Italian Wars - Imaginations

For our next campaign we're returning to the Tercio  - Liber Militum renaissance rules we've played before. This campaign will be set in the Italian Wars of the mid-1500s, with each player controlling a City State they can personalise in terms of background, silly names and fighting style.   I've also generated some starter briefs for each of the cities below. 

Finally, there are two mercenary factions for less regular players.

Each turn 3 players will launch attacks on neighbours, with the other players acting as allies in various games.   

Name	Description
Virezza	A coastal trading powerhouse known for its silk guilds and cunning diplomats.
Montegrifone	A mountainous fortress-city famed for its mercenary schools and iron mines.
Castellombra	Shrouded in misty forests, ruled by a shadowy ducal family with a taste for poison and poetry.
San Barzano	A theocratic city of gold-domed cathedrals and fanatic holy orders.
Fiorento	A republic of artists, engineers, and schemers—think Florence with clockwork.
Taverno	A port city-state full of taverns, pirates, and exiles—chaotic but fiercely independent.
East Gallomagna	A landlocked industrial city ruled by merchant syndicates, always plotting expansion.
West Gallagomaga	The coastal twin and fierce rival to their landlocked neighbours. They share their industrial heritage and expansionist ideas
Roccamurata	Perched on crags above the plains, famous for its arcane libraries and alchemical labs.

The game is greatly added by Roy's large collection for the period and others painting efforts. We've done two practice games so far with some eye candy from those below. 

28mm Tercio formation 

28mm Shot company

28mm Landsknecht in field square

28mm Demi lancers

28mm Cuirassier

28mm swordsmen

 

5 Parsecs - The Veil

In turns 6 and 7 the battle against deadly rivals The Ossian Veil hots up.

Turn 7

Unhappy with the Hermes crew's constant interference in their plans the Ossian Veil send an assassin strike team to destroy the ship. At the time of the attack 2 crew are in the med bay and 2 are away trading for supplies so this leaves just 3 crew to defend the Hermes.

The assassins are highly trained killers so Capt Gideon, Ivarr and trusty bot PDP take positions inside the space port while they await Skor and Seras return from their trading run. The assassins advance quickly and have the space sport surrounded by the time the stragglers arrive.  

Gideon and Ivarr cover one door

Assassins ready to breach the spaceport

The assassins break-in and vicious short-range firefight breaks out in which both Sera and Skor are casualties, on with a shot desert scout sniper working for the assassins. 

Assassins storm in 

The crew are able to drive them off and save the ship. Its newly installed med bays get to work and quickly patch-up the wounded ready for the next adventure. 

Desert Scout finds a good spot

Turn 8 

The crew receive a tip-off from their patrons the Pale Accord that the Ossian Veil are recruiting fighters from gangs of street punks who hone their skills in a derelict part Travoris Station. The Accord's motives are not always clear but they pay well so the crew moves out to sweep through the punks territory.

The punks show decent tactical acumen under their Ossian Veil trainer and split their forces to flan kthe Hermes crew. Luckily they are bad shots and not well armed.  

Flanking group moves into position

A gun battle rages along a main street in the abandoned area, with the crews better training and weapons proving decisive as they drive them off and complete their sweep the area. 

A hot zone

  

Battle of the 5 villages - A Lasalle battle

 As a bit of a climax to our current round of LaSalle games we did a large battle featuring 4 cavalry and 5 infantry brigades a side. The setup was simple - there are 5 villages and the winner would be the one to hold the most at the end of the game. 

Austrians advance on the eastern village

Austrian horse  

The Allies looked to contest all the objectives fairly evenly with most of their cavalry in the centre. The French screened the western village with Hussars and focused the infantry in the centre on a drive towards the central village and then on towards the one on the Allied base edge.    

The Austrians quickly took the western village but were unable to advance further for fear of the French horse. The Russians too the eastern village and the French attack their became bogged down. The French were though able to take the central village to make it 2-3.   

Stalled French attack vs the eastern village

Russian heavies attack

As the French tried to attack towards the French baseline the Russians deployed their heavy cavalry to slow the attack and relieve pressure on the eastern village. This was pretty successful in preventing much French activity around the eastern village.  

 

French attack in the centre

French and Russian heavies clash

The French launched several attacks towards Allied baseline but found themselves faced by Prussian reinforcements and further units of Allied cavalry. This prevented the attack from taking the village.     

The game ended with the French pretty strong in the centre but the Allies holding 3 villages to 2. Perhaps the decision not to contest the western village was an error as the troops saved were unable to make the hoped for central break through