the skirmishing arquebusiers who moved in front of the Landsknecht Pike but they evaded its hail of shot before firing back on it's crew and sending them running. Richard Whethill and his billmen took on the lead party of Landsknecht Pike as they advanced out of the moat but the Landsknecht were too strong and Whethill and his men fled. The Duke of Guelders Landsknecht, many of whom would of course see service in the armies of France in Italy, made it safely back to the open gate with their prisoner. They only lost the arquebusiers they detached as a rearguard acting as a "verlorene haufen".

The Guelders militia fared far worse. The fight at the trenches had held them up, allowing the German Cavalry to ride into them and send them running in panic. Only some of the Mounted Crossbowmen managed to ride through the network of trenches and earthworks to make it safely back to the town. The people of Venlo were disheartened that they had lost many of their own people in the encounter and took little comfort from the fact that the Garrison's professional force, the Landsknecht, had returned to the town having taken few casualties.

Clene Anderlyn, the German Captain, rides ahead of the English to cut down the raiding Guelderlanders.

The Landsknecht Pikemen who had bypassed the trenches are caught by Richard Whethill and his billmen. In a brief clash of arms the English are defeated and the Landsknecht make it safely back to the gates and the walls of Venlo with one English prisoner.

In the trenches however Clene Anderlyn and the arriving English reinforcements have smashed the Guelders Militia. While most of the Landsknecht have escaped a large number of the town's defenders have been cut down.

Venlo, 1511. The troublesome gun position on the walls, that is bombarding the English camp, can be seen in the left foreground. In the background, to the left of the small church, is the gate that the English will sneak in by.

The Assault on the Tower

"More effective proved the 1,500 soldiers under Sir Edward Poynings, who served at the siege of Venlo against the forces of the Duke of Guelders. Margaret of Savoy, the leader of the alliance, confided to her father, the Emperor, 'The English acquit themselves very well and make more war on the enemies than any other'. As operations dragged into late October 1511, she reported to Maximilian that the commanders planned a three-day battering of Venlo's walls, followed by an 'assault, in which the English offer to take first place'. Even at this early date the English showed aptitude for gunnery. The defenders had mounted one of the town's towers and rained projectiles upon the English camp. The English retaliated by erecting a mound, positioning their artillery, and managing partially to demolish the offending structure. Margaret regarded her English troops' performance as 'better than the rest of the army". English Warfare, 1511-1642  Mark Charles Fissell.

This next scenario was a twist on the above event described in Fissell's work. It's a "what if" in which rather than the English having succeeded in knocking down the tower with their earthwork and guns they had failed. Hall states in the above passage for the "Assaulte on the Trenches"scenario that some of the Landsknecht in Margaret's force "had kinsmen and frendes, within the toune". Later Hall goes on to state "The Englishe capitaines perceiuyng that thei laye there in vain cosideryng the strength of the toune, and also how their armie was not in nombre to enuiron the toune, for ever thei had one Gate open, wrote to the kyng, which willed them with all spede to returne, and so thei did." So it is clear the defenders were confident of their security and had kept a gate open all through the siege, not being fully encircled by the besiegers.

For this scenario the Landsknecht in the Hapsburg army had persuaded some of their "kinsmen and frendes" in the garrison to leave one of these smaller gates or sally ports open to them and the English for an early morning raid. The English knew they couldn't get enough men in through the gate to take the town but they were entering close enough to the gun mounted on the wall to attempt to quickly get in the town, disable the gun that was raining projectiles onto their camp and try and get back as day broke.

The table was set up to represent the streets and gardens of Venlo. At one end of the table were the walls with a gun mounted on them. The English deployed at the other end as if they had entered from a gate left open for them. They had to get back to the gate to exit. The Guelders Militia Retinue deployed in a town square in the centre of the table.

The English had to get to the gun by placing a unit at the base of the wall it was on. Instead of an activation they could then attempt to destroy it. This was done on a 5-6 on a D6 the first time. Then a 4,5,6 then a 3,4,5,6 and so on. If the English attempted to destroy the gun position 5 times they would automatically succeed the 5th time. Only one unit could attempt to destroy the gun per retinue turn.

As soon as the attempt to destroy the gun was started the Guelders relief force could enter via a move activation from the left side of the town in the above photo. The English had to leave with as many units as possible via the exit gate once the gun was knocked out avoiding the Guelders units arriving from within the rest of the town.

The English started  with one large retinue while the Guelderlanders were divided into two smaller retinues.

The English Raiding Party
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Sir Edward Poynings)
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Sir Mathew Brown)
3 Units of Garrison Archers
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers


The Guelders Miltia (in the square)

1 Unit of Shire Bill (Militia Captain)
2 Units of Aventuriers (Guelders Crossbowmen)
1 Unit of Picard Pike - (Venlo's Militia Pike)
1 Organ Gun

The Guelders Relief Force

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Landsknecht Captain)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Demilancers (Horsemen from Venlo's Garrison)

The Guelderland Militia keeping guard.

The English and Imperial Landsknecht as they enter the town in stealth.

The rest of the town is soon alerted to the raid as the Imperial Landsknecht send a hail of shot into the Guelders Militia Pikemen.

The English and "Almaines"move quickly though Venlo's streets.

The Pikemen in the square bravely try and stop the surprise attack but they are overwhelmed.

This was a confused engagement with the English getting deep into the streets of Venlo before the Guelderlanders sprung on them. In the small square Venlo's Pikemen didn't have the nerve to initiate an attack on the Imperial Landsknecht which meant they were subjected to a savage volley of shot and then defeated in combat by Sir Mathew Brown and his Men-at-Arms. If the hail of shot from the arquebusiers didn't alert the rest of the town to the fact they were under attack then the organ gun which ambushed some of the English Archers certainly did! Some of the archers were killed but the rest took their revenge on the gun crew, shooting them down at close quarters.

The Imperial Landsknecht Arquebusiers narrowly avoided an ambush by some of the town's garrison, the garrison troops themselves then being dispersed by the unstoppable Sir Mathew Brown. Brown and the Arquebusiers made it to the walls where the gun position was. While the English stood guard the Germans went up on to the walls and knocked out the gun that had been causing the camp so much trouble. Unfortunately for Sir Brown, they took a long time to do this and he was defeated as more of Venlo's garrison were alerted to the enemy within their walls. Guelders Landsknecht Arquebusiers and Mounted Crossbowmen joined the fight.

A series of ambushes and streetfights take place in the early morning light. A Guelders artillery piece is fired into the English Archers but, taking cover behind buildings, few of them are hurt and they shoot back at the crew, quickly silencing them.

The Landsknecht troops that helped the English into the town lure out the milita...

...only for Sir Mathew Brown and his bodyguard to then catch them and defeat them in a brief melee.

Sir Matthew Brown then reaches the wall where the troublesome gun is. Alerted to the English raid, Guelders Landsknecht and Mounted crossbowmen enter the fight and Brown and his bodyguard are defeated.

But Brown has bought time for the allied Landsknecht to get onto the town walls and destroy the gun position.

Having seen one of their Captains downed, a unit of English Archers sent the Mounted Crossbowmen and Landsknecht Arquebusiers fleeing but then had to run themselves as a group of the town's cavalry clattered into the streets and ran them down.The Arquebusiers that had mounted the walls and destroyed the gun ran in a headlong panic through the street to the gate as the horsemen rode after them. All the English and German troops in the town now headed for the gate they had snuck in by, only to find themselves in an ambush. The town's militia crossbowmen emerged on one side and a block of Landsknecht Pike on the other.

The English Archers and Maximilian's Landsknecht were cut down by the town's own Landsknecht, Cavalry and Crossbowmen as the sun rose and day broke. Seeing Venlo's Landsknecht Captain attacking his archers Poynings entered the fray but the Landsknecht Commander escaped unharmed, thinking he had trapped the English in the town. This would have certainly been the case had not some of the besieging Landsknecht heard the fighting from the trenches and rushed to the aid of their trapped comrades and Englishmen. They burst through the gate and defeated the Guelders Landsknecht Pikemen that were blocking it, allowing Poynings and what was left of his raiding party to escape (when it looked like the English were not going to make it Stuart rolled a double 6 to activate a unit which meant after he had rolled on the doubles chart reinforcements were sent, saving the raiding party from disaster!).

The mission accomplished, as the English and their German allies attempt to leave they are caught by a body of the town's horsemen. From the walls two priests look on in horror!

The English and Germans file down the street that leads back to the open gate.

The Archers who form the rearguard are ridden down by the horsemen from the Venlo garrison!

At the other end of the town, as the English make for the gate they are caught in an ambush. Guelders Landsknecht emerge from the orchard on the right while behind the church the militia crossbowmen emerge.

It looks as it the English are surrounded on all sides with the Venlo horsemen racing through the bloodied streets in an attempt to ride them all down.

More English are cut down as Venlo's Landsknecht captain enters the fight.

In the chaotic street fighting he briefly engages Sir Edward Poynings in a duel but the result is inconclusive and neither are harmed.

Outside the walls the besieging Landsknecht have been alerted to the fact the mission is going wrong. They storm through the opened gate and disperse the town's Guelders Landsknecht who are blocking the English escape route. In the nick of time Poynings and his remaining assault party get back out to the siege lines.

These were really fun games that we had both put some preparation into and I think that made them all the more enjoyable. Stuart had completed his Poynings Command base as well as the fleeing English Archers whilst I had prepared the scenarios and worked on a set of Guelders Flags. It was great to use Stuart's spectacular new buildings for the first time in some of the scenarios. Of course we made our obligatory "Generals" trip to the pub for a few (too many) drinks. As always these games seem to just generate more ideas for future scenarios. I have already been delving back into Hall's Chronicle with an eye to doing the Marquis of Dorset's failed Guyenne Campaign of 1512 when the English were effectively hoodwinked by Ferdinand of Aragon and been going through my books on Tudor Ireland with the possibility of seeing Poynings take the field again but this time against some of the 1490s Irish Septs.

Off course the obligatory raid on the pub had to take place as well!

Steel Fist Gendarmes

April 20, 2019, 12:53 pm

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 It seems like an age ago that I backed the Kick Starter for these figures by Steel Fist Miniatures. My intention was to start work on them a while back but the Irish army project became a major distraction. Gendarmes are always a project that I approach with trepidation as historically they were colourful and magnificently attired heavy cavalry and painting them is a real challenge.

Although I bought these in a Kick Starter, the figures are now available from the Steel Fist store: https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/. They have a wide variety of different heads and plumes which is great. While certainly being a 16th Century History enthusiast I am not an armour expert by any stretch of the imagination. That being said to my eyes a lot of the helmet styles that Steel Fist make are for the second quarter of the Sixteenth Century. I would argue from the 1520s to 1550s. This of course makes them perfect for my 1540s collection that I have recently been working on. When putting together the unit I deliberately chose helmets that have that slightly later feel.

There is great variety and detail in the Steel Fist barded horses but I didn't want all the Gendarmes to be on them. Barding was certainly still being used in the 1540s. The English, who had never had large numbers of heavy cavalry, made extensive use of  heavily armoured horses in France and Scotland in the 1540s. While these were often in hired foreign contingents, the Pensioners and Bulleners both appear to have been "homegrown" units of heavy horse. The most famous English cavalry charge of this era was at Pinkie in 1547 where the armoured horsemen didn't have time to armour their horses, such was the speed of the Scottish advance. The Spanish and French would continue to use barded horses into the mid 16th century, although Ian Heath, in his "Armies of the Sixteenth Century" argues that after 1550 the use of full horse armour decreased rapidly. I would imagine the cost and the specialised horses needed for this would be a factor in its decline as well as the widespread adoption of the pistol as a close quarters weapon for a lot of cavalrymen in the Mid 16th Century.

Gendarmes on barded horses by Steel Fist Miniatures

Gendarmes on unbarded horses. The Gendarmes are by Steel Fist Miniatures and the horses are Perry Miniatures plastics.

With skirmish style games of Lion Rampant in mind, I chose to put 6 of the figures on armoured horses and 6 on unarmoured steeds. The two groups can be seen in the photos above. The figures fit the Perry Plastic horses really well. I have some old Wargames Foundry Gendarmes which will fit the unused Steel Fist horses so at some point I may try a unit of Foundry Gendarmes on the Steel Fist mounts although this will require sculpting the front of the saddle on to the rider.

They took some time to put together but I think it was worth it. I tried to paint patterns on a few of the sets of barding and, as long time readers of this blog will know, I hate doing this kind of thing, but they have come out ok. Luckily the sculpts have so much detail on them that you really don't have to work that hard to make them look good. Steel Fist are about to release their light cavalry to accompany these chaps and I am really looking forward to painting up a unit of them. The lighter horse will be extremely useful in all the "small war" skirmish style games I like to play and will fit in all of my different European armies.

Gendarme on a barded steed, note the "horns" at the top of the chanfron.

This Gendarme is in a heavily gilded harness.

An impressively gilded set of barding.

A painted set of barding. The barding was not always made of steel - hardened leather was also used.

The Gendarme Captain...

...and standard bearer carrying the salamander badge of Francis I of France.

Steel Fist Gendarmes.

French Gendarmes.

A view of the Gendarmes from the back.

The Raid on Carrickfergus, 1513

May 1, 2019, 2:31 pm

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Recenlty I have had the luxury of being able to leave my gaming table set up for a couple of months, hence the spate of battle reports on the blog. The final game, before putting it all away for a while, was played out this weekend with three of my fellow reenactors. Following on from the "Stoke 1514?" scenario with Jason, Phil and Sven were also keen to have a game. As we are an Anglo-Irish 15th Century reenactment group this set me an interesting challenge of coming up with a four player scenario set in the early 16th Century, as I don't have any specific Wars of the Roses figures, that would see lots of Kern and Galloglass taking the field.

I was looking for something that at least gave a nod to historical events but also a scenario that would be fun for us all to take part in. Then I remembered a plate from the Opsrey Elite series "Scottish Renaissance Armies 1513-1550" (surely having this title in the Elite series is an oxymoron right?) that shows the Earl of Arran and the Scots fleet attacking Carrickfergus in 1513 in support of an O'Donnell rebellion. This was an event that provided plenty of scope for an unsual scenario.

The deployment areas, going clockwise from the top right the O'Donnells, bottom right the Anglo-Irish, bottom left the Earl of Arran and top left the English Garrison. The building with the red roof and the large building behind the tower in the street are the target buildings to be burnt down. The four cattle counters are marked out in the centre of the table.

The Raid on Carrickfergus, 1513

In June 1513 Henry VIII landed at Calais to lead his army in an invasion of France. It was the young Kings first military campaign and he was keen to emulate Henry V's glorious campaign of nearly a hundred years before. As part of the "Auld Alliance" the Scottish King, James IV, had agreed to aid Louis XII against the English. The Scottish invasion of England a few months later ended in James' death at Flodden.

As part of the alliance between Scotland and France, the French king had agreed to pay James IV 50,000 francs and to victual the Scottish Fleet if it was sent to the aid of the French. James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, a man already experienced in commanding a fleet, having led a Scots naval expedition to aid the Danes in 1502, was put in charge of the Scots navy. The fleet left Scotland in July 1513 and included the "Michael", an enormous 240 foot long vessel which had been commissioned by James as an attempt to put Scottish power well and truly on the European stage.

Instead of sailing straight for France Hamilton first sailed for Ulster and attacked Carrickfergus which had an English Royal Garrison. The O'Donnell of Tyrconnell had rebelled against the English in Ulster and the O'Donnells were ostensibly allied to the Scots. Hamilton failed to take the castle but did loot and burn the town.

Deployment

The scenario involved a naval landing from the Scottish fleet led by James Hamilton which was supported by Hugh O'Donnell and his Gaelic followers attacking from the Ulster countryside. The English Garrison would sally out of Carrickfergus Castle to defend it while their own Anglo-Irish allies arrived to defend the town as well. There were four retinues each commanded by a different player.

To add to the confusion the four retinues would each deply from a corner of the field via move activations. Units could enter with a move activation, they could not attack or skirmish on the turn they entered. The deployment areas were set out so that each player would enter opposite his allied player and so have enemies on either side as he tried to accomplish his objectives. The photo above shows where each retinue would enter, the Scots from the shore, the English from the castle and the two Irish contingents from the countryside. The objectives would represent the fact that this was an attempt to loot and burn Carrickfergus rather than a head on clash.

The O'Donnell Warriors enter the fight.

The Earl of Arran's troops deploy from the Scots Fleet.

Loot...

Four "tokens" of cattle were placed in the centre of the table, two in the main street of Carrickfergus and two just outside the fields, see the photo above, apologies for the labels! Once all players had troops on the table these "tokens" would move in a random direction 2D6 inches at the start of each turn, simply stopping if they hit obstacles. The tokens could be looted or saved, depending on the retinue. All of the retinues, English, Irish or Scots could attempt to take a cattle token. A unit had to move up to the base to take control of it (as long as it was not already in the control of another unit). The cattle token could then be moved by a unit and would stop moving randomly while in the unit's possession. A unit could only move one cattle token at a time and could not enter rough terrain with a token

If a unit in possession of a cattle token moved into contact with its entry point the cattle were removed and would count towards Honour Points. The unit could then continue in the game.

...and Burn

For this scenario two of the buildings in Carrickfergus were targets of the raid and could be burnt. The Scots and O'Donnells had to attempt this.  To try to set fire to a building, the Scots or O'Donnells had to have least one base from a unit in contact with it at the start of their activation phase. As an ordered activation, they could use that unit to try to set fire to the objective (instead of Moving, Attacking, or Shooting). If there were 7 or more models in the unit the fire started on a roll of 8+ on 2D6; if there were 6 or fewer models in the unit the fire started on a roll of 9+ on 2D6.

Honour Points

The winner of this game was to be decided via Honour Points which were awarded accordingly:

2 Honour Points for every cattle token looted/rescued.
3 Honours Points to the Scots and O'Donnell Retinue for each of the 2 buildings burnt.
3 Honour Points to the English Garrison and Anglo-Irish for each of the 2 buildings that was saved.
2 Honour Points for each enemy retinue Leader the retinue defeated.
2 Honour Points if a retinue ended the game with half or more of the points value of its retinue left.

As always the rules were adapted Renaissance Rampant rules and the photos are of the actual game. As you can probably imagine with four different players and retinues this was a pretty chaotic and bloody game and I have provided a brief highlight of events whilst the photographs and captions also give a good idea of how things developed. Sven took control of The Earl of Arran's Scots with Jason playing the "Wild Irish" under O'Donnell. Phil commanded the Anglo-Irish FitzGeralds while I took command of the English Garrison in Carrickfergus Castle.

The retinues were as follows:

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and his naval raiding party

1 Unit of Foot Knights (James Hamilton, Earl of Arran)
2 Units of Shire Billmen
2 Units of Shire Archers
1 Unit of Scots Marines with Crossbows (a little nod to the Opsrey colour plate by Graham Turner)
1 Unit of Scots Pike

Hugh O'Donnell of Tyrconnell and his Gaelic troops

2 Units of Noble Irish Cavalry (one is Hugh O'Donnell and his male family members)
3 Units of Galloglass
1 Unit of Redshanks (the O'Donnell were using Scots troops from the late 15th Century onwards)
3 Units of Kern
1 Unit of Horseboys

The English Garrison

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Garrison Captain)
1 Unit of Garrison Billmen
2 Units of Shire Archers
1 Unit of Border Horse
1 Unit of Demilancers
1 Culverin

The Anglo-Irish FitzGeralds and Gaelic Allies

1 Unit of Garrison Billmen (Anglo-Irish Captain)
2 Units of Border Horse (Anglo-Irish Cavalry)
1 Unit of Shire Archers
1 Unit of Galloglass
4 Units of Kern
1 Unit of Horseboys

Some of the Scots head into Carrickfergus whilst others move to engage the Anglo-Irish.

The Anglo-Irish Archers begin to shoot at the Scots Crossbowmen.

The Scots Pike push back the Anglo-Irish Archers and head into the Anglo-Irish force.

It didn't take long for the action to start. The Scots and their O'Donnell allies were the first to enter the scene, quickly arriving in numbers. The Anglo-Irish followed closely and were soon engaged in a ferocious battle against the Scots around the shore. The Scots Pike pushed into the Anglo-Irish retinue being defeated in a series of clashes, while some of the naval party started to enter the town itself. At the other end of the town the O'Donnell forces halted around the castle giving the garrison time to sally out and launch a rain of arrows into them. The English archery wrought havoc amongst the O'Donnell soldiery and caused some of them to fall back and flee.

Whilst his troops battled the English, Hugh O'Donnell and his Noble Cavalry rode towards the town, pushing back the Anglo-Irish cavalry before them, and getting into a position where they could attempt to burn one of the towns largest buildings. They failed to set the building alight however, giving the Anglo-Irish enough time to send Kern and more Light Horse to defend the town. Hugh O'Donnell was knocked from his horse in a skirmish with the Anglo-Irish Light Horse. The first major casualty of the day had gone to the FitzGeralds.

The view into Carrickfergus. The Scots attempt to take the town but the Garrison's Cavalry have already begun to bring some of the cattle in.

Hugh O'Donnell and his Noble Cavalry ride into Carrickfergus...

..they drive a group of Anglo-Irish horsemen away from the cattle and attempt to set fire to one of the larger town buildings.

Around Carrickfergus Castle the O'Donnell troops are suffering at the hands of the Garrison's Archers.

From left to right the Scots Naval Crossbowmen attempt to sneak around the town to burn one of its buildings; in the main street the Scots advance while the Garrison attempt to herd the cattle back to the castle; on the outskirts the O'Donnell Noble Cavalry push back the Anglo-Irish Cavalry.

A view down the main street with the castle in the background.

A view from above showing the main street with the English and Scots in it and the Irish and Anglo-Irish Cavalry skirmishing outside the town. This is one of Jason's photos, I am too short to take photos like this!

Hugh O'Donnell and his retinue repeatedly attempt to burn the town. He is about to be knocked from his horse by the skirmishing Anglo-Irish cavalry and take no further part in the battle.

The rest of Hugh O'Donnell's men are suffering in an attempt to take on the English Garrison.

A view from the walls of Carrickfergus Castle: the O'Donnell men lead the assault.

The Anglo-Irish Galloglass charge the Scots Pike...

...and succeed in defeating them before...

The fierce fighting between the main Scots and Anglo-Irish forces continued with unit after unit being broken in the series of melees that were taking place. James Hamilton himself sort out the FitzGerald Captain and defeated him in a one on one combat. The Earl of Arran's victory over the Anglo-Irish seemed complete but, like his pikemen earlier, he had pushed too far into the enemy ranks and was eventually overwhelmed and brought down, meaning the Anglo-Irish had now defeated both of the enemy retinue leaders, although their own captain had been slain.

Things were starting to look bad for the Scots and their Gaelic allies. The English Garrison had fended off the O'Donnell attack and were collecting the cattle from the town, herding them back into the Castle gates for safety. At the other end of the town the Anglo-Irish had also succeeded in "rescuing" some of the cattle. None of the town buildings had been set alight, Hugh O'Donnell having failed and an attempt by the Scots "Marines" to sneak around the side of the town being seen off by a sally from the Garrison's small number of Demilancers.

...launching into the Scots Archers. Both units flee after this fierce melee.

With the Anglo-Irish and Arran's forces at each others throats the FitzGerald Captain and Arran engage in single combat. The FitzGerald Captain of the Anglo-Irish is slain.

As Arran's Crossbowmen attempt to set fire to the town the English Garrison's Demilancers sally out from the castle and ride them down.

The mortal combat between the Scots and Anglo-Irish contines with the units of polearmed troops taking each other on.

The English Garrison had failed to notice that in the chaos some of the O'Donnell Kern had slipped past them and into the town. The Anglo-Irish could no longer stop them as all their troops had been drawn into the battle on the shore. With Garrison troops chasing them the fleet footed Kern rushed to the buildings and succeeded in setting one of them ablaze. In an even more ridiculous turn of events another unit of Scots arrived from their fleet floating offshore (Sven rolled a double 6 to activate and then rolled "reinforcements" on the event chart! This is exactly what happened in one of the Venlo 1511 games). With the arrival of a fresh unit of pikemen the English Garrison's Light Cavalry attempted to stop them, the Demilancers having been routed in an earlier clash, but could not prevent them from landing and setting the other major town building alight.

With the town ablaze and all the cattle either herded to safety or looted, the Scots had managed to capture one group of them, the raid ended. The Scots that were left embarked in their rowing boats to return to the fleet while the O'Donnell raiders melted back into the countryside. The Garrison Captain was the only retinue leader to have not been killed or downed in the fighting but although the Garrison was still at over half strength the town was in flames.

From the walls of the castle the English Garrison observe the running battle. Note the Kern in the top left.

O'Donnell himself may have failed to set the town alight but some of his Kern manage to sneak past the English Garrison and set it ablaze.

It looks like Arran's naval landing has failed to burn Carrickfergus until another boat load of Pikemen arrive from the anchored fleet.

The Garrison's Cavalry attempt to stop the Pikemen but to no avail. The reinforcements storm off the beach and succeed in setting Carrickfergus's second large building alight!

The Final Scores

So using the Honour Point system set out above the final scores were:

Jason as the Hugh O'Donnell and the Gaelic Irish: 3 points for setting alight one of the buildings and 3 points as the Scots had set alight the other building. Total 6 Honour Points

Sven as the Earl of Arran and the Scots: 3 points for setting alight one of the buildings and 3 points for the O'Donnells setting alight to the other building. 2 points for one cattle token and 2 points for slaying the Anglo-Irish Captain. Total 10 Honour Points.

Phil as the Anglo-Irish Captain: 4 points for downing Hugh O'Donnell and The Earl of Arran. 2 points for one cattle token. Total 6 Honour Points

Myself as the Garrison Captain: 4 points for 2 cattle tokens. 2 points for having over half of the retinue left at the end of the game. Total 6 Honour Points.

So the Scots, true to the historic raid on the town, successfully looted and burnt Carrickfergus and were the victors!

This was a really fun game and something a little different from the styles of scenario I have played before. There is a lot to be said for the carnage created by having four players around the table each with their own retinue. It was great to use nearly my whole Irish collection in the game and helped me to think a bit more about the rules for the Gaelic Irish, they are still something of a work in progress. Once the reenacting season is over there could well be more visits to Ireland on the games table.

"The Generals", from left to right: The English Garrison's Captain, The Ferocious Hugh O'Donnell, The FitzGerald Anglo-Irish Captain and last but not least the Dastardly Scots Sea Captain, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran!

Mid 16th Century Command Bases

May 11, 2019, 6:58 am

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Amidst the recent battle reports I have had time to finish two more bases for my Mid 16th Century Collection. In fact with the completion of these command bases, the guns, the Steel Fist Gendarmes and the 1540s Landsknecht block this collection is really starting to come together. A full array of the 1540s army should be on its way soon. Of course I still want to add more, particularly some of The Assault Group mounted and dismounted border horse so that gaming the 1540s "Rough Wooing" becomes an option but for now this can wait.

The two bases are both made up of the excellent Valois and Tudor figures from The Assault Group, all be it with a few minor conversions. The dog on the mounted command base is from Steel Fist Miniatures. The flags are from Pete's excellent range of renaissance flags. The figures have a really great mid century feel about them. On the base of infantry I have given the main commander a simple baton and one of the guards (or is he possibly a noble volunteer?) a sword and buckler. This helps to add to the "ancient" style that much of the arms and armour seems to be harking back to in the 1530s-1560s. While the late 15th Century onwards is often labelled as the start of the Renaissance, with regard to the style of the arms and armour, it seems the Mid 16th Century was perhaps the time when the greatest attempt was made to echo the Greeks and Romans of Classical antiquity.

As always I have a few larger projects lined up but before diving into one of them I am going to take the time to sort out a few bits and pieces. More command and casualty bases, using figures that I always mean to paint but never get round to and maybe some more livestock and artillery.

Mid 16th Century Commander and Standard Bearer under a Hapsburg banner.

1540s Commander, the two riders are from The Assault Group while the dog is from Steel Fist Miniatures.

1540s commander and entourage.

Mid 16th Century Commander with baton under a Hapsburg banner.

The command group from the side, note the sword and buckler armed member of the retinue.

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Mid 16th Century Armies - Imperialists and 1540s English

June 6, 2019, 1:56 pm

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With the completion of the Mid 16th Century Landsknecht block at the start of this year, followed by the Steel Fist Gendarmes and a couple of command bases the 1540s side project is finished. Well for now at least! Of course in the tradition of this blog I couldn't resist setting up the entire 1540s collection and getting some photos. In the first set the figures are representing a Habsburg force of Charles V. It contains Lansknecht Pike and Shot, Gendarmes, Mounted Arquebusiers, Artillery and more generic Pike and Shot which I would use as Spanish or Italians in this army. I have little doubt that the Spanish and Italian infantry would have distinct styles of dress during this period but at least these figures are all in clearly Mid 16th Century armour and clothing.

This army would be suitable for the later Habsburg Valois Wars the scale of which had grown enormously by the middle of the century, with huge armies being raised by the French and Imperialists to fight in Italy and Northern Europe. Most of the figures would be fine for the campaigns up into the 1550s, the only caveat I would add is that in the Mid 1550s the "pluderhosen" started to be worn by the Landsknecht and their style and appearance changed radically very quickly. As the flags are interchangeable this army can be switched into a French one for this period. In fact the majority of the figures used to make it are from The Assault Group's excellent Valois French range.

Landsknecht Pike and Shot in the foreground with the Spanish Infantry beyond them.

The Spanish Infantry and the Imperialist Guns.

Imperialist Gendarmes.

Mid 16th Century Pike and Shot.

Another view of the Mid 16th Century Landsknecht.

Charles V's Imperialists 1530s-1540s.

Imperialist Mounted Arquebusiers.

Of course if the Imperialist army can be converted into a French one then they are going to need some opponents and who better than the 1540s English. It was the fact that The Assault Group made these Mid Tudor figures that got this side project started in the first place back in 2014: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2014/04/tudor-arquebusiers.html . Of course, as with many of my wargaming projects, the scale of this particular collection has slowly increased. I still need some Border Horse for this English Army, my other ones are too early for this collection, so maybe it isn't finished at all!

The English army shown below uses many of the same figures as the Imperialist one, such as the Gendarmes, Mounted Arquebusiers and Landsknecht. This was a period when Henry VIII was flush with cash from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and other Ecclesiastical sites in England and as such he could afford, briefly, to spend large amounts on foreign mercenaries to use in Scotland and  France. For the English use of Mounted Arquebusiers see my earlier post here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2015/06/pedro-de-gamboa-and-mounted-arquebusiers.html . The 1540s were also a decade that saw the English employing Irish Kern in their French and Scottish Campaigns, their raiding skills being particularly useful in the "small war" of longer campaigns. As such a unit of these is included in this particular set up.

Being largely made up of figures by The Assault Group, only the Gendarmes, Irish Kern and a few of the Landsknecht aren't by them, this collection has a slightly more uniform look from the earlier 1500-1520s stuff which is made up of a whole host of manufacturers. I felt that if a manufacturer was going to tackle 16th Century Armies that hadn't really been done in depth before I had to support them. I am of course keeping a close eye on what comes next for their Dutch Revolt range. Of course there is some cross over with my other collections. The Gendarmes would be fine for the Italian Wars in the 1520s and the 1540s English will make great opponents for my Gaelic Irish collection, yet another reason to get some more Border Horse on the go!

Henry VIII's Tudor Army - 1540s.

A 1540s Tudor Army with Irish Kern and Habsburg Landsknecht mercenaries.

Mercenary Mounted Arquebusiers and English Heavy Cavalry (English Heavy Horse were few in number but they were used in France and Scotland in the 1540s).

English Infantry 1540s, a mixture of Arquebusiers and Archers. The Arquebusiers may well be Italian or Spanish mercenaries.

An English Command group. These figures are all from The Assault Group Tudor range.

English Bow and Bill, note the Irish Kern at the top of the photo.

Tudor Infantry, 1540s. The officer carries a sword and "target" or large buckler.

A close up of the Landsknecht.

1540s Tudor Army.

Tudor Infantry of the 1540s.

The whole English Army.

 As a final note I thought some of you would be interested in my recent trip to Southern France where I was lucky enough to visit the Fortress of Salses. The fortress was built following the destruction by the French of the older castle and village guarding the border, this area being Spanish in the Fifteenth Century. It was designed by Ramiro Lopez, a Spanish Engineer, with work commencing in 1497. Whilst being constructed the fortress absorbed 20% of Ferdinand and Isabella's total income, so was enormously expensive. It managed to withstand a French siege in 1503 before it was even complete, although, after changing hands several times, it was finally captured and held by the French in 1642.

I am sure any of you who are interested in the development of fortifications will have heard of this particular fortress as it always makes it's way into books on the subject. In the 17th Century Henry de Campion, who took part in the French Campaigns in this area and recorded them in his memoires, wrote of Salses "Salses is built in the flat country of Roussillon, out of cannon shot from the mountains. In any case its ramparts are proof against artillery, for they are thirty six feet thick, and the parapets sixteen. At the four corners there are four towers of the same thickness, as well as a donjon or redoubt between two of these towers. The whole is countermined. The dry brick-revetted ditch is extremely wide and deep, and there is an excellent counterscarp. In short, as all-masonry fortresses go, I beleive it is the best in Europe."

Having visited many castles around Europe I don't think I have ever seen a 15th Century one so specifically designed to withstand artillery, although granted it was started in the very late 15th Century. The whole fortress squats low in a very wide and deep dry ditch so that very little of it would be exposed to artillery shot. It's squat position also means that it's own guns could have a clean field of fire, at ground level, over the surrounding area. The fortress has it's own spring which is cleverly used as a water system within the fort and cools certain areas and also forms pools in the towers which apparently absorbed lots of the gun smoke when the guns were fired! Inside there are underground stables to hold the garrison's horses and allow the garrison to take an offensive role and command the local area. There is a large barracks and a "cow shed", kitchen and dairy. There is even a bathhouse in there. The outworks are reached through underground tunnels which would protect the garrison moving to and from them.

I also had the pleasure of visiting the vertigo inducing Cathar Castles of Queribus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Qu%C3%A9ribus and Peyrepertuse , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyrepertuse. Whilst these were equally awe inspiring in their own right and had truly spectacular views, when compared to Salses it really brings home how much things did change during the late 15th to early 16th Century in terms of effective fortifications. After reading about somewhere like Salses for years it was a real treat to actually visit it and see the vast thick walls and the massive ditch with my own eyes.

Salse's Gatehouse.

A view from the glacis - note how little of the fortress is actually exposed to any shot from outside, the keep in the centre is the only part that really stands out, most of the walls being sunk deep into the dry ditch.

The courtyard of Salses.

One of the underground Stables. These were originally built with small Spanish "jinete" horses in mind.

A view from inside the ditch. The castle has it's own water system which flows through it. This helped to water the livestock held inside, it has it's own large stables and a "cow shed", as well as cool down the kitchen and dairy and remove the smoke from the towers when they were in action.

These are fortified tunnels leading to one of the outworks.

One of the outworks within the dry ditch. Again not the watercourse from inside the fortress and the fortified tunnel leading to the outwork, this time covered with turf.

Command and Casualty Bases - Maximilian I and a flock of sheep

June 17, 2019, 10:59 am

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This blog has had some pretty awful post titles over the years, this could certainly be one of the top contenders! Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on a few bits and pieces that I have been meaning to get around to for ages. Some are figures left over from the great rebasing a few years back while others were odd figures I had been meaning to use or simply little ideas that I wanted to put into practice. The collection has also been in need of a few more casualty markers, specifically generic ones that could be used for anything from the Italian Wars through to the Gaelic Irish.

The first of these is a command base using the Warlord Games, formally Pro Gloria Miniatures, Maximilian I. This miniature was left unbased following the "Great Rebasing of 2015" as was the page figure by The Assault Group, to Maximilian's left shown below. The remaining Landsknecht are all Wargames Foundry figures and the helmet that the page is holding is a Steel Fist piece. The Maximilian figure is a great sculpt, and also a pretty good likeness to the aging Maximilian. I have included Dürer's characterful painting of the Holy Roman Emperor in his last year to show this. The style of harness he is wearing is also consistent with his age. When he was a young man the late 15th Century Gothic Style was the fashion, the harness he is depicted in here is in the 16th century style of his later years. This base could also simply be used to represent an older Landsknecht Captain.

Maximilian I and retinue.

Dürer's portrait of Maximilian at the end of his life, the miniature shown above and below is a fairly good likeness.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his Landsknecht.

The next command base uses a captive figure made by Eureka Miniatures. I picked him up years ago and have been meaning to do a command base like this for ages. It is inspired by a base that Pete of Pete's Flags, http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.com/, had in his old Italian Wars collection which had some Landsknecht and a Gendarme with a prisoner. Instead of Landsknecht I have gone for generic early 16th Century Infantry and a Captain in a Maximilian harness. The Captain is a Steel Fist Miniature and the soldiers are all Assault Group figures with head swaps. The Eureka figure has a minor conversion so that he is wearing shoes and hose rather than bare legged. As the flag is interchangeable this is a really useful base and could depict a French, Spanish, Scottish or English Captain from c.1500 up to the 1520s depending on the flag. In the images below the figures are shown as Frenchmen.

A French Captain in Maximilian harness interrogates and enemy captive.

The prisoner is brought before the captain.

Moving onto the casualty or artillery markers I have painted up another five really simple ones. Rather than depicting casualties they could all be used as markers for lots of different things. From left to right the chest, jug and barrel are most obviously of use as an artillery marker and the man with his head in his hands in despair is probably the closest to a casualty but the priests or friars and the dog could be used as markers for all sorts of stuff. I have found that in games when there are heavy casualties on a lot of units we can run out of suitable markers so these will be great as generic ones in such situations. As long as they are evocative of the period I think they can really add to the battlefield. In fact I would argue that the monks, friars or priests of the various religious orders that would have accompanied armies are underepresented on the table top so the ecclesiastical chaps should be really useful. I may do some more in the future.

A set of markers - these could be used for casualty markers or artillery markers.

The other casualty base is a little more specific, representing a man at arms receiving a new lance from his squire. This is an idea I pinched from a collection in an old article in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. I think it was the one that covered the Italian Wars and Pavia. We have a Wargames Foundry Gendarme receiving his lance from an Assault Group figure. As with the markers above while it may not depict an actual casualty it certainly shows the kind of thing that would be going on during an engagement. It's always great to have little details like this on the field. Maybe the squire himself should be mounted as well but for the sake of this base we will have to assume he has dismounted to help his master.

A Cavalry casualty marker - a page hands the Man at Arms a replacement lance.

Gendarme casualty marker.

Finally when I took part in the Stoke event at the Wargames Foundry last year I picked up a couple of packs of their sheep, and here they are on two bases to form a flock. Always useful for table dressing or as tokens in a particular scenario it's just getting round to painting them that is an issue. All the little details in these pieces should really help to add flavour to future wargames. I still have some more little bits and pieces that I want to do as well as revisiting some of my terrain but a few more units are on the workbench at the moment.

A flock of sheep from Wargames Foundry.

Steel Fist Light Cavalry

July 1, 2019, 6:37 am

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Following on from the completed Steel Fist Gendarmes here are some photos of their recently released Italian Wars light cavalry, https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product-category/italian-wars-1494-1538-product_cat-19/renaissance-knights-product_cat-19/. They are really useful figures and could be used to represent the lighter armoured "archers" that supported the French Gendarme Companies, Maximilian style light cavalrymen, English Demilancers, even Border Horse or Jinetes with some conversions and additions. It all depends on how you decide to paint and build them. The miniatures come open handed and with lots of different head options which adds to their versatility. I have used all of the different sallet wearing heads that the figures come with along with some other Steel Fist heads, some Perry Miniatures Plastic ones and one from the Warlord Games plastic Landsknecht. All of the dozen figures shown here have different headgear.

I try to be as versatile as possible with my collection so mine have been painted up as fairly generic spear armed light cavalry that can be used for all sorts of different armies depending on a simple flag change. I did toy with the idea of doing them as English mounted archers but I think I will see what Steel Fist make next before working out how to convert a unit of them. Those who have read the inane ramblings of this blog for a while may recall that Italian Wars light cavalry in various forms have been something I have focused on a few times with Jinetes, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2015/07/perry-light-cavalry-jinetes_4.html , Mounted Crossbowmen, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2016/08/maximilian-mounted-crossbowmen.html and lighter armoured riders similar to these chaps, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2012/07/italian-wars-light-horse.html, all being figures I have converted in an attempt to get more accurate representations of them for the tabletop.

Steel Fist Early 16th Century Light Cavalry.

The Light Horse from behind.

What is great about these figures is how the armour styles and the long "base" coats really evoke the feel of the early 1500s. I have posted examples of contemporary artwork showing light cavalry before, have a look at the links above to the Mounted Crossbowmen and Lighter Armoured Cavalry for some period images that show how these horsemen would have looked. Of course I couldn't resist posting up some more examples of these "lighter" (some are still fairly heavily armoured!) cavalry. I feel the horsemen with the sallets and unbarded horses in the depicition of the Duke of Lorraine, below, are particularly close to these miniatures. The "Schweizerkrieg" image I have posted before but again if you have a close look at it the riders are all in sallets and are a good match to these figures. The third contemporary image is of a much lighter armoured rider, I have posted the more famous Dürer image of a rider in a sallet before but I thought it would be of more interest to post up an image seen less often. Any excuse to shoehorn another Dürer image into a blog post!

Early 16th Century depiction of Rene II Duke of Lorraine at the Battle of Nancy - Pierre de Blarru

Detail from the Schweizerkrieg c.1500 depicting Armoured Horsemen

A light cavalryman 1502 - Albrecht Dürer, this chap is less armoured than the rider in the more famous 1498 Dürer picture.

Steel Fist Gendarmes and Light Cavalry combined.

The Gendarmes form the front rank with the Light Horse behind them.

Finally some of you may like to see how the light cavalry rank up with their wealthier comrades, the Gendarmes. I think the two sets of figures complement each other really well. I have swapped out the metal lances for wire spears on the lighter horsemen but it would be interesting to see how they worked if they were all armed with lances. In terms of matching with other manufacturers these are big figures that are larger than the Wargames Foundry, Eureka or Assault Group mounted figures for this era. They do match really well with the Perry Late Medieval Plastics, as demonstrated in the photos below, and this opens up the possibilty of some great potential conversions or part swapping between the different sets. I am keen to see what comes next from Steel Fist for the Italian Wars range.

The Light Horse mixed with Perry Miniatures plastic Late Medieval Cavalry.

The Light Cavalry mixed with converted Perry Miniatures plastic Men-at-Arms.

Agnadello, 1509

August 1, 2019, 9:03 am

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A couple of weekends ago Stuart, https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/, visited for another set of games in our series of clashes. Although we have played some fairly large scale scenarios for this occasion we opted to play our largest set piece battle yet, choosing Agnadello in 1509. This would mean Stuart had a chance to focus on working on his French army rather than the Tudors and I could field lots of my Italian style troops. It also gave us the chance to test units we haven't yet used much, like the dreaded Swiss Pike, and the chance to work on some rules for larger battles where retinues can fail more than one activation and guns can be fielded in batterys.

Agnadello, 1509

" This happened afterwards at Vaila, where in one battle they lost that which in eight hundred years they had acquired with so much trouble. From such mercenaries conquests come slowly, are long delayed and are not very significant. The losses however are sudden and very great."  The Prince, Nicolo Machiavelli.

The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vaila, was the result of an anti-Venetian alliance encouraged by the "Warrior Pope", Julius II , forming the League of Cambrai with Louis XII of France, Ferdinand of Aragon and Maximilian I in an effort to cut Venice down to size. Suffice to say this alliance didn't last long, as was the case with many alliances in the Italian Wars. The league was formed late in 1508 and by the Spring of 1509 Louis XII led his troops from Milan in attempt to bring the Venetians to battle in their own territory. On 14 May 1509 as the Venetians were moving camp they were caught by the French advance guard. The Ventian general Niccolo Orisini de Pitigliano had decided on a strategy of blockade and outmanoeuvering of the French, avoiding a pitched battle. His cousin and second in command, Bartolomeo D'Alviano was keener on engaging the French directly.

As the French advance guard caught part of the rear Venetian column D'Alviano hurried back to join it, the infantry captains Pietro del Monte and Saccoccio da Spoleto having already organised a defence behind a dry canal bed (or irrigation ditches). The French artillery concentrated it's fire on the Venetian infantry prompting them to attack accross the canal bed before D'Alviano arrived. D'Alviano arrived with his men-at-arms in time to support the infantry attack accross the canal bed which had been counterattacked by the French horse. More of the Venetian column was drawn into the conflict but Pitigliano did not return to aid D'Alviano. Facing the Swiss infantry of the French King and his Gendarmes the Venetians were overwhelmed. Del Monte and Da Spoleto were both killed in the fighting and D'Alviano was captured.

As always we played out the game using our modified Lion Rampant rules to which we added a few extra rules to deal with the fact this was a larger battle rather than a skirmish or "small war" style encounter. The armies were somewhat idealised and not based on possible numbers of the troop types who fought although this seems to be up for debate anyway. We included a few of the known "Characters" who took part in the battle as this always makes the games more fun and helps add to the period feel.

Large Retinues and activation

For this game each army was divided up into a mounted retinue, infantry retinue and artillery retinue. Each of the cavalry and infantry retinues had too many units for the normal activation rules of Lion Rampant to apply. For each retinue (but not the artillery) each turn the player drew a card from a standard deck (we used my replica late 15th Century French playing cards for this to give some extra period feel!). The numbered cards (1-10) were halved rounding up to give that retinue that many rerolls for activations that turn. This meant 1-5 rerolls per retinue per turn.

If a jack, king or queen was taken the player continued to take cards until a number card was drawn but held onto the picture card or cards. These were kept for that retinue and played on a unit at any time. When played on a unit that unit would automatically activate and get a roll on the "Bonus" Chart . This meant that a player could attempt to strategise to get certain things done on the battlefield for each retinue but things could still go wrong and activations could still repeatedly fail.  If a player rolled a double 1, a "Blunder" result, this did not end that retinues turn but meant they could not attempt to activate that unit again that turn after rolling on the "Blunder" chart.

The ability to allow extra rolls on the "Bonus" chart also gave both forces the possibly to get reinforcements as happened in the battle. Reinforcements were allowed to be brought on more than once if a 6 was rolled on the "Bonus" chart.

Retreating

Knowing the table was going to be very crowded with units we decided that units retreating through other units could do so if the retreating unit had the Skirmish, Fleet of Foot and/or Evade abilities. The unit they moved through must make a courage test as the unit moved through them.

If a unit did not have any of these abilities and had to retreat through another unit then the player must decide if he wanted to let the unit through. If the player did so then the unit it was moving through automatically became "battered" as it was so disrupted by the retreating troops pushing though. If the player decided the unit could not pass through then the retreating unit was removed from play as it had been destroyed as it was considered to have been entirely broken up as it met the organised unit behind.

The Artillery

The 4 Culverins in each army were in their own retinue. They did not have a retinue leader and they could all try and activate each turn. Each gun had to be placed at least 6" from another culverin at the start of the game. This meant that the artillery could effectively be separated into 2 sets of guns during the game.

All of the photos are from the actual game. Stuart took command of the French, as he provided most of the figures for this army, while I took command of the Venetians.

The French infantry form up against the Venetian foot.

The French Cavalry under Louis XII, from right to left, "Archers" armed with lances, Louis XII and some Men at Arms in front and then the Gendarmes.

Three blocks of Swiss Pike form the spearhead of the French infantry.

The Armies

The French

Louis XII and the French Cavalry
Louis XII (1 Unit of French Gendarmes)
Louis II La Trimouille (1 Unit of French Gendarmes)
1 Unit of French Gendarmes
1 Unit of French Ordonnance Archers with Bows
3 Units of French Ordonnance Archers with Demilance
2 Units of French Men At Arms

9 Mounted Units

Charles II d'Amboise and the French Infantry
Charles II d'Amboise (1 Unit of Foot Knights)
The Chevalier Bayard (1 Unit of Foot Knights)
(At Agnadello Bayard and his retinue "showed surprising bravery" as they "waded through a marsh up to their wastes in water" according to "The Story of the Chevalier Bayard" so we chose to field Bayard on foot in this game)
3 Units of Swiss Pike
1 Unit of Swiss Shot
1 Unit of French Pike
1 Unit of French Halberdiers
1 Unit of French Archers
2 Units of French Aventuriers

11 Foot Units

Artillery
4 Culverins

See the Artillery rules above.

The Venetian Cavalry, Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen form a skirmish line infront of Gendarmes and Men at Arms.

The Venetian Infantry formed up behind the dry canal bed in the Vineyard.

The Republic of Venice

Bartolomeo D'Alviano and the Venetian Horse
Bartolomeo D'Alviano (1 Unit of Venetian Gendarmes)
2 Units of Venetian Gendarmes               
The Condottiere Captain, Pandolfo IV Malatesta  (1 Unit of Elmeti)
2 Units of Elmeti
3 Units of Stradiots or Stradioti
2 Units of Mounted Crossbowmen

11 Mounted Units

Pietro del Monte and the Venetian Infantry
Pietro del Monte (1 Unit of Foot Knights)*
Saccoccio da Spoleto  (1 Unit of Foot Knights)
3 Units of Romagnol Pike
1 Unit of Italian Pike
2 Units of Italian Infantry
2 Units of Italian Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Balkan Archers

11 Foot Units

*Interestingly Monte may well be the author of the "Collectanea" a fascinating text discussing everything pertaining to the practice of arms in the late 15th Century. It discusses everything from how people of the four different humours will fight through to what armour it is best to wear and how it should be constructed. The introduction discusses whether or not it was him that was killed at Agnadello in 1509. It's well worth a read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pietro-Montes-Collectanea-Techniques-Fifteenth-Century-ebook/dp/B07QDBDZ7D/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=peitro+monte&qid=1563717488&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell

Artillery
4 Culverins

See the Artillery rules above.

The Swiss advance and Venetian Crossbowmen take shots at them from the ditch.

French Aventuriers push forward under the cover of the dry canal.

Both the French Cavalry and Infantry advance.

Although we hadn't set any specific rules about how we deployed the armies the nature of the terrain meant that we both ended up with our armies in similar dispostions to the real battle with the Venetian infantry defending the dry canal bed and facing the French infantry contingent while both cavalry forces delpoyed in the more open terrain.

Due to the size of the armies this game was carnage from the first turn. The French infantry pushed forward towards the Italians in the Vineyard while the Venetian infantry aimed everything they had at the rapidly advancing Swiss Pike. On the Cavalry wing the French charged forward to be engaged by swarms of Venetian Light Cavalry who were initially successful, inflicting casualties on the heavier French horse. The Venetian light horse were soon in trouble as they did not have the space to avoid and manoeuvre in the face of the oncoming French. The French charged into them and while some evaded, some were hit and fled while the others were pushed back onto the Venetian Men at Arms and Gendarmes.

The Cavalry engagement starts with the Venetian Skirmishing horse causing casualties to the heavier French horse.

A view down the battlefield as the clashes start.

The Italian infantry ready themselves as the Swiss reach the canal.

A view from above as the Swiss reach the Venetian positions.

As the Swiss reached the dry canal or irrigation ditch a series of fierce clashes began as the Italian infantry and Romagnol Pike launched attacks on the Reisläufer mercenaries while their formations were disrupted as they crossed the obstacle. Disadvantaged by the terrain and having already been galled by the Italian artillery and crossbow shots the Venetians were able to hold back the fury of the Swiss assault.

One of the French guns misfired at this point but the Venetian's could not celebrate for long as another gun was quickly brough on to reinforce the French King's artillery. The Venetians were also reinforced by some Stradiots who had ridden back from Pitigliano's Vanguard which hadn't commited. Again Venetian celebrations were muted as these additional light cavalry were simply fed into the swirling melee of men and horses where the Venetians were rapidly being pushed back by the French.

In the cavalry engagement the Venetians have been driven back with losses.

The French deploy another culverin after one is put out of action by a misfire.

The Venetian Men at Arms and Gendarmes enter the fray in an attempt to push back the French.

Fierce fighting is taking place at the dry canal between the Ventian infantry and the Swiss.

The Romagnol pike brace themselves as theVenetian front line engages.

A clash between the mercenaries of both sides, the Swiss and Romagnol pike.

For a moment it looks like the Venetian horse have turned the tide against the French heavy cavalry.

Surrounded by their light cavalry the heavier contingent of the Venetian horse broke through and attempted to push back the French Gendarmes and Men at Arms. They were successful at first with D'Alviano and the Condottierre Pandolfo Malatesta leading the charge. Unfortunately D'Alviano was soon unhorsed and captured by the French which would have serious consequences for the morale of the Venetian Cavalry. Despite having previously been harried by the Venetian Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen the heavier armed French cavalry were still more than a match for their Venetian counterparts, especially when the French King himself was present.

At the dry ditch things seemed to be going badly for the French, or perhaps more accurately their mercenary pikemen, as assault after assault was thrown back by the Italians. The combination of Romagnol Pike, sword and shield armed lighter infantry and the retinues of both Pietro del Monte and Saccoccio da Spoleto was helping to keep the Swiss back. The French infantry behind the Swiss were hesistant in supporting the assault.

The Venetian guns and infantry in combination with the canal have kept the Swiss at bay despite a series of bloody melees.

The Italian Condottiere Captain, Pandolfo IV Malatesta followed by the Venetian commander, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, enter the cavalry clash.

The Veteran French Captain, Louis II La Trimouille, leads his Gendarmes into the fray.

The Venetian infatry captain, Saccoccio da Spoleto , surveys the scene during a brief moment of respite.

The Ventian overall commander, D'Alviano, has been downed in the cavalry battle, moments after this La Trimouille takes on the Malatesta cavalry.

Things are going badly for the Venetian horse with may riders being driven back or seeking cover across the dry ditch.

The Swiss have been stalled at the dry canal but not defeated. Behind them the French infantry, Aventuriers and Halberdiers move up in support.

A view from the dry canal.

The Venetian crossbowmen are driven back by the Swiss, but this puts the Reisläufer, dangerously close to the Venetian guns. In the top right, Charles II d'Amboise, can be seen directing the attack.

In the chaos of the melee around the dry canal the captain of the Venetian infantry, del Monte, attempted to take on Charles d'Amboise and his dismounted knights, only to be slain in the attempt. This meant that both of the primary Italian commanders were now out of action. In the Cavalry battle the French King, Louis XII, entered the engagement. After a couple of failed charges by the remaining Venetian heavy horse all of the remaining Venetian horsemen fled.

The Swiss did manage to cross the ditch at the far end of the field in the Vineyard but they had come under attack from so many angles during the assault that their cohesion soon fell apart and they were defeated. While most of the Venetian infantry had been scarificed in defence of the ditch the Romagnol Pike were still organised and effective despite having been under constant long range fire from the French guns and having clashed with the Swiss.

With all of the Venetian cavalry gone along with both of the Italian Commanders, D'Alviano and del Monte, the Romagnol Pike and what was left of the Venetian infantry were not in a great position. They received a couple of units as reinforcements from the Venetian Vanguard but were facing a still effective French mounted arm along with uncommited French units. Bayard hadn't even entered the fray yet! As more reinforcements arrived for the French infantry the battered Venetian force fled or surrendered. It had been a costly victory for the French King.

In the chaos of the infantry fight the overall Venetian infantry commander, Pietro del Monte, has been killed in a clash with the retinue of  Charles II d'Amboise.

The Venetian cavalry continue to resist the French horse.

Some of the Swiss are across the ditch.

D'Alviano has already fallen, his remaining retinue are charged by the French King, Louis XII.

Fallen horses and Men at Arms litter the scene of the cavalry clash.

The Swiss that crossed the ditch are sent back but their are still plenty of French infantry behind them.

The Romagnol Pike take cover in the dry canal. They have stopped the Swiss but the remaining Venetian cavalry have all fled and the French still have plenty of their own infantry in reserve.

As you can probably tell from the photos and write up this was a hell of a game. We played it in a marathon session from 11:30am to around 7:30pm, of course with a few breaks for lunch, bottles of cider and cups of tea! It was very different from our past games of Lion Rampant. The size of the armies made us both more willing to throw unit after unit into the fray and the fact that we could each have multiple failed activations for our retinues meant that we were less cautious about which units we decided to activate and when. I think if we had kept the standard rule of once of retinues unit fails an activation it's turn ends it would have made the game take forever as well as driving us both mad!

It was really fun being able to use lots of guns on both sides and this meant that the artillery could actually have an effect in the game. This has rarely been the case in our previous games but then again as many of these have been skirmishes that does make sense. Fielded as batteries in a pitched battle, and removing the failed activation rules for them, the guns are certainly more effective. We also used more heavy cavalry than previously which worked well and created the feeling of a swirling melee of horsemen. We are still yet to see the Swiss fighting on open ground but they were very dangerous in this game even when stalled by a ditch, artillery and pikemen! I think it has taught us that we can use lots of these higher value troops as long as we keep a good balance on both sides. I also really enjoyed being able to field my collection as the Venetians, I have been wanting to get my Venetian flags and Italian infantry on the table for ages, especially as Pete does an excellent Venetian flag sheet specificically for Agnadello, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-Italian-Wars-Renaissance-Venetian-at-Agnadello-1509-flags/264268064631?hash=item3d879aa777:g:QNMAAOxydB1SeAiW.

Once we have recovered from this marathon there could well be more massed battles in the future!

At the top of the photo is Francesco Gonzaga and his retinue. In the centre and bottom are Venetian Gendarmes attempting to block his escape.

Our Agnadello refight was an epic of a wargame but despite this and some sore heads from the pub the night before we did manage to play out one other scenario that tied in with the campaign against the Venetians in 1509.

The Capture of Francesco Gonzaga

Venice recovered surprisingly quickly following it's defeat at Agnadello. The Venetian Government shrewdly decided to cut it's losses and hand back the lands it had taken off the Papacy in the Romagna as well as the territories on the Italian East Coast that it had taken after the Kingdom of Naples had fallen. This effectively took the Papacy and the Spanish out the game as they were far more concerned with keeping a power balance than seeing the Venetians removed from the political map. Another bonus was the capture of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua, in August 1509. He was no longer fighting the French, as he had done at Fornovo in 1495, but rather, in true condottiere style, leading one of their contingents.

This was an all cavalry game in which the Venetians attempted to capture Gonzaga on the road.

This game was played as per the Hammer and Anvil scenario in Lion Rampant, page 55, with Gonzaga and the French being the "Attackers" who were attempting to flee and the Venetians playing the "Defenders" who had to stop him. As in the previous game Stuart took the French and I played the Venetians.

The Armies

The French
Francesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1 Unit of French Gendarmes)
1 Unit of French Gendarmes
1 Unit of French Ordonnance Archers with Bows
1 Unit of French Ordonnance Archers with Demilance
2 Units of French Men At Arms

The Venetians
2 Units of Venetian Gendarmes (1 is the Unit Leader)
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Stradiots or Stradioti
2 Units of Elmeti

Francesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua, and his French Cavalry.

Venetian forces have entered the table in pursuit of Gonzaga. A Unit of French Men at Arms moves back to stop their advance.

So compared to the previous encounter this was a relatively straightforward clash. After the epic of Agnadello we couldn't have handled a larger game! The French rode towards the river crossing and were quickly pursued by Venetian Men at Arms, Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen who arrived on the scene behind the French. One by one French units turned around and attempted to fight a rearguard action against the Venetians. Each time they were quickly overwhelmed by the combination of Skirmishers and Men at Arms.

At the river the French Archers dismounted and guarded the other horsemen as their horses waded across. The archers kept the Venetian heavy cavalry at bay temporarily but as soon as Gonzaga was across the Venetians pounced. In a brief round of clashes some of the Venetians fell back but Gonzaga was captured, despite defeating the Venetian Captain in single combat. With the lighter Venetian horse attacking from the rear the game was up. True to history the Marquess of Mantua was a Venetian prisoner.

The Men at Arms are defeated so some French Gendarmes move back to fight the rearguard action.

Further down the field the French lancers attempt to clear a path and succeed in pushing back the Venetian heavy horse.

The French forces have been divided and Gonzaga is captured by the Venetian heavy cavalry.

Another great weekend of gaming. The big game took so much out of us we didn't even get a "Generals" photo this time, although the obligatory trip to the pub did feature. Now we just need to think of what area to focus on next time.

Repainted Fortifications - Part 1

September 1, 2019, 8:10 am

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Is anything ever finished in this hobby? I am always looking back at previous projects and changing bits and pieces either because I am not entirely happy with the result or because I think that whatever I have done is not as historically accurate as is it could be. Over the Summer I have revisited all of my different sets of fortifications, this post shows the first half. Initially these pieces were painted up quickly as I wanted them to be uniform and to get them on the table as soon as possible. I was keener to spend more time on figures than on the scenery.

Some years on and with a lull in any particular miniatures projects I have revisited the fortifications in an attempt to improve the level of detail on them and make them more accurate. This is a tough one as once you start looking at the various fortifications around Europe you realise that all sorts of different materials were used as well as different renders resulting in a bewildering array of styles and colours for the walls and towers of hundreds of towns and castles! This is further complicated by the fact that I was still keen for the different bits and pieces I had collected to be able to be used together. This is more of a challenge than it sounds as I have two quite distinct sets of fortifications, one being more Northern European style pieces, and the other being more distictively Italian in style.

For the Northern European style I have been inspired by Simon Chick's superb set of limewashed town walls for his Hundred Years War collection: http://harness-and-array.blogspot.com/2011/04/verneuil-town-walls.html. Simon kindly gave me some advice on how to achieve this effect. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole looking at many different images before starting. A couple that I particularly like are shown below as I think they give an idea of what I have tried to achieve with this set. The first is of Augsburg from the Nuremburg Chronicle in the late 15th century. This work is interesting as it depicts lots of different cities from that period, all in a distinctive style. This probably means that many of the places depicted are not accurate representations but the scene below does give an idea of what I am trying to get close to with a mix of different towers and buildings. In the second image of Guines in the Calais Pale from the Mid-Sixteenth century the painting shows brickwork and either a different coloured stone or limewashed walls. Medieval  fortifications were often a collection of buildings that had been developed and altered over hundreds of years and then altered even more radically during the Renaissance era and the advent of gunpowder artillery. I wanted the set to look like it had undergone various phases of fortification and upgrading and that could be used as a castle or town walls.

Image of Augsburg from the Nuremburg Chronicle of 1493.

An Image of Guines in the first half of the 16th Century - Detail from the Field of the Cloth of Gold painted c.1545.

Most of the castle pieces shown below are from the Battlements Range sold by Magister Militum. I picked these up years ago and they are now considerably more expensive than they were then which is a shame as they are pretty old resin castings and there are quite a few flaws in them. Saying that I do think they have real character as well as loads of flexibility in how they can all be put together. All of the towers can be used as stand alone pieces. The walls with the wooden hoardings are made of wood and were picked up on Ebay. I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to collecting castles. All of the pieces were plastered using a couple of coats of fine surface interior filler. I left the brickwork showing in a few places to achieve the effect of these being weathered towers and walls.

You may notice that one of the towers is made of red brick and limewashed rather than stone. This piece was an Italian style tower with distinct crenellations that I filed off to help it fit in with the Northern European style. I wanted it to still fit in well with the Italian set of fortifications so I have painted the brickwork rather than stonework showing through under the limewashed render.

The pieces set up to form a castle.

Northern European castle with a limewash covering over the stone and brickwork.

Mounted Crossbowmen leaving the fortress.

The castle from above.

One of the wooden hoardings over the walls.

The second wooden hoarding.

The gatehouse from inside the castle.

The gatehouse from the outside.

A large round tower and the gatehouse.

The tallest tower.

This tower has been painted to show the brick underneath. This is so it can fit more easily with my Italian style fortifications.

Inside the castle.

Another view inside the castle.

A view from the battlements of the tallest tower.

A new addition also picked up from Magister Militum is the bridge shown below. This is a lovely piece that could be useful for many different eras. It is a bit too long for my river but it does look good and has the big advantage of being able to fit my bases on it. You may notice in the photos below that as my river tiles are slightly sunken I had to make a couple of earthern pieces out of plasticard to go under the bridge and make it fit over the river more convicingly. I can see this being the centrepiece for many scenarios in the future.

A stone bridge.

The stone bridge outside the castle.

Habsburg cavalry crossing the bridge.

The bridge from above.

Stone bridge from the old Battlements range.

The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover probably painted in the 1540s. Note the two different artillery towers and also the colour of Dover castle in the top left of the painting.

The last photos show a couple of additional pieces I have repainted, two late 15th or early 16th century brick artillery towers and a breached section of the wall. Again these pieces are all from the Magister Militum Battlements range. The breached wall is in fact an Italian style wall which, like one of the towers above, has had the crenellations cut down and has been plastered to make it look like a limewash render. As with the bridge this is a really useful piece and I am keen to play out some siege scenarios putting it to use.

The artillery towers are shown here as additions to walls of earlier centuries but as with the other towers they can be used as stand alone buildings which is useful. They remind me a bit of the artillery towers shown in the 1540s painting above. What is interesting in this image is that even though the two towers look to be of a similar age to one another, they are both of different design, the tower on the left has two floors and the tower on the right has one, they have different crenellations to one another and appear to have been made of different materials or at least been finished differently. A good example of how varied and different fortifications seem to have been even when of the same era and in the same location. I chose to pick out the stonework elements in white as this helps link them with the older style pieces and also brings out the brickwork effect.

So that is the first set. Part 2 will show a stand alone stone keep that I have repainted and the Italian fortifications. The Italian walls and towers were a real challenge, and I am still not entirely convinced by them. I may post up another Italian Wars game I have in the pipeline before discussing them though.

Late 15th early 16th century artillery tower.

The second artillery tower.

A breached section of the walls being assaulted by Landsknecht.

Another view of the breached section of the walls.

Repainted Fortifications - Part 2

September 12, 2019, 12:31 pm

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So now we reach the second part of this project. I really struggled with how to repaint the Italian style fortifications, looking at lots of photos of surviving castles and at contemporary paintings. As with the Northern European fortifications all kinds of different stone, plaster and brickwork seem to have been used. In fact some Italian castles, those in the Alpine foothills, look very similar to the limewashed castle in part 1. An issue that further complicated my decision was that some pieces had to be interchangeable between the two different sets. You will see one of the towers from the last set of photos that is limewashed but has the red brick showing beneath in these photos. It doesn't look too out of place here I hope. For future scenarios and games I may have to use some of the other limewashed pieces with this set but my thinking is that when the rest of the table is complete with figures and scenery they should all work together.

A few contemporary images that inspired me during my search are shown below. The first, of Naples in the late 15th Century, is a good example of the mishmash of styles that were used to fortify the city. While many of the walls look to be rendered in some way, Castle Nuovo is of different stonework and the tower on the left in the bay appears to be brick. I chose to go for a style similar to that seen in the details from two of Vittore Carpaccio's paintings. The darker brick helps to contrast with the ornamental details on the walls and towers. I am still getting used to the finished look. What is annoying is that the brickwork of the towers is sculpted with more detail than most of the bricks in the walls. I experimented by painting the walls in a more yellow stone colour and the towers in brick but it was a bit too much of a contrast.

Naples c.1472

Vittore Carpaccio, detail from a portrait of a young Italian knight, 1510.

Another Vittore Carpaccio. Detail from "Arrival in Cologne", from the Legend of Saint Ursula, early 1490s. The walls look to be in an Italian architectural style rather than that of Cologne.

As with the previous set these are old pieces from the Battlements range now sold by Magister Militum. They are not the cleanest casts anymore and are pretty expensive now compared to what I picked them up for some years ago. That being said I really love the fact they have distinctive Italian style crenellations and architecture. They really do set the scene for the Italian wars and I am keen to use them in a siege game in the future. I am now looking at all my accompanying mediterranean style buildings and wondering if they need some kind of repaint, does this ever end!

The pieces are shown here as a castle but of course they can be set up to represent a length of city walls. There is also a breached section in this style which isn't shown here. The troops are under the banners of the infamous Cesare Borgia so this is obviously one of the many fortresses he has taken in his rapid rise to military glory. The miniatures and flags really help to bring the fortifications to life.

The Italian castle. Note that one of the towers has been plastered and the brickwork can be seen underneath.

The castle from the other side. The Italian style has very distinct crenellations.

The gate with a heraldic stone shield above. Note the sally port to the left.

Another view of the gate.

Inside the castle.

A view from above the walls.

Borgia troops exit the castle.

A view of the gate from outside.

The brickwork walls and towers.

The large corner tower.

A view of the large corner tower from the courtyard.

Finally the quickest repaint of them all was one of my oldest pieces. The Hudson and Allen stone keep. This a lovely miniature and I wanted to keep it as a lonely stone tower that could be used for Irish or Anglo Scots border games. I simply gave the whole model's original paint job a wash of brown ink and picked out some of the stone work in a different colour for contrast. It's shown here as an outpost on the Scots English border with a party of border horse arriving. I did say that I wanted this to remain a stand alone piece but then noticed that Vatican Enterprises now make wall sections in the same style that fit specifically into this rounded keep, possibly something for the future. I think I need to get back to painting miniatures or I will rapidly run out of space and money!

The stand alone stone keep. Sitting on the Anglo Scots border with a troop of border horse arriving.

A close up of the keep.

The keep from above.

The stone keep. This is a Hudson and Allen piece.

Seminara, 1495

October 1, 2019, 6:32 am

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Following the epic of Agnadello in July I thought it would be interesting to play out another pitched battle using the heavily modified "Renaissance Rampant" rules. I was joined by my friend and Hundred Years War collector Tom and we decided to fight out the first battle of Seminara. This was a great opportunity for me to get out lots of my very early Italian Wars figures and use the card system that Stuart and myself trialled in our Agnadello game with a few changes.

Seminara 1495

Following the famed French invasion of Italy in 1494 and the fall of the Kingdom of Naples the Neapolitans were not left isolated in defeat. Sensing an opportunity the Spanish King, Ferdinand, agreed to help the young King of Naples, Ferrante, in return for the annexation of several Calabrian towns to Ferdinand's Kingdom of Sicily. Gonzalo de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan, sailed from Sicily with a small army of Granadan Veterans in an attempt to help Ferrante recover Naples, landing in Calabria in May 1495.

Ferrante handed the town of Reggio over to Spain, but this forced Cordoba to split his small army and leave some as a garrison force. The Allied army marched into territory occupied by the French and Seminara opended it's gates to the Neapolitan King. The French garrisons were under the leadership of Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny, a Scotsman who had fought for Henry Tudor at Bosworth ten years earlier. He was suffering badly from malaria but had under his command an effective mix of French gendarmes and Swiss infantry. He collected his forces and moved towards the King of Naples and his Spanish allies.

While Cordoba urged caution in taking on the French directly, Ferrante was eager for battle and against his better judgement El Gran Capitan led an army of Spanish and Calabrians against the French. On 21 June 1495* the forces met three miles outside Seminara with the allies attempting to block the French at a shallow stream. El Gran Capitan used his Jinetes to good effect attempting to stall the French advance but the hit and run tactics of the Spanish light horse alarmed the Calabrian infantry who thought the cavalry were retreating and fled themselves. The Spanish could not match the Swiss pike, needing more pikemen and arquebusiers in their ranks. Ferrante himself was targeted and was lucky to escape the field while Cordoba and his Spanish fought a delaying action as the Neapolitan King's forces fled.

*Mallet and Shaw, The Italian Wars 1494-1559, give the date as 21 June 1495 - but I have seen various dates in June for the battle.

The armies deployed. In the foreground are Ferrante's Calabrian troops while in the top left are Cordoba's Spanish. The French arrive on the other side of the stream.

A closer view of the French lines. D'Aubigny can be seen behind a block of Swiss pike with his French cavalry and infantry to the left.

Special Rules and Armies

This was not going to be as large a game as the Agnadello one, historically it wasn't as large a battle and was fought between relatively small forces. The big clash that was in the offing would take place at Fornovo a few weeks later when Charles VIII and the main French army would encounter an Italian army in northern Italy. I wanted to tweak the big battle rules a little and not allow as many activation rerolls as had been possible in the last game. I also wanted to create some special rules for the personalities involved in this battle. Tom chose to play as the French and I took the Spanish and Neapolitan allies.

Large Retinues and activation

For this game each army was divided up into two retinues. For each army each turn the player drew a card from a standard deck. The numbered cards (1-10) were halved rounding up to give that army that many rerolls for activations that turn. These rerolls could be used on either of the two retinues. This meant 1-5 rerolls per army per turn shared between the two retinues as the player saw fit. If a player rolled a double 1, a "Blunder" result, this did not end that retinues turn but meant they could not attempt to activate that unit again that turn after rolling on the "Blunder" chart.

If a jack, king or queen was taken the player continued to take cards until a number card was drawn but held onto the picture card or cards. These were kept for that army and played on a unit at any time. When played on a unit that unit would automatically activate and get a roll on the "Bonus" Chart .

Ferrante II, King of Naples

To represent Ferrante's impetuosity his unit of Elmeti had "Wild Charge". He also had to challenge any opposing retinue leader within 12" of him at the start of his turn.

Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny

To represent the fact that d'Aubigny had to command his troops from a litter towards the end of the battle at the start of his retinue's turn his player had to roll a D6. On a 1 his gendarmes became foot knights, any casualties already sustained remained the same.

Terrain

It seems that in the actual battle the terrain had very little effect on preventing the French from smashing the Spanish and Italian infantry. In the game the shallow stream was not a significant obstacle in terms of movement. It did have an effect on combat in the normal style of terrain and it did give cover against missile weapons but it did not impede movement in any way. We used the river tiles for the stream but added the "islands" of vegetation to help give the impression that it was a very shallow watercourse.

All of the photos are from the game and as always following the captions of the photos should give a good idea of how the action played out.

The Armies

The French

Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny

1 Unit of Gendarmes (Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny - see special rule)

1 Unit of Gendarmes

1 Unit of Men-At-Arms

1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers (Demi-lance)

1 Unit of Franc Archer Bowmen

2 Culverins

The Swiss and French Infantry

1 Unit of Foot Knights

2 Units of Swiss Pike

1 Unit of Swiss Shot

1 Unit of Aventuriers

1 Unit of French Pike

1 Unit of French Halberdiers

The Spanish and Neapolitans

Gonzalo de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan and the Spanish

1 Unit of Men-At-Arms (Gonzalo de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan)

1 Unit of Men-At-Arms

3 Units of Jinetes

2 Units of Rodeleros

1 Unit of Spanish Arquebusiers

1 Culverin

Ferrante II, King of Naples, and the Calabrians

1 Unit of Elmeti (Ferrante II, King of Naples - See special rules)

1 Unit of Elmeti

1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen

1 Unit of Italian Pike

2 Units of Italian Infantry

1 Unit of Italian Crossbowmen

1 Culverin

A view of the deployment from above, the only unit not shown here is a troop of French men-at-arms who deployed on the far right of the French lines, beyond the Swiss. They can be seen in the photo below.

The armies prepare to engage. Note the build up of Spanish light cavalry to the right.

Ferrante II, King of Naples, and his southern Italian troops.

The battle begins with the Spanish Neapolitan allied force rushing forward in an attempt to make a stand at the stream, using it to disrupt the French assault.

The battle started with the Spanish and Italians rushing forward to form a defensive line at the stream in an attempt to use the advantage of the cover as well as the disruption it would cause to the more combat effective French troops as they reached the Allied lines. Initially this worked really well for the allied force. The Spanish jinetes plagued the advancing French, harassing the Swiss pike and the French men-at-arms on the right flank of French army. When the Spanish arquebusiers, Italian mounted crossbowmen and the culverins joined the missile fight one of the Swiss pike blocks turned and fled before even reaching the water.

A unit of gendarmes in the French centre were tempted into attacking the rodeleros where they were defeated in a brief melee, the shallow rocky stream being enough to negate the gendarmes unstoppable charge. The men-at-arms holding the French right flank were put to flight finding it impossible to close with the units of jinetes that swarmed around them, hurling javelins at the more heavily armed French. It looked as if the d'Aubigny's men would loose all momentum before even fully engaging with the Spanish and Italians.

As d'Aubigny's Swiss mercenaries advance, Cordoba's Jinetes harass them

The Allies have formed up at the stream while the elite Reisläufer in French pay push forward.

The two Reisläufer pike blocks can be seen advancing. They face opposition from the Spanish light horse, mounted crossbowmen and Spanish arquebusiers in the stream.

The unit of Swiss marching under the yellow and white banner are defeated by a combination of the Spanish arquebusiers and cannons.

The French gendarmes charge forward, taking casaulties as they near the Allied lines.

The gendarmes reach the stream charging into the Spanish rodeleros. The Spanish swordsmen use the shallow water to their advantage and manage to send the cavalry back.

The French attack is in full swing.

A view from the French lines as they attempt to push the Spanish and Italians out of the stream.

Ferrante's Calabrian infantry line the other side of the stream anticipating the French charge.

The Spanish may have defeated one of the Swiss pike blocks before it reached them but the other Reisläufer block is dangerously near.

The unit of French men-at-arms that held their right flank is lured into fruitless skirmishing with the jinetes and destroyed.

D'Aubigny's health fails and he has to dismount and be carried in a litter by his personal retinue.

Watching the assault from behind the front line d'Aubigny was forced to dismount as his health began to fail him. With his health failing his luck was turning. What the Allies had not noticed was the strength of the French left flank that was nearing the much weaker Allied right flank, held by Ferrante's Calabrians. French cavalry and pikemen, supported by their captain and his personal troops on foot, along with Swiss arquebusiers and a culverin, pushed across the stream and smashed into the Italian levies. The result was predictable with the Italians being rolled up and the French lancers pushing deep into their lines.

On the other side of the field the remaining Swiss took on the Spanish men-at-arms with Gonzalo de Cordoba personally leading a counter charge against them. The Swiss were defeated in a series of clashes but they had distracted Cordoba's Spanish contingent enough to allow the rest of the French to launch a full assault on the Italians. The shallow waters of the stream ran red as French infantry charged in, engaging the Italians holding the line. In response Ferrante himself charged his household troops into the marauding French cavalry in an attempt to save his army.

While the Spanish and Neapolitans have done a good job of holding the main front along the stream the French have attacked the Allies right with a concentration of troops; Swiss shot, French pike, Ordonnance lancers and the French infantry captain are all about to engage.

The battle is in full swing.

Ferrante's Italians attempt to hold the flank.

On the other side of the field Gonzalo de Cordoba and his men-at-arms are charged by the Swiss.

Combat erupts across the line with the French hitting Ferrante's troops hard.

The King of Naples himself launches into the fray in an attempt to push the French back.

The Calabrians are under real pressure at this end of the field.

The French have broken into the Italian lines and wrought havoc.

Heavy fighting takes place in the stream between French and Italian infantry. Both sides are taking casualties.

One group of Italian infantry turns from the frontline to deal with the French horse who have got behind them.

Having fought the Italians in the shallow waters the French infantry then engage with the rodeleros.

The Spanish turned to engage some of the French as they crossed the stream and the Italians managed to see off the French lancers who had ridden into their lines. By now both armies had been heavily engaged and with the morale of both the French and Allies wavering the commanders grew desperate. Gonzalo de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan, personally engaged the ailing d'Aubigny in combat but was undable to bring him down and was forced to withdraw as d'Aubigny's French troops rallied to their captains defence. Feeling he had already lost enough of his small Spanish force Cordoba left the field taking what troops he had left with him in good order.

For Ferrante it was his kingdom at stake and so the King of Naples followed El Gran Capitan's example and tried one last strike at d'Aubigny. Despite his malaria yet again the French general survived the attack! That was it for Ferrante and with the French holding the field and the Spanish in the process of withdrawing the Neapolitan King quit the field. Little had survived of his Calabrian army that had been raised to rescue the kingdom. A bloodied and battered French army held the field and the day was theirs.

With the French rolling up their lines from the other side of the field Gonzalo de Cordoba makes a desperate attempt to push out from his defensive position and bring down d'Aubigny.

He engages in a duel with the Scottish noble. Despite his ill health d'Aubigny is unharmed and Cordoba flees with his remaining cavalry.

In a final desperate charge Ferrante II also heads straight for the French general. Again neither leader falls. The day is lost for the Allies, they have been driven from the field but at a high cost to the French in Naples.

Tom and I had a really entertaining and closely fought game. It was great to try a different take on the larger battle rules using the deck of cards system. Experimenting with these rules has been the perfect opportunity to give the very early Italian Wars collection a couple of outings this summer, I even got to use my Kingdom of Naples flags in this game. Of course I still have dozens of ideas for other potential scenarios both large and small scale. I feel that the newly repainted fortifications are going to have to feature in a scenario soon.

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Dürer's Irish

October 19, 2019, 11:15 am

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Earlier in the year Antediluvian Miniatures released a fantastic set of sculpts based on Albrecht Dürer's image of Irish soldiery in 1521, https://antediluvianminiatures.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/shop-historical-range/. I wanted to incorporate these figures into my exisiting Gaelic Irish collection and decided that a small group of galloglass, at ease, with their attendants amongst them would work well. I also wanted one of the bases to really pay homage to the image, as can be seen in the first photo below. The unit is a mix of Antediluvian, Perry and Old Glory miniatures.

The attendants are often confused with Kern but it seems that the "boys" that accompanied the galloglass were not Kern. The Kern themselves had attendants. Henry VIII hired 920 Kern in May 1544, and 234 accompanying boys, the English recruiters specifically requesting that less boys were hired. The attendants in the Dürer image are probably not Kern but rather "Daloynes", a corruption of the Gaelic "Diolmhainigh", meaning hireling. This is discussed in greater detail in a previous post: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/01/of-kerns-and-gallowglasses-is-supplied.html. You may notice that a couple of the Antediluvian galloglass have been converted to carry javelins and an axe instead of their bow and spear.

Antediluvian Miniature's excellent 16th Century Irish figures, sculpted to represent four of those shown in the image below.

Albrecht Dürer's image of 1521 that states "Thus go the soldiers of Ireland beyond England / Thus go the poor of Ireland".

As this image is dated to 1521, it is likely that it was completed while Dürer was in Antwerp. Ireland had a trade link with Antwerp with Irish style swords being exported from the city and Irish Cloaks being an import. Neil Melville's book on the Two-Handed Sword has a section on Scottish styles of two-handers in which he states that of the "Highland" style, incorrectly often termed a "Claymore", all known blades are of German manufacture. He explains that the term "Claymore" is an anglicised version of the Gaelic for "great sword", "claidheamh mor". It was used to describe the basket-hilted broadsword and was first recorded in 1715. A gentleman by the name of James Boswell wrote an account of his travels in the Hebrides in 1773 and incorrectly referred to a two-handed sword as a "Claymore" and the rest is history, the term stuck. The Gaelic term for a two-hander is "claidheamh da laimb" which was never anglicised into another word. In literary sources it is normally simply referred to as a "twa handit sword" spelt in a variety of ways, which makes perfect sense to me. So the word "Claymore", which I have myself used many times, referring to the Irish two-handers as such in this blog, is incorrect. Now don't even get me started on back scabbards...

With reference to the Irish stye two-handers with the unique hollow ring pommel, that one of the galloglass in the image is carrying, Melville goes on to say that we don't have much to go on having Dürer's painting and one example in the National Museum of Ireland. A couple of other examples exist but in fragmentary condition. By complete coincidence I also happened upon a reference to the Irish exporting their peculiar style of cloaks recently. From "The World of the Newport Medieval Ship", in reference to Bristol's imports from Ireland, one of the contributors states "there were small but steady imports of woollen "check", linen and mantles (a type of cloak). Such cloth and clothing amounted to £200 (14 per cent) of Bristol's Irish imports in 1492/93". Is woollen "check" what we can see the central figure of the image wrapped in? It is interesting that these garments were being exported to Bristol and found an overseas market.

So where am I going with this ramble about Gaelic two-handed swords and the export of Irish clothing. I have covered the theory before on this blog, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2019/02/16th-century-gaelic-irish.html, but I thought I would mention it again as these miniatures come directly from Dürer's image and the above points about two-handed swords being imported and the cloaks being exported lend the idea further weight. It is the arguement that during this period Antwerp was famed for its processions at civic festivals where the citizens dressed as different foreigners, so the men in the image could in fact be citizens of Antwerp dressed as Irish. Note the text on the image doesn't state they are Irishmen, but states in translation "Thus go the soldiers of Ireland beyond England / Thus go the poor of Ireland". Dürer  did  have form for this kind of thing as he is known to have dressed up a young German as a Native American Indian for another piece. The citizens would have had access to Gaelic style two-handed swords, as we can see from Melville's comments that all of the surviving Gaelic Scots blades are off German origin, and access to the clothing, as we know the woollen check, linen and mantles were being exported. I am not sure. It could just as easily be an image drawn from someone elses account or these could have been genuine Irishmen serving as mercenaries abroad or even simply guards for an Irish Merchant ship, piracy was certainly a real threat to trade in this period. I guess we will never know but I do find it a fascinating theory nonetheless.

Anyway enough rambling for now, I thought some of you may find the information about the "Claymore" interesting. I will certainly always be referring to them as "twa handit swords" from now on!

A unit of galloglass and their attendants.

The Dürer figures form the rear ranks of an attacking galloglass unit with Perry Miniatures figures forming the front ranks.

Steel Fist Landsknecht

November 15, 2019, 9:35 am

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Ever since these Landsknecht were released I have been meaning to have a go at a unit of them. Initially the plan was to mix these figures with some of the Wargames Foundry marching Landsknecht but the Foundry marching poses are more casual so in the end I have painted up six bases of Steel Fist figures. I love a good marching pose and I'm really pleased with the way these figures work as a unit. The detail on them is superb and the separate heads mean that all sorts of combinations are possible. A word of caution to add is that some of the broader brimmed hats are not suitable for the marching figures as the brims get in the way of the pikes, so checking if they can still hold the pikes when choosing which heads to go for is a good idea. A couple have plastic Warlord Games heads but otherwise all the figures are from Steel Fist. The Imperialist flags are from Pete's superb range and are also available from Steel Fist.

These particular figures really remind me of the image below, by Erhard Schön c.1535, the headgear and style of slashed clothing seems very similar. Depending on which head options you choose these figures look to be suitable from about 1515 through to the start of the 1540s. They also match up well with the Warlord Games metal Landsknecht and the classic Perry sculpted Foundry ones. I have included a couple of pictures with them used in combination with these miniatures to give an idea of this. The photos of the finished unit are below. Yet again I was plagued by terrible light trying to photograph them. The UK seems to have been shrouded in grey or darkness for about a month now!

Landsknecht from the Siege of Munster, Erhard Schön 1535.

Steel Fist Miniatures Landsknecht.

The Landsknecht front rank.

A view from the side. Note the detail in some of the slashed clothing, leather jerkins and the hats.

Steel Fist Landsknecht on the march.

A Landsknecht piper in the 3rd rank.

A view from the back of the unit which shows off the headgear well.

Foundry front rank with the Steel Fist Miniatures behind.

Another photo showing the Steel Fist figures with Wargames Foundry ones.

The Assault on Bray, 1523

December 1, 2019, 10:01 am

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Following on from our epic Agnadello clash in the summer Stuart visited this weekend for another set of wargames. This time we returned to our English and French forces, choosing an event during the 1523 English invasion of France upon which to base our games. The 1523 invasion achieved little but the assault upon the town of Bray was a notable clash which was recorded by both Elis Gruffydd, the Welsh soldier and chronicler who served in the campaign and recorded it in his, "An ill jurney for the Englishemen", and in the later, Hall's Chronicle, which we drew upon for our Venlo games earlier this year. I have quoted the two passages used in full below. Although the details of the events don't quite match up in these accounts, not an uncommon thing for sources of this period, they provided plenty of information from which we could write up some fun scenarios. For rules we used, as always, our heavily modified version of Lion Rampant. Stuart took command the Duke of Suffolk's English and I led (or at least tried to lead!) the French garrison of Bray.

The English and Imperial guns give the "fortress such a good day as to shatter gaps in the wall"

Bray's northern gate "closed with earth and dung and stones".

The Assault on Bray, 1523

Following his invasion of France in 1513, Henry VIII had returned to war with the French in 1522. Now allied to Maximilian's grandson, Charles V, he sent a much smaller army than that of 1513 under the Duke of Surrey. Surrey achieved little launching raids into Picardy and Artois before attempting a siege of Hesdin which failed due to a lack of artillery.

In August 1523 the Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, took command with a larger army and Imperial reinforcements of 500 Heavy Cavalry and 3,000 Landsknecht under the Count of Egmont Buren. Late in the campaign season the army left the Calais Pale. On the 20th October they arrived before the French town of Bray. Let's hand over to Gruffydd and Hall to describe the assault and subsequent fighting:

Elis Gruffydd:

When night fell the Duke of Suffolk ordered some of his people , horse, foot and artillery to assault the town of Bray. These came to the fortress in the dead of night and planted certain great guns which gave the fortress such a good day as to shatter gaps in the wall so that men could scale them and assault the town, which the English soldiers did very gallantly. The men of the town did not stand an instant but gave up the struggle and fled after the rest of the people who were very hurriedly carrying their goods from the town and taking them across the river Somme, which flows on the south side of the town. As soon as the French heard that the Englishmen had entered the castle they set fire to the gate of the town and the street, which was very narrow, and began to break down the bridge so that the Englishmen would not be able to follow them any further. But before they had cut the bridge the Englishmen had won the town and had begun to bicker with them on the bridge which they had abandoned, and turned their backs on their enemies and took to their heels and fled fast along the great causeway of stone that stretched  between two watery marshes, from the town towards France. This road was very narrow and the Englishmen pursued the Frenchmen very fast till they came to the further end of the causeway where there were two strong bailies of turf, one on each side of the road, in which were two brass serpents to guard it. But whether for lack of powder and shot or for fear of killing their own people they did not fire a single shot and the Englishmen kept the place.


By this time the Duke and all his host had arrived in front of the gate that lies to the north of the town which the men of the town had closed with earth and dung and stones. This the workmen had great trouble to clear in order to open it, and through it the horsemen and the artillery and the baggage passed and went across the river onto French ground.

Hall's Chronicle:

The xx day of this moneth the Duke commaunded al his great ordinaunce to be brought by iii. of the clocke in the morning before the toune of Bray, they that had the charge therof so manfully acquited them that notwithstadyyng all the damage that their enemies could do, brought the ordinaunce. before the toune at the houre appointed. Then eche part shot dredfully at other, but the Englishe gunners shot so wel, that the walles of the toune were beaten doune & rased with the ordinaunce, insomuche that by ix. of the clocke the toune was made assaultable. Then the duke caused to blow to thassault. Then the Englishmen & Flemynges & Burgonions lept furth quickely, and notwithstanding that the diches wer depe, yet they so coragiously entered by the good comfort of the lorde Sandes & other noble men that they got the ditches: The Frenchmen perceiuyng that the toune should be gotten, hastely made traynes of gunpouder from strete to strete & house to house, saiyng that the Englishmen after their entry into the toune would fal to pillage, & then sodainly sodain fyer should destroy them. This was the provision of the Frenchmen: by this time the Englishmen were enterying on the walles, and the Frenchmen stode yet: at defence with pikes, crosbowes, handgunnes & halberdes, but they were to weke, for on all partes entred thenglishmen and sodainly the Frenchmen fledde and the Englishmen folowed and killed and slew in euery part.


Nowe you must vnderstand that this toune of Bray standeth on the riuer of Somme whiche is there devided in divers braunches & betwene euery brauche is a marishe ground, where on the farside of the toune was fortified a Bulwarke ful of ordinaunce to kepe the passage over the water, & the Frenchmen had loosed the planckes of the bridge nere a myle aboue Bray, & the horsmen of Frauce passed by a myle which was to the French fotemen a great ayd, for thei stode & kept the passage till the fotemen wer come over the bridge, & then the plucked away the plankes of the bridge, so that no man shuld follow, but ever theenglishmen folowed & cast plankes on the bridge & passed over the bridge, in which passyng divers wer drowned, but with great travail all men passed, horsmen & fotemen, & fiersly assauted the Bulwarke and toke it with all the ordinaunce, & in it was taken capitaine Adrian and capitaine Ulterlew. The Englishe horsemen folowed the Frenchmen & divers of them wer slaine and taken, sir Robert Iernyngham brake a spere on the lorde Pountdormy. The lorde Leonard Gray did valiauntly that day. You must remember that when the Frenchmen issued out of the toune, they forgette not to lay a matche to the traine of gunnepouder whiche they had made, whiche in short space set the toune al on fyer, so that the thenglishmen returned again, al was on fyer, so that there they had little profite but wyne, whiche to them did great pleasure. This was the toune of Bray taken and destroyed the xx day of October.

We decided to break up the events described above into two scenarios. The first being the attack on the town itself and the second being the fighting for the bridge during the French retreat from the town.

The English and Imperial army prepares to assault the town. The landsknecht followed by the cavalry will make for the gate while the English infantry will head for the breach.

There is panic inside the town as the garrison prepare to evacuate the livestock and townspeople.

Scenario 1: The Assault on Bray

For this game the English had to deploy outside the town and assault it. The ditch and breach counted as rough terrain for movement and combat but gave a cover bonus as well. Mounted units could only move through the town gates, not the breach. The French could deploy anywhere in the town.

The game and victory conditions were subject to the following special rules:

The Town Gates:

Having been blocked up by the town's garrison the gates had to be opened. A unit of infantry had to be in contact with the earthworks in front of the gates to attempt this. Instead of an activation they could try to clear the gates. Initially they needed a 10+ on 2D6, then 9+, the 8+ and so on. If they failed the attempt it didn't not count as an activation fail for the army. More than one unit of infantry could attempt this in a turn but they still needed the same role as the other unit, so for example one turn two units may need an 8+ to clear the gates and then 7+ the next. Through the gates was the only way cavalry could enter the town.

The Artillery Duel: 

To represent the artillery duel described by Hall at the start of the game both of us took 12 playing cards from a deck. For the first 5 turns we would both play a card at the start of the turn. The player playing the highest card won, if the cards drew we would play another. If the English player (Stuart) won the play they got a free move with D6 units while if the French player (myself) won the play I got to take a Mid Range Culverin shot at any unit within 24" of any of the Towers.

Burning Buildings:

The French player could secretly designate 4 buildings to be those that had gun powder in them and were ready to be set on fire when the English entered the town. The French player could declare at the start of his turn that a building was going to be set alight. On a D6 roll of a 4+ it burst into flame and all units within 2D6 inches of the building would take hits from 6 D6, each hitting on a 4+. The dice would be rolled separately for each unit affected.  After the explosion the building was simply on fire and would cause no further damage.

Objectives:

Rather than this being a straight out fight the French had 6 objectives (we used bases of livestock) that had to be evacuated at the other end of the table. The objectives were all placed close to the breach and gate. Any unit could move an objective with them, if in contact with it, at a maximum of six inches per turn. The objectives could not be destroyed. The French could only start moving the objectives once the first English unit had entered the town via the gate or breach. The French won a point for every objective they removed while the English won a point for every objective not removed. The French units moving the objectives did not have to leave with them to evacuate them but had to move the objectives to the table edge. The number of objectives evacuated or captured would have a knock on effect in the second scenario around the bridge.

While most of the garrison are busy leading the evacuation, some archers are preparing to defend the breach.

The rooftops of Bray.

The retinues were as follows with the English having a larger assaulting force:

The Duke of Suffolk's English and Imperial Allies:

1 Unit of Demi Lancers (Sir Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, retinue captain)
1 Unit of Burgundian Men at Arms
1 Unit of Border Horse
1 Unit of Foot Knights (lorde Sandes & other noble men)
1 Unit of Garrison Archers
1 Unit of Shire Archers
1 Unit of Shire Billmen (we used pikemen to represent them in the game as they carried Suffolk's banner)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

The French Garrison of Bray:

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Garrison Captain)
2 Units of French Halberdiers
2 Units of Aventuriers
1 Unit of French Archers

Suffolk's troops clamber into the ditch to begin the attack.

The landsknecht reach the blocked up gate and begin to clear it. Casualties to the English and landsknecht have been caused by the guns in and on the town walls.

As always the best way to follow the action is from the captions under each photograph. The fight started fairly well for the garrison as out of the 5 card draws in the "Artillery Duel" the French won three and the English two. This meant that the landsknecht pike suffered losses from the guns of Bray while a whole unit of English archers fled from the combined effects of the town's guns and the arrows of the garrison's archers. As the landsknecht reached the blocked gate the English attempted the breach. The first English unit at the breach was repulsed by the defenders but behind them came Lord Sandes and his foot knights. They fought their way into Bray and pushed into the town square.

The entry of the English into the town was the signal for the garrison to attempt to flee with the livestock. As the French troops attempted to withdraw they were dismayed to find that it had not taken the landsknecht very long to clear the gates. The Imperialist infantry came crashing through the gate at the north of the town and into the Picard pikemen.

A view from above the town showing the English and Imperial attackers at the walls and the French garrison within the town preparing to meet them or escape if they can.

Surrey's troops scale the breach and assault the town. The first unit in are thrown back by the French archers in confused fighting in the breach.

English foot knights, "lorde Sandes & other noble men", are the first into Bray. They push the archers back into the town.

Minutes later the landsknecht crash through the town gates having cleared them of the "earth and dung and stones".

Outside Bray more English and Imperial forces prepare to enter the gates.

The French had a nasty surprise instore for the landsknecht attackers. The defenders succesfully lit the trail of gunpowder that had been lain to the house by the gate. The building exploded as the trap was sprung and the landsknecht pikemen suffered casualties as they were engulfed in flames. The Picard pikemen counterattacked the landsknecht while they were still vulnerable and sent them running. By this time the English cavalry had made it through the gates and although the garrison's pikemen put up a fierce defence it was not long before they were overwhelmed.

Border horse galloped through the streets in an attempt to stop all of the French from getting away with their livestock. They were stopped by the garrisons crossbowmen which allowed them to get some of the livestock to safety. The border horsemen may have been defeated but yet more arrived outside the town returning from an early reconnaissance mission. The French needed to escape before even more English made it into Bray.

The French "lay a matche to the traine of gunnepouder whiche they had made" and cause casualties as well and panic amongst the landsknecht.

The Duke of Suffolk's horsemen ride into the town.

The Picard pikemen fight a brave delaying action against the Imperial landsknecht and English cavalry.

As the English pour into the town the French are caught in the midst of the evacuation.

English border horse race through the streets attempting to prevent any French from escaping. The garrison's crossbowmen see them off with an effective volley of bolts.

Outside of Bray even more English arrive as reinforcements, border horse returning from a scouting mission.

A fierce street fight broke out in the town's main street with English demi lancers and foot knights falling upon the garrison's halberdiers and crossbowmen as they desperately attempted to evacuate the town. In the chaos all of the remaining gunpowder traps set by the defenders failed to light and with the guns on the town walls long silenced there was nothing for the French to do but attempt to fight their way out.

While many of the garrison's men were cut down, the Duke of Suffolk himself pushed on into the streets only to be unhorsed by Bray's town captain. It had been a bitter and confused clash but the French had managed to get three of the six objectives safely out of the town. Both sides had taken heavy losses and the attack ended in a bloody draw.

Despite the chaos in the streets Bray's garrison manage to get some of the livestock to safety...

...but much of the garrison, and the town's livestock, is lost in the desperate street fighting.

English archers move in to secure the town.

The Duke of Surrey is unhorsed by the French garrison captain, giving the French troops valuable time to escape.

A train of refugees flee the now burning town of Bray.

Scenario 2: The contested crossing of the Somme

At the start of the game the only units that could be on the table were the ones hidden in the two bulwarks, if the French player had chosen to hide any units in them.

The French and English would enter the table from the same side, shown at the top of the photo below with the French entering first. Units could only enter on a successful move activation, they could not enter into combat. Once the first French unit had entered the French player would roll a D6. The result would mean the English were able to follow one turn later on a 1-2, two turns later on a 3-4 and three turns later on a 5-6. This could result in both sides bringing units on at the same time.

The game and victory conditions were subject to the following special rules:

The Bulwarks: 

These gave plus 2 armour as cover to a unit within them. They could be fired from and counted as rough terrain for any combat within them. They did not impede movement when units moved in or out of them. The French could deploy a hidden infantry or artillery unit in each which would only be revealed if they shot, moved out of the bulwark or an enemy unit attacked them in the bulwark.

The Bridge:

The bridge was rough terrain to fight on, did not hinder movement and gave cover from other units shooting at the bridge who weren't on the bridge.

To break the bridge one unit on the bridge, mounted or infantry, could attempt this as an activation. They needed a 9+ on 2D6. Once broken the bridge could not be crossed but repair attempts could be made. The river was impassable.

To repair the bridge one unit on the bridge, mounted or infantry, could attempt this as an activation.  As with breaking the bridge they needed a 9+ on 2D6 to repair it. If repaired the bridge was again passable but could be broken again.

Bray is assumed to be at the top of this photo, with the bridge over the Somme and the earthern bulwarks in the centre. The French have infantry hidden in the bulwarks. Both the French and English will enter the table from the far end, on the causeway, at the top of the photo.

Victory points were as follows:

The French: 

2 points for every infantry unit that crossed the bridge and left the table at the far side. Any units in the bulwarks could only leave after all other infantry units had left or been destroyed.
1 point for every Cavalry unit that crossed the bridge and left at the far side of the table.
5 points if the bridge was destroyed at the point when all the French units had left the table.
3 Points if Lord Pountdormy defeated Sir Robert Jerningham in combat, by challenge or unit to unit combat.

The English:

3 Points if Sir Robert Jerningham defeated Lord Pountdormy by challenge or unit to unit combat.
5 points if the bridge was not destroyed when all the French had the left the table or been destroyed.
1 point for every French unit destroyed.

For the armies we chose our forces in secret for this game, each of us taking 29 points of troops with an additional 2 points per objective evacuated or captured in the first game. As this had been a draw with the French and English both securing three objective this meant we both had 35 points of troops to choose for our retinues. The retinues had to contain a mounted unit for the Leader - the English having Sir Robert Jerningham, a Calais Veteran and Captain of Newen Bridge, and the French having Lord Pountdormy.

The retinues chosen were as follows:

Sir Robert Jerningham's English Pursuers:

2 Units of Demi Lancers (one unit represents Sir Robert Jerningham, the retinue captain)
1 Unit of Burgundian Men at Arms
1 Unit of Border Horse
1 Unit of Mounted Archers
1 Unit of Foot Knights
1 Unit of Garrison Archers

Lord Pountdormy's retreating French:

1 Unit of French Ordonnance Archers armed with lances (Lord Pountdormy, retinue captain)
2 Units of Stradiots
1 Unit of Aventuriers
1 Unit of French Halberdiers
1 Unit of Picard Pikemen

and in the two bulwarks on the other side of the river:

1 Unit of Foot Knights
1 Unit of Aventuriers

The retreating French race towards the bridge, two groups of Stradiots being the first to arrive.

The French forces have their first stroke of bad luck (the first of many!). The English arrive immediately on their heels and begin to chase the Stradiots down.

As soon as the first French units raced onto the causeway in an attempt to reach the bridge the pursuing English cavalry were upon them. The Burgundian men at arms, who had held back from the assault on the town as it looked like they may have had to do some fighting were now the first into the action hoping for an easy victory. The Burgundian's suffered from the skirmishing actions of the stradiots at first but then managed to catch and disperse them.

Seeing more English than French banners heading towards the bridge the unit of crossbowmen defending it emerged from the safety of their earthern bulwark and delpoyed on the bridge. As the English and Imperial horsemen rushed towards them, scattering most of the stradiots they began to try and damage the bridge to prevent the English from crossing. Their comrades still on the wrong side of the Somme would have to fend for themselves!

French aventuriers have emerged from one of the bulwarks and guard the far end of of the bridge while the English secure the causeway. Any French arriving now will have to fight their way through.

The retreating French infantry arrive only be set upon by the pursuing English cavalry.

More retreating French troops arrive only to be set upon by the English.

The last unit of stradiots attempts to cross the bridge but they are caught and defeated by the Burgundian men at arms.

As more retreating French infantry units arrived they were quickly defeated by the pursuing English who had now deployed archers on foot and on horseback in an attempt to catch the fleeing garrison. One by one the garrison units were overwhelmed and scattered long before they could travel along the causeway and get anywhere near the bridge.

At the bridge itself the defending crossbowmen had more luck. The emboldened Burgundian heavy horse defeated the last of the stradiots and then attempted to clear the crossbowmen from their path. They had little choice as they would be sitting ducks if they stood and waited for the rest of the English and they had to try and stop the bridge from being broken. They attacked the French along the narrow bridge and were defeated in a quick but fierce melee in which both sides took casualties. With the Burgundian threat gone the crossbowmen once more attempted to break down the bridge but it was too late. As more English arrived on the opposite banks of the Somme they launched volleys of arrows at the already exhausted French and sent them running.

At the bridge the Burgundian men at arms face down the French crossbowmen. The crossbowmen desperatly attempt to break the bridge and prevent the English crossing the river.

The arriving French infantry are surrounded by English cavalry and archers, they don't last long in the field!

The Burgundians charge the aventuriers as they attempt to sabotage the bridge.

The crossbowmen have the advantage of the fight as the narrow bridge makes it hard for the men at arms to charge effectively. The Burgundians are thrown back.

Having lost the infantry he was attempting to escort to safety, Lord Pountdormy, the French Captain, races onto the field in an attempt to escape but...

Up until now the encounter had all gone Sir Robert Jerningham's way. If the French could break the bridge and bring the English captain down then they could still have some success. To this end the foot knights who had been hiding in the other bulwark emerged to try and break the bridge down and Lord Pountdormy himself rode onto the field. He wanted to attempt to "brake a spere"on Jerningham. It was not to be. Arriving amidst the pursuing English, Pountdormy was attacked by the border horsemen, English archers and Jerningham's demi lancers. Pountdormy's troops routed before he could challenge Jerningham to a duel and although Jerningham did brake a spere on the lorde Pountdormy, the French cavalry managed to flee and escape his horsemen before they rode off along the banks of the river.

The foot knights arrived at the bridge too late. The English had already positioned archers on the opposite bank and under a volley of arrows they were unable to break down the bridge. They fought off the first unit of demi lancers that crossed to engage them but after that were overwhelmed and run down as they tried to flee the bridge. It was complete English victory, they had taken the bridge before the French could break it down and not a single French unit had escaped to safety!

...he is caught by the English demi lancers. After loosing a brief melee he rides off along the banks of the Somme, being unable to cross the river.

Depsite their victory over the men at arms the French crossbowmen flee. From the other earthwork a group of French foot knights emerge in a final attempt to break down the bridge. The pursuing English mass on the other side of the Somme.

The foot knights succeed in fighting off one group of demi lancers but they are then overwhelmed and caught as they attempt to flee for safety. None of the French have escaped and the bridge still stands - a complete English victory!

These were another great couple of games. It was great to play out the events taken from the sources and the special rules made the games very entertaining. If only more of those exploding buildings had worked in the first game and the English hadn't arrived so quickly in the second! I was really pleased with how my newly repainted fortifications looked, they fitted in well with our collections of buildings. Stuart was a great opponent as always and of course we had to have a few (too many) celebratory drinks. A picture of our own retreat from a chaotic town is shown below!

The "Generals" looking a bit worse for wear having fled the town after a few too many drinks to seek refuge in a kebab shop!

Ottoman Raiders - Akinji and Azabs

January 1, 2020, 4:44 am

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A new project for a new year. A state that had to feature on this blog eventually as so many of the European monarchs struggled against it during the 16th century, it is of course the Ottoman Empire. This starting force is a mix of irregular infantry and cavalry, hopefully there will be more to come. They will be able to face my Imperialists in the field. After Mohacs in 1526, when the Kingdom of Hungary was effectively divided in two, the Ottomans pressed on the Habsburgs in Austria besieging Vienna in 1529. My Italian army will be suitable opponents for the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499-1504. The early Spanish will even be able face them as Gonzalo de Cordoba led the Spanish as Venetian allies in this war for a brief period, besieging the castle of St George on Cephalonia in the autumn of 1500. The mid 16th Century forces will be able to face them in all sorts of engagements as by the mid 16th century they were pressing on Christendom through Eastern Europe and in the Mediterranean. I may even do a few stands of Knights of Rhodes as well so they can face the Hospitallers.

While many Ottoman figures can be used for a long historical time period my aim is to try and collect an army suitable for around 1490-1550. To start with I will avoid lots of Janissaries with muskets and Sipahis with pistols as I am keen for this to be an early 16th century army. The first unit tackled is the Akinji, the Turkish light cavalry. As a sidenote when discussing this army I will use the phrases "the Ottomans" and "the Turks" interchangeably but I am aware that much of the "Turkish" army was not ethnically Turkish at all, being made up of various different troops from all over the vast Ottoman territories. A good example is the Janissaries who were recruited from, certainly in the early 16th century, boys conscripted from the Ottoman's Christian subjects in a levy known as the devshirme and converted to Islam.

Akinji is the Turkish word for "raiders" and these horsemen were exactly that, being positioned in frontier Ottoman territories and thriving on raids into enemy territory, in times of supposed "peace" as well as war. In the 15th and 16th centuries they seem to have always accompanied Turkish armies in relatively large numbers and were expert mounted archers and skirmishers.  A few contemporary pictures of these horsemen are below. All the images used are from western sources of the period so a caveat must be added that in some of the depictions of the Turks there sometimes appears to be an attempt to demonise them, note the heads on the lances in the third image below as an example. The Turkish images I have looked at tend to be from slightly later in the 16th century and are also less detailed so I have chosen these western ones, and of course I don't need any excuse to get a few more Dürer pictures on the blog!

Detail of a Turkish horseman from an Albrecht Dürer engraving c.1496.

Three Ottoman archers, 1526, Jan Swart van Groningen.

Battle of Krbava Field 1493, Leonhard Beck c.1514-16.

The three images above depict what appear to be ethnic Turkish horsemen as they all wear turbans. Ottoman light horse are also depicted in Balkan style caps so it likely that many of them were Christian troops fighting in the Ottoman ranks. What is clear from all three of the depictions above is how similar they look, the turbans aside, from the Stradiots. Their clothing and armament are very similar, which isn't a surprise as Stradiots developed their style of warfare over decades of frontier fighting with the Ottomans.

The Akinji units are made up of a mix of Assault Group and Old Glory figures, all on Assault Group horses. The Old Glory horses are probably more accurate for Turkish horses in the fact that they are very small but the TAG horses have more detail that mark them out as being specifically Turkish, such as the knotted tails, which can be seen in the Jan Swart van Groningen image above. I have added some feather plumes to the figures and used a mixture of different shields to help represent the irregular nature of these troops. The lance pennons and standards help to unify them. I picked these up from Wargames Designs. The result can be seen below.

The Ottoman force so far: 2 units of 12 Akinji each, 24 infantry archers, 12 handgunners and a command group of 5.

A unit of Akinji - The figures are a mix of the Assault Group and Old Glory all on horses by the Assault Group.

The other unit of Akinji.

The Ottoman raiding party.

The nearest two figures are by Old Glory on TAG horses.

The Azabs, a name which means "unmarried", were the masses of irregular infantry that were recruited by the Ottomans for each campaign. As with the Akinji, a few contemporary images have been included below to give an idea at what I am trying to represent here. The Zonchio image, depicting a naval battle between the Venetians and the Turks in 1499 shows lots Turkish troops and their shields while the other images clearly show the style of robes worn by these infantry, the colour images showing the distinctive turbans around the small red caps. I have chosen to paint these infantry in fairly drab colours as these were normally poorly equipped troops.

The Azab's equipment was not in any way standard, the ones I have painted up so far carry bows and handguns. The commander and his bodyguard are nearly all TAG figures while the rest of the Azabs are all Old Glory. This is defnitely one of the better Old Glory ranges. The turbans and robes of the Turkish troops suit the rather erratic Old Glory sculpting style. I am curently working on a unit of Azabs with a wide variety of weapons so hopefully I will be able to post them up soon.

Happy New Year!

Turkish family, Albrecht Dürer, c.1497.

The coat of arms of the Radak family, 1514. The figure on the left is a Turkish archer while the figure on the right is a Hungarian handgunner.

Colour detail of a Turk from the Calvary Altar at Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia - 1506.

The Battle of Zonchio 1499. If you look closely lots of Ottoman marines/infantry are visible. In the bottom centre a Turkish hangunner can be seen.

The Ottoman Commander, possibly a dismounted Sancak Bey, a regional governor.

Ottoman infantry and cavalry.

Another view of the Ottoman commander.

Ottoman Azabs - armed with bows and handguns.

Ottoman infantry by Old Glory.

The Ottoman army continues...

February 15, 2020, 9:42 am

≫ Next: Ottoman Sipahis and Guns

≪ Previous: Ottoman Raiders - Akinji and Azabs

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The Ottoman army continues to grow.  A large group of Azabs have been added to the collection armed with a wide varierty of swords, axes and other polearms. The unit is a mix of Old Glory and Assault Group figures with shields and weapons from all over the place! I have removed the feathers from the turbans of some and added them to others to create as much variety as possible. As the Azabs were irregular troops I wanted to reflect this in the fact that the weaponry is not uniform and the shields are of a variety of styles.

The troops themselves are in fairly drab robes, it is the shields that really add the colour to the unit. Regular readers of this blog will know that I loathe painting detailed shields but have been lucky as sets of Arabic/Islamic transfers are available which have made working on the shields much easier. While some carry these motifs others just sport colourful patterns. The Battle of Zonchio picture that was included in my last post shows the Ottoman shields to bear relatively simple stripes or crescent motifs, although this may of course just be the artist simplifying them. Some of the non-Turkish Azabs, the Eastern Europeans within the unit not wearing turbans, carry shields with more heraldic designs on them.

I have also finished another unit of archers, this time made entirely of figures from the Assault Group. These are great miniatures although the quivers they wear may be from the 17th century as there is an example in the Opsrey Elite series on "The Janissaries" which is from the 1600s but then again in the Osprey Men-at-Arms book on the "Armies of the Ottoman Turks" a 15th Century Janissary is depicted wearing one so who knows? My suspicion is that the style of quivers they carry is probably later than earlier.

Ottoman Azabs.

Ottoman Azabs, the figures are a mix of Old Glory and The Assault Group.

The Azabs from behind - I was trying to keep them in fairly drab colours but the shields are very bright.

Ottoman Turk Archers.

To break up the monotony of painting all these Azabs I have also completed a few little extras. Below you can see an Ottoman camel drummer, an excellent figure from Redoubt Enterprises with loads of character. At some point I intend to paint up some more Ottoman musicians to form a mehteran, or military band. Below him can be seen a mounted command base with a finely dressed Ottoman commander and his standard bearer. The commander is an Essex Miniatures figure while the horses and standard bearer are Assault Group figures. A little work had to be done to make the Essex figure fit the TAG horse and both his horse and turban have had plumes of feathers added. At present I am working on some artillery and Sipahis so will hopefully be able to show them soon and maybe some pictures of how the whole Ottoman force is looking so far.

A Turkish drummer mounted on a camel.

A Redoubt Enterprises Turkish drummer on a camel.

An Ottoman command stand.

Ottoman mounted commander, the commander is by Essex Miniatures and the horses and standard bearer are by The Assault Group.