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Sunday, May 5, 2024

Endless Fornovocating

For those keeping score at home, four Battles of Fornovo are in the books with the French and Italians knotted at two wins apiece.  Game #5 took place last Tuesday with a full complement of five players.  Chris and Tony commanded the French Army.  Mark, Dave, and Stephen took the reins of the Italian League.
Armies arrayed for battle

Initial army dispositions and commands.
With the ground and situation likely familiar to regular readers, I dive straight into the battle chronicle. 

Gonzaga's Italian League begins the battle by occupying the three fords.  Caiazzo pushes his skirmishers into the Taro River with plans to establish a bridgehead while Gonzaga orders a body of Men-at-Arms (MAA) forward into the river.  De Montone sends his mixed infantry retinue splashing into the ford.

Having the initiative as the battle begins, Gonzaga orders Caiazzo to engage the enemy.  Caiazzo's light cavalry harass the enemy while the Italian Right Wing works to bring Caiazzo's command across the river.  While Caiazzo is bringing his wing to the French side of the Taro, de Gie comes forward leading his Gendarmes toward the river.  De Gie's skirmishers try to counter Caiazzo's demonstrations against his left.  Both French artillery and archers harass Gonzaga's MAA as they negotiate the ford.  
King Charles strikes!
Seeing the Italian MAA struggling to cross the Taro, the French King Charles, leading his Gendarmes, strikes.  Crashing into the Taro, the King hits the Italians midstream.  Unfortunately, both bodies of horsemen are hampered by the river and the slippery rocks on the river bottom.  After a protracted melee, the King is forced back to dry ground to regroup alongside de Gie's MAA.  Both bodies of horse have suffered from the exertion but the Italians gain the upper hand and emerge from the river somewhat worse for the wear.

To expand the limited bridgehead so that more of Gonzaga's command can cross, the Italian MAA debouch from the river and jump from the frying pan and into the fire.  As the Italians move toward the French battle line, they are stopped by the seemingly immovable object of de Gie's Gendarmes.  In the ensuing clash, the already wavering Italians are driven off and plunge back into the river with de Gie in hot pursuit.  These Italians are done for the day.  To replace his lead body of now dispersed MAA, Gonzaga moves up to the Taro at the head of his Famila Ducale.
Italian MAA emerge from the Taro...
only to find themselves face to face with the enemy.
Already wavering, the Italians are quickly dispatched.
Now, time for de Montone to attempt to force the Taro.  His mixed infantry cross without incident followed up quickly by his MAA.  With both horse and foot on the French bank of the Taro, de Gie orders a body of crossbowmen into the river.   
de Montone begins the crossing...
to establish a bridgehead across the Taro River.
Despite the difficulties of fighting his way across the Taro, Gonzaga repulses de Gie's MAA.  With heavy losses, de Gie retreats back through his own artillery line.  Skirmishing continues to dominate the French Left as the Stradiots swarm among the enemy. 
Gonzaga attacks from the river!
de Gie and his Gendarmes are driven off.
With de Montone forming a bridgehead on the French held side of the Taro, the King sends de Foix' Gendarmes (the second body of Gendarmes in the King’s command) in against the enemy while he buys time to bring up his infantry.  Initially, de Foix' Gendarmes see success as de Montone's MAA are pushed back into the river.  Undaunted by this setback, de Montone's MAA fight on as the melee seems to turn against the French Gendarmes.  Finally, the elastic snaps and the Gendarmes race for the rear.  De Montone and his MAA pick up the chase.  Caught from behind, the French Gendarmes are scattered.  We hear Chris decrying, Oh, the humanity! as his Gendarmes are lost.  The Italians now have a strong foothold on the French side of the river.
Chris' Gendarmes (de Foix) crashes into enemy MAA. 
de Foix wins the initial clash...
driving de Montone and his MAA back into the river.
With tenacious spirit, de Montone fights on...
and the French are eventually forced back. 
De Montone pursues and
 de Foix' Gendarmes are cut down.
De Montone gains a foothold
upon the French side of the Taro.
The Italian foothold gained under de Montone's leadership is short-lived.  

Bringing up his infantry, the King orders his crossbow and spearmen forward.  Assailed by volleys of crossbow bolts, the Italian MAA waver before dissolving back toward the ford.  Unfortunately, the river has risen even more and the horsemen drown in their attempt to escape. 
De Montone's MAA destroyed!
Even with a French advance on his right, the King is not happy with his situation in the center.  Not wanting to get caught out, he leads his Gendarmes to the rear.  Now, both de Gie and the King, himself, are falling back behind the safety of the guns.  Caiazzo brings his German pikemen across the Taro as the waters rise. 
The King retires!
Situation for the King is dicey. 
Watching the French Center fall back, Gonzaga seizes the moment.  At the head of his Famila Ducale, he charges the guns.  The French guns are overrun.  Gonzaga's pursuit carries him into the rear of de Gie's Gendarmes.  Not surprisingly, the French cavalry are scattered.  With a gaping hole cut through the French Center, Gonzaga charges on.  His luck has run its course, however.  Stymied by light cavalry to his front, he is attacked from the rear.  His Famila Ducale are destroyed.  Gonzaga narrowly escapes capture.      
Gonzaga overruns French guns...
scatters de Gie's Gendarmes...
but is finally stopped before
he could deliver the coup de grace.
Having sent off de Montone's MAA, the King's infantry advances to finish off the Italian infantry who now find themselves isolated on the wrong side of the rapidly rising river.  With preparatory volleys from crossbow, the French close with the enemy.  In a hard clash, the Italians suffer greatly.  Reduced to half strength, the Italians are compelled to retreat.  The Taro, however, has risen too high and the Italians either drown in vain attempts to cross or lay down their arms to the enemy.  
Italians fight with their backs to the Taro.
The Italians will not be crossing here!
With his army now split by the rising Taro and his remaining infantry trapped on the wrong side of the river, Gonzaga is lucky to make his way back across the swollen river.  Facing a massive Swiss pike block and French infantry marching toward the center, the remaining Italian infantry's prospects are dim.  For the Italian League, the battle is over.  
Italian infantry trapped on the wrong side of the Taro River.
Fornovo delivered, once again, another exciting battle.  The battle witnessed its share of ebb and flow as the two armies clashed, retired, pursued, and clashed again.  Watching this battle unfold with every twist and turn of fate and fortune was a pleasure.  The battle saw hard-fought action throughout with a decision up for grabs until the end.  The outcome really could have tipped the other way although weighing heavily on the Italian loss was the destruction of three or their four MAA.  Game completed in under three hours.

Congratulations to Tony and Chris for coming away with victory, no matter how narrow.  In post-game discussion the French noted that they figured all was lost more than once.  They persevered!

My condolences to the Italian commanders of Mark, Stephen, and Dave.  They also fought hard and we even were treated by some good dice throwing by Dave!  

In the end, a rising river does not float all boats but takes heavily armored men to the bottom.

Great fun, fellas, thank you!

Fornovo Game #6 is on deck for a final Tuesday performance.  After that, I clear the table and consider what to bring to the table next.

46 comments:

  1. Another excellent game and report Jon, and from my very limited knowledge ie your previous AAR and associated comments, it seems close to a historical outcome?!

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    1. Thank you, Keith! Yes, this matched the historical outcome.

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  2. Great looking battle and congrats for winners!
    Warm regards

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  3. Another cracking game Jon and I thought at several points the Italians were about to win. French perseverance paid off in the end in what was obviously a very closely fought battle:).

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the game, Steve! Several times during the battle, I figured the Italians may March on to victory.

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  4. Another great Forvovo battle. A hard fought victory for the French, well done, one and all.

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  5. Another great Forvovo battle. A hard fought victory for the French, well done, one and all.

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  6. You are getting plenty of enjoyment from this one battle, might have to look at it myself for this Wednesday.

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    1. Give Fornovo a run-out on your table. I would enjoy seeing your interpretation.

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  7. Another great encounter and evenly contested game

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  8. It's good to read the report of this great experience. Somehow on the Italian right my heavy troops never seem to have got going [I've yet to figure out quite why, though I did send more light troops through the river first which may have put me a 'move' behind] though the lights already across the rive generally did well. My German pikemen got across the river but not into serious action. My MAA declined to even cross the river as it rose and I could see that the game was up.
    I'm giving the actions of the Italian right close scrutiny as I shall be facing them tomorrow [as I write]. However I've almost formulated my plans before seeing this latest report.
    I can confirm [can there be any doubt?] that Jon is a great host providing a tough challenge, with colourful troops, and a smooth umpiring of the unfolding drama.
    Having seen the French win [narrowly] in the two games in which I've participated I have sympathy for the Italian command. I must overcome this as I'll be on the French side next time. If the French lose I shall question my generalship [and not of course either my colleagues, the scenario, or my dice]!
    Stephen

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    1. Stephen, your comments are most encouraging! I am pleased to see that you are enjoying these games. Having played the battle as an Italian twice now, it will be interesting to see how you attack the challenges as a Frenchman.

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  9. Well done to the players who fought a good fight. Excellent and engrossing report Jonathan.

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    1. This was a good fight, Richard! Very encouraged to see that you enjoyed the report and presentation. Too bad you missed out when I brought the battle to the Rejects.

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  10. Jonathan, what's the score between French and League now?
    You must be close to being "Fornovocated out"? ☺
    Neil

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    1. Yes, Neil, it almost time to move on to another battle in another period. One more Fornovo to go! The score stands at 3-2 for the French. One of the two Italian wins was exceptional in that the battle was won due to heavily favoring dice.

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  11. Another close game. You must be getting quite expert at hosting now Jonathan.

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  12. Another great looking game and a very detailed and interesting report, the battle certainly swung both ways and victory could have gone to either side.

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    1. Thank you, Donnie! glad to see that you enjoyed the battle report. As in previous battles, this one could have gone to the Italians easily.

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  13. That was another great game to participate in, and an exciting AAR. Although Tony and I won, it didn't feel like a triumph. In fact it was another of those "have we really won?" moments.
    Time is of the essence in this scenario, and for the French side it's about buying time. The only prospect is to get the MAA into action early as the infantry are too far off to make a difference initially. So we ended up sacrificing the gendarmes, but slowed up the Italian advance enough for the arrival of the Prussians, sorry I mean the rising waters!
    Those massed crossbowmen are useful too, if well supported with melee infantry.

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    1. Thank you, Chris! I thought you played the King's Wing very well although Dave (de Montone) came very close to upsetting your plans. Seeing you as a Frenchman in an encore performance was a good way to reverse your earlier loss to the Rejects.

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  14. These have all been hard fought games and most enjoyable to read.

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    1. They sure have been hard fought. Glad you enjoyed the battle report!

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  15. Fantastic looking game Jonathan!

    Christopher

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  16. Another excellent and historicaly accurate game!
    Best Iain caveadsum1471

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  17. Still drying out my sandals after scrabbling back through the river! Great game. Apologies to my fellow Italians for my lacklustre generalship but hearty congrats to Chris and Tony who played a blinder.

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    1. No wonder you are the Jolly Broom Man! You are very funny. You leading Gonzaga through the center of the French line was no sloppy generalship. You darn near broke the French right there. Had you caught the King and his Gendarmes, you may have ended the battle. Period.

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  18. First one to 4 victories wins the Italian Wars World Series right? 😀
    World Series is actually pretty applicable; these remote games are international.

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    1. This only works if the French win the next battle giving them four victories. Tomorrow’s battle will be the last before turning attention to another period, another battle, another scale, and another set of rules.

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  19. Another very enjoyable battle report Jonathan.

    All the best. Aly

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  20. As one of the victors, I must emphasise the sense of mystification in our camp afterwards. There were a number of decisive moments in the battle, swinging both ways, but somehow the Italian successes felt more significant. I guess we kept scrabbling and wore them down. Great game, great company and great hosting. Thanks again, Jon.

    Pierre de Rohan-Gié, Maréchale de France (retd)

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    1. The French certainly wore the Italians down. The key to a French victory was destroying three of the four Italian MAA and driving de Montone back into the river. It was a great game in great company!

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  21. Another fine AAR you have provided us with. The battle does seem to replay well, with battle plans and luck playing interesting parts. Your documentation has again made the game eato follow. Looking forward to the next adventure.

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    1. Thank you, Joe! Fornovo is on deck later today for one more game before I move on to another battle to explore.

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  22. Another great report and obviously a hotly-contested fight! Looks like the French need to be quite agressive and hit the Italians ASAP before they can really get a foothold - as time goes on the rising river helps the King, as I think happened here.

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    1. David, the games have all been hotly contested and great fun to watch. Aggressive play from the French is the way to throw the Italians back into the Taro.

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  23. Good to see this scenario still challenging players several games in.

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