MONCONTOUR 1569

[fogman]

Fm Moncontour 1569.zip

(6.86 KiB) Downloaded 265 times

The wars started in 1562 between French Catholics and Protestants were wholly indecisive as no side had the financial resources to maintain an army long enough to exploit any great victory; thus each campaign ended in a temporary peace regardless of the strategic situation. The war started in late 1568 was to be no different. After a year of inconclusive fighting in the west of France, the cycles of attrition and reinforcements had turned in favour of the Royalist army. Thus in late September 1569, aware of their mounting inferiority, the Huguenots commenced their retreat from the Loire valley towards their bases in the south. But at Moncontour on 3 October, they were forced to turn and fight. It was to be the largest and deadliest battle of the French Wars of Religion.

Designer's notes:

Moncontour was primarily a cavalry battle that ended in a great clash of pikes and the slaughter of the German Landsknechte fighting with the Huguenots.
On the Huguenot right, their mass of Reiters routed the charge of the Gendarmes but they were unable to stop the Swiss pikes advancing in support. A large cavalry melee was happening at about the same time on the left. In the end, the Huguenot cavalry largely withdrew abandoning the Landsknechte to their fate as the swiss pikes closed in.

Two future kings of France were present as young men, in nominal command of their respective armies: Henri de Valois, on the Catholic side, was first in the line of succession to his childless brother, and, on the Huguenot side, his cousin Henri de Bourbon (already king of Navarre and the first Bourbon king of France), was second. Both their units are immobile and serve as rally point.

Various accessory counters are used to deal with the complicated flow of the battle. Their nature has already been described elsewhere.

Sources: the main source is old but it is the only specialized study of the campaign that exists : S-C Gigon, 'La Troisieme Guerre de Religions: Jarnac-Moncontour 1568-1569" (Paris, 1909). Supplementary details in terms of organization and numbers come from: James B Wood, 'The King's army: warfare, soldiers, and society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562-1576' (Cambridge, 2002)

117 moving BGs, 14 turns

[Micha63]

Thank you.