Battle of Fornovo 1495

After four games of the 1497 Battle of Sanguetta, I cleared the table and laid out a second, Great Italian Wars battle.  This time, the battle selected is the 1495 Battle of Fornovo.  Again, RM Verginella's recent scenario book was used as a guide and inspiration but I found the scenario needed some adjustments to fall in line with my understanding of the battle and the units present.

Anyway, I had five players present for the first playing of the scenario with Chris, Tony, and Mark taking Italian commands while the Two Daves split the French command between them.  The initial battle deployments and commands are illustrated in the photo below:

Battlefield deployments.

The Taro River separates The Italian League from the French Army.  A heavy rain the day before and continued rain on the day of battle sees the Taro River rising to flood stage in parts.  There are only three places at which the Italians can cross to engage the French.  Gonzaga must act quickly before even the fords are impassable. 

While the Italians outnumber the French, fording the river to engage the enemy poses challenges.  Let's see how the Italians dealt with this challenge.

With the Italians holding initiative on the first impulse, Gonzaga activitates his Right Wing under the command of Caiazzo.  Caiazzo wastes no time in bringing his light cavalry on the French side of the Taro into battle.  The Stradiots drive off the enemy bowmen as Caiazzo brings his Men-at-Arms (MAA) across the ford.  Note that the Italians may place one unit in each of the three fords before the battle begins. Trotting out from the river, Caiazzo leads his MAA into the remaining bowmen to his front.  The skirmishers fail to evade and are overrun.  Caiazzo does not pursue.

Stradiots drive off enemy skirmishers.

Caiazzo's MAA cross the ford and straight into the enemy.

Caiazzo's MAA overrun a second group of skirmishers.

In response to the sudden attacks against the French Left, de Gie jumps into action.  At the head of his Gendarmes, de Gie passes through his artillery and slams into Caiazzo and his MAA.  Surprised by the attack from this direction, Caiazzo recoils back to the river's edge.  Disordered, de Gie pursues the Italians.  In the second clash, not only are Caiazzo and his MAA driven back across the Taro but the Stradiots are forced to fall back as well. 

de Gie attacks...

and Caiazzo recoils!

In pursuit, Caiazzo and his MAA flee back across the Taro.

With such success, de Gie has advanced beyond his support as Italian mounted crossbowmen slip across the river behind him.  De Montone's pike block on the Italian Left wades across the river too as the Italians attempt to form a bridgehead on the French side of the Taro. 

The Italians begin to cross the Taro.

To open up the left ford, de Montone sends his pike block in against the enemy center.  King Charles, himself, and his Gendarmes are the targets.  The King does not give ground in the initial clash.  The pikemen are forced back.  Perhaps the attack of the pikemen was only a diversion?  As soon as the pike block clears the front, de Montone leads his MAA in against the King's Horsemen.  In a protracted melee, de Montone finally and grudgingly gives ground.  The King does not pursue. 

The King repulses the enemy attack.

De Montone attacks the King!

After hard fighting, losses mount... 

but de Montone is forced back.

Back on the French Left, the marauding Stradiots spot de Gie and his Gendarmes in the open far from any support.  They pounce!  Weakened from his earlier efforts against Caiazzo, this attack, from a direction unexpected, causes the Gendarmes to turn about and head toward support.  Unfortunately, the Stradiots pursue and overtake these lumbering horsemen.  The French Gendarmes are scattered as de Gie seeks the safety with the Swiss pike.

De Gie's Gendarmes are caught...

pursued and destroyed!

On the French Right, the remaining unengaged French Gendarmes move against the defenders of the leftmost ford.  Initially driven off by a body of Italian crossbow, the Gendarmes regroup and attack a second time.  For them, the second time is a charm and the enemy crossbow buckle and run.  While the Gendarmes do not pursue, they do turn to face the enemy MAA.  The Italian Left may be hanging unsupported.

Gendarmes attacking the ford!

With the King gaining the initiative, the Gendarmes pick up where they left off. De Montone's MAA are attacked viciously from the flank and are dispersed.  De Montone is left dying on the field.    

De Montone hit in the flank!

De Montone is killed and his MAA scattered.

While it appears that the French have gained the upper hand in this fight, trouble is brewing elsewhere.

On the French Left, with de Gie's Gendarmes gone, the massive Swiss pike block finds itself now isolated.  Hemmed in by enemy MAA, crossbow, and Stradiots, the Swiss need to extricate themselves from this tight spot.  Attacked from both crossbow and Stradiots, the Swiss give ground slowly as they turn to face the enemy. 

The Swiss look isolated...

Jumping to the fight in the center, with their backs to the Taro and French Gendarmes on their flank, de Montone's pike block figures attacking away from the river is much better than staying put.  They advance against French crossbow but the hail of bolts sends the pikemen back toward the river.   

De Montone's pike attack...

but are sent back to the river having gained nothing.

Gonzaga, with his cavalry and skirmishers across the river, attacks the Swiss.  Softened up by missile fire from both skirmishers and mounted crossbow, Gonzaga and his Familia Ducale strike.  With heavy loss, the Swiss are forced back as harassing attacks come from the Stradiots as well.  The Swiss find themselves pinned against the steep hills to their rear.  

Much of Gonzaga's Center is across the Taro.

The Swiss are attacked...

and driven back to the base of the steep hills.

With the French Left under great pressure, the King presses on in an attempt to turn the Italian Left.  After enduring a barrage of crossbow bolts, the remnants of de Montone's pike block succumbs to the attack of French Gendarmes.  The Italian Left has been destroyed.  Still, the battle hangs in the balance as the French Army teeters on collapse.

De Montone's pike are destroyed!

Seeing the French Left in tatters, Caiazzo finally brings his pike block across the Taro.  It marches away from the ford to finish off the Swiss.

Caiazzo's pike march to seal off the French retreat.

While the Italian Left has completely collapsed, the Italian Center and Right have positioned themselves well.  Guessing that the French Army is on the verge of collapse, itself, Gonzaga plans one last charge with his heavy cavalry against the King's depleted Gendarmes.  In preparation for the attack, mounted crossbowmen move up to pepper the King.  Gonzaga needs not attack at all!  Effective crossbow shooting is enough to break the King's Gendarmes.  They flee the battlefield, taking the King with them. 

Crossbow shooting breaks the King's Gendarmes!

With the loss of the King's Gendarmes, the French have endured more than enough.  The French Army breaks and Gonzaga and his Italians are victorious.  For Gonzaga, it was a near-run thing. 

The battle is over.

What a terrific battle!  Fortunes swung to and fro throughout and it was not over until it was over.  The loss of two bodies of France’s finest Gendarmes helped to push the King over the breaking point.

Congratulations to the Italians (Tony, Mark, and Chris) in their battle against their worthy, French adversaries (The Two Daves).  The battle was hard-fought by all and in a new twist, we all witnessed Dave C. actually throw some decent dice for once!  Without those unexpected, good fortunes, the Italian Left may have held its own.  This was not to be!

Very enjoyable contest that I will remember for a long time.

Thanks, everyone for fighting such a good fight.