AOD is a 1:25 set of rules that covers the Renaissance, ECW, and 30YW era. The rules use a unique chart that handles morale, melee, and firing all from one chart with various modifiers. The rules do an outstanding job with handling the confusing nature of combat during this period, with units fleeing the battlefield for no apparent reason at times and fighting to the death at others! This is a very colorful and unusual period, which everyone should try at least once. For this game we used forces from the 1525 Pavia timeframe with a few minor tweaks to the army lists. The figures are all 15mm primarily from Essex, Venexia, and Old Glory, but there's the odd Tin Soldier and Minifigs units still around.AOD: Defended River Crossing
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French & Swiss Determined Attack
One of our favorite periods is the Renaissance and we love the Age of Discovery rules, so lately we've been doing more battles from this era. I had drawn up two army lists for the scenario, the other being forces from the French Wars of Religion. The group decided on an earlier period, so I pulled out the lists from 1525 and we got started. This was a scenario from the rules where a defender with a smaller force must prevent a larger force from crossing a fordable river. The defender also had to protect a baggage train trying to escape off of a road exit through a mountain pass at the end of the board. The French had the advantage in cavalry forces as well as a healthy number of Swiss units. The defender had a slight advantage in that the French units needed to find crossing points on the river, which broke up their large force and prevented them from overwhelming the Imperialist forces.
The battle was a desperate one, with the Swiss and German pike going toe to toe for several turns, but the large number of French light cavalry destroyed the Imperialist light forces, which allowed the French skirmishers to move about unhindered. The Imperialist heavy cavalry and the initial German pike charges almost carried the day, but in the end the higher quality Swiss units prevailed and the game was called as a French tactical victory. As with many battles of this period the trick is to keep your lower quality units from running away! Several times units of light cavalry, skirmishers, arquebus, etc., ran away after taking their first casualty, which makes trying to hold your battle plan together almost impossible. Overall, however, it was another fun, crazy game from this exciting and colorful period.
