The Battle of San Philippe

Well, as I mentioned in my last blog post, things on the family front thankfully have settled down enough to allow the resumption of some hobby activity. Phil and I managed to fit in our scheduled Monday game here in GHQ, a second battle for our Italian Wars armies, using our mash up rules again with some refinements added after the first encounter. An encounter battle between two fairly evenly matched forces with the prize being possession of the Great Ordinance lodged in the village of San Philippe. As ever, the pictures try to carry the sense of the action over the twelve turns we played in the course of less than three hours ~

The field of battle from the Florentine perspective, San Phlippe in the far

distance, a walled farm in the centre.

And again from the perspective of the Papal States' forces.

San Philippe is covered by a Pike block with handgunners in support and a

piece of light ordnance on the flanking low hill.

Supported by mercenary pikemen and Italian handgunners the heavily

armoured gendarmes move forward on the flank of the farm, hoping to turn

the Florentine left flank.

The Florentine centre advances steadily with handgunners and crossbowmen

covering the ponderous pike blocks.

Papal casualties start to mount as the handgunners come under fire from the

enemy ordnance. In the distance the Papal left wing emerges from the tree

line.

The desperate and bloody struggle between the Gendarmes of both armies

continued unresolved for several turns. Neither side seemed able to make a 

decisive breakthrough!

Ordnance from both sides damages their opponents' foot, but despite losses

each side presses on with their attack. The Papal army's left flank looks to

envelope the enemy's right.

On the Papal army's left flank the action is getting more intense as halberdiers

close with a mercenary pike block. Despite mounting losses the Papal centre

continues to press the attack.

On the opposite flank the gendarmes continue to struggle for the breakthrough

while reserves and supports await their opportunity.

Losses begin to mount for the mercenary pike block as the halberdiers cut and

slash their way through their ranks. Fire from hand guns and crossbows begins

to effect the Florentine centre.

A unit of Italian spearmen punch a hole in the Florentine right flank while the

mounted crossbowmen harass the halberdiers holding the right flank.

After an epic struggle the Florentine gendarmes at last defeat one of the

enemy gendarme units.

But gendarmes in Papal service break through the remaining weakened units

to engage the supporting elements.

Though weakened by several rounds of hand to hand combat, the leading

elements of the Papal gendarmes are cut down by the fresh enemy units.

While the struggle to break the Florentine left continues to occupy the

remaining gendarme units, away on the opposite flank the Halberdiers have

destroyed another Florentine unit while the Italian spearmen make short work

of a unit of Florentine halberds.

The Florentine right is almost destroyed, its beginning to look all up for

their attempt to win the great ordnance of San Philippe.

The Papal army presses hard on the Florentine centre, while on the right the

gendarmes have almost succeeded in driving through the Florentine flank.

The Florentine cause is lost! The great ordnance of San Philippe can be

carried off by the victorious Papal army!

All things considered, it was a grand tussle which might have gone either way at times during the battle. Phil has gone off now to rewrite some areas of our rules in the light of our post battle discussion over coffee and cake. We shall try to fit a further in through in next month. Finally, for those who, like me, knew little of the Italian Wars, I found this useful map and timeline on the net ~