Thirst of War and Blood - Italian Wars

Peter and I have started to work on a new set of rules for fighting battles set during the Italian Wars period. Last night we started play testing the basics. The rules have a working title: Thirst of War and Blood. The title comes from a satirising of Europe, in 1522, by Erasmus.
  "These are the instruments, you must know, that are still irritating Kings to thirst of War and Blood under the splendid notion of Empire and Glory: and with the same art and industry they inflame the spirits of the Nobility likewise and of the Common People."

The test game I set up uses most troop types and terrain. It is clear that the rules will be quite an easy task to get right as most of the donkey work on basic mechanisms has already been done for the 'Ager' series - melee with pointy sticks doesn't change much over time! It is more a matter of giving the rules a distinctive period feel; which will be harder but rewarding.

Here are some shots of the battle. The troops are on newly sized bases, but the bases are unfinished - thankfully they are not, being dull brown, too stark.

The French are attacking the armed camp of the Spanish and their Papal Allies. The Spanish are rushing reinforcements to the camp.

The Spanish reinforcements arrive just in the nick of time.

The French flanking attack appears - Medici is here!


French pike assault the outer defences and break into the camp before being checked by a newly arrived brigaded coronela.

The battle at the barricades and ditch is in full swing. The French Landslnechts are being held back under muderous fire from artillery and Spanish arquebusier. The battle is in the balance.

Peter and I will finish this battle next week. I hope you like the look of things to come.

Ager Proelii - Publication announcement

AGER PROELII

Ager Proelii (Field of Battle, or more accurately Field of Engagement) is a set of period specific war game rules for the Punic Wars. The original working title was Ager Sanguinis Punic Wars. The rules follow the base mechanics of Piquet Inc.'s Field of Battle by Brent Oman, some very neat ideas from Classic Piquet by Bob Jones, and some ideas of my own.  

Ager Proelii will be published by Miniature Wargames in issue 345  (January 2012). The rules come as an advertisement free, 20 page centrefold pull out with cover page and card stock for scanning / photocopying. A full colour set of glossy rules for under a fiver - that's what I call a Christmas gift!

If you liked Ager Sanguinis (a rule set for the early Crusades) that were published by Miniature Wargames in 2009 / 2010 you'll like this set too (it seems that many of you did, as this edition is no longer available in hard copy). If your interest is in the Crusades, rather than the Punic Wars, but you liked Ager Sanguinis this edition of Miniature Wargames is not to missed. Many of the new (and better) mechanics, especially for game set up and melee, are easily transferable. Peter and I used these new mechanics in our recent Crusades campaign to very good effect.

Master for a Ravenna war cart

At Ravenna the Spanish and their Papal allies deployed somewhere between 30 and 70 war carts. These had been devised by Pedro Navarro. They were armed with heavy arquebus and were fitted with defencive spear points and scythes. From the description I have (given in F. Taylor's The Art of War in Italy 1494 - 1529) I have made the following model.

 

 

The wheels are by Irregular Miniatures, but the rest is constructed from Miliput and various odd bits of tube an metal. I will make a mould from RTV rubber so I can cast a few in white metal. The piece will be cast (without wheels) in three pieces, possibly four if I finish and fit the wooden 'gun shield'. I'll buy the wheels from Irregular Miniatures.

The gun shield is almost finished, but I'm not sure if I'll add it as I rather like the model as it is here.

Playing about with basing

In an attempt to vary my fare I've begun to seriously think about how to rebase my Italian Wars collection. Here are some figures newly mounted on MDF bases. The bases have not been finished because I'm still not entirely sure; I have not decided how to base most of the infantry armed with missile weapons. 

All stands have a frontage of 45mm. Infantry stands are square. Close order cavalry stands are 60mm deep. Skirmish order cavalry stands are 90mm deep - you'll be surprised by the result I think.

A brigade of Spanish coronelas.
This one is eight stands strong. Four arquebus stands backed by two pike and two sword and buckler stands - in this case a total of 35 figures (the sword and buckler casualty takes up double the room of a live one!). This represents 1800 men (3 - 4 coronelas). 

Landsknecht pike square
16 stands of Landsknect pike for a total of 96 pikemen. This represents about 5000 men.



Gendarmes

This is a typical four stand unit of cavalry representing about 400 heavy cavalry.

Stradiots

A typical four stand unit of light cavalry representing 400 men. The unit has the same frontage as a heavy cavalry unit with the same numbers. This is because I believe light cavalry formed up in a 'cloud' rather than a regimented skirmish line; if they came to grips they would 'bunch'.

The photo below shows a heavy and light cavalry unit in combat. I think this works.

Blog news.

Poll

What would you like to see here? I have not asked you all recently, in fact the last time I asked there were only a couple of dozen (if that) people following this blog. Since then the numbers have mushroomed somewhat. Time for a poll!

Punic Wars Project

My summer has been a whirlwind this year, and for the first time in many a year I have fallen behind in my project work - namely the Punic War armies. I'm a few months behind schedule. I have only painted 1800 figures out of the 2100 or so I had to paint by the end of this month (still not bad for two years work). In the past I have been very strict on deadlines but, as there were events occurring beyond my control (including the suicide of my sister), I have decided to give myself a break. The project has a new deadline. It will finish before the end of March 2012. That should be enough time to finish the Spanish army (approx 350 done, 200 to go) and the last bits of the African side of the Carthaginian army (approx 270 done, 100 to go) plus some odds and sods including terrain.

Ager Sanguinis Punic Wars - Ager Proelii

Ager Sanguinis Punic Wars is currently at Miniature Wargames. All of the writing and photos have been done and handed on to Andrew Hubback. I think it will be published in the next couple of months - probably for Christmas. This is a full set of rules weighing in at 12,000 words (there or there abouts) that are to be published as one article (centrefold pull out) with cover page and card stock. It will be published under the title AGER PROELII (Field of Battle). If you liked Ager Sanguinis for the Crusades this is well worth picking up for upgrading that set of rules with some new and interesting ideas, many of which Peter and I used when fighting our recent Crusades campaign on the Isle of Fob. 

Next Year

Next year I will be project free. In the last six years I will have painted over 5000 28mm figures for myself plus several other bits besides. This does not mean I'll be idle though. My plans for next year (and the year after?) include the following:

7th Armoured Division November 41 at a ratio of 1:5 in 15mm (figs purchased).

15th Panzer Division November 1941 at a ratio of 1:5 in 15mm (figs purchased).

Seven Years War collection upgrade, including a total rebasing and increase from 16 to 24 man units, plus the painting of about 500 new figures (figs purchased) to beef up the unit numbers. This collection was created in my pre-project days.

Italian War collection upgrade. This is mainly a rebasing job, but somehow I've managed to pick up about 300 extra figs on ebay over the last four years so a bit of new painting.

Ancient Naval in 1:600. Just a few Xyston bits and pieces to do for this including about 20 ships to bring the fleet up to 120 vessels. I actually have to put my hand in my pocket for this one.

Project planning: Peninsular War. I'll be starting to collect the figures for this shortly. My plan is to part fund the collection with some article writing.

Thank You

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement in the comments section, not to mention the page hits every month; which are currently averaging over 8000. They have kept me at it this year - especially at some of the hard parts.

James Roach

Famous last words - Isle of Fob campaign ends

The Isle of Fob campaign ended last night during campaign map play. Following an end of turn double on the first initiative roll of the night, Peter elected to play the first three initiative points he won first in the hope of drawing a card to raise revenue (National Will Points) but the card was not there. I played two Lull cards back to back and Peter won the second; he played his Lull card - big mistake - and lost it. I played a Tactical Advantage card declaring it as Nation Morale, which you can do on a won Lull. But then Peter rolled his blue D12 scoring 11 - "Only a 12 will do then" I said.

Peter read the rule regarding failed nation morale whilst at zero national will points and scoring odd: The nation sues for peace and total victory is awarded to the other side. The Seljuks, on their last legs, had somehow bluffed the Franks into evacuating the Isle of Fob.

VICTORY!!!! VICTORY!!!! VICTORY!!!! VICTORY!!!!......I could go on.......

Mediterranean church completed

Well, it works for me!

 

BTW, the tombs are movable. They are for dividing the church yard into separate 'village sections / deployment areas'. I did part of the yard unturfed; I fancy putting a statue / fountain here at some point in the future; and it breaks up a large area of 'grounds' quite nicely.

It was painted with artists yellow ochre acrylic (from a tube), ink washed in very dark brown, then dry brushed with shades of magnolia emulsion paint. The roof was painted with enamels. Stained glass, brickwork and doors were painted with inks.

Italian Wars / Peninsular War buildings

OK, so you've seen this building constructed, but now it is finished. I like 'modular' village / town sections where the space to put the troops (yard or garden) is built as part of the model - any troops in the yard count as defending the whole section; this makes fighting for built up areas easy to work out.

Now you've seen this one finished, here are some more at the built but need finishing stage. The first are all constructed using Warbases building blanks with additional balsa and Will's Pantiles. The last building, the church, is of my own design but makes use of Warbases windows and doors.

A residential building, possibly the inn.

Another residential building.

 

The Forge. A simple building with bags of space out front. Not all buildings need to be complex. 

 

A stable block. I have not decided if I should use this as a small building on its own or add it to a future building complex - so it has no yard.

 

This church is loosely based on a picture I found of a church with a very large tower and small naive. It also had the pillar supported balcony on the front. The church had a flat roof (possibly) and the bell tower was more ornate at the top.

Scale wise, the tower is 24cm tall. The churchyard is just over a foot square.



I reckon two or three more buildings will see me for all of my 'horse and musket' Mediterranean needs.

Campaign Report

The campaign map shows the positions and situation of the armies just before what Peter and I are now referring to as the end game. The situation map at the end of this post highlights just how bad the situation has got for the Seljuks (who have had to evacuate many town garrisons just to form an army after the disaster at Barinaeum) and for the Franks (who's national will is close to collapsing following the winter battle at Ghazzan).

At the coastal battle of Barinaeum the Seljuk army was smashed. Following this battle the Seljuks came close to folding during subsequent campaign action.

At the winter battle at Ghazzan, with the last resources available (and at zero National Will), the Seljuks managed to rescue the situation. The national will of the Franks was shattered and the new Malik of Fob was given new hope of final victory.

The campaign could end during the next session of campaign action. If the Franks can rally their forces and get through to the next 'tax collection' they will be in a winning position as the Seljuks have virtually no tax base left; the Seljuks must force the Franks to sue before then by forcing a surrender during 'map play'.

Building blanks by Warbases

At Fiasco on Sunday I picked up some laser cut MDF building blanks by Warbase.co.uk

These come as one of 4 shapes, all of which will fit together to make more complex buildings - ideal for Italian Wars, etc. All of the buildings come with doors and windows; at first I thought the patterns on the pieces were printed - but they are not, they are laser etched.






 

 

 With some bits of balsa (chimney and balcony) and some Will's pantiles I knocked this one up as a tester. From memory, the smallest building is £1.50, the largest £3.50. The building below was made of a two storey section (£3.50) and a 'tower' (£2.50). At this price it is not worth the time and effort to cut out the pieces from scratch, especially the windows and shutters.