Condottieri Game

At Essex Warriors today, we decided to have another go at Frank Chadwick's rules for Renaissance mercenary warfare; Condottieri 

My Landsknecht army went on the offensive and the heavy cavalry placed in the centre  charged straight for the enemy centre

as mounted crossbowmen gained the rise over on our right

Two guns were positioned left of centre and another body of knights advanced to the small hill on the left

Here's the view from Steve Clarke's side at this point - notice 3 units of Landsknecht pike advancing in the centre with the Commander.  Steve has two units of knights on his right as his main mobile strike force.

Rafael took charge of the Landsknecht cavalry and guns on our left.

The Condottieri urges on his pikemen

Here's a gunners eye view of the Landsknecht cavalry attack in the centre

and Steve's crossbowmen are waiting to take on the mounted crossbowmen approaching them

Another shot of the centre attack

Rafael gets his cavalry in first - pretty impetuous considering there are two enemy units of cavalry over there !

The pike blocks approach the enemy crossbow on the hill, after the knights have hit the halberdiers in the centre.

My crossbowmen are faced with two units of pike and the enemy artillery !

My mounted crossbowmen decide to charge the enemy crossbows on my right

Melee continues in the centre

Strength of numbers begin to tell on my mounted crossbowmen as some are dazed or panic.

Meanwhile, Rafael's cavalry are performing rather well, considering

The Landsknecht pikes now hit the crossbowmen on the hill

After a gritty melee, my crossbowmen supported by the remnants of the mounted crossbows manage to defeat and rout the enemy militia pikemen which had been sent against us.

Here's a clash of professional pike units in the centre. This ground itself to a standstill.

Meantime, my pikes in the centre have defeated the enemy crossbowmen to take the centre ground.

But Rafael's cavalry have finally broken from contact having been beaten by the enemy knights who are in hot pursuit

The two victorious Landsknecht pike units reposition themselves for fear of a cavalry attack on their flank

On my right, my knights have rallied after defeating the enemy halberdiers and charge the guns supported by the mounted crossbowmen, who seemed to have careered about the right of the battlefield getting involved in everything !

The gunners are slaughtered and now Steve's crossbow unit on his left are isolated and in danger

At this point, the Landsknechts were declared the winners, despite the cavalry defeat on our left, the enemy had lost too many units and the sensible thing would be for the enemy cavalry to retreat and save themselves for another day.

Verdict ?  Still not convinced about this set of rules.  There are some good ideas in there but to our minds they are not perfect by any means - next, we are going to try "To The Strongest" Ancient/Medieval rules for this period next Friday to compare.

An afternoon with Ron Ringrose

Well, thanks to my eldest daughter, I got an invite to the home of the famous war gamer and collector (it turns out Louise works with his daughter-in-law !)

He only lives about 40 minutes away from me, so no hardship at all.

Here's Ron with a small part of his collection

The view from the doorway of his war-games room

and at the entrance

Here's the view from the back of the house

and this is the garage where Ron makes his scenery and buildings

A general shot of some of the shelves full of troops

American War of Independence is a particular favourite of Ron's

Serving wenches and geese !

Portuguese Napoleonic period

Ron has fleets of ships for various periods, some home made, others bought from all around the world

And lastly, the views across to the River Crouch from the front of Ron's property

The great man was very welcoming and proud to show off his wonderful collection, which has graced many a show and quite often is seen in Wargames Illustrated magazine.

Can't wait to return and actually have a game sometime !

Regimental Fire and Fury : Club Game

Today, four of us; Rafael, Wes, Steve Clarke and I fought out the McPherson's Ridge scenario for Regimental Fire and Fury at Essex Warriors.

Here's the scenario and the rule book

Battlefield from left of the Confederate position, at the beginning

View from right of the Confederate position

The scenario book we used

Here's Steve Clarke and Wes planning their moves

Centre of the Union line and the important ridge line

Out on the left, Union troops realise the threat to their flank

Whereas over on the right, Rebel infantry mass on the water line

The Rebels charge up the incline left of centre

at the same time as the large Rebel unit on the Union right flank charges home 

Confederate guns receive count battery fire early on and one gun is disabled

These are the chaps who caused the damage.

The Union forces on the Federal right retreat, heavily out numbered

as the Rebs in the valley crash across the water and head for the Union lines

Feds and Rebs clash in the woods in the centre ground

The Rebel commander on the left sends one unit to pursue the enemy whilst the other units sort themselves out

The Union commander surveys the field, obviously worried about the rapid collapse of his right.

Time for the Union commanders to pause for thought !

Looks like Rafael is planning something fiendish.

The Rebs charge again on the left, determined to finish any Union resistance over there

But Union troops over the other side of the battlefield have poured forwards to attack the Rebs on the water line.

This now ebbs and flows for a long time

The Union boys on the extreme right desperately hold on for now

as a Rebel unit hits the rail way cut to advance on the Union centre

The centre is a whirl of clashing units but Union casualties have mounted fast

Under the scenario rules, if the Union casualties are really heavy, they begin to lose cohesion and activations become more problematic - this is what happened here.

We stopped before the Rebs had actually captured the ridge but with the problems they had caused the Union, it was pretty certain this would have happened in short order.

A hard fought game - Wes's first go at Regimental Fire & Fury, but I think we've got him hooked !