Continuing on from my previous post, Curt's Milanese had attempted to barrel straight into the village without bothering to form up first and had gotten themselves spread out as a result. Sylvain's French had opted to deploy first and the attendant delays meant that Curt was able to get his leading troops into the village in good time.
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| Sylvain's left wing unit the "Archers" actually a heavy cavalry unit) facing Curt's Gendarmes and infantry (swordsmen with red shield then Swiss with Halberds) while Curt's missile troops man the village. The rest of the French are formed up to the right while the Milanese continue to straggle up in the background). |
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| Milanese Gendarmes on the left, Swords in the centre and Curt's Swiss. |
The next few command rolls essentially decided the day. After some ummmm... cautious deployment and backstopping, Sylvain tried to charge his Archers at the Swordsmen. The command roll only let them make one move and thus left them in the open between the lines. Curt in his turn charged the Archers with his Gendarmes, easily rolling enough to contact. The heavier cavalry won out, pushing the Archers back and then breaking them with their Sweeping advance.
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| Sylvain looks resigned to his fate as the Archers get swept away. His pikemen in the background have now failed two attempts to form a hedgehog formation (you want a Vole? formation sire?). Otherwise things look orderly on the French side. |
In the meantime, Sylvain tried missile fire with his cannon and two crossbow units (which outranged Curt's arquebusiers). The cannon was ineffective but the Crossbows managed to disorder the Swiss, requiring them to halt and redress ranks for a turn. Curt but his missile troops into the village, including his mounted crossbows since he feared they would be fast versus the heavier French cavalry. I let Curt dismount, which was contrary to the rules but suited my interpretation. I may look at treating these troops like ECW dragoons in the future.
With the Halberdiers halted, Curt charged a unit of swordsmen into the pike block who had now formed up in hedgehog. Meanwhile the Milanese Gendarmes bypassed the infantry and charged into the flank of the French Gendarmes. The French were able to turn to face but not able to countercharge.
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| The swordsmen hit the hedgehog on the left while Gendarmes clash to their right. Bloodstains mark the hits and show that the French came off worst. The yellow market on the roofs show where the dismounted crossbows went. |
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| Another angle of the Gendarmes in combat. Another broken cavalry unit with a Milanese sweeping advance into the crossbows. In the background Curt is moving arquebusiers onto a difficult hill on Sylvain's flank. |
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| The infantry fight. Hedgehog gives advantages against infantry, but sadly not against foot troops. The swordsmen have a +D3 to combat resolution vs foot and in this case rolled up. The blades got into the block and broke the pikemen. |
That is pretty much it. Sylvain had lost 3 of his 6 infantry and cavalry units, and had 1 of his 2 battalias broken. The remaining French men retreated back home while the Milanese tested the local Chianti.
