Italian Wars Campaign Lists Playtest V4.

The Fury of Chivalry

The Italian Wars: 1494-1534
The King entered Asti on September 9, 1494, bringing with him into Italy the seeds
of innumerable disasters, terrible events and changes in almost everything. His
invasion was not only the origin of changes in government, subversion of kingdoms,
devastation of the countryside, slaughter of cities, cruel murders, but also of new
habits, new customs, new and bloody methods of warfare, disasters, unknown until
that day; and the instruments of peace and harmony in Italy were thrown into such
confusion that they have never since been able to be reconstituted, so that other
foreign nations and barbarian armies have been able to devastate and trample
wretchedly upon her .
Guicciardini, istoria ditalia

Italian Wars Campaign Lists Playtest V4.1

Italian Wars Campaign Lists Playtest V4.1

Army Lists
Contents
Introduction

History

Special Rules

The Army Lists:

The French
The Spanish
Tudor England
The Italian States:

The Imperialists
The Swiss

Florence
Milan
Venice
The Papacy
Naples

8
13
17
20
23
25
29
32
34
37

Modelling The Armies

38

Bibliography

39

Italian Wars Campaign Lists Playtest V4.1

Introduction
With these little models you can carry out and explain how to draw up companies,
squadrons, and main forces, and demonstrate the storming of breaches, charges,
retreats.
Jean de Tavannes, 1596.
Referring to the use of toy soldiers of pikemen and arquebusiers to educate children in military matters.

What you are holding in your hands is a set of army lists, in period flavour rules and a brief
guide to a fascinating period in history, which, sadly is badly documented in English.
The development of these lists has so far entailed nearly a year of research and playtesting.
Admittedly, this has entailed a certain degree of educated speculation, given that much of the
source literature is not available in English (if I had only learned Italian and French). Now, it
should be appreciated that during this period, tactics were in a state of flux, with new
developments arising. The first major battle, Fornovo, with its cavalry charges, was in many
respects a typical Medieval battle, but Ravenna in 1512, showed a whole new set of tactics;
mobile artillery, artillery enfilades, assaults on an entrenched position and the use of an
experimental gun wagon. This has meant that the development of the in period flavour rules
has been something of a challenge, but hopefully, the rules strike the right balance to make
them interesting and varied.
The astute reader may well comment that the Italian Wars did not formally end until the treaty
of Cteau-Cambiesis in 1559, when France formally surrendered her claims to Milan and
Naples; so why then do the lists end in 1534? The simple answer is that 1534 saw the
emergence of the Spanish Tercio; I remain dubious that the WAB game mechanism can
accurately model this formation. Additionally, from 1543, the Man at Arms began to discard
the lance in favour of the new wheel lock pistol. These weapons, could be used either as part
of a caracole formation or discharged at point blank range against infantry to create gaps in
the line. Again, to simulate these factors would entail more special rules and a great deal of
research. That said, the history of the later stages of the Italian Wars is characterised by the
marked reluctance of the protagonists to commit to a field battle; in fact, no significant
engagement occurs until Ceresole in 1546.
I am greatly indebted to those who contributed to the development of these lists; Clive
Mcloud for his contributions to the Tudor list and for loaning me his copy of Charles Oman.
Dr S Moore for helping with the playtesting, and more importantly, for keeping the tea
flowing whilst wargaming (an essential prerequisite for a long gaming session), John The
Commisar Kersey for his support. My thanks also to Dave Scully and Ben Osbourne for
playtesting and pointing out errors in the text, as can be seen from The Ben Rule. And to
Tom and Tony Staffard, Andrew and Mathew Dodderidge, my adversary in the Great Hirsute
War: Guy Bowers, Graham The Grande Turk Wallis, the French connection: Mattiu
Batiste and Alex Burchel, and finally, all the guys on the Cry Havoc Yahoo Group.
Je Lay Empirins
George Father GeorgiMoraitis