Rearguard action at Santa Corona: an Italian Wars scenario for Pike and Shotte

Another of our Skype games, hosted by Steve.  The Imperialist forces commanded by the Duke of Barbera are falling back after a failed attack on a French strong point.  They are being pursued by the Duc de Merlot and Barbera has chosen the Pandemia Pass as a place to set up a delaying action.  The pass has a handy strong point, the Convent della Santa Corona, named after the fragment of the crown of thorns which is held there.

The pass from behind Merlot's force

Merlot had 8 units of cavalry, spread equally between the Comte de Carignan (right flank) and the Marquis de Gamay (left flank), each commander having 2 units of gendarmes, one of men at arms and one of stradiots.  In the centre were the Swiss under Lord Landroter, two units of pike, two of arquebusiers, one of halberdiers and a light gun.

To hold the pass Barbera had the landskneckts commanded by Graf von Spatburgunder, with two units of arquebusiers, one of which was placed within the precincts of the convent, and a light gun.  On the Imperial right the Marquis of Tempranillo had two units of gendarmes, one of men at arms and a unit of mounted arquebusiers.  The Count of Trebbiano was stationed on the left with one unit of gendarmes, two of men at arms and a unit of mounted crossbowmen.

The Imperialist forces holding the pass

As the battle began, the French light cavalry advanced quickly, but the heavier units were rather more circumspect.  It was the same in the centre. The right hand unit of arquebusiers advanced to take on their opposite numbers, but the remainder of the Swiss seemed reluctant to move.  Merlot had had suspicions that this would happen, Lord Landroter had 'happened to mention' during the advance that the area beyond the pass was outside the theatre of operations for which he had originally been contracted and therefore perhaps some financial arrangement needed to be negotiated?   Merlot thought that the matter had been deferred, but Landroter now made the most of the situation.  Something needed to be done as the arquebusiers were isolated, apart from the single light cavalry unit from Carignan's command and the enemy cavalry were moving forward.  Fortunately, Carignan had now got the rest of his command moving and a general melee ensued as more units joined the fray.

The cavalry melee between Carignan and Trebbiano

On the opposite flank a small area of marsh funneled the advance of Gamay's men.  The leading  unit of gendarmes passed to the left of it whilst the men at arms moved to the right, covering the flank of the Swiss.  Gamay's stradiots had been driven back by the mounted arquebusiers, which left the gendarmes exposed to fire.  Not willing to stand for this, the gendarmes charged and drove back their tormentors.  They in turn were charged by Tempranillo's gendarmes and a slogging match ensued.

Merlot had at last persuaded Landroter to advance and capture the pass and the remaining Swiss began to lumber forward.  It was just in time as the arquebusiers had had the worst of the shooting exchanges with their Imperial opponents and were in need of rallying.  The second unit of Swiss arquebusiers moved towards the convent and engaged the Imperialist arquebusiers stationed there.  Making good speed along the road, the small unit of halberdiers swept by the arquebusiers who were attempting to rally and charged the Imperial arquebusiers.  These were driven back with heavy losses and to steady the defence, Spatburgunder sent forward one of his pike units.  The halberdiers had now come under fire from the Imperial light gun.  However, panicking as the halberdiers moved towards them, the gun crew bungled the loading procedure.  This produced a misfire which put the gun out of action.   The halberdiers now charged the advancing Imperialist pikes.  Against the odds, they  prevailed, but at considerable cost, needing to rally before they could advance again

The gallant halberdiers send the landsknechts packing

Things were not going well for Barbera on the wings either.  Tempranillo had managed to push Gamay's leading unit of gendarmes back, but at the cost of committing his second gendarmes unit.  When Gamay responded in kind Tempranillo's leading unit was routed and his second unit disordered by the rout.  Only the need for Gamay's men to rally saved Tempranillo's command because at the same time a melee had taken place between the two units of men at arms.  This had been a hard fought draw, with the result that both units were disordered and had to fall back to rally  On the opposite flank Trebbiano's men had fared even worse.  One unit of men at arms had been routed by Carignan's men at arms and the other had been driven from the field by one of the gendarmes units.  Trebbiano's gendarmes had tried to stem the flow, but had been forced to fall back, saved by their opponents having to pause to rally.

Trebbiano's gendarmes retreat

Merlot now joined Landroter and together they led the remaining Swiss pike block forward.  This large phalanx drove the last of infantry units defending the road through the pass back in disorder.  Barbera now had no option but to fall back, leaving the gallant defenders of the convent to shift for themselves.  They were fortunate that Merlot was in a mellow mood.  He allowed them to join the retreat as long as they left all their arms and equipment behind.  The convent had a renowned guest house for pilgrims and he was assured of a good meal tonight.  In addition, the convent's excellent wine cellar may smotth the negotiations with Lord Landroter.

The final position