IF YOU CAN'T RND IT AT THE COMPLEAT 51 RJ'd'EGIST

YOU WON'T RND IT ANYWHERE!

At THE COMPLEAT STRATEGIST you'll be able to find everything you'll ever need or want for your wargaming hobby, from books to brigands! We carry historical books, refer­ence books, boardgames, all the historical wargame magazines, at least 50 different historical wargame rules from ancients to modems. We have over 3,000 figures and a complete line of paints, brushes and accessories.

You'll enjoy the friendly casual atmosphere at THE COMPLEAT STRATEGIST and our staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have and assist you with your

THE ~--

you can't wait to get home to start playing.* We are happy to announce the opening of

another store that caters particularly to the historical wargamer, located at:

320 West 57th Street New York, N~ Opening Date:

On or about June 1, 1981 If you're unable to visit one of our

locations, we also accept mail AND phone orders. Mail orders are accepted ONLY at our 33rd Street location; or by phone during business hours at (212) 685-3880-1 . Please

use VISA or MASTERCHARGE for phone orders. Write to purchases. There are

even game rooms located in our stores just in case OMPLFAT

the store nearest you for a free Catalog.

In New York: II E. 33rd St. NY.C.lOOI6 (212)685-3880-1 10:30-6:00

JR4TEGIS-WE'VE GOT IT ALU • No game room at the 57 th Street store.

In New Jersey: 209 Glenridge Ave. Montclair, NJ. 07042 (201)744-6622 11 :00-7:00 Tues. to Sat. Thurs. till 9:00

In Florida: 5406-8 Stirling Rd. Davie, Fla. 33314 (305)961-5660 11:00-7:00 Tues. to Sat. Thurs. till 9:00

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NORTH AMERICA'S FOREMOST MINIATURE GAMING MAGAZINE

FEATURE ARTICLES

ARMIES & SOLDIERS OF THE PIKE AND SHOT PERIOD DON FEA THERSTONE starts off our Renaissance Theme Year ... ............ .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . 3

NAVAL CAMPAIGNS SCENARIOS AND GAMES CLI FF SA YRE, JR . presents several campaign approaches ... . .. .. . . . . . .. . .. . . ........... . . 13

WHEN YOU'RE WHIPPED SAM GILL another thought provoking insight into ourselves . . . ... . . . . .. . . . . 21

THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN DA VID GLICK runs an interesting ACW campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27

PAOLI'S CORSICAN FORCES, 1775-69 DAVID SWEET presents another little known army ........ . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . ......... . . . . .. . 33

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF HISTORY J 1M ARNOLD the first in a series - The Sand Pit Near La Haye Sainte ....... . . . 35

DAY BY DAY IN HISTORY P. HOLLINGER & E. RITCHIE Historical happenings in July and August . First of a series . 37

DEPARTMENTS

THE REVIEWING STAND with Jim Womer ............. . . . 24

THE COURIER DISPATCH with Robert Maclean ... ....... . 39

SAPPER'S REPORT Build the Tuck & Tankard with Otto Schmidt II . 41

DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD letters to the Editor ... . . . . . .................. . . 45

VOLLEY FIRE Tell us what you like. . or don' t ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... ... . . . .. . 48

.~- -ARMIES & SOLDIERS OF THE PIKE AND SHOT PERIOD 3 NAVAL CAMPAIGNS PG 13

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\!Cur

tPltu·~i~tt MANAGING EDITOR: Richard L. Bryant

BUSINESS MANAGER: leo Cronin

ART DIRECTOR: Joseph Miceli ADVERTISING MANAGER: G lor ia Mi ce li

THEME EDITOR: THE RENAISSANCE Nick Nascati

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

William Abrams; Byron Angel; Ken Bunger; Phil Barker; Robert Beattie; Rodman Burr; Steve Carpenter; Tom Desmond; Steve Haller; Peter Holl­inger; Ian Knight; Doug Johnson; Robert Mosca; Eric Ritchie; Bob Sarber; Cliff Sayre; Jim Womer; Ned Zuparko

STAFF CARTOON 1ST: Jose N iera STAFF ILLUSTRATOR: Mike Gilbert

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Philip 0 Stearns EDITOR, SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS: Bruce Weeks

THE COURIER DISPATCH: Robert Maclean

THE COURIER PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. Richard L. Bryant, President

STAFF ILLUSTRATORS

Alan Archambault Mike Gilbert

DIRECTORS Richard Bryant, leo Cronin, Gloria Miceli

THE COURIER is published approximately bi­monthly at 45 Willow Street, Brockton, MA 02401 USA. Back issues are available for $2.75 (foreign $3.00 surface, $4.50 airmail) six issue subscriptions are $10.50, USA ($12 .00 Canada & foreign surface rate; All foreign airmail , 3rd class - $25.00). All monies in US funds drawn on US banks or inter­national Postal Money Order. Subscriptions start with NEXT published issue after receipt of pay­ment.

No responsibility is assumed for statements of f act or opinion made by the authors. No responsibility is assumed for unsoli cited manusc ripts, but all sub­missions are welcome, no query necessa ry. All submissions should contain a self-addressed STAMPED envelope large enough to return the submission. This magazine and other publications of The Courier Publishin g Company are sold with the un­derstanding that every reasonable attempt is made to deliver them safely through the mails. The Courier Publishing Comapny is not responsible for items lost in the mails. Replacements will be pro­vided at their usual cost.

All DEALER INQUIRIES, ADVERTISING COPY AND INQUIRIES, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND AR­TICLES to THE COURIER, Box 1878, Brockton, MA

02403 .

Entire Contents Copyright© 1981 by The Cou rier Publishing Company, Inc.

. . ~.~ trl

THE VANGUARD

EDITOR'S NOTES

Volume III , No. 1!!! We begin our third year a little late due to too much conventioneering on the part of The Courier Staff, but also on a positive note . For the second year in a row, THE COURIER has won the H. G. WELLS award as BEST PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE COVERING MINIATURES! It is especially satisfying this year as our competition included such great magazines as Military Modelling, Campaigns, Wargamer's Digest, The Dragon, and Gryphon. Many thanks to the staff, the editors, and all the authors without whom it could not have happened.

With this issue, we start our theme year of the RENAISSANCE. This in ties nicely with the fact that the WRG RENAISSANCE RULES (distributed by The Courier Publishing Co.) also won the H . G. WELLS AS BEST ALL TIME PRE­NAPOLEONIC GUNPOWDER MINIATURE RULES!

By now most of you will realize The Courier has always tried to find ways to save a buck for its subscribers - e.g. The Supply Depot. I don' t want to sound patronizing, but we think of our subscribers as members of the same wargame club we belong to - we try to do the same for subscribers as we would for the guys we game with personally. In this regard we have been able to arrange a special price on a series of great books of special interest to historical gamers. A new selection will be available each issue. Indexes to Volumes I & II are at last available due entirely to the untireing efforts of Tom Desmond of our staff. Finally we have been able to put together a special price on all the back issues of Volume I for those of you who don't have them (and for new subscribers) - see the various ads elsewhere in this issue for more details.

The staff of The Courier was able to attend both Pacific Origins and GenCon East. While both had many events for Historical Miniature gamers, they were obvious by their absence. Perhaps they felt that they would be out numbered by gamers from other areas of the hobby - of course this is a self-fulfilling prophecy! Ardent historical gaming buffs put in a lot of time to provide literally hundreds of historical gaming slots yet the historical gamer does not show up. It is no wonder that the figure manufacturer brings fewer and fewer historical items to these conventions! Considering that the manufacturer uses the sales history at these conventions, in part, as a guide to what he should produce and what he should drop - is it any wonder that historical figure lines are going by the board? If the historical figure gamer does not support the hobby by attending conventions; demonstrating historical gaming; buying from the dealers who CATER to the historical hob­by; by ferreting out and boycotting pirates; by supporting the hobby's magazines (make your buddy buy one rather than read yours) and by in­creasing the hobby size by nurturing new historical gamers (no matter what area of the hobby they come from) then there is no one else to blame if the hobby dies from a lack of supply. 0

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ARMIES & SOLDI F:tlS OF THE PIKE-AND-SHOT PERIOD

BY DON FEATHERSTONE

The " Pike-and-Shot" era ran roughly for about 250 years from 1450 to 1700. It em braced many positive forward steps in the art of warfare that must necessari ly be con­sidered if the battles are to be authentically re­constructed . As the period got under way, artillery and the hand-held firearm were beginning to remorselessly supersede the bow and edged weapons; it ended with the first g limpses of the " modern" so ldier in Cromwell's New Model Army, just before the invention of the bayonet rend ered the pikeman obsolete and the universal infan­tryman marched onto the battlefields of the world .

In the 16th century, gunpowder so dominated the bat­tlefield that armour, except for the helmet and breastplate worn by heavy cavalry and pikemen, was discarded . The medieval formation of three dense " bat­tles" - blocks of mounted men and infantry - per­sisted, despite being extremely vulnerable to gunpowder weapons. This outdated system of dividing an army into " vaward"; " main-battle" and " rea rward" gradually died out as time went on and the names became meaningless; the term " wing" came into use instead of " vaward" and " rearward" although t he centre was still sometimes call­ed " the battle ."

At the end of the 15th century, the battles of Granson and Morat presented two distinct tactical innovations -the re-vindication of heavy cavalry, and the successful Swiss tactic of massed pikemen moving in echelon . The English system of men-at-arms fighting on foot sup­ported by flanking formations of archers, which had brought success at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), Agin­cou rt (1415) and Veneuil (1422) had its weaknesses expos­ed in the last two English battles in France, when at For­migny in 1450.), French artillery fire forced a disastrous counter attack, and at Castillon in 1453 even the redoub­table Talbot made a hopeless ly unsuccessful assault on ent renchments containing artillery. Similarly at Ravenna in 1512, unremitting artillery fire forced the Spanish ar­my to counter-attack from their defensive position . Essentially defens ive, the English system only worked when the enemy was obliging enough to attack an English army, strong in archers, formed up in a suitable defensive position. Nevertheless, right down to the mid­dle of the 16th century the English longbow was occa­sionally seen in Continental Wars and was still used in England at Bosworth in 1485 and at Flodden in 1515, and by Montrose's Highlanders at Tippermuir in 1644. The 3

biggest disadvantage of the longbow was the years of training required to bring an archer to the height of perfection . For rapidity of fire, accuracy and reliability, no weapon surpassed the English longbow until the Martini-Henry rifle in the latter half of the 19th century.

THE SPANISH

The early 16th century was an age when gunpowder and firearms were in their infan cy and their best tactical use was yet to come. The Spaniards, Swiss and Germans used arquebusiers, but the French and Ital ians carried on with the old crossbow. French supremacy, achieved at the end of the 15th century, in the use of artillery was superseded by the proficient handling of hand-held firearms by Spanish infantry - the Spaniards being con­si stently ahead of other nations in the development and employment of infantry small-arms. Besides stimulating the progressive importance of firearms, the Spaniards realised the value of field entrenchments as a defence against attack, particularly by cavalry, and the Spanish General Gonsalvo de Cordova was perhaps the first com­mander to make decisive use of both tactics. At Pavia in 1525, when both sides were well entrenched, the Im­perialists turning the French position by a night march and being victorious through their arquebusiers decimating the French cava lry. After Pavia, important pitched battles became rare .

Warfare in the 16th century involved some outstanding and remarkable military forces, such as the French gen­darmerie of the Compagnies d'Ordonnance; the trained mercenary bands of the Condottieri, prominent in Italy since the 14th century; the Swiss phalanx of pikemen who had already established a reputation against the ar­mies of Burgundy; the German landsknechts their im­itators, raised and trained by the Emperor Maximillian in direct opposition to the Swiss; the Light Horse genitors of Spain, who owed much of their tactics to wars against the Moors. The perplexed commanders of this period had to find answers for such complicated problems as the combined use of heavy and light cavalry, the tactical employment of pikemen, both in conjunction with musketeers and when confronted by them; and the best use of large and small field artillery.

The manner of warfare itself was changing and it became perhaps slightly less creditable to win a pitched battle

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than to achieve success by manoeuvre, or by cutting the enemy's line of communications, by starving him out or distracting him by the sudden movement of troops to an unguarded front. Generals who had not suffered disaster were equally esteemed with those who had won positive successes. The French and Dutch Wars of Religion in the late half of the century were notable for the manner in which generals waited to see how the balance of forces might change, often neglecting tactical advantages in the ho'pe that a few more weeks of physical and financial starvation would bankrupt their enemy and so make bat­tle unnecessary. Commanding generals were thus placed in a difficult position, never knowing when their armies were going to melt away; if morale was low or pay in ar­rears then a commander tended to manoueuvre cautiously and avoid decisions.

The Spaniards' early proficiency in the use of hand firearms, coupled with de Cordova's method of entren­ching his armies, was in effect a throwback to the suc­cessful English longbow tactics, with the enemy obliging­ly attacking them in good defensive positions. The Spanish sword-and-buckler men employed highly suc­cessful methods of running in under pikes, particularly when locked in a frontal clash, so that their short stabb­ing sword was most effective in a jammed formation . There are numerous recorded instances of the Spanish sword-and-buckler men, with arquebusiers, slaughtering Landsknechts, French infantry and even the Swiss .

In 1505, the Spanish evolved the COLUNELA, the first­ever tactical formation based on the mutual employ-

ment of fire-and-shock weapons and the forerunner of the modern battalion and regiment. It consisted of 5 Companyies (about 1000 to 1,250 men) of mixed pikemen, halberdiers, arquebusers, with sword-and­buckler men; it was required because the swordsmen, who could cut-up the enemy pike formations, needed protection from cavalry by arquebusiers and pikemen. Later, the Spanish gradually developed the TERCIO, a large organization of 3 Colunelas, totalling 3,000 men, with its own fixed chain-of-command and strong enough to fight independent actions . Made up of pikemen and arquebusiers, the basic fighting units of the army, as the tercio became standardised, they formed the SPANISH SQUARE where the proportion of arquebusiers to pikeman was increased and they were intermixed in several ranks with the pike formations. When firing, the

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This would be the basic unit for a wargame army

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A tacti ca l grouping of f ive companies equivalent to the modern bat talion, consisting of 1000-1250 men arrayed as shown :

AN INTRODUCI10N TO THE RENAISSANCE BY NICK NASCATI

When Dick Bryant invited me to become the Theme Editor for the Renaissance, I accepted the job as both a great honor and a great responsibility . THE COURIER has traditionally provided a great service to the historical miniature wargamers, and as Theme Editor, I have the great opportunity to contribute to the service provided . Following in the very competent footsteps of Ian Knight and Ken Bunger, I take on the mantle of Theme Editor and all it enta ils with a sense of high hopes and great expectations.

The first task isto agree upon exactly what time period we are referring to when we talk about the Renaissance. The standard accepted dates for the period run from 1453, the end of the Hundred Years War and the Fall of Constantinople, to about 1652, the end of the English Civil Wars. However, I would tend to argue for a much later ending date, 1703. In that auspicious year, we can formally drop the use of the term pike and shot, as the last pikes were finally laid aside by the royal army of Queen Anne of England, and the Horse and Musket age began.

Warfare varied tremendously from the internicene dynasti c struggles of the Wars of the Roses to the bitter religious bloodbath of the Thirty Years War. The soldiers were possibly even more varied, from the tough mercenaries of the Swiss and Landsknechnt pike companies, to the swashbuckling Seahawks of the Elizabethan Wars. It was an age full of technological advancements, from the clumsy arquebus and muskets of the late 15th century, to the paper cartridge of Gustavus Adolphus' Swedes. We can trace in this era the rise of the modern nation state and the national army, typefied by 16th century France and 17th century Sweden. It was the age of religious strife; the Spanish Inquisition, the Huguenot Wars, and the life and death stru'ggle ot Eastern Europe against the Ottoman juggernaut. The wargamer is free to experiment with games of every size and description, from one to one cavalry skir­mishes on the Hungarian-Turkish border, to the massive, set-piece bat­tles of the Thirty Years War.

If you are thinking to yourself, " he can't possibly do all this in six issues!", you are absolutely right; such an attempt would be superficial

4

at best. However, since this is a magazine written by wargamers for wargamers, we will examine in detail those topics that will be of the greatest use to the gamer already involved or considering getti ng in­volved in this period . I have outlined some basic goals and objectives that I hope will be achieved by Volume III number 6, and t hey are listed below.

1, To create overall , a greater understanding of the art of war in the Renaissance, and the techical background of military thinking in this period. 2_ To instill in the veteran and the novice, an appreciation of the tremendous scope and diversity this period offers. 3_ A detailed examination of the figures available to wargamers in this period, based on cost effectiveness, qual ity, the extent of existing ranges, and other factors which are important to the wargamer faced with making a substantial financial investment in the period. 4, A close examination and discussion of the rule systems avai lable for this period. considering their relative strengths and weaknesses, and possib le solutions and alternatives, such as home-brewed rules and other ideas. 5. Accurate but flexible organization for armies of the period, from smaller scale forces built around " Free Companies," to the massive Ter­cios and Pike and Shot regiments of the 17th century. 6. Painting tips, probably the most important aspect of the period for the novice, hints on short cuts to produ cing the sometimes formidable dress of the Landsknechnt and other forces, both exotic and ordinary.

In conclusion, I hope that these six issues will be interesting, infor­mative and helpful to both the veteran wargamer and the novice, and that the Renaissance will be considered as a viable alternative to those wargamers interested in something other than Napoleonics and An­cients.

The initial article in the series is and excellent overview of the entire period by veteran wargamer and author, Don Featherstone, whose book Wargaming Pike and Shot, serves as a fine introduction to the period.

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front rank men retired to re-Ioad while those behind moved forward so that a steady fire was maintained; the pikes bore the brunt of both offensive and defensive shock action . Towards the end of the 16th century, the introduction of the musket increased the firepower of these formations, and enabled the lighter, more mobile arquebusiers to take on a skirmishing role. The Spanish tercios reigned for some 150 years and were not really discarded until the Battle of Rocroi in 1643 ended their supremacy.

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1 CO OF ARQUEBUSIERS

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A larger formation than the COLUNELA, standardized to consist of three COLUNELAS, roughly 3000 men, deployed as shown

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SPANISH SQUARE A late improved version of the TERCIO consisting exclusively 0 1

pikemen and arquebusiers.

Later, the Spanish superseded light horse by mounted ar­quebusiers and herreruelos, with a shorter firearm which could be used from the saddle; their foot regiments became smaller than the immense tercios of earlier wars . The combination of pike and firearms continued, as it did in other European armies, far into the 17th century and their heavy cavalry, always relatively few in number, continued to use the lance long after it had been aban­doned in other armies .

THE SWISS

One of the biggest military problems that taxed the minds of generals in the late 15th and early 16th cen­turies was how to counter or imitate the warlike efficien­cy of the remorseless phalanx of mercenary Swiss pikemen, whose steamroller-like advance struck terror into the hearts of their enemies and flattened every army that dared to stand in their way. No French army of the 16th century went forth without a large Swiss contingent who, throughout their notable history, were mercenary to the foremost degree, selling military aid to the highest bidder and immediately withdrawing it when cash ran short; nor would they fight against other Swiss.

Mercenaries, employed by most countries during the 16th century, were professional soldiers highly proficient with their own particular weapons, but sometimes badly

5

disciplined troops who deserted without scruple, con­sidering that they owed no loyalty except to their own immediate leader. The most effective of all mercenaries were the Swiss pikemen who, in their heyday, aroused such a sense of terror in their opponents that the wargamer should consider whether to build into the framework of his rules a " Ferocity Factor" and even a " Treachery Factor" (as described in the book " Wargames Through the Ages Vol. I" by D. Featherstone). These redoubtable mercenaries had the habit of marching off in complete corps if they felt that their pay was in arrears or they were not bound by their contract, as at Pavia when 6,000 Swiss went off a few days before the battle, even though they were paid up to date! Biggest employers of the Swiss, this particularly af­fected the French. Mercenaries acted in this characteristic manner right down to the Thirty Years War in the next century, when Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein enlisted deserters wholesale.

Frequently serving under the banner of their Canton the Swiss also displayed local "town" banners in their col­umns. They never worked under a commander-in-chief, but under a comm ittee of captains; there is no instance of a Swiss officer ever rising to be a capable general -their formations seemed to have been run by old "sergeant -majors" ! Nevertheless, these old " captains" showed considerable skill in all the arts of warfare in­cluding surprise, ambush, forced marches and other tac­tical manoeuvres. They had a strong feel ing of pride in their formations and any man who showed signs of panic was handed over to the hangman as soon as convenient. Stubbornly resisting to the last man even when defeat was certain, when the vastly diminished numbers march­ed from the field with closed ranks, never dispersing or being routed . Because of their ruthlessness in battle, rarely taking prisoners, they received similar treatment from the enemy who had old scores to payoff.

In the open field the Swiss were invincible, both against infantry and cavalry so, as time went on, generals form­ed up their troops in positions which were as unlike an open field as possible. Undergrowth, rocks, undulating ground or any other terrain that might upset the cohe­sion of their phalanx was of the greatest tactical impor­tance, because Swiss success depended on their close formation and, when gapped, the enemy, such as the Spanish sword and buckler men, could slip in between the divided ranks with short swords. Commanders learn­ed in time that when they had to face a Swiss force of three columns in echelon, with the right leading, the simplest tactic was to lure it on to attack an entrenched position, strong with artillery and arquebusiers backed by pikemen . Or to make a flank attack on the leading column with cavalry or light troops, forcing it to halt as it beat off the assault because, if the flanks of the pikes had to come down to resist a charge, the pikes in front had to stop otherwise the column would break in two .

The close formation of the Swiss columns make them ex­tremely vulnerable to artillery and, formidable soldiers as they were, the Swiss never recovered from their first notable checks at Marignano in 1515 and at Bicocca in 1522. The Swiss had no cavalry of their own but after Bicocca their three regulation phalanxes of pikemen usually had on their flanks men bearing firearns (sometimes as many as 1 in 5 or 6) who were not part of the striking force, but covered the flanks of the column

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