Duke Lorenzo the Sly surveyed the battlefield. On his right he faced an unpleasant development. The extra hour he had spent in bed this morning had allowed that vile mercenary Hawkwood to move into a defensive position behind hedges from which his longbowmen would be able to wreak havoc. The centre of the battlefield was held against him by the city militia & the left wing had the aristocratic cavalry & condottieres drawn up behind two units of crossbows & the enemy artillery.
Swiftly he made up his mind: He would dine on fish stew & fruit after defeating these misguided fools.
On his right he positioned artillery, skirmishing crossbows & the Pavisieri. Supporting them were the peasant levy.
In the centre a line of skirmishing mounted crossbows covered the planned advance of the guild militia & a unit of mercenary pikemen.
On the left he deployed 4 units of cavalry, including the cream of the aristocracy, eager to gain glory & inflict punishment on the miscreants& lackeys facing them.
The battle commenced with the lightning swift redeployment of 2 of Hawkwood's units right across the battlefield to the centre rear. Fortunately they then proceeded to sit out the rest of the battle. The two sides of militia then started to close & the mercenary pikes tried repeatedly to beat their opponents, finally succeeding & killing a general as well. Lorenzos hastily raised guild militia failed to cover themselves in glory, one unit fleeing & two more falling into disorder upon the appearance of an enemy cavalry unit. Inexplicably, these troops were now ignored as action was now developing on the left.
With things looking bad for Lorenzo, his nobility showed their mettle. A slow advance across the battlefield (accompanied by repeated orders from Lorenzo to get stuck in) culminated in a charge into the foot crossbows who were decisively routed. The momentum of their charge (plus the wish to finish in time for dinner) carried the brave knights on into mounted opponents who were driven back.
At this point, the enemies nerve comprehensively failed them & they withdrew as swiftly as they could. This event is still recreated each year with the annual horse race around the city walls - where the losing horse is butchered & cooked on a giant barbecue.
For Lorenzo this was a triumph.
He had defeated his political rival.
He had finished in time for dinner.
The aristocrats had shown that they were important & there would be little to hear from the Guilds whose militia had failed to put up a very good show.
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