Battle of Pavia, 1525 at Historicon

 

Saturday morning at Historicon I played in the huge Pavia, 1525, game run by Martyn Kelley and W.A.M.P., in celebration of the famous battle's 500th anniversary. 

I believe Martin and company ran this game 5 times over the course of the show. 

There were a staggering number of beautifully painted 25/28 mm figures. 

Completely amazing terrain - virtually all of it scratch built from foam!

The total area covered was roughly `12 feet by 16 feet, with an open area in the center.

Artillery emplacements.

Swiss Pikes and supporting shot. 

Pictures of a near contemporary tapestry commemorating the battle were used to inspire the troops and the terrain!

Little blurry here. 

OMG!

Talk about setting the place and the mood. 

On to the game; the roles were divvied up to the various players. I would up being assigned 2 Spanish Colunellas, which included the famous Sword and Bucklers, and their supporting shot. 

The other Spanish player near me had 2 more Colunellas, some shot, and the heavy arquebuses, which were especially suited to shooting down heavily armed French Gendarmes. 

Our plan was that my units would bear left to support a mass of LC in that direction, which were backed up by a huge Swiss Pike block and some field artillery, and a handful of Elmeti (Italian equivalent of Gendarmes (or maybe they were real Gendarmes!). My fellow Spaniard would send his heavy arquebuses into the woods to his right, and the rest of his forces would advance at a roughly 45 degree angle, ready to support in either direction, and also ready to counter any threat from the Mirabello hunting lodge (the cluster of building seen above). 

First clash of the Light Cavalry (Genitors, Stradiots, etc.) to my front. 

More French LC, and a big, honking Swiss Pike block. 

On the whole, the Spanish LC came of the worse in the exchanges of shooting and melee (they were outnumbered, and the French player was familiar with the rules - simplified Pike and Shotte - which we were not). 

Huge crash as the French Gendarmes slam into the Imperial heavy horse. 

Spanish LC pulls back in some disorder. I prepare to meet the Swiss with a hail of shot, and then charge them. If I time it right, my two Coluneallas together will have equal numbers (or better, after losses to shooting) to the Swiss, and will be hitting on a D6 roll of 2+! Hole-y Swiss cheese!

Imperial Landsknechts prepare to do the tough fighting after the pretty boys grind one another down!

Fortified guns shot at one another all game long, with little to show for it... pretty much as the siege of Pavia had been going for quite some time before the Spanish/Imperialists broke into the park on a surprise attack and started the battle. HMGS board member and local gaming freind Kevin Carroll helped out with the rules immensely, and played a few minor forces on our part of the battlefield. 

Meanwhile, there was fighting by the town of Pavia as well. 

The heavy cavalry thin one another out as they become mired in the mud; the pikes move in on both sides, preparing to take over when circumstances permit. 

My Arquebusiers get their timing wrong, and get in only a single shot at the Swiss as they charge. The Swiss attack rattled their nerves, and their shooting was notable for its extreme inaccuracy! :-(

 In the melee, the shot are driven back with heavy losses, disordered, and are unlikely to be a factor for the remainder of the battle!

My two colunellas attempt to charge the Swiss, but one balks at engaging the fierce mountain men. If only one of the two engages the Swiss, they will be outnumbered 2:1, and be crushed. Discretion was the better part of valor here! Besides, my fellow Spaniard has determined his colunellas are not needed in the massive Gendarme and Pike scrum, and thus swings over to our left to support me on my right. The Swiss, of course, then oblige by charging my 2 units (their front is so wide they really could do nothing other). 

Back over by Mirabello, it's still Hack! Skewer! Bash!

Between the losses they did take from fire and melee with my Arquebusiers, scant though they were, and my sword and buckler men slipping under the pikes (and some hot die rolling, atoning for the miserable rolling for the shot), the Swiss Pike block took severe losses and failed its break test, dispersing. All of Europe gasped at the defeat of the heretofore seemingly invincible Swiss!  After that, Kevin does an end of game frontal test charge with his heavy cavalry. With their losses from the Swiss melee, they could not resist the shock of the heavily armored horse and are defeated (not an official part of the game, though). 

Landsknecht vs French Pikes at the end of the game - the Imperialists prevail... as they did in actual fact, with King Francis being captured on the battlefield historically. 

I have actually run Pavia myself three times in the past 25 years (with Band of Brothers and [unofficial]  To the Strongest! - Renaissance), and all have been close games. My Pike blocks were a mere 36 figures, though, not 72 to 120 like these monsters! The advantage of the smaller units (and table) was of course more maneuver and more decisions for the players to make. Never the less, the game was successful in allowing everyone to get into combat, roll a LOT of dice, have fun, play with a large crowd of like minded wargamers on a table with hordes of beautiful figures and completely breathtaking terrain, and all in 4 hours. What more could one want?!  The game deservedly won best of show; there was really no possible contest there!

There is much more about this battle and game, and all the work he did over 2 years to prepare for it, at Martyn's blog:  https://www.collegeofkings.com/.