1600 – Something: Estonia Again

 Somehow, I have managed to get to the thirty-fifth game of the campaign. This seems to me to be quite something, as most campaigns I have run in the past tend to end up with three or four battles, and then one side has lost. Still, we live and learn, and so the 1600 – Something campaign has now rolled around to game 35.

This turned out to be a bit more complex than normal. If you have been paying attention, you will have noted that due to a financial crisis, the Swedish Empire in the Baltic is in a state of collapse. Most of the armed forces have mutinied. This has left a train unit in Gotland (IIRC) and an army in Estonia. The rest have disbanded, except for the fleet in Finland, which has defected to the Muscovites, and the army in Estonia, which was gearing up to fight the Estonian rebels (for the province has revolted) when French diplomacy and money intervened, and the army also defected to the Muscovites. It is remarkable how a relatively simple campaign system can throw up such situations.

Aside from the implications domestically for the French (of which more later in the turn), this left a Muscovite–Swedish army facing the rebels, as the defection did not stop the latter. This is where it started to get even more, um, interesting. I needed to find out what an early seventeenth-century Estonian army would look like. A quick Google turned up … my own previous post about fighting in Estonia. Humbug. Still, a little further digging found that Estonia had been held by the Kings of Sweden (as Dukes) for over 50 years, so it seemed eminently reasonable to give them a randomly drawn Swedish army. The Estonians got 5 cavalry and 7 shot bases via this process.

The situation with their opponents was even more complex, with a Swedish army having defected to Muscovy. Should they be Swedes, Muscovites or something in between? I decided on the in-between, reasoning that a lot of Swedes might just have taken the French money and gone home. A random mixed army was drawn, with red cards being Swedes and Muscovites, black cards, and then the value of the card gives the troop type. This yielded a Muscovite-Swedish army of 3 Swedish shot and two Swedish cavalry, along with 4 Muscovite cavalry and 3 Cossack light horse bases. I was happy with this draw as it implied that the Muscovites had rushed mounted reinforcements in as the Swedes deserted.

The battlefield, as rolled, was quite dense with terrain, which favoured the Estonians, I thought, even more so when another dice roll indicated that they were defenders. They are set up to the left, above, with 3 shot bases on the central hill, 2 in the village on the near side, and 2 on the banks of the stream to prevent any adventures by the Cossacks. The cavalry has two bases by the village, two in reserve on the left and one with the general on the hill.

The Muscovite-Swedes had more of a problem in deployment, hampered by impassable (to cavalry) terrain and other features that would cause disruption if crossed. After a lot of thought, I opted for a relatively high-risk strategy of pushing the cavalry through the gaps in the centre, hoping to be able to deploy before the Estonians got moving. The Swedish shot in the foreground would assault the village or bypass it and aim for the baggage. The Cossacks would try to outflank the Estonian left and also raid the baggage, but I was not expecting much from them as light horse are usually seen off by shot (which is as it should be).

The action got off to a fairly slow start, with tempo for the Muscovite-Swedes being in short supply. However, they did get going, as shown above. The Muscovite cavalry on the far side has got past the rough ground on their left and is trying to deploy. The Swedish cavalry by the field, however, had only just passed onto the open ground when they were charged by Estonian cavalry and routed. That was not part of the plan. The Cossacks across the stream, incidentally, never got any tempo, so sat and admired the view all game.

The Muscovite-Swedes had a poor morale dice throw to go along with the loss of the Swedish cavalry, and fell back. This meant that one of the Muscovite cavalry had to fall back through the rough going, which disrupted them. The victorious Estonian cavalry pursued. Some were stopped by a field boundary, but the general and his base careered on, deep into Muscovite lines. Now, if the Muscovites could only gain the tempo, he could be in trouble….

It was not to be. The Estonian general realised the danger, gained the tempo, and pulled his rallying cavalry back to the road. The Muscovite cavalry and the Swedish infantry pushed forward again. The Estonian cavalry from the hill charged down it and was bounced by the Muscovites, leaving them vulnerable, as seen above. The infantry around the village engaged in firefights. The Estonian general was demanding just one tempo point to finish the Muscovites, but also needed to pull back the bounced cavalry out of danger.

Again, the Muscovite tempo dice let them down. The Estonian general and his base charged the Swedish shot from behind, routing them, while another Estonian cavalry base hit another shot base on the flank, routing that too. In the meantime, the next Estonian cavalry base in the centre charged some Muscovite cavalry in the flank, while the general frantically tried to get up close to help.

The end was clearly in sight. Another poor morale roll had the Muscovites (there was only one Swedish base left now) falling back again, while the Estonian cavalry in the centre routed the base they had charged. Another fallback morale result meant that the Cossacks (top right) were more or less off the table. While morale was still relatively good and he had survived a general’s risk roll, the Muscovite general decided to quit while he still had an army and ordered a retreat.

Up until now, I have largely managed to ignore the effects of lumps of terrain on the battlefield. That is not quite correct, of course, but the impact has been minimal. Not so with this action, and my rules now have copious scribbled notes about moving around, into and through terrain. The Muscovite-Swedes were considerably impacted by having a mainly cavalry army in dense terrain, and their attempts to manoeuvre around it were either moderately successful, in the case of the Muscovite cavalry by the stream, or disastrous, in the case of the Swedish cavalry on the left.

Still, it made for an interesting game, and Estonia is now, more or less, a free state again. The Swedes now have to face a revolt in Gotland with only a scratch army and a couple of guns.

1600 – Something: Muscovites at War

Those of you who have been paying attention will know that the next action is a Muscovite civil war in the province of Muscovy itself. This arose, in part, from a winter rule change. It came to my attention, while perusing the diplomatic table, that several states were in a state of internal warfare, that is, the diplomatic score on the diagonal (so, the state’s relation with itself) was a one. Never being one to pass up the opportunity for a wargame, I decided that such states should roll each year to see if armed conflict had broken out.

There were a number of states in this perilous situation in the winter of 1605-6, and dice rolls were made appropriately for all of them. The only one which failed the roll was the Muscovites. You may recall that a Muscovite civil war was the subject of the first action in the campaign. As it happens, the internal tensions in Muscovy have never been resolved, and now the dice dictate a second go.

The government forces have the basic Muscovite force, six bases of cavalry, two mounted Cossack light horse, two streltsi shot, one Cossack shot and one Cossack spears. The foot Cossacks are not the classic Cossacks whom we normally think of, but urban dwellers. The rebels drew for their army, and got six bases of horse, two light horse, three bases of streltsi and a base of Cossack shot. So, fairly evenly matched, I thought.

The terrain was a bit interesting for the action. On the far side, there is a river, and the government forces are deployed on the left. Their lines are a bit broken up by woods, and on the near side, where their baggage is, is a hill, on the front face of which the streltsi are deployed. The cavalry is in the centre, and the foot Cossacks are on their left, between the wood and a marsh. This was a late deployment to block any attempted outflanking manoeuvre by the rebel horse.

The rebels deployed their baggage in the relative safety of the far side of the stream and put their shot on their left. They did, indeed, intend to outflank the government forces along the river, while hoping to keep the government cavalry at bay with firepower.

As you can see, the plans developed. The government streltsi advanced off their hill and are exchanging potshots with the rebels. On the far side, rebel cavalry is advancing along the river, while in the centre, the government Cossacks have been taking a gentle pounding by the rebels and are in some disarray.

A few moves later, and the rebel right centre cavalry has advanced into the government Cossacks, routing one base and driving the other back. Meanwhile, on the rebel left, the government streltsi are disrupting their rebel counterparts. On the far side, the rebel outflanking cavalry has come into contact with the urban Cossacks.

It all came to a head quite quickly. On the government's left, the rebel cavalry charged home and hit the infantry quite hard, but did not rout them. On the government centre left, the cavalry has charged home against the rebels, again causing damage but not destroying them. The possibilities are still open. If the rebel outflanking force can break through quickly, then the government's rear, baggage train, and the rest of the foot could be vulnerable. On the other hand, the loss of the rebels’ main force cavalry could be devastating to them. It was all down to the timing.

As things developed, the pendulum started to swing in favour of the government. On the far side, the urban Cossack shot were routed, but the spears put up a much stouter resistance, seeing off one of the charging cavalry and, at present, holding off the reserve cavalry who have charged in. The remaining government mounted Cossacks have been dispatched to help out, as, under the rules, bases under fire cannot rally.

In the centre, two bases of rebel cavalry have fled, pursued by government forces. A rebel attempt to outflank and trap a government cavalry base using a Cossack base has failed. On the other hand, the government moved up the rest of their cavalry in the hope of smashing the streltsi, but good shooting from the rebel foot has disrupted their formation. On the other hand, the government streltsi have hit the rebel foot with a recoil. You can just see the recoil base by the general.

Ah, yes, exactly. The rebel general, having been attached to a recoiled base, has to throw on the risk to leaders chart. It should not be a problem; anything but a six will do. However, this being Muscovites, I am sure you know what happened. The rebel general bit the dust.

That was not quite that, as the rebels managed to keep fighting for another turn or so. The reserve cavalry of the outflanking force managed to inflict damage on the urban Cossacks, but were themselves bounced. The remaining rebel cavalry in the centre was routed, while the rest of the centre degenerated into a long-range firefight.

However, the outflanking cavalry was badly disrupted, and the loss of the final central cavalry base was too much for the rebel morale, and it slumped to withdraw. The loss of the general, which was, to say the least, unfortunate, was just too much.

Wargames including the Muscovites, often turn out to be quite fast and fun, and this was no exception. The key here was the speed (or lack of it) of the outflanking force. They could not deploy fully due to the terrain, and while the shot were routed, the Cossack spears just about held out, delaying and blunting the effect of the outflanking manoeuvre. In the centre, the government could not exploit their local superiority much, but did enough to defeat the remaining rebel cavalry and, through shooting down the general, win the game.

So, I will need to decide whether the rebellion continues or not, but that is for next turn. The next action is another consequence of rule changes and also subversive French diplomacy, which has echoes even further west.

1600 – Something: The General's Gamble

The next action in the Spring 1606 turn was, again, in South-East Asia. This was a little more complex than usual and needed a bit of checking on recent moves. The Laotian main army had, in fact, just moved into Luang Prabang, so it was not available to support the garrison of Vientiane when the Vietnamese army arrived. You might object that the Vietnamese were engaged this turn in defending Dai Viet from rogue Burmese invaders, but that was a local defence force, not the main army, which moved from Dai Viet as its regular turn.

As the Laotian garrison no longer had an army in the province, I decided to permit it to become an army and oppose the Vietnamese. Thus, we have both forces with their ‘normal’ 12 base lists. This gave the Laotians, the defenders, an elephant and general base, a cavalry base, eight tribal foot, and two bow bases. The Vietnamese have a little flexibility in their list, and this time came up with two elephant bases, one of which was the general, two cavalry bases, three bow bases, three blade bases, and two skirmishers. As noted before, the skirmishers seem to be a bit of a weak point in this army, and I had some thinking to do to ensure they were firstly safe and secondly, possibly useful.

The setup is above. On the left, the Laotians have, after some consideration, put a base of archers in the village on the far side, along with their cavalry. The other archers are holding the fields on the near side. In between, the tribal foot is in two blocks, along with the general. The idea was to let the Vietnamese come to them, and then hit them with the tribal foot.

The river caused the Vietnamese even more head scratching. As the road crossed the river, I diced for whether it was a ford or a bridge and, somewhat unusually, came up with a bridge. This means that troops in march column are not disrupted by crossing the terrain. After a bit of thinking about it, I put the Vietnamese cavalry and skirmishers on the road, with the infantry and elephants already across the river on their left.

The Vietnamese deployment actually arises from the battle set-up rules I have devised, where the defenders can set up 15” from their baseline, and the attackers 10” from theirs. Thus, the Vietnamese left is across the river, while the right is not. I toyed with the idea of deploying the Laotians at their limit, but they would only have had a toe hold on the hill in the foreground, and might have been vulnerable in the fields in the centre, so I pulled them back.

Both sides were fairly cagey in the opening moves. As planned, the Vietnamese cavalry and skirmishers crossed the bridge, and the cavalry have deployed, facing their Laotian opposite numbers. The skirmishers are moving towards the centre, in the hope of becoming flanking overlaps for any combat there. In the centre, the Vietnamese foot has advanced, and have just placed their archers at slightly less risk in the central field. On the near side, the general has taken control of the main infantry block and is reorganising it, so the blades face the tribal foot.

The Laotians were a bit hamstrung by poor tempo dice rolls, but mainly because they did not really want to move the tribal foot forward very far. Tribal foot are a one-shot weapon, and you need to harbour them until the decisive moment.

Eventually, it started to come to a head. The Laotians moved their central tribal foot into charge range, and the right-hand column went home, pushing back the Vietnamese blades. The other column refused to charge the elephant base initially. The Laotian general also took control of the right flank tribal foot and moved them up against the Vietnamese on the hill.

In the second round of combat, the Vietnamese blades got lucky and recoiled the tribal foot, while the other column in the centre got its courage and charged home, only to be bounced by the elephants. So, that attack was a lot less successful than had been hoped. In the foreground, you can see a base of Vietnamese bow sneaking past the field, while their compatriots keep the Laotians in the field engaged. This was a cunning outflanking plan the Vietnamese general had come up with, which also had the advantage of keeping the bows out of range of the tribal foot.

The second crunch point came when the Laotian general and his tribal foot attempted to charge the Vietnamese on the hill. The foot, perhaps sensibly, refused to go uphill against blades. The general, with more heroism than sense, did charge, and, indeed, recoiled the enemy general, who survived the risk to general roll. However, on the next turn, the Vietnamese won the tempo and had one tempo point left. So they turned a base of blades against the Laotian general’s flank. Only a recoil was needed, and was duly obtained, and the Laotians became general-less.

In the foreground, the Vietnamese archers have opened fire against the Laotian camp and killed a base of it. This is bad news for the Laotians, as they are now 6 morale points (out of 12) down. They managed to survive with a waver, but the writing was on the wall.

It did not, perhaps mercifully for the Laotians, go on much longer. The Vietnamese archers in the central field plastered the shaken tribal foot with arrows, which firstly shook them, and then, as seen above, routed them. The archers attacking the Laotian camp drove off the rest of the camp followers, while the Vietnamese cavalry and skirmishers started to lumber into action. However, the end-of-turn Laotian morale roll came up ‘rout’, so that was the end of the game.

Strategically, the Vietnamese have now conquered the Laotian home province, although the Laotian army in Luang Prabang next door may have some comments to make about that in due course. Still, the Vietnamese managed to win the battle, due to their firepower, my misplacement of the Laptian camp (I thought it would be safe enough in the corner), and the staying power of blades and elephants against tribal foot. The Vietnamese were a bit lucky, really, in that I decided, as Laotian commander, to fight well within my deployment zone rather than at the front edge, and the Laotians were slow to respond anyway.

Still, onwards! The next action in the campaign move is a Muscovite civil war. India is still a bit quiet, but I dare say it will liven up in a few months time...