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French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:16 pm
by Niceas
Steve wanted to trot around with his pistol-armed cavalry, so somewhere in Flanders...

Early Imperial Spanish
3 TC's
1 unit of Guardias Viejas, 4 stands, Gendarmes, Heavily Armored, Superior, Light lancer, Swordsmen
1 unit of Jinetes, 4 stands, Light Horse, unarmored, average, javelins, swordsmen
1 unit of stradiots, 4 stands, Light Horse, unarmored, average, light lancers, swordsmen
2 units of mounted arquebusiers, 4 stands each, Light Horse, unarmored, average carbine
1 unit of reiters, 6 stands, Horse, Heavily armored, average, pistols, pistols
2 Early tercios, 16 stands each, average, armored pikemen, unarmored arquebusiers
1 unit of detached musketeers, Light foot, unarmored, superior, musket
1 unit of Spanish arqubusiers, medium foot, unarmored, average, arquebus
1 unit of medium artillery of 2 stands
Fortifications to cover front of artillery
1 unit of Walloon foot, 4 stands medium foot, unarmored average arquebus, 8 stands heavy foot, armored, average, pike, 2 stands Heavy foot, armored, average heavy weapon.

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Early in the battle, French on the left, Spanish on the right. Spanish light foot have already taken artillery casualties...

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Spanish right flank. French Gendarmes, supported by two units of reiters and two units of argolets, have decided the Spanish guns on the hill must be taken. The Spanish mounted arquebusiers have been dusted off already.

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The Spanish center: Waiting for the French(?) (mostly Landsknechts and Swiss) to advance.

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Spanish Left flank: Jinetes and Stradiots advance on French 'archers'. Walloon foot have detached their shot to line the hedge, with the pikes in reserve, while musketeers skirmish with the Swiss.

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The Spanish arqubusiers have returned, supported by the Spanish reiters. The French Gendarmes and argolets have suffered casualties from shooting.

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The Jinetes skirmish with the French 'archers' (javelins get no minus against heavily armored cavalry); the stradiots sneak by, looking heading for the French artillery.

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The French Gendarmes charge up the hill, into the fortifications, and the arqubusiers supporting the artillery. Cerignola redux? The Spanish Guardias Viejas decided to force the issue with the Supporting French reiters and argolets.

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The French reiters advance to pistol range of the Spanish reiters.

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Awesome dice for the Spanish arqubusiers.

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The French Gendarmes have taken more casualties...the Guardias Viejas likewise, have suffered casualties from French shooting.

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The French 'archers' chase the Jinetes.

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The Stradiots take advantage of the archers preoccupation to overrun the French artillery.

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The Swiss advance into a fire-sack and promptly shrug off 9 dice of shooting. Must be crappy powder or something...

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Meanwhile, The Landsknechts and Tercio come to blows. The Tercio gets the worst of it, although they disrupt the 'adventurer' shot.

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The Guardias Viejas have charged the French reiters and are proceeding to beat them to a pulp. The French Gendarmes, still fighting, are now fragmented.

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The Swiss plow into the side of the Tercio.

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The Tercio disrupts, and then frags. These are not the Gruyere Swiss of past battles...

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The disrupted arqubusiers have broken off, leaving the Landsknechts to face the Spanish Fury alone.

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Dead French general! Nobody cares though, on the reaction tests. I guess he wasn't very popular.

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The Guardias Viejas break the reiters and pursue them to destruction. The French Gendarmes have fought to destruction on the barricades of the artillery.

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The remaining French cavalry has been charged by the Spanish, The French losing and fragmenting.

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The French horse rout and are chased to destruction by the Spanish reiters and mounted arqubusiers.

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The Jinetes disrupt the French 'archers'!

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But all is not going in the Spanish favor. French adventurer shot charge the fragmented Tercio, which breaks and runs, The Swiss and French staying in contact in their pursuit.

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The French 'archers' charge the Jinetes, to avoid more shooting, but the Jinetes flee, and the archers' charge takes them onto the points of the Walloon pike.

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The 'Archers' frag at impact, and are broken in melee by the Walloon Pikes. This takes the French over their break point.

The French cavalry really disappointed, being bested by the Spanish mounted all around today, and the French Gendarmes charging the fortified artillery on the hill, was, in the words of Marshal Bosquet, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." :shock: The kicker for me was the archers taking the bait and charging the Walloons. The Spanish expect to see more Swiss next time, they earned their silver today.

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:09 pm
by stecal
A really, really crappy day in French history. I won't say it was dice, but it was dice (Or Aliens) Like the time you rolled 4 dice and got all sixes, or when the Lanquesnechts that were winning vs the disrupted tercio whiffed and rolled a 2 on their CT to drop straight to fragged, then you whack my general in the same turn.

Revenge is a meal best served a' la Swiss style.

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:27 pm
by Vespasian28
Nice to see (I think) some of the old Tabletop figures featuring on both sides.
I was pleasantly surprised last year to find both Tabletop and Mikes Models still available when I upgraded my French and Spanish armies to FOGR some 23 years after finishing them the first time for Gush.

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:17 am
by Niceas
stecal wrote:A really, really crappy day in French history. I won't say it was dice, but it was dice (Or Aliens) Like the time you rolled 4 dice and got all sixes, or when the Lanquesnechts that were winning vs the disrupted tercio whiffed and rolled a 2 on their CT to drop straight to fragged, then you whack my general in the same turn.
Oh yeah. I forgot the Landsknechts choked like that.

And yes, true to form, these armies are a polygot of all sorts of manufacturers. Minifig, Tabletop, Mike's Models, Old Glory, Falcon, Navwar...

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:54 am
by tercioviejo
Nice job and great battle.

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 9:41 am
by moncholee
Great report! Thank you. Interesting fact that of spanish cavalry defeating their french counterparts.

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 11:02 am
by quackstheking
Nice report and pictures.

I'm not clear how you detached the shot from the Walloon formation and what other units you combined to keep the BG count the same.

Don

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 11:17 am
by daveallen
Whoops, misread the list... Dave

Re: French vs Early Imperial Spanish

Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 11:57 am
by Niceas
Walloons were a 14 stand GBG, including shot. So pulling off the shot didn't change the unit count.