Fm Fornovo 1495.zip- (6.87 KiB) Downloaded 261 times
Designer's notes:
This is a long gestating scenario. I had started researching it back in March but was put off by the contradictory sources. I had put it aside but then felt the urge to finish it.
There are two easily accessible accounts of witnesses: Alessandro Beneditti, a surgeon in the league's camp, and Philippe de Commines, the French King's principal diplomat (whose memoirs are the principal source of information for western continental Europe in late 15th century, having served both the dukes of Burgundy and the kings of France). De Commines was a not merely a witness, he was a participant in the fighting as he was near Charles for some time during the battle. Beneditti gave numbers for both sides (mistaking the Swiss for Germans) but one wonders how he got them. De Commines only talked of the Swiss and did not say anything about the League's army composition, probably wisely as he was a careful historian.
The best, most complete, secondary source is Antonio Santosuosso's "Anatomy of Defeat in Renaissance Italy: The Battle of Fornovo in 1495" The International History Review Vol. 16, No. 2 (May, 1994), pp. 221-250, far better than David Nicolle's Osprey title, as Santosuosso had access to the private letters of the marquis of Mantua and that of the secretary of the paymaster to the Venetian forces, as well as some other less important participants.
In terms of design, the first impulse is to line up the the armies on their respective sides of the river. But doing so would inevitably result in the battle revolving around the fordable sections of the river, something that did not happen. Also although each army was divided into three parts, the centre parts (Charles' and Gonzaga's commands) were separated by the non fordable section of the river. Gonzaga ended up leading his troops upstream and crossed behind Fortebraccio's troops who were to take on the French's rear guard (la Tremoille). Charles followed and lined up to the left of La Tremoille. The decision was for both sides to start on the French side of the river, with Italian heavy infantry still crossing.
The huge French baggage train was a major focus of the fighting. It was stretched out all along the route of retreat, from the rear to the van, and was a target for the League's light cavalry. The design had to make it very tempting for the Italian player to attack it and destroy a large part of it.
Artillery was present but ineffective due to adverse weather conditions. It is ignored.
Thousands of the League's troops never got into combat because of excessive prudence on the part of their Venetian paymasters. Those units are immobile (but the bg number is important for army routing purposes)
The French gendarmerie's lance organization is simulated with one unit each of gendarmes, coutiliers, and dismounted archers (actually crossbowmen).
French infantry is mostly crossbowmen mixed with camp followers. When the francs-archers institution was abolished after the defeat of Guinegatte in 1479 at the hands of Flemish pikemen, the French started raising a number of pikemen units trained by Swiss officers. They were stationed on the northern border but by the 1490s had decayed as the crown resorted to using more reliable foreign infantry again. The French went into Italy with Swiss mercenaries as their battlefield infantry. Native infantry, mostly Gascons it seems, was mostly used during sieges ('werra' which is a more usual activity than a pitched battle 'bellum') and was rather helpless in battle.
The League's army is difficult to pin down. Nobody is quite sure about it. Men-at-Arms are organized along the line of the French lance but the infantry is probably a bit of everything. They did have a body a German pikemen. A note on mounted crossbowmen: the unit representing them is protected swordmen, not protected crossbow swordmen, because they did not shoot from horseback but normally dismounted. The Italian ones were involved in the attack of the French baggage and stayed on horseback therefore they are without shooting capability.
FOGMAN
