OK, so we've had a bit of a lay-off - I think it's about time the braver amongst Lone Warrior's readership had the chance to try out their prowess against each other again. In short - time for another postal tournament! And just to make sure you don't get bored - we'll try out a new period and a new format: This time, our tournament will be set in the "Renaissance" period. To be exact, towards the end of the fifteenth century, at the time of the Italian Wars. Should you decide to take part, you will assume the guise of captain-general of a small Italian city-state. Your home city has a rival across the valley, in the form of another city of similar size. The ruler of the rival city is clearly planning an attack on you, and so your employer has charged you with recruiting an army and leading it in battle to defeat his antagonist. (Do unto others as they would do unto you, only do it first, as Macchiavelli might have said.) As you can see from the attached map, there are two roads linking the two cities - once you have recruited your army, it is up to you to decide how to split your forces to cover both routes, to prevent your enemy taking your city by surprise. First, you must put together an army: You have 1,000 ducats to spend on recruiting and paying your army. Cost of the various unit types is as follows: A band of 50 Men-at-Arms (super heavy cavalry, barded horses, lance, axe, sword, etc.) 100 ducats A band of 50 Stradiots (Light cavalry) 60 ducats A block of 64 pikemen. 50 ducats (upgrade pike to Swiss or Landsknechts) 10 ducats 'Sleeve' of shot (36 men) to stand either side of pikes 20 ducats (upgrade to Swiss or Lands.) 5 ducats Sub-unit of 20 sword-and-bucklermen for pike block. 10 ducats (upgrade to Swiss or Lands.) 2 ducats Unit of 100 Arquebus armed infantry 50 ducats Unit of 100 Crossbow armed infantry 50 ducats Unit of 100 militia with mixture of weapons 30 ducats Battery of two culverins (25pdrs) 100 ducats Battery of two sakers (6 pdrs) 60 ducats Battery of two falconets (1 pdrs) 40 ducats OK? Once you have recruited your army, you need to decide how you will split it to cover the two roads. (See map below.) You will lead one force in person, a trusted officer will lead the other force. Please give general orders to the two forces and note their order of march. Instructions for playing the tournament: 1. Choose your army from the above list. Decide which units will take the High Road and which will take the Low Road. Write general orders for the two parts of your army and list their order of march. Send everything to me. (Remember to keep a copy of your army, orders, etc.) 2. When the two parts of your army encounter an enemy, I will send you a map of the terrain, together with a request for your dispositions and battle orders. Return these to me and I will fight the battle on your behalf. 3. If the situation part way through a battle is critical, and further decisions are needed, I will return the map to you with a request for more orders. 4. When both battles have been completed, I will send you a report of the outcome, plus a note of your score. Notes If you don't know the period, don't worry about it, just have a go anyway! Always send a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope with your submissions. Please feel free to give names to your units, city, generals, employer, etc. Extra points may be gained by acting in character for the period, giving heroic speeches to your men or generally NOT acting like a boring competition wargamer! Right, all you budding condottiere, let's have some fun then! Address as before is: Chris Grice address deleted--RL Note: Tournament for subscribers of the print version of Lone Warrior. MagWeb.com members not allowed--unless, of course, you take out a print subscription to Lone Warrior.--RL Map Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #137 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com