A Second Italian Wars battle using Pike and Shotte, plus Italian Wars army list thoughts

For our second battle, using Pike and Shotte, I'm going to be ambitious. It will use quite a lot of the possible Italian Wars troop types, and plenty of them. Unit characterisations might change from one scenario to the next as might the odd 'value' but that is for the future. I am very keen on the unit characterisation rules. 

We will play the game using the standard rules, including (against my judgement) the Command Blunder rule because they seem to be so popular that there must be something to be said for them - we'll see. The army lists are a different kettle of fish. In consequence of one army list change I will introduce a new 'special' unit characterisation rule. 

You might notice that their are no Chevauleger type cavalry units in my armies. I do have a few units of these but I hardly ever use them as separate units in a P&S stylee. 

Following the invasion of Italy the French were introduced to light cavalry (in the form of the Stradiots) and having none of their own formed units of chevauleger to fulfil the same role. 

However, although they undoubtedly existed for use as scouts and so forth, I can't find them (in separate units) in the French order of battle for any field battle between 1495 and about 1530 (my chosen era). 

There are units of Gendarmes, Stradiots, mounted crossbowmen and arquebusier but, no chevauleger.

Given that the name Stradiot became a more universal term to describe light cavalry in French service I wonder if, when we see numbers of Stradiots in OOB, this might also include the illusive chevauleger. In any event, they were not used as heavy cavalry as that role was fulfilled by the Gendarmes d'Ordonnance. 

Consequently, I don't field these lesser brands of heavy cavalry as defined in P&S: In my armies, all heavy cavalry are classed as Gendarmes or their equivalent.

My definition of Italian Wars mounted missilery troops is also somewhat different to those described in P&S. 

I do not believe that these units were cavalry in the true sense. I think they were mounted on horses and ponies of dubious quality and were not keen on mixing it hand to hand, preferring to avoid melee and 'skirmish' with crossbows and arquebus from a distance. 

Consequently, to encourage these tactics I have down rated their hand to hand value from 6 to 4 and wish to introduce a new special unit characterisation rule called Cautious. This rule is similar to the rule Eager except that it allows units to make a free movement away from the enemy if they fail their order.

I am also going to reduce the range of the cavalry crossbow to 12" as it would be stirrup or lever crossbow; they did not use an infantryman's arbalest loaded with a windlass. On the subject of crossbows, in P&S the special rule Crossbows does not seem to make sense (paying more not to be able to use closing fire?) so I'm going to choose to treat this as a misprint and charge 2 points less for all troops so armed.

In the future I may class some units of mounted shot (such as Giovanni's 300 mounted arquebusier) as dragoons, giving them the option to dismount. I think this might be very good fun.

I have pondered the definition of Landsknechts as Mercenary since first buying P&S (basing and army lists being first ports of call after buying a rule set). 

That they were mercenaries, and that they could be awkward employees (like the Swiss), is not in doubt but, next to the Swiss, once on the field of battle they were the most reliable pike infantry in the Italian Wars and they invariably fought well. 

I like the rule but I feel it has been badly applied with regards to these troops. I will not rate my Landsknechts as Mercenary unless they are badly disaffected due to lack of pay or some other factor.

My views on the Spanish colunela are well known by followers of this blog. 

The colunela is a single all arms entity. It is not a hotch-potch of individual small units that operate however they (or rather the player) might choose. 

The only way this formation can be effectively represented on the table is as a single unit (IMHO). 

I have to take my hat off to P&S: At last a set of rules flexible enough to do this. Coming at the problem of colunelas from the P&S angle I came up with exactly the solution I had before. My only worry is that I might have produced a 'super unit'. If I have, I will play about with the factors or introduce a new 'characterisation' rule. BTW, my chosen figure scale is 1:40 which makes my 36 figure colunela 1440 men strong - historically they were 1500-ish. My colunela comprise four stands of arquebus (16 figs) backed by two stands of pike (12 figs) and two stands of sword and buckler men (8 figs). Looking at the unit specification in my OOB below, you'll see these units (pictured opposite) are wondrous to behold.

The armies for this Wednesday night's battle are detailed below. All photos are of it set up.

Below are the OOB sheets with the unit details.

FRENCH Commander-in -Chief             Commander Rating 8
Unit	Unit Type	Weapon	Melee value	Shooting value	Morale value	Stamina	Special	Points
FRENCH CAVALRY 1 (4 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [344]
Gendarmes (4 large units)	Heavy Horse (9”)	Lance, mace & sword	12	-	3+	5	Heavy Cavalry D3, Elite 4+	76 [304]
ITALIAN SHOT  (3 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 9	60 [132]
Shot (3 unit)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arquebus (12”)	3	2	4+	3	Mercenary	24 72
SWISS INFANTRY  (6 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [312]
Swiss Pike (4 units)	Foot Pike Block (6”)	Pike	7	-	4+	4	Hedgehog, Elite 4+, Ferocious Charge	44 [176]
Swiss Shot (2 small unit)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arquebus (12”)	2	1	4+	2		23 [46]
Heavy Gun (2 guns)	Artillery (nil)	Cannon	1	3-2-1	5+	2		25 [50]
FRENCH CAVALRY 2  (4 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [234]
Gendarmes (2 units)	Heavy Horse (9”)	Lance, mace & sword	10	-	3+	4	Heavy Cavalry D3, Elite 4+	70 [140]
Argulets (2 units)	Light Horse (12”)	Crossbow (12”)	4	1	5+	3	Cautious (Free move to retire), Mercenary, Crossbow	27 [54]
FRENCH INFANTRY  (5 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 7	20 [130]
Picardy Pike (2 units)	Foot Pike Block (6”)	Pike	5	-	6+	4		25 [50]
Gascon Crossbows (3 units)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arbalest (18”)	2	2	6+	3	Crossbow	20 (60)
TOTAL								1257

SPANISH WITH VENETIAN ALLIES Commander-in -Chief             Commander Rating 8
Unit	Unit Type	Weapon	Melee value	Shooting value	Morale value	Stamina	Special	Points
SPANISH CAVALRY (5 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [308]
Gendarmes (3 units)	Heavy Horse (9”)	Lance, mace & sword	10	-	3+	4	Heavy Cavalry D3, Elite 4+	66 [198]
Genitors (2 units)	Light Horse (12”)	Javelin(6”),  sword & shield	6	1	5+	3	Fire and Evade	35 [70]
SPANISH INFANTRY  (4 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [294]
Colunela (4 large units)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arquebus 12" / Pike / Sword & buckler	5	2	4+	4	Reliable, Pike Company, Swordsmen D3	59 [237]
Light Gun (1 guns)	Artillery (6”l)	Cannon (24”)	1	3-2-1	5+	2		17 [17]
LANDSKNECHTS  (8 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [311]
Landsknecht Pike (3 large units)	Foot Pike Block (6”)	Pike	8	-	4+	5	Bad War, Hedgehog	40 [120]
Landsknecht Shot (3 small unit)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arquebus (12”)	2	2	5+	2	Bad War	17 [51]
Mounted Arquebus (2 units)	Light Horse (12”)	Arquebus (12”)	4	1	5+	3	Cautious (Free move to retire), Mercenary	29 [58]
Medium Gun (2 guns)	Artillery (nil)	Cannon (48”)	1	3-2-1	5+	2		21 [42]
VENETIANS  (8 units)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Command Rating 8	40 [304]
Gendarmes (3 units)	Heavy Horse (9”)	Lance, mace & sword	10	-	3+	4	Heavy Cavalry 1	56 [168]
Stradiots (2 units)	Light Horse (12”)	Javelin (6”), sword & shield	6	1	5+	3	Fire and Evade	35 [70]
Venetian Shot (3 unit)	Foot Battle Line (6”)	Arquebus (12”)	3	2	5+	3	Mercenary	22 [66]
TOTAL								1256