Men Of Iron: Arquebus - The Battle For Northern Italy 1495-1544

Northern Italy - and especially Milan - at the end of the 15th century was the brutal focal point for power and control between France and the Imperialist empires of Venice and Spain. And the battles fought for this prize are a record of the changing face of how war was fought. At the start of the `war`, the main forces were mounted men-at-arms and a tightly packed and closed formation of pike, especially as represented by the Swiss. But, as battle churned into battle, that slowly changed. Firepower, in the form of the arquebus (an early musket) became increasingly prevalent and dominant, forcing the closed pike formations to open up, as the Spanish did (with sword and buckler), and the reliance on heavily mounted cavalry to decrease. Using the popular Men of Iron mechanics, Arquebus covers eight major battles in this Renaissance in Warfare: Fornovo, Cerignola, Agnadello, Ravenna, Marignano, Bicocca, Pavia, and Ceresole.