I've been lucky to get four or five games in over the last few months and this might be the last one for a while- so it was gonna be a good one.
Ross's early 16th Century collection is spectacular. He has a vast, beautifully painted collection of Swiss, French Gendarmes, Landsknechts, Argoulets, Pavisiers, Burgundian Knights, German Knights, Italians of the same, arquebus, crossbow etc etc...all the stuff that makes that period so fascinating!
Putting his French on the table to fight his Maximilian Imperials, we knew it was going to be a bloodbath- loads of pike and heavy knights....
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| I played these boys! |
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| Ross' pride and joy- His Early Renaissance French! |
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| FRENCH GENDARMES- The finest cavalry in Europe |
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| Swiss pikemen! |
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| Landsknechts with some other people....no one pays any attention to them....just focus on the Landsknechts!! |
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| Max's German knights in depth |
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| German knights advancing against the Gendarmes! Somebody is going to get hurt real soon. |
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| Germans on the left- French on the right. The Germans get to fight in depth. |
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| Looking at the advancing Germans |
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| French mounted crossbows riding wide to get behind the Germans |
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| The Landsknechts- looking across at the Swiss |
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| Swiss- waiting patiently for the Landsknechts.........they really don't like each other...so this is the calm before the storm. |
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| German knights in depth charging the Gendarmes- dastardly French mounted crossbowmen charging into the Germans too!! ( bird's eye view) |
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| German knights in depth charging the Gendarmes- dastardly French mounted crossbowmen charging into the Germans too!! ( Side View) |
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| Lovely paintwork ! |
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| Heavy Metal Crash! the German knights had the depth. The French Knights had the colour, the panache, the style, the elan....and the victory. |
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| Swiss pike block (left) vs Landsknecht pike block.(right)......a bloody melee - no finesse just a deadly scrum.....push of pike |
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| A bloody push of pike |
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| German Knights |
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| Landsknechts ( left) charging into the Swiss |
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| View from above. |
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| Gaps appearing.... |
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| The German knights- down to a third of their original strength....... |
This was a ferocious affair with knights bludgeoning knights and pike giving no quarter ( well it was a game that had lots of dice thrown!). Maximilian's boys went down fighting and although they inflicted heavy casualties on the Swiss, the German pike couldn't match the Swiss, nor could the German knights deal effectively with the French knights!
A French Victory!
Spectacular and gorgeous units John, very impressive!!
ReplyDeleteMerci Phil! I appreciate your comments.
DeleteAgree, looking excellent!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal- some of the paintwork is almost as good as yours!
DeleteFantastic! Awesome looking armies and game. Absolutely inspiring... it's kind of hard to resist the call to get stuck into this period after studying this post.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, what rules do you use?
DeleteThanks Richard. Just the sheer colour, pageantry and spectacle makes it so fascinating. As well as the history!
DeleteThey are a home grown set. Put together over the last 15 years. The basing and a few other ideas are from Impetus- some ideas from DBM, Armati and whatever else we thought should be in them!
DeleteThank you.
DeleteLovely looking game - the Italian Wars/ Renaissance armies always look so spectacular, particularly in this scale and when so beautifully painted.
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith- yes Rosco's collection is just superb.
DeleteLove the "heavy metal"! Those pike blocks look spectacular.
ReplyDeleteThanks John- Pikes....lots of them!! Formidable!
DeleteMagnificent armies, such eye candy! And a great result too. (I'm our Francophile in our local gaming group)
ReplyDeleteThanks Joseph- every group has to have a Francophile!!
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