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 Italian Wars Campaign Rules Italian Wars Campaign Rules Italian Wars Campaign Rules Italian Wars Campaign Rules Game Mechanics There are two types of players for this campaign. There are the rulers of country’s and cities, and then there are the generals (umpires). Players issue the orders for their country/city and the generals resolve any battles that might take place on the tabletop. Battles are resolved in London. Players are more than welcome to come and lead their armies if they so wish but being present at the game table is not necessary – after-all how many leade rs fought wars from the safety of their own home! The generals simply try and win the battles with whatever resources the players have or have not given them. What we will try and do to give you a flavour of the action however is post photos and short battle reports as and when they happen. It has been my experience that Campaigns often get bogged down with complex rule sets. As leader of your country/city you obviously want to keep things simple. So each turn you will have to issue just a few Orders. These boil down to three things really: Recruitment, Movement and Intrigue (more details in the next section). A turn roughly equates to a month in real t ime. You will be given deadlines for the submission of your next set of orders with each new turn results. As the game progresses we might need to introduce new things (we are hopeful we wont!) but the name of the game is flexibility and to have fun. So with this in mind let us move onto the things that you are most interested in doing: ordering your minions about! The Game Map and Income You will note that the game map is divided up into 3 types of settlements: Square Cities, Round Cities and Triangular Towns. As you will see from the short Campaign rules set out below each type of settlement has its own characteristics in terms of income and potential recruitment capping. All settlements are connected by road and the rivers have major bridges over them for more details (see Game Order Movement below). Each type of settlement will produce income for players who control it. This revenue will be in FLORINS. You can use this money for a number of things (such as recruitment, intrigue etc see Campaign Orders). Square Cities yield 400 Florins per turn* Circular Cities yield 200 Florins per turn* Triangular Towns yield 100 Florins per turn* *An important thing to remember: Settlements under Siege produce no income – as all trade routes are severed and the local populace will have no earnings to be taxed! Players may sack settlements, which will bring in a one off sizeable revenue but that settlement then produces no income for some time.

Warhammer Ancient Battles by Cry Havoc - The Italian Wars: 1494-1534 - Italian Campaign Rules

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What you are holding in your hands is a set of army lists, in period flavour rules and a brief guide to a fascinating period in history, which, sadly is badly documented in English. The development of these lists has so far entailed nearly a year of research and playtesting.Admittedly, this has entailed a certain degree of educated speculation, given that much of the source literature is not available in English (if I had only learned Italian and French). Now, it should be appreciated that during this period, tactics were in a state of flux, with new developments arising. The first major battle, Fornovo, with its cavalry charges, was in many respects a typical Medieval battle, but Ravenna in 1512, showed a whole new set of tactics; mobile artillery, artillery enfilades, assaults on an entrenched position and the use of an experimental gun wagon. This has meant that the development of the in period flavour rules has been something of a challenge, but hopefully, the rules strike the right balance to make them interesting and varied. The astute reader may well comment that the Italian Wars did not formally end until the treaty of Cậteau-Cambiesis in 1559, when France formally surrendered her claims to Milan and Naples; so why then do the lists end in 1534? The simple answer is that 1534 saw the emergence of the Spanish Tercio; I remain dubious that the WAB game mechanism can accurately model this formation. Additionally, from 1543, the Man at Arms began to discard the lance in favour of the new wheel lock pistol. These weapons, could be used either as part of a caracole formation or discharged at point blank range against infantry to create gaps in the line. Again, to simulate these factors would entail more special rules and a great deal of research. That said, the history of the later stages of the Italian Wars is characterised by the marked reluctance of the protagonists to commit to a field battle; in fact, no significant engagement occurs until Ceresole in 1546.I am greatly indebted to those who contributed to the development of these lists; Clive Mcloud for his contributions to the Tudor list and for loaning me his copy of Charles Oman. Dr S Moore for helping with the playtesting, and more importantly, for keeping the tea flowing whilst wargaming (an essential prerequisite for a long gaming session), John ”The Commisar” Kersey for his support. My thanks also to Dave Scully and Ben Osbourne for playtesting and pointing out errors in the text, as can be seen from “The Ben Rule.” And to Tom and Tony Staffard, Andrew and Mathew Dodderidge, my adversary in the “Great Hirsute War”: Guy Bowers, Graham “The Grande Turk” Wallis, the French connection: Mattiu Batiste and Alex Burchel, and finally, all the guys on the Cry Havoc Yahoo Group. Je Lay EmpirinsGeorge “Father Georgi”Moraitis

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  • Italian Wars Campaign RulesItalian Wars Campaign RulesItalian Wars Campaign RulesItalian Wars Campaign Rules

    Game MechanicsThere are two types of players for this campaign. There are the rulers of countrys and cities, and then there are the generals (umpires). Players issue the orders for their country/city and the generals resolve any battles that might take place on the tabletop. Battles are resolved in London. Players are more than welcome to come and lead their armies if they so wish but being present at the game table is not necessary after-all how many leaders fought wars from the safety of their own home! The generals simply try and win the battles with whatever resources the players have or have not given them. What we will try and do to give you a flavour of the action however is post photos and short battle reports as and when they happen.

    It has been my experience that Campaigns often get bogged down with complex rule sets. As leader of your country/city you obviously want to keep things simple. So each turn you will have to issue just a few Orders. These boil down to three things really: Recruitment, Movement and Intrigue (more details in the next section).

    A turn roughly equates to a month in real time. You will be given deadlines for the submission of your next set of orders with each new turn results.

    As the game progresses we might need to introduce new things (we are hopeful we wont!) but the name of the game is flexibility and to have fun.

    So with this in mind let us move onto the things that you are most interested in doing: ordering your minions about!

    The Game Map and IncomeYou will note that the game map is divided up into 3 types of settlements:Square Cities, Round Cities and Triangular Towns. As you will see from the short Campaign rules set out below each type of settlement has its own characteristics in terms of income and potential recruitment capping.

    All settlements are connected by road and the rivers have major bridges over them for more details (see Game Order Movement below).

    Each type of settlement will produce income for players who control it. This revenue will be in FLORINS. You can use this money for a number of things (such as recruitment, intrigue etc see Campaign Orders).

    Square Cities yield 400 Florins per turn* Circular Cities yield 200 Florins per turn* Triangular Towns yield 100 Florins per turn*

    *An important thing to remember: Settlements under Siege produce no income as all trade routes are severed and the local populace will have no earnings to be taxed!

    Players may sack settlements, which will bring in a one off sizeable revenue but that settlement then produces no income for some time.

  • The Game map will be updated at the end of each turn. Colours on the map will indicate Player fortunes and progress. The French progress will be in Blue, The German Imperialist in Black, The Pope in Yellow, the Spanish in Red, the Venetians in Green, and Firenze in Purple.

    CAMPAIGN ORDERSThere are three categories of basic order: Recruitment, Movement and Intrigue. There is an example turn sheet at the end of the rules.

    RECRUITMENTYou can Use Florins to recruit more troops. These forces appear at your staging points (staging points are indicated by Square or Round cities/towns on the game map. Players cannot therefore recruit troops at small towns indicated by a Triangle). Players can only recruit in places under their control of course!

    There is also a limit to the amount of troops that can be raised in any one turn. Each Square town can produce 1500 florins worth of troops per turn (if you have the money!), while Circular towns can produce no more than 1000 florins worth of troops in a turn.

    You must specify at which staging point these new troops will appear and whether they are a new army or are meant to join an existing army (you should name the army they are meant to join). So for example 500 points of troops will be recruited at Milan and they will join the existing ranks of the Green Army there.

    Obviously if you dont have the sufficient Florins recruitment will be unsuccessfulSettlements that are under siege cannot recruit troops! So take care protecting your supply lines!

    ARMIESJust to give you an idea what your money buys:Armies are defined by the amount of Florins you allocate to them:

    Up to 1200 Florins A small army1201-2500 Florins A medium Sized Army2500 - 4000 Florins A large Sized Army

    Basically the more florins you allocate to an army the more troops and greater choice of units the army leader will have.

    Armies are restricted to no more than 4000 Florins in size. This is to reflect that an army bigger than this is pretty unsustainable in terms of food in the field for any real length of period.

  • Maximum Garrison Size when under siegeEach settlement can also garrison a maximum of troops for siege purposes. Square Cities can garrison up to 3000 Florins worth of troops when under a siegeCircular Cities can garrison up to 1500 Florins worth of troops when under a siegeTriangular Towns can garrison up to 750 Florins worth of troops when under a siege

    Of course when not threatened by siege settlements can support more troops. Be careful as completely overcrowded areas will suffer from disease!

    MOVEMENTMovement is pretty straight forwards really. You specify which army you want to move and what they will do when they get there.

    All your armies must be named (you decide which name to give them). You then simple detail which army is moving where.

    So for example - Red Army (which comprises 1500 points) will march from Rome for Firenze and engage any enemy at the City

    So this means that they will engage any enemy they encounter outside of the city or set up a siege encampment if the cowardly city garrison refuse to give battle. An army that besieges a city will have to spend at least 25% of its points on artillery.

    Or

    Blue Army (which comprises of 1000 points) will march from Milan to Parma and hold the Bridge on the River Po until it receives further orders.

    Or

    Green Army will march from Livigno to Verona and set up ambush positions half way along the road

    So you get the gist. The more complex your orders the greater the likelihood they will not be followed to the letter!

    Your armies will move at their best ability so do not be surprised if they do not actually make the entire distance you have specified. You will however be notified where the army is on the game map at the end of the turn.

    INTRIGUE

    The last set of orders involves intrigue. Generally there are four areas a player might want to pursue in terms of intrigue:

  • DiplomacyShould you wish to send a missive to another Player simply write your missive address it and sent it in with your orders. At the start of the next turn we will then send out your missives to the relevant players.

    So for example:

    To his eminence the PopeFrom his majesty the King of France

    Keep my seat warm, as I will be along to claim it soon!

    SpyYou might want to try and see how many troops the enemy are sending against you or get a definitive idea of how large a city garrison is. You can try and do this by employing a spy. Spies cost 100 Florins. For each multiple of 25 Florins on top of this figure you can improve the spies chances of success.

    Bribe Those of you with a more unsavoury character might want to use your money to bribe a town over to your faction or to bribe one of the enemys units over to your side in a key battle. All ordered bribe attempts would take place at the start of the next turn.

    Bribing settlementsThe rule here is the more you spend the more your chance. The base chance is 500 Florins. Each added multiple of 250 Florins would improve your chances. Factors that impact on your base chances will be things like: size of the settlement; prior experience if any with the settlement (good or bad), if the settlement is currently under the control of another faction.

    Bribing UnitsAgain the more you spend the better your chances. The base chance is 200 Florins. Each added multiple of 50 Florins would improve your chances. All bribes will be aimed at mercenary units, as national units would be unlikely to turncoat ! It is probably unrealistic to expect a bribed unit to turn on its former employer. Most likely if you are successful it will simply not turn up to fight for that general on the day!

    AssassinThe more devious among you might want to send your agents of the night out to create mayhem. Success depends on the target. A general is going to be harder to kill than a captain. So players might want to order assassins into enemy camps to pick off unit leaders success will have a negative effect on the morale of that unit next time they fight for example. There is a flat fee of 250 Florins to hire an assassin.

    Example Game orders

  • Player: The Venetian DogeTurn: 3Treasury at start of turn: 1650Income from: Venice (400 Florins), Verona (200 Florins) & Forli (100 Florins).

    Orders:

    1. Recruitment:

    Recruit 600 Florins worth of troops in VeniceRecruit 400 Florins worth of troops in Verona and add them to the Green armyRecruit Assassin in Verona (250 florins)

    Total cost: 1250

    2. MovementUnit Location Strength

    Green Army Verona 1400 pointsWill await the 400 points worth of newly recruited troops and then march and seize Milan

    Red Army Forli 800 pointsFortify the settlement and scout the nearby area

    3. Intrigue

    Unit LocationSpy 1 ForliMove west and provide information of the strength and location of the enemy garrison at Bologne

    Use 250 Florins to bribe one of the enemy units in Milan prior to our attack

    Overall turn expenditure: 1500Monet left over: 150New revenue: 700

    Total treasury for next turn: 850