Italian War Battles
With the release of Many Enemies, Much Honour, we refought the Battle of La Motta. The scenario was taken from Rodolfo Maria Verginella’s Wargames Scenarios: The Italian Wars Battles.
The Battle of La Motta, also known as the Battle of Schio or the Battle of Vicenza, took place on October 7, 1513, during the War of the League of Cambrai, a conflict involving major European powers vying for dominance in Italy. The battle occurred near Vicenza in northern Italy and pitted the Republic of Venice against a coalition of forces led by the Spanish and the Holy Roman Empire, commanded by Ramón de Cardona and Emperor Maximilian I’s generals.
The Venetian forces, led by Bartolomeo d’Alviano, sought to defend their territories against the invading coalition. Despite Alviano’s tactical acumen and the resilience of his troops, the Venetians faced a numerically superior and better-coordinated enemy. The coalition forces executed a decisive assault, exploiting their advantage in cavalry and artillery. Venetian positions were overwhelmed, resulting in a catastrophic defeat for Venice.
To convert the OOB from the book, we used 15. Trastámaran Spain (League of Cambrai) with Landsknecht allies (Georg von Frundsberg). The Venetian army of Naldo da Brisighella uses 5. Republic of Venice.
The deployment followed the map in the book, and was pretty straightforward. We did use the option for the arrival of reinforcements of Baglioni to act as reinforcements.
The Spanish Army had a much better command and control with a professional army commander. The Landknechete are Mercernary allies, and as such can be hesitant, but once reliable can be gifted cards
After deployment, it did transpire that the Landsknects were hesitant. So, the Spanish right flank opposing the Cernide Militias was delayed. In fact, the Italian guns deployed on that flank did start to tell a toll on the uncommitted Landsknects.
The Spanish on the right advanced to force the situation and get away from the arrival point of the (potential) Venetian reinforcements. The Italian PIke are functional at best, so were not relishing the Spanish Colunellas.
The battle developed, while the Spanish were superior across the board, the pivotal moment occurred when the Landsknecthes suddenly decided to participate on the side of their Spanish paymasters. The Cernide foot while atop a hill, across a river, was a tempting target, a swift advance and the Germans (despite depletions from artillery) were storming up the hill.
The Colunellas had deployed their Mangas and were pouring fire on the poor Italian pike, who were forced to advance just to try and ‘stop getting shot’. The Venetian’s reinforcements were nowhere to be seen and the quality of the De Cordona’s forces were starting to tell. The Italian pike did make it into contact with the Spanish, but their loses to gunfire, was so great that their advantage of numbers counted for nothing. With the break of the Venetian pike the Italians broke.
The game ended in as much as a catastrophic defeat as it did in history!
The consequences were significant. Venice lost thousands of soldiers, and the coalition gained control over key Venetian territories in the region. The defeat temporarily weakened Venice’s standing in the Italian Wars. However, the Republic demonstrated remarkable resilience, regaining much of its lost ground in subsequent years. The Battle of La Motta highlighted the shifting alliances and intense rivalries that defined early 16th-century Italian geopolitics.