As you might have noticed, the Spring 1606 campaign move has just finished. There is a little outstanding business, however. Firstly, the Muscovite / Swedish army, forced to retreat by the locals from Estonia, withdrew to Latvia. The Muscovites failed their GOOS score and so will face the wrath of the Latvian locals. At home, the Muscovite civil war continues. In other news, the Swedish civil war has ended, and the French army and train defeated in Burgundy has retreated to Champagne. The mutinous French army, which defeated them with Spanish help, has dispersed. Finally, the Burmese army which had invaded Vietnam dispersed, having lost its general.
There were a few other reactions to tie up. The Laotians reacted to their loss of Vientaine by raising an army there supported by their army in Liang Prabang. That will cause a battle with the occupying Vietnamese. Spain failed to engineer further dissent in France, while the Swedes raised an army in Gotland. And so to summer….
The summer move turned up further conflicts. The random events yielded a lucky country in the West having an economic surge (don’t spend it all at once) while the Koreans lost their fleet in the East to a naval disaster. In the round of initiative rolling, the French subverted the Basques into rebellion against Spain. The Muscovites moved into Smolensk and the Moguls moved to Oudh. The Vietnamese raised another army in Dai Viet, and the Japanese, taking advantage of the Korean disaster, moved their fleet into the Sea of Japan.
In the actual moves of military forces, the Spanish moved on Ile de France. In response to the Venetian request last move, the Ottomans moved on the Austrians in Bosnia. The Persians had another go at invading Mesopotamia, and the Siamese invaded Ngyren, the southern bit of Vietnam. So with the Muscovites and Latvians and the Spanish and Basques, we have seven wargames in the summer season.
If you have found that confusing, you are not alone. I have mentioned before that this was supposed to be quite a simple campaign mechanic, aimed at producing lots of linked wargames. It just goes to show that any simple system with a sufficient number of variables can quickly exhibit complex behaviour. But now we can focus on the wargames. Firstly, the Siamese invade Ngugyen province in Vietnam.
As the Vietnamese army is occupied elsewhere, the defending forces are a random local force. In this case, the Vietnamese field two elephant bases (one of which is the general), a cavalry, four bows, three bills, a skirmisher and a rocket. The Siamese consist of one elephant (the general), one cavalry, six tribal foot, two bows and two skirmishers.
The Vietnamese are to the left in the picture above, their aim being to hold the two gaps in the centre with bill and bow combinations, and wait to see what the Siamese did. The rocket in the centre is firing away happily, disrupting the Siamese tribal foot in the centre. The Siamese aim was to strike in the centre with the tribal foot each side of the central rough going, which will be occupied by the skirmishers.
The picture actually shows the action after several moves. The Siamese had the worst tempo rolls I have seen for a while. The general did not panic and rush the foremost tribal foot into action, but patiently got everyone else moving. He has just succeeded.
Things started to happen finally as the troops moved into range. The central Siamese tribal foot have been hit again by rocket fire and disrupted. One of the bases has charged some Vietnamese bows and routed them, however. In the foreground, the Siamese bows are exchanging shots with some Vietnamese, nervously eyeing the cavalry. On the far side the Siamese tribal foot are moving into position. They should be being aided and abetted by the skirmishers, but good shooting by the Vietnamese bows has put paid to that for the moment.
Assorted crises appeared across the front line. On the Siamese right the tribal foot, three deep, charged home. With appalling combat rolls they were bounced, being thrown into confusion. On the Siamese right the bills and bows attacked. The bows were hit by archery and halted, but the bills are making inroads into one of the bow bases. In the centre, the victorious Siamese tribal foot have decided to try to rally in front of the Vietnamese archers in the field, and are now in a bit of trouble.
The Siamese general, on his elephant, charged across his front line to save the badly shaken bowmen on his left. This was highly successful, and the Vietnamese billmen vaporised. On the other flank, the Vietnamese bills have advanced into the shaken tribal foot and are driving them back, while the bows have taken their toll on the skirmishers.
The end came on the Siamese right, as the tribal foot fled before the Vietnamese blades. The Vietnamese elephants started to advance on the Siamese centre, which is looking a bit vulnerable now the general is charging off towards the left flank. Siamese morale sank to ‘withdraw’, and the general, with the right gone, the left in some disarray and the centre looking weak, decided to do so.
Losses were close – three Siamese bases to two Vietnamese. But the important blows against the Siamese were the poor dice rolling, both in terms of tempo points and combat dice. Really, the tribal foot on the right should have done a lot better. On the other hand, the Vietnamese could have closed their elephants up towards the centre earlier and prevented their bills on the Siamese right from being charged in the flank. Mind you, two of the Siamese bases are within a recoil combat result of routing, and so getting out of trouble was probably the best option.
That was a slow-burning game, but the end was quick and fairly decisive. Next we have another action in South-East Asia, this time the Laotians trying to rid their land of Vietnamese invaders. Watch this space.
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