Introduction 0ne of the highlights of my trip to England was an invitation to the Ian Weekley establishment, where a group of us gathered around Ian's table for our annual wargame. There were six "active" gamers present... "active" in the sense that we were all still breathing... amongst us there were heart-attack persons, broken-hip persons, deadly-disease persons, short-of-breath persons... if a representative of Blue Cross or any of the other health insurance providers had walked in, he would have thrown up his hands and ordered us to be immediately isolated from the general public. This year, Ian had laid out a renaissance game replete with his 30mm Suren figures. Prior to the game, Ian had mailed to me the types of figures, the units, the weaponry available, and Tom Elsworth and I developed a set of rules oriented towards Ian's avallable assets. If, for example, Ian had, say, three stands per unit available, there's no sense in developing a grand strategic game of corps and armies on the table. There were some seven? eight? units on the table for each side' each composed of three stands. Which meant that each side pushed less than 30 stands around the fieId. To my mind, this constitutes a more-than-adequate army, since, with the relatively small number of stands, the movement, firing and melee procedures are greatly accelerated, and the game itself proceeds quite rapidly. Ian's description of the battle is given below. Where necessary, I shall put on my editor's hat and toss in one or two explanatory remarks. Historical Background of the Battle Such wargames of this period present the players with scenarios which do not require huge armies. In fact records show that many battles were fought with less than 10,000 men on either side, local levies being stiffened by a hard corps of veteran mercenanes, the Condottiere. Captains of a Condotta of variable size would sign up their services to the highest bidder, and while hardly changing sides in the middle of a conflict, were not averse to changing employers so-on afterwards! At any rate the battle chosen for our 1997 wargame here would not use too many figures and need little scenery, being fought in marshland and among ditches. But to the background. Sir John Hawkwood, the great English mercenary leader, was officially in the employment of Florence but had been 'lent out' to assist Francesco Ferrara the elder, Lord of Padua, now in serious conflict with Antonio della Scala, Lord of Verona. Ferrara, too old to fight, allowed his son, the lively and attractive 'Francesco Novello' to command (nominally) the Paduan troops under the overall direction of Hawkwood. During February, Paduan troops had been blockading Verona. Della Scala, its unlovely ruler, was a murderous creature who had caused the death of his own brother and co-ruler and many others. Under his banner were ranged some of the best Condottieri in the business. Giovanni dei Ordelaffi, Lord of Fouli (no great fief) commanded the Veronese troops with Ostasio da Polenta from Ravenna as his second-in-command. Lesser leaders were Facino Cane, an untrustworthy 'crook' from Piedmont who later did well in service with the Visconti of Milan; also the dal Verme brothers, Ugolino and Taddeo. All these personages were known to Hawkwood, although a friend and former colleague, Jacopo dal Verme, was absent. Hawkwood had his own capable commanders in Ugolotto Biancardo, Cecchino Broglia and above all, Giovanni Ubaldini. EDITOR'S NOTE Despite Ian's recitation of the professional Italian commanders present, it goes without saying that the participants at table-side were far more experienced than the original Condotierre. A lack of supplies at the end of winter presented major prob1ems and Hawkwood and his princely companion decided to withdraw south east down the river Adige to his Iarge supply base at Castelbaldo via Castagnaro' which was on his side of the river on the Lombardy plain. The Veronese came out in pursuit with an army of around 11,500 men, a balance of pikemen, crossbowmen and armoured cavalry. Of less interest to Ordelaffi were also a huge crowd of citizens and peasantlevies. Della Scala had also sent out some massive ribauds, a type of multi-firing cannon well in advance of their time, slow moving, virtually useless, and soon 'bogged down'. Stand and Fight With the Veronese now pressing him hard, Hawkwood decided to stay and fight before thelittle village of Castagnaro rather than be caught crossing the water to Castelbaido. He camped behind a long irrigation ditch for the night. Next morning, Hawkwood and his commanders drew up their men is six 'battles', in two long lines of three battles each. In the centre of the third line stood the sacred 'carrocio', the large war-chariot. These wagons served the city states as a mobile chapel and a plafform where trumpeters could issue their commanders' orders and were jealously guarded. Hawkwood's army was numerically inferior to his enemy. He had 7,000 men-at-arms, with 600 English bowmen and a further 1,000 varied infantry. He must have longed for more archers, those dreaded veterans of the French Wars. The battle started as the Veronese front line extended like the Paduans beyond the ditch, hurled fascines into the water to fill it up to make crossing points. Both sides pushed at each other with pikes and lances to little effect at first while Hawkwood and Ordelaffi could observe each other over the sea of helmets! EDITOR'S NOTE. At table-side, Robin Peck was designated our 'fascine person'. Each time the Veronese tossed a fascine into the ditch, Robin tossed a coin onto a target to determine the efficacy of the fascine. A target circle was placed on the floor some 3 feet from Robin's chair, and if his coin landed in the target circle, this was deemed a proper fascine and the Veronese troops permitted to cross. If not a proper fascine, it was returned to the fascine factory, and the factory manager was given a severe thrashing. Under heavy Veronese pressure the Paduan lines began to give ground but fighting fierce1y yard by yard. Now Hawkwood's moment had come, and sweeping up his mounted men-at-arms and mounted archers, he charged across the water to his right and attacked the Veronese left flank and rear. Infantry followed him. The stunned soldiers of Ordelaffi turned to face the new danger, having problems switching their long lances through 180 degrees. Hawkwood's deputy Ubaldini quickly exploited the initiative and ordered the battered Paduan line to counter attack while the English archers shot down the enemy in swathes. EDITOR'S NOTE. When we Paduan defenders were informed by Ian that the waters on our right flank were crossable, we tried to emulate Hawkwood's charge across the stream. Unfortunately, our cavalry got bogged down due to the 'rough terrain' rule, which was deemed applicable to the muddy water area (70 percent chance to cross rough terrain), and so we never really broke through. It could not last. The Veronese lines crumbled and started to flee. Armoured men-at-arms stumbled across the marshes calling for their horses. A Veronese peasant levy was told to fight to the death and did just that. Unprofessional but brave and not knowing the rules, they did not surrender and died to a man. Virtually all the della Scala leadership was captured. Hawkwood, having smashed the Veronese left, allowed Ubaldini to roll up and destroy the right and remains of the centre. Victory was complete. Casualties totaled 716 dead and 846 wounded. Hawkwood lost only 100 dead. His men had captured the Veronese carrocio, five senior commanders and nearly 6,000 soldiers, plus the three extraordinary great 'ribauds' (which no one knew what to do with), twenty bombards and forty ammunition wagons. Hawkwood's already considerable fame swept through the courts of Europe. The Terrain I have an 8 x 4 foot softboard, reinforced below with battens to keep it fairly rigid and this is placed on a long but narrow trestle table here. Every year I have to alter the scenic surface and color to suit the new game (an annual event). I would like the board to be a bit wider but one can't have everything. A few of my castings of houses at 25mm served for Castagnaro village and I made a ruined oId fortification to add interest, also from the castings boxes. A few haystacks dotted about on the marshes added 'local color.' The canal and ditches were painted and the shallow water or ford which enabIed HawhNood to cross round to the enemy flank was given a sandy color. Then all ditches and the Adige River received two coats of gloss varnish. The Figures We called on my 30mm medieval Suren figures and a mixed bag from different manufacturers... Hobildars' men-at-arms' archers and also the two carroccios I made up for each side. I would have liked more figures but we had enough to give us what I hoped wou1d be a 1ively and interesting game. Fascines were also made up (twigs on card) for the Veronese troops to fill the ditch. The scene was set. The Wargame - Deployment All figures were placed on the tab1e much as things would have been in the early morning of the battle. Sir John Hawkwood's Paduan troops were deployed in lines as described earlier. Dice throws were required to bring up the Veronese army. It is on record that Ordelaffi took ages to bring up his men to the ditch! EDITOR'S NOTE: Under our rules system, an infantry unit in column could advance 8 inches and then had a 70 percent chance to deploy for battle. Many of the Veronese units failed their '70 percent' test, and thus required two bounds to move up and deploy. He had not expected Hawkwood to stand and fight at this stage of his retreat The two carrocios were placed centre rear of each army. We could have used more figures, but even so we had enough to provide a good scaled down conflict - a good skirmish in effect, at 30mm scale. The terrain was marked out to show the entire area of the original battle. As Ordelaffi ordered his lines and came up to the ditch they were vulnerable to early arrow-shot across the ditch from the English bowmen. The game therefore began as dice throws carried the Veronese troops forward. Could the course of history be changed? The Game The game would be won by the Veronese if Hawkwood was killed or forced back into the village of Castagnaro or in retreat across the Adige River. Padua would be the winner if Hawkwood could inflict maximum casuaIties on the Veronese army within the agreed timescale of the game. We read that the respective strength of the two was as foIlows: Verona, led by Ordelaffi, fielded 11,200 men and many raw militia, while the Paduan forces had fewer troops at 8,000 cavalry and infantry with 600 English archers. Our annual wargame here was now in place and the usual geriatric gang of 'walking wounded' and others assembled in the conservatory. Wally Simon with young Tom Elsworth commanded the Paduan army and directed the sequence of movement and ru1es general1y. EDITOR'S NOTE. The editor resents the fact that Elsworth is typified as 'young' whilst Simon merits no such descriptor. Don Lambert and Tony Hawkins took the Veronese army in charge. Early development tended to follow the originaI histonc encounter but the Veronese brought up artillery and caused some execution among Paduan troops aIong the Castagnaro side of the canal. EDITOR'S NOTE. In an archer unit, each stand contributed 20 percentage points to the probability-of-hit (POH)... thus a 3-stand unit had a 60 percent chance to hit. If hit, the target stand was placed in an off-board rally zone. The Veronese cannon were defned to fire with the effect of 3 stands, i.e., a 60 percent POH. Veronese commanders a1so succeeded in getting soldiers over the canal on the fascines they had brought up. Despite heavy casuaIties now taken by both sides (with poor rally dice throws by Don Lambert not heIping the Veronese at all), Ordelaffi's troops advanced. Fierce cavalry combat took place at the shallow confluence of hvo water courses at the point they entered the Adige River. The Paduan cavalry were checked here, unlike their original success in 1387, but at the time fixed for the end of the game' Padua was victorious yet again! EDITOR'S NOTE. At the end of each bound, both sides tried to bring stands previously placed in their rally zones back to field. The chance of success was 60 percent. If the test was failed, the stand was removed from the game. If successful, the stand rejoined its unit. In melee, each stand was given a combat value, and the unit total obtained. For example, each armored cavalry stand was worth 25 combat points. Percentage dice were thrown, and if the toss was below the total, an opposing stand was sent to the rally zone. Victory Conditions Our victory conditions were determined as a function of 'Victory Points' (VP). Each time a unit did something meritorious, such as winning a melee, the winning side could request the 'High Council' for a VP award. The High Council consisted of everyone table-side... the members of both sides. All participants had a single vote, except for the Council's Magistrate, the Honorable Robin Peck, who was given 3 swing votes. It was to Robin, therefore, that the pleas for a VP award were addressed. It was noted that several times, Robin tried to weasel his way through I'll give 1 and 1/2 votes to the Paduans, and 1 an 1/2 to the Veronese")... but all present immediately threatened bodily harm to him. He quickly recanted. Sources Italian Medieval Armies (Osprey Men-at-Arms series, 136, 1983) The Condottieri - Soldiers of Fortune by Geoffrey Trease (Themes & Hudson, 1970) Figures 30mm figures by Suren and others prepared and painted by B.J. Hams and Don Lambert. Photographs by Alan Peck and the author. Back to PW Review May 1997 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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