Front Rank SYW Prussian Hussars

 I recently painted a unit of Front Rank 28mm Prussian SYW hussars for a friend.  I thought I'd share the results.  The figures are well-sculpted and they were fun to paint.  The request was that I would paint them as the famous "Death's Head" hussars.  Since the skulls aren't sculpted on, I had to paint those little suckers free-hand!

 (ABOVE) Two troopers

Battle of the Somme 1411

Here are some photos from our most recent fight between the Constable of France and our favorite Burgundian, John the Fearless. Burgundy has formed a secret alliance with England and has marched into the Somme river area to claim some of the towns located there. The Armangac Constable of France has been ordered to drive Burgundy back before English invaders land on the mainland. The Duke of Burgundy is a vassal and blood relative of the French king, right? Well, things in France are a bit complicated.

In Piquet, you draw cards from the Army Characterization Deck prior to the battle. These cards might give you morale bonuses, extra cards, special stratagems, and most importantly, morale chips which measure the capacity of your army to take losses and setbacks throughout the battle.

The Burgundians drew 22 morale chips.

The French drew 9 morale chips, an extra Cavalry Move in Open card, an UP1 Morale Die for Infantry card and a Reinforcements Stratagem. The French traded in the UP1 Morale card for another draw which gave them a 6 morale chip card for a total of 15 morale chips. They kept the extra cavalry move card and the Reinforcements Stratagem.

Unfortunately, the reinforcements (6 more units) would not arrive until Turn 6!! It was a d6 for units and a d6 for turns. We normally allow players to trade in special ACD cards to draw more morale chip cards from the deck, but we do not allow the players to trade them in after they decide to roll for the particular stratagem card to see how good it is. Once the player decides to keep the Stratagem card, he can't trade it back in because he tanked on the result. Tough luck.

So, the French are more brittle when it comes to morale, but their deck is souped up with an extra card. Let's do this!

(ABOVE) The battlefield. The Burgundians are on the left. The French are on the right. That's a road running down the middle of the table. The table is actually for my Kursk scenario I'll be testing over the next few months. Works just as well for the Hundred Years War.

(ABOVE) Hundred Years War Burgundians. French dismounted Men At Arms (MAA), Picardy longbowmen, and low country pikemen on the right flank. Mounted retinue knights, low country crossbowmen, and Burgundian dismounted MAA in the center. Burgundian dismounted MAA on the left flank near the woods (they are rated as Militia. Not good).

Militia troops are vulnerable to the Levy Apprehensive card. When this card appears, all levy troops rated as Militia or worse have to check morale. If the majority of the levy troops fail the check, all of the levy troops flee the table unrallyable. All Hundred Years War armies have this card in their decks, but only the Burgundians have militia men at arms so the Burgundian commander's heart always skips a beat when this card flips over.

(ABOVE) Late Hundred Years War French. Mounted men at arms (MAA) on the left flank. Dismounted MAA, brigans (common pikemen), and Voulgiers (common Halberdiers) in the center. Peasants, skirmishers, bowmen, and crossbowmen on the right flank. Somebody plans on using that extra Cavalry Move in Open card! Cavalry can only move on that card. The 28 card French deck normally has only 3 of them.

(ABOVE) The French mounted left wing charges over the hill into the Burgundians. We actually used a cavalry morale challenge and an opportunity charge against the archers at the top of the screen. And we did it properly! Hooray for us! Then I pulled the Courage! card. Aaargh. All units in contact check morale. Luckily, only one unit failed and went disordered.

In Piquet: Band of Brothers, cavalry can attempt to intimidate and disorder other units by issuing a cavalry morale challenge and literally challenging the morale of the target unit. If the target fails, it becomes disordered. Disordered units (and flanked units, for that matter) then become possible targets for Opportunity Cavalry Charges. So, a unit of knights can challenge an enemy unit, disorder it, and then charge into melee with it.

(ABOVE) Another cavalry morale challenge followed by an opportunity charge against dismounted French men at arms. Burgundy (Jason) started grumbling a bit about the overwhelming cavalry advantage enjoyed by the French.

(ABOVE) Mounted knights doing their thing!

(ABOVE) These Low Country pikemen took advantage of some great impetus to engage this French MAA unit in the flank, automatically disordering it. Looks bad for the French.

(ABOVE) D6 versus D12 results in a 2 to 1 win for the knights! Jason must have rolled a "1" five separate times in melees during the game. Followed by a morale challenge, the pikemen routed.

(ABOVE) In the foreground, the French mounted knights have crushed the Burgundian right flank. A few impetuous nobles rode off the table in pursuit, but the French horse just need to reorganize from disorder and things should be just peachy. In the top right corner, you can see the Burgundian mounted retinue knights going after the French commoner infantry. The battle lines have become a bit confused. The French have no morale chips left at this point!

(ABOVE) A few moves later. Both sides have taken Major Morale checks. Morale chip count is 4-0 Burgundians.

(ABOVE) The Burgundian retinue knights, eager to get out of armor and into their nice, silky court clothes, attack and crush a unit of French brigan pikemen. Yes, they are led by an English duke. The Burgundian army is an international force!

(ABOVE) The last unit of mounted French knights with leader attached fights off another unit of Low Country pikemen D6 vs. d12 = 3 to 1!

(ABOVE) On the next turn, the pikemen advanced again, despite their disorder and drove off the French knights. The French pulled a Major Morale Check card, down 12-0 in morale chips. The French withdrew from the field.

The Burgundian commander has since reassessed the battle and decided his army needs one major upgrade: MORE LOW COUNTRY PIKES!! And better dice.

Piquet games at Socal Smackdown

We'll be running Piquet games on the 3rd and 4th of September at the Socal Smackdown convention near Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. The games will be Band of Brothers on Saturday and an Archon: Punic Wars battle on Sunday. It's a great opportunity to try out the Piquet rules. Feel free to sign up and come by to play!

http://socalsmackdown.com/

Burgundy Forever!

This battle was a hypothetical Hundred Years War battle roughly based on the Battle of the Golden Spurs. A Flemish city has revolted against the authority of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. Their revolt has been sponsored and supported by the Armagnac followers of the King of France. The Duke has raised an army of his vassals to enter the city and crush the revolt. The rebellious guildsmen are attempting to block the passage of the Duke's army at a river. If the rebels can hold off the Burgundians for six turns, it will encourage other Low Country towns to rise up against the Duke's authority.

(ABOVE) View from the Burgundian side.

(ABOVE) View from the Low Country side of the battlefield. The Low Country troops are defending from behind the river. The main river is a Class III obstacle. The side branch is a Class II stream.

(ABOVE) This bridge is on the left flank of the Low Country defenses. It is barricaded.

(ABOVE) The Low Country army consists of 4 units of militia pikemen, 3 units of mercenary crossbowmen, 4 units of burgher knights, a unit of mounted French knights, and an organ gun battery. Their general is Average.


(ABOVE) The Burgundians have 3 units of mounted knights, 5 units of dismounted Burgundian knights, 2 units of mercenary spearmen, 3 units of Picardy longbowmen, and one unit of English longbowmen. Greg rolled up an Abysmal general. Poor Greg!

(ABOVE) The French archers approach the river bank and fire against the crossbowmen with little effect.


(ABOVE) The river has been crossed.

(ABOVE) The Burgundian knights crossed the river and were blasted by the organ gun. The organ gun fired with great effect during the early part of the game. Meanwhile the Burgundians successfully forced the bridge and Low Country pike units have started forming into Hedgehog.

(ABOVE) Burgundian cavalry attempts to force the river and bridge.

(ABOVE) Reinforcing burgher knights drive off the Burgundian dismounted knights' assault

(ABOVE) The cavalry unit assaulting the bridge was driven off, but another unit of mounted knights managed to ford the river. (BELOW)


The knights crushed the disorganized militia pikemen, but were then caught while pursuing and defeated by the French knights who waited in reserve. (BELOW)



The end result was a resounding win for the rebellious burghers. It was a good playtest of the scenario that was made much more difficult because Greg's Burgundian general ended up as an Abysmal commander. The Burgundian knights are terrible and about the same quality as their rich city counterparts. Known more their courtly manner and fine clothing, the militia-rated Burgundian men-at-arms underperformed once they realized the common townsmen actually planned on putting up a fight. Greg probably rolled up at least half of his units as poor, battle weary quality.

The militia pikemen were average (good against cavalry), but the Low Country mercenary crossbowmen were very strong and I might reduce them to two units the next time we play. The heavy armor of the crossbowmen was a big advantage against the Picardy longbowmen. The organ gun battery was fun and did pretty well.

Greg felt the river was too difficult an obstacle, so I plan on reducing it to a Class II obstacle. That will still make the river a Class III obstacle for the Burgundian mounted extra-heavy knights.

Perry late 15th Century Swiss

I purchased the Perry Miniatures plastic mercenaries box, but I waited a few weeks for the metal Swiss heads set to come out. The Swiss heads give some variations (feather, caps, bonnets) that are suitable for representing the Swiss pike troops and missile troops who battled against Charles the Bold and the Holy Roman Emperor in the late 15th century. They painted up nicely and the plastic pikes are surprisingly flexible and durable.

HYW Perry Command 3

This post is for Greg to prove to him that I'm still painting for our medieval project. Here are some pictures of some of the newest 28mm Perry Miniatures Hundred Years War command stands I've been painting for my Piquet: Band of Brothers games.

In Band of Brothers, the sub-commanders and commanders fight in the ranks, like real men. We're trying out a new house rule that reflects the household troops that would fight alongside these high-ranking nobles. The command stands actually form up with the unit they are attached to and count as an extra stand for stand difference modifiers. A four stand unit with a commander attached to it would count as a five stand unit.

We'll see how that works. It might be too much of an advantage, but it doesn't hurt to try it out.

I took a command figure from the Perry personality set and matched them up with two miniatures from the Perry men-at-arms and command packs. The flags are from Maverick Models. The owner was nice enough to design a flag for Thomas Erpingham for me. He also can size the flags to suit your needs. Great service.

I'm still using the idea I stole from James Roach for removable flags. Each flag is wrapped around a small tube so I can remove them for travel and when the commanders need to represent different armies and nobles.

The command figures are:

Sir Thomas Erpingham who marshalled Henry V's archers at Agincourt:



The Count d'Eu, captured at Agincourt. But he looks pretty! The Perry's did a great job of sculpting his heraldry:



Anthony, the Duke of Brabant, who arrived late to the battle of Agincourt, rushed into combat at Agincourt. In his hurry, he wore improvised armor and a surcoat made of a trumpeter's flag. He was captured and executed when Henry V gave the order to kill the English captives. He most likely died because no one recognized his value as a hostage without his heraldry. In my games, he fights dressed to the nines:




Coming soon: Late 15th Century Swiss pikemen and handgunners!