A French Folly - Kings of War Historical Porch Game

We had occasion for another porch game, once again an Italian Wars game, but this time using Kings of War Historical.  Due to a last minute change of plans, it was just three players, so Gabe and Jamie each took a half of the Spanish-Italian allies ("Imperials," really), with a Landsknecht/Italian contingent on their right and the Spanish contingent on the left, and I played the French army all myself.

The pics are all hopelessly out of order. But the above is the initial deployments, with the French at the lower half of pic.

The board was generated using random terrain cards, and random deployment determined a general layout of one's units, but we did an alternating sequence (French, Imperials, French, Imperials) where one could personalize the deployment a bit (so the random part determined that all your cavalry had to be on your left flank, but you could range them on one line or in depth or whatever).

French mounted crossbowmen are being engaged by Italian pike at left.

We also used my random event cards (which in turn are copied from Peter's Grid Based Wargaming).  I was a little nervous about using these, especially the 'Confusion' card, which causes none of your units to be able to move (but they can still pivot).  There are two Confusion cards in each deck - what if the same player drew both on consecutive turns? My solution was that you left your used cards in a pile in front of you, and if you drew the same card on consecutive turns, you traded the card with your co-general.  In the end, no one drew the same card twice anyway.

A mass of Landsknecht pike regiments and arquebus regiments. There are almost 200 minis here!

The French army featured three units using the elite Chevaliers unit profile, which I used for the Gendarmes units.  They also had five units of Swiss Pikemen mercenaries. These are technically illegal deployments in Kings of War Historical, which features a point system built for tournament play.  The Imperial army features three regiments of Landsknecht pike mercenaries, four regiments of arquebusiers, and Spanish 'colunnas,' which were regular heavy pikemen regiments supported by smaller troops of arquebusiers and organ guns.

This collection of a cannon, a regiment of French crossbowmen, and a regiment of Swiss, hopes to try and blunt the mass of Imperial cavalry before them.

The Spanish left is where the entirety of their cavalry was situated: three regiments heavy cavalry (armored men-at-arms) and three regiments cavalry (the stradiots and ginettes).

Imperial cavalry, six regiments strong.

I suppose here is a good place to mention the very stupid decision I made as the French player. In the French center were three regiments of Gendarmes (to the left) and two Swiss pike regiments (to the right).  I decided to have each head in opposite directions, with the Gendarmes heading to the right to engage the Imperial cavaly, and the Swiss heading left towards the Spanish infantry.

This mean that I had to waste movement wheeling the Gendarmes to their right. In Kings of War Historical you can move through friendly units, but must completely clear the unit. But movement is relatively short (5" for the Swiss, 8" for the Gendarmes), so the whole French center just turned into this mess that wasn't actually going anywhere. To compound the situation, this half of the French army did actually draw the 'Confusion' card, so remained in this mob for a turn longer than intended.

Spanish colunnas await by the church.

Italian pikes about to scatter French mounted crossbows.

My other dumb move was hold back my two Swiss regiments on the French left for a turn, sheltered behind the hills, on the theory of letting my artillery and cavalry soften up the Imperial right a little.  The real result was the French cavalry and crossbows were scattered and outgunned in detail, and the Swiss then had to advance into withering fire on their own anyway.

Observe the French folly in the center.

Swiss pikes on French left finally getting move on.

This picture really says it all. My opponents are not in their chairs on their turn but standing at the table edges where the Imperial flanks are making great headway.  They are completely unconcerned and not threatened by the situation in the center.

French center, still going nowhere.

Imperial cavalry starting to engage the outnumbered French right flank.

Swiss pikes engaging Landsknechts.  That French mounted crossbow unit has taken 17 casualties but is still holding on.

The French center did eventually start moving, and the Gendarmes were able to scatter some Imperial stradiots.  One Swiss regiment was shot to pieces and routed without ever engaging.  The other crept close but the game ended before they were able to charge.

Imperial center, which was basically content to sit in place and blast the French with gunpowder weapons all game.

French gendarmes in melee with Imperial stradiots.

French crossbowmen on French right getting completely overrun by the massed Imperial men at arms.

This is near game-end.  The French far right flank will completely collapse and Imperial men-at-arms will end up at the French side's starting table edge. The Gendarmes will dispatch the Stradiots and Ginettes but Italian pike and several artillery pieces are already leveled at them.

We had a hard stop-time of 5:00 p.m. which brought us up to the end of turn four.  The situation was clearly a smashing Imperial victory.  The French right flank was gone, with Imperial cavalry hooking around the woods along the French table edge. The French cavalry on the French left was gone, with a few Swiss pike blocks scattered about. And in the French center half the Swiss were routed and the French Gendarmes were late to engage. 

Everyone was immensely pleased with how the game played. Kings of War Historical plays very smoothly and is more fun than you would expect. The addition of the event cards was not disruptive.  

A note about cavalry: in setting the game up, I decided to class cavalry as either heavy or regular, with an exception for the Chevaliers profile for French Gendarmes.  This mean that mounted crossbowmen, mounted arquebusiers, stradiots, and Spanish ginettes all shared the same 'Cavalry' profile, and none of them had a shooting attack option.  Research on Camisado and Army Royal seemed to point to the conclusion that mounted arquebusiers and crossbowmen, if fighting on horseback, were probably using lances, only becoming 'true' ranged units if deployed on foot. From a gaming perspective, it seems easier to say that the use of crossbows or arquebuses on horseback are simply abstracted into the units melee rating.  

For stradiots, Oli at Camisado notes that they were supposed to have carried weapons called Assagaye or Assegai, which were spears with points at both ends, as well as maces. This is a stabbing weapon for swirling melee, not the thrown javelin for shoot-and-scoot skirmishing envisioned in Pike & Shotte or light cavalry in Lion Rampant. There are also period paintings and engravings showing stradiots charging pike blocks with couched demi-lances, or engaged in close combat with fully armored heavy cavalry.  

For Ginettes, while they are described as carrying actual throwing javelins, I also read (a comment on Camisado or Army Royal? I forget and can't relocate to link) that French writers in the early renaissance had a tendency to use the word 'javelin' to in fact describe a demi-lance.  At Ravenna in 1512, 1,500+ Spanish ginettes and mounted arquebusiers under Pescara are described as charging the French line and meeting the French cavalry head one. Regardless of whether they threw javelins or not, from a gaming perspective, it is easier to classify them as regular 'cavalry,' which gives them a chance against their heavier counterparts. 

Inspired by Stuart at Army Royal's research, I am currently painting more cavalry for the French.  This will allow the fielding of two full cavalry 'lances' of three regiments each, each comprised of one Gendarme regiment (with Chevaliers profile), one men-at-arms regiment (heavy cavalry profile), and one 'Archers' regument (demi-lancers, using the cavalry profile). I will then paint another 20 stradiots so Imperial or Italian armies can deploy three regiments heavy cavalry and three regiments regular cavalry.