BatRep: Agnadello 1509

Monday saw the multinational foursome of Mark, Tony, Chris, and David take to the remote gaming table again.  Rather than battling across Feudal Japan, these warriors are posed to fight it out on the Lombardy plain at Agnadello.  As summarized in the previous post on scenario research and design, we tackle the 1509 Battle of Agnadello during the Great Italian Wars.

  

As a reminder, the battlefield in contest is illustrated in the table photo below:

Battlefield and Army Dispositions

For this battle, Tony (blue dice) and David (black dice) team up to command the French Army.  Chris (red dice) and Mark (green dice) share command of the Venetian Army.

French Army prepares to attack...

while the Venetian Army waits patiently.

With the Venetians situated behind a line of irrigation or drainage ditches, the French might expect to see the Venetians hold their ground.  As the French Army advances, they are shocked (well, at least I was shocked!) to see the Venetians leave their defenses and advance upon the enemy.  Given that Mark commanded Carpi situated to the front of Alviano's high ground position, I guess I should not have been too surprised.  Mark leans toward the attack in most situations, naturally.  Today was no exception.  Into the ditch both of Carpi's pike blocks descend.  Carpi swings his Stradiots out into the vineyard to his right while heavy cavalry move up to screen his Left.  Watching Carpi march off, Alviano sends his skirmishers across the ditch while his leftmost pike block heads down the embankment.  The Venetians are taking the fight to the French! 

Venetians on the move!

In the background, the French look on.

After negotiating the troublesome ditch, Carpi's rightmost pike block crashes into one of the French guns.  In a most lopsided action, the gun is overrun and the crew scattered.  With momentum and blood lust up, the Italian pikemen press on.  In a matter of minutes, the French army has been cleaved in two!  Gascon crossbowmen fall back to prevent suffering a similar fate at the hands of the Italian pikemen.  Seeing such a quick success in the center,  Alviano pushes his skirmishers forward.

Italians overrun a gun...

and press on!

Alviano brings his skirmishers over the ditch.

With an enemy occupied vineyard abutting the ditch, Carpi's leftmost pike block has a more difficult task.  Coming up out of the ditch, that pike block faces a barrage of crossbow bolts.  While the missile fire does little noticeable damage, the disordered Italians cannot gain the upper hand when fighting up and into the occupied vineyard.  Perhaps surprisingly, the Gascon crossbowmen hold their ground.  The Venetians are repulsed!  The Italians fall back down into the ditch and retreat east to regroup.  The Gascons keep pumping volleys into the Italians as they retire.  Carpi's righthand pike block realizes it might be over-extended when two units of Gascon crossbow turn to bring it under fire.  The Italians are stuck in No Man's Land!    

Carpi's pikemen are repulsed...

but find themselves still under enemy fire.

Italians coming under fire from the flank.

With his center looking compromised, the King moves the Swiss up to challenge the interlopers before the second French gun is lost.  The King orders all of his cavalry forward in an effort to break the enemy's right.  In a series of attacks, the French King sends mounted crossbow forward to dispatch enemy skirmishers lurking in the woods to the front.  In two attacks, the Italians remain firm, throwing back both attacks without suffering anything more than disorder.  Turning the enemy flank is going to be tough! 

The King moves up his wing.

French mounted crossbow attack.

These bodies of horsemen are repulsed not once...

but twice!

With all of the cavalry action on the French Left, what is going on the opposite flank?  More cavalry action!  As Chamont moves his Gendarmes forward with support from the Swiss, Carpi attacks with his MAA.  In a quick clash, Chamont and his Gendarmes turn about and head to the rear.  Carpi's leftmost pike block, having been once repulsed, regroups and storms back across the ditch.  This time, the Gascon crossbowmen are driven out of the vineyard with heavy casualties.  The Italians are demonstrating more grit than expected!  The cost is high for the Italians too.  Still, the current situation all across the battlefield suggests the French may actually be losing this battle. 

Carpi and his MAA charge into French Gendarmes.

The impact is too much.  The Gendarmes buckle and retire.

Italian pike cross the ditch and smack into the enemy!

For the French, the battle is turning against them.  Can the King hold on until reinforcements arrive?

Back in the center, the King keeps encouraging his French pikemen forward.  First enemy skirmishers are driven off before the Frenchmen crash into a body of Italian pike.  In a very lengthy and costly scrum, the Italians are finally pushed back to the ditch.  The fighting continues savagely in the center with neither giving quarter.  Casualties mount but the Italians suffer more.

Push of pike in the center...

with the Italians shoved back to the ditch.

Meanwhile back on the French Right, Chamont and his Gendarmes counterattack the Italian MAA.  In a protracted melee, the Italians are weakened and finally break.  Carpi falls in the fighting.  The French see some success on the right!  

Chamont counterattacks...

and scatters Carpi's Gendarmes!

Seeing success in the center and on the right, the French are not out of the woods yet even though Tremoille's column is beginning to arrive onto the battlefield.  Having driven the Gascon crossbow out of the vineyard, the Italian pikemen continue in pursuit.  One by one, bodies of Gascon crossbow are scattered by the mass of pikemen.  With Gascons in flight before them, the Italians are only stopped when Tremoille's Gendarmes come up to take care of business.  Italian losses are edging the Venetians toward the brink of collapse.   

Italian pikemen scatter crossbowmen...

but are stopped cold
when more French Gendarmes arrive to intervene.

The King's body of pikemen, having pushed the enemy back, turns to bear down on an isolated gun.  The artillerymen fail to see the danger they are in and are quickly overrun.  With the Italian Center and Left now compromised and fresh French troops streaming to the field, Alviano orders a general withdrawal.  This battle is over.

Overrunning a gun!

This was quite the game.  Victory to King Tony and David!

Ending positions and Army Breakpoints.

The Italians stormed out of the gates surprising me and possibly the French!  Chris and Mark must have taken the historical account to heart and realized that an attack early on against the French right may pave the path to victory.  This approach damn near worked.  Mark struck hard with Carpi's Battle and kept the pressure on against David's Chamont.  Chamont's wing was crumbling under the pressure as his body count demonstrates.  Still, David was able to muster a counterattack with Chamont and his Gendarmes to destroy Carpi's MAA.  The King's attack in the center stabilized the situation and then turned the battle to tip to the French.  When the dust settled, a differential of nine points on the breakpoint clock suggests a major French victory.  Game #1 replicates the historical outcome.    

Butcher's Bill

Congratulations to Tony and David for the win.  My condolences to Mark and Chris but the pair played a very good game.  The Venetians are up against it in the battle and the Italians did more than simply hold their own until the end.

Great game, fellas, thank you.

Merry Christmas!