Full details are given in each armies OOB, what follows are some notes on the various units.

THE IMPERIALISTS

THE LANDSKNECHTS

These were 'picked men' who were apparently ALL armoured (at the Emperor's expense). They came from 'old' regiments so I rate them as good as the Swiss for this battle. Fought in one massive column but were able to redeploy to face a threatened flank whilst moving forward uphill so they should be given a very high drill/training class. Only broke due to threats from multiple directions. High quality troops. Note- I suggest you count them all as armoured and do not penalise their movement for this armour. They might not have been aware of the state of 'bad war' existing with the Swiss (having recently arrived).

Note that Delbruck is of the opinion that these were fairly raw and inferior to the Swiss. Whilst he may have a point rating them as such would I believe give the Imperialists little or no chance of victory.

Spanish/German Foot. Well thought of Veterans (Delbruck states these were the best troops in the Imperial army). Broke the dreadful Gruyere Swiss and beat off 3 Gendarme charges. Almost managed to retire form the field in good order. Again high quality, well disciplined foot. There is a slight problem in deciding exactly how they were equipped. Monluc states they were 5000 pikes with a 'forlorn hope' of only 300, however Del Vasto delayed his advance prior to the battle because he was waiting for the Spanish arquebusiers to rejoin his army (who he believed would nullify the French cavalry advantage). It seems unlikely that he was relying on merely 300 arquebus for this purpose. In addition the Spanish forces of this period usually contained a high proportion of shot.

Finally, in game terms we need to give the Imperialists some advantages. Therefore when we fought this action we rated these units as 'Tercios', the Spanish having 1:1 Shot to Pike ratio, the German 2:3. In addition up to 4 shot from each unit could be detached and formed together into a combined forlorn hope. Also, because Spanish arquebusiers often dominated Italian battlefields we gave them a fire bonus. Depending on the rules you use you may decide that a solid pike column with minimal shot is more powerful, if that is the case then go for that option.

ITALIAN FOOT

Depressingly average (or below). I gave them quite a high proportion of shot to pike (see Delbruck) -this makes it more likely that they will prefer to keep their distance.

FLORENTINE HORSE

After some deliberation we made them rather poor quality mounted arquebus. No match for the French when it came to melee combat.

NEAPOLITAN HORSE

Not really sure. We made them Stradiots. Apparently rather better at close quarters than the Florentines but again not up to French quality. They could be equally well represented as some sort of lancer.

Monluc refers to the presence of lancers in the Imperial army (apparently the Florentines?), you may prefer to rate one of the above units as rather poor quality melee cavalry. Delbruck also mentions that (at least some of) the Imperialist light horse was lance armed.

GENDARMES

Don't me misled by the title, these are utterly dreadful! Refused to charge and drifted off to the rear much to everyone's astonishment (the French at first thought this was some sort of cunning manoeuvre!). The rating I assigned may be slightly generous and allows for the fact they may have been disconcerted by Del Vasto being hit. It also might help prevent the Imperialists from falling into total despair when presented with their cavalry. Apparently only 200 of them at the battle, I have increased their numbers slightly to make it a viable unit on the table (and again to encourage the Imperialists).

THE FRENCH

SWISS FOOT

Very good but not the Swiss of old (suffering from post Bicocca blues!). Despite the lack of pay fought well in a very disciplined fashion. Rate them as very high quality and well disciplined but no longer subject to impetuous advances. Due to recent Imperialist treatment of captured Swiss at Mondovi were in no mood to take prisoners. If they rout an enemy foot unit increase the losses inflicted. According to Oman one of these units was 7 companies, the other 6. I have made them equal size (for simplicity) but you may wish to make one slightly larger.

GRUYERE FOOT (or 'new' Swiss)

Another utterly dreadful unit (despite a reasonable officer cadre). Whatever your lowest troop rating these boys are it! As an aside try not to let the Imperialists know which are the 'old' Swiss and which are the 'new'. you may wish to treat them as average in terms of drill quality until it comes to the 'crunch'. Apparently the enemy mistook them for Gascons initially so their real identity should be kept a secret.

GASCON FOOT

Formed from the 'old bands'. Reliable, although despite the protestations of Monluc not rated as highly as the Swiss or veteran Imperialists. Given quite a high shot proportion as they were very active in the pre battle skirmishing. You may wish to give them inherent leadership to represent Monluc.

ITALIAN FOOT

Similar to the Imperialist Italians.

GENDARMES

Still the cream of the French army, still relying on shock action at the gallop. The units in the OOB include the 100 Gentlemen volunteers from Paris.

ARCHERS

Split off from their 'parent' Gendarmes for this battle and fought in a consolidated 400 man unit. Good quality charging horse but lightly armoured. By this time they have no firepower capability (in wargame terms).

FRENCH LIGHT HORSE

Again exactly what these are is unclear, although they do seem quite prepared to charge into contact. We used 1 unit of 'Chevauleger', light horse armed with sword & pistol and 1 unit of Italian Stradiots. You could equally plausibly substitute a unit of mounted arquebus for one of the above.

ITALIAN MOUNTED ARQUEBUS

Arrived during the course of the battle. Apparently highly adept at moving, dismounting, firing and then mounting up and moving on. Rather than continually having to exchange figures I suggest you simply give them a firing bonus and allow them to remain mounted. Very well disciplined but perhaps low morale and certainly not at all interested in melee combat.

ARTILLERY (both sides)

As usual fairly ineffectual despite a prolonged bombardment by both sides. Each side had about 20 guns, in game terms we gave them each 2 heavy and 2 medium. Again according to the rules you use you may wish to alter this (the role played by artillery was insignificant in this battle, you may prefer to leave them out completely). Do not allow the guns to reposition during the course of the game.

CUNNING TRICKS

For this battle both the Gascons and the Landsknechts placed firearmed troops behind the front rank of pikes to give them an initial advantage when it came to 'push of pike' (in order to shoot down the officers and front rank, thereby creating disorder and halting the enemies impetus). Strangely enough, although Monluc records this tactic as being successful, because the Landsknechts and Gascons engaged each other this ploy was completely nullified! If you want to allow this option I suggest the following - if the unit is charging against an enemy foot unit, for the first round of melee only give them an added impetus bonus and/or the chance of disordering the enemy. The exact mechanic will have to depend on the rules you use. Note that this is a 'one use' only bonus. I suggest you do try and use this, and if possible persuade both sides that they are the only people to have thought of it!

ORGANISATION

Rather than going for a fixed historical organisation and deployment I propose the following which gives both sides some flexibility (but rather more for the French than Imperialists).

THE IMPERIALISTS

The players should divide the army in to 3 'Battles'. However note the following:

Del Vasto must command the Gendarmes. His influence/morale benefit is halved when dealing with the Italian Foot.

The Prince of Salerno must command the Italian Foot and Florentine Horse.

Madrazzo must command the Landsknechts.

The CinC can order/influence any unit, the 2 wing commanders can only influence/order units assigned to their Battle.

The Landsknechts must be deployed together. The 2 units must stay within 1" of each other until either they are in charge reach of an enemy or one unit is halted due to poor morale.

The Spanish/German foot have the same restrictions as the Landsknechts.

Note that Del Vasto is not obliged to take the centre battle.

There are no replacement leaders!

THE FRENCH

The players should divide the army into 3 battles. However note the following:

• The minimum size of a Battle is 3 units excluding guns or skirmishers).
• Each Battle must have at least 1 horse unit.
• The Old Swiss must be in the same Battle and must deploy together.
• Francis must command the largest Gendarme unit.

Optional - do not allow Francis to have both Gendarme units in his Battle.

• persuade the French to deploy the Gendarmes towards the centre of the battlefield.
• The CinC can order/influence any unit, the 2 wing commanders can only order/influence units assigned to them. Note that there is no requirement for Francis to command the centre Battle.
• Of course if you prefer you may give both sides a completely free organisation and set up.

Historically the Imperialists deployed from right to left in the following order: Neapolitan Horse, Spanish & German Foot, Gendarmes, Landsknechts, Italian Foot, Florentine Horse.

The French from right to left were: Light Horse, French Foot, Gendarmes, Old Swiss, Gendarmes & Light Horse, Gruyeres, Italian Foot, Archers.

Each army had artillery and skirmishers deployed in front of the main fighting line. Neither army had any reserve. 

To what extent these deployments were pre determined before the battle (or even before moving to the battlefield) I cannot say. However it seems not unlikely that both sides had decided on a 'pre set' battle order.

Ceresole 14th April, 1544

Historical Background and Commanders
Troops and Organization
Orders of Battle: French
Orders of Battle: Imperialists
The Wargame and Map