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052.Brignais_Vil - Villani's version - WDS Age of Longbow Volume I

052.Brignais_Vil - Villani's version Image
Black Powder Ladder

052.Brignais_Vil - Villani's version

By Rich White
Side_A (ALB1) 0 - 0 - 0 Side_B (ALB1)
Rating: 0 (0)
Games Played: 0
SM: 1
Turns: 15
Type: Stock
First Side: Side_A (ALB1)
Second Side: Side_B (ALB1)
Date: 6 April 1362 - Size: Medium - Location: Brignais, Rhone Dept, Eastern France

Scenario Briefing: Villani's version - After the Treaty of Brétigny had been concluded between the English and French, a great many unemployed soldiers gathered together, upward of twelve thousand and including at least three or four thousand good men-at-arms. The French raised several armies to deal with these brigand forces. While Arnaud de Audrehem, the Marshal of France, assisted by the Spanish troops of Enrique of Trastámara, conducted a successful campaign against the companies of Perrin Boias, other French forces, led by Jacques de Bourbon, suffered a crushing defeat at Brignais.

There are two conflicting, accounts of this battle, one by Froissart in which the Tard Venus, or "Late Comers", companies took up a defensive position on the top of a hill with only the less well-armed troops visible to the French army below. They then threw stones at the advancing enemy, who attacked uphill against the mercenary bands. Once the French were engaged, the better equipped mercenaries launched a surprise flanking attack that seriously wounded the French leader, Jacques de Bourbon, and routed the French army. A less detailed alternative account, written by Matteo Villani, has the Tard Venus make a surprise pre-dawn attack on the French camp. It might be possible to reconcile the two conflicting accounts by having the Tard Venus launching a disruptive - but not decisive - nocturnal attack and then falling back to high ground where they were subsequently attacked by the French.

This is Villani's version of the battle involving a pre-dawn surprise attack on the French camp.

It is likely that the later famous John Hawkwood was not present at Brignais. Froissart's chronological account of the battle makes no mention of him, although his subsequent discussion of Hawkwood's career dated 1378 does specifically state that he was there. For this reason, although his company is included in the oob for a potential "What if" variant, it is not include in either of the scenarios.

Recommended Rules: [Default]

Note: Side A = French, Side B = Tard Venus mercenaries, including Gascon and English bands

Best played as the Tard Venus against the French A/I or else Head-to-Head.