1
Galleon and the Flame Scenario:
Magellan's Death at Mactan
(Philippines, 27 April, 1521)
by Trevor Brabyn
Table of Contents:
Introduction 1
Forces Involved Historically 2
The Game 6
Forces in the Wargame 7
Ashore 7
Afloat 7
Rules 8
What Really Happened 15
Sources16
Introduction:
Cebu, Philippines, April 1521. Well, the good Fernão Magalhães has made it this far well enough. In spite of every obstacle fortune could throw in his way (contrary winds, Antarctic cold, shipwreck, mutiny, scurvy, starvation are but a few) he has managed to keep the Armada de Molucca together long enough to be the first Christian expedition to cross the Pacific all the way to reach the Indies - the real Indies this time - from the west to the glory of Spain, his patron; far enough, even, to meet his old foe, the Turk, from the opposite direction!
This has been a cause for celebration indeed. A stay at the Sultan of Cebu's palace has the Captain-Admiral convinced the cross will make a home in the east. Far from driving him out, the Cebuano Sultan has entertained him and his men with bountiful hospitality - all the rice, coconut milk, steamy baths and willing girls a disheveled Iberian ruffian like me who'd done nothing for months but sharpen his knife and count the weevils in his moldy biscuit ration to judge whether the boot on his stinking foot would be more appetizing - on those days at least on which he had a choice - could ever want! And to top it all off, Fr. Valderrama has been jumping for joy to baptize 800 souls from among these Mohammedans, including Sultan Humabon himself with his whole entourage. His Majesty the Spanish King-Emperor could only be pleased... there might even be a dukedom in this. Not bad for an old luço, não é?
Well, we'll see about that. In the meantime the good Captain-Admiral has gotten himself and his whole party into a real embaraço. He has boasted continually in the company of the Sultan of the superiority of Spanish arms in battle, firing off harquebuses with frequency and challenging Cebuano warriors to try to kill a Christian bedecked in full plate with any weapon at their disposal. Ceaselessly he has stressed to Humabon the military value of an alliance with Spain and Spanish steel. Seu Fernão even burned a village for him on a small island neighboring Cebu to the south, Mactan, for failing to comply with the
Sultan's invitation to join him in Our Holy Faith. The Sultan says that the Rajah of this island, Lapu Lapu, is recalcitrant by nature and generally not used to such intrusions, a man best left alone.
Yet only the other day the Armada received an outright invitation by a princely fellow, a king himself, from the same island - Zula was his name, I think - to come with a boatload of twenty Spaniards to help him fight Lapu Lapu, who is his rival, in the Christian ruler Humabon's name. The Captain-Admiral in his zeal for the Faith and mindful of the face that would be needlessly lost for his patron the Crown of Spain were he to refuse such an offer after so much brave talk, without hesitation offered the services of not one but three such boatloads: sixty of his best men (in fact his only men) trained in the use of arms, fully armed with Christian gunpowder and crossbow-bolts and clothed in the best Toledo steel curiats. He, Comendador of the Order of Santiago, would of course be right there at their head.
A lot of the luço's crew have been thinking the old man has lost his head for good this time - his most trusted officers have been trying to persuade him away from this foolishness, but he refuses to abandon his men or his allies at this place. Whatever the true case, there they are in their boats - the Captain-Admiral thought deceit beneath him and so though he arrived offshore well before dawn while the Mactanon were all asleep, he insisted upon announcing his presence and offering peace: "if his subjects would obey the king of Spain and recognize him as their lord, and pay tribute, he would be their friend; if they would do otherwise they would feel the iron of our lances." It seems to me though, the Rajah was not so impressed. He sent a message back with something in it about having plenty of his own "fire-hardened spears and stakes of bamboo." Que estranho. Anyway, we'll see what happens now.
Forces Involved Historically:
Magellan’s men:
The number and some of the names of Magellan's crew are known from a partial crew manifest preserved in the Archivo de Indias in Madrid and reproduced in Martín Fernández de Navarrete’s Colección de los viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los españoles desde fines del siglo XV, con varios documentos ineditos concernientes a la historia de la marina castellana y de los establecimientos españoles en Indias, vol. 4 (1837), combined with the written accounts of
Pigafetta, Elcano and others.
The following is my interpretation from all this of the make-up of Magellan’s party, man-for-man, in total on 27 April, 1521. Admittedly I have taken liberties where information has been lacking, but at least I’ve annotated them in the list as such. If anyone can correct me – please do!
A couple of things to note first –
After the Santiago ran aground on the Argentine coast on 3 May 1520, her crew rejoined the fleet, but no exact distribution is given. This I have only guessed at. I have also divided the 25 Cape Verde grommets taken on near the beginning of the voyage in September 1519 between the three ships, assuming none left with the mutineers Gómez and Guerra on San Antonio (this is Morison’s belief). Also, Pigafetta reported 19 men starved to death over the course of the Pacific voyage, which figure I use instead of the official 11 and Gómara and Herrera’s 20 for no special reason other than the richness of Pigafetta’s description of the starving men.
(Images above - two sketches of a pair of ships thought possibly to represent Magellan's Trinidad and Concepción, and a third of another ship almost identical, all appearing on Jaques Ribero's World Map of 1529)
Trinidad - ship of 100 tonadas, 8 bombards (guess), 81 men on board, and 2 prisoners
9 officers
- Captain: Ferdinand Magellan
- 2 Pilots:
- Andrés de San Martín, also the fleet's astrologer
- Juan Rodriguez (“Ginés”) de Mafra
- Master: Juan Bautista de Punzorol
- Contramaestre (assistant master) and flag pilot: Francisco Albo of Axio (Actium)
- Alguacil (marshal, military commander): Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa
- Chief surgeon: Juan Morales of Seville
- Escribano (secretary): Leon de Espleta
- Chaplain - Pedro de Valderrema
5 petty officers
- a barber-surgeon
- a carpenter
- a steward
- a caulker
- a cooper
5 artillery specialists (with addition of Santiago's gunners)
- 1 Condestable (chief gunner) - Master Andrew of Bristol
- 4 gunners
15 marineros (able seamen) (includes a postulated 5 added from the shipwrecked Santiago and 1 also postulated Pacific-voyage casualty subtracted)
18 grumetes (grommets, apprentice seamen) (includes a postulated 10 added between the grommets recruited early-on in the Cape Verdes and those transferred from the shipwrecked Santiago, and 3 also postulated Pacific-voyage casualties subtracted)
22 criados (servants), men-at-arms, and supernumeraries, including Antonio Pigafetta, gentleman-volunteer; the ex-mutineer captain of San Antonio, Antonio de Coca; Espinosa's slave "Antón de color negro"; Magellan’s bastard son Cristóbal Rebolo, cousin Martín de Magallanes, and Malay slave Enrique de Malacca. (3 postulated Pacific-voyage casualties have been subtracted to make this total)
2 Prisoners (Patagonian Indian men)
Concepción - ship of 90 tonadas, 6 bombards (guess), 70 men
5 officers
- Captain: Juan Rodríguez Serrano of Seville
- Pilot: João Lopes Carvalho, Portuguese
- Master - Juan Sebastián Elcano
- Asst. master - Juan de Acurio
- Secretary - Sancho de Heredia
7 petty officers (ex- Santiago men added)
- a barber
- 2 caulkers
- 2 carpenters
- 2 stewards
3 artillery specialists
- 1 chief gunner - Hans Vargue
- 2 gunners
11 mariners (includes a postulated 2 added from the shipwrecked Santiago and 1 dead from the Pacific voyage subtracted) 18 grommets (includes 11 guessed men added between the grommets recruited in the Cape Verdes and the transfer of the Santiago’s crew, and 3 similarly guessed Pacific-voyage casualties out of Pigafetta’s 19 to make this total)
20 servants, men-at-arms, and supernumeraries, including, presumably, Master Baltazar, Contramaestre Bartolomé Prior, and Secretary Antonio de Costa from Serrano's old caravel Santiago and their servants, assuming they accompanied him, and Captain Luis Alfonso de Gois, who succeeded Serrano when he was killed. (2 postulated Pacific-voyage casualties have already been subtracted to make this total)
(Images above: Victoria, from Ortelius' atlas of 1589, and the modern model at the Aquarium of San Sebastién, Spain, the latter photo taken straight from S. E. Morison, Southern Voyages.)
Victoria - ship of 85 tonadas, 6 bombards (guess based on the engraving above), 60 men
6 officers
- Captain: Duarte Barbosa
- Pilot: Vasco Gallego
- Master - Antón Salomón
- Asst. master - Miguel of Rhodes
- Secretary - Martín Méndez
- Marshal - Diego de Peralta of Navarre
5 petty officers
- a steward
- a caulker
- a carpenter
- a cooper (1 postulated Pacific-voyage casualty subtracted)
- a blacksmith
3 artillery specialists
- Chief gunner - Jorge Alemán
- 2 gunners
11 mariners (Includes 2 guessed men added from Santiago and 2 guessed Pacific-voyage casualties)
18 grommets (Includes 11 guessed additions between the Cape Verde men taken on at the beginning of the voyage and the transfer of Santiago’s survivors, as well 3 similarly guessed Pacific-voyage casualties have already been subtracted to make this total)
1 boy - Carvalho's mamaluço son from Rio, technically a criado but not old enough to bear arms
10 servants, men-at-arms, and supernumeraries, including Mendoza’s old servants Simon de Burgos and Juan Martin de Aguilar de Campo, and probably also Captain Luis Alfonso de Gois (no postulated casulaties).
Totals:
17 “naval officers”
1 priest
2 military officers
17 “petty officers”
11 artillery specialists
37 marineros
54 grumetes
1 boy
52 criados, men-at-arms, and sobresalientes (supernumeraries)
2 prisoners
Thus, 192 altogether plus 2 Indian prisoners.
The Landing Party (subtracted from the above):
Now, Magellan is reported to have had 60 men with him at Mactan. I speculate that he probably just took out all the “idlers” – the criados, men-at-arms, hidalgos, sobresalientes, etc., except for the known mutineer Antonio de Coca, who was being kept an eye on, and make them all members of the landing party. Of those I have classed as such we know Cristóbal Rebolo, Magellan's bastard son who signed on as a gentleman-volunteer, possibly was appointed Captain of Victoria not long before, and who died at Mactan; Antonio Pigafetta, gentleman volunteer/chronicler who played a prominent part in the skirmish (by his own account); and Magellan's slave Enrique de Malacca who subsequently turned traitor all were present alongside Magellan at Mactan. The two alguaciles, Espinosa and Peralta, would probably have come also, a gunner for each of the launches’ swivel guns, and say, a couple of spare petty officers from Concepción. That is one way the total of 60 might have been reached..
The rest would have stayed on the ships. The gunners are important for any use of the bombards under The Galleon and the Flame, and if it should come to a boarding action on the ships for some reason (say the Mactanon abscond with the launches), at least you’ll know what figures you will need.
Arms and Armor
According to Morison, The Armada de Molucca left Seville carrying 50 harquebuses, hundreds of pikes, halberds, and swords, several hundred crossbows and many more longbows, 100 complete suits of armor, the personal suits of mail and the plumed helmets of the leading officers. Two harquebuses were left with the mutineers whom Magellan marooned in Patagonia, and some number must have been carried off with San Antonio back to Spain in the conspiracy of Esteban Gómez and Hierónimo Guerra at the Strait of Magellan, so I should doubt the entire landing party had firearms - perhaps half is a safe bet. All however, were armored from the waist up, for Pigafetta wrote that only their legs were bare.
Sultan Humabon of Cebu
(Images above: Pigafetta's illustration of Cebuano he saw on Magellan's voyage "short and fat and tatooed in various designs", and a modern sketch of a balanghai)
1000 Men, in 20 -30 balanghai vessels
Lapu Lapu, Rajah of Mactan
"More than 1500 men" armed with "fire-hardened spears and stakes of bamboo."
The Game:
Starting Dispositions:
The game begins with Magellan his tiny landing party on the beach 2 feet in front to fthe village, the longboats with their three swivel gunners well behind them in deep water, the Mactanon in three divisions anywhere they like in the jungle up to the edge of the village/beach, the Sultan's fleet placidly bobbing at the far northwest corner, and the naos still too far away to appear on the map.
Objectives:
The Spanish win if the landing party can make it to the village, occupy it for one turn, and make it back to the longboats or any of the ships or balanghais in good order with Magellan or anyone else of the party still alive. The Mactanon win if they can kill 15 Spaniards, or just 10 if one of them is Magellan himself. If both or neither of these things come to pass, the game is considered a draw.
Reinforcements:
Additionally, as soon as the Spanish break two Mactanon units so that they retreat Shaken, the Sultan of Cebu may start disembarking his men to join the fight on behalf of his Christian allies.
The three naos of the Spanish fleet will arrive at the northwest corner regardless of whatever else happens on Turn 6. Their crews may not disembark but they may sail anywhere in the deep water and provide gunnery support from their bombards.
Scale:
I use 15mm figures for this particular scenario - to use 25s you really would need to crop the area represented on the board for the miniatures not to take up a ridiculously large portion of it. Anyway, using the map I have made at the top of this page, here
are my calculations:
Map scale: 1:663.75
(1 nautical mile = 12 feet)
Figure ground scale: 1:240
Why this funny double scale? Assuming a figure base would take up a 54-inch square in real life, and that one's 15mm figures are based on half-inch (12.7 mm) bases, then with a ground scale of 1:240 (1 inch = 20 feet) we can postulate a figure-to-man ratio of about 1:5. Additionally, were you to use 5 mm or 6 mm figures, you could do the whole thing 1:1.
This is gives Magellan's men a large enough force to use in a wargame, but it still should give the Christian player the feeling of utter aloneness the situation no doubt inspired when both Zula and Humabon failed to show, and is still not too hideously out of proportion with the map (arrayed 10 deep the Mactanon still only take up 27 inches to their proper 12.2).
A note on the ships - in the original scale the naos would each be about 2 inches long, the Sultan's balanghais roughly half that, so you may just want to put small representative models on the table and only break out the figures if the Cebuano disembark or a boarding action takes place. (Incidentally, the new 1/300 "pataches" from the Old Glory Armada range are really splendid for this, as is Heller's 1:270 Santa Maria, and in the 'States, various dollar store plastic caravels appearing around Columbus
Day).
Figures:
All the figures you would need are available in 15mm from Falcon UK and Chariot Miniatures' Southeast Asian lines, and the Renaissance and Mughal ranges of Essex, Freikorp 15, Two Dragons, and Irregular. Some of the London War Room Dyaks will work as well. All you need, really, are some renaissance musketeer and crossbowman types in corslets (conquistadors maybe?) and a lot of clean-shaven spearmen and bowmen in dhoti-style loincloths and turbans.
In 25mm, if you want to do boarding actions in that scale, suitable armored Spaniards can be had from Foundry, Ral Partha/Wizkids (special order), Naismith, Hincheliffe, Redoubt, and Essex. Unarmored sailors are harder to find, but Foundry Swashbucklers and various Pirate and Napoleonic naval types from Old Glory, Eureka, Abbotts, Steve Barber and Redoubt are usable or can be converted with a little imagination.
For Cebuano and Mactanon, The London War Room makes one pose suitable without modification in its "Fighting men of India" range among the peasant spearmen; the Scheltrum Dayaks include a few good open-handed poses; for Mactanon leaders try the Hindu fanatics from the Falcon UK "Wellesley in India" range or else various Classical Indian ranges. The Redoubt "Wellington in India" range includes a couple of suitable knife-armed poses in their two-part castings, Old Glory a single usable swordsman pose in their pack of unarmored Moros.
Otherwise, the best option would probably be to take the "Rebel Peasant Mob" pack from the Old Glory Indian Mutiny range and start making conversions, starting with head transplants from the rest of that "Unarmored Moro Tribesmen" pack from the same manufacturer. Wargames Foundry IND203 "Warrior spearmen at the ready" and IND231 "Peasant Warriors" include some nicer but dearer figures which would work all right if treated in the same fashion.
The Forces
Ashore:
The Landing Party
Nevertheless, I recommend arbitrarily doubling the number of Spaniards to 24 so that they will at least have a chance to make it through the first part of the game alive, keeping, however, the restriction that they may never take up more than 6 inches of frontage. This single unit includes: