Battle of Forli assassination mission opinions (DLC spoilers)
The assassinations in Sequence 12 didn't have much lead-up, which was a little disappointing.
Ludovico was too basic. He's up on a tower and there's no way to get him down. He won't climb down on his own to chase you and you can't throw him off. If you climb up onto the ledge, he instantly knows you're there, just like Vieri. But if you hold [High Profile] while climbing up and keep tapping [Armed Hand] with the hidden blades equipped, you can get an easy kill. Otherwise, just fight him as with any other alerted target.
The most recent time I played this mission, I went in unarmed and eventually broke his neck. I just wish I could have thrown him off the tower. Then maybe get the kid to piss on his corpse from the top of the tower. He had to go, right? 
Checco was a much better target. If you take out the two Seekers and the Archer, you can walk along with the monks for free cover. Reminds me of AC1. They don't quite get close enough to Checco though, so you'll still either have to blitz over a short distance (you'll be detected but you can still do a hidden blade assassination if you're quick enough) or you'll have to circle around and climb up on the building behind him and air-to-assassinate. It's pretty easy to do either assassination. You can simply stand about 15 meters out and just shoot him too.
The first time I went up against Checco, he took off and I hopped on the horse. He's super slow compared to the horse, so I pulled out the sword and started chopping. Anticlimactically, it only took a single swing to do him in. Seems odd.
The most recent time I let him run and I just followed him to see where he goes. He runs north (instead of south like the dialogue and novel suggest) and stops at the base of the viewpoint on the west side of Forli. There he meets up with several guards and makes his stand.
Checco is a tough customer. He can do full combos both with his sword and his fists. His fists are especially brutal. His full combo stuns Ezio so much that he's already beginning another combo by the time you recover. If you're not careful, he'll repeatedly combo you until you die. You only have a small window of opportunity to block the follow-up combo. Fighting him unarmed is a decent challenge, at least compared to all the other targets I've fought unarmed. Including Borgia at the Vault entrance.
You can't get too far away from Checco or you'll desynchronize, but otherwise you're free to take him out in any way you please. There's a lot of potential variety for this assassination. Almost makes up for the lack of variety provided by Ludovico. 
Ludovico was too basic. He's up on a tower and there's no way to get him down. He won't climb down on his own to chase you and you can't throw him off. If you climb up onto the ledge, he instantly knows you're there, just like Vieri. But if you hold [High Profile] while climbing up and keep tapping [Armed Hand] with the hidden blades equipped, you can get an easy kill. Otherwise, just fight him as with any other alerted target.
I guess I must've done this (holding High Profile while climbing) without even realizing it, 'cause I climbed straight to the top and shanked his a$$ with no problems. 
Checco is a tough customer. He can do full combos both with his sword and his fists. His fists are especially brutal. His full combo stuns Ezio so much that he's already beginning another combo by the time you recover. If you're not careful, he'll repeatedly combo you until you die. You only have a small window of opportunity to block the follow-up combo. Fighting him unarmed is a decent challenge, at least compared to all the other targets I've fought unarmed. Including Borgia at the Vault entrance.
Pfft. Nothing Eagle's Bruise can't handle.