Early Swiss 1300 to 1500

by RJM (Robert McCloskey)

This army list depicts the early Swiss Confederation which was made up of 13 Cantons which pulled together to keep themselves free from outside invasion by the Austrians and then Burgandy. The Early Swiss were mainly a defensive army and fought from heavy cover within their own territory. If caught in the open, their lack of significant cavalry would often leave them at a disadvantage. The Swiss were a well drilled and highly spirited ,fast, heavy terrain infantry army. To represent this the following special rules will be used.

1. Roll one D3 for number of rough terrain pieces to be deployed on the Swiss player's table side. These pieces replace those the Swiss player would normally deploy.
   
2. The Swiss Army treats all terrain as one difficulty level less then normal. i.e. normal woods are treated as open terrain for movement purposes but units may not march move. Swiss may still count plus one rank bonus while in Woods or rough terrain. (Think of wood elves in fantasy battle.) Impassable terrain is still impassable.
   
3. Swiss pike fight in a phalanx and use the Alexander Macedonian phalanx rules. However, drilled Swiss pike units use the drilled rules over the phalanx rules wherever they conflict. This reflects the well deserved reputation of the highly maneuverable Swiss pike unit. Note that pike in the woods still count +1 bonus to ranks, but do not get the phalanx rules while in the woods, and they can only fight with 1 rank. (They could move quickly, but a pike is still 15-20 feet long.)
   
4. Impetuous.
   A. Infantry: The Swiss were very highly spirited army and could sometimes be hard to control when winning. To reflect this landwehr and landsturm troops cannot take the leadership test to avoid pursuing a fleeing enemy. Auszug troops may test as normal to avoid pursuing a fleeing enemy.
   B. Cavalry: The Lorrainer Cavalry have both the ferocious charge special ability and suffer from impetuousness as follows. Roll a d6 at the beginning of the Swiss movement turn. On a roll of 1the unit will charge the nearest enemy or at least move a full normal move towards the closest enemy unit.
   
5. Halberds may be used in one of two different manners. 1) As per the normal halberd rules in the WAB rule book, 1 rank at strength 4. 2) As a spear with 2 ranks able to attack while defending or 2nd round of combat. Note: The whole unit must fight the same way, you can not have the front rank use S4 and back as spear as the front rank would be in the way with the heavy swings the S4 represents over the stabbing the spear rules reflect. You may choose which option to use at the beginning of each hand to hand phase. Do to this versatility the weapon cost three points. (2 for halberd +1 for spear = 3).
   
6. Halberd units may fight in two formations:
   A. Wedge formation. This is just like the Britonian wedge formation in fantasy battle, with only the outside figures able to flight. Those in the center may not fight but count towards rank bonus.
   B. Block formation. This is the regular formation most troops use, but while in this formation, the halberdiers may expand their frontage or outflank the enemy buy up to four models even if they lost the combat for this round. (This represents the rear ranks and edges of the halberdiers swarming arround the enemy even if the center was folding in. This tendancy turned the tide of battle in more then one case. Break tests are still taken as normal.)
   
7. Handgunners may fire full unit every other turn, or 1/2 unit each turn.

ARMY COMPOSITION

CHARACTERS:

0-1 General.........................165 points

Equipment: Sword, Heavy armor, pike or halberd.

Special Rules: Drilled, stubborn.

Hero.........................80 points

Equipment: Sword, heavy armor, Pike or halberd.

Special Rules: Drilled, stubborn.

0-1 Lorrainer Hero.........................85 points

Equipment: Sword, heavy armor, Shield, warhorse. May have lance +2, barding +4.

Special Rules: Ferocious charge, impetuous.

0-1 Army Standard.........................75 points

Equipment: Sword, heavy armor, Pike or halberd.

Special Rules: Drilled, stubborn.

Officer.........................60 points

Equipment: sword, heavy armor, Pike or halberd

Special Rules: Drilled, stubborn

CAVALRY

Lorrainer Cavalry.........................35 pts.
0-1 (1 per 2000 pts or part thereof)

Equipment: Sword, war horse,shield, Lance,light armor. May have heavy armor +2, barding+4.

Special Rules: Ferocious charge.

Light Cavalry.........................18 pts.

Equipment: Horse, sword, crossbow, light armor.

Special Rules: Fast cavalry. May skirmish.

INFANTRY

PIKEMEN

Equipment: Pike,sword. Landwehr and Auszug may have lt armor +2 or heavy armor +3. Landsturm may have lt armor +2.

HALBERDIERS

Special rules above.

Equipment: Halberd, sword. Landwehr and Auszug may have light armor +2 or heavy armor +3. Landsturm may have light armor +2.

CROSSBOWMEN
Light Troops

Equipment: X-bow,sword. Landwehr and Auszug may have lt armor +2 or heavy armor +3. Landsturm may have lt armor +2. 1 unit may have 2 handed swords +2 Every 2nd unit may have pavis +2.

HANDGUNNERS
Light Troops

Equipment: Handgun,sword. Landwehr and Auszug may have lt armor +2 or heavy armor +3. Landsturm may have lt armor +2. Every 2nd unit may have pavis +2.

CANNON.........................75 pts.
1/750 pts.

The cannon has three crew members.

Uses normal WHFB Empire cannon rules.

MASTER GUNNER.........................25 pts.
0-1 per 2000 pts.

Master gunner allows 1 reroll of the missfire dice per turn on any cannon in battery he is placed in. 2nd roll always stands even if a worse result.

NOTES:

Primary sources: Osprey: The Swiss, and DBM Army Book 4.

This list is Early Swiss who were heavy terrain fighters. Later Swiss developed open field combat vs the Landsknechts but this is durring the renaissance period and so not represented by this army list as it is outside the W. A. B. game system. I have left out square rules on purpose. This tactic is extreemly powerful and is currently outside the bounds of WAB. THe points increase needed would not allow you to field a typical force. A square would allow crossbow and handgunners to be placed outside the square and the fire and retreat ability as they shoot and retreat to rally automatically in the center of the square.

The other issue is mixed pike/halberd units with the habardiers cutting down any enemy that get under the pikes. This is just not worth all the special rules and complexity needed to play it in WAB

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