The War of the League of Aspico, Episode 2 - King of Rome, Pope of the Hill

After their Nibeunese allies got beaten at the Battle of Piadda, there was pressure on Papal general Lodovico da Montelupo, to force decisive action. With peace looming, the League of Aspico needed a victory to bring to the bargaining table.

Opportunity presented itself when, encouraged by their Fransican allies' easy victory, the Republic of Fradice launched an attak on the Lomagna, without any clear strategic intention other than the good old 'pillage what you can, burn what you can't' method.

The two armies met at Monte Piombo on the common border. Montelupo was wise enough to send a scouting force of two gendarme units and occupy the ruling height. Otherwise, the deployment of the two armies mirrored each other: both had three gendarme, two pike block and one arquebusier unit.

The condottiere in Fradicine employ, Marcantonio Guidalotti, Marquis di Niente, devised a sort of oblique order attack, with marching frontally and then veering towards the hill with his heavier units, correctly surmising that the height is the key to victory. 

Action, however, developed early on the Fradicine right, with Papal gendarmes trying to get rid of the pesky arquebusiers and getting countercharged by Fradicine heavy horse in turn.

On the left, Guidalotti's cavalry hesitated just a bit too long before committing to a charge uphill. They could not oust the Fradicine horse, but were charged on their unsupported flank by a Papal pike block. History repeating itself? The same happened to the Nibeunese horse at the Piadda. The Fradicine horse was able to deal some damage, but in the end quit the field in disorder.

The arquebusiers and gendarmes on the Fradicine right broke the enemy gendarme unit, and then whittled down an enemy pike block. However, on its last legs, the pike block charged home and wiped the arquebusiers out.

The other Papal pike block also gave a good account, holding against superior enemy forces in bloody combat, but in the end it had to succumb.

At this point the Papal force held the hill, but the Fradicine army still had two pike blocks at half strength and an undamaged cavalry unit, compared to the single cavalry unit in service of His Holiness. So Montelupo decided to cede the hill to the enemy, and went back to gather the remainders of his beaten army.

With two decisive victories, the Fransican faction had clearly won the campaign, the Peace of Campo Brutto finally allowing King Robert VIII a foothold in the Nibeunese, to be used for concetrating forces in later campaigns. The Fradicine did not require any territorial gains, but the Papal State was to pay a large war indemnity.

Word on the game and the rules: this is scenario #4 from One Hour Wargames, with my own Italian Wars- specific modifications on the Pike and Shot rules from the same book. My house rules include different unit types and card activation. The d20 on the hill is there to keep track of game turns. 

While the game generally works as intended, and I managed to conclude the battle in less than half an hour, I found that sometimes units are way too fragile, especially in close combat. So I might remedy that, either with a temporary casualty system which is to be resolved with further dice rolling, or increasing hit points and/or decreasing casualties caused by charges.