In today’s game we had a 10mm Turk vs Imperialist Renaissance game (circa1560).

The Imperialists set up in a classical fashion with their infantry in the centre, the cavalry on the flanks and the artillery on the two hills. The Imperialist cavalry on the left had orders to move forward to the stream to their left and to delay the Turks trying to cross the waterway. Both Imperialist infantry blocks were positioned in the centre with the artillery on the hills. On the right the Imperialist cavalry were instructed to swing round to attack the Turks in the flank as they attacked the Imperialist infantry.

The Turks formed their two groups on the flanks leaving their centre empty. The Turks on the right had orders to swing round over the stream to attack the Imperialist left flank. The Turks on the left positioned their cavalry to the left of the woods with orders to move forward and try and attack the Imperialist left flank. The Janissaries and the supporting infantry were to move forward through the woods covered by their artillery positioned in front of their defended baggage.

The Imperialists had the initiative and their cavalry move forward leaving their infantry in the centre, expecting them to receive the Turkish attack. In response the two Turkish forces move forward with infantry and cavalry together.

The game dissolves into two battles On the Imperialist left their cavalry hold the line of the stream, the Turks only managing to push them back after much manoeuvring. The Turkish commander's poor initiative rolls were finally balanced when some Turkish skirmishing cavalry cause a hit on a block of Reiter who then roll a ‘20’ on their morale dice and rout. During the fight both side's artillery fires, causing no casualties but causing a great deal of problems with the continual moral tests this causes. However, by the end of the game the Turks have forced the Imperialist cavalry back but could not come to the aid of their allied command.

On the Imperialist right their cavalry have an extensive fight against the Sipahi of the Porte but they are finally worn down until they have only one group of Reiter remaining. However, their sacrifice holds the Turkish cavalry in check, allowing the Imperial infantry to get to grips. Seeing the Turkish deployment, the Imperialist commander changes the orders for their two infantry commands to get them to advance to attack the the Turkish left flank, focusing on their infantry command. The attack takes a while to get rolling while the two officers reorganise (costs 3 initiative for a leader to accept a new change of orders).

The Imperialist artillery on this flank manages to force the Turkish gunners to abandon their guns as the Imperialist infantry (4 Tercios and two Pike blocks) move forward to hit the Janissaries and their supporting infantry. The Imperialists force the Turks back, capturing the baggage and guns and winning the game.