In this playtest of the upcoming solo Renaissance rules Dominion of Pike and Shot (based on the Dominion of the Spear rules) a French army with its Swiss pikemen and heavily armoured Gendarmes is attacked by a Spanish army with two huge Tercios backed up by cavalry in a fictional battle set in the latter part of the Italian Wars.
The Gascon crossbowmen on the French left stared in amazement and shock at the huge formation of Spaniards moving slowly towards them. They wondered how much practice it took to move and keep that pretty formation. Regardless, there were an awful lot of Spaniards so after one quick volley from their crossbows, the Gascons moved smartly to the rear, having decided they weren't being paid enough for this.
In the centre the second Spanish Tercio moved ever closer to the Swiss pikemen, who regarded the enemy pikemen with contempt but were less enthusiastic to see the large numbers of arquebusiers accompanying the Tercio. Over on the French right, the French gendarmes made sure they looked their finest and then charged the Spanish cavalry, who turned out to be mounted arquebusiers. With a precision and bravery (and luck) that the French cavalry really did not appreciate, the Spanish arquebusiers dismounted and opened fire devastating the French nobles. As the French charge faltered, a second volley sent the French now fewer in number backwards, while they lamented the fact that these new firearms were a beastly invention and weren't cavalry supposed to be able to defeat unprotected arquebusiers.
As the sun rose higher in the sky the French line was held just by French pikemen on the left, who had moved somewhat unenthusiastically to fill the gap left by the retreating Gascons, and the Swiss mercenaries who were beginning to wonder if there was going to be any French left to give them their pay.
The commander of the rightmost Spanish Tercio, seeing the time of day, ordered his troops to stop while his chefs made his lunch. Just because one was on a battlefield did not mean one had to forgo the pleasantries of life! The second Spanish Tercio which was occupying the centre saw their compatriots to their right pause, so they themselves slowed, presumably wondering if it was lunchtime already.
The Swiss in the French centre, seeing the Spanish attack falter, rubbed their hands together, gripped their pikes tightly, and charged the Spanish Tercio. The Spanish, their minds full of thoughts of food, were slow to respond and their arquebus fire was desultory at best, as the Swiss charged into them. In this contest between Swiss desire for their gold and Spanish thoughts of food there could be only one winner, and it was not the Spanish.
The French commander, who had been busy composing his excuses as to why he had lost the battle, rubbed his eyes in disbelief as the Spanish seemed to be doing their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The battle was not yet won though, as the Spanish arquebusiers on the French right, having seen off the French nobles, turned their attention to the Swiss in the centre. The Swiss though, their tails up and their gold within reach, were having none of it and a group of Swiss Halberdiers broke off and charged the Spanish arquebusiers who promptly fled, a close encounter with the fierce Swiss being the last thing they wanted.
The Spanish commander, with just a unit of cavalry left in the reserve and a Tercio that showed no signs of willingness to fight at the moment, ordered the retreat, while the French commander, flush with victory, prepared to tell Europe what a tactical genius he was!
