1600 Something – The Raiders

Something that I think is quite useful in a solo wargame campaign is random events. This is probably not news to anyone. After all, in a multi-player campaign, they can prove to be annoyances, distractions, and general amusement. In a solo game, they can equally stir things up and, on occasion, bring forward wargame match-ups that you might not otherwise have considered.

The latest 1600 wargame is a case in point. I got around to rolling the random event (which should have been done at the start of the Spring 1602 move, but on a continent as big as Europe, it probably does not matter much). I rolled an event, and the card draw gave ‘raids’. Now, when I drew up the rules and tables, I had in mind a number of things, particularly trying to avoid the ‘flank power’ effect, where two of the states have unassailable areas, while the rest do not. In most games set in and around Europe, the flank powers are, as they were historically, Russia and England (or Britain).

To avoid this, the raid random event could strike at any of the peripheral provinces. The raiders could be Taureg, Barbary Corsairs, Bedouin, Persians, Tartars, or Siberian tribesmen. As it happens, I rolled up the Siberian tribes, and they were to raid Novgorod. This is all controlled by dice rolls.

All well and good. My trusty old DBR army list was consulted, and it would seem that the westernmost Siberian tribe was the Komi, although the notes say that they were mostly subdued by 1600. The tribe, according to the lists, was mostly bows and war bands, which translates into my rules system as tribal foot.

Now, there is a slight problem here, and the wargame purist might like to look away (or skip to the next post, which is about a nice, safe topic, rebasing). This is because I do not have any figures for Siberian tribesmen, let alone Komi specifically. As far as I know (which is not very far, admittedly) there are no manufacturers of such figures in existence. I will, probably, sit corrected (and am very happy to do so on this) but they certainly do not exist in 1:300th scale.

It is a bit of a shame, I think, that there is such a dearth of figures for the Cossack campaigns which fanned out across Siberia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, especially with the preponderance of skirmish-level wargames these days. Small parties of cossacks taking on the locals should give a good game, I would think.

Still, I have a local Muscovite army of seven cavalry bases, three light horse cossacks, a base of skirmishers, and one of streltsi. The Komi had six bases of bows and six of tribal foot. Given that both parties are what are described in the rules as ‘local’ forces, they were determined by a card draw.

For the figures I have, of course, my Muscovites, who have been out in this campaign before. For the Komi, however, you might think I have a problem, which I do, but I had already decided on my plan: Aztecs. As you might recall, the Aztecs have already been rebased and, as they do not get onto the table very much, they were agreeable to becoming Western Eurasians for an afternoon or so.

I rolled up quite a dense terrain for this encounter. The Komi are to the left, in possession of the village. The main body of tribal foot is deployed in and around it, with archers on the hills, and also deployed in the woods on the far side. The Muscovites, being mostly cavalry, deployed that on their right, planning to cross the stream and outflank the Komi, while the foot deployed in the fields.

As the action developed, the cossacks crossed the stream and took on the Komi archers in the wood. They did not do too well. The Komi archers on the hills advanced to take on the outnumbered Muscovite foot. You can see the skirmishers fleeing by the wood to the right, but one archer base has been lost, and the rest of the Komi foot has been dislocated. Meanwhile, the Muscovite cavalry is across the stream and reorganising.

Examining the situation, the Muscovite general decided that a wider encircling movement was necessary, and sent it off, led by some Cossack. The Komi, too, were reorganising, pulling back their archers and moving tribal foot across onto the hills to meet what looked like an attack in the rear, which was going to develop. The Muscovites could not take route one, between the village and the trees, for fear of either being charged from the village or getting shot up from the woods.

Advances and reorganisations continued. The streltsi attempted to advance from the fields and were driven back by the Komi archers on the hill, while their supporting cavalry failed to charge. On the off chance, the Muscovites were starting to deploy their main body of cavalry, as the Komi would certainly need to weaken their flank to defend the hills.

The crunch came sooner than I was expecting. The Muscovite flank or rear advance is only about halfway to its destination, but the main body of Muscovite cavalry has charged some Komi uphill. This really should not have worked, but it did on the first really good Muscovite combat roll of the game. The tribal foot was charged, crumbled, and fled easily. The centre of the Komi position was blown wide open.

Komi morale did not survive the impact of the Muscovite charge. Morale slumped to 1, and they withdrew. I do not, I’m afraid, give much for their chances of getting away. There are a lot of Muscovite cavalry wandering around already.

As I said earlier, that was interesting, a historical match-up (sort of). Tactically, it put an almost entirely cavalry army against a bow-armed foot one. I thought it was going to be a long, attritional slog, but a bit of chance-grabbing by the Muscovites handed them victory.

The game really has little bearing on the campaign, as local forces were engaged, and so no adjustments to the GOOS score or anything else are necessary. As a wargam,e it was an interesting match-up. And how do you think the Aztecs did as Siberian tribesmen?

1600-Something: The Late General’s Battle

The situation in Europe is slowly heating up. More forces are being raised, especially in the north, where Sweden is going to have to do something dramatic soon or run out of money. It is further west that attention is currently focused, however, as the Spanish raised a new army and placed it in Franche-Comte. The French, as had previously been noted, have been busily raising armies, and so this, which could be construed as a defensive measure by the Spanish (Franche-Comte is, after all, a home province for them) was bound to irritate the rather active and bellicose French King (who, historically, would be Henri IV).

As the French, in Spring 1602, got a move card, and the diplomacy route between the two countries failed, due to their differing strategic aims, the French invaded. I was a bit shocked when I discovered that the Spanish army was isolated, while the French had support. Oh, OK, so a single Spanish army is to take on one and a half French armies. This already sounds like it might end badly.

Never one to shirk a wargame, however, the army lists were duly drawn up, the terrain rolled for, and the armies deployed. I could say that the terrain was favourable to the Spanish, but that would be an exaggeration. It could have been worse, would be, I think, nearer the mark.

The deployment is above, with the Spanish to the left. They have 4 pike, 4 shot, 3 demi-lancers, and a base of light horse. The foot are deployed on a hill, with the forward unit on the top of the slope, the other unit in reserve on the top. The cavalry are deployed on the left, under the general, with the idea of resisting any attempt to outflank the foot on that side. The light horse are to do the same job on the right. Now, there’s optimism for you.

The French plan was fairly simple. They would use their cavalry advantage to wipe out the Spanish lancers, and then outflank the hill on both sides, both infantry and cavalry cooperating. To this end, the general was deployed with the cavalry, while the sub-general had command of the foot on the French left, nearest the camera. The French deployed their cavalry in two groups, one in line with 3 bases to be the immediate opponents of the Spanish, and then the other two bases in column near the village, to be the reserves who mop up the victorious chargers. Well, it worked for the Muscovites a game or two ago.

With a bit of a feast of tempo points, the French surged forward, getting everyone moving, as seen above. The main cavalry strike force is getting into position, and the infantry on the near side is looking rather bulky against the comparatively slight Spanish on the hill. A lot would depend on the cavalry clash, and the French reserve cavalry are moving up in anticipation of demi-lancer for lunch.

I really thought the Spanish were going to lose this one. The initial chance of a charge at the French cavalry was missed. The French had the tempo and moved into range; the Spanish fluffed their charge roll. Next turn, the Spanish won the tempo and declared another charge. They made it this time, just, and the results are seen above. One French base routed, two others shaken, and the Spanish pushing on.

At this point, my camera battery expired, so you’ll just have to believe the next bit. The cavalry combat went the Spanish way the next turn, and the French cavalry fled. This included the general, whose risk roll indicated he was a casualty. Humbug. As the Spanish spread out pursuing the fleeing French, the latter did not have the tempo to bring their reserves into the action. Not only that, but French morale wavered, losing all units their current orders. More humbug.

The French sub-general managed to get some of his foot (the red coats) moving forward again and engaged in a firefight with the Spanish on the hill. Meanwhile, the Spanish lancers were rallying on the far side of the field, unmolested by the now orderless French right. The French were having tempo trouble, as one usually has when the general has been lost, and were not doing as well as they could in the firefight.

Things only got worse for the French. The Spanish infantry on the hill attacked downhill. The leftmost musketeers caused their foes to recoil. The pike in two ranks pushed back the French pike and, worst of all for the French, the right flank Spanish shot routed their opposition. This latter included the French sub-general, who had to roll for his risk as well and, inevitably, perhaps, became a casualty.

The end of the battle is above. The Spanish foot are advancing down their hill, while the remnants of the red coats flee. The coup de grâce was actually administered by the Spanish general and his lancers, who trotted up to the French carabiniers marooned without orders by the village, took them in flank, and routed them. This was too much for French morale, and they withdrew.

That was, to say the least, unexpected. After the last Bavarian against Austrian affair, I thought the Spanish were toast, especially after they failed the first charge attempt. They were in a far worse defensive position for one thing, and the forces facing them were more balanced and outnumbered them in almost every department.

Mind you, it was, I think, the first time my French millers had been on the table (slightly anachronistic, maybe, but really, why not?). Given the recent performance of the Bavarian cuirassiers, I suppose it should not be a surprise.

Still, Europe is now agog over the Franco-Spanish war and wondering what it might mean that the French have received an unexpected setback. I wonder as well. Obviously, the Spanish GOOS score will have improved, and one of their main war aims is to maintain the Spanish Road from Italy to the Netherlands. So far, so good….

1600 – Something: Austrians and Bavarians Again

 

While the Austrians won the last battle (they must have done, their GOOS score was boosted by 5% while the Bavarians lost 10%), the wargame was really indecisive. It was, I suppose, a tactical victory for the Austrians and had distinctly weakened the Bavarian army, but as the latter chose to withdraw, rather than being forced to by a morale roll, it was still an extant, potent force on the campaign map.

This led to some head scratching, which is what campaigns are for. How would the two sides react? The Summer 1601 move saw some interesting action – the French ensuring they did not collapse into civil war, for example, and the Ottoman army heading vaguely towards Poland, but the main action focused on Bavaria. Both sides passed the initiative rolls, and both sides drew a ‘move’ card.

With all the resignation appropriate to a wargamer who has another encounter on his hands (i.e. not much), I had to decide how to set this one up. Given the casualties on the Bavarian side, I decided that they would have a 12-base army, while the Austrians would maintain 18 bases. The Bavarians would be on the defensive, however.

Doing the calculations, it turned out that the Bavarian army was still a potent cavalry force, having five bases to the Austrian four. The Bavarian cavalry is being played by Baccus cuirassiers, by the way, who never seem to win a wargame. The somewhat scrappier Irregular armoured cavalry, who are their normal opponents, always seem to have the upper hand. In infantry, the Austrians maintained 12 bases (3 regiments) and their Croat light horse, while the Bavarians had two regiments of foot and one base of light horse.

I was hoping for some terrain that the Bavarians could actually defend, and the photograph above shows that they smiled upon the Bavarians, albeit just. The Bavarian baseline is actually on the right, but I decided to cluster them behind the stream (except the light horse), defending a ridge running from the left of the blue-coated foot to the edge of the table. The second regiment of foot defended the stream, along with some cavalry protecting the ford. The rest of the cavalry was on the top of the ridge, except for the light horse thrown forward over the stream. The cavalry were, basically to smash anything that got across the stream or overwhelmed the blue coats.

The Austrians went wide. The plan was to pin every Bavarian unit in place, and then use the extra infantry to force a passage across the stream, or up the ridge, or wherever it could be forced. To this end, the cavalry on the far left was to advance towards the ford, while the infantry next to them was to pin the Bavarian foot on the stream. The two regiments of foot on the near side were to enter the wood and open fire on the Bavarians on the hill, with their right protected by the rest of the cavalry. The extra foot, hopefully protected by everyone else, was to cross the stream and overwhelm whatever was in front of them.

Both the plans sort of worked, to a point. The picture shows that the Austrian right and centre have become, basically, a firefight. The outnumbered Bavarian light horse is holding their own against the Croats, and the extra red-coated Austrian foot in the centre is having some difficulty crossing the stream. On the extreme Austrian right, some cavalry is moving up to support the foot, as the sub-general in charge on this flank has a cunning plan to utilise all his firepower, rather than just half of it as at present.

As seen above, the crunch point approached. The sub-general’s cunning plan is to deploy musketeers on his further flanks, concentrating firepower on the blue coats. This has started to drive them back and, actually, given them a bit of spare firepower to disrupt some cuirassiers too. Those cuirassiers have not charged because the general knows full well that the next bound they would get counter-charged by the Austrians and, in all probability, routed. This is not in the Bavarian game plan.

You can also see that the Austrian red coats in the centre have ( or are) forded the stream. This was in the Bavarian game plan, and the cuirassiers on the ridge should have charged home and put them to the sword. Inexplicably, this did not happen (a rubbish dice roll, of course).

The redcoats were able to form up on the Bavarian side of the stream and attack the Bavarian infantry up the hill, led by their general. The cuirassiers on the hill refused to charge again, while the Austrian horse nearest to the camera charged home and inflicted considerable damage on the Bavarians there.

The afternoon did not get any better for the Bavarians. They lost the base of cavalry nearest the camera and the blue-coated musketeers, and morale went to fall back. The light horse was hit hard by their Austrian counterparts, and the Austrian infantry attacked the blue-coated pike in flank, routing them as well. The rest of the Austrian foot on this flank were now emerging from the wood, a daunting prospect for the rest of the Bavarian army.

This was all too much for the Bavarians, and their morale went to withdraw mode, so they did, officially this time. The Austrian plan had worked, to pin and overwhelm, even though it has to be admitted that they were extremely lucky not to get charged downhill while in disorder by the cuirassiers. But the luck (or lack of it) of those Baccus cuirassiers seems to have struck again.

Strategically, this gives me another problem, of course. The Bavarians, from their two forces, have now lost 9 bases (out of 24), and some of those are in garrison. They cannot really face the Austrians on the open field again, so where are they going to withdraw to this time? Crossing one of the frontiers would only arouse the wrath of the locals, especially as their GOOS score will take another hit. Perhaps their best course would be to sue for peace, disbanding the extra army they raised, which caused the invasion and promising to keep the peace of the Empire.

1600 Something – Bavarians and Austrians

Politics, we may say, is a strange business conducted by rather odd people. This might be true now (the reader can establish that for themselves by perusing their local news feeds), but is certainly true of the past. The 1600 campaign has now proceeded to Spring 1601, and strange things are afoot diplomatically.

Now, it has to be admitted that the campaign is set up for things to evolve quite slowly. The initial density of armed forces is quite low, and in many places in Europe, they are far apart. Not only that, but with initiative rolls to do anything between 40 and 85%, and only a one in four chance then of moving a military force, things are going to be slow.

Still, the first central European crisis of the game has arrived. The Bavarians, for reasons best known to themselves, raised a second army in Winter 1600. That is, of course, all fine and dandy, except that they cannot afford to support two armies, having only one province, Bavaria itself. From the point of view of the Holy Roman Empire, this looks a bit suspicious. Austria (the said HRE, of course) has just raised a second army in Bohemia and, being a large empire, can certainly afford it. On the other hand, armies sitting around with nothing to do are a bit of a menace to all and sundry.

The round of diplomacy in Spring 1601 did not help. The Austrians attempted to subvert the Palatine away from their friendship with Bavaria, and that did not work, but further raised suspicions. After all, one of the routes to Bavarian expansion is via the Upper Palatinate. A round of general Bavarian diplomacy did not assist either, as the Austrian view of Bavaria slumped to hostility, while the Bavarian view of Austria was hostile.

At this point, the Emperor stepped in. Another initiative roll indicated that military action was viable, and so a punitive force was dispatched from Austria into Bavaria, supported by the new army in Bohemia. The Austrian objective was to maintain the peace of the Empire by preventing the Bavarians from invading anywhere. The Bavarian forces, an army and a garrison, came to meet them, and so the second battle of the campaign came to pass.

Given that the Austrians had a supporting army and the Bavarians had a supporting garrison, both armies could deploy 18 bases to the battlefield. After I had some fun in drawing up the army lists, the Bavarians had 8 cavalry, a light horse, 6 shot, and 3 pike bases. The Austrians had 4 cavalry, 2 light horse, 8 shot, and four pike bases. I went, rightly or wrongly, for one cavalry-heavy army and one foot-heavy.

In the picture, the Bavarians are to the left, with their cuirassiers deployed on their left (far side) and the infantry to the right. The idea was that the cuirassiers would hold off and smash away at the Austrian foot in front of them while the foot outflanked the Austrians on the right. The Austrians simply deployed their infantry advantage in depth, with a back row of cavalry as the final reserve.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I am not sure I have ever had a straight charge of cavalry onto formed up pike and shot foot under these rules. I thought it should be a reasonable match-up – 6 bases of cavalry in the front line of Bavarians, and 6 bases of pike’n’shot for the Austrians.

The initial trempo rolls for the Austrians were fairly awful, which allowed the cavalry to get up close and personal, although the Austrian light horse did get in the way a bit and disrupt the advance. However, for all the low-tempo dice rolls, the Austrian combat dice were hot, hot, hot. You can see that the cuirassiers on the far side have been bounced from their charge, with damage, and now being stationary, disrupted (2 terrain shaken markers – I forgot to put them out), and under musket fire. Hm. That went well.

The Austrians deployed their general with the redcoats on the far side and advanced aggressively against the Bavarian horse. As you can see, they routed two bases. You cannot see that the redcoat pike took another base in flank, and they too are destroyed. A morale check for the Bavarians indicated a fall back, so everyone dropped back, meaning that the infantry, who were far behind schedule anyway, were now even further behind.

The Bavarians were a bit flat-footed after that, despite the heroic efforts of their sub-general to reorganise his remaining cavalry into something that looked like a line. The Austrians, on the other hand, bought up their remaining foot and merged them with the existing front line, and put the second block under the command of their sub-general. They advanced against the remaining Bavarian cavalry and, as seen above, started to blow them away. The Austrians were, by now, busily ignoring the threat to their left flank caused by the advancing Bavarian foot, although the light cavalry had been deployed to try to slow it down a bit.

By this point, Bavarian morale, while holding up just about, was sagging a bit. After all, three-quarters of their cuirassiers had fled the field. While they were not beaten, I decided that a tactical retreat might be in order. It would take a while for the Austrians to redeploy their foot and bring their own cavalry up, so I thought it was best if the Bavarians disengaged to fight another day.

Well, that was interesting. I do not know, as yet, whether the Emperor’s point, about maintaining the peace of the Empire, has been made sufficiently for the Bavarians to disband one of their armies, or whether the Emperor will have to make some further noise. On the other hand, Munich is occupied by a garrison, and the Emperor does not, at present, have a siege train, so starving the Bavarians out is the only option open at the moment. Also, I am not sure what the Bavarian field army will do. It could cross into Wurtemburg anyway, which is what the Emperor was trying to prevent, or, having not actually technically lost the battle, it could hang around in Bavaria and see what happens.

So, things have got interestingly complex already.

1600-Something: The Muscovite Civil War

For reasons of current events and general mayhem in the world, I have, I think, somewhat shied away from wargaming involving Russia in the last few years. This is probably highly irrational. After all, events of hundreds of years ago cannot really have that much impact today (an arguable statement if ever there were one), and, further, a fictionalised wargame of such events can have even less relevance. Still, who needs to be truly rational?

However, with my megalomanic trends as outlined last week, it is impossible to run a game set in Europe without involving the flank powers, and so Muscovy appears on the easternmost edge of the map. It is, of course, rather small and weak, as indeed was the case in 1600 – it was regarded in England as being exotic. On the other hand, I suppose England was regarded as being rather exotic from the point of view of the Baltic.

Still, Muscovy is in the game, and as I indicated last week, the country, while undertaking a diplomacy drive, collapsed into civil war. The rationale I have put forward for this is a dispute at the Tsar’s court over foreign influence. I am not sure which side is which, but we now have a wargame on our hands between two Muscovite forces. I even managed to dig out some Eastern European buildings.

The field was open and a bit rolling, with a few hills around. The near side edge is the government baseline, and their infantry on the left is deployed on a hill. The rebel Cossacks are also on a hill on the right. There was a fair bit of hesitation on both sides about starting the action (a lack of tempo points for both generals), but the light troops are getting stuck in on the government right, while the cavalry and infantry are slowly advancing.

The way the rules work, like the rest of the Polemarch family, at least as far as I have seen them, it can be important in cavalry battle to get the drop, that is, seize the tempo, and charge first. This was true here, but it did have, as we shall see, a bit of a twist in the tail.

Above, the rebel cavalry has got the drop on the government and routed two bases in the charge and subsequent combat. However, the five rebel cavalry bases have used three to rout two government bases. In the centre, you can see that the government has two shaken bases just about holding out, and two unengaged bases, confronting the rebel infantry. The government infantry, meanwhile, is moving into position against the rebels, and a firefight is breaking out.

A move or two later, and the rebels have routed another base of government cavalry, although the pursuers are becoming quite scattered. One of the pursuing bases was looking like it was going to hit the cossacks, but some accurate fire from the latter gentlemen dissuaded them from that idea, and they swerved past instead. The government Cossack, incidentally, did rather well, outnumbered, against their opponents.

It was that scattering that was the problem for the rebels, along with the infantry assault on their right. The government, having general and some cavalry in hand, firstly rescued one of the bases in trouble with a flank attack. They followed this up by moving two cavalry bases across to the centre and taking on the scattered rebel horse. This was rather successful, as charging bases in the rear tends to be. You can see some of the hitherto successful rebel cavalry routing at the bottom of the photograph, while some others are under pressure from the government general and his base of horse. The rebel general survived all this and is currently wandering around in the middle of the field looking for some troops to command.

The infantry tussle to the top left of the picture is also going the government’s way, with the flanking streltsi and ‘Cossack’ pike taking out a couple of bases themselves. Overall, this was a bit too much for the rebel morale, although with a decent morale dice roll, they went to a withdraw instead of a rout status.

Losses were fairly significant on both sides. The rebels lost 3 cavalry and 3 infantry, the government 3 cavalry bases. In the campaign, the idea is that I keep track of battlefield losses (as in the DBA campaign), so replacements for extant armies only occur in the winter turn, and then at one base a year. On the other hand, countries can raise new forces if they can afford them.

Still, that was a rather good wargame. After a few moves, I was fairly convinced that the rebels would win it, having smashed the government centre. As with Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, however, that only went so far. The rebel cavalry was used in total, while the government had a couple of bases uninvolved. These were able to pick off the now scattered rebel cavalry, while the infantry, having been set up to have an advantage over their opposite numbers, made good on the promise. The idea of keeping a cavalry reserve is growing in popularity.

In terms of the campaign, the Muscovite GOOS score has, of course, gone up, but the rebellion is not quite over. A bit depends on how the surrounding powers – Sweden and Poland, maybe the Ottomans – react, and, of course, whether the increased Muscovite GOOS score convinces the rebels that God is not with them.

In other news, the Elector Palatine managed to fumble his initiative roll and got an assassination result. He survived the attempt, but the question is now ‘who ordered it?’ Looking across the diplomatic table reveals a number of possible foreign powers who could have sponsored it, with the dice rolling finger pointing at France. It all looks like a decent diplomatic incident, if not a war, is brewing in Western Europe now as well.

So, a decent start to the campaign, with certainly enough to keep the creative juices going, even if most countries are striving to be on good terms with everyone else. I do not suppose that that will last, however, as some of the strategic aims distinctly clash. Which is the point of having them in the first place, of course.

Ancient Ends and New Beginnings

After the War of Stuart Succession, I had thought to do some ancients wargaming. I had the Roman invasion of Britain in mind, and mined my books for some ideas. As logged here, a couple of test games were conducted. But something did not feel quite right. I could not put my finger on it.

The ancients have always been a bit of a sideline to my wargaming activities. I have, as I have said before, mostly been an early modern wargamer. The variety is fascinating, and the world was just becoming global. There are lots of opportunities from near-stone-age civilisations to those which look roughly like modern states. So I struggled with the ancients setup; it was too vague, too abstract, and, as the Estimable Mrs P said, my heart was not really in it.

Heck, this is supposed to be a hobby. The decision was not that hard. The ancients are abandoned. If anyone would like a collection of 6 mm Baccus ancient armies, or part thereof, make a comment to this post with your email address in it. I’ll not publish it, but I will reply, and we can discuss the options. I’d prefer UK-based wargamers, having had enough of tangling with HMRC for the moment. For the record, there are Greeks, Persians (both early and late), Macedonians and Successors, Indians, Pontic, Late Republican Romans, Early Imperial Romans, Celts, Dacians, Germans, Parthians, Moors, and Sarmatians. There is also a fleet of 1:3000th triremes and similar, and some Celtic roundhouses. Quite enough for someone augmenting their collections, or starting ancients from nowhere.

Now, for the new idea, which is actually something that has been floating around in my consciousness for years, nay decades, but has come a little more to the fore recently. Many years ago, in the early days of the Internet, I ran a play-by-email game set in 1618, which covered, initially, the whole of Europe and expanded to cover the Eurasian land mass. Ambitious, and it did work, but it got a bit oversized and eventually collapsed, not least because I couldn’t keep up with the administration, and because few people sent in orders.

I am not proposing to revive that game, but I am creating something that looks like a bit of a solo version of it. Firstly, of course, I needed a map. This took some drawing, given I wanted to go from Norway to North Africa and Portugal to the Urals, but I got there. Naturally, it had to be simplified quite a lot. Real maps of the period show a lot of detail in Germany, which bewildered most contemporaries, let alone modern wargamers who expect nice, neat boundaries. I used a couple or three boardgame maps I have around (Holy Roman Empire, Thirty Years War, and Machiavelli) to include some of the relationships between states and geography, and my previously developed (for the WoSS) ideas for land areas (mysteriously named ‘provinces’ in this game) and sea areas. Again, I have simplified significantly, but there is still a daunting quantity of detail there, and more could be added.

After a bit of thought, I did add some extra detail. Some more German states were added, such as Cleve, Mark, and Berg, which caused the 1610 crisis, as well as the Basque Country and Catalonia, given that they were much fought over in the Seventeenth Century. I could not quite find it in my heart to add in the Val Telline, vital though it was for the Spanish Road. There has to be some sort of a limit, doesn’t there?

Well, I am a wargamer, so I suppose the answer to the rhetorical question is ‘no’. But the whole idea of a wargame campaign is to have an excuse for some linked-up wargames, even if they are at opposite ends of the continent. I did, this time, draw the line at including India and the Far East. Firstly, I have just run campaigns in these areas – A Very Mogul Civil War, the Japanese Invasion of Korea, and the Burmese campaign – so I do not feel a particular need to include them at the moment. Secondly, these more easterly areas are conveniently buffered to the rest of the map via Persia, so they can be added on as I see fit, if I do so.

The final result, with some initial dispositions on it, is shown above, together with my scrawl down the left corner, which indicates which coloured pin refers to which country. The map is actually that of Summer 1600. You can see that some states have increased their military force, most notably the Swedes, who have created a fleet to augment their army in Gothland (white pins), and a rebellion in Catalonia (shorter green pin), which the Spanish fleet, originally based in Leon, is about to put down (by negotiation).

The running of the campaign is supposed to be simple and straightforward. I have built in some complexity, however, in that each major player has a set of strategic aims, such as keeping open the Spanish Road, or expanding at the expense of minor states, and so on. I have also introduced budgets, although it has to be admitted that sticking to a budget was not a hallmark of the early modern political entity. The threat of bankruptcy could keep rulers on their toes, however.

The above shows the paraphernalia needed to run the game. The map, my diplomatic table, notebook (campaign journal), rules, assorted dice and playing cards, and, somewhere off to the left, the treasury reports. Each player is controlled by their initiative dice; those who pass draw a card to determine their action.

As was more or less the case from a Europe exhausted by the previous set of wars, not much happened in 1600 (OK, the Spanish-Dutch war was very much ongoing in reality), the first two turns (spring and summer 1600) were quiet. Then, in autumn, the Muscovites launched a diplomatic initiative, which led to a lot of re-rolling on the diplomatic table. There must have been some factional infighting at court, however, as the Muscovite internal score slumped to one, and a civil war broke out.

So, the first excuse for a wargame, and it is two armies of Muscovites facing off against each other.

Second Test

I am still pondering an Ancient Britons against Romans campaign, and an idea is slowly forming, as a result of my ferreting in my library of books about Roman Britain. The problem is that most things about the Roman invasion are unknown, and more or less everything about the situation in Britain in, say, 40 AD is totally unknown. This does give a great deal of scope, of course, for the wargamer’s imagination, but aside from the fact that the invasion happened and was successful, and that there was at least one battle which the Romans won, the framework for a campaign is largely missing.

Still, nothing daunted, I reckoned that quite a lot of the purpose behind the Roman invasion was an intervention in local politics. There was unspecified unrest in the client kingdoms of Britain from around 40 AD. Given that there was also a Roman garrison of some sort in Fishbourne at the time (again, largely unspecified), there was some sort of Roman interest at stake, probably in trade. There is also a hint, although no more than that, that Caractacus was trying to extend his kingdom west, against other tribes.

Quite what all this means is, of course, open to speculation. But my wargamer imagination came up with an Ancient Briton clash, between the expansionist Green tribe (so named, imaginatively, after their dice colour) and the defending Reds. A bit of scribbling came up with a card draw system for the forces involved, as well as for ambushes.

The draw gave the Greens four tribal foot bases, four chariots, two light horse, and two skirmishers, while the Reds had five tribal foot, two skirmishers, three light horse, and two chariots. The Reds also had a number of potential ambush sites, given by the location of the playing cards on the table.

The picture shows the game after a few moves. The first potential ambush, from the rough going in the centre, has been triggered, but no ambush was found. The skirmisher base was there in deployment. The light troops are engaging in the centre, as seen, with skirmishers, light horse, and chariots all in the mix on both sides.

The aim of the Greens, to the left, was to sweep away the light troops on the other side and then assault the enemy tribal foot. The aim of the Reds was to skirmish manfully and hope the ambushes would do the trick. The final coup de grace, as it were, is to be administered by the tribal foot. This might seem to be a bit dependent on ambushes, and it is, but my vague idea was that I was playing the Greens.

As the lines closed, a number of things happened. The Greens detached their skirmishers from protecting the tribal foot and added their firepower to the skirmishing. This had its effect in routing one of the Red light horse bases, although one base of Green skirmishers also suffered. The Green chariots were suffering a bit from their Red counterparts. On the Green right, the ambush has been sprung with an extra three Red bases of light horse cantering into the fray. They have cantered a bit far, however, due to a lack of Red tempo to deploy them.

The ambushing light horse ran into deep trouble as they were charged by the Green light horse. Light horse and skirmishers can indeed charge under these rules, so long as it is either other light troops or flanks. This was both. As you can see, two of the Red light horse are already fleeing, and the other will not be far behind.

In the distance, you can see that the Red skirmish line is under pressure. Some of the bases have become disordered and are hence ‘fixed’. The base, which is shaken (green markers), will shortly rout. The other, which is disordered (lost its orders), is about to be contacted by the Green tribal foot and also routed. This is due to a lack of tempo for Red, which was a problem for them throughout the game.

The picture above shows the disintegration of the Red skirmish line on their right, as the rest of the light horse flee. The exchange between the chariots has more or less died down at this point, while the Green light horse has finished off the ambushers in the left foreground. Both sides paused to take breath here, and both general plans became ‘time to bring the infantry up’. Tempo lack meant that the Red troops were slow to respond.

The end of the game came when the Green tribal foot caught a base of Red chariots and routed them. The Reds had sprung their final two ambushes and come up with two bases of skirmishers in the village on the far side, but they were too late to affect the action. The tribal foot block had been, it seems, deployed too far from the action to make much difference, although a final burst of tempo points meant that most Red units were active. It was, however, too little, too late, and even with the increase of Reb bases due to the ambushes, a withdraw morale was thrown.

Well, that was interesting, and it is still a learning curve with this army. The skirmishing can go on for quite a long time and drains a lot of tempo (if you have the points). It can also be fairly destructive of your skirmishing troops. It also seems that having the tribal foot close behind your skirmish line is a good thing, as they can exploit any disruption your skirmishers have inflicted and, as with the Green skirmishers in this wargame, also provide a solid base for them to hide behind if things go pear-shaped.

The random army generation seemed to work quite nicely, and the ambush system threw up a few curveballs, as it should. The major problems the Reds had were the misplacement of their tribal foot and a lack of tempo points to control the skirmish battle. On the other hand, if they had managed to deploy the ambushing light horse, the outlook for the Green skirmish line might have been a bit bleaker.

Still, I am iterating towards some sort of campaign. A map might be necessary, at least an abstract one, and some rules on how to provoke the wrath of Rome...