We played an interesting small game using the Piquet medieval/ early renaissance rules supplement "Band of Brothers." It was Milanese(?) versus Venetian armies the Milanese with a Superior commander in chief and with fewer but higher quality units. The Venetians had, errr, peasants! Having been fooled into commanding the Venetians, I decided on a sneaky plan to gain some sort of advantage. Rather than the obvious move of contesting the open wing of the battlefield with our knights we would place them in the middle of the deployment and try to smash through the enemy centre before our wings were crushed. To the left of our mercenary knights we positioned a strong force of spear and crossbow armed soldiers (and the peasants) supported by terrifying handgunners (they scared me anyway...) On the right were some militia pikemen with mercenary pavissiers and mounted crossbows.
The Milanese lined up as we had predicted with their Condotta and Famiglia knights opposite our left wing. Before our plan could be enacted however the enemy sprang into action. To our astonishment they sent their cavalry wing angling across the centre of their army to attack the Venetian knights. This was a risky manoeuvre as they were presenting their flank to the Venetian infantry opposite them. The Venetian commander of these foot promptly advanced his command on his own initiative to take advantage of this opportunity, to pour crossbow bolts and handgun bullets into the dense columns of enemy knights as they passed in front of them. Another consequence of this daring manoeuvre was that the Milanese knights were no longer charging in a line but in an echelon formation. The upshot was that as they approached the enemy the lead unit was attacked by twice as many Venetian knights who were able to wheel onto their flanks and engulf the enemy condotta with their wider en haye formation.
The moment of decision came when the Milanese player drew one of his "Brilliant Leader" wildcards and had the agonising choice of charging into the numerous enemy, an ignominious retreat out of danger or attempting to rally his disordered units. He chose the rally option. It failed. The knights were almost immediately the recipients of a charge and were cut to pieces by the better organised Venetians. The very best squadron of knights on the battlefield found itself trapped with enemy on three sides and taking point blank missile fire, Despite seeing off one attack they were eventually charged in the rear by Venetian handgunners and fled with their fellow knights. A spirited counter attack by some of the Milanese foot guards made some ground but the will had run out of the Milanese army (they were all out of Morale Chips) so retreat was the only choice.
Milanese Condotta (with the yellow disorder tag) surrounded and in trouble.
Skirmishing handgunners about to deliver the coup de grace.
The knights of Milan fleeing.
Venetian militia with their pikes.
Expensive English mercenaries contributed little except a few long range volleys of arrows.
Skirmishing crossbows probed for a gap to get into the enemy's rear.
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