French Cavalry- Beneath the Lily Banners

The last few years have seen many a refurbishment of old figures to reflect my current enthusiasms.  These French cavalry were painted quite recently and so only needed re-basing to Beneath the Lily Banners specification.   

BLB is very accommodating of various basing convention so I opted rather than needed to re-base.   All the same I’m pleases with the result.  Most of my French cavalry regiments can deploy in two squadrons as they often did in reality. Here they are so far.  All from Irregular Miniatures.

 

A squadron of the Colonel-General Regiment above.

The Royal Cavalerie Regiment in two squadrons.

La Reine Cavalerie.

Two squadrons again.

Last, but not least, a single squadron of the Orléans Cavalerie.

I still have 2 or 3 regiments of the Gendarmerie de France to do from scratch.  Probably I’ll do two for starters.

I need to re-base my French Dragoons too and paint their horses for dismounted action.  The dismounted dragoons and their horse holders are done.

As you likely know I like Irregular Miniatures figures for this period.  Ian there offers an Army Deal 100 figures for £34.00.  That's a solid saving on the normal retail price.

ln BLB terms that would give you Command, 2 squadrons of cavalry, a gun and crew and 4x 16 figure regiments of foot.   Enough to get started should you feel League of Augsburg inclined. 

There are national/Alliance options to suit.  Worth a look.

French Infantry – Beneath the Lily Banners

My decision to re-base my League of Augsburg French Army for Beneath the Lily Banners has meant some additional painting.  Six new figures for every battalion.  Also, I couldn’t resist adding 2 new battalions for the French Irish Brigade.   

A common enough experience I think. Lots to do so why not add more.

Anyhow here is the first tranche.  The splendid flags are mostly from David at Not by Appointment. I think they make the units come life.  There's a link in the sidebar.

The Navarre Regiment, I really want to add a second battalion of these fellows.

The Royal Italien Infanterie.

 The Clare Irish Regiment.

 

The Duke of Berwick's Irish Regiment.  Am I certain Berwick's had green facings?  No, consider it artistic license.

Regiment Tournaiss.

German Regiment Greder, there was a Swiss one too.  In a era not starved of colourful uniforms Greder still stands out.

All of the above have a separate base of pike men, not shown, for the earlier part of the period.

I have another 5 battalions that I will show you shortly. Before that we will see the French Heavy Cavalry.

Aztec stuff is progressing well, expect more soonish.

An Aztec game

 

The first draft of my Aztec Game is now done.  Wounds and different coloured dice proved to be the way in.  

I use a single colour dice for all Spanish troops and dice of two contrasting colours for all Amerindian units.  The contrast indicating elite or ordinary warriors. 

As an example, a unit of 16 Tlaxcalans gets 8 red dice for its front rank elite warriors and 8 white dice for its archers. Yellow and blue dice for the Aztecs. Easy enough to remember.

How does it work? Wounds and kills reduce a units fighting dice allocation. Armour helps prevent loss. Killing horses or riders and taking prisoners generate extra dice.  It is a simple enough system.

What’s it like?  Well Spanish cavalry are deadly but have to take care.  You can use them in realistically small numbers too.

The units follow what we know.  A sprinkle of missile troops with the swordsmen for the Spanish.  I’ve simplified the Aztec units into two rank affairs, front elite, the back not. Each Aztec unit is also accompanied by a small number of non close fighting skirmishers.  Should you wish, more complex options would also work.

Prisoner taking is done and dusted to my satisfaction.  It has consequences for both sides. Losing your heart after a dance isn’t a metaphor in this game.

It is a card driven game, with a special card each for Aztecs, Tlaxcalans and Spanish.  There is no figure removal and D6 are used throughout.  Any basing system will work.

In short, I’m pleased.   

Let me take you through two combat match ups and you can see what you think.

Three Spanish cavalry figures attack a 16 figure Aztec unit. One Spaniard hangs back in case a rescue is needed.  As the Spanish charge in, the Aztec front rank uses it’s Atl-Atl. One of the cavalry men is wounded but both charge home. The Aztec officer is killed and, in the furious fighting, so is a Spanish horse. The third rider swoops in and rescues his dismounted comrade.

The Aztecs lose 2 dice for their killed commander but gain 1 dice for killing the horse.  They have also used one of their two Atl-Atl shots.  The rescued Spaniard is dropped off with nearest Spanish infantry unit which consequently gains an extra dice. He has now become an infantryman.

Does this sound like Bernal's account?  Pretty much.

Both units are still in the game.  The Spanish feel they have been unlucky - which they were. Two out of three times they would have killed and retired intact.  It could have been worse, had they lost both horse and rider the Aztecs would have come off best.

Here is another one match up.

A unit of Aztec Priests sets out to tackle a unit of Tlaxcalans.  Half the Tlaxcalans are archers and they shoot up the Aztecs.  The elite front rank Aztecs are protected by their armour (Saving throws can apply) but some of the second rank are wounded.  The Aztec units lose a dice and continue to advance.

At close range the Aztecs are shot up again.  This time with both arrows and Atl-Atl (More deadly) from the front rank Tlaxcalan elite warriors. The Aztecs lose another 4 dice.  Their own Atl-Atl inflict a loss of two dice.

The Tlaxcalans now fight at a disadvantage.  Only their front rank is equipped and trained for close combat.  Outnumbered, they get the worse of it and are pushed back losing a prisoner in the process.

The Tlaxcalans began with 8 elite combat dice and now have only 2.  The archers still have all their 8 dice. The unit now needs to avoid close combat.

The Aztec Priests began with 8 elite combat dice and 8 other dice. They lost 4 elite and 1 other dice to missiles and combat. Now they have 7 other dice and 6 elite combat dice having gained 2 such dice for capturing a prisoner.

Both units are still in the game.  The remaining elite warriors of both units only have one Atl-Atl shot left.

That is where I have got to and I still don't have a title.  Should you have wondered, 5 sides of A4 so far. 

Early days then, but not without promise.

As to the toys, my Minifig's Aztecs are decades old and could do with a refurbishment.  I have a newer contingent from Naismith and Gladiator.  These two happily are very compatible with each other. I'll have some pic's for our next Aztec outing.

Why The Aztecs Lost

Why did the Aztecs lose?  The short answer is encapsulated in Jared Diamond’s pithy phrase Guns, Germs and Steel.  There was more to it than that. Above Tenochtitlan, the Spanish had seen nothing like it.

Let me begin by saying Cortez never faced the full strength of the Aztec Empire.  Had he done so he would have ended up stretched on the altar stone of the Great Temple.  That he did not is down to a number of factors, all of them Aztec related.

The Aztecs were not popular with their neighbours and didn’t see any need to be.  Consequently, when Cortez arrived, he was able to recruit whole armies of non- Aztecs.  All of them fully committed to destroying the Aztec State. 

Moctezuma (pictured above and below) equivocated on how to deal with the Spanish.  He tried bribery, he tried proxy war, he probably intended treachery.  We should understand that he would have been fully briefed on the Spanish, their conduct and intentions. 

Did he think they were returning gods?  I doubt it. The correct response would have been to mobilise everything he had and march on them.  This he failed to do.

Fatally, he allowed Cortez into Tenochtitlan with his whole army. It may be that he thought they would be easier destroyed there.  Indeed, when it came to it the Spanish did have a very hard time fighting in Tenochtitlan. They were driven out with heavy casualties.  By then it didn’t matter to Moctezuma for he was dead.

There were consequences to Moctezuma decision.

First the Spanish immediately took him prisoner rendering him a puppet Emperor.

Second deadly disease entered the city.

Third the Spanish took the occasion of a festival dance to mass murder most of the unarmed Aztec officer class.

Fourth the Spanish found out that the Aztecs were rich beyond dreams of avarice.  Gold rich, that is.  Spanish motivation, never lacking, abounded.

Moctezuma was killed during a riot either by the Spanish or his own people.  Once he was gone the Aztecs rose against the Spanish.  Let us now consider how they stood.

They needed a new Emperor and got one, Cuitláhuac, unfortunately he was already infected with small pox. He reigned a short time and died.  Before doing so he presumably set the resistance in motion. The Aztecs were to have a succession problem.

His successor was Cuauhtemoc a thoroughly able man. Today he is a Mexican national hero. Moctezuma by comparison seems mainly to be associated with stomach disorders.  

The Aztec military assembled.  Most of its leadership was dead. All ranks were sick or shortly to be so. Key allies decided to sit it out.  It was not the army Moctezuma had inherited.

These disadvantages notwithstanding the Aztecs walloped the Spanish and their allies. The Spanish called their retreat from Tenochtitlan the Night of Sorrows.  The slaughter was considerable.

The Spanish and their allies would be back.  The Aztecs simply lacked the strength to finish the job. Try as they might.   They had lost too many men and were losing more by the day.  Once they had boasted that they let Tlaxcala survive purely as a source of war prisoners for sacrifice. Tlaxcala endures yet.

Tenochtitlan fell after a most valiant defence. It was mainly destroyed in the process.  There is much to the Guns, Germs and Steel argument, especially if you add horses.  Even so, it is not hard to envisage how different decisions by Moctezuma could have produced other results.

For a moment let us imagine an early decisive Aztec victory. Fought outside of Tenochtitlan by a full strength Aztec Army. The Spanish dead or captured. Their Tlaxcala allies chastened in defeat and now ravaged by disease.  Perhaps too, civil war, for there was an anti-Spanish faction.

Disease, given Aztec prisoner practice, would have come to Tenochtitlan.  So though would have steel weapons, crossbows, metal armour and horses.   

Less centralised polities than the Aztecs managed to do an awful lot with those things.  

The last image on this page is by Diego Rivera.  If you don't know his work, check it out.  There is much to enjoy.