Battle of Agnadello 14th May 1509, King Louis strikes terror in the Venetians..

Battle of Agnadello 14th May 1509.

Well today John and I fought the renaissance Battle of Agnadello, between the Venetians and the French led by King Louis XII.

 We fought it using the Pike and Shotte rules which we both enjoy.

Below are the orders of battle for both forces.

 When I set the game up, I was a bit concerned that it seemed too small a game by our standards, but to be honest it turned out to be a good size for a day game.

 I was also concerned that the French were too outnumbered, well I was very wrong on that score as the commentary will show, because basically my Venetians were slaughtered, as in real life, [ well I think my defeat was worse from a numbers point of view.]

 The Count of Pitigliano leading his invincible Venetian heavy cavalry, well that was until they met Louis and his bodyguard.

Using the Peter Sides booklet Renaissance Battles volume one, the Venetians were positioned on the slopes of some vineyards, in front of their position was a long dry riverbed, which was classed as  difficult terrain. Not exactly good terrain for a battle of this era, but fine if one wanted to fight a defensive battle, which I didnt.
 For a change the generalship on both sides was pretty mediocre, with all the commanders ending up as 7's. Sadly it didnt affect the French as much as it did my Venetians.

                                  
  The Duc d'Alviano [ level 7] sat on top of the hill with his bodyguard, during the battle he took an age to get his troops to actually move.

Background;
 Louis XII King of France was a consignee of the League of Cambri an alliance created to punish the Republic of Venice. He personally led an invading army made up of approximately 20,000 men.
Included in this army was 6000 dreaded Swiss .
The Venetians led by the Count of Pitigliano attempted to manoeuvre the French away from the republic and took up a position on vine clad hills. The French ignored this threat and marched towards the city of Rivolta, which drew the Venetians away from their defensive positions in pursuit. They then simply circled behind their pursuers in order to attack their rear.
The Venetians deploy first, the French move first.

French;   Louis XII.........Rash........7

Gendarmes d'Ordonnance............HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 10  /  M 3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry D3 Elite 4+

Duke de'Amboise.............Dice for Generalship.

 Gendarmes d'Ordonnance............HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 10  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry D3 Elite 4+

Gendarmes d'Ordonnance............HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 10  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry D3 Elite 4+

French /Italian Light Horse...........Horse. Arquebus, sword,  H/H 7  / shooting value 1 /  M4+  /3.

Gascon Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Gascon Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Gascon Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Gascon Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Swiss Pike....Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H7  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog, Ferocious Charge, Elite.

Light Artillery Piece; H/H1  /3,2,1.  / M 5+  / 2.

Swiss Pike....Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H7  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog, Ferocious Charge, Elite.

Light Artillery Piece; H/H1  /3,2,1.  / M 5+  / 2.

Victory Conditions;

Must decisively defeat the Venetians, causing 2/3 of units to be shaken at any one time.

French move first.

Battle of Agnadello 14th May 1509.

Venetians....Count of Pitigliano....7  [cautious] ]

Bodyguard........HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 8  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry 1 Elite 4+

Italian Men at Arms..........HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 8  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry 1.

 Italian Men at Arms..........HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 8  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry 1.

Italian Men at Arms..........HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 8  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry 1.

Duke d'  Alviano...........Dice for Generalship.

Bodyguard........HvHrs.   Lance,   H/H 8  / M  3+  / 4.  Heavy Cavalry 1 Elite 4+

Stradiots:..Light Skirmish Horse,  H/H6   /  SV  1 /   M 5+   /  3.  Fire and Evade.

 Stradiots:..Light Skirmish Horse,  H/H6   /  SV  1 /   M 5+   /  3.  Fire and Evade. 

Stradiots:..Light Skirmish Horse,  H/H6   /  SV  1 /   M 5+   /  3.  Fire and Evade. 

Stradiots:..Light Skirmish Horse,  H/H6   /  SV  1 /   M 5+   /  3.  Fire and Evade.

Italian Pike;... Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H6  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog, Large Unit.

Italian Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Italian Pike;... Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H6  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog, Large Unit.

Italian  Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Italian Pike;... Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H6  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog, Large Unit.

Italian  Crossbow.....   Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Italian Militia;.... Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

Italian Militia;.... Foot Battle Line.  Xbow.  H/H3,  2/ M 5+  /  3.

  

Romandiole Foot;... Foot Pike Block. Pike. H/H6  / M4+  /  4 .   Hedgehog.

Medium Artillery Piece; H/H1  /3,2,1.  / M 5+  / 2.

Medium Artillery Piece; H/H1  /3,2,1.  / M 5+  / 2.

Victory Conditions;

Must decisively defeat the French causing 1/2 of units to be shaken at any one time.

French move first.

 The Venetians had about 3000 stradiots in their army, that proved to be badly handled by me, never use them against large numbers of Gascon crossbowmen..

 I attempted to harass the French crossbowmen, but consistently lost the firefights.

 John had trouble moving most of his right wing, where Louis was in command, however using a 'follow me' order he attacked the Counts bodyguard. I expected a close fought fight, but took eight hits in their initial charge.

These are my saving throws. My gendarmes save on a four!

                                   Following the initial slaughter, this was my morale score!

 I had to take a reaction for my supporting cavalry, so what should have been a relatively easy throw resulted in the below!

 

By move five, a third unit of Venetian heavy cavalry was routing due to a mauling by Louis and his Gendarmes. So three quarters of my offensive cavalry was gone.

That damned King Louis laughing his metal pants off.

Not satisfied with mauling my heavy cavalry, Louis later linked back up with his bodyguard and attacked my disordered cross bowmen, that had advanced towards the Swiss. It didnt help that they were caught in the rear. They routed naturally.

Louis and his damned body guard, applied the coup de grace in the final move by charging the flank of my disordered and shaken large Italian pike block. These routed as well.

The Duke d' Alviano finally got his command to move after a lot of failures, unfortunately his cavalry was destroyed by the French artillery.

 The dreaded Swiss was very tardy in marching towards the enemy, and never came into contact with their Venetian counterparts, they didn't need to as they had routed by the time they got withing charge distance.

 So after a mere three hours of fighting I had 12 units classed as shaken or routing, and John had suffered a mere four shaken units. A very comprehensive defeat for me and a great lesson in avoiding the French Gendarmes led by their king, who virtually won the battle singlehanded.