1600 – Something: Khmer Bashing

The Autumn 1605 move in the campaign yielded four wargames. In the West, the French invaded Luxembourg. No one seemed particularly minded to aid the Luxembourgers, but the French failed their GOOS roll and so would have to fight their way in. Further east, the situation in Courland got ever more perilous. The Danes, to avenge the loss of their force supporting the Courlanders in the last action there, landed a full-scale army. They then failed their GOOS roll, and so will face the wrath of the Muscovite army already there.

In the east, the Moguls made a critical initiative roll, which indicated that an advantageous dynastic marriage had taken place. In the north, the White Sheep Mongols carried on their campaign, and so another wargame is to happen there. In South-East Asia, the Siamese are not taking being invaded by the Khmer lying down and have counter-invaded. The nature of the geography (or, in the case of my map, I suppose, geometry) means that the two forces are of equal, 12-base, armies. The Siamese cannot support the invasion, but made their GOOS roll, so the remaining Khmer army is resisting without any local help.

There were, of course, the usual rounds of diplomacy, which did not really achieve much. The Chinese managed to persuade the Japanese to disband their fleet, which the Koreans had chased off in the last move. However, the Japanese drew a 'raise military force' card and promptly gathered another. As in real life, sometimes things move slowly, even in a crisis.

Still, moving as ever from east to west in the wargames, the first action is the Siamese invasion of Cambodia. Both armies consist of 12 bases: 8 of tribal foot, a general on an elephant, a cavalry base, and two archer bases. I do not, of course, have sufficient tribal foot for both sides to have their full complement of appropriate figures. The appropriate figures are, in fact, in the house, but rather far back in the painting queue. As the Estimable Mrs P. will not permit unpainted figures to be used, and I do not want to lose the momentum of the campaign, I have raided the Chinese box for their blade-armed figures and shall use those. Incidentally, the same will be true, I should think, of the Mongols, in that I have a second Mongol horse, but they are not painted and are unlikely to be in time.

I rolled up really quite a dense terrain for this wargame, as seen above. The Siamese are to the right, and behind their right is, in fact, a hill. The plan is to use the bulk of the tribal foot, in the centre, to assault the Khmer-held hill in the centre (where the Khmer elephant general is), while the archers (in the field on their right) and the rest of the tribal foot secure that flank, and the cavalry and general secure the left. Well, that was the plan.

The Khmer plan was, essentially, to stay on the defensive, enticing the Siamese into range and then charging downhill at them, with the advantage, of course, of the slope. The nearest tribal foot and the Khmer archers on the far side are on hills, and the rest of the Khmer tribal foot that is not with the general are in valleys, securing the flanks of the central hill.

This was one of those wargames that was a bit slow to start, due to a lack of available tempo points. However, eventually the Siamese go moving, as seen. On the near side, the cavalry is facing the right flank Khmer tribal foot (who are still, just about, on their hill). The rest of the Khmer tribal foot, which is not actually on the central hill, is heading in that direction, while the archers are causing disruption to the advancing Siamese on the left.

The Khmer cavalry launched a charge, downhill, at the leftmost Siamese tribal foot in the centre. Initially successful, they were eventually routed (by some lucky dice rolls, it has to be admitted), and the Siamese line held. In fact, the Siamese pulled back a bit, not wishing to be charged downhill by the assembling Khmer foot.

The Khmer cavalry can be seen above, exiting stage left. On the Khmer left, the Siamese tribal foot are still suffering from archery fire and subsequent disruption, while on the right, nearest the camera, the Siamese cavalry and some Khmer foot are engaged in a stand off where neither managed a charge.

At this point, the battle could have rather petered out in a draw, but the Siamese tempo rolling improved a bit, and they got their right flank advancing up the hill. While the Khmer bowmen resisted manfully, one base was routed, while the other managed to stave off its opponents. On the other wing, the Khmer foot managed to get a charge in against the Siamese cavalry and pushed them back in disorder, but the Siamese general with some tribal foot is rushing to the rescue.

The end came when the Siamese general charged his attached tribal foot into the flank of the hitherto winning Khmer foot on the Siamese left. This was more than the troops could put up with and was a straight rout. The Khmer morale roll indicated a ‘withdraw’ result, which, at 4 bases down, was probably reasonable. The Khmer did have the option to try re-rolling to stabilise the lines, but with one flank gone, the other nearly gone, and only a slight advantage in the centre, they decided that prudence was the better part, particularly as they had the only Khmer army in the country, and really withdrew.

That was a surprisingly slow wargame, as it happened. Neither side threw particularly well for tempo, and the Siamese were very wary of getting too close to the central hill, especially when the Khmer had concentrated their foot there. The Siamese were left trying to nibble away at the flanks, eventually emerging victorious, but without the decisive defeat of the Khmer, which they were seeking.

And so, on to Mongols!

1600 – Something: Battered Bavarians

The final action of the Summer 1605 move is, as you might recall (if anyone has been paying attention) in the west, where the Bavarians, subverted diplomatically by the French, have invaded Austria. Unfortunately for the boys in blue, two Austrian armies are waiting for them. In my head, the French have agreed to pay for the Bavarian action, while the Bavarians rather expected the Austrians to have moved at least one army to support their incursion into Ottoman territory further south. The Austrians (I mean the Austrian Habsburg or Holy Roman Emperor) have just found that indolence, or a lack of move cards, sometimes helps.

Anyway, I am now left with another lop-sided battle, a single Bavarian force against one and a half Austrian armies. The Bavarians muster 5 bases of cavalry, 2 pikes, 4 musketeers, and a light horse. The Austrians deploy 4 bases of cavalry, 2 light horse, 4 pike bases and 8 musketeer bases. It has to be admitted that the terrain gods were not kind to the Bavarians. Whereas the terrain for the Muscovites in the last battle enabled them to defeat the foe in detail, the terrain here was broken up and left little scope for manoeuvre.

The Bavarians are to the left, with a rather thin-looking line. Beyond their left-hand regiment of infantry, by the way, is a ridge, which is steep in places and hence impassable. I pondered the Austrian deployment at some length. Initially, I thought of deploying them forward of the village and wood, the idea being to launch an all-out attack and attempt to rout the Bavarians once and for all (as the loyal reader of the blog will possibly recall, the Bavarians and Austrians have some history, here). Common sense prevailed, as the gap through which reinforcements would be fed is rather thin and, after all, the Austrians were on the defensive.

The Bavarian plan was to mask the foe with their right flank while attacking with infantry and cavalry on the left. I thought it looked reasonable on paper, as the Austrian left would not really be in a position to interfere. Well, maybe.

A few moves in, and you can see the progress of the Bavarian left. Fronted by the blue-coast under command of the general, they are making good progress, having seen off one base of Austrian light horse (fleeing just behind the redcoats), although their foot has suffered a bit of disruption, and a lack of tempo means that the cavalry supporting them is a bit close behind. The Austrians have moved the sub-general from their quiet left, and he is bringing a second foot regiment up to support the right. From the Bavarian point of view, that was not in the plan.

Crunches came in various shapes and sizes. The Bavarians got their right moving towards the gap between the village and the wood, hoping that the now denuded Austrian centre might be vulnerable. In the right-hand foreground, you can see the unengaged Austrian left on their hill. On the far side, the Bavarians are now starting to struggle, having lost a musketeer base to the Austrian foot, and also the general. Ouch.

Things did not improve much for the Bavarians, now unable to control their left. The infantry stumbled on, the remaining musketeers to be routed by the Austrian sub-general’s redcoats, while the remaining pike, now unsupported, attempted to contact the Austrian cavalry and was repulsed. The losses led to a morale check, and the Bavarians were wavering, which meant that the attempted assault on the gap between the village and wood faltered (or, in fact, stopped).

The end was not far away, of course. Under the command of the Austrian sub-general, the redcoats have now driven into the Bavarian cavalry on their left. Actually, the musketeers managed to rout one of the cavalry bases through sheer firepower, which is unusual. It has to be said that the Austrians got two lucky combat rolls to achieve it, and the Bavarians had no tempo to try to intervene. The remaining Bavarian pike on that flank has also routed. They were too far away from any support and, while bravely having a go, were not going to make much progress.

In the foreground, you can see the rest of the Bavarian army stuck in front of the gap between the village and the wood. The Austrians have sealed the gap with infantry anyway, but at this point, Bavarian morale collapsed, and the army was routed.

This was always going to be a tough battle for the Bavarians, attacking while outnumbered. There was little option for defeating the Austrians in detail, at least once I had decided that deploying in front of the wood was a bad idea.

The Bavarians had a bad day, dice-wise. The terrain was against them, and some of their tempo and combat rolls were awful. They were actually defeated by 10 bases of Austrians, and a third of the Austrian army never moved throughout the entire game. Yet the Bavarians had to attack, as the Swedes did at Nordlingen. And the outcome is possibly as bad.

Strategically, the Bavarians had better hope that the French step up to the mark with money for a new army, if nothing else. Bavaria is open to Austrian invasion. The line of Spanish armies on the western border of France would preclude any direct intervention by them in Germany. On the other hand, this is the second time in five years that the Bavarians have upset the Austrians. It did not go well for them the first time; it could go a lot worse this time.

And so, finally, we reach the end of the Summer 1605 move. As you would expect, little was really resolved internationally, as the invasions were mostly defeated, apart from the Koreans in Japan. I am being forced to consider moving my diplomatic tables onto my laptop, as with 22 nations, it is a bit tricky keeping all the numbers legible, and I would like the option of adding a few more nations as well, in South India, and possibly some emerging Jurchen tribes.

We shall see, or maybe it is just that my megalomania is still not satiated….

1600 – Something: The Non-General’s Battle

As my loyal reader might recall, the Muscovites have been trying, without result, to expand a bit. They have, to that end, lost two battles against the Swedes, both as a result, essentially, of losing a general. Losing a general, under the rules, means that you lose half your tempo points in a bid, and, of course, the general’s bonus tempo point and any bonus he might give to a base to which he is attached. In short, losing a general is painful.

The situation on the southern Baltic coast is complicated. The Muscovites attempted again to invade Estonia in Spring 1605 and failed. They got another move card in the summer but cannot try to cross the same boundary again, so, somewhat denuded by the Swedes, elected to invade Courland. They failed, almost inevitably, their GOOS roll, and so a German Minor States army attempted to block them.

The Courlanders drew 4 cavalry, 1 mounted arquebusier, 3 pike, and 4 shot bases (as they are not a standing army, they drew a random list). The Muscovites, as we know, consist of 6 cavalry, 2 Cossack light horse, 1 pike, and 3 shot. I did wonder whether the Danes (who control the Baltic Sea) or the Swedes would support the plucky Courlanders. Careful examination of the map revealed that the Swedes were too far away, but a dice roll showed that the Danes landed a force to assist. This comprised 3 cavalry, 2 shot, and 1 pike bases.

The picture shows the deployment. The Danes are to the left foreground, the Courlanders on the far side of the stream. Under the rules, they are not allowed to deploy interspersed, and, as allies, roll separate tempo dice and cannot exchange tempo. As an allied contingent, the Danes roll 1d3 for their tempo.

The campaign has thrown up an interesting tactical scenario, of course. The Muscovites are inferior in numbers, but are attacking. After some consideration, I decided, as Muscovite commander, to go after the Danes, knock them out, and then turn the flank of the Courlanders. The plan was to use 4 bases of cavalry and the cossacks to defeat the Danish horse, while masking their foot with my own and holding the stream bank with that foot and the reserve horse.

Above, you can see the plans developing, or rather, in the case of the Courlanders, not. The tempo dice ensured that most of their army remained in place; only the plucky general leading the blue-coats forward was doing anything. The Danes advanced, but ran into problems with the Cossack screen, which you can see in the foreground.

There was a bit of jiggery pokery with the Danish cavalry, the cossacks and the Muscovite cavalry supporting them. The Danes could not charge the cavalry because they were not allowed to charge troops that were screened. But they did not wish to charge the cossacks, because then they would be toast if counter-charged by the Muscovite cavalry. The solution was to advance into the cossacks and try to force themback, which was only slightly successful. The Danes then pulled their cavalry back to avoid being charged. The Muscovite cavalry, of course, could charge the Danes through the Cossack screen, as they are on the same side.

Eventually, the Muscovite charge went home, with mixed results. One base has swept away some Danish musketeers, while another Danish cavalry, in the foreground, has been severely shaken and will shortly rout. However, the two central Danish cavalry bases have stood firm. On the other hand, the sharp-eyed among you will have noted the absence of the Danish general, who was shot down by the cossacks before the charge went in. The Muscovite general survived being recoiled and shaken, by the way. You can also see that the Courlanders have woken up a bit and sent their reserve cavalry to assist the Danes.

Both sides had a bit of a breather to regroup, the Muscovites pulling their cavalry, which was not pursuing Danish bases back and reconstituting the Cossack screen. The Courlanders managed to start their army towards the stream, but were hampered by another unfortunate result. The strelsti base on the extreme right of the picture shot down their general.

As more Courlanders crossed the stream, the Muscovite cavalry charged again, this time managing, eventually, to rout the rest of the Danish horse. This led to the collapse of Danish morale and the rout of the rest of the army (not that there was much left). However, the Muscovite cavalry ran out of control, one base rallying at the table edge and the general’s base not doing so until two moves off the table. So now the Muscovites were leaderless as well. You can also see in the picture that the Courland mounted arquebusiers are keeping a strelsti base shaken.

Both sides were suffering from a tempo point drought, of course. As the Courlanders attempted to rally on the Muscovite side of the stream, they were met with a hail of fire from the cossacks. On the far right of the picture, the blue-coated foot have crossed the stream, routed the streltsi base there, and got charged by the Muscovite reserve cavalry. The musketeers have fled, while the pike miraculously survived. This result caused a fall in Muscovite morale, which is why the Cossacks are not engaged at the moment.

The end of the game was not far off. The Muscovites were far too scattered to achieve anything until the general returned, and the Courlanders were struggling to do much after crossing the stream. Their mounted arquebusiers did, eventually, advance and rout the streltsi opposite them. The blue-coated pike and their opponents are both trying to rally, but otherwise, there was not much else to do.

At this point, I decided that it was nightfall. The Courlanders would withdraw across the stream and regroup, the Muscovites would recover their general in 3 turns, and have to do something similar. The battle was declared a draw.

As a wargame, it was interesting. The tactical puzzle the campaign threw up was a smaller force attacking a larger one. The Muscovites made a good call, I think, in targeting the Danes, much as the Poles had targeted the Tartars in a previous game. However, the defeat of the Danish contingent left the Muscovites scattered and vulnerable; if the Courlanders had still had a general extant, they would probably have paid for that, as the Courland cavalry could have certainly mopped up a few Muscovite bases.

Strategically, aside from the Danes having to pay for a new expeditionary force and the Muscovites still not having found a way to expand, not much has changed. At least the Muscovites did not lose again.

On the other hand, the next action is a Bavarian army against a supported Austrian one, a similar situation, but the Austrians are a coherent force.