Renaissance with Armati

With the regular Friday night 'gaming shifted to a Saturday night this week, Adrian and I played a Renaissance game using the Armati I rules (that's the rules set that combined the Ancients and Renaissance periods in the one rule book, whereas the newer Armati II is solely an ancients rules set).

Adrian was using his newly finished Elizabethan English army against French. The game was fascinating - we each smashed through one flank (logically that means that we each lost the other flank), and then had to turn around to face off against each other again, from opposite sides of the table. Here are some assorted photographs from the game, the figures are early Essex figures, all painted by Adrian.

The English skilled bands (combined Pike and Shot - aquebusiers).

English Halberdiers and longbow men.

Landschnekts in French employ!! Nasty pike blocks.

Ahhh, French Gendarmes.. really heavy really elite cavalry.. mwahahahahaha... cue maniacal laugh. This was the flank on which the French broke through, alongside the Millers, and the pike blocks.

However this is the flank that the English broke through on - English Halberdiers go up against French aquebusiers.. not much of a match up really!!!

French Millers take on that English left, breaking through in style.

The Gendarmes were held up by two 'speed bumps', the Border Horse of the English army. But that was all they needed to do to keep the Gendarmes occupied and out of the rest of the battle.

The Landschneckt pikemen breaking through.

A great game, finally won by the English when their longbow men did some dreadful damage as the two armies faced off for the second time. My poorer deployment as the French commander meant that I'd failed to protect my musketeers and aquebusiers, so by the time we hit the second phase of the battle I'd lost the lot.. damned careless of me really!!