The Russians Are Coming!

In a departure from the steady stream of 18mm SYW/WAS and 25mm Biblical figures emerging from the painting desk, today sees something different.  Something very different from a project not seen in a very long time.

What is the project?  My interpretation of the 19th Century period known as the Great Game where Britain and Russia vied for control and influence in Central Asia, mainly in Afghanistan.  Now, my recollection is that the armies have only been out on the table for exactly one game.  With a little luck, perhaps, mustering the latest Russians will prompt thoughts of returning these armies to the gaming table.

Off the painting desk are 24 Wargames Foundry Crimean War Russian infantry.  They march out as the Moscow Regiment.  Next, I think a handful of Afghan irregulars will be pushed into the painting queue.  First, more Biblicals and SYW/WAS units are seeing their way clear of the workbench.

On the gaming front, the Battle of Fornovo saw action on Tuesday in a five-player contest.  Two players were new to both Basic Impetvs and my remote games.  Quite a different battle from the previous fight.  Great fun but quite different.

French Gendarmes push across the Taro River.

For today, back to the painting desk for what I hope is a meaningful painting session.  We will see if that comes to pass.

Tracking The Spend

In years past, Wargames, Soldiers, & Strategy's Great Wargaming Survey asked a question on spending.  The question asked survey respondents to quantify their expected spending given a range of expenditures.  Since I wondered about the accuracy of these responses (my sense of accuracy in my own spending is suspect), the 2023 survey replaced this question with two questions.  The first spending question asked if respondents tracked their hobby spending.  The second question rephrased last year's spending question and changed the question from absolute to relative terms.  That is, do you plan to spend more, the same, or less than last year?  Spending responses in relative terms may be easier to quantify than spending in absolute terms.  For me, relative expectations are easier to assess.

What did the 2023 survey show for these two new spending questions?  Let's see.

Tracking Expected Spending

Figure 1 shows a high-level perspective of any differences between those who track their spending and those who do not. If we assume that those who actually track their spending have a more accurate picture than those who do not, we might expect to see variation between spending expectations.  The chart illustrates that the "No" trackers are more likely to choose the same level of spending as last year compared to the "Yes" trackers.  Outside of the spending "About the same as last year" category, those who track expenditures tend to have percentages larger than the non-trackers in all other categories.  Does this suggest more accuracy in the trackers' results?  

Figure 1

Tracking by Attributes

If these data are broken down by select attributes (Primary Interest, Location, Age Group), do any tendencies or patterns emerge showing differences between those who track spending and those who do not across attributes?  The answer is "No." 

Figures 2 (Primary Interest), 3 (Location), and 4 (Age Group) all show a similar relationship between tracking and not tracking.  Roughly 70% of respondents do not track spending expenditures.  For Locations, "Region-Other" is an outlier due to small sample size.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Expected Relative Spending

While the percentage of those who track expenditures remains constant across the three attributes examined, does the same relationship hold for expected spending relative to last year's spending?

Across Primary Interest groups (Figure 5), Historical wargamers expect to increase spending over last year at rates greater than their Fantasy/Sci-Fi and Mixed counterparts.  Fantasy/Sci-fi gamers expect to cut back spending at a rate greater than the other two groups.

Figure 5

For relative spending levels by location (Figure 6), USA/Canada respondents are much more likely to increase spending year-over-year than other global respondents.  Why are North Americans not seeing similar belt tightening?

Figure 6

In the chart of relative spending by age group (Figure 7), are any tendencies apparent here? 

First, the percentage of spending "Considerably more than last year" decreases monotonically with age.  Perhaps as time marches on, we all have enough figures that large expenditures are no longer needed.  Either that or the prior year's spending was elevated such that cutting back offers a natural rebalancing act.  For respondents age 31 and above, 2023 looks to be a leaner year on purchases than was 2022. 

Figure 7

While the percentage of respondents marking that they track expenditures is consistent at about 30%, expected spending levels vary across attributes although most tend to see a decrease in spending over last year's spending.

Do you track hobby expenditures and was your 2023 spending less, the same or more than that in 2022?  Can you even remember?

Fornovocating

Fornovocate - to refight the Battle of Fornovo multiple times to see if the historical result was the most likely and to gain a better understanding of the battle.

As a refresher for how Game #1 played out, please visit Battle of Fornovo. 

Yes, we find ourselves back at the Battle of Fornovo. This time three of Postie's Rejects (Ray - Don't Throw a 1, Lee - BigLee's Miniature Adventures, and Surjit) command the Italians while Chris (Horse and Musket Gaming) takes sole command of the French King's Army.

Once the battle lines are drawn, the battlefield and the commands look like,

Initial deployments

For the Italians, Ray takes overall command as Gonzaga, Lee commands de Montone's Left Wing, and Surjit commands Caiazzo's Right Wing.  The Italians may place one unit on each of the three fords.  The Italians hold initiative on Turn 1 and receive the first impulse.

The Swiss, ready to rumble.

On to battle!

The Italians begin by sending each of their heavy infantry units into the Taro River.  As Gonzaga's (Ray's) pike block emerges from the central ford, de Gie strikes.  While his two guns pound Gonzaga's infantry, the bombardment results in only disordering the Italian formation.  Crossbow move up to harass the enemy's crossing.  Caiazzo (Surjit) counters by forcing de Gie's mounted crossbowmen back from the rightmost ford while Caiazzo's Stradiot's harass de Gie's skirmishers. 

Italian heavy infantry take to the river first.

The French contest the crossings.

de Gie's light cavalry falls back when pressed.

Stradiots harass enemy skirmishers.

Seeing little opposition at the Taro River, the Italians emerge from all three crossing points and establish bridgeheads across the rising Taro.  Confident, Gonzaga sends his pikemen to take the gun to his front.  The gun, however, is supported by the King and his Gendarmes.  No matter.  The pikemen send the King and his heavy cavalry to the rear as the gun is overrun and destroyed.  In a similar result, Caiazzo's Stradiots attack de Gie's light cavalry and the French horsemen are forced back taking the crossbow skirmishers with them.  Hit from behind by Stradiots, French skirmishers near the river are scattered.  This is not a good start for the King!

As a note, Chris, could not hit the broad side of a barn in these early clashes.  Even the Italians were encouraging Chris to get at least some success.  I asked Chris if he would like me to roll some dice in his place.  He declined saying that he will stick with the dice he brought to battle regardless.  Courage!   

Italian infantry cross the Taro in strength.

Gonzaga's infantry storm into battle.
The French gun is destroyed and the King retreats. 

French skirmishers are destroyed
 and French light cavalry falls back.

Encouraged by these early results, Caiazzo attacks with his light cavalry.  Stradiots attack the remaining French gun and his mounted crossbow charge in against de Gie's mounted crossbow.  Both of these attacks are repulsed without much loss.

Italian light cavalry charge the guns...

and French light cavalry.

Both attacks are repulsed!

Back on the Italian Left, de Montone brings his heavy infantry across the ford and immediately comes under fire from French skirmishers.  As the King's infantry moves off road, they turn to confront the enemy.  The King moves up his cavalry positioned on the right.  With the ford clear, de Montone's Men-at-Arms (MAA) cross over to the opposite bank in support.

de Montone comes under fire...

as he works to establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank.

With disruptive skirmisher shooting, French Gendarmes charge into de Montone's MAA.  In a completely unexpected and uncharacteristic turn of events, Chris throws six sixes and scores five hits.  Crippled in the melee, de Montone's MAA retreat back across the Taro. 

French Gendarmes charge in!

It's a miracle!

de Montone's MAA flee back across the Taro.

Perhaps emboldened by this unexpected success, the King presses on and charges into Gonzaga's pike block at the head of his own Gendarmes.

Flushed with success, Charles VIII charges in!

Success is short-lived as is the King. The attack against Gonzaga's infantry goes badly.  The King and his Gendarmes recoil back heading for the rear.  This retreat offers no safe haven.  Stradiots ride over the remaining French gun and strike the King's bodyguard from the rear.  The pride of France scatters and the King lays on the field dead.

The King's attack is repulsed...

and he is hunted down and killed!

Seeing their King fall, the remaining French vow to fight on. Despite their desperate attempts to turn back the enemy, the French mixed formations seem to have lost the will to fight.  Attacks and counterattacks find the French losing these battles of attrition as the French ranks are depleted. 

Italian heavy infantry press on...

while the French try to hold on.

French attempts are in vain as they are pushed back...

and their ranks depleted.

Situation near end of battle.

With the French Right collapsing under the weight of Gonzaga and de Montone's sustained attacks, the two French wings are split.  Caiazzo presses his attempt to destroy de Gie.  With enemy light cavalry now roaming freely in the French rear, the battle is lost.  Now it is every Frenchman for himself!

Caiazzo pushes on!

As Caiazzo is reinforced, de Gie crumbles.

Italian horsemen loose in the French rear!

Magnificent victory for Gonzaga and his army!

Congratulations to Ray, Lee, and Surjit for a well-played battle.  Despite losing the battle, Chris put up a good fight given some of the worst die rolling seen.  Still, this contest was very entertaining and great fun to watch unfold.  Even Chris' enemies were rooting for him to succeed.  Nevertheless, he took this defeat in stride and all in good humor.

This battle was the first attempt at a cross-group game where one group (Rejects) commanded one army and non-Reject Chris commanded the other.  Unfortunately, Chris' planned gaming partner could not make the game so Chris was forced to press on alone.  He did so admirably.

Great job fellas and so much fun!  Thank you!

The next round of Fornovocating is on Tuesday with a different group of five players.

Babylonians

More Biblicals.

Out from the painting workbench today are 28 Babylonian spearmen distributed across two, fourteen figure stands.  Figures are Wargames Foundry.  These fellas muster out to augment my growing army of Babylonians.  More bowmen are working their way through the painting queue but have yet to see a lick of paint.

What are ahead of the bowmen in queue?  Well, while Biblicals continue to feature prominently, I see 18mm Hanoverian cavalry, 18mm FRW infantry, and 25mm Crimean War Russian infantry.  All are awaiting their turn in the photo booth.

The Battle of Fornovo continues to feature on the gaming table with a one-on-one F2F game on Saturday and a four-player remote game on Monday.  Saturday's battle saw the French absolutely stomp the Italians while readers must wait for the battle report to see the outcome of Monday's game.  For now, I will only say that the game was great fun.

Italians forcing the rising Taro River.

Battle of Fornovo 1495

After four games of the 1497 Battle of Sanguetta, I cleared the table and laid out a second, Great Italian Wars battle.  This time, the battle selected is the 1495 Battle of Fornovo.  Again, RM Verginella's recent scenario book was used as a guide and inspiration but I found the scenario needed some adjustments to fall in line with my understanding of the battle and the units present.

Anyway, I had five players present for the first playing of the scenario with Chris, Tony, and Mark taking Italian commands while the Two Daves split the French command between them.  The initial battle deployments and commands are illustrated in the photo below:

Battlefield deployments.

The Taro River separates The Italian League from the French Army.  A heavy rain the day before and continued rain on the day of battle sees the Taro River rising to flood stage in parts.  There are only three places at which the Italians can cross to engage the French.  Gonzaga must act quickly before even the fords are impassable. 

While the Italians outnumber the French, fording the river to engage the enemy poses challenges.  Let's see how the Italians dealt with this challenge.

With the Italians holding initiative on the first impulse, Gonzaga activitates his Right Wing under the command of Caiazzo.  Caiazzo wastes no time in bringing his light cavalry on the French side of the Taro into battle.  The Stradiots drive off the enemy bowmen as Caiazzo brings his Men-at-Arms (MAA) across the ford.  Note that the Italians may place one unit in each of the three fords before the battle begins. Trotting out from the river, Caiazzo leads his MAA into the remaining bowmen to his front.  The skirmishers fail to evade and are overrun.  Caiazzo does not pursue.

Stradiots drive off enemy skirmishers.

Caiazzo's MAA cross the ford and straight into the enemy.

Caiazzo's MAA overrun a second group of skirmishers.

In response to the sudden attacks against the French Left, de Gie jumps into action.  At the head of his Gendarmes, de Gie passes through his artillery and slams into Caiazzo and his MAA.  Surprised by the attack from this direction, Caiazzo recoils back to the river's edge.  Disordered, de Gie pursues the Italians.  In the second clash, not only are Caiazzo and his MAA driven back across the Taro but the Stradiots are forced to fall back as well. 

de Gie attacks...

and Caiazzo recoils!

In pursuit, Caiazzo and his MAA flee back across the Taro.

With such success, de Gie has advanced beyond his support as Italian mounted crossbowmen slip across the river behind him.  De Montone's pike block on the Italian Left wades across the river too as the Italians attempt to form a bridgehead on the French side of the Taro. 

The Italians begin to cross the Taro.

To open up the left ford, de Montone sends his pike block in against the enemy center.  King Charles, himself, and his Gendarmes are the targets.  The King does not give ground in the initial clash.  The pikemen are forced back.  Perhaps the attack of the pikemen was only a diversion?  As soon as the pike block clears the front, de Montone leads his MAA in against the King's Horsemen.  In a protracted melee, de Montone finally and grudgingly gives ground.  The King does not pursue. 

The King repulses the enemy attack.

De Montone attacks the King!

After hard fighting, losses mount... 

but de Montone is forced back.

Back on the French Left, the marauding Stradiots spot de Gie and his Gendarmes in the open far from any support.  They pounce!  Weakened from his earlier efforts against Caiazzo, this attack, from a direction unexpected, causes the Gendarmes to turn about and head toward support.  Unfortunately, the Stradiots pursue and overtake these lumbering horsemen.  The French Gendarmes are scattered as de Gie seeks the safety with the Swiss pike.

De Gie's Gendarmes are caught...

pursued and destroyed!

On the French Right, the remaining unengaged French Gendarmes move against the defenders of the leftmost ford.  Initially driven off by a body of Italian crossbow, the Gendarmes regroup and attack a second time.  For them, the second time is a charm and the enemy crossbow buckle and run.  While the Gendarmes do not pursue, they do turn to face the enemy MAA.  The Italian Left may be hanging unsupported.

Gendarmes attacking the ford!

With the King gaining the initiative, the Gendarmes pick up where they left off. De Montone's MAA are attacked viciously from the flank and are dispersed.  De Montone is left dying on the field.    

De Montone hit in the flank!

De Montone is killed and his MAA scattered.

While it appears that the French have gained the upper hand in this fight, trouble is brewing elsewhere.

On the French Left, with de Gie's Gendarmes gone, the massive Swiss pike block finds itself now isolated.  Hemmed in by enemy MAA, crossbow, and Stradiots, the Swiss need to extricate themselves from this tight spot.  Attacked from both crossbow and Stradiots, the Swiss give ground slowly as they turn to face the enemy. 

The Swiss look isolated...

Jumping to the fight in the center, with their backs to the Taro and French Gendarmes on their flank, de Montone's pike block figures attacking away from the river is much better than staying put.  They advance against French crossbow but the hail of bolts sends the pikemen back toward the river.   

De Montone's pike attack...

but are sent back to the river having gained nothing.

Gonzaga, with his cavalry and skirmishers across the river, attacks the Swiss.  Softened up by missile fire from both skirmishers and mounted crossbow, Gonzaga and his Familia Ducale strike.  With heavy loss, the Swiss are forced back as harassing attacks come from the Stradiots as well.  The Swiss find themselves pinned against the steep hills to their rear.  

Much of Gonzaga's Center is across the Taro.

The Swiss are attacked...

and driven back to the base of the steep hills.

With the French Left under great pressure, the King presses on in an attempt to turn the Italian Left.  After enduring a barrage of crossbow bolts, the remnants of de Montone's pike block succumbs to the attack of French Gendarmes.  The Italian Left has been destroyed.  Still, the battle hangs in the balance as the French Army teeters on collapse.

De Montone's pike are destroyed!

Seeing the French Left in tatters, Caiazzo finally brings his pike block across the Taro.  It marches away from the ford to finish off the Swiss.

Caiazzo's pike march to seal off the French retreat.

While the Italian Left has completely collapsed, the Italian Center and Right have positioned themselves well.  Guessing that the French Army is on the verge of collapse, itself, Gonzaga plans one last charge with his heavy cavalry against the King's depleted Gendarmes.  In preparation for the attack, mounted crossbowmen move up to pepper the King.  Gonzaga needs not attack at all!  Effective crossbow shooting is enough to break the King's Gendarmes.  They flee the battlefield, taking the King with them. 

Crossbow shooting breaks the King's Gendarmes!

With the loss of the King's Gendarmes, the French have endured more than enough.  The French Army breaks and Gonzaga and his Italians are victorious.  For Gonzaga, it was a near-run thing. 

The battle is over.

What a terrific battle!  Fortunes swung to and fro throughout and it was not over until it was over.  The loss of two bodies of France’s finest Gendarmes helped to push the King over the breaking point.

Congratulations to the Italians (Tony, Mark, and Chris) in their battle against their worthy, French adversaries (The Two Daves).  The battle was hard-fought by all and in a new twist, we all witnessed Dave C. actually throw some decent dice for once!  Without those unexpected, good fortunes, the Italian Left may have held its own.  This was not to be!

Very enjoyable contest that I will remember for a long time.

Thanks, everyone for fighting such a good fight.