So, onto the first battle in this conflict.
Champtoceux is also the least well documented battle in the box. We don’t really know where it happened, and we don’t really know the makeup of the forces (outside of the leaders and that 2,000 Genoese crossbowmen were involved; those fellas crop up in quite a few of these battles). Here’s the historical background:
By September 1341, Charles de Blois had amassed 5,000 French soldiers, 2,000 Genoese mercenaries, and a substantial number of Breton troops in his military ranks. He stationed his forces at Angers in the Loire Valley, on the southern border of Brittany.
As October 1341 dawned, Charles de Blois prepared to advance, only to find that Jean de Montfort had already seized control of and fortified most of the castles and towns along Eastern and Central Brittany. Among Montfort's stronghold possessions were the key towns of Rennes, Dinan, and the heavily fortified castle at Champtoceux, guarding the Loire Valley. Charles chose this stronghold as the first target for the French army's march toward their ultimate destination, Nantes. Jean de Valois - France’s future King Jean II - joined Charles on this campaign, as did the Genoese mercenary leader Ottone Doria, who was famously scapegoated for the failure of the French army at Crécy 5 years later.
Charles, alongside Prince Jean of France, initiated a siege of Champtoceux, a key stronghold held by Montfortist forces. However, the besieging army faced severe logistical challenges due to Jean de Montfort’s strategic network of defensive outposts in the surrounding countryside, which disrupted supply lines and made sustaining the siege increasingly difficult.
In response to these disruptions, Charles de Blois took decisive action by leading a detachment of approximately 1,000 men to clear the countryside of Montfortist forces, hoping to reestablish secure supply routes. This maneuver, however, exposed him to counterattack. Jean de Montfort, seizing the opportunity, moved swiftly with his army to intercept Charles. The confrontation forced Charles and his men to retreat to a fortified farmstead, where they prepared to defend themselves under pressure from Montfort’s numerically superior force.
The situation became critical for Charles de Blois until reinforcements arrived under Prince Jean of France. These fresh troops bolstered the French position and launched a counteroffensive that nearly routed Montfort’s army. Despite the setback, Jean de Montfort managed to execute a disciplined withdrawal, preserving his forces.
I identified two main challenges in designing this scenario: the map, and how to reflect the flow of the battle. The only concrete detail in the sources is that the fight took place at a farmstead, so I took some creative license and added a few wooded areas to help break up the reinforcement line and create more tactical interest.
Capturing the flow of the engagement was equally tricky - it unfolds in two phases: an initial Montfortist attack on the scouting Blois forces, followed by the arrival of Blois reinforcements that turn the tide and force a Montfortist retreat off the map. There are a few ways of doing this in the Men of Iron system. The simplest way would be to simply reflect this through the Flight Point system; for those not familiar - the more units you lose, the more FPs you accrue, and once you hit your side’s FP limit, you lose, with your troops effectively scattering and running away. I didn’t like that though - as I thought that the most interesting part of this battle was the decision of Jean de Montfort to run away. Timing the retreat is key - as Jean has a real chance to kill or capture Charles de Blois and nip this whole succession crisis in the bud pretty early on. Before the reinforcements come to overwhelm him.
The other method, then, is to emulate the rules found in other Men of Iron entries. The Battle of Fornovo, found in Arquebus - Volume IV in the series - has a nice rule that encourages you to move your units off the map, effectively counting themas having retreated, but not counting towards your FP total. It doesn’t make it easier for de Montfort to win, but it does make it harder for de Blois to.
I and my developer and playtesters will be testing that for now - to see if it works well mechanically in this context, but also whether it fits narratively in the scenario. Next up, Morlaix.
