Category: Italian Wars

Last year at Historicon, I did the Battle of Bicocca 1522. The Battle had quite a lot of scenery required for the action including the field defenses and the villa Bicocca with the large Italian Gardens. You can see a report on the Battle here. This year I will be doing the Battle of Ravenna. The problem that I have is that the battlefield itself is limited in terms of scenery, I want to make the table look as impressive as possible for Historicon. The Battle was fought when the Spanish and Papal troops came to relieve the city of Ravenna from siege by the French. Although the city played no part in the battle, the Ravenna city walls were a backdrop to the battle.

Models for the walls

The solution was obvious, I needed to make the city walls of Ravenna as a backdrop to the battle. After searching the internet for a suitable kit to represent the Italian style city walls I came across the range by Tabletop World from Croatia. They are walls originally made for fantasy, but by selecting the right models from their range I was able to get a great looking wall. At first I was initially nervous about ordering from Croatia, so I placed a small order. It arrived without issue, and the company was a joy to deal with; so I then placed a larger order for the rest of the parts.

After washing the parts with soapy water, I spray primed them in black. After a couple of days I them sprayed them brown and sealed them with a coat of matte varnish. I then used a beige paint to paint the walls and then used various powders for different tones and weathering effects.

The base

Once the base painting had been done I wanted to check the layout with some city buildings. The total area is about 2′ x 4′. I didn’t want the buildings to be taller than the city walls, so I raised the walls with 2″ of foam. This meant that only the church tower could be seen rising above the walls, similar to the woodcut.

2″ foam used to raise the walls.

I kept the foam pieces at a maximum of 24″ in length so that they would be transportable. This decision meant that I needed three foam base pieces. Once the layout had been done I then shaped the base foam using a cheap woodland scenics hot-wire foam cutter. I then painted and sealed the foam with my usual mixture of brown paint, Elmers glue and model railroad ballast.

Blending the base into the terrain

I then needed to make sure that the base would blend with my terrain mats rather than just sit on them. So I cut and glued some terrain mat pieces to the edge of the foam.

Some terrain mat glued to the foam to blend in to the terrain mat.

This technique is the one that I used for the field defenses at Bicocca and it worked well in that case. However, it didn’t seem quite right in this situation, so I folded the terrain mat pieces underneath and glued them. It seemed to work much better.

The next stage was to blend in the terrain mat to the foam at the top, so I made up some more of my paint/elmers/ballast mixture. After shaving the fur mat on the top I proceeded to apply the mixture to blend things in.

Finishing and detailing.

The last stage was to add various woodland scenic flocks, grasses and bushes.

That meant that the outside was finished. For inside the city I was planning to use some cobblestone mats (from Novus designs) for the city to sit on. This still meant that I needed to finish the foam on the inside. To provide a pleasing transition I made some earth retaining walls from balsa and then weathered them.

The city is now complete for Historicon, all I have to do now is finish about 60 Landsknechts. Here are a couple more views of the Ravenna city walls and buildings.

Yesterday I did a test run of my 1512 Battle of Ravenna for Historicon. I will be running this game twice at the HMGS Historicon convention. Once on Saturday morning and once later on Saturday. It is for eight people at a time, but I can probably fit a few extras in. I was not originally planning on doing another Italian Wars game at Historicon. However, when the theme was announced as “World in Conflict: Italy” it really forced my hand.

Ravenna for Historicon

This post is not designed to give too many details of the battle, game, or talk about the results of the play test. I will cover those topics in future posts. The aim is just to show a few photos of the test run as as a sort of advertisement for Ravenna at Historicon.

The test run was designed to make sure that the game is balanced, as an unbalanced game is typically not great for a convention. I also wanted to make sure that it allowed all of the players to get into combat quickly. The test run was a success with the Spanish war carts performing well and the stats for the field defenses giving a very playable game. I will make a couple of minor adjustments but nothing too serious.

The Cavalry battles on each flank were a little constrained by the space, but at Historicon I will have extra room on each flank which should make for some exciting charges.

The battle was between French forces and Spanish forces that had been sent to relieve the Siege of Ravenna. Therefore the table at Historicon will include a few buildings to represent the city of Ravenna. These will not influence the game play but should add a nice scenic touch.

The figures include many of the figures that I used last year at Historicon for the 1522 Battle of Bicocca. However, there are new figures including the 196 figure Landsknecht Pike block. This block will be one of the largest 28mm pike blocks ever put on the table at an HMGS convention.

A few extra photos.

Thanks to Lou, Pat, Walt, Bob, Steve, Scott and Eric for assisting with the play test. I hope that Ravenna at Historicon will be as fun as last year’s Battle of Bicocca.

Here is my Battle of Bicocca after action report. The 1522 Italian Wars battle was refought on Friday morning in the Grand Ballroom at Historicon 2021. It was originally for ten players, but we managed to fit in two or three extras.

Bicocca after action report

The battle was laid out on a “T” shaped table using 4 sets of 5′ x 8′ tables. The battle involved over 1600 figures in 28mm, all of which I painted since I got back into the hobby in 2017. All of the terrain was also hand-built, kit assembled or kit-bashed.

Without going too much into the Historical details of the battle, the Spanish had set up defensive positions along a sunken road near the Villa Bicocca north of Milan. Their left flank was protected by a marsh and their right flank was protected by a large drainage ditch. The Spanish were supported by their Landsknecht allies and the Milanese army was arriving from Milan to protect the bridge across the drainage ditch.

Against the Spanish was the French army. The French commander did not want to assault the prepared Spanish positions. Their Swiss allies threatened to head back to the Cantons if they did not attack and so the French commander reluctantly agreed. The French also had the Black Band of Giovanni as a scouting force and the army of Venice approaching the Spanish from the marsh side.

Our battle differed from the actual battle in that we allowed the Venetians to attack through the marsh and we allowed the French to commit significant forces to attacking the bridge over the drainage ditch. These changes meant that the Spanish were threatened not only from the front, but from both flanks. The Spanish overall commander would have to decide how to commit his forces to defend against these threats and these choices ultimately proved critical in deciding the outcome of the battle. Now to begin the Battle of Bicocca after action report.

Initial Spanish deployments.

The main Spanish force of arqubusiers and artillery was deployed at the field defenses at the sunken road. These troops were supported by two very large Landsknecht pike blocks. Out front of these troops were four units of Spanish Jinetes which are light cavalry. The Jinetes were to remove the Black Band screening forces so that the artillery at the defense could fire on the advancing Swiss pike.

In reserve at the camp were four Spanish Pike blocks, some Spanish artillery and a unit of Spanish knights.

Arriving on the Spanish right were the Milanese cavalry and infantry. Their role was to protect the bridge across the drainage ditch on the Spanish right.

French initial deployments

The French Gendarmes and other heavy Cavalry were on the French left facing the Milanese. The open table was designed to allow a fast moving cavalry battle.

Next to the French cavalry, near the vineyard were the French infantry.

In the center were the two massive Swiss pike blocks. They were ready to assault the prepared defense head-on. Supporting the Swiss was the French artillery and the Black Band of Giovanni to screen the pike blocks. the table was set up as a “T” shape to allow the Swiss room to advance against the defenses.

On the French right were the Venetians. Their job was to get through the marsh and pressure the Spanish right through the Villa Bicocca and its gardens.

Opening moves

On the left the French cavalry wasted no time engaging the Milanese cavalry. This resulted in a sweeping cavalry battle that lasted most of the game. The Milanese player fought this battle very well, but just had no dice luck. His efforts did result in keeping the mighty French Gendarmes away from the Milanese infantry.

Covered by the bold French cavalry advance to their left, the French infantry started to make progress towards the bridge over the drainage ditch. The Milanese infantry moved to engage them. All of this was done with the sound of church bells coming from the church (this was not done with Renaissance technology, but by bluetooth speakers and my iPhone).

In the center the Swiss Pike blocks started their advance. Ahead of them fierce fighting erupted between the Spanish Jinetes and the Black Band.

The Venetian tactics

On the Spanish left, near the marsh and Villa, was perhaps the most decisive of the opening moves, and the one that would have the most impact upon the result of the battle. The Venetians were only a small force consisting of light cavalry (Stradiots and mounted arquebusiers), foot arquebusiers and a couple of pike blocks. The light cavalry, unimpeded by the marsh, made a lightning raid towards the sprawling Italian gardens at the back of the Villa.

The speed of this advance spooked the Spanish commander. Rather than send a small screening force to protect the easily defended villa, they sent the entire Spanish reserve of four elite pike blocks towards the gardens. In addition they moved one of the massive Landsknecht pike blocks towards the villa. The Landsknecht pike block therefore vacated the position behind the field defenses and was no longer able to defend against the advancing Swiss pike blocks.

Not only did the Venetians draw the pike blocks across to face them, but they enticed them to advance through the gardens. The advance of the Spanish through the gardens was slow due to the need to stay in formation. It therefore took them a long time to make progress. More importantly, every turn that they spent advancing into the gardens would take a turn to get back out to support the main defenses.

The Venetians, once they had sucked the Spanish in, kept on harassing them with mildly effective shot as they slowly withdrew back towards the safety of the marshes – not wishing to engage the vastly superior Spanish forces. This was a tactical masterpiece by the Venetians, who Paul, who commanded some of them, will talk about for years.

The middle battle.

On the Spanish right things were not going well for the Milanese cavalry. Despite excellent tactics, the dice just would not roll for their commander and their force was slowly reduced by the relentless French Gendarmes.

This French Cavalry victory protected the flank of the advancing French infantry and allowed them to battle and push back the Milanese infantry after much fierce fighting.

In the center the Swiss Pike blocks continued their advance. The Spanish Jinetes fought valiantly to try and clear out the Black Band skirmish force to allow the cannons on the field defenses to open fire on the Swiss Pikes.

With the Swiss pike almost at the defenses, the Spanish commander realized the tactical error of over concentrating on the Venetians. It was too late to recover.

The end game

On the Spanish right, the French infantry continued to make progress. The Spanish moved their reserve artillery to fire on them from the other side of the drainage ditch, but this fire was ineffective. The French would go on to capture the bridge, leaving an unopposed advance to the Spanish camp – with all of the reserves committed against the Venetians.

In the center the Swiss reached the field defense. The pike block from the urban cantons was almost unopposed with the Landsknecht pike block that was due to face them having been diverted against the Venetians. The arquebusiers put up a valiant fight for a turn, but were never going to stop a massive Swiss pike block.

The Swiss pike block from the rural cantons also hit the defenses. They were met with the Landsknechts in prepared positions. The clash of pikes between the two was intense and lasted three or four turns. Eventually the Swiss got the upper hand and managed to push back the Landsknechts, but the battle was close until the end. We were left wondering if the both Landsknecht pike blocks had remained at the wall and had even been supported by a couple of Spanish Pike blocks, could the result have been different? I suspect that the Spanish would have held.

The final result

In the end both Swiss pike blocks crashed through the defenses at the sunken road. Nothing was between them and the Spanish camp. With the camp being attacked by the French infantry and the Swiss Pike, the battle was over. The Venetians were the only forces not to make it to the Spanish camp, but they had been instrumental in the result of the battle.

Conclusion

I hoped that you enjoyed seeing and reading this Battle of Bicocca after action report. The battle had gone very differently from how I expected it, but that made it more fun. With attacks on the Spanish center and both flanks, the game was always going to come down to both the frontal assault of the defenses and how the Spanish deployed and committed their reserves. I had not expected the Spanish to over commit against the Venetians, even to the point of pulling the Landsknechts away from the defenses. The Venetians tactics were a masterclass.

I hope that everyone that played had a good time. The positive comments that I received from players and those that walked by were pleasing, particularly as this convention was the first time I had hosted games at a con.

I was also very pleased to receive an award for the game. This made all of my efforts on this Italian Wars project for the last three or four years worthwhile.

Update 27th November: HMGS just officially announced the Best of Show award and it was awarded to my Battle of Bicocca game. Considering the number of great looking tables at Historicon (see my last blog post), I was honored to receive Best in Show.

I am now considering what to do as my next project. The favorite may be the 451AD clash at the Catalaunian Plains between the Romans and the Huns. That project would need about 1500 cavalry – it wouldn’t be ready for 2022, but maybe 2023.

With my game of the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon only three weeks away I have just completed the final pieces of scenery for the table. With it being a sunny day in Philadelphia I wanted to layout the main scenery items on my deck to check they all fit together. I also wanted to check that there will be enough maneuver space for the troops. As the terrain will cover three 5′ x 8′ tables, I have no space large enough in my house, so the deck was the only option. As it was a little windy, I did not layout some of the lighter items such as trees, vineyards and orchards.

The layout

The terrain will be two 5′ x 8′ tables side by side with another 5′ x 8′ table intersecting in a “T” formation. This last 5′ x 8′ table will be where the Swiss march up the table for the inevitable clash with the Landsknechts at the field defenses.

In the center where the “T” shape joins will be the 6 feet of field defense at the sunken road. The Spanish arquebusiers and Landsknecht artillery will man the defenses. The Swiss Pike covered by the Black Band of Giovanni will march up the table to assault the defenses. To the right of the defenses is the Villa Bicocca with the marshes in the back-ground. The Venetians will make their way slowly through the marsh to threaten the Spanish left flank.

Construction of the ditch

To the left of the field defenses is the drainage ditch with a bridge going across it. The drainage ditch itself is impassable and protects the Spanish right flank. The only way across for the French will be the bridge, which the Milanese are racing to protect. If the French get across the bridge they will be into the Spanish camp and in the rear of the Spanish positions.

I constructed the drainage ditch from a 1′ x 4′ piece of mdf. I then lined the edges of the board with Killing Fields fur, textured the edges, painted the surface brown and varnished the center to represent water. Finally, I added flock and other terrain items. The rocks were molded using Woodland Scenics molds.

In this photo you can see some of the geese that I added to complete the scene. The geese are from the Assault Group.

I am now comfortable that I am ready to put on the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon. The terrain fits together well. All of the players will have plenty of room to move their forces and fight. In addition, the terrain should look full once the trees, extra buildings and Spanish camp are laid out. The terrain will be a great back-drop for the 1600 figures that I plan to deploy.

This post is an update on the field defenses for Bicocca that I have built for Historicon. Even though the defenses are now finished, I still have a lot of work to be ready for the convention. The main item that I need to finish is the Villa at Bicocca and the gardens for the villa. I will be working on these items next week.

This weekend our club will be play testing the Historicon Bicocca game. The play test is to see if the rules that I have to represent the defenses work as I intend. I don’t want the defenses to be totally impregnable, but they should offer stiff resistance to a concerted attack.

Defenses length.

The field defenses are 6 feet long. The reason for the length was explained in the last blog post. The defenses have positions for three cannons and six units of Spanish arquebusiers that will be manning the defenses. There is also room for some landsknecht shot units as well as room behind the defense for the large landsknecht pike blocks to come up in support. the two Landsknecht pike blocks will be 100 figures each, so they need some room to maneuver.

Gun tower construction.

The gun positions use the log defenses from Anyscale models at the top. However, I also needed to build some extra log barricade at the bottom as retaining walls. These were constructed by cutting down balsa rods.

Finishing the terrain.

As explained last time, the base was made from foam covered by Killing Fields mats. A mixture of brown paint, model railroad ballast and PVA glue was the applied to the rest of the model. This mixture provided a base covering. The wooden defenses were then added using caulk to fix them and fill gaps.

Some rocks were then cast in dental stone using woodland scenics rock molds. These rocks were then painted and stuck to the model using the paint/ballast/PVA mixture. Once the rocks were fixed and dry, various shades of flock were added. I then fixed grass tufts and bushes to finish the model off. I also dry brushed some of the dirt areas to give a little more depth to the model.

The defenses took a little longer to make than I had hoped. However, they do blend very well with the Killing Fields terrain mats that they will stand on. I will add a road on the terrain mats to represent the sunken road. This road will run in front of the defenses. On the other side of the road I will put foam under the terrain mats to provide the opposite slope.

Although the field defenses for Bicocca are not model railroad quality, they turned out well for portable wargaming terrain. I am hoping that all the terrain items for this game at Historicon will work well together. The game will be reasonably large with 1500 figures and space for ten players.

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I am planning on running the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon. One of the most important terrain features will be the defenses for the Battle of Bicocca.

Historical description of the defenses

From the book “History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century” by Sir Charles Oman: On page 179 the defense width is listed at no more than 600 yards. On page 178 the defenses are described as: “On the North front, where a sunken road leading to the manor-house ran along the front of the park enclosure, he had deepened the hollow, and made a rampart along it, with the cast-up earth, piled above the existing bank. In several places he had constructed high platforms in this rampart, and placed guns upon them, which would sweep not only the fields in front, but laterally the ditch immediately below.

On page 181 he discusses the earthworks height. “the obstruction was so deep and the rampart behind it so high, that the head of a pole could hardly be stretched from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the earthwork.

Design of the defenses

From the description, there are some important factors to consider when designing this terrain feature for the game. The first is the overall length, the defenses are not a small item. The second feature is the height and the third feature are the gun platforms.

Length

On the length of 600 yards, this is 21,600 inches. If we take a 28mm at 1:56, scaled down this would be 385 inches. However, we need to remember our figure scale. I am running the game at 1 figure is about 25 men. For the pike blocks one figure would be about 5 men deep by 5 men wide. Using this frontage, I calculate that the required defense length would be 385 / 5 or about 77 inches. For table appearance, I actually made the defenses a little short of 6 feet long (72 inches). This size looks and feels about right. The defenses for the Battle of Bicocca are a dominant feature on the battlefield terrain.

Height

On the height, a pike is up to 18′ long. Using our 1:56 scale this would have meant that the defenses would need to be about 3.8″ tall. The height of the defenses is where I decided to make an artistic compromise. I used some inch thickness foam and then mounted some log barricades from AnyScale models on top. The barricades cost 2 UK Pounds a piece, which seemed reasonable. These barricades are around 0.75 inches high so the overall height of the defenses is just less than 2″. These are a little low, but still look imposing on the table top. I could still add another layer or two of foam board under these defenses to increase the height.

Gun platforms

The next job was the gun platforms. It is important that they stick out so that the artillery can fire along the length of the sunken road. The image above shows the early stage of construction of these emplacements. I am going to add logs at the front and sides of the platforms to retain the earth. Also along the entire defenses I will add terrain and rock outcrops to give a better finished appearance.

Construction of the defenses

I used a hot wire cutting tool to cut the earthworks from a 1″ foam board. I then cut and laid some terrain mats from Killing fields terrain to give the bulk of the ground cover. This ground cover will allow the earthworks to blend with the rest of the terrain. I then shaved paths to the gun emplacements with hair trimmers. After I painted a mixture of paint, Elmers glue and rail road ballast over the paths and uncovered foam board. Finally I painted, weathered and glued down the log barricades.

I still have work to do to finish the defenses, but I feel that basic design and structure is complete. I hope to finish them in the next few weeks.

The defenses for the Battle of Bicocca will allow me to deploy 6 units of arquebusier and 3 artillery pieces. The Landsknechts can be easily moved up to the barricades due to the gentle slope at the back. Combined, there should be enough firepower to cause the advancing Swiss Pike some problems.

In this blog post I will look at how I converted pike block flags on three units. The units will be ready for a game at Historicon.

I am currently preparing all of my figures and terrain for the two games that I plan to put on. The first is the 1651 Battle of Berestechko that I play tested recently. I plan to run this game at 9am on the Thursday, right at the start of the convention. This game is essentially complete except for a couple of units of Polish Haiduks that I would like to paint.

My second game will be the 1522 Battle of Bicocca. I plan to run for ten players on the Friday morning. I still have a large amount of terrain and figures to complete, but I am on schedule. This game will be the larger of the two and will have about 1500 figures.

In going through the list of troops that I needed for Bicocca, I was short two Venetian pike blocks and one Landsknecht pike block in Imperial service.

However, I did have two Papal States pike blocks and a Landsknecht pike block in French service that were not needed for Bicocca and were available to be converted. With each figure on an individual 20mm x 20mm base, this conversion is as simple as painting new flag figures.

Converting Papal States to Venetian

This first picture shows my two 36 figure Papal States pike blocks with six flag figures between them.

The next picture shows the Papal States pike blocks with the Venetian flag figures that I will change out. The Flags were from Pete’s flags.

The final picture of the pike blocks shows the converted Venetian pike blocks ready for action at Bicocca. Individually basing figures allows me to change both flags and the size of the pike blocks. It is very flexible. However, you need to be more careful with the movement trays than if you glued multiple figures to the base.

Landsknechts from French to Imperial Service

The next job was to convert the 100 figure Landsknecht pike block from French to Imperial service. The first picture shows the pike block before conversion.

The next picture shows the new flag figures ready to go into the pike block. The flags used a mixture of flags from Pete’s flags and Battle Flags.

The final two images show the pike block flags in Imperial service. It is ready to fight back the Swiss coming up from the sunken road at Bicocca.

I am not sure how many people at Historicon would have noticed if I had left French flags on an Imperial pike block. Or even Papal flags on a Venetian pike block. However, I would have known and it would have made me uncomfortable during the game – maybe I am over concerned about it.

This month it has been back to painting for my Italian Wars project. I decided to make some progress on my Spanish forces before hopefully moving on to some Venetian Cavalry next month. The focus was on some Spanish Renaissance artillery.

I needed to increase the number of Spanish arquebusiers for a convention game of the Battle of Bicocca that I am planning, so I wanted to paint four units of 8 figures. I also had five Organ guns in my painting pile from Redoubt Enterprises that I wanted to paint. These guns have large spikes at the front and on the wheels, and they sound very like the Spanish war carts at the battle of Ravenna. I decided to equip man these guns with figures from the Assault Group.

The organ guns don’t really come with any instructions, so it took some playing around to see how they fitted together. I was even left with a couple of parts that didn’t look like they belonged. Overall they painted up reasonably well. At only five UK Pounds a piece they were not overly expensive either.

I used the small equipment from the Assault Group Spanish/Neapolitan artillery crew.

The color pallet of the Spanish troops is a little more on the dull side compared to some of the Spanish that I have painted before. I think that this choice has been influenced by some of the colors that I used for my recent cossack uprising project.

I have some Spanish pike and sword figures still to paint. These figures will be added to the arquebusiers to form two more colunellas. I am deciding whether or not to paint them before I move on to the Venetian Cavalry.

I was happy with how the Spanish Renaissance artillery turned out. They are certainly different from the rest of the artillery that I have in the collection. They will be great for representing the Spanish war carts when I eventually refight the Battle of Ravenna.