Charles the Bold’s Wars (1474–1477): a Rules‑Agnostic Wargamer’s Guide

Tactics, deployment, mercenary & household training, artillery (types, numbers, and battlefield placement), plus refightable campaigns and battles with ratings.

1) Why the wars happened

Charles tried to stitch the Burgundian Netherlands to Burgundy–Franche‑Comté via Lorraine and the Upper Rhine, seeking quasi‑royal status. The Cologne Diocesan Feud and the siege of Neuss (1474–75), Alsatian unrest (Hagenbach) and the League of Constance brought him into collision with the Swiss confederates and Upper‑Rhine cities, while Louis XI’s subsidies isolated him—ending in Grandson, Murten and Nancy.

2) Burgundian army: weapons, equipment, training & battlefield method

How units formed in battle. Pay/recruitment used the ordonnance lance, but on the field troops formed by weapon under permanent company officers: men‑at‑arms (MAA)/coustilliers, pikemen, longbowmen, crossbowmen, handgunners, and an artillery/engineer train. The Household (MAA, longbow, halberd) acted as an elite reserve/bodyguard. Charles also drilled limited combined actions such as archers firing over kneeling pikes.

• Men‑at‑arms & coustilliers. Armet/sallet, plate or brigandine; lance, sword, mace; coustilliers lighter. Roles: guard flanks, deliver a finishing charge, or dismount to stiffen threatened sectors.
• Pikemen. 16–18 ft pikes; front ranks better armoured; hold the hedge and gun line, protect shooters, and push once enemy cohesion falters.
• Longbowmen (mounted to move, dismounted to fight). Brigandine/jack, sallet; rode hacks with pages to hold horses. Doctrinal reasons: (1) operational tempo—arrive formed at the decisive point; (2) logistics/escort—screen trains and move ammunition; (3) integration—support pike or dismounted MAA in pre‑rehearsed combinations. Burgundy wasn’t the only state with mounted archers, but its drill makes their role unusually explicit.
• Crossbowmen. Pavised foot for steady, aimed fire to pin and protect guns; mounted crossbow used for skirmish and pursuit. Best in prolonged exchanges, covering engineers and batteries, and guarding flanks/streets in sieges.
• Handgunners. Hand‑gonnes through early arquebuses; short‑range shock and morale effect; ideal as gun‑crew guards, within fieldworks, or interleaved with pike to punish stalled charges.
• Battle method. Preferred an arranged fight: site guns behind works, dress infantry on the gun line, anchor flanks on terrain/works, then commit gendarmes from wings or reserve. When surprised or forced to redeploy (Grandson, Murten) cohesion cracked.

3) Swiss, Lorrainers & Upper‑Rhine allies: maneuver & tactical finesse

Keil (Gewalthaufen) in wargaming terms. Treat a keil as a single, large, deep unit: a pike core with a halberd/zweihänder kernel or ring around the colours; a hand‑gun/crossbow screen in front; small cavalry on a flank for scouting/pursuit (not decisive shock). Approach in looser columns masked by woods/roads; tighten for the last bound and hit before Burgundy is fully dressed.

Numbers & spacing by battle. Grandson: total 20,376 with a vanguard about 1,500 striking first. Murten: vanguard about 5,000, main body 10,000‑plus, strong rearguard and a small cavalry body. Use this to size blocks and time arrivals.

4) Artillery: types, numbers, field deployment & the train

Numbers & technology. The Swiss captured well over 100 Burgundian guns at Grandson; weeks later a comparable park stood at Murten. Burgundian ordnance mixed older breech‑loading staves/veuglaires (often bed‑mounted) with trunnioned serpentines/culverins on two‑trail carriages—the transition to true field artillery.

Organisation—siege vs field. Siege: heavy bombards/veuglaires grouped into dedicated batteries aimed at specific wall sectors, with specialist crews and large engineer parties. Field: lighter serpentines/culverins organised into batteries by calibre under the master‑gunner, typically grouped, then interwoven along a prepared front behind a hedge/ditch (the Grünhag). Organ guns (ribaudequins) and the lightest serpentines could be pushed up to directly support infantry blocks—especially around the centre—while heavier field pieces formed the long killing lanes.

• Placement on battle days. A forward gun line behind works; arcs pre‑sited to sweep approaches; pavises/mantlets and handgun/crossbow detachments to guard crews; engineers improving the line during pauses. Redeploying under pressure was brittle (Grandson/Murten).
• Train & movement. Powder/shot carts (≈7 horses; ≈0.8–1.5 t loads); spare beds/carriages; tools (linstocks, prickers, scoops); pioneers/sappers/carpenters. March rate commonly 11–20 km/day depending on road/weather.

5) Orders of march & battle: who stood where

Burgundy (maroon)

• Commands in battle: Left Wing · Centre · Right Wing · Reserve, plus a formal Artillery sub‑command under the master‑gunner.
• Order of march: scouts → pioneers/engineers → artillery with escort → infantry columns by weapon (pike, longbow, crossbow/handgun) with gendarmes echeloned on flanks → baggage. On contact: guns/works first; infantry dress on them; cavalry holds wings/counter‑blow; Household acts as mobile reserve.
• Household Reserve (what’s in it?): picked men‑at‑arms, household halberdiers, and household/English archers—well‑equipped and drilled to plug crises or exploit success.
• Ideal vs reality: they didn’t always achieve the “ideal” layout—Grandson saw redeployment under threat; Murten saw units still arming when the Swiss struck. Build that uncertainty into set‑up times and command rolls.

Swiss & allies (red/white)

• Commands: Vanguard (Vorhut) · Main (Gewalthaufen) · Rearguard (Nachhut), with a small separate cavalry body.
• Order of march: columns masked by woods/roads; skirmishers forward; timed rush to hit before Burgundian guns/line fully prepared (Murten) or to shock a detached vanguard (Grandson).

6) Typical deployments (inline SVG diagrams)

6A. Burgundian line with artillery sub‑command

Forward gun line; infantry by weapon (bow‑over‑pike drill possible); gendarmes on the wings; Household reserve in rear.

6B. Swiss three‑body attack (red core, white halberd ring; no overlaps)

Three commands with skirmishers; dense for contact, looser on approach; cavalry detached on an open flank.

7) Systems that best refight 1474–77 (independent view)

• Warrior — Most granular for EHK/SHK/SHI/EHI and combined ordonnance detachments (archer‑over‑pike), excellent morale detail; ideal for set‑piece vs shock.
• Impetus 2.0 — Strong for large keils and Burgundian “big units,” with cohesion/momentum doing the heavy lifting; good command friction and multi‑battle campaigns.
• Basic Impetus 2.0 — Fast and tidy for club nights; use the Manx Gaming Solutions mods for bow‑over‑pike and camp/gun morale to lift period feel.
• To the Strongest! — Grid and ammo rules make Burgundian artillery management and Swiss timing sing; great for participation games.
• Hail Caesar / Pike & Shotte — Popular and playable, but written with later pike‑and‑shot assumptions; workable with house rules to emphasise Burgundian guns and Swiss keil shock.
• DBA 3.0 — Stylised but effective for small refights; the Manx Gaming Solutions mods for PIPs and weather add historical grit.