The End of the Marathas – VMCW Battle 8

I have commented before that one of the unexpected outcomes of this campaign has been the number of wargames which have not involved the Moguls. Here, we have another case in point. The Maratha have been merrily plundering the south of India for a couple of years or so now, and no-one has tried to stop them. Aurungzeb, the nearest of the Princes, has, in fact, been allowed to march through them on his way north to confront Murad, while the raiders continue their depredations.

Now, however, the army of Bijapur, fresh from the conquest of Golconda, has decided to take a hand. Marching north, they have encountered the Maratha army and decided to end the looting. Mind you, the Bijapurians are by no means averse to a bit of plundering, have looted three cities on the coast. On the other hand, their home city has also been a target. So, maybe, they just want to go home.

Learning from the last time the Marathas took to the field, I elected to have a more open battlefield, so the light horse could, hopefully, play. The Marathas also went for a second militia base instead of a second cavalry. Whether this was wise is a bit moot, but that is what happened. The Marathas are deployed to the left, above, with their light horse echeloned forward, the militia in the central village, the rockets on a hill, and the camel guns in the village nearest the camera. The idea was to skirmish the life out of the Bijapur hordes and, hopefully, turn their near flank.

The as yet unnamed Bijapur general also learned from the last time and kept his forces in a compact formation. The aim was to get the militia (in column on the far side) onto the hill where the Maratha rockets are, while advancing the infantry through the Maratha centre, supported by the elephants.

In the photograph, you can also see a rather nice cheese scone, ready for the sustenance of the wargamer, along with a cup of coffee which is out of shot. These things are important, even if they slightly delay the game.

Above you can see the plans developing. The Maratha skirmish line has swept forward and has, in fact, inflicted a fair amount of damage on the Bijapur militia, so much so that the skirmishers have routed and another base has been shaken. The Bijapur infantry have moved up, however, and have inflicted damage on the centre of the Maratha line with wickedly accurate bow fire. The Maratha rockets, meanwhile, have hit the elephants, but without inflicting any damage.

The crunch, or the first one, came when the left wing Maratha light horse were caught flat-footed (flat hoofed?) by the Bijapur swordsmen, who charged in and after a harder fight than expected put them to flight (in process above). The Maratha right (nearest the camera) is bogged down against the Bijapur cavalry. The light cavalry can disrupt the cavalry but are struggling to damage them.

The second crunch came as the Bijapur swordsmen pursued the fleeing light horse. One of the swordsmen bases was countercharged and routed by the charging Maratha cavalry and the general. Meanwhile the Bijapur militia, on the far side, are closing in on a base of light horse who have been shooting at them for ages and not made any impact at all. On this side of the central confrontation, the Bijapur archers have put one base of light horse to flight, while another is looking very rocky indeed, so much so that the Maratha militia has sallied forth to try to give them, at least, a safe place to hide.

The final position is above. The pursuing Maratha cavalry and general ran splat into the Bijapur elephants. Meanwhile, the Bijapur militia walked into their opposing light horse (the Marathas had a tempo point dearth) and routed them, while the archers finished off the other base of light horse facing them. The cavalry and general held on for half a turn against the elephants, but the Maratha morale had sunk the ‘withdraw’. I decided to fight on for a turn, largely because the Maratha general was in close combat. However, he was routed in the next bound, and fled himself to the nearest Maratha force (the militia by the village) while the cavalry fled. At this point, Maratha morale had to be rolled again, and the army routed.

That was a lot of fun as a wargame. I think I got the Bijapur tactics right, using the swords and bows to confront the central light horse, while facing off the flanking movement with the cavalry. While the Maratha light horse did disrupt the militia column greatly, the rest of the infantry did their job and the back up of the elephants administered the coup de grace, as it were.

As for the Marathas, I still have not got the hang of the army. I am sure that outflanking is the way forward – how could it not be with that quantity of light cavalry? - but making the skirmishing count is the problem. They did disrupt the Bijapur militia, but had very few other strikes indeed. The other thing about light horse armies is that the ranges need very close watching – it can be easy to let the lights stray into charge range, and then they can easily become toast. However, when in front of terrain there sometimes is not much option except to allow the ranges to close. More practice is required, I think. I know that light horse armies can win under these rules, it is just that the Marathas have not done so, partly because of poor dice rolling from time to time.

Still, this is now the eight wargame from the campaign, and some clarity is emerging from the chaos of civil war. Dara and Murad are dead (Aurungazeb decided to execute his brother), as is Mir Jumla. It is really now Aurungazeb’s war to lose – all he really needs to do at this point is to march to Agra, secure the person of the Emperor, and job done.

Incidentally, if this is getting all too confusing, I have created a campaign page for this war – see the VMCW link on the right.