Field of Glory II: Medieval - Three AARs showing the transition to early modern warfare
Introduction
My usual wargaming groups have been playing quite a bit of Field of Glory 2: Medieval ("FOG2:M"), to my delight, and it has come a long way since release. Like its Ancients counterpart, subsequent DLC releases have taken us through epochs in the loose time period it is meant to be covering, and the game has now gone gold with the release of its final two DLCs that take us up to the edge of the Early Modern Era.
Generally, our group prefers the army lists from the late middle ages (Hundred Years War or so, for us) onwards. Armies tend to take on a more 'national' character and have distinct modes of warfare that make the battles a bit more interesting. It's also from a military history perspective, and I know I'm straying into dangerous terrain for an amateur here, far more interesting. It's a time of rapid development and usurpation of prevailing military thought. There are obviously examples of upsets over the de mode knightly order from much earlier, but it isn't really until the 15th century that this method of thinking is consistently, offensively challenged.
So here's a series of PBEMs I played where I noticed from the word "go" I could show some of the key changes occurring in how battles were fought and won. I'll focus on three themes, pointing out one in each AAR.
The first is the rise of flexible, determined infantry. As mentioned, there are ample examples of infantry overcoming the mounted warrior in the middle ages but rarely in circumstances where they could go offensive or had not prepared the field beforehand. By the 15th century the rise of the Swiss - and their imitators - had changed this. Infantry could be capable of shock action, giving a commander an indelible advantage: they could hold terrain seized.
The second is the proliferation of gunpowder. Artillery is not new to the battlefield by the 15th century, but it is increasingly finding itself to be of greater quality of metallurgy, in effective carriage and, crucially, manned by professional (or at the very least, habitual) crews. Handguns and arquebuses are also beginning to proliferate, complementing the longbow and crossbow which had become the vogue in the late 14th century. With increasing fire came the ability to facilitate bolder manoeuvres, rendering by concentration of fire what would have been in earlier battles indomitable key terrain hazardous to occupy in great strength.
Finally, the rise of soldiering as a profession, and the return to standing armies had an increasingly profound impact on war. Naturally, professional soldiers was not a new or novel concept by the 15th century. Paid, organised non-combatants however, was certainly something new. The rise of engineer corps, artillery corps, professional field kitchens, wagon trains manned less by press-ganged civilians, and all provided with ostensibly predictable pay rather than plunder, is something to note. I don't propose to say what is effectively a digital tabletop game captures all of this, but it certainly hints at what tactical impact these could have.
1. Flexible, determined infantry
The first demonstration comes from an Italian Wars match up with "eeeeeeee", a frequent opponent of mine. He is an alliance of the Papal States and Genoa, a solid pairing that has much of the same strengths of my own list, France. Both sides have access to a combined arms team, with the Italians getting a slight advantage in light cavalry but a slight qualitative disadvantage in line cavalry.
The late French list is simply delightful. France's star is militarily on the rise throughout this period - not without severe reverses, mind you - and the French Army as we now understand it is in its infancy with a series of organisational reforms. Not quite a standing army in my view, but a far cry from a levy. Splendidly mounted gendarmes, alongside a dependable corps of Swiss mercenaries, artillery and longbowmen. It is a winning combination, particularly with access to the Swiss, which I make my focus in this battle.
My opponent arranges himself quite unconventionally, with large gaps between his battles. I am more conventionally organised, with my main battle consisting of my Gendarmes and supporting handgunners, a formation of French pikemen (who are considered "raw"), polearms and crossbowmen in reserve. My left battle consists of longbows and my right are Swiss in a square, supported by a cloud of skirmishers armed alternatively with guns and crossbows.
My plan is based on two considerations. The first is my intention to punish the risque deployment of my opponent by exploiting the unnecessarily large gap between his centre and left. The second is to spare my infantry the negative attention of his cannons arrayed on a hill behind his central battle, and in moving obliquely to my right this will also be accomplished. My men will be out of range for most of the movement to contact.
Further, in moving two thirds of my army and hurling them against the the enemy's left, I would be opening what appears to be a gap in my own line, potentially baiting an impetuous assault. It's a deception, however, as I have an actionable reserve. The oblique and echeloned movement would also minimise the threat to my central cavalry being outflanked. This type of aggressive and complicated movement is only really made possible by determined, well-drilled foot able to move swiftly. The Swiss, set as "determined foot" in the game rules can advance 3 squares in ideal circumstances, and are incredibly agile for being massive squares of pike-armed infantry.
My opponent is experienced and knows all this, and instead of obligingly attempting to attack in a fundamentally flawed formation, they take steps to rectify their deployment errors.
Pushing out his mounted crossbowmen in an attempt to cover this evolution, my own swarm of handgunners and arquebusiers push them back as the Swiss press forwards towards the cavalry at their blistering pace. Despite the tempo of my advance, he is able to link arms with his centre and left battles, but at this point the initiative is firmly in my favour.
Knowing I have the qualitative edge, the first rank of my gendarmes charge their counterparts, confident that their flanks can be secured by my ample reserves. Simultaneously, the Swiss on the right flank begin to wheel to the left, and the enemy cavalry finds itself pressed between my pikes and my lances. It isn't long until a massive dent and bulge is bludgeoned in my opponent's left flank.
It isn't long until the enemy's left flank is broken by subsequent charges, his cavalry routed and pursued off the field.
Understanding his left is a write off, my opponent gambles with an attempted fall back of the parts of his centre not engaged. At the same time, the expected assault on my left develops, and the longbowmen that make up my left battle hold with difficulty.
My reserve battle, still unengaged, is now able to attack the flank of his refused line. The French pikemen won't be any match for their Italian counterparts on their own, but merely assisting the Swiss and nipping at the periphery is well within their capabilities.
Soon enough a general assault has begun on my opponent's centre. Much of my cavalry has finally ceased their pursuit of broken enemy units and are able to make effective charges of opportunity in the gaps between my own units.
Soon a general melee breaks out across the entire front, and the decisive moment of the battle arrives.
Despite some success against my left, the enemy is outmached now both quantitively and qualitatively. The melee is short and sharp. The enemy's line crumbles.
2. Proliferation of gunpowder
The second demonstration arose quite organically when the potluck terrain gave me ideal positions for artillery. Once again an early Italian Wars matchup with myself as France and Mishrae, my opponent, as Venice - another powerhouse list.
With two hills in the centre of my line, I am able to amass all of my potentially available bombards and cannons, dominating the field. It would create a formidable defensive position, but I had no intention of remaining defensive. My wings are strongly reinforced, my right battle consisting once again of a column of the Swiss, and my left consisting of the Gendarmes and their supporting handgunners. My centre is held, thinly and without reserves, by longbowmen. I slightly overlapped the enemy on my left, giving impetus to my plan to strongly threaten his flanks and goad some forward movement into the artillery kill zone in an attempt to break my thin centre.
Mishrae is deployed in a fairly conventional formation with his own gendarmes forming an ultimate reserve. The right of his line is held by his own Swiss mercenaries, as much a mortal threat to my line as mine are to his. He advances in lockstep forward. Naturally, the deep columns of his Swiss pikes are targeted mercilessly by the artillery. Historically, the rising prevalence of reliable firearms in the later stages of the Italian Wars would decimate the Swiss and do much to dampen their almost mythic reputation - light artillery and rapid firing missile troops are some of their only weaknesses in game.
Back to the battle. My opponent does something strange. His left battle, consisting of regular pikemen, some polearm infantry and assorted medium foot, begin trying to wrap around my right flank. This is in spite of the large patch of rough ground that will break up their advance and delay it considerably. A gap inevitably opens up, and my own Swiss are hurled forward into it. I was confident that the majority of the force could squeeze through the gap before the mistake was realised and rectified.
On the left, the mounted handgunners screen the move past my enemy's left flank by galloping right up to the enemy infantry and pouring fire into them, in a form of proto-caracole.
All the while, the Venetian Swiss mercenaries continue to suffer from the attentions of my massed artillery, goading them to make a move of any form.
Sure enough my opponent, understandably eager to get to grips with my own units and out of the withering fire, begins to throw their formation to the wind. Units move forward or turn sharply to attack whatever French unit is nearest them, often with disastrous results. In the extreme, some heavy venetian infantry bravely advance into the rushing French gendarmes and are trampled for their troubles. Panic spreads.
Sensing a mortal threat, Mishrae deploys his cavalry reserve to try and delay or halt their French counterparts.
The situation develops into something I have legitimately never witnessed before in Field of Glory - a true envelopment. My own Swiss push right past the venetian guns, striking at the rear of the enemy's refused line. While a large swathe of enemy infantry remains outside the pocket, held at bay by cannonry, light infantry and a single brave unit of longbowmen, a significant portion of the Venetian army feel the jaws close around it. Soon the French longbowmen raise stakes, leave their bows where they lay, and press forward to tighten the noose as infantrymen.
What could have been a bitter melee in the crush is instead a rout as Venetian units begin to panic in a domino-effect. The units only boil briefly in the cauldron before they break. Mishrae's left battle take the crest of one hill and even get to grips with some of the bombards, but it is too little too late. The battle ends.
The enemy enjoyed a significant advantage in infantry numbers but firepower allowed me to dictate manoeuvre. This was the palaeolithic origins of fire and manoeuvre, and it is not unsurprising that the Spanish colunela's, an early form of pike and shot, began to appear on the battlefield not long after the end of the game's timeline.
3. Standing Armies
The final AAR of this trifecta is against another habitual opponent of mine, Sulomon. This time, I am playing as the Ottomans against their Kingdom of Naples. The Ottomans in the 15th century are one of the most modern army lists in the game, right alongside the Italian and French lists. By this period they had perfected their tactics of artillery and infantry holding a firm centre while divisions of well-organised cavalry menace the flanks.
What made the Ottoman system so inexorable at this period was less their force of arms than their administration of arms. The army was built around a standing corps of infantry (the Janissaries) and cavalry, but also included organised non-combatants and what we would now often call combat service support. What would have been adhoc batmen and camp followers in other armies of the day were in the Ottoman force often paid, organised forces meant to feed, clothe and fortify the army. The rise of dedicated artillerymen and engineers was a pair of feathers in the Ottoman's cap.
In game, this translates to the ability to construct fortifications in open battle, presenting a dilemma for any would-be opponent: attack the flexible, high-quality Ottoman cavalry that swarm around the flanks, or assault right into the teeth of artillery and archery (and/or arquebus fire) only to, ultimately, contend with infantry defending an earthen bank.
My opponent, clearly realising neither of these two options are favourable, attempts instead to march around my right flank. It falls apart quickly as the Neapolitan force becomes strung out, its rear guard pinned by irregular infantry and cavalry. Sulomon's artillery finds itself less than best protected in the resulting confusion and begins to take excessive casualties from my skirmishers' fire.
It is not long until discipline breaks under the harassing fire and enemy units begin to find themselves isolated and in distress.
Nevertheless the enemy's vanguard stubbornly continues to march around my right flank. It's a risk as this flank is strongly anchored on poor terrain and a steep, difficult hill. My horse move out to delay and attrit the enemy and encourage them to try and thread the needle between fortification and hill instead.
A tit-for-tat now occurs. Sulomon's gendarmes are swept away by my own Sipahis, but my cavalry are in turn repelled by massed crossbowmen that follow up behind. This allows their heavy infantry to attempt to finally get to grips with the extreme right flank of my revetments. As hoped for, however, they take the shortest route between hill and revetment and find themselves under withering fire from both positions.
This allows time for my cavalry to regroup and, in good order, the remaining horse reform in the gap.
The bombards and infantry finally make their presence felt in the battle as the enemy heavy cavalry, chasing evading horse, are brought within range of the fortifications.
The enemy's flank now finds itself in a crush, taking fire from two sides and menaced by cavalry. The cohesion of units begins to waver, allowing charges of opportunity. Soon enough, following a sharp melee, the enemy breaks and the battle ends.
Conclusion
Three entertaining battles showcasing, I think, just how radically different the gameplay is in later army lists. I think the change is a lot more dramatic, personally, than the differences in army lists in Ancients.
In all three battles, the prevalence of artillery that could pound idle groups of heavy horse and infantry, the growing amount of offensively-capable infantry and the growing numbers of manoeuvrable and disciplined cavalry make the game begin to feel a lot more like the earlier Pike and Shot game from this developer. Units that are starting to show their age, like the man-at-arms, could continue to prove dangerous as shown in my first two battles, if integrated into a combined arms team and amply supported by artillery.
The 14th and 15th centuries was a time of incremental but considerable change in how wars were waged and won on the Continent, and FOG2:M does an excellent job showing that change.
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