Sezza (1495) - Charles VIII's Italian War campaign game #4

The French army of Charles VIII pressed through the Tuscany region despite interference (at Sarzanna, Volterra and San Miniato) from northern Italian states becoming sympathetic to the Neapolitan cause, or at least hostile to the presence of a large foreign army on Italian soil.  Passing Rome, the French proceed south on the old Appian Way and approach the border of the Kingdom of Sicily.  Southwest of the town of Sezza, they find an army gathered by Ferdinand II, King of Naples, awaiting them.  

The French army deployed.

In terms of a randomly generated battle, the Neapolitans had drawn a favorable hand, with a villa securing their right flank, and, because they were outnumbered in strength points, they had constructed some fieldworks, including a small scone atop a low hill on their left.  The French superiority in strength points was in missile troops and an artillery piece.

Italians deployed in the villa.

The randomizer gave the French 2 gendarmes heavy cavalry and a mounted crossbowmen light cavalry, 3 pike and 1 double-pay men (halberdiers) heavy infantry units, 4 crossbowmen and an arquebusier and an heavy artillery piece.  Their randomly generated deployment put their heavy infantry on thier left and their missile troops on the right with the cavalry behind in the center.

Neapolitan missile troops initially deployed behind the hill.

The Neapolitans also received 2 men at arms heavy cavalry and 1 light cavalry (stradiots), 3 pike and 1 double-pay men (doppelsoldners) heavy infantry units,, but only 3 crossbow and an arquebusier and no artillery.  This put the French at 42 SP and the Neapolitans at 37, so the Neapolitans were recompensed 5 sections of field works (at 1 SP per 6" section).

French right flank, missile troops.

This game was played remotely and I played the French and Pete played the Neapolitans.  My plan was that the French cannon could soften up a unit or two in the center, and the crossbows could soften up the Neapolitans on the hill.  The gendarmes could flank to the right and punch through the softened hill defenses.  While that was happening the missile fire could shift to the center and the pikes could advance.

Starting positions.

What happened was the artillery could not land a hit, and being only piece, the rate of fire was too slow to be of effect. 

After first French move.

The Neapolitans sallied out from the villa, attacking a French crossbow unit. The Neapolitan cavalry also advanced on the French left, where they outnumbered the lone unit of French mounted crossbowmen.  At this point I had a long think about sending one or both of my gendarmes riding back across the board to bolster the left against the Neapolitan cavalry, but decided to stick to my original plan.

After first Neapolitan move.

French pikes and missile fire were able to push the sally back.  But then Neapolitans scattered the mounted crossbows and then attacked the Swiss halberdiers in the flank. 

Neapolitans on the hill and in the sconce.

Subsequently the landsknechts in the villa sallied out and attacked the halberdiers head on. Swiss pikes then attacked the landsknechts in the flank, but the landsknecht held their ground. 

Neapolitan pikes and men at arms attack the French flank.

At this point the gendarmes were committed, and they scattered a unit of Neapolitan crossbowmen and attacked the nearby doppelsoldners in the flank, pushing them to the edge of the board. The second gendarme unit then attacked the doppels head on, and the doppels held.

While Neapolitans attack French left flank, French gendarmes advance to the crest of the hill on the far French right.

But it was already too late, the slogging melee on the French left had racked up lost SPs, and both the halberdiers and a unit of Swiss pike were lost in the next turn, pushing the French past their exhaustion point.  

End of game, the Neapolitans have turned the French left flank.

At this point the Neapolitans were up on victory points 5 to 2, and I conceded the game as I did not think the French could make up that difference in VP by the time the Neapolitans reached their exhaustion point. 

High water mark of French advance by gendarmes on the hill.

Besides, the Neapolitans had rather convincingly turned the French flank, with little to no casualties to their infantry in the center.  And in The Portable Wargame, once a "L" shaped line is created by a flank attack, it is very difficult to turn the tide, at the unit(s) at the corner are constantly exposed to flank attacks.  I consider this another point in favor the The Portable Wargame.

Situation in the center - both sides not having moved far form starting positions.

This was the first Italian Wars game I have run where I increased the number of figures in pike units from 12 to 18.  They of course look way better this way, but it also creates unused stands in need of mates to be table ready. Could more pikes be on the way?

French center - held back too long.

Although the French had some bad luck in terms of dice rolling, I generally felt the loss was attributable to my own decisions and not to the roll of the die. If the gendarmes at attacked a turn or two earlier (or as soon as possible!) the French may not have fallen into the hole that they did in terms of lost SP.  The Swiss pikes were also held back too long. Although they would have taken 1 or more SP in the process, they probably could have knocked out the missile troops around the villa.  Instead, the Swiss kept out of range and ended up grinding it out against better matched landsknechts and men at arms.

Victorious flank attack.

On the campaign board, the French remain in the battle square and do not slide ahead five spaces for victory.  The Italians roll a five and advance into the battle square for a second battle north of Naples.

For campaign purposes, I've had the idea that for every victory tallied before the final battle, a side will receive an "Action Point" (possibly 2 for the first victory and 1 for each additional).  An Action Point may be expended in the final battle to cancel the loss of a SP.  Action Points come from the Dux Bellorum rules.  I don't know if I would make each side place action points on unit during an "inter-turn" phase or not, like in Dux Bellorum, or if players could just choose to spend them as they see fit. Currently the French have won 2 battle and the Italian states have won 2.