Battle Report Battle of Nieuport 1600 using the Nieuport 1600 Vae Victis Rules Konstantinos Travlos Solitaire

Game The Spanish and the Dutch fight each other at Newport in 1600. Initial Dispositions: Dutch on the Left, Spaniards on the Right. Both sides had a lot of foreign elements. North is on the shore. From north to south for the Dutch De Vere, Temel (bringing the rear), Solms From North to South for the Spanish: Mendoza, Zapena, Bucqoy

The Spanish focused on defending in the North and breaking the Dutch flank in the south. Bucqoy ordered his wing forward to engage the wing of Solms. Zapena moved forward to attack the Dutch strong point were the artillery of Francis De Vere was situated. Mendoza held his ground. Solms moved forward as well against Bucqoy, while Temple slowly worked his way to the north.

Zapenas tercios are bogged down in front of the central dune, while Tempel and De Vere put immense pressure on Mendoza. Bucqoy and Solms gallantly fight each other.

After hard fighting the Dutch destroy Mendozas wing, killing the general as well. They then flank Zapena from the North (seashore) and kill him when they destroy his Tercio. In the south Solms gets the better of Bucqoy who tenaciously holds on. Just as it seems that the Spaniards will get surrounded, Velasos fresh wing arrives.

Velaso launches fanatical attacks on Tempels and De Veres wings almost eliminating Tempels wing. However, his own wing is spent. Solm continues the methodical destruction of Bocqoys wing, only leaving the battered Tercio standing. In the center the remaining tercio of Zapenas wing under Albert of Austria holds the line for the Spanish.

In the end the Spanish wings of Mendoza anf Bucqoy are shattered. Tw of Four tecios have been broken beyond repair. Velaso and Solms both have their forces largely intact. With Solms being the fresher. De Veres and Tempels wings have also been severely beaten. While the Dutch wing due to victory points (17 vs 7), I cannot see how any of the commanders can be happy. The Dutch have lost (KIA,MIA,WIA) about 3600 men out of an army of about 10000 troops. The Spanish lost a staggering 6500 out of about 11000 troops. More importantly the Spanish had lost one of their Spanish tercios, something that would be hard to replace. The Spanish were also mourning the loss of the capable Zapena, and of Mendoza. All in all a dark day for the Spanish Empire.

After Game Report: I played this game in solitaire. I decided to play both sides aggressively something that shows in the amount of losses. In reality I would expect the Spanish to retreat once they had lost a whole wing.

Rules wise I liked the activation system, and found the combat system ok to follow. Units have a lot of staying power, but once they start become disordered it is hard to bring them up to full strength without endangering the whole wing due to Rally orders. This makes historical sense I believe. Generally speaking though I am not sure the GMT system this is based on is for me.

I did find the amount of status markers in the game unappealing from an aesthetics point of view and not really helpful. I also believe this is a game that could have gained from larger counters. The counter-art itself was very nice.

This is definitely a game better played with an opponent. I guess one could also do team play (due to wings) but it may get bogged down. I would advise to replace the status markers with something more practical and aesthetically nice.