Battle of Pavia

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Rmarsden
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
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Battle of Pavia

Post by Rmarsden »

A French army has Pavia besieged, but a Spanish force arrives behind it.

Short Version = Blockade the city and engage whatever tries to come out, have your pikes hop on the other side of the wall to use it for cover. Await the Spanish. Overwhelm the left and right with your skirmishers and cavalry, focusing on the arquebusiers and light cavalry. Win the battle hardly engaging the main Spanish foot at all. Edit - (Fortifications only work 1 way, so the wall is of no use, but, still I'd stay by it!)

Long Version = In this battle, there is a suggestion to turn the French army about and take on the Spanish before those in the city of Pavia sally forth. Instead, I took a very different track. Mostly, because I was intimidated by the size of the Spanish army and was unsure how many units were hiding in Pavia.

The Spanish have seven or so pike units, are weak in cavalry and have many arquebusiers on their right. Their own, serious artillery, is isolated to a unit of heavy guns on their left, far too close to the French across a river.

My first act was to have my three arguolets ride up to the isolated Spanish artillery, surround and eliminate it. After that, my right flank was clear and the arguolets and crossbow skirmishers engaged the Spanish foot. One of my gendarmes assisted and lured a pike unit away, which amazingly had nearly half its numbers cuts down during the battle, and only disrupted at the end.

In the center I did nothing in regards to the main Spanish force, having my pike units hop behind the wall, so the city was at their back. My pike, for the most part, waited near my artillery, which turned to pepper the enemy when they eventually decided to attack.

I had one pike unit guard the bridge into Pavia (not noticing the other bridge!) When the enemy emerged I engaged them and defeated them within the city. That same unit left the city (too slow to move in it) and returned to the field to assist at the wall.

I had to use two pike units to engage the sally behind my left flank, not seeing the bridge at first, but routed the Pavian defenders quickly.

On my left the battle was won. The Spanish sent forth a large force of light cavalry and arquebusiers, I met it aggressively with many skirmishing crossbowmen, light cavalry and all but one gendarme heavy cavalry. Staggering my units, I had the farthest charge, and the enemy fled into the range of the next nearest cavalry. Or, they'd stay and I'd get them on the next turn. In this way I locked up many of the Spanish cavalry and arquebuisers, routing them in short order with few losses.

A few enemy units fled into my main line, and were shot to bits, and one of my gendarmes pursued too far and crashed into the Spanish infantry, but within a few short turns, the Spanish main force had not moved, all of its skirmishers were routed and the battle was at 1-3% to 29%. At this point, unless something went awry I was certain of a tremendous victory.

The Spanish lumbered into action, but became disjointed, with the Spanish right chasing my skirmishers about the woods on my far left. They routed two, but it took nearly the whole Spanish foot on their right to do it. On their left, a solitary Spanish pike was shot to pieces, and goaded into chasing a lone heavy cavalry unit.

The Spanish center arrived with four pike units, matched by four of my own, followed by a 5th that had dealt with Pavia in the rear. The battle was at 37% at this stage in my favor and the Spanish reached the artillery. My losses consisted of a few crossbowmen, a gendarme or two and one light cavalry unit.

My initial plan was to let the Spanish take the artillery then use the wall as cover to receive any charge afterward. But, with the battle so close to being over, I threw my men over the wall and engaged the Spanish pike overwhelming one of their units with the Swiss and a French pike in short order and actually saved one of my artillery units from destruction.

The battle ended at 10% to 43% with the Spanish army barely making it to the wall, their skirmishers getting routed, and Pavia's defenders being defeated. Had the Spanish infantry marched toward my line instantly, this would have been a much harder battle.
Last edited by Rmarsden on Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
rbodleyscott
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Re: Battle of Pavia

Post by rbodleyscott »

Incidentally field fortifications are only defensible from one side.
Richard Bodley Scott

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Rmarsden
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:05 am

Re: Battle of Pavia

Post by Rmarsden »

That would have been a surprise for me! Luckily the Spanish army arrived too little too late.
acarhj
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Re: Battle of Pavia

Post by acarhj »

I played this one twice last night. The first time, I took the computer's advice and took the fight to the Spanish. I was going to crush the Spanish right and work my way down the line but ended up stringing my army out in the process. It ended in my defeat when i capitulated before the battle ended.

The second time, I stayed near the wall. When the enemy sallied forth, I cut them down with a combination of musket/crossbow/artillery fire and won the melee at the wall with a loan pike unit. The rest of the army turned to face the oncoming Spainish. the Spanish attacked in piecemeal. In a lot of ways, the computer made the same mistakes that I did in my first battle. they divided their skirmishing arquibusers so I never faces more than half at once. The "Colonia" surprised me when I learned the hard way that they could melee horse. They put to route to Genrdarme units. On my right, I had moved over the Swiss and combined the rest of my pike into one battle. Some of them under-performed and routed quickly but the swish kept things in balance. The one of the routed Kiels rallied quickly, came back and decisively swung the melee on the right in my favor.

In both battles, I send light cavalry over the river to deal with the Spanish artillery harassing my position. Easy battle once you've figured out the correct course of action.
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