Well its been a long while since my last renaissance post, but obviously I have been a regular poster on my other blog. However after John and I fought a Pike and Shot battle yesterday I thought it appropriate that it be recorded on here.
I took command of the Spanish while John was in command of the Turks. We used Pike and shot rules and based the battle around a points based set of opponents. I managed to buy back the Turks that John had originally owned and painted which was great. They were sold back in 1988 so it was really nice when I managed to get them. They are still a beautiful army that has stood the test of time.
We did dice for commanders to see how good they were, or in my case just how bad they could be.
The Turks unusually fluked a level 9 General while my Spanish managed an average 8 general.
However when it came to my sub commanders the Spanish had clearly been out on the drink and three out of the four were just 7's. If one doesnt use Pike and Shotte, effectively what it means is that in order to move your troops you need to throw under the command rating to get cracking. Now with two dice you would think it would be fairly easy but I can tell you its not.
Luckily John had a very dodgy cavalry commander who wasn't keen to get to grips with the infidel and held up the advance of a lot of Akinji and tartars.
I will admit that I had a lot of confidence in my three colunellas and thought they would soon see the Turks off.However between faulty/cowardly generals and every Turk having a bow or arquebus they were peppered.When the commanders did get the blocks moving I found that the incessant firepower of the Turks made short work of my two main commands.
I also found that the three Turkish primitive guns were effective and kept hitting anything they fired at.I knew I was in trouble when I charged with my Spanish noble cavaly against a bunch of Turkish foot archers. Somehow, the damned troops although beaten refused to rout and actually rallied after a couple of moves. John did manage to throw a double six to test their morale state. Anything less would have taken them off the field of battle.
This block was commanded by the worst of my sub commanders and spent all day attempting to move forward.
Not a good thing, jannisaries, spahis and akinnji with turkish bowmen still peppering my Spanish.
A very common sight for my Spanish, a shaken and disordered marker on the same unit.Never good.
I mentioned Johns judicious dice throwing of a double six. Well this was my riposte.......the Spanish pike legged it back to safety.It was fair to say that John gave me a lesson in how to use the Turks. Three of my commands were classed as spent and my cavalry were in no fit state to help. Contrary to this report it was a great game and I did enjoy using my renaissance armies.
