Does Size Matter?

The veteran reader of the blog will probably, given the title, be expecting another rant about the merits of 6 mm figures, or the iniquities of 28+ mm wargamers, or some such. Fear not, the post is about the size of armies, not toy soldiers. On the other hand, I might have quickened the interest of a few internet searchers for pornography along the way. Ho, as they say, hum.

Anyway, for reasons I am still trying to analyse, the Thirty Years War campaign was not working out very well and so it was, in the spirit of adventurous wargaming, abandoned forthwith. The decision was made to return to the Machiavelli 1499 game, which was suspended at the end of 1501 with the French on the brink of victory.

The situation at the start of 1502 is pictured above, although the far north of the map has been unfortunately chopped off. The Imperialists have just seized Milan from the isolated French garrison, while the French are starting to overrun northern Italy anyway. The main point of interest for this post is the Spanish Neapolitan army in Perugia, near the middle of the map. This was an unashamed ‘city grab’ by the said Neapolitan Spanish. I realised that they were never going to make any progress in southern Italy without some extra forces, and for extra forces you need cities. Therefore the army had been transported from Messina to Siena, which a Papal army had just vacated to besiege Piombino and, from thence, as Perugia was unoccupied, the army decided to overwinter there.

The consequence of this is that there are now three wars raging (sort of) on the map: the French against the Austrians (at least, when the French get any armies into the Milan theatre), the Papacy against Venice, which has been running since the start of the game, and now the Papacy against Neapolitan Spain.

On resetting the game I noticed a few errors had crept in. Venice gained a city because I had overlooked Dalmatia, for example, but with all the grace of a sophisticated Italian Renaissance Prince, I forgave my former self, vowing only to poison his drinks at the first opportunity. Nevertheless, the situation was rather tense in Italy, and a lot might depend on who drew the initiative.

In the Spring of 1502, both the French and the Papacy drew hearts. The French pivoted their forces north, to attempt to wrest Milan from the upstart Austrians. They were, however, two moves away from the city, so revenge would have to wait. Further south, however, the two central Papal armies ganged up on the Neapolitan Spanish in Perugia.

I confess that as Neapolitan commander, I was a bit bothered by this. While the terrain, as shown above, was reasonably broken up and had sufficient places to hide skirmishers (the N. S. have a lot of skirmishing crossbowmen, plus 4 bases of jinites), the Papal forces vastly outnumbered them in heavy cavalry and firepower.

The Spanish plan was to disrupt as much as possible with the skirmishers concealed in the various terrain and their jinites, while trying to pick off the disrupted Papal units with their own gendarmes, arquebusiers and sword and buckler men. The Papal plan, as seen above, was to advance in three columns, keeping the infantry on the road for speed and assault the more lightly held Spanish wings while deploying the infantry to blast away the centre.

The picture above sees the start of the execution of the plans. The jinites are forward and just in range while the Papal columns are advancing. Those of you with sharp eyes, however, will have already noticed a problem for the Pope’s legions. The first casualty of the game has been inflicted, and it was the Papal general. He had just set the infantry column moving and then had cantered across to the Papal left (right on the picture) to halt it, and then deploy the skirmishing screen. Incoming javelins from the jinites reduced the head of the column to a shaken mess, and the general himself was a casualty. You can see the gap (by the tempo marker gun) where he should have been.

As Papal commander, I seriously thought of abandoning the effort at this point, but weight of numbers suggested perseverance. The Papal army, although constantly disrupted by the jinites, managed to move forward, only a little more uncoordinated than was optimal.

As Spanish commander, I decided to take advantage of the slow and uncoordinated advance. The jinites are attacking the infantry column and, in the lower right of the picture, the Spanish gendarmes are moving forward. This was to be a major problem for the Papal army, because, a few moves later, they charged into the middle of the infantry column in flank and swept away the Papal pike men.

I realised afterward that this was very high risk for the Spanish. The fleeing pike men are across the front of the Papal right-wing gendarmes. You will notice that the Papal army has managed to deploy, so the newly victorious Spanish cavalry are extremely vulnerable to counter-attack. However, due to the difficulties in command the Papal army was suffering from, they got away with it. You will notice that the Spanish arquebusiers and skirmishers have emerged to attempt to attack the Papal infantry column. They did not manage that and the threat of the Papal gendarmes sent them scuttling back to cover.

While the Spanish gendarmes were reforming on their extreme left (between the stream and the village) the Papal wings advanced and forced back the jinites, in fact advancing into the ones of the Spanish left and giving them a mauling, while the mounted crossbowmen on the Papal left dealt similar treatment out to their opponents.

This, however, had left a gap between the Papal right-wing gendarmes and their foot, specifically the arquebusiers who were, of course, shorn of their protective pike. The Spanish gendarmes crept up and struck, routing two more bases. The Papal army went into fall-back moral mode, and then withdraw. As Spanish commander, I was relieved to see them go.

This was a fascinating wargame. The command and control implications of losing the general so early meant that, while initially, I was concerned for the Spanish army as it was heavily outnumbered, outgunned, and outmuscled, even getting the Papal army into action was an effort. As it was the marauding Spanish gendarmes managed to take out five bases in two charges and, essentially, win the game. If the Papal general had remained extant I think it would have been much closer or even an easy Papal win.

The effect on the campaign is quite significant. The Papacy is now under real pressure in the south, with their only army firmly anchored to Rome while the navy, which has been city snaffling in Dalmatia but is now really needed to defend Ancona.

The Spanish, of course, now have options to reinforce their position in central Italy, by either taking Piombino, adding to Papal woes, or adding another army to the one in Perugia and threatening Rome. At this rate, the Pope could get knocked out of the campaign.

As it happened, in summer 1502, no-one drew an initiative card, so Italy drowsed while everyone drew breath.