Cerignola 28th April 1503

Historical Background

This battle took place during the war for Naples, between France and Spain, early in the Great Italian Wars.

Following their defeat at Barletta in July 1502 it was the French, under the Duke of Nemours, who took the offensive in the following spring. His intention was to use the usual combination of gendarmerie and Swiss pikes to run down the Spanish in one determined rush – it was a tactic that the French had achieved much with.

The Spanish commander was Gonzalo de Cordoba, victor of Barletta. He was well informed of enemy movements, and marched his army 16 miles inland from Barletta to await the approach of the French who were coming up quickly. He stopped his army, in the early afternoon, at the foot of vine covered slope beneath the small town of Cerignola.

In the short time available before the arrival of the French Gonzalo set his troops to widen and deepen a small stream at the foot of the slope and use the spoil to build an earthwork. The earthwork was strengthened with vines and stakes grubbed up from the vineyards above.

Gonsalvo placed the 2500 Landsknechts, which had been sent by Emperor Maximilian, in the centre of his line. These had been recently placed under the command of Fabricio Zamudio, an experienced Basque leader.

Gonsalvo placed his Spanish infantry to either side of them.

These fell under the command of two brothers: Diego and Pizarro Paredes.

These infantry had recently been organised into new formations, with a permanent command structure. This pattern would become standard future armies. He organised them into Colunelas: from which we get the word Colonel. Spanish colunelas were composed of arquebus, pike, and sword and bucklermen, in a ratio of roughly 2:2:1.

These were supported by knots of heavily armoured knights and other men-at-arms.

 

He set his small train of artillery (13 light guns under Pedro Navarro) at the top of the slope and sent out his Genitors (light cavalry) to worry and delay the Duke of Nemours.

Late in the afternoon, Nemours arrived before Cerignola. He had not reconnoitered the Spanish position because of the interference of the Spanish light horsemen. He was completely unaware of the presence of the earthwork before him. It was late in the day. The French held a very quarrelsome council of war. Nemours favored deferring the action until the next day in order to rest his tired soldiers before the fight. Many of the French captains, led by Yves d’Algre, urged an immediate attack.

The Battle of Cerignola would be unlike the Battle of Ravenna nine years later: where French artillery, facing a similar deployment, decided the day.

Before his artillery had come up into position,  Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, gave in to his junior officers and ordered his army to deploy echeloned from right to left, for an immediate attack.

 

On the refused left, he placed four hundred knights and the bulk of his light cavalry. This, the rearward, fell under the command of Yves d'Alegre. 

To the right of his echeloned line he placed the bulk of his 2000 heavy cavalry and some stradiots. This, the vanguard, fell under the command of Louis d'Ars.

In the centre Nemours deployed his mainward. This was made up of 3500 Swiss and a similar number of Gascon and other infantry. They fell under the command of Tambien Chandieu.

Late in the day, 28th April 1503, as the shadows lengthened, everything was set for one of the most tactically important battles in history. It would demonstrate the power of firearms and the vital importance, being 'the great leveller', they would play in future wars.

Deployment Map

Spanish Order of Battle

Commander-in-Chief: Gonzalo de Cordoba (D12)
Army Die: D10
Morale chips: 32
Characterisation cards: Stratagem 1 (see below) / Like Hail (Missilery Up1)

Spanish Left:
Gonzalo de Cordoba (D12)*
1 unit of 8 Genitors (CD 10 / DD 8 / Skirmish)

Spanish Left Centre:
Diego de Paredes (D10)
2 units each of 36 Spanish infantry in colunela (CD 10 / DD 8 / Brittle melee)

Spanish Left Centre:
Gonzalo de Cordoba (D12)
1 unit of 8 Spanish Knights (CD 10 / DD 8)

Artillery Left Centre:
Pedro Navarro (D10)
2 units each of 1 light gun and crew. (CD 6 / DD 6 / Brittle)

Spanish Centre:
Fabricio Zamudio (D12)
1 unit of 54 Landsknecht pike (CD 10 / DD 8)

Spanish Right Centre:
Pizarro de Paredes (D10)
2 units each of 36 Spanish infantry in colunela (CD 10 / DD 8 / Brittle melee)
1 unit of 8 Italian Condottiere men- at-arms (CD 10 / DD 6)

Spanish Right:
Gonzalo de Cordoba (D12)*
1 unit of 8 Genitors (CD 10 / DD 8 / Skirmish)
1 unit of 8 Italian mounted crossbow (CD8 / DD 6 / Skirmish)

*No command figure present. Gonzalo de Cordoba commanding by default.

Special rules and notes:

The Spanish player’s mission is to hold the earthwork against French attack until darkness falls, and the French are forced to withdraw. Darkness will fall after the completion of two full turns. Turns ending on an equally rolled initiative are ignored regardless of the number of cards turned.

The Stratagem 1 sequence card allows Gonsalvo de Cordoba to move, and if within command distance, rally 2UI and the vexation of an infantry unit that has suffered due to the explosion of munitions at the entrenchments. The Spanish player does so with the words "Courage, don't you see the first victory beacon is lit?"

French Order of Battle

Commander-in-Chief: Louis d’Armegnac, Duke of Nemours (D10)
Army Die: D10
Morale chips: 36
Characterisation cards: Stratagem 1 (see below) / Stratagem 2 (see below) / Momentum March (Infantry add 1 move)

French left (Rear):
Yves d'Algres (D10)
1 unit of 8 French Gendarmes (CD 10 / DD 8 / Elite)
2 unit each of French mounted crossbow (CD 8 / DD 6 / Skirmish)

French Centre (Main):
También Chandieu (D10)
1 unit of 108 Swiss pike (CD 10 / DD 8 / Elite)
4 units each of 12 Gascon crossbow (CD 8 / DD6 / Skirmish / Brittle)
1 unit of 54 French pike (CD 8 / DD 6 / Brittle)

French Right (Van):
Louis d'Ars (D10)
4 units each of 8 French Gendarmes (CD 10 / DD 8 / Elite)
1 unit of 8 Stradiots (CD 10 / DD 6 / Skirmish).

French Off-Table:
Louis d’Armegnac, Duke of Nemours (D10)*
3 units each of 1 medium gun and crew (CD 8 / DD 6 / Brittle)

*No command figure present. Duke of Nemours commanding by default.

Special rules & notes
To make this scenario work, the French must be forced to attack in a determined manner. To ensure this, the French player's victory conditions are brutal. The French player must have destroyed or routed at least three defending infantry units, or have thrown every enemy infantry away from the entrenchments after the completion of two game turns. Turns ending on an equally rolled initiative are ignored regardless of the number of cards turned.

The Stratagem 1 sequence card will cause a single enemy infantry unit manning the entrenchments, and in contact with a French unit, to become vexed and lose 2UI. This represents the explosion of munitions at the earthwork during the melee.

The Stratagem 2 sequence card indicates the arrival of French artillery into the field (historically it never arrived and was captured on the road after the battle). For the artillery to arrive the French player must make a successful check using Army Die Vs Army Die. The artillery must deploy together; it must not be deployed within 12” of an enemy unit; it must be deployed within 18” of the French baseline.

Below, for those who are just here for the porn, are three more shots of the set up.

Drepana at Fiasco 2012 report.

 The Roman fleet, in some disorder, is rowing for Drepana.

The Carthaginian fleet is almost completely out of the harbour and deployed, menacingly, facing the Romans.

Carthaginians, on your marks, get set....... 

"I can see the Carthaginians from 'ere!" 

Rolling 'evens' on cruise cards the Romans manage to face the Carthaginians before impact, but their line is disjointed and confused.

The special scenario rule element of the scenario worked very well indeed. The Special 1 card was the last Roman card turned on turn 1.

Mixing the squadrons also proved to be a nice tool.

From the Carthaginian left, the clash in the centre. Carthage is winning. Pulcher's ship is already a casualty.

Rome claws its way back into the fight. Honours are about even. Both sides are close to achieving the relevant casualties for victory - though the Romans will still need to escape with five ships.

This was the window of opportunity for the Romans.









Disaster for the Romans. Their vessels are holed and sinking or, even worse, holed and on fire! Carthage cannot fail to win. 

And the situation is the same across the battle area.

End game. Carthage is the Victor.

Peter has won two battles in a row now. He must be stopped! 













As for the show, it was not a bad one. It was busy-ish in the morning but died after lunch. I'm not a fan of this venue, and I'm not sure I'll do another game there with shiny sea: the lighting reflected from the table enough to give you snow blindness. I apologise for the reflections in the photos; it was all I could do to not have vessels disappear into 'hot spots'.

2nd Hispilis and the end of the 2nd Punic War

The Roman onslaught in full swing..... 

...and isolated Punic units become surrounded....

....and then calamity strikes Hasdrubals ranks. An outflanked elephants rout through three units of Spanish infantry - they cause untold chaos and casualties....... 

....The Romans quickly exploit the situation.....  

....the Carthaginian centre crumbles under the constant pressure despite some gallant resistance..... 

The Carthaginian centre is almost destroyed..... 

....and their right is looking flakey and vulnerable to combined infantry and cavalry charges......












The following shots show the position of the remaining Carthaginian units at the end of turn two. Hasdrubal has run out of morale chips and is handing them, hand over fist, to Scipio.

Hasdrubal is beaten. The game is ended and Hasdrubal accepts a defeat by 'double envelopment'. The battle, in 'battle time' had lasted less than two hours. Consequently, battle casualties were remarkably light. But woe worth the day, Hasdrubal's force of 13 CUs was totally destroyed in the following retreat. Carthaginian resistance in Spain is all but ended at a single stroke.

The Last two campaign cards are immediately played to take political control. Hannibal is especially sneaky, and manages to take control of another province in Italy with political guile!

At the end of the campaign turn this is the situation.

Carthage controls much of Italy and Sicily but is about to lose control of all Spain - she simply does not have an army to prevent its fall without evacuating from Italy. Neither Rome or Carthage has the will to pursue the war and deputations are dispatched to seek an honourable peace.

The following photo shows the peace agreement. Scipio evacuates Spain in return for Hannibal evacuating from Italy. Sicily is ceded by Rome. In return, Campania (Capua and Neopolis) are to be excluded from any alliance with Carthage - they must go it alone and Rome will surely take its revenge upon them! Carthage gives up its right to expand into Massilia. Carthage gains the Balearic Islands. The biggest sticking point in negotiations was the fate of Corsica Sardinia; possession being nine tenths of the law, Rome kept her mid Mediterranean islands.

The Second Punic War is over, but..............

The Ilkley Lads' Fiasco 2012 Game

As per the last couple of convention games I have done, I will not be running off hard copy handouts for Fiasco 2012. The following is a copy of the at table 'game information sheets' for attendees to read if they are interested enough. I believe this is a far more useful, satisfying way of imparting game information - single sheet handouts do not have the capacity to carry the relevant information. Small slips with this web address will be available at table-side.

The Sicily map, which I have edited in MSpaint, is from the Wikimedia Commons site.

Drepana 249 BC

Background

The Battle of Drepana was a naval battle fought between Rome and Carthage during the First Punic War. This war was largely fought for the domination of Sicily and the arterial Mediterranean trade routes that it controlled. By 250 BC Rome had confined the Carthaginians to the western tip of the island.
In 250BC the victory at Panormus, where the bulk of the Carthaginian land forces on Sicily were destroyed, encouraged Rome to besiege the last major Carthaginian stronghold of Lilybaeum.

Rome’s fleet was to blockade Lilybaeum and prevent reinforcement and supply by sea whilst land forces invested the town. However, despite the increasing level of Roman naval acumen they were still no match for the Carthaginians on the sea. This was proved time and time again by the Carthaginian navy operating out of Drepana which, in broad daylight, managed not only to resupply Lilybaeum, but deliver 10,000 reinforcements and evacuate the besieged army’s cavalry horses as well. For the Roman’s this was nothing short of a humiliation. Something had to be done.


Publius Claudius Pulcher, one of the consuls for 249 BC, decided to mount a surprise attack on the Carthaginian naval base at Drepana. If successful, the loss of the Carthaginian fleet would put additional pressure on Rome’s prime target. Claudius made all the right preparations for the battle. He reinforced his rowers (many of whom had died in the siege lines) with fresh ones from Italy; he manned his ships with most experienced and willing marines the army could offer; he put to sea at night to avoid being spotted.

From the moment the fleet put to sea things started to go wrong. The fleet, of around 120 ships, hugged the coastline, but in the darkness the ships lost contact with each other and their line astern formation became jumbled and confused. When daylight came, even Claudius’ flagship found itself out of position at the very rear of straggling line. As the disorganised Roman fleet approached the element of surprise was lost when it was spotted by shore patrols some way down the coast. Adherbal, the Punic admiral, at once manned his ships, bolstered by large numbers of mercenary volunteers acting as marines, and set sail out of the wide mouthed harbour just before the Romans arrived.

When the first Roman ships entered the harbour mouth the last of the Punic ships were already out to sea, rounding two small islands opposite the harbour mouth, and sailing parallel to the coast, but further out to sea than the Roman fleet. Claudius tried to bring some kind of order to his fleet by signalling his ships to concentrate and form a line of battle. This entailed those ships entering the harbour to turn around, a process that caused even more chaos. Before Claudius could restore any order whatsoever, Adherbal was already forming his 130 ships into a formidable battle line in preparation for an attack.

Wargaming the Battle

The deployment map shows the Roman fleet in three scattered squadrons of five heavy quinqueremes each (A – C). Claudius’ flagship (X) is towards the rear of the Roman line astern. There are 16 ships in total. It is doubtful that the Romans were still using the corvus at this time but a lack of evidence does not prove absence.
Adherbal (X) commands four squadrons (G - J) of four heavy quinqueremes each. There are 17 ships in total.

Rules
This battle is being fought using Fleet of Battle rules published in Wargames Illustrated (# 278) December 2010. The scenario requires two special scenario rules, otherwise the rules will be played as standard:

1) Each fleet only has one flagship for all three squadrons. This has been done to emphasise the relative position and effect of the opposing admirals, and because of the relatively small fleet size.
2) The Roman player may not use Turn cards to turn ships that are not in the Entrance to Drepana Harbour square, until the Special 1 card has been played.

Fleet scale is one ship model represents approximately 7.5 ships
Rome
Trained Fleet Command: D10
Trained Fleet Deck: Replace 2 Lull Cards with 1 Squadron Action, 1 Tactical Advantage.

Squadron Quality 
Command: Poor D8
Ramming and Raking: Trained
Boarding: Seasoned
Seamanship: Trained

Carthage
Trained Fleet Command: D10
Trained Fleet Deck: Replace 3 Lull Cards with 2 Squadron Action, 1 Tactical Advantage.

Squadron G & I Quality
Command: G & I Seasoned D12, H & J Trained D10.
Ramming and Raking: Veteran
Boarding: Seasoned
Seamanship: Seasoned


Victory Conditions
To win, if the Roman ships are not equipped with corvus they must sink or capture 5 or more enemy ships and escape with 5 ships. If equipped with corvus they must sink or capture 7 or more enemy ships and escape with 5 ships.

Carthage must sink or capture 11 Roman ships to win.

Any other result is a draw

Models on display
The models on display are 1:600 scale. They were all produced by Xyston Miniatures. They were all painted in enamels by James Roach (Olicana Painting Service). The sea boards were kindly lent to the Ilkley Lads, for this action, by Brian Hicks of Leeds Wargames Club - thank you Brian.

I will add photos of the game ASAP after Fiasco. Unfortunately, I cannot set it up on my own table at present due to the ongoing 2nd Battle of Hispilis.

Bibliography
The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy (Cassel)
The Rise of the Roman Empire by Polybius (Penguin)
Various 'Wiki' and similar websites.

The 2nd Battle of Hispilis 204 BC

Hasdrubal opened hostilities with an attack on his right wing.....

...and an attack on his left. 

The cavalry attack on the right was inconclusive; that on the left was largely a matter of skirmishing by Numidians.

Scrotivius (aka 'The Old Scrote') writes of the battle's next phase: 

"Scipio gave the order. The Roman infantry, with blare of trumpet, went forward, en masse, without regard for themselves or the Gods: They went to do or die."

The Roman centre reaches its mark 

The Carthaginians launch several devastating countercharges along the line. 

Scrotivius again:

"But the enemy, undaunted, charged with war cries so fierce, and the ground beneath the feet of the elephants shook so violently, that the bravado of the legionaries wavered and several maniples broke at contact."

I rolled three maximum 12s in a row whilst Peter struggled to get a 2 in reply. 

On the right, supporting African infantry begin to tilt the balance. 

The battle becomes general all along the line. Casualties mount on both sides. 

Another shot of the Romans getting stuck in.















Six shots of the battle, from the Carthaginian left to right showing the state of play after the first nights play. The first shot shows the 'Carthaginian hope' - a vulnerable flank. In the centre the Spanish infantry and elephants, despite initial successes are looking decidedly flaky - they are simply no match for Scipios well trained 'veterans'.

Two further shots of the battle. In a moment of madness, I actually counted up the number of figures in this battle. I said that there were less than 1500 men: Quite a good guess, there were 1482 men.

Hopefully, we will will fight this battle to a conclusion next week. The battle has lasted only one turn so far (4 to go) but both sides have already lost 50+ morale chips each. The battle is, to say the least, bloody, very bloody.

More SYW stuff painted

 

First up, another unit of Russian Hussars. This is my Venguerski Regiment, in a very fetching red. As with the last regiment of hussars I painted, this unit is along the lines of, 'on a budget', make do and mend. Firstly, they should be wearing tall fur hats, not these short ones. Secondly, I only have 7 of them, so to fill the space I used one of my precious Prussian horse casualties. I'm not sure where the hussar's horse came from, but the pose, after a bit of leg bending, was most useful and fitted the figure very well. Anyway two more shots of the unit, front and back.

Next up, my last battery of Russian guns (I still have a battery of secret howitzers and a battery of unicorns to do). This too is the product of a few eBay purchases, in that the stands came from at least three sources - guns, crew, infantry figs. And this begs a very big question: Why, given that artillery crew for guns was standardised, amongst the fraternity, years ago, at 4 figures per gun, did Wagames Foundry decide to do their crew packs in sixes? Anyway, I used a couple of spare infantry figures, the ones in white waistcoats, to make up the difference.

I now only have 6 Russian units in stock - another regiment of line infantry, and the five units (4x 36 fig line, and 1x 24 fig grenadier) of Observation Corps. Later, I'll finish off with the howitzer batteries (x2) and two more regiments of cavalry (1x dragoon, 1x horse dragoon) with purchases from Front Rank.

I have now done 31 of the 41 units. The end, as they say, is in sight.