Pike & Shotte

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm German Michael had been whining about not playing a Renaissance game for ages, so that’s what we did this week, just to keep him quiet. When I arrived he’d already set up. It was only a 6×4 foot table, and he’d so many troops he filled all of

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm It was good to get back to shuffling figures around the table after a few weeks break. I was actually in at the club last week, but the only game on offer was a boardgame – Junta. While it was quite fun to play, it wasn’t “proper” wargaming,

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm This week, German Michael unveiled his new “thing”. For weeks now we’d heard rumours that he’d been painting up peasants. This is where his new project first appeared on the tabletop. I’ve labelled this as an Italian Wars game, but in fact it belongs firmly on the far

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm Our League of Gentlemen Wargamers games are always large-scale affairs, but this one put most of them in the shade. Effectively, we spent the weekend fighting all across Italy – or rather most of it – from the Alps in the north to Naples in the south. The

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm For weeks, German Michael (aka “Mad Micha”) has been wanting to run a Renaissance game. He loves them, especially if they involve lots of landsknechts. He normally prefers a battle fought on a flat and featureless plain, but this time I talked him into doing something a bit

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm Have you ever seen a game set out and your heart sinks, because you know you’re in for a turkey shoot? Well, this was one of those games! This week we were refighting the Battle of Agnadello, fought in Lombardy between the French and the Venetians. The real

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm This week, “German Michael” staged another of his renaissance games. it was billed as an ultimate “big fat battle”, with 64 figure pike blocks. Unfortunately nobody told the Swiss, who turned up with regular-sized 32 man ones. Still, it looked good, especially Michael’s big French and Landsknecht units.

The Italian Wars, Pike & Shotte, 28mm About once a month we play an Italian Wars game, under the watchful eye of “German Michael”. Each time our armies seem to be a little bigger, so this month, Michael decided to lay on a long 12 x 4 foot table, with absolutely no scenery, apart from

The Italian Wars – Pike & Shotte, 28mm. When is a game too big? When there’s so much lead on the table that three-quarters of the troops on each side don’t even get into action. That was the case here – hence me calling it a “clash” rather than a “battle”. The other problem is