Overview of the Imperialist forces, as seen from their left. The Mirabello hunting lodge is in the midground, along with the Vernavola stream. This and nd a number of additional photos courtesy of Milton Soong.
On the Imperialist far left were Italian pikemen and arquebusiers, supported by some Genitors/Jinetes (Javelin armed Spanish light cavalry)...
and a unit of Landsknechts.
The Imperialist right: Spanish Knights, Imperial Gendarmes, Italian Elmeti, two Spanish Colunellas, supported by a battery and Spanish Arquebusiers (arguably the best in the world at the time).
Some (!) of the French Gendarmes and supporting cavalry prepare to advance. They have a big advantage in Cavalry on this side of the battlefield, but putting it to good advantage may be challenging.
Initial chage of the French Gendarmes! The markers indicate the "Lance" bonus has been used.
The "french" troops advance boldly on their right as well.
Charge and Countercharge!
Overview from the Imperialist mid left.
Spanish Genitors attempt to clear the woods of pesky Swiss skirmishers.
Cavalry melee swings back and forth on the Imperialist right/
Recreating history, King Francis II is hit and captured!
"All is lost, save Honor!"
Swiss and Landsknecht pike blocks face off. The Swiss should have the advantage...
Overview from the Imperialist far left (including the walls of the Park defining the battlefield).
Push of Pike!
Jeff Wasileski had the fearsome Swiss Pikes. Well, they were fearsome on paper, but underperformed here, much as they did in history. Of course, being outnumbered didn't help much!
Gotta love the Great Italian Wars for color!
Late game on the Imperial Left.
French Crossbowmen seize the Mirabello Lodge.... but seem unable to make anything of their success otherwise!
Late Game on the Imperial right; the Imperial cavalry has taken heavy losses, and ,more French Militia crossbowmen have seized the woods, but the Tercio is Tough and strikes some Landsknechts in the flank. Ugh - oh!
Now just who is on the flank of whom?!
Late game overview from the Imperialist right.
"Oh we're artillerymen and we're OK; we bang, bang, boom, and then run away!"
The game mirrored History once again, with a French defeat, and King Francis being held in captivity. All the players were great, and the game played smoothly with the proposed Renaissance modifications for To the Strongest!
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An impressive looking tabletop with all those troops deployed with lots of colourful flags and uniforms. The artillery looks so impressive, even if they did not do much.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter. Artillery was still the most important for sieges, but with targets like Pike blocks on the field, by this time they could be important to a battle's outcome, as at Ravena most notably.
DeleteSo what amendments have you made for "To the Strongest" for Italian Wars?
ReplyDeleteNeil
They are in a discussion thread on the TTS! Tapatalk Forum, no real changes in 4 years. I have that thread copied and pasted here: https://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2018/10/to-longest-to-strongest-modifications.html
DeleteThanks for that (and the playsheet link). I occasionally drop into the Tapatalk forum; I don't really get on with it -I tried to join but I think my tablet operating system doesn't like it much.
DeleteI've been checking to see where the promised Italian Wars set is in development as it's a logical progression from Medieval. I hope it uses TTS rather than K&P as I'm not sure about the latter (looks very faffy and fiddly to me!)
Neil
TTS 2nd edition will likely incorporate some of the changes from FK&P, but many others are fairly period specific. I've used FK&P quite a bit and I think it foes a good job for the ECW... enough, in fact,, that I've been expanding my 40 year old armies and adding the Scotts!
DeleteI only check the forum every month or two at most myself ordinarily.
I have played both, but I prefer TtS - FK&P I feel has a lot of added complexity and differences, just for the sake of being different. Obviously, there are differences in troop types, weapons and tactics between the eras covered, but some of the later rules over complicate things, I feel.
DeleteGame looks great and sounds like a good one too. I’m also interested in your TTS mods.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter! See the above thread. People also often ask about my improved Summary Sheet / QRS for TTS!, and that's located here:
Deletehttps://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2016/02/to-strongest-expanded-summary-sheet.html
Cheers and Thanks!
DeleteHappy to be of assistance!
DeleteVery colourful and a real spectacle. How many of the players were new to TtS and did they find it easy to pick up?
ReplyDeleteI think 3 of the 8 players were new to TTS!, and almost everyone picks up the basics of TTS! very quickly. Once you u8nderstand the activation mechanic, the rest is really very straightforward.
DeleteAnother very impressive looking game
ReplyDeleteThanks, David! I just love the look of the Great Italian Wars on the tabletop!
DeleteWonderful battle report Peter and a great series of photographs to accompany the descriptions. Great to see the excellent TTS rules in action and a historical result. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carlo!
DeleteWhat a spectacularly colourful array Peter - its easy to see the appeal of this era! I agree about the simplicity of TtS - it is a breeze to pick up, and remember. FK&P is a bit more involved, which is why I dont like it quite as much.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. I like FK&P just fine, but I did comment to Simon while playtesting it that I thought that it was at about the limit of complexity for this style of game!
DeleteAwesome looking Italian wars game love the pike blocks and the gendarmes, sounds like great fun and nice to get an historical result, unless you're the French player I guess?!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
The French had a much better shot in the game than in real life! :-)
DeleteA great looking game Peter, all was lost save honour once again for Francis!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Oli!
DeleteAnother excellent looking and sounding game, seems Historicon was a resounding success for you and reward for hard work
DeleteThanks, Gary. It was a great Historicon for me this year!
Delete