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.