Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Battle of St. Remy du Pleme 1432


THE BATTLE notes
The date of the battle was moved up a bit so that some of the knights were wearing outdated rather than anachronistic armor.  It was more important to recreate the game rather than document the progression of European armor styles year by year.
The battle was actually part of the Hundred Years War but was historically an inner French civil war between the King of France and the Armagnacs, a rebel faction.  A small affair by other battle's comparisons it weakened the Armagnacs and kept them at bay so that the English could gain all the glory at Agincourt.

RULE notes
The set used was the Cleveland Amendment version of the WRG late medieval rules.  The game flowed very well considering that the rules have been dormant for 30 years.  Somewhat complicated compared to the recent "quick learn" rule sets the era was recreated accurately by the dominance of the armored knight, as long as the field held no English longbowmen.  The army lists used were the WRG book three covering the early to late medieval/early renaissance periods.  The WRG system was used to field 1500 points for each army with most points obviously spent on armored cavalry.

ARMY notes
The book three lists allowed accurate representations of the two forces with well mounted knights on both sides along with lesser and mercenary cavalry filling the second ranks.  Militia and mercenary infantry were fielded and performed their role well, either holding their position or ridden down by the cavalry.  The small artillery park provided by the King accurately fired a few rounds and departed.  Italian mercenaries are abundant as the King had the money to spend.  The Swiss were aware of this fact and soon became the King's favorite employees.

Editor notes: Sadly, I (BR) lost the pic descriptions and am unfamiliar enough with the period (and was not at the game) to be able to identify the units and\or the game action. Nevertheless, the pictures are a feast for the eyes and worthy of a post. My apologies to my friend JZ who provided the scenario and figures. 

Peasants watch the knights collide





The abandoned artillery park after the news of Francois' demise.










Peasants cling to the Armagnac right. 

 The religious contingent lines up.