The Battle of the Spurs - The Pikemans Lament (modified)

It has been over a month since our last Renaissance game at the club. As many of us are busy rounding out our collections in preparation for Pavia this December, it’s been far too long without returning to the battlefields of early 16th-century Europe.

The Italian Wars (1494-1559) are a period of shifting alliances, feuds, and rivalries. The constant clashes of egos and political manoeuvring make it hard to keep track of the various players involved. Though most of the major battles occurred in northern Italy, the conflict spread across Europe. One of the most notable episodes was the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516), which saw nearly every major Western European kingdom involved, including England.

Why England Was Involved

In the second phase of the war, King Henry VIII of England entered the fray. His involvement, particularly in a war focused on the balance of power in northern Italy, might seem strange at first glance. However, the context of his involvement is rooted in Italy's fragile political state. Following the French capture of Milan in 1504, Italy reached a rough equilibrium: France and Venice dominated the north, Aragon held the south, and the Papal States separated the two.

Portrait of King Henry VIII after Hans Holbein the Younger

Pope Julius II, upon taking power in 1503, quickly moved to confiscate lands from the Borgia family. This led to a series of conflicts, including the rise of Venetian power along the Adriatic coast. Tensions escalated further when Louis XII of France was angered by the lack of consultation over peace talks, eventually leading to the formation of the League of Cambrai (1508). This alliance, composed of the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, was designed to curb Venetian power in Italy. However, in the second phase saw the formation of the Holy league pitting Julius against Louis.

England Joins the Fray

Henry VIII’s involvement stemmed from both political and dynastic motivations. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand, provided a convenient basis for him to claim France's territories. With French forces stretched thin across Piedmont and Gascony, Henry seized the opportunity in 1513 to press his claim to the French throne.

Henry mustered a force of 30,000 to 40,000 men, landing at Calais and advancing south. After a difficult siege at the town of Thérouanne, the French cavalry, under Jacques de La Palice, launched a feint attack, trying to relieve the besieged town and supply its garrison.

The Battle of the Spurs

The battle of the Spurs (1513) is often overshadowed by larger engagements in the Italian Wars and by England’s victory at Flodden that same year. Yet it remains a fascinating example of the period’s siege tactics and heavy cavalry manoeuvres. I thought this would be an exciting scenario to wargame. Rather than using massed rank-and-file systems, I opted for a skirmish-based system to better reflect the nature of the battle.

While I initially considered using Lion Rampant, I ultimately decided on The Pikeman's Lament, despite the battle being a century earlier than the game’s typical setting, the unit selection provides the right feel for the period and the way terrain interacts leads to some interesting tactical decisions. The rules already accounted for most of the units used during the Italian Wars, but I made a few minor adjustments to unit profiles, including tweaks for longbowmen and stradiots.

The Game and Battle Report

The scenario involved four forces, each comprised of a 24 point Pikemans Lament company:

• English under Henry VIII - A mixture of cavalry types with some longbow, billmen and one of Henry’s prized organ guns

• Burgundians under Maximilian I - A typical landsknecht force of pike, skirmishers, forlorn hope and Gendarmes

• French relief under Jacques de La Palice - A force comprised of mostly heavy cavalry with one unit of stradiots.

•  French garrison under Antoine de Créquy - A mixture of pike, skirmishers and a small cannon

The game started slowly with the Anglo-Imperials holding their siege lines. The Zweihand wielding forlorn hope did move towards the French relief to occupy a farmstead. The French garrison formed a solid pike block screened by skirmishers and advanced towards the siege lines while being peppered by arrows from the longbowmen.

Maximilian viewed the garrisons advance as the biggest threat and the Burgundian Gendarmes charged towards the town as the landsknecht missile troops also headed from beyond the siege lines to engage and slow the sallying garrison. The French heavy cavalry suddenly stirred into action making a beeline towards the centre of the Anglo-Imperial forces while the stradiots tried to sneak around the farmstead. Seeing this ruse Henry’s Yeoman of the guard moved to intercept them and the stradiots pulled back behind the French gentlemen to avoid taking casualties from the longbow fire.

Maximilian charged into the approaching garrison taking casualties from the incoming crossbow and arquebus fire however driving off some of the skirmishing troops. The French cannon fire wiped out a unit of landsknecht arquebusiers and the longbowmen succeed in driving back some of the wily adventurers. Maximilian ended up charged by the French pike, and only just survived the encounter, being forced into retreat. At this point it looked like the French pike would be over running the siege lines within a turn or two.

The zealous French relief force charged towards the yeoman who failed to evade. However, despite taking heavy casualties fell back in good order from the engagement. Henry’s gentlemen pensioners met the advancing gendarmerie head on, however they were soon overwhelmed, with Henry himself ending up alone. For a moment it looked like England would likely be without a king, however costly counter charges from the billmen and landsknechts blunted most of the knights elan and Jacque de la Palice fell to the zweihanders. 

The stradiots searched for the path of least resistance to be met by the English border horse, who they quickly wiped out with their combined javelin and sabre attack. The ordinance archers barrelled into the siege lines following the death of knightly superiors and succeeded in driving back the billmen and defeating the English King. The English army was severely battered however the English longbow turned around to remind the French heavy cavalry what the word archer means leaving the stradiots as the last unit of the relief force.

The French pike continued bearing down on the siege lines routing their landsknecht adversaries. The cavalry’s distraction of the longbowmen allowed the pikemen to charge, however the dug in longbowmen turned the pikes away. That said, the longbowmen where ultimately driven off their defensive line by the surviving adventurers. 

After struggling to fire for most of the game the English organ gun opened fire on the pike squares causing one to waver, however they soon rallied and where once again bearing down on the thread bare siege lines. In spite of this, following their dispatching the French grand master, the Zweihanders had returned to the siege lines and drove the remaining French pike back, routing their commander in the process. 

The stradiots, being the only unbloodied unit left on the table suddenly gained a deal of confidence and moved to occupy the bridge, throwing their javelins with abandon hoping to disorder or rout the surviving Anglo-Imperials. Some of the surviving landsknechts charged the bridge but were driven off by a hail of javelins. At this moment the longbowmen recovered from their retreat and were soon drawn up within range of it. Soon the stradiots where being peppered with bodkin points until they routed off the table.

In the end, the Anglo-Imperial forces emerged victorious, though at significant cost. King Henry had fallen, and Maximilian barely survived. Despite this, the victory has allowed the capture of Thérouanne.

Aftermath

The victory at Guinegate in 1513 set the stage for the fall of Thérouanne and further English victories in the region. This combined with the fall of Navarre, Milan and Dijon meant France had all but lost the war. However, the alliance soon began to dissolve. Ferdinand of Aragon lost interest having captured Navarre, Maximilian squabbled with Venice over territory and Pope Julius had died of fever. Ultimately, bankrupt and with dwindling support of his allies Henry returned his army to England.

Henry and Louis XII of France signed a peace treaty in 1514, solidified by a marriage between Henry’s sister and the French king. Unfortunately, the aged Louis found the marriage to the young Mary over exerting and died on the 1st January 1515. His successor, Francis I, would go on to win the war at Marignano later that year, finally bringing peace to Italy after eight years of war, well for the next five years at least.

Conclusion

This was a fantastic game and played like a rollercoaster, every turn having a new game changing dice roll and no clear winner until the very end. The modified rules for The Pikeman’s Lament worked well with just a few tweaks. Thanks to all the players—Ian as Henry, John as Jacques de La Palice, Matthew as Maximilian, and Stephen as Antoine de Créquy—for making it a memorable event!