David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Friday 10 January 2020

Raising the Siege of Palazzo San Philippe

On Wednesday evening Jon and I locked horns in GHQ for our first game of 2020, an Italian Wars game using the Pike & Shotte ruleset by Warlord Games. Jon commanded the army laying siege to the Palazzo while I commanded the heavily outnumbered defenders, and later the relief column of course. The throw of a Dx6 at the start of Turn 1 determined how many Turns before news of the relief forces arrival would reach both sides, 3 in our case. At the conclusion of Turn 3 a throw of a Dx3 determined how many Turns it took them to reach the vicinity, 1 in our game. At the start of Turn 5 a further throw of a Dx6 determined the entry point of the mounted and foot elements, in my case 1 & 6 meaning the horse entered on the extreme right of my base line, the foot on the extreme left! As ever the captioned pictures illustrate the ebb and flow of the game over its course ~
It seems that there are a large number of mercenaries in the pay
of the enemy! Lets hope they have not been paid lately.. 

The enemy's Gendarmes and Elmetti move out of camp towards
their goal.

On the enemy's right a party of foragers move forward.

The attack on the Palazzo gets underway despite the galling
fire from the defenders.

The enemy's heavy gun has the Palazzo's gates in its sights. A
Dx6 roll indicated it would take six hits to destroy the gates
and wall.

Meanwhile, back in the camp the evening meal is underway,
cooked by one Baldriccio...

Those Gendarmes don't seem all that keen to join the fight!
Meanwhile, the first of the relief force has appeared as the
defenders bravely hold on against the odds

Someone has blundered it seems! The Gendarmes make two
moves away from the enemy. A bit of relief for the Borgia
force as its own Gendarmes are hardly showing much
desire to enter the fray!

The fight for the Pallazzo is getting serious. The enemy have
breached the walls and bitter fighting rages inside.

An assault on the gates is made and though Shaken the enemy
are not repulsed. At this stage it looked as though Jon might
take the Palazzo and win the game.

More of the enemy storm the
walls!

Although suffering many
losses the enemy are finally
driven from their foothold!

At last the relief force begins to make its presence felt.

Rather worryingly though the enemy's Gendarmes finally turn
up en mass! The fight looks as if it might swing back in Jon's
favour at this point.

On the Borgia's left the foot elements of the relief force finally
make their presence felt, surprising the foraging party.

Arriving on a 'Follow Me!' order, relief force's Gendarmes and
Light Horse pin the remaining mercenaries as the others are
forced out of the Palazzo.

Before the Palazzo the fight is reaching its climax with the
enemy failing to break the relief force's foot elements. {Jon's
dice were just not up for it!}

Turn 9 sees the one Mercenary pike block  destroyed by a
charge in its rear from the Light Horse, while the other two are
about to be charged in the flanks.

Its all up for the enemy's cause! What a titanic tussle this had
been, swinging first to favour one side, then the other.
Ever the gentleman, Jon conceded the game at the conclusion of Turn 10, leaving the field to the battered but unbowed defenders of the Palazzo and the relieving force. No doubt there would be much rejoicing in the Borgia camp that night! For those interested in such things the figures, buildings and terrain scatter are all from my collection. The figures are mostly TAG, supplemented by Foundry, Perry Miniatures, Citadel, Games Workshop, Minifigs and Warlord Games. The MDF based buildings are from Warbases, Charlie Foxtrot and Foreground while the oven and small mill are from Irongate Scenics. Next game due in GHQ will be a Saxons v Normans game using Phil's 'To The Strongest' rules, chits and grided game mat.

28 comments:

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    1. It's really the most picturesque period I feel.

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  2. Great looking game! We are planning to do Pike & Shotte with Italian Wars Friday night.

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  3. Pretty looking table & collection. Where are the buildings from?
    Many thanks,
    Jeremy

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    1. Glad you liked the pictures! Shame you missed the text though 😉
      Four lines from the end might help.

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    2. Touche my friend.
      Many thanks for pointing this out, Warbases it is.
      Best wishes for 2020,
      Jeremy

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    3. Glad to have been of service!

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    1. Thanks Christopher, you are always so fulsome in your response.

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  5. Beautiful and interesting game and scenary,

    Congrats

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  6. You really struggle to beat the Italian Wars for sheer variety of units and visual spectacle. As a result of which your game was a joy to behold. I liked the fact that it was a manageable size (for me at least) rather than some of the massive games one sees.

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    1. We set out on the project deliberately envisaging one base as one unit with no fixed figure to man ratio, rather utilizing what we wanted and seeing the bases as vignettes where possible. We think it works well, so are glad you liked what you've seen.

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  7. Replies
    1. It was tense, swinging one way and then the other and over in about two hours.

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  8. Its lovely to see an Italian Wars battle David. I like to see how other wargamers interpret the period which is one of my main areas of interest.I like the idea of non regular bases for your troops it seems to give them more interest. By the way love the Italian buildings, very Italian states, well done.

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  9. Thanks very much Robbie for your kind words. I wasn't too sure of the buildings when I started out on them, but was quietly pleased by the end product so it's nice to read your last comment.

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  10. Lovely looking game, great figures and the buildings work really well!
    Best Iain

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    1. Many thanks Iain, not a patch on some I've seen, but decent enough given my 'skill' levels.

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  11. Mr.B's collection is really quite splendid. Ever the new man! Although I was handled rather roughly!

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    1. I shall endeavour to beat you more gently next time!

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  12. A real knock about fight there David...
    I like games like that... victory tastes sweeter and defeats feel more like a near win...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I was surprised to win being honest, it slipped away from Jon quite suddenly. That's the beauty, and brutality, of Black Powder I think and why I like the derivative systems more as I try them.

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  13. Fantastic looking game! I think I spotted a few Casting Room Miniatures figures in the mix as well.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, you are right too on Casting Room Miniatures. I like the range as it's chunky and decently detailed which suits my current abilities with the brush. The figures are very painter friendly.

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