The original version of this battle took place in 1444 but it strikes me as more of a Medieval combat than a Renaissance one, so I am posting it here rather than on the "Renaissance" board. I hope no one takes offense!
Below is a link to a refight of the battle of St. Jacob en Birs -- "St. Jacob's Hospital on the Birs River" -- fought between an invading French army under the leadership of the Armagnac branch of the French Royal family (including significant numbers of English and other mercenaries) and a far smaller army of Swiss. The Swiss numbered only about 5000 men, whose original mission was to hold their border on the Swiss side of the river Birs but whose "Swiss fury" led them to cross the river in order to defend the religious hospital located nearby on the other side. The invading army of French and English would-be marauders far outnumbered the defenders, numbering somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000 men. The Swiss put up a staunch defense and ended the action by fighting to the last man in defense of the hospital grounds themselves, which by that time were under fire by the massed bombards of the invaders. The Armagnac army "won" the battle but its victory was so costly -- some reports placing Armagnac casualties in the region of as much as 10-15,000, that after taking the shattered remains of the hospital of St. Jacob, they promptly turned around and marched back to France, having a learned an important lesson regarding the might of contemporary Swiss arms.
We fought our version of the battle using TACTICA MEDIEVAL rules, a set we enjoy a great deal for its relative simplicity and -- in our opinion -- historical accuracy. Also, the very clear and simple VICTORY CONDITIONS (requiring the BREAKING of a certain number of KEY UNITS of each army) make it easy to know when battles have been won or lost. We do use some HOUSE AMENDMENTS but these are mostly related to those few and far between circumstances not covered in the incredibly comprehensive and well-organized ruleset (such as fighting in built-up areas during field battles as opposed to sieges).
Right now there are only photos with no accompanying text but hopefully we will get some written words up there very soon.
In the meantime, suffice is to say that history was repeated with the Swiss emerging as victors but that their victory was nowhere near as costly on the tabletop as it had been in 1444. Fearful that the massive combined French and English 100 Years War style armies which made up the Armagnac forces would wipe the miniature Swiss off the table too soon, we actually beefed up the standard Swiss army list with a few supplemental units. Although the Swiss commanders did an excellent job and probably did deserve to win the day, the Armagnacs found themselves in an almost impossible situation. Their one chance would have been concentrating all their missile power -- English longbows, mercenary crossbows and some brigand skirmisher javelins -- in an attack on one single Swiss pike block, in order to inflict some casualties before again using concentration of force, this time to send 2, 3 or even more of their HEAVY CAVALRY UNITS at the same target. Unfortunately for the Armagnacs, they spread their attacks out across the field and foudn themselves terribly overmatched nearly everywhere, though their Brigand skirmishers did manage to take possession of the Hospital of St. Jacob for at least some time.
We plan on refighting the same battle with fewer Swiss and EVEN MORE French and English troops, which should make for a more balanced game and provide the Armagnacs, if they play well, with a real chance for victory. Still, this first version of the game was a lot of fun, even for the losers.
hollywoodbrigadiers.com/StJacobenBirs/index.html
returns from Mexico with a new vision for making palm trees from scratch.
