Monday 10 June 2019

Great Italian wars 36 To the strongest AAR


Nephew no2 came over last night for a game.
I dug out my Italian wars figures,a French force and a Papal/ Spanish force, marked the board up with 150mm/6" squares and read To the strongest rules again.
 As it was some time ago that
I had played it and it was against nephew no1 we only used eight units a side.
A senior general,an attached general and an unattached general and then for the French: two units of gendarmes (later knights) two blocks of Swiss pike, two cannons,a unit of crossbow men and a unit of mounted crossbow men.

For the Spanish/Papal side: one unit of later knights,one unit of jinnetts, two cannons, a unit of Romagla pike,a Spanish colonelia,a unit of landsknecht pike and a unit of shot. I tried to keep it simple this time,so no bridge, really just some decorative trees and a hill.
 Nephew no 2 went for the Spanish/Papal force,we set up a camp for either side and deployed our troops and went to it.
I advanced my gendarmes,we tried largely ineffectively to fire our cannons the jinnetts charged the crossbow men, failed and got eliminated, one unit of gendarmes took out a cannon and was then charged by the papal knights, another unit of gendarmes hit the Papal knights in the flank a(having just  eliminated the unit of shot)that tussle went on for a long time until just one unit of gendarmes were left.
The  Romagla pike and landsknechts advanced with the colonelia a little way behind, one Swiss unit advanced against the colonelia and the other attacked the landsknecht pike block, crossbow fire ,cannon Swiss pike and a light cavalry flank attack eventually saw off the landsknechts but not before they had damaged the Swiss. Artillery and the Spanish saw off the first pike block ( although they took damage doing it)  The Romagla pike saw off the crossbow men and cannon and was in turn defeated  by the Swiss and light cavalry, the colonelia took out the Swiss and the gendarmes and light cavalry eventually ground down the Spanish to win the game. It was a great see saw game that could have gone either way and I am sure we will be playing it again. The colonelia seems like a really strong unit, I don't know if it is too strong? I'm sure we got things wrong so I will have to revisit and see.
















The final photo is of the last stand of the Spanish, I need to make up some ammunition chits and disorder markers,I used my mini dice and pennys but it would be better with something more appropriate. I don't mind the cards on the table as they get cleared away at the end of each go ( we were also especially slovenly I think as it was getting rather late!) A great fun game.
All the best Iain


48 comments:

  1. The Renaissance is an unsurpassed spectacle on the table: thanks for the interlude. I would guess, based on the report, that a system with a regulated playing area overcomes many of the complications that also come with the mixed unit types.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ed! Yes I think the grid works well with the disparate troop types,I do plan on giving black powder/pike and shot a go at some point as I have had enjoyable games of the British civil war with them.
      Best Iain

      Delete
  2. Enjoyed just browsing through the pictures and absorbing the splendour of the armies. There seems to be a universal liking of these rules. A friend got them at Christmas, but he is still rounding out his Carthage / Rome forces, so I am hoping a game is not too far away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Norm! Nice and fast,in part due to the use of the grid ,so right up your street!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  3. Looks great, oustanding units!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. As the others have commented, lovely looking units. I especially liked the cannons eye view presented in one of the photo's. I don't envy the pikemen advancing on it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks JBM! Yes it's a nice shot, well from the cannons side anyway!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  5. Iain! Great to see a battle on your table especially a Great Italian Wars one! Enjoyed looking at your troops and seeing a hard-fought battle. Great stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jonathan! Yes it was great fun to get some of my troops on the table,I think I need a different rule set and a bigger table!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  6. I really need to try out these rules. Game looks smashing, nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too. There the rules are on my shelf, just looking at me.

      Delete
    2. Thanks FMB! Give them a go, straight forward but not simplistic!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  7. Beautiful. The pics speak by themselves, everything is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Suber! Glad you like the photos!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Thanks Cyrus! Good of you to say so!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  9. Very nice figures and table, looks like a great game!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mark! Glad you like the figures and it was a good game!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  10. A lovely-looking game, and each report like this makes me more convinced that TtS is the way to go for renaissance gaming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lawrence! It's a good go to for Renaissance wargames I think!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  11. Fun time for the nephew! Nice write up and of course the table pics of the battlefield are cool. I do like your deep pile units. 😀

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stew! Glad you liked the photos!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  12. Look great; what did you use (or not) from the proposed Renaissance modifications?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Peter! We used most of the proposed Renaissance modifications, except I forgot to make the gendarmes veterans and also the rule about cannons getting a bonus for firing at deep units,I liked that the landsknechts and Swiss had different rules, which I thought worked really well.
      Best Iain

      Delete
  13. What an awesome looking game sir!

    ReplyDelete
  14. the battles of the Renaissance are exhilarating, a beautiful match.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello . I can ask you what regulation you used, I'm hunting for a regulation, I've bought some, but I can't decide. I don't know whether to buy Lion rampant or pike lament. I don't know them and I know they are in English but I see that they are very used. can you give me advice?

      Delete
    2. Thanks Ronin! Oli (camisado blog) uses lion rampant and has had his and Stuart (Army Royale blog) adaptations for early 16th century warfare published in Wargames illustrated. I have been using To the strongest! Which I don't believe is available in Italian,I liked Impetus,which certainly is available in Italian! What is popular near you? There is also Furioso but I haven't tried it, Lion rampant does give a good game without the need for lots of figures although it can be scaled up once you've painted all of them up!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  15. Magnificent spectacle there Iain, I particularly like the big pike blocks, really impressive on the table like that. Such a colourful period to game. The rules sound good too, have been following the ECW reports on Jolly Broom Man's blog, although I still can't get my head around those playing cards on the table!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lee! Good set of rules,I think we were a bit messy with the cards,it depends if you can cope with all the cards on the table!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  16. Loving those standards - ain't nothing like a full army with flags flying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Maurice! Your not wrong about the flags, the more the merrier!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  17. Great to see the figures getting an outing on the field Iain. I always think I have made one unit too strong over the rest or messed up the balance in some ways - I think that it is just a wargaming curse!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Oli! You are of course right,it goes with the territory!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  18. Beautiful looking game Iain - are you still enjoying the TtS rule mechanisms?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Keith! Yes still enjoying TTS, it's great fun!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  19. Wonderful to game with close family! Excellent troops and battlefield.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dean! Yes nice to play with family as well as friends!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  20. Great seeing your forces in action; it does seem that the rules worked well despite my apprehenson that the table wasgridded - is that part of the rule requirements or is that a home-grown idea ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joe! The table is gridded up for the rules,I don't normally use grids but it seemed to work well with these rules.
      Best Iain

      Delete
  21. Your games always look splendid Iain!

    Good stuff. I think the lack of bridge probably made for a more open game with less funneling of forces?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dai! Yes less funneling without the bridge,so a bit better idea about how the game works!
      Best Iain

      Delete