For now I have played Pike and Shotte with two sized pike blocks. The standard pike block is 24 figures (4 wide and 6 deep). The large pike block is 36 figures (6 wide and 6 deep). In 28mm these give some impressive looking units on the table. The rules very successfully handle the increased effectiveness of these sized units with extra attack dice and stamina for the larger units. The larger units can also recover from disorder by adding a casualty.
At a figure scale of 50:1 these would mean the standard pike blocks represent about 1000 – 1200 men and the large pike blocks represent 1500 – 2000 men.
Historical pike block sizes
So where is the problem? If we look at the Italian wars, there were some exceptionally large pike blocks employed, particularly by the Swiss and Landschnekts. While there is some debate in the literature of the exact number of men at each battle, the following numbers show how large the pike blocks could be:
- At Marignano, the Black Band Landschnekts had 6,000 men deployed in two pike blocks giving about 3,000 men per pike block.
- Also at Marignano, the Swiss had a minimum of 15,000 men (the sources vary considerably on this number with some saying up to 28,000 men). These men were deployed in three pike blocks giving about 5,000 men per pike block.
- At Bicocca, the Swiss had 16,000 men in two pike blocks, giving about 8,000 men per pike block.
- At Ravenna, the Landschnekts had 9,500 men in one pike block.
Representing large pike blocks on the table
Now everyone who plays the Italian Wars loves flags, gendarmes and large pike blocks. So how can I resist representing some of these large blocks on the table. I already have three Swiss pike blocks each of 36 figures. These figures are individually mounted on 20mm x 20mm magnetic bases and deployed on movement trays to form a 6 x 6 pike block, so I have plenty of opportunity to rebase on movement trays for different battles.
So naturally I have started to look at playing Marignano as my next battle, which would mean deploying three pike blocks of 5,000 men each; at a scale of 50:1 this would mean pike blocks of 100 figures each. I would therefore need to increase my three 36 figure Swiss pike blocks to three 100 figure pike blocks – so I ordered an extra 200 figures. I also contacted Litko. the company that I purchase my movement trays from; their standard movement trays are not this big, but James from Litko (who is always exceptionally helpful), custom designed the larger movement trays for me.
While I was ordering these movement trays I also ordered others for the different sized pike blocks, using the 50:1 figure ratio throughout:
- The 3,000 men blocks are 64 figures in an 8 x 8 block
- The 5,000 men blocks are 100 figures in a 10 x 10 block
- The 8,000 men blocks are 144 figures in a 12 x 12 block
- The 9,500 men blocks are 196 figures in a 14 x 14 block
I have to say that I am looking forward to have three 100 figures Swiss pike blocks on the table at Marignano or a 196 figure Landschnekt pike block at Ravenna.
Large pike blocks in Pike and Shotte
It is one thing painting a deploying a large pike block, it is another making it function within the Pike and Shotte rules. The two main factors that I need to account for are the Hand to Hand dice and the Stamina.
Hand to Hand dice
I already have large Swiss and Landschnekt pike blocks of 36 figures (6 wide and 6 deep) on my unit tables. These have 9 hand to hand dice and 6 stamina. As all of the super sized pike blocks are Swiss or Landschnekt, I decided to use these figures as a starting point.
I then decided that it was not the total number of men in the pike block that contributed to the hand to hand dice, rather it was the number of men in the front few rows. That means that the fighting value of a pike block is proportional to its width. A six figure wide block has a hand to hand value of 9, or 1.5 per man. Using this ratio, I calculated the hand to hand value of a 64 figure pike block – the block is 8 figures wide x 1.5 = 12 hand to hand value.
Similarly for 100 figure pike block you would get a 15 hand to hand value and so on for increasingly large blocks.
This calculation therefore gives us the hand to hand value for each pike block. The only modification I have needed to make is that on some occasions not all of the front row of the large pike block will be in contact with an opposing unit. If a 100 figure pike block is in contact with a standard pike block of 24 figures (4 wide, 6 deep), I allow only figures directly in contact plus a one figure overlap on each side to fight. So only 6 figures would be able to fight out of the ten. This would allow the 100 figure pike block to use 9 (6 figures x 1.5) hand to hand dice out of its maximum of 15.
Stamina
The stamina of a unit is proportional to the number of men in the unit. So if a 36 figure pike block has a stamina of 6, a 64 figure pike block would have a stamina of 6 x 64 / 36 which rounding down is 10.
Likewise a 196 figure pike block would have a stamina of 6 x 196 / 36 which rounding down is 32.
As you can see, these pike blocks can take a lot of casualties. The table below summarizes my current plans for handling large units.
Break tests
The only other modification that I have found that I need is to the break test rules. I want to avoid the situation where a 196 figure pike block encounters a standard pike block and due to some poor dice rolls, looses a round of combat by one casualty. The 196 figure pike block would then be required to take a break test and if they roll double 1s, they would rout off the board with only one casualty. This situation seemed unrealistic to me.
I am hoping to solve this situation by using a special rule that any pike block of 8 x 8 or larger does not need to take a break test until its casualties reach half of its stamina level.
Conclusion
Hopefully some of these thoughts on big pike blocks encourage others to give them a try. I would be interested in any comments of feedback on how other people handle them in the Pike and Shotte rules.