Wyre Forest Gamers - Another Renaissance Imperialists vs Turks

Another Renaissance Imperialists vs Turks

Played in early March 2024, this was a follow on game from the one that took place in late February. As ever, I am grateful to Tom for the photographs and text.

As the Turks out scout their opponents, the Imperialists have to deploy on table first. They deploy their strong Reiter on their right and their infantry command in the centre in their right hand quarter. Their artillery and their weaker Reiter command (with Gendarmes) are deployed on their left hand table quarter with the artillery on the hill. In response, the Turks deployed their elite Sipahi command on their right with their infantry and artillery to the right of the left table quarter with the feudal Sipahi to their left.

In the first turn the Turks moved their two cavalry wings forward leaving their infantry and artillery to hold the centre. On the other side the Imperialists held their cavalry wings back and advanced their tercios in the centre. As the game developed the elite Sipahi command moved forward, long range artillery fire causing morale checks and delaying their advance. Their skirmishers then moved forward to mask the elite horse who moved round to attack the opposing Imperialist cavalry in the flank. The Gendarmes charged forward and engaged in a prolonged melee with the opposition cavalry, breaking one unit of elite Sipahi before being overwhelmed by the remaining Sipahi and Tiumatots. The two Reiters managed to hold on while the Sipahi overran the Imperialist mounted Harquebusier and artillery following up the broken units and leaving the abandoned guns behind.

In the centre the three Imperialist tercios moved slowly forward, getting bogged down in the broken ground on the far side of the road and coming under long range fire from the Turkish guns as they did so. The Imperialist commander then got cold feet and slowly withdrew the tercios back over the broken ground, with the Turkish infantry moving forward to follow them up. One unit of Janissaries, suffering from the long rage Imperialist artillery fire, managed to roll 20’s for morale on three occasions, causing them to retire shaken each time only to retire again once rallied and moved forward.

On the Turkish left the feudal cavalry moved forward engaging the Imperialist Reiters supported by the mounted harquebusier and skirmish foot. One unit of Sipahi broke through the skirmishers but were counter charged and routed by the Reiters after pursuing their opponents and getting caught before they could rally. The Turkish cavalry then fell back, peppering the Reiters with long range bow fire until eventually two units of Reiter were moved to attack the Turkish infantry in the centre, at which point the remaining Reiters where shaken and charged and routed by the remaining Sipahi.

The remaining two Reiter units moved forward to attack the Turkish infantry centre and allowing the tercios to retire back towards the abandoned Imperialist artillery.

At the end of the game the Turks had 75% of their army remaining and they had full control of one table quarter. Their other quarter was disputed by the Imperialist Reiter. In spite of overrunning both imperialist batteries the Turks were no longer in control of the guns at the end of the game so this left the Turks 95 victory points.

The Imperialists had 72% of their army remaining at the end of game and had 2:1 majority of two table quarters worth ten points each, giving them 92 victory points. This gave the Turks a narrow three point victory.