The Meat of the Affair: All Forces Engaged

The Swiss Pike are moving (see below just out of camera shot to the top of the picture) and the remaining Swiss skirmishers are hurled forwards wit reckless abandonment. One succumbs to more "lead" from the Maximilian shot, the other is removed from play by activating the Doppelsoldner (skirmish) unit from its opportunity.and charging down the last remaining Swiss crossbowmen. However it is a Phyric victory as the Doppelsoldners are too removed from play (skirmish in close combat are removed from play). This also means I have not previously been playing the rules quite right!

Victory Point Count:  Maximilian 4 VD to the Swiss 1 VD, so far so good!

The cavalry versus infantry battle on the Maximilian left is bloody as both sides trade blows, but nothing is near to breaking yet (see below):

In an attempt to break the deadlock the Maximilian mounted crossbow (Impact 1 so they are capable of initiating close quarter combat by charging) slide in for a flank attack (see below), however the sucking melee continues. The vulnerable flank of a Swiss Pike Block can be seen tantalizingly close but valiantly protected by the Swiss halberdiers (see below top right). The Swiss infantry are doing a good job!

Those Swiss Pikes are going to hit something soon (see below). Being "A" Class troops they inevitably seem to move three bounds across the table. Frightening to behold and they pack a hell of o punch when they land.

Sure enough the Swiss Pike finally gets to grips with an annoying unit of Maximilian 'shot' (Harquebusiers to be technically correct). Despite being mortally damaged, the 'shot' holds together for a turn which is vital (see below). 

Crash (see below)! Finally the 'big boys' meet head-to-head. Despite the physical size of the Maximilian Pike Bock it is outclassed in quality and number of attack dice (its eight against the Swiss eleven). However it was saved from a much worse fate (six to eleven) by being on 'opportunity' and thus counter-charging and gaining its 'two' Impact attack dice. This upset the Swiss calculations and deferred the immediate break through the Swiss were hoping for. 

This sacrifice of the Landsknects to the Swiss buying time was vital as over on the Maximilian right flank the Swiss Halberdiers had finally succumbed to the inevitable (see below). Note the Maximilian mounted crossbows are now "annoying" the Swiss heavy cavalry (see below top left,  just off camera):   

Victory Point Count:  Maximilian 6 VD to the Swiss 1 VD, on paper excellent, but the Swiss break point is "14" which means until they suffer losses from the Pike Block (where their General also is) their army morale will not falter and they will continue fighting. Another downside is that its Swiss Pike party time next!

Next: Is "Push of Swiss Pike" time ...

The Clatter of Dice: Opening Rounds

The two armies face each other across a flat plain. The Maximilian army in a defensive posture, its left flank resting on an impassable feature while its right flank protected by a "Wing of Horse". As seen from the Swiss point of view the Landsknecht Pike Block forms the number one 'target priority' for the Swiss Pikes (see below):

Two units of  Swiss crossbowmen (skirmishers) march across the field to try and disrupt the Landsknecht formation in advance of the Swiss Pike's inevitable attack (see below). The Maximilian crossbowmen stand their ground and suffer disruption (green poker chip), but the units of shot on opportunity (black poker chip) return fire: 

The results: One Swiss crossbow unit simply evaporates (see below):  

Shortly to be followed by another (see below) after a hail of lead decimates their ranks (just good dice and a lousy cohesion test for the Swiss player). The Swiss player suddenly learns a to have a very healthy respect for Maximilian shot (especially when the said 'shot' units have been upgraded to have four attack dice). One wonders what the other two units of Swiss crossbow skirmishers must be thinking (see top middle below). Without making any impact 50% of their force are already dead and they know will simply pushed forwards over the dead bodies of their comrades. The 'aggressive' Swiss player knows his army cannot wait around to be shot to pieces at a distance but must close to combat.

Meanwhile on the Maximilian left flank the Germanic Men-At-Arms position themselves to attack the Swiss Halberdier formations and are screened by the mounted crossbowmen (making a dangerous outflanking move to the far left) and (skirmish) Harquebusiers disrupting the Swiss ranks (see green poker chip in photo below):   

A sucking melee develops drawing in first the Germanic MAA (see below): 

Then second the "noble" (but not so smart) Burgundian Knights (see below):

Disruption and chaos reigns. Over to the middle of the battlefield ominously the pennants of the Swiss Pike start to move forward ...

Renaissance Impetus Battle: Maximillian v Swiss (300 points)

The Swiss Army (My Opponent): 

The "bad" guys, aka the enemy. An army of Renaissance Swiss (see below), those two crack Pike Blocks are deceptively small but perfectly formed killing squares ('A' class, 6 + 1 + 1 + 3I = 11 attack dice). They have four skirmish crossbow units to shield them from prying missiles and two units of halberdiers to cover their flanks. The Swiss Knights form an emergency reserve unit of hard Impetus enabled cavalry. A professional looking army. The only good news is that because they are so expensive there are not many of them.The BAD news about this army is that to defeat it you have to kill at least TWO 'layers' of pikemen! (Note: Check out the lovely banners, click on the picture)

The Maximilian Landsknechts Army (Me):

My "Wing of Horse" (see below), the "Four 'light' Horsemen of the Apocalypse" with mounted crossbows, shielding the Germanic Men-At-Arms from the unwanted attentions of enemy skirmishers, a unit of skirmish Harquebusiers doing likewise for my noble (as opposed to shrewd and intelligent) Burgundian knights. The pity about Renaissance battles is that the tough Impetus enabled cavalry always manage to find armoured infantry types (armed with halberds or pikes) that negate their treasured Impetus shock factor. The Germanic MAA are to be feared because of their deep formation which imparts a persistent staying power in the attack.    

A 'cross' of Pike (See below). Three layers of Maximilian Landsknechts (still only 8 attack dice to the Swiss 11 and they have TWO pike blocks) and two sleeves of shot (upgraded to 'four' attack dice each ... ow), with a skirmish unit of crossbowmen and a Doppelsoldner unit (a skirmish unit with impact?) out front to soak up the 'interest' sure to be visited by the Swiss skirmish units. I may even work out how to use these Doppelsoldners 'legally' this battle (I'll explain later).

Look, I've been reading some history books (see below). Place your artillery behind an impassable lake or bog so it can shoot all day with impunity. The newly painted artillery stands 'wanting' for an enemy target. The camp behind the artillery is just paper card stock with a few random spare bases floating on them. After painting the Renaissance 'General' [Charles V] figure these camp bases will be next up on the painting table. 

Next: Let battle commence.
My ten units to the Swiss nine, quality versus quantity

A Gun For All Seasons

I finally managed to paint and base a second artillery piece for my Renaissance "Impetus" Heavy Artillery unit (see below). A classic from the Games Workshop 'Empire' fantasy range, but a good enough match to the Renaissance for me. The 'new' gun is the left hand side, a dirtier bronze than the pristine one on the right.

It was great fun painting theses fellows as the old 'Empire' figures are full of character (see below). I used the standard three tone technique: Base, shade and highlight from a mixture of my end of life Games Workshop Citadel paint collection, their Vallejo replacements and the very useful Anita Acrylics colours.    

Multiple models in a battery or formation just reinforces how difficult these things would be to move and helps the player refrain from fantastic wheels of more than 45 degrees.

I just hope these chaps do me proud on the battlefield, well painted troops have a tendency  to rout going by  my experience ;)

Web Link: A Landsknecht Painting Guide

http://www.stuartmulligan.com/new_page_1.htm

The Hun breaks and makes a run for home

Combat Finale:

The combat takes a turn for the worst for the RFC, a bloody splash of flame and a Sopwith Pup spirals earthward (see below):

Off camera the pilot of the "Pink Terror" decides to bug-out, his plane barely flyable, but he loses all experience from the mission. Meanwhile the most unlikeliest of RFC heroes, the RE8, comes to the rescue tailing a German scout hunting N17. In fact the picture below shoes a string of consecutive "chasers" RE8 to German Scout to N17 to Albatross (see below): 

"Ye gads" the RE8 has bagged (another) Hun (see below):

Nursing a still smoking N17 Pierre maneuvers head-to-head for another machine gun to machine gun duel (see below). However outnumbered three (of which two are the terrible N17's) to two the Boche Albatrosses now think better of it and the Hun duo scoot "doing a runner".

In doing so the Entente break an embarrassing series of Imperial German Air Service wins (having scored two planes two 'downed' to one in return - the 'Pink Terrors' bunk counting the same as a down as it crash landed behind Entente lines) and brings about a strategic shift in the air power above the trenches. The Germans are only deemed to have a 'marginal advantage' and what is more have two of their most experienced air-crew about to become POW's.

The champagne corks start popping at the RFC mess with the French pilots and their N17's being toasted as "putting the wind up the Huns" when all of a sudden the alarm bell rings ...

To be continued ...

Where is the Hun? Answer: Behind you! Two German scouts fall upon the French N17's, nearly but not quite in machine gun range, but they have the advantage.

Well at least we are getting to use the "tailing" rules, though it's not very nice being tailed (see below). Luckily for the Frenchies we are at a sufficient altitude different not quite to reach:

Pierre La Flanne performs a twisting "Immelman" to reverse course and go head-to-head with his antagonist Albatross DIII. Luckily the German plays "an invalid sequence of cards" which have to be revoked and translated into "go straight" (see below):    

A game of 'chicken' ensues, accompanied to the staccato chatter of machine guns. The Albatross pilot noticeably winces taking his damage cards while Pierre is astonished to see his fuselage become look like a sieve but yet still fly (see below):    

Pierre thanks his lucky stars and breaks into a wry smile, but then his blood freezes as evil dark smoke issues forth from his engine ... would this smoke suddenly break into a deadly fire (see below)? The only good news was that the Albatross hunting Pierre was being hunted himself (see below a Sopwith Pup in the top right of the picture):

Where can Pierre run to? Where is that big, fat friendly RE8 with a lovely rear gunner in it when you need it?