Terracina (1495) - Charles VIII's Italian War campaign game #5

Having previously blocked the French march to Naples at Sezza in early February 1495, the Neapolitan army under Ferdinand II, King of Naples, attempted to follow-up on their victory and drive the French out of southern Italy.  At Terracina, the Neapolitans were able to force a battle against the larger main body of the French army.  Ferdinand II was even able to situate his army in superior, open and higher ground, while the French infantry had to deploy through an area of woods.

The initial deployments, Neapolitans on the right and French on the left.

Using the Italian War battle generator, this was supposed to be another "medium" battle like Sezza before it.  However, the roll of the dice ended up with almost maximum army sizes for both sides!  The Neapolitans ended up with 4 mounted men at arms and 2 stradiots, 3 pike and 1 double-pay heavy infantry units, 6 crossbows (!) and 1 arquebus, and 3 heavy artillery pieces and 1 light gun.  The French rolled up 4 gendarmes and 2 mounted crossbows, 5 pike (!) and 2 double-pay heavy infantry, 3 crossbow and 1 arquebus, and also 3 heavy artillery pieces and 1 light gun.  Because the Neapolitans were the attackers and were outnumbered 54 SP to 60 SP, they received 2 "captains", which function as additional generals but count for 4 SP not 6, and do not garner a victory point if slain. 

French initial deployments - the General is with his artillery.

With lessons learned in mind from the prior battles, both sides moved to bring their heavy infantry and heavy cavalry into close combat early on, as opposed to having precious Strength Points whittled away from missile fire.  On the other hand, both sides came equipped with very large artillery parks, so there was a push-pull impulse between trying to let the artillery make a dent vs. closing in for the attack as soon as possible while still at full strength

Neapolitan deployments.

Swiss pikemen in French service and a light gun.

However the French could not delay in bringing their great weight in pikemen and halberdiers, a 7 to 4 advantage, to bear on the Neapolitans.  The French infantry fanned out from the woods and advanced against the entire Neapolitan right.  The opposite flank the French sent forward their light cavalry and attempted to pepper the Neapolitan heavy cavalry with missile fire (to little effect).  Both sides traded mostly ineffective artillery fire.

After first moves. 

The Neapolitans figured to send some of their advantage in missile troops from their center-right flank to the left, and sent their fast moving stradiot light cavalry from the far left to support the infantry on the right. The Neapolitan men at arms, however, plunged in to the French cavalry.

After the second moves. Pike blocks are lumbering at each other, while the Italian men at arms have commenced the attack on the Neapolitan left.

The Pike blocks approach each other.

Cavalry battle on the 'east' side of the field.

The infantries clashed and a series of back and forths and flank attacks commenced.

The pike blocks in battle.

The Neapolitan decision to send its light cavalry to assist the infantry and to have their men at arms take their chances with the French gendarmes paid off.  The cavalry clash was at best a draw and was arguably in the Neapolitan's favor as the French light cavalry was also trying to contribute. 

Infantry fighting it out on one side of table and cavalry on the other. Middle is mostly open to allow artillery as much line of sight as possible. At top center right you can see the Neapolitan stradiots who have ridden behind their own lines to the opposite flank.

On the infantry side of the table, despite steady casualties the French seemed to be getting the better of things, with a key block of landsknecht pikes finally falling to multiple attacks from multiple flanks.  A second landsknecht block teetered on the brink, having lost 3 of 4 SP.  Alas, the French were too far along towards their exhaustion point, and they were the first to reach it.  However, they were in complete control of half of the board (due to their early, aggressive advance) and they had a unit or more in the other other two quarters.  Perhaps they could hold on until the Neapolitans hit their exhaustion point and win the day in the end.

Swiss pikes at top right, with aid of flanking attack by halberdiers, have broken a landsknecht pike block and opened up a gap in the Neapolitan line...

The Neapolitans did not have many remaining SPs to spare before hitting their own exhaustion point. So they did their best to use missile attacks to drive back the French. And it was here the stradiots proved their worth, as they were able to quickly maneuver into range and soften up another unit of Swiss pikes.  Adjacent doppelsoldners then waded into the Swiss' flank and scattered the unit. 

Swiss pikemen repeatedly charge, and repulsed by, this Neapolitan organ gun. They are then flanked by doppelsoldners and harrassed by stradiots with javelins.

The doppelsoldner took a SP in the process, pushing the Neapolitans past their exhaustion point.  The game was over, but the French victory had been denied.

In fact, the result was a tie!  The French had 4 victory points (2 units destroyed and 2 table quadrants controlled) and the Neapolitans also had 4 (3 units destroyed and 1 table quadrant controlled).

End of game. 

The Developing the Portable Wargame rules continue to impress, just in terms of the speed and ease at which a game can be resolved, as well as results that are derived more from decision making rather than swingy buckets of dice.  In the infantry fight, both sides experimented with placing a unit directly behind another so that the unit in front could not retreat, so as to 'hold the line' and prevent gaps and flank attacks.  I'm struggling with how heavy artillery feels in these rules - I do not allow them to move or retreat (if hit by missile fire they just lose a SP, if hit in melee they are immediately removed), which feels right based on the sources, but despite their great range (8 squares!) they seemed not very effective, and they led to a unrealistic looking (to me) open field in the middle of the board as both sides try to keep lines of sight open for their guns.  Both sides also had their generals (and the 'captains') hang around their respective artillery or other missile troops to add a +1 for "to hit" rolls. 

Neapolitan general with his artillery.

Of course, if one side had 3 heavy guns and the other had only 1 (or none), the former might be more content to not advance and try and bombard the enemy for as long as possible. I suppose I could bring back the "opening barrage" rule from my Lion Rampant Italian War games (first used in the Seminara game, I think), which allows multiple shots per gun before any other movement - which at least gives them a change to really affect the game early on.  The light guns work fine.  The landsknecht organ gun was key in stopping the French infantry advance, repelling several close combat charges.

On the campaign board, neither side got to "slide" forward on the victory path.  Both rolled a 2. Then, the French rolled a perfect 4 and landed on the "resupply" square which caused them to "ladder up" to the next level, skipping the second medium battle square.  

The Italian chit rolled 2, and then the French rolled a six sending them straight to the penultimate final battle in the campaign.  

This will be a large battle although it is doubtful it will be much bigger than one just played (if not smaller).  I need to figure out what each side actually receives for having won two battles each, and what the boon is that the French receive for reaching the final battle first...