On May the 14th near Agnadello shortly after 1509

This time the league of Whisky was refighting the Venetian‘s Waterloo at Agnadello at 1509.

We played Pike& Shotte with some changes and upgrades. Me and Bart and Donald fought for the French King while Jack and Campbell and Michael (jumping in for Bill) for Serenissima, and of course Angus as the Lagoon CinC! It was a jolly good show and had the same outcome of the historical original.

I switched the overall command to Alviano and gave Pitigliano a miserable 7 as staff rating, to simulate his indecisiveness. Other than that  I gave them more Stradioti than were in the whole Balkan. Then the French advanced, Donald was the King and CinC and Bart had all the cavalry he could wish for! I led my Landsknechts into the middle and sunk them there as a hedgehog with some crossbows drawing all Venetian fire at me - but to no avail. Because if you want to break a block you have to have something to sweep it away, but the Italians thought they could defend the hills and that would be it. Far from it!

The Stradioti who could have hunted down our artillery "caracoled" my landsknechts more or less in vain. The Italian Pike was 90% of the game static on the hill, as and when they came down, their Horse were already run into the mud. The French just fought with their Heavy horse together with the shotte! Crossbow bolts from the Gascogne disrupted the Romagnol Pike block that sent the Venetian flank into the Adria, from then on it was almost historical!

(Our) Renaissance battles can unravel very quickly and if one leaves one combat arm standing around it will come back at you hauntingly. Its almost too difficult to work them together, but it pays off when they do!!!

But the best thing is when you are winning by doing nothing!

Hardware:
Minis painted and provided by me, Angus Jack and Donald (but moulded and sold by Perrys, Foundry and Old Glory), hills and terrain by me and the club, flags by Flags of War, Pete‘s Flags and myself, Pavises decorations by myself, courtesy of Jack and Angus finishing.

View from the Black bunch, mercenaries of the French King

And their Venetian opponents, Romagnols Pikers and the crossbows behind Pavises 

The Balkan Stradioti and Italian Militia Pikes

The Italian Horse moves, Pitigliano marches! 

The initial deployment, pretty much, with the golden Markus lion in the back

The wild Albanians attacking!

The Kings Landsknechts and the Gascoigne Crossbow form a Hedgehog 

Serenissimas allerlei is rumbling forward

While the Italian centre stays on the hill and fires on 

The Stradioti part the French right in the centre

The Albanians surround the Landsknechte

The Lanza Spezi are forming 

The Gendarmes d‘Ordonnance and the Archers are gaining momentum 

French and Italian Gendarmes for the King!

Meanwhile in the centre The Gascongnacs are shooting their bolts

And are disordering the Romagnol Pike block right in front of the Kings Archers 

The Gendarmes of both sides clash!

French Nobility against Venetians 

French Archers crashing merciless into and disordered pike block ... 

On the French left similar the Gendarmes sweeping up the Italian Horse

Mid-battle with all the clashes

The Romagnol Pike is destroyed, vade Serenissima!

Slowly the Venetians are pushed back ... 

The Stradioti disorder the landsknechts but leave them to be ... 

On the left flank the same, the stradioti pepper but they do not attack 

The Venetian right flank is falling!

The last fight with some French Archers 

The Centre does not move! And faces all shots ... 

Point of view from the Italian hills ... let the Pike march! 

Maybe with a little help of the Fugger ... 

the Light guns of Lorraine aim at the last Venetian positions 

Still the Stradioti ... in vain ...

At the end the King is still standing

The original deployment

Poco Pavia - matti Imperiale!

I promised you Swiss so, ...

This time it was Pavia, or a smaller version of it. So we scrapped the whole park and exchanged the castle Mirabello for a Landsknecht camp protected by gabbions. The French Cavalieri on the left of the light woods (pike blocks could pass them), the Bande Neri coming up from "south" and the Berner and Schwyzer from the left. The Imperials are just through the breached wall and the fog has lifted. Donald played the French (because he was late and deserved it) and me and Angus played the Imperials.

The first two turns were rather shameful for both commanders, as a lot of failures and blunders kept the armies mere stumbling fowards. Some Argulets bashed heads with Stradioti rather uneventful. The Imperials finally pushed out of their bottle neck and attacked the Swiss - and were hacked to death. The French King had to rather a troublesome time to get his Knights on the table again after blunder and blunder again. 

Suddenly the French Halberdiers entered the camp and claimed it - where as the Spanish Swordsmen jumped over the fence (sorry gabbions) and eradicated the French and claimed the camp for the Kaiser Karl V, hurrah!

Meanwhile the second gigantic Landsknecht block managed to charge the menacing Swiss with their Spanish allies. An very Bad War (hack and slay!) ensued and the Swiss were splattered round the field.

The Black Bande entered the camp and the badly wounded Spanish could only retreat - little "Mirabello" was again in French hands! At this point the French cavalry with the guns made a rather unwelcome appearance at the "southern" table edge - the French were back! The guns in front of the Imperial Men-at-arms! Attack,  Freunde der Nachtmusik! But they stopped just within grapeshot range ... hm.

... and at this point Donald had to pull the plug and we hide the surely ensuing massacre, turning the German noblesse into an heap of "Blech"(tin) and blood, behind a noble curtain of gentleness.

The French lost more men, but got kept the objective (the camp - our 3rd rate "Castle Mirabello") so even if Angus claimed the morale victory over the Swiss, we surly can say it was a well deserved French victory.

A wonderful "Gemetzel" a la carte.

Miniatures by me and Donald and scenario by accident.

Angus view on this:
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%20112.htm

The initial set up, French to the left, down and right.

View from the Black Band

View from north of the French Cavalry line

The imperial bottle neck left of the woods

The Spanish are supporting the Imperial advance

A half pint of IPA  featuring as Torre del Gallo

The French are coming!!!

The initial clash of the pikes

First skirmishers in the camp

The Imperial push forward and enter the camp and slaughter the "Halberdiers" (played here by Doppelsöldner)

The initial Imperials attack against the ever victorious Swiss!

Mayhem in the camp 

But the Swiss sent one large pike block of Landsknechte into the ground -  dead.

Th Black Band enters the camp

The French "Scharfmetzen" make piece meal out of the Imperial Light Cavalry 

The united Imperials charge the Swiss!

The Landsknechte suffer a Bad War indeed!

... But sent the Swiss home or better into the mud! The battlefield is ours

but the "Bande Neri" has got the camp.