Vexillia Limited :: Pike & Plunder

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:49:00 +0000

I have just finished reading Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe by Bert S. Hall.

It examines several aspects of warfare in the later middle ages and sixteenth century, but concentrates on the effect of gunpowder in western Europe, gunpowder production, gunpowder weapon development and tactics, and its consequences in relation to other military arms and tactical development; heavy cavalry and pike squares.

It is a fine and detailed study, and although there was nothing that I did not know already, outside of gunpowder production and how it works as it is not as simple as "it goes bang", it does state WHAT IS KNOWN about firearms and tactics very clearly.

One thing, which I found most interesting, was his interpretation of arquebus "volleys" during the Battle of Pavia. He has deduced that the volley fire came about due to the heavy fog. The arquebusier being 'loaded', saw a unit of French loom out of the mist at close range and fired at all at once, the French unit would disappear back into the mist and having no target the arquebusier would reload and await the next target looming out of the mist.

I can see this, and it is a very clever conclusion as to how fire control during this battle was different to that in other battles; they were allowed time to reload because the French could not see them, at a distance, and were therefore unable to launch an organised charge against them. The mist became 'the wall' for the arquebusier to operate behind.

The book is a good addition to my library. I can recommend it in the 'further reading' category for those with a keen interest in 16th century warfare. It does not provide much in the way of information that will be directly useful for war gaming the period.

I bought it from Amazon; it is a fine second hand copy in hardback, which I managed to pick up at a similar price to a new paper back (£18.50 including postage). This is something I've noticed before, and I much prefer hardbacks, even if they are not exactly in perfect condition.

Visit James’ blog.

Ravignano - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:23:00 +0000

I am still doing some basic play testing of Thirst of War and Blood. This time I have set up a field battle centred on control of some high ground.

The armies are historical but, they are out of time and place. The French army is based on that at the Battle of Marignano 1515. The Spanish / Papal army is based on that at the Battle of Ravenna 1512.

Numbers were taken from Renaissance Battles 1494 - 1700 Vol.1 by Peter Sides, except that:

There are no war carts,
I have put the Papal infantry at 4,000 rather than 2,000,
I have given the Papal light cavalry crossbows rather than arquebus (of which I am temporarily short of).

Figure scale is between 1:40 and 1:60 - I'm not much of a bean counter.

To make life interesting (this is a solo game) I have added an off table force: the Medici Black Bands. They will arrive on the appearance of a Stratagem card as off table flank reserves; on the French left / Spanish right.

I have not decided which side they will end up fighting for. This will be decided by a roll of the dice.

The French Army comprises:

1,500 Gendarmes,
9,000 Landsknechts,
4,000 French pike,
2,000 Gascon crossbow,
500 French light horse,
Artillery.

The Spanish / Papal Army comprises:

1,800 Italian men-at-arms,
450 Spanish men-at-arms,
900 light horse,
800 Genitors,
8,000 Spanish infantry in four brigaded coronelas,
4,000 Papal infantry
Artillery.

I aim to play this game out over the next few days. I'll try and take some shots of the action and provide a narrative account.

The Battle of Fastapasta - Part IV

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:03:00 +0000

As the game reaches its climax the Venetians cross the stream threatening the Imperial flank, which is only lightly defended, whilst a frontal assault is launched by their heavy cavalry in support.

Meanwhile, feeling a little unsupported and wasted in the grounds of the abbey, the Spanish coronela there begins to pull back.

The French turn a Group Melee card. They use it to launch the Venetians into the fray with mixed, but not unexpected, results. Along the river bank the Venetian troops make steady progress against the mounted crossbow units sent to hold them. At the works, the Venetian cavalry are routed with heavy loss - the French are now handing morale chips to the Imperials.

The Imperials turn a melee card - they must fight all ongoing melees. The Landsknechts rout the coronela facing them and advance to take the ground. When things are going for you ride the wave: The French pike, inferior to the Spanish on the slope above them, still manage to hold their own in what is proving a hard fought contest. The Imperials have had enough, the coronela recently withdrawn to the rear walls of the abbey, risking blue on blue, pour in fire.

Just in range! The French are still riding that wave! A big dice roll is in order - 10 Vs 1 - that will do - 3 unit integrity loss. Ouch!!!

The next thing that happens - the French win a swing of 9 impetus - and the Gods of War are with them.

Everywhere the French advance, fighting as they go. What's more they win almost everywhere they fight. Only the French pike finally break - but they fought well and distracted the Spanish reserve long enough for the rest of the Franco - Venetian force to break into the camp.

End Game. The Spanish are now handing morale to the French and they are running everywhere.

And that is where I ended it.

The surprise was the immense amount of French luck. On zero morale they almost managed to cycle their deck avoiding the Army Morale cards.

As for the rules in general, well the quick reference sheet is currently a hotch-potch of highlighter pen and pencil scribbles, with several rules changing, or being added, mid game.

On the whole things went quite well. I'll try another solo game this week as there is no official game scheduled here this week.

Reading Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:24:00 +0000

I’ve recently discovered a great extension for Firefox from Evernote. Their Clearly extension makes blog posts, articles and web pages clean and easy to read.

For more details visit the Evernote Clearly web page.

The Battle of Fastapasta - Part III

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:18:00 +0000

Turn 2 sees action become general. It also sees the French and Venetians reach a single morale chip, having lost over forty during the game, whilst the Imperialists and their Papal allies sit pretty with twenty one, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Whilst the Imperial Landsknechts attempt to evict the Swiss from 'the outpost', with little success ..

The Venetians begin to cross the bog and stream to the flank of the Imperial camp ..

Whilst the French and Venetian main force storm the outer defences:

After a fierce fight the Landsknechts force the Swiss out of 'the outpost' but are spent in doing so. Meanwhile the Swiss have rallied several UI losses and are ready to renew the assault.

Note the Genitor cavalry which has worked behind the Swiss and is harassing them at every opportunity.

Then, to make matters worse, the Imperial commander is killed trying to rally the Imperialist pike - all of his units are vexed:

The French turn a Group March and their Venetian command moves into position:

Almost immediately following they turn a Chow Bella wild card- they declare it as a melee card for the French pike and Landsknechts:

"Here they come!":

In a series of dashing melees the French and Landsknechts storm and penetrate the defences. But the Venetians are held:

The French pike push on into the camp. Advancing uphill into the reserve Spanish coronela they receive a crashing volley of arquebus fire that the French will find hard to rally.

At 'the outpost' things go badly for the Imperialists - the Landsknechts break.

Things are not going well for the French either, the Venetian pike is forced back from the works then showered with arquebus fire until it falls back in great disorder.

So ended Turn 2.

The French are breaking into the camp everywhere, but they have expended so many morale chips in UI losses, and UI rallies, that they must win just about everything from now on without failing army morale checks en route.

Here are some general close of turn shots:

The Battle of Fastapasta - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:37:00 +0000

The above shot shows the Battle of Fastapasta at the end of turn one. I used the embryonic "Thirst of War and Blood" to fight the battle. Over the last couple of weeks these rules, in their tabular form, have received much attention and 'on paper play-testing'. They are still not right, but they are certainly getting there.

In the very first initiative the French turn a march card. On the far side of the field the French command, including the Swiss pike, rolls more and triple - three moves! The Swiss have a D12 combat die and, moving their combat die in inches, advance 36" in a single bound.

This is a game of decision; as in real war, once the enemy starts to move it is often too late to transmit orders to intervene - which is often far too easy in most war games, where things are signposted by movement rates that are far too short.

What is more, they have rolled even so can initiate a melee versus the Landsknecht pike square. They win the first round. The Landsknechts only save themselves from rout by expending a morale chip to invoke stubborn status - they have lost less unit integrity (UI) than the total number of rear rank stands - to convert a rout into a push back.

Almost immediately the French turn a melee card, on a won 'lull card' roll where the initiative can be stolen, and must resolve the ongoing melee. This time the advance of the Swiss is slowed - a hard fought melee, the Swiss still have the advantage but the sheer weight of the Landsknecht pike square is beginning to tell.

The Swiss storm the earthworks rolling over the artillery and into contact with the Landsknechts. This will prove to be important later....

The French turn an officer check card and rally back their losses. I've used some nice contemporary portraits on the leadership quality markers - this one is Alfonso of Ferrara.

In the next round of melee a draw is obtained - more UI losses but no advantage to either side.

Then the Imperialists turn "Four horsemen"; a characterisation card. It gives four extra impetus points to turn cards! It enables the Imperials to position themselves against the French attack which looks like it is about to become general.

The battle between the Swiss and Landsknechts continues on every melee card that is turned. The fight turns dramatically in the Landsknechts favour, but they are unable to take full advantage because they are pinned by the other Swiss pike square.

On the other side of the field the advance of the French Landsknechts and Picard pike is slowed dramatically by well timed artillery fire. Both squares are vexed and move at half speed.

Then the turn ends on an equal roll, in this case double ones.

Below are some shots of the field at 'turn end'. They show that much more went on in the turn (of 17 impetus each) than is pictured above.

The Fight between Landsknechts and Swiss.

The Imperialists rush their Papal allies to guard the rear of the camp.

The Imperial camp under attack.

Here they come!

I'm fighting this one solo. I aim to get in several more turns over the next few days. I'll try and do a similar report for all.

The Battle of Fastapasta - French Deployment

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:25:00 +0000

Having fought a battle on similar terrain over the last two weeks, Peter and I liked it so much we decided to use it again but on a larger table with more room behind the Imperial camp.

The scenario is quite simple, the French and Venetian force must destroy the forces of the HRE and the Pope by attacking them in their well situated camp.

The Battle of Fastapasta will be fought next Wednesday night.

French Deployment

The army consisted of a main French Venetian force and a flanking force.

The main force consists of:

Pike: 180
Shot and crossbow: 72
Gendarmes and other heavy cavalry: 32
Light cavalry: 16
Guns: 3

and much of the main French Venetian force in front of the camp is pictured here:

To the left of the troops pictured above, Gascon crossbowmen are advancing through the woods toward the priory.

I've decided to do infantry skirmishers 3 to a stand (60mm frontage x 45mm deep). I'm not going to penalise skirmish fire when formed up 'deep' as they represent troops moving about (front to back and vice versa) to shoot and reload, but their depth will make them a better target - Dn1 for skirmish, Up1 for being deep.

Venetian Stradiots. Poorly situated behind the bulk of the Venetian force. Fully based, I like my depiction of 'cavalry skirmish' on extra depth bases even more.

Venetian pike and shot at the crest of the long ridge:

French Landsknechts - bloody traitors!

Finally, the French flanking force. It’s a very powerful force including lot’s of Swiss pike and Medici's Black Bands:

Swiss pike: 108
Shot: 32
Gendarmes: 16
Light cavalry: 16

Thirst of War and Blood

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Peter and I have started to work on a new set of rules for fighting battles set during the Italian Wars period.

Last night we started play testing the basics. The rules have a working title: Thirst of War and Blood. The title comes from a satirising of Europe, in 1522, by Erasmus:

"These are the instruments, you must know, that are still irritating Kings to thirst of War and Blood under the splendid notion of Empire and Glory: and with the same art and industry they inflame the spirits of the Nobility likewise and of the Common People."

The test game I set up uses most troop types and terrain. It is clear that the rules will be quite an easy task to get right as most of the donkey work on basic mechanisms has already been done for the 'Ager' series - melee with pointy sticks doesn't change much over time! It is more a matter of giving the rules a distinctive period feel; which will be harder but rewarding.

Here are some shots of the battle. The troops are on newly sized bases, but the bases are unfinished - thankfully they are not, being dull brown, too stark.

The French are attacking the armed camp of the Spanish and their Papal Allies. The Spanish are rushing reinforcements to the camp.

The French flanking attack appears - Medici is here!

French pike assault the outer defences and break into the camp before being checked by a newly arrived brigaded coronela.

The battle at the barricades and ditch is in full swing. The French Landsknechts are being held back under murderous fire from artillery and Spanish arquebusier. The battle is in the balance.

Peter and I will finish this battle next week. I hope you like the look of things to come.

From James’ blog post, 15 Dec 2011.

Follow Pike And Plunder On Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:30:00 +0000

If you are so inclined, you can now follow all the Vexillia news feed via twitter.

This will include updates from this blog.

The Battle Of Trimini :: Action Report #2

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:26:00 +0000

Whilst campaigning is currently on hold here’s something new from James’ blog, and cross posted here.

Here are some photos of the second night's play. There is not as much text as usual. The day after the game I took three days out of my comfort zone to help a friend with his art / trade show (doing the donkey work, mainly) and the battle, as well as the feeling in my arms and legs, has drifted into distant memory.

The Allies kept up their inexorable advance. Here and there their progress was slowed by counter attacks by the Swiss and the constant pecking of French skirmishers, but eventually all organised resistance was crushed.

The French C-in-C and his gendarmerie did not make it out of camp (locked), and only just managed to fight off raiding Venetian stradiots who caught them in their “PJs”.

This was probably a good thing - one of the striking factors in this battle was the way in which French command stands had a nasty habit of getting themselves killed at the first opportunity.

The French started the battle with 7 commanders, including the C-in-C, and ended it with just 2 whilst the Allies didn't lose any. Never have so many 1s been rolled on a d20 (to fire) and d12 (for melee) dice!

The battle ended, possibly with another hour of play still in it, with all hope of French victory snuffed out. A decisive victory for the allies.

The Battle Of Trimini :: Action Report #1

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Whilst campaigning is currently on hold here’s something new from James’ blog, and cross posted here.

Before dawn broke the reports of enemy activity were becoming more alarming by the minute. So many reports were coming in that both the Swiss and French pike squares, which had been stood-to, began a shambolic approach towards the picket lines. Minutes later the boom of French cannon in the forward lines signalled to all that something was afoot.

The plan of the Imperialists and their Venetian allies was plain to see. A massed infantry attack in the centre would be supported by a double envelopment by cavalry. The Allied army came on with great speed and within the hour the French pickets were falling back before the onrush of Landsknecht and Romagnol pike men as the outer earthworks were overrun.

Only a charge by the French pike square checked the Landsknechts who advancing on open ground. The fighting was fierce and the French put up a most gallant resistance, even under the devastating fire of supporting organ guns, before finally giving way and taking to their heals. Elsewhere the allied pike were pressing forward against light resistance, but were slowed whilst extricating themselves out of the earthworks. The Swiss plugged the gap.

The Venetians meanwhile were advancing around Trimini and an assault was looking imminent. In the main French camp all was chaos. Before the first hour was out only the Swiss managed to show some discipline, form up, and move out of camp (removed 2 locks) towards the sounds of the fighting. On the allied left the Venetian stradiots and mounted arqubusier met with no resistance and, as the Landsknechts crossed the earthworks, were at the outskirts of the French camp even as the Swiss were leaving it.

On the right, the presence of the French stradiots (who had quickly taken position there) and mounted crossbowmen slowed down the advancing allied cavalry wing with desultory skirmishing, advances and evades.

To be continued.

The Battle Of Trimini :: A Scenario

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:31:00 +0000

Whilst campaigning is currently on hold here’s something new from James’ blog, and cross posted here. This version of the article also contains a pdf of the scenario to download.

Introduction

Attacks on armed camps were a feature of The Great Italian Wars. Ravenna 1512, Novara 1513, Marignano 1515, Bicocca 1522 and Pavia 1525 are all prime examples.

In most cases camps were strong positions and fully entrenched. At Novara the French camp was only partly entrenched and its defenders were badly deployed when a surprise attack by the Swiss overthrew it in short order.

Novara is the inspiration for this fictional scenario but instead of massed Swiss pikes I have substituted a mixed force of Imperial and Venetian allies. I have also set it slightly later in 1520.

The Battle Of Trimini, 1520 – download scenario

Background:

The French, halting their march late on the previous day, only partly entrenched their camp with a series of redoubts for their artillery. French infantry (crossbow and pike) were tasked to complete the entrenchments next day and slept in the open fields where the earthworks were to be dug. Believing the enemy to be some distance off, the cream of the army (the Gendarmes and the Swiss) pitched camp north of the village of Trimini.

On hearing of the approach of the French the commander of the allied Imperial and Venetian army called a council of war to decide what was to be done.

Intelligence reports suggested that the French had advanced without reconnaissance and they had failed to fully fortify their camp. Without a single dissenting voice the council elected to launch a surprise attack at dawn.

Some time before dawn the French commander was woken and informed that the outlying pickets were reporting enemy movements. The French commander was not convinced but, remembering the disaster of Novara seven years earlier, he ordered half of his Swiss to stand-to. He then went back to his bed and his mistress; he was French after all.

Thus the scene was set for the bloody Battle of Trimini.

Deployment:

Terrain definitions for Piquet:

Hills	Type I	Stop at contact, normal moves thereafter.
Woods	Type II
Trimini	Type III
French camp	Type III
Redoubts	Type III

French Order of Battle:

Commanders:

2 'combat bonus' commanders.
4 other commanders.

Troops:

French Gendarmes: 4 units of 7 figures.
French mounted crossbows: 1 unit of 6 figures.
Stradiots: 2 units of 6 figures.
Italian mounted crossbows: 1 unit of 6 figures.
Swiss pike: 2 units of 54 figures.
French pike: 1 unit of 54 figures.
French crossbowmen: 7 units of 10 figures.
French artillery: 2 batteries of heavy field guns.

Total figures used: 58 cavalry, 254 infantry, 4 guns and a dog.

Allied Order of Battle:

Commanders

3 'combat bonus' commanders.
3 other commanders.

Troops:

Imperial Men-at-arms: 2 units of 7 figures.
Mounted crossbows: 2 units of 6.
Landsknecht pike (plus shot sleeves): 2 units of 82 figures.
Organ gun: 1 organ gun.
Venetian Condottiere: 2 units of 7 figures.
Venetian Stradiots: 1 unit of 6.
Venetian mounted arquebus: 1 unit of 6 figures.
Venetian pike: 1 unit of 36 figures.
Venetian shot: 2 units of 15 figures.

Total figures used: 58 cavalry, 230 infantry, and 1 gun.

Special Scenario Rules and Notes

Camp locks: the French Gendarmes and half of the Swiss are in camp, half asleep and totally unprepared for what is to come. To represent this they have a number of locks. These must be removed before they can undertake any voluntary action. A Whim of the Gods card was added to the French sequence deck. A D4 is rolled when it appears. For each pip on the D4 the French player may remove one lock. Any unlocked troops caught in camp by the enemy count as unarmoured and in disorder.

French disorder: to represent the general disorder caused by the surprise appearance of the Allied army, two Command Indecision cards were added to the French sequence deck for turn 1. One was removed at the start of turn 2, and the last at the start of turn 3.

Allied coordination: because of the inherent difficulty in coordinating an allied army in the field, an Uncontrolled Advance card was added to the Allied sequence deck. On the appearance of the card any remaining impetus pips can only be used by one of the armies decided by rolling a die; odd score = Imperial, even result = Venetian.

New Scenario Play Test

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Whilst campaigning is currently on hold here’s something new from James’ blog, and cross posted here, containing more pictures of his excellent collection of figures.

This is a scenario play test. The scenario is a surprise attack by Imperialists on a partially constructed French camp.

Next week a gathering (Mark, Peter, Brian, and Eric) of the Ilkley Lads will play the tweaked scenario, with slightly different layout and more troops.

I'll post the scenario with deployment map, OOB and the usual notes and pictures towards the end of this week. Until then, here are some pictures of the play test.

Before battle:

Some shots of the action:

2010 Update & Call For Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:22:00 +0000

As you may have gathered James’ attempt at running a Pike & Plunder campaign last year didn’t work out so we’d like to ask users to post their campaign experiences here.

2009 Campaign – Turn 1, Phase 1

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Turn 1, Phase 1

Sequence

Having randomly decided the order of play Venice was to go first, followed by Papal State, Spain and France.
Each Player was then dealt three cards from the Campaign Card deck.

Venice

Card#31: ‘Reinforce army’ event option taken to increase army A1 value by 15 florins. A1 now has a value of 30 florins.
Card#38: ‘March 1^st and 3^rd’ option taken to march A1 to Ferrara. This cost 6 florins and as Venice, had an empty war chest was paid from A1’s army value. A1 now has a value of 24 florins.
Card#48: ‘Move Agent’ option taken to move Agent 1 to Ferrara.

Papal State

Card#17: ‘March 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd’ option taken to march A1 to Ravenna. Papal State has a claim to Ravenna so this cost 0 florins.
Card#36: ‘Move Agent’ option taken to move Agent 1 to Florence.
Card#43: Discarded.

Spain

Card#1: Mandatory event ‘Collect Domestic Revenue’ which will take place at the end of the phase. Ruse de Guerre Card option was taken. The nature of this card is only known to myself and Colin.
Card#11: Discarded.
Card#13: Discarded.

France

Card#14: ‘Gott Hilf Mir! Luther’ option taken successfully. The Papacy now fears for its dominance over the Mother Church and cannot exercise its right of excommunication outside Rome itself until the campaign card deck has been reshuffled.
Card#25: ‘March 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd’ option taken to march A1 to Barletta. Costs 4 florins and paid from the French war chest.
Card#39: ‘General Hires Local Mercenaries’ option taken. Army A1 hired 6 florins worth of army value at cost of 10 florins from the war chest.

At the conclusion of turn 1, phase 1 the campaign board looked like this:

Map Key

Mid Blue	Kingdom of France
Red	Kingdom of Spain
Yellow	Republic of Venice
Mid Green	Papal State

With the armies of France & Spain in Barletta will battle be joined? We’ll have to wait and see.

2009 Campaign - Initial Moves

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Introduction

This Pike and Plunder campaign is being fought by email. James is the Umpire responsible for correlating the information relayed by the players including the sequence of player moves, dealing out campaign and ruse de guerre cards and deciding any resultant campaign die rolls.

The players are Pete as France, Colin as Spain, Alistair as Venice and Jason as Papal State. They were chosen, on a first come first served basis, after an appeal on the Yahoo Piquet Group.

They are responsible for all of the strategic (map related) decisions. The battles are being fought by the Ilkley Lads using James’ superb wargames table. There is battle league table to encourage the Ikley Lads to scrap for battlefield victory points not that they need much encouragement.

The campaign has started slowly because the players came to it cold, did not know James and had no face to face or telephone contact before starting the campaign. It’s finally under way and I hope that the campaign can now progress quickly now that the first movement phase of turn 1 has been completed and the players are comfortable with the mechanisms.

This blog is also being used by the players to keep theme selves informed and to view the latest date board positions.

Initial Dispositions

France

Army A1: Under King Charles VIII of France (rating 2^nd) at Naples. Value 60 florins.
Army B2: Under Gaston de Gusset at Gaeta (rating 2^nd). Value 20 florins.
Army C3: Recruiting / idle in France (rating 3^rd). Value 0 Florins.

Spain

Army A1: Under Alfonso Rodriguez del Spada de Rayo (rating 2^nd) at Barletta. Value 63 florins.
Army B2 and C3: Recruiting / idle in Spain / Sicily (both rating 2^nd). Value 0 florins

Venice

Army A1: Under Bartolomeo d'Alviano (rating 3^rd) at Venice. Value 15 florins.
Army B2:Under Alonzo Birchomani (rating 2^nd) at Brescia. Value 70 florins.
Army C3: Recruiting / idle in Venice (rating 3^rd). Value 0 Florins.

Papal State

Army A1: Under the brothers Vetelli (rating 3^rd) at Pesaro. Value 60 florins.
Army B2 and C3: Recruiting / idle in Rome (rating 2^nd and 1^st respectively). Value 0 Florins.

Agents

All states have an agent deployed in their home territory

So after initial deployments the campaign board looks like this:

Map Key

Mid Blue	Kingdom of France
Red	Kingdom of Spain
Yellow	Republic of Venice
Mid Green	Papal State

New Campaign - Ready For The Off

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:05:00 +0000

The new campaign using version 2.0 is all set up and ready to go and the format is going to be a little different from before as James has recruited four players from the Yahoo Piquet Group to play the heads of state by email:

Pete:	France
Colin:	Spain
Al:	Venice
Jason:	Papal State

The battles will be fought by the Ilkley Lads using James’ excellent games table and his collection of 16th century figures. They will be running a 'side bet' victory points league to keep things competitive.

As you can see from the above picture the board is ready for initial deployments.

The map was printed from the A4 version as a nine page poster (not possible with a Mac apparently) enlarging it to 34" x 22". The map was then taped together and put behind a sheet of Perspex on a 'notice board'. This is a great tip for anyone using the large paper maps supplied with most military board games these days - it keeps the map free from wear and coffee mug stains, and allows counters to slide around easily.

James, as is the author’s privilege, will not be using the counters that come with the game. He prefers to use bits and pieces from his counter box. For this game they comprise:

Painted chequers with round sticky labels (in the centre) for armies.
Skittle men for agents.
Poker chips for florins (yellow = 20, red = 10, blue = 5, white = 1).
Big tiddlywinks for possession markers (red, blue, yellow, green).
Small tiddlywinks for the trackers (red, blue, yellow, green).
Black and white tiddlywinks with numbers on for improved fortification and siege markers, etc.
Small plastic gold coins (from a broken Las Vegas fridge magnet) for paid markers.
Small plastic chequers with crowns on (red and black) from a couple of Christmas cracker draughts games for influence chips.
Cigar boxes, clearly labelled, have been sorted to keep the players markers and Ruse De Guerre cards in.
Lastly all the Pike and Plunder playing cards have been cut out and placed in card sleeves for easy shuffling.

So everything is all set and ready to go. James will be writing regular campaign and battle updates with card by card, phase by phase and blow by blow accounts. This should help explain how the game is played along the way.

Version 2.0 Errata

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:20:00 +0000

This page lists any errata or changes to the rules.

Copies sold are always the latest version. For information about obtaining copies of updated files see the FAQ list.

Version:	2.00
Date:	04 Jun 2009
Comments:	Release version.

Pike & Plunder v2.0 Now On Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Basic Information

Pike and Plunder is now on sale as a set of high quality pdfs.

It is available in both A4 and US letter sizes for £5.00.

The rules consist of pdfs for:

30+ page Rulebook,
48 Campaign cards,
36 Ruse de Guerre cards,
1 map (1 page),
1 set of small counters,
1 large map (4 pages),
1 set of large counters.

As a taster, here are some sample pages from the A4 rulebook for you to download.

How to get your copy?

Simply go to the top of the right hand column select a paper size and click the "Buy Now" button.

This will take you to a PayPal page where you can complete your order using your credit card or PayPal account.

How will I receive my copy?

All the pdf files that make up Pike & plunder will be emailed to you in a 1.2 Mb zip file within 48 hours of your order. The email will include and order reference number. Please keep this safe.

I hope to turn round orders quicker but weekends, holidays and time differences may delay things slightly.

What about errata and updates?

If any changes are required they will be announced here. All you have to do is request the updates quoting your order reference number and we will send you any updated files free. Updates to version 2 will always be free.

What if my copy doesn’t arrive?

Your copy will will be sent to the email address you provide PayPal. Please check this address first then send an email to the address shown at the top of the right hand column.

What if I accidently loose my copy?

Send an email to the address shown at the top of the right hand column quoting your order reference number and we will do our best to help.

Terms & Conditions

All sales are handled by Vexillia Limited and are governed by their Terms & Conditions of sale.

Coming Soon - A New Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:20:00 +0000

To coincide with the launch of version2 of Pike & Plunder James will be running a new campaign and posting campaign and battle updates here.

A group of players has already been recruited. When this blog started in 2007 the campaign and battle reports proved very popular so I’m sure this will be too.

The reports will help bring many of the facets of the new campaign rules to life but from a personal perspective I’m looking forward to more photographs of James’ excellent collection of 28 mm renaissance figures.

The campaign should start towards the end of June once Pike & Plunder v2.00 has been released.

Version 2 – Latest

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Good morning. The last week has been busy with lots of progress so I thought I’d post a quick update.

The rules are now finished bar the final proof reading for both grammatical and spelling mistakes. As you can see from the picture on the right the front cover has been designed.

Both the Campaign and the Ruse de Guerre decks are finished. They have been specially designed to fit into standard CCG card sleeves so it’s easy to create decks that will last.

The map has been completely reworked and looks even better than the original. It is nearly finished with only a very small tweak required. The map will be published as both a one page version and a large version spread over 4 pages.

James is currently working on a special set of counters which are due today or tomorrow.

The only technical issues now outstanding are: ensuring that the pdfs aren’t too large and checking that they print properly in colour.

If all goes well the rules should be ready this week. Let’s hope I haven’t tempted fate.

Finally, Pike & Plunder is designed to be used with any table-top rules set and I’ve been asked for suitable rule sets. One obvious recommendation is Maximilian! Based on 24 DBx elements a side, version 2 was released in 2007 and there are free samples pages available via the Vexillia books page.

Version 2 – Final Draft

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Things have progressed really quickly and James now has a final draft of the rules to read through.

I’ve received the Campaign card deck from James who’s currently working on the Ruse de Guerre card deck.

The text of the rules is complete and all that I need to do is design a frontispiece and insert a small image of the new map when that is ready some time in the next 48 hours.

We’ve decide to produce both an A4 and a US letter version so there’ll be some tweaking required before creating the pdfs. We’ll also be checking that the pdfs print properly and that they aren’t too large etc.

In summary: the rules are 98% done; the map will be finished today; the campaign deck is being readied for publication and the Ruse de Guerre deck is being compiled. All these should be finished by late next week leaving only the pdf creation to do.

In the meantime, and by way of a sampler, here’s a pdf of the introduction, contents pages and author’s notes from version 2.0 for you to download.

Version 2 – First Draft

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:34:00 +0000

A short post to say that yesterday James delivered the first draft in to my sweaty little hands. To be fair he sent an email as it’s much more hygienic. This means that we are on schedule.

From now on we’ll be working in parallel. James will be working on the new map, cards and counters. I’ll be proof reading the rules themselves and settling on a final layout.

I’m already a third of the way through the first draft and it’s great stuff; very straight forward. I should have the second draft ready for James to read towards the end of next week. After that I’ll try and post a few snippets to whet your appetite.

In the meantime have great weekend.

Latest News on Version 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:25:00 +0000

As some of you may know James has been working on a Crusades project called Ager Sanguinis which was published in Miniature Wargames earlier this year. Apart from these rules he also spent quite some time painting both armies and if you like eye candy then I can recommend a visit to James’ blog.

All this has meant that Pike & Plunder has not been developing as quickly as James and I would have liked. To be honest I thought that it had stopped altogether. So imagine my delight when I received an email from James containing this paragraph:

“I have been re-working Pike and Plunder for a few weeks now. I've been fundamentally changing it into a campaign to be played with any tabletop rule set, two to four players (rather than just two), and so the map part of the campaign can be played by post or email to free up 'table gaming time'. It is a different, and much better, beast.”

James estimates that the final draft is about a month away. He’s currently working on the tricky bits of map to table and back again. So it looks like Version 2 will soon be available.

To reflect the work involved, the plans are to make Version 2 a low cost pdf whilst Version 1 remains a free download (see resources sidebar for links).

Finally, I’d like to raise a practical matter. At present all pdfs have been designed for A4 paper and I’d like to know if you’d like the option of a US letter version? Please reply via the comments.

NewsFeed - Welcome Back

noreply@blogger.com (Vexillia Limited) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:05:00 +0000

After nearly a month away it's great to welcome back all those of you that subscribe to the news feed.