SEMINARA 1495

[fogman]

Squeeze this one in before heading off. Last of the summer's projects.

Fm Seminara 1495.zip

(5.97 KiB) Downloaded 238 times

After marching the length of the Italian peninsula, culminating in the conquest of the kingdom of Naples in February 1495, Charles VIII of France headed back north in April. Ferrante of Aragon, the dispossessed king of Naples, having at his disposal the newly arrived Spanish expeditionary force under Gonzalo de Cordoba, was keen on challenging the remaining French troops under the lord of Aubigny. And thus on 21 June 1495 at Seminara, Spanish rodoleros braced for the assault of Swiss pikes.

Designer's notes:

Momentous battle featuring the revival of two conceptions of infantry: the Macedonian pike phalanx of the Swiss vs the Roman sword and shield of the Spaniards. The defeat will spur Spain's military thinkers to catch up and innovate, resulting in the 1530's in the establishment of the tercios that will dominate the battlefield for the next 100 years.

Historically, the Calabrese militia panicked and more or less fled the field, leaving the Spanish to cover the retreat. The Spanish player will need to make good use of terrain to deny the pike's natural advantage and stifle the gendarmes at the river crossing. The French player has shock superiority in the heady combination of Swiss and gendarmes but needs to be extremely careful due to the terrain and the toughness of the rodoleros in defense.

82 mobile BGs, 16 turns

main source: Antonio L. Martin Gomez: 'El Gran Capitan: Las Campanas del Duque de Terranova y Santangelo', Madrid 2000.

[Micha63]

Thanks.