Campaldino Wargame – Armies List, House Rules and Battleground.
For our Campaldimo wargame in Genoa Garibaldi club we decided to use the Sword & Spear ruleset, the army lists used are those proposed in the Communal Italian 7.06 - S&S 7 Medieval Army Lists, no modifications were necessary.
But I would like to highlight some unit interpretations:
• The better discipline of the Ghibelline knights is due to the fact that they were mostly feudal lords with a martial background and in general the Ghibelline Calvary was more motivated.
• In the Guelf rank we outline the infantry “Palvesari” or “Pavesari” to represent the left and right wings, two units of crossbowmen with pavises were equipped with additional long spears and reduced fire capacity.
• We chose the low Discipline for both Militia Spearmen contingents to characterize the limited infantry involvement in the battle.
Sword & Spear Army list data:
• Guelph Army. Points Total: 447, #Dice 15, Army Value 56
• Ghibelline Army. Points Total: 445, #Dice 12, Army Value 45
During our playtesting, the Sword & Spear rules have supported the historical simulation very well, the cavalries assault and the consequent counter-charges with the Sword & Spear rule of action dice and activations by value order make any tactical choices difficult. Infantry unit armed with spears with a good activation dice management, are too tough for a cavalry charge. A badly timed “hit” that causes the cavalry to lose its status as a "fresh" unit can ruin any plan.
To simulate the peculiarities of the Campaldino battle, we created a tailored stratagem, some minor variations to the rules and a deck of Event Cards for the two factions to present the events of the battle.
The New Stratagem is “The charge of the 12 Paladins”: This event and the corresponding Token are available for the Ghibelline player, to be used in the first phase of the first a turn on a Guelph Knights unit. Assign a Hit to the unit, furthermore Guelph Knights unit cannot move or attempt a Rally for the entire turn. This stratagem put the Ghibelline in an upper hand position, the opportunity to charge a cavalry unit that cannot benefit from the Impact rule is too tempting to be missed. But, the revenge of the Guelf could be devastating. The randomly drawn from the action dice bag and their allocation can drastically change the start of the battle.
The House Rules:
• Shooting that hits the target unit side has +1, the back +2.
• Light Foot units (skirmish) defend with 3 dice against shooting.
• Army demoralisation: if Cavalry Knights Unit it is routed, an action dice is lost and the value of the lost cavalry unit increased by an extra 1, for a total of 5, for army demoralization calculation purposes. This change was necessary to underline the moral impact of the Knights' fate on the entire army. The result is that the loss of elite mounted units quickly leads to a morale army test.
• Reserve Activation: to activate the reserves: starting from the first turn you can assign the activation dice to the reserves, but a check if it is possible to use the assigned die must be rolled, for each die you allocate you must roll a 6 in the 1st turn, then 5+ in the 2nd turn up to 2+ from the 5th round forwards.
The Event Cards: Fifteen cards were designed for each faction to empathize and re-enactment real battle events. The cards randomly draw (3 cards per side) at the start of the turn, played before the first action phase or reshuffled in the faction deck. Here some example:
• What city are those walls? Guelf event card: The sight of the Florentine pavises intimidates the Ghibellines who lose 2 dice, of those drawn in the first phase of the turn. (…Bishop Guglielmino degli Ubertini, who had poor eyesight, asked: "What walls are those?" was answered: “The enemy's palvesi”.)
• Good news, Reinforcements are arriving! Guelf event card: The certainty that Corso Donati will throw himself into the figth allows an extraordinary recovery test to be carried out for all units with losses not in contact with the enemy.
• “The other who drowned while running to hunt” (Purgatory Canto VI:1-24). Ghibelline event card: Guccio dei Tarlati di Pietramala (Ghibelline) is convinced that he will die by drowning in the Arno. The Tarlati Knights unit must test morale twice.
• The great pandemonium: Ghibelline event card: The dust raised by the horses hides the enemy, the range of all missile units are reduced to only two DU for the entire turn. Reserves cannot try activation this turn.
• Hit an Alighieri. Ghibelline event card: A certain Durante of Alighiero degli Alighieri known as "Dante" ended up under the Ghibelline blades. Future Italian students say thank you, no one will have to study the Divine Comedy. Add value 1 to the Guelph Army Demoralization if a Guelph cavalry unit suffers at least one Hit in the Turn.
Some cards have a notable impact on the battle, but this applies to both sides. In a balanced game they might seem "dishonest" but if you accept the idea that fate is inevitable and history must repeat itself they are fun to use.
Finally, to create the right initial condition for the Campaldino battle and to be align with the Sword & Spear rules set, a very aggressive placement of the two sides was designed. The distance of 5 DU between the "Feditori" Cavalieri units is to allow the charge on the first turn with an action die equal to 6 or with a double.
Our next game will be played with the house rule that cavalry unit value is increased to 5 for army demoralization calculation purposes, until now we reach the first Army Morale Test between the fourth and sixth turn.
Note: for the Italian player: se desiderate il materiale dello scenario di Campaldino: army list, carte evento e regole aggiunte contattateci privatamente. Se volete vedere il risultato finale e magari giocare la battaglia siete invitati a “Hellana Games”, domenica 14 Aprile ad Agliana (Pistoia).
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May 17, 2024, 01:24:58 PM
February 11, 2015, 05:19:13 PM