1600 – Something: Khmer Against Siam

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time will know that I am a bit partial to getting elephants onto the wargames table. Even in 6 mm scale, and with my painting, there is something noble and dangerous about a large animal charging around a battlefield. Of course, with the advent of firearms, elephants were much less used, as they cannot be trained to tolerate loud bangs (very wise, elephants), but around 1600, firearms had not made major inroads into South-East Asia.

Which brings us to the next action in the 1600 Something saga. In South-East Asia, the Khmer invaded Siam, and both armies had support. So the game was fixed at eighteen bases a side. After a bit of calculation, each side had 2 elephant bases, one of which was the general, 12 tribal foot bases, 2 cavalry and 2 bows. Each side could have dropped a cavalry base and added another bow, but both ‘decided’ to go for the extra horses.

Now, immediately, I had a problem. An investigation of the box containing South-East Asians indicated that only 9 bases of tribal foot were available. This is, of course, a legacy of the rebasing project, where the number of infantry bases was halved, and the number of figures on a base doubled. Even so, I could not have fielded two augmented armies under the old system.

While I may well obtain some more Siamese / Khmer / Burmese foot at some point in the near future, I do not want to bog the campaign down too badly, so some innovation was required. I have sufficient tribal foot for three-quarters of one side, and that was made up with Chinese blades, which are close enough. For the Siamese, I ranged a bit further afield, and the trusty Aztec foot was deployed. As you may recall, even after rebasing them (again), I have a fair few of them, and a dozen bases barely made a dent in the box contents.

The terrain was a bit of a pain, to be honest. The table, as seen above, was bisected by a river. In order for there to be a game at all, I decided that my usual view of rivers, that they be uncrossable except at a ford, needed to be modified, and so bases were permitted to ford the river under usual stream conditions, that is, not rolling a six and taking two terrain shaken markers upon emerging.

The Khmer are deployed to the left above, the cavalry on the far side, then the bulk of the tribal foot, the elephants, the bows and then the right flanking force of tribal foot. The plan was for the right to cross the river, reform, and then support the centre in crossing, and so on. The Siamese plan was, essentially, to fight on the riverbank, taking all possible advantage of the effect of the terrain.

The picture shows the plans developing. The Khmer right have forded the river and reformed, and are now facing some Siamese tribal foot who have moved over from the centre. In the distance, you can see the Khmer archers and elephants attempting to cross the river, while the Siamese archers and elephants have moved up to oppose them.

The Khmer right got the drop on their opponents in the foreground and routed half the Siamese tribal foot. However, the other half have staved off the assault, leaving the Khmer right only sort of victorious. In the centre, the archers are reforming after crossing the river, while the Siamese archers are busy disrupting the rest of the tribal foot.

The action in the centre was complex and confusing. You can see the Siamese have moved up some tribal foot to oppose the Khmer archers, while the Khmer elephants have attempted to cross the river. The general has driven back the Siamese archers, but the other base has been held on the riverbank. Meanwhile, more Khmer tribal foot are attempting to cross the river.

It did not get much more straightforward. In the foreground, you can see the rallied Khmer tribal foot and the sub-general about to take the remaining Siamese in the rear. This did not go well for the Siamese, of course. In the centre, the Khmer general has routed some archers, but the other elephants have been dispatched by the Siamese archers. The Siamese sub-general has brought up some more tribal foot to oppose the Khmer crossing, while the Siamese elephants lurk in the centre, looking menacing.

The next turn was a busy one. On the Khmer right (out of shot), the remaining Siamese tribal foot were eliminated. The Khmer archers stalled the advance of some more tribal foot. The Siamese sub-general charged his troops into the Khmer who had crossed the river and routed them. He was then taken in flank by the Khmer general on his elephant. Remarkably, however, the elephant was bounced as the Siamese foot rushed past in pursuit. At this point, Khmer morale turned a bit dodgy, so the army had to fall back (which is why the archers are in the middle of the river). On the far side, the rest of the Siamese foot has been bounced by the Khmer. As I said, there was a lot going on….

The end for the Khmer came when I realised that the Siamese general was within range of the rear of the Khmer general. While everyone else was busy running away, wondering what was going on, rallying, or, in the case of the Khmer right, desperately trying to get into the fight, the Khmer general was routed, and the Khmer army followed suit.

That was great fun as a wargame. With no firearms on the table, the action felt much like an ancients wargame, and, finally, the rebased Aztecs got a victory. I think, given the terrain, the Siamese got their tactics right. The Khmer should have waited longer before attempting to cross the river, so their right could have supported the centre. But the Khmer right was delayed by the Siamese right refusing to collapse as quickly as they would have liked.

Strategically, of course, the Khmer now have a problem, with no army left and a war with Siam to deal with. They will have to hope that the campaign gods have mercy on them, I think.

1600 – Something: Mongol Civil War

Those of you (is there anyone?) who have been following this campaign closely will recall that in Summer 1605 there were to be some ructions among the Mongol tribes, whose territories run along the northern edge of the map from Persia to the Jurchen. After some dice rolling and suitable pondering (and counting of territories) it was determined that the specific ruction was a Mongol civil war between two tribes in the province of Khalkha. If you do not know where Khalkha is, you can join the club. On my map, it is to the north-west of Mongolistan.

Now, as I observed before, my knowledge of political geography in early seventeenth-century Mongol territory is sadly lacking, so what follows is even more made up than usual. However, the region seems to have been really rather unstable, although, of course, the glory days of Mongols conquering everything, everywhere, from China to the Near East and Western Europe were long gone.

As this was a civil war, both sides were card drawn. I allotted Ace – 6 as light cavalry, 7 – Q as heavy cavalry and a King would be either militia or skirmishers. The defenders (side one) got 4 light cavalry, 6 heavy cavalry (hereafter simply cavalry) and two militia. I think their leader should give up on the fighting and take up poker, myself. The attackers (side two) got a standard army of 6 light cavalry bases and 6 cavalry bases.

The terrain is above, with the initial deployments. The defenders, who were dubbed the ‘White Sheep’ after their dice, are on the left. The camp is top left, on the top of a hill, defended by the militia. You’ll notice that the bases of these nomads are green. This is because I do not have sufficient Mongol figures for both sides, so the defenders got a hotchpotch of Chinese, Ottoman and Tartar figures. After some whining and a check that the footprint of the armies would not increase (i.e. that I have room in the boxes for some more), permission has been granted to obtain some more Mongols. But I think they will be on green bases to differentiate them from the others, as well as because the campaign rules permit hiring Mongols as mercenaries.

The attackers, the Black Sheep, are to the right, of course. The only other item of interest is the rough ground behind their centre. I realised the last time I had a wargame in a semi-arid region that I do not have any rough ground terrain, and so produced some just in time for this action. It is all polyfiller except for the scrub, and in my view, turned out quite nicely. It will certainly do the job. Anyway, the plan for the Black Sheep was to mask the centre and right and attack on the left.

The Black Sheep plan was implemented, as seen. It did not go quite as well as hoped, as the White Sheep light cavalry administered a bit of a thumping to their opposite number, even though they were outnumbered. On the far side, you can see the Black Sheep light cavalry in some disarray, while on the near side, while things are a little better, one base has been both shaken and recoiled.

I should note that the White Sheep tempo rolling was superb. They only lost the tempo once in the entire game, which does seem to give a bit of an edge in the light cavalry combat. Still, the Black Sheep kept on going, and on their left have started to force the White Sheep light cavalry back, while bringing the central cavalry into charge range of the White Sheep cavalry.

The point at which the White Sheep lost the tempo was, of course, the time the Black Sheep needed to win it to charge home. They did this successfully on the charge roll, but, as you can see, not initially as successfully on the first combat round. On the far side, you can see the light cavalry on both sides still plugging away, incidentally.

The cavalry combat nearest the camera eventually went the Black Sheep’s way, and the result is two Black Sheep bases rallying on the table edge while the third, which had a tougher fight, is about to pursue off said edge. The White Sheep survived the subsequent morale throw quite handsomely, and have turned their remaining light cavalry onto propping up the flank. I did wonder if the light cavalry could have been better occupied in harassing the victorious Black Sheep cavalry and preventing them from rallying, but I was also concerned that the Black Sheep light cavalry could disrupt the central cavalry block and open them to a disadvantageous charge.

After a bit of reorganisation, the Black Sheep left-wing cavalry returned to the fray. One base took out a light cavalry base, while on the far side, the Black Sheep lights scored their first success, routing another light cavalry base. The White Sheep morale slumped at this, and they fell back, which left their central cavalry to be flanked by the victorious Black Sheep cavalry, but which saved another light cavalry base from an untimely demise.

It could not go on much longer, of course. The first base of the central White Sheep cavalry was routed, although the heroic general turned the next base to stem the flow. However, although the morale throw indicated only another fallback result, the White Sheep general felt that the game was up, having lost 6 bases against none. He therefore gave the order to withdraw and sent out an offer of peace to the Black Sheep, along with a suggestion that they settle their differences over a game of cards.

That was a good game between slightly unequal sides. I expected the White Sheep to do a bit worse than they did, but the militia were hardly in action, and their light horse did very well considering they were outnumbered. The White Sheep were helped by their tempo rolling, which meant that the Black Sheep only rarely got sufficient tempo to move, let alone control the light cavalry battle. But in the end, the charge of the Black Sheep left wing clinched the day.

Next up is a supported Cambodian army against a supported Siamese army. Eighteen bases a side, and guess what, I do not have sufficient bases for this one, either.

Figure Substitution - The Reckoning

 Aside from all the tabletop action relating to the 1600 Something campaign, I have been pondering and, occasionally, doing other things wargame-related. The pondering is really further consideration of how far I am prepared to go to substitute figures for the ones I actually need to fulfil an army list requirements for an army.

Now, I am not an army list aficionado, although as my loyal reader will be aware, I do find them fairly useful on occasion. I have perpetrated a few army lists in my time, I admit, but I tend to treat them more as a guide than as a requirement. And, occasionally, I do suspect that they can simply be in error. This is inevitable, I think. History is like that, and the chroniclers of ancient wars were not writing for the Twenty-First Century wargamer.

Still, there are a few categories here which I can find in the substitution ranks. The first is where the figures simply do not exist. In this case, I think, anything which vaguely looks the part will do. In my case, as documented, Siberian tribes were played by Aztecs. I do not have a problem with this, and, if the situation arises again, I imagine the Aztecs will be deployed.

The second category is perhaps the more interesting, and I am facing it now in the campaign. I have on hand a Mongol civil war. Now, in my collection, I have a box carefully labelled ‘Central Asia’, and I know it contains Tibetans and Mongols. A quick base count revealed eight bases of light cavalry, ten bases of cavalry, two bases of militia, one base of skirmishing slings, and one base of Nepalese archers.

A delve back into my archives or the original 1618-Something army lists did show that, in fact, I do not seem to have had independent Mongol tribes. I am not sure exactly why not, but there you go. However, I did have a Tibetan army in the list, which consists of 8 cavalry, 4 militia, 2 archers and 2 skirmishers. Checking back with the DBR lists, this seems not unreasonable for a Tibetan 100 AP army.

Considering that the foot has been rebased to halve the number of bases, I can now see that the bulk of the cavalry, at least, are Tibetan, and a check of the Irregular 2 & 6 mm catalogue suggests that this is the case, except that some Mongol cavalry have been used for a bit of variety. After a bit of rejigging to actually conform a bit more closely to the DBR list and to my 12 base per army requirements, I came up with a list which reads: Tibetan: 8 Cv, 2 Mi, 1 Bw, 1 Sk or Bw.

Forgive the shorthand, but this indicates I have an army of 8 cavalry, 2 militia, an archer, and another archer or a skirmisher base. This fits with what is in the box, at least. How accurate it might be, I am really not sure, but it seems to be reasonable. Attempting to find out anything much about Tibet in the Seventeenth Century is a bit tricky, even with the Internet.

So, on to the Mongols. Looking back, I found a blog post here from several years ago, which was a one-off Tibetan against Mongols bash. The Tibetans were as per my original army list, while the Mongols had, of course, the light horse and some cavalry. From looking at the pictures and re-reading the text, I found that the cavalry on this occasion was Ming Chinese.

I had to confess to the Estimable Mrs P. that I had cheated with the Mongols the last time they were out. She looked with compassion on her temporarily deranged husband and pointed out that it was a hobby, and therefore did not matter that much. Fair enough. But my detective work still leaves me with a dilemma. Do I ‘need’ more Mongols?

The scare quotes are, of course, because a wargamer’s need is not the same as most of the population's need for food, housing and so on. With the ancients, I eventually decided on being able to put two armies on the table for each nation. This led to some fairly large armies, as we are talking 20 bases a side forces here, but it did work. I could then have Sarmatian civil wars and so on.

I am slowly starting to implement the same policy for the Early Moderns. For example, I am currently very slowly painting up another 6 bases of Japanese, so I can, in fact, deploy 24. I have also built up the Ming a bit, as well as the Koreans. The Western armies are already at and beyond the threshold, although some of the Eastern European forces, such as the Poles, might need a bit of reinforcement.

In the campaign, I have already had a Jurchen civil war action, with substitute forces, and now I am faced with a Mongol one. I can probably scrape together the forces; the basic army is 6 light cavalry and 6 cavalry, but I might be feeling a bit guilty about it. Is this rational?

Still, I suppose as a final flourish, you might be aware of a ‘why we write wargame blogs’ thing going around. Very interesting and varied reasons, I think. But the foregoing indicates another reason, and one which is partially why I started to write. The blog is a record of my activities, and I can look back to find out how I solved problems in the past. The Mongols and Tibetans is a case in point.

There is also, of course, the comment Donald Featherstone makes in Solo Wargaming, that a discouraged wargamer can look back at their journal (he was writing in a pre-Internet ages, of course) and recall the wargames of the past with a smile. I do not do this all the time, of course, but as I might have demonstrated above, it can be occasionally, and unexpectedly, useful.

1600 – Something: The Jurchen Raid

A busy weekend for half the Chez Polemarch team has left the wargaming section with enough time to undertake the next action from Summer 1605. As my reader might recall, this was a Jurchen raid on northern Korea. Presumably, Nurhaci had heard that the Korean army was otherwise occupied and decided to chance his arm. However, the Jurchen failed their GOOS roll and were opposed by a card-drawn Korean army.

The Jurchen deployed their usual seven bases of light horse and five of heavier cavalry. The Koreans drew a more random mix of 3 spear bases, 3 bow bases, a shot base, and five bases of cavalry. I imagine that the local commanders are used to facing Mongol raiders and bulked up on cavalry just in case.

The picture above shows the terrain and deployments. The Koreans are to the right, and have deployed the bulk of their infantry on the hill in the centre of the shot. The infantry reserve is in front of the baggage, about which some thought was given, as a major consideration was to keep it out of the hands of the Jurchen light cavalry. The Korean position on the hill is strong, but is certainly exposed to a flank attack on the Korean right, through the gap between the two lots of rough ground. Thus, most of the cavalry has been deployed covering this, with the rest in reserve under the general.

The Jurchen plan was, obviously, to move the heavy cavalry along the road at top speed, deploy and trounce the Koreans, supported by the light horse. The rest of the light horse was deployed to keep the Korean infantry amused and interested to their front. The Jurchen goal was, of course, the Korean baggage, which does look vulnerable.

The opening moves were innocent enough. As you can see above, the Jurchen cavalry has moved along the road and deployed. A bit of a lack of tempo points has meant that the supporting light horse is a bit delayed, and has only just forded the stream. In the foreground, the Korean infantry has traded shots with the Jurchen light cavalry, and the lights have come off a bit worse.

The scene was set for an extensive game of chicken on the Korean right. The light cavalry arrived and has set about trying to disrupt the Koreans, but themselves have suffered casualties from the cunningly concealed (not) Korean archers by the rough going. Meanwhile, the skirmish on the left is going slowly, and the Koreans have decided to pull their shot (which was shaken earlier in the game, but rallied) across to the other flank for some extra firepower support.

Things, as they say, happen. The Jurchen had to drop one of their cavalry off (it is behind the main line) in order to fit through the gap. That left the rightmost base to trot gently into the Korean archers. They recoiled the same easily, but then the Korean spearmen got a tempo point and turned onto their flank. Messy. The cavalry base is no more, and now the Jurchen have equal numbers of heavy cavalry to the Koreans, and a base of spearmen on the flank.

The slightly blurred image shows the cavalry confrontation. The Koreans advanced into the Jurchen light cavalry screen and threw it back, while the Korean infantry lurked menacingly on the flank. As Jurchen commander, there seemed little alternative but to put on his big boy pants and charge….

Well, that sort of worked. The Jurchen charge has driven back most of the Korean cavalry, but the shaken light cavalry has come under fire from the Korean infantry and, flanked, they have ceased to exist. Never mind, thought the Jurchen general, we’ve got the cavalry on the run.

Again, the Jurchen general was sort of right, and then again, wrong. Part of the Korean cavalry has broken and is exiting stage right. The next base along is being badly battered by their foes and surely won’t last much longer. But where, I hear you cry, is our hero, the nearly victorious Jurchen general?

If you look closely, dear reader, in the centre-ish of the picture, you will see a base of Korean cavalry with the general, and the Korean reserve cavalry at right angles to it. That is where the Jurchen general was. The Koreans got the drop on him again, and his base was destroyed. He had survived a previous dodgy moment, but his luck had run out. The Jurchen fought on for a move or two, but lost another base of light cavalry to the Korean bow and spear combination, and the army routed.

That was a good wargame, and it took me longer than I expected. Usually, cavalry-heavy games are quite quick, but the jockeying for position took a while, especially when it was combined with the light cavalry against the infantry on the hill activities. I think, in the long run, the terrain was against the Jurchen, as they could only get at the Korean flank through a four-base-wide gap. That should have been enough, but encountering the Korean infantry further narrowed the formation until it was only as strong as the Korean front line, and when the reserve cavalry intervened, it did so decisively.

On the other hand, the Jurchen were unlucky, as they lost the tempo at crucial points in the combat. I also still cannot see what other approach they could have used against the Koreans. Cavalry charging uphill against infantry with pointy sticks is not a long-term solution, so they had to try to turn the flank. Perhaps if the light cavalry had got into action a bit earlier, things might have been different. And then again, perhaps not.

Anyway, the Summer 1605 turn moves on, with a Mongol civil war as the next action, so I will have to scrape together two sides, both randomly drawn Mongols, this time. I wonder if there will be any infantry on the table at all.

1600 – Something: Koreans in Japan

Summer 1605 has rolled around in the campaign, and it is starting to get busy. In the West, most of the moves were diplomatic. Among the normal diplomatic channels was also some subversion, with the French persuading the Bavarians to invade Austria, even though they would be heavily outnumbered. The Palatine finally thought of defending the ancestral homelands and raised an army in Lower Palatine (rather than Upper, where I thought it would be more useful), and the Poles raised another army, this time in Lithuania. Danish diplomacy had been at work, and the Poles were now at war with Muscovy. In the mean time the Muscovites had invaded Courland, only to face irate locals.

In the east, the Moguls and Pegu both raised forces, while the Cambodians invaded Siam. The Japanese raised a fleet in Kyushu, which incited the Koreans to invade. Presumably, memories of the horrors of the 1590s wars indicated that the Koreans were not prepared to let the Japanese raise a war fleet. Random events indicated a Jurchen raid on Northern Korea, and the Mongol disturbances resolved as a civil war in Khalkha.

So, lots going on then, six wargames to come, in fact. Starting in the extreme east, we have the Korean invasion of Kyushu. A bit of dice rolling indicated that the Koreans got ashore successfully, and were opposed by a locally raised Japanese force, the army being on Honshu. The Koreans consisted of 4 cavalry, 3 bows, 2 shot and 3 spear bases. The Japanese were randomly drawn, and got 2 cavalry, 1 shot, 1 bow, 5 ashigaru blades and 3 Samurai blades.

This seemed to be an interesting match-up. The Koreans were firepower and cavalry heavy, while the Japanese were heavy foot with garnishes of cavalry and a little firepower. The terrain was quite hilly, with some woods and a random marsh in the middle.

The above picture shows the Japanese to the right, with the Samurai and archers covering the left (far side) on a hill, while the ashigaru blades fill in the middle, with the bows thrown forward onto the top of another hill. The Japanese cavalry is atop the third hill on the left.

The Koreans deployed with the idea of seizing the hill in the centre, which seemed lightly held, and breaking through with the cavalry to menace the flanks of the Japanese infantry. The Japanese plan was to hold the hilltops and let the Koreans come to them. After a few moves, however, it was clear that this was not going to happen on the left, and the samurai and left-centre foot advanced themselves.

Above, the situation on the near-side hill is shown. The Korean foot has reached the top of the hill, driving off the ashigaru musketeers. The Japanese have diverted some blades from the centre to support them, and they are just arriving, being menaced by Korean cavalry. In the foreground, the generals, with their cavalry, are squaring up to each other. On the far side, out of shot, the rest of the Japanese foot are advancing.

Things got complicated on the hill quite quickly. The Koreans drove off the Japanese shot easily, but were then struck by the blades, as the Korean cavalry had refused to charge. The Korean bows can be seen fleeing in the centre left. Meanwhile, the Korean cavalry has charged the Japanese and routed one base, while the other has been held and repulsed in confusion. At the top of the picture, the Japanese foot is still advancing. The Koreans have not moved, meaning it is a long walk.

The fighting on the hill continued, with the ashigaru advancing up the hill, to be met by the remaining Korean spear base. They managed to bounce the Japanese and then followed up, rolling impressive combat dice and seeing off a Japanese base, which can be seen fleeing in the centre. The victorious Korean cavalry is rallying on the left of the shot, while the Japanese cavalry has charged into the defeated Koreans, further shaking them. On the far side, the Koreans and Japanese bows are exchanging fire.

A move or two later, and the Japanese cavalry on the hill has routed their opponents and is now rallying, while the Korean spears managed to turn the flank of the ashigaru blades on the hill and, with another good combat roll, rout them. On the Korean right, the Japanese are getting close to the Korean lines, but one samurai base has been badly damaged by shooting.

The picture shows the end of the wargame. On the Korean right, the pressure on their infantry is growing, and the samurai are starting to prevail. Slightly nearer, however, the Koreans have fallen back to give the ashigaru blades longer in the firing zone. Nearest the camera, some extra tempo has allowed the Korean cavalry to corner the remaining Japanese cavalry along with the general. Decisively, however, the heroic spear element on the hill has advanced on the Japanese shot and routed them. This pushed the Japanese morale to withdraw, which they duly did.

That was a very interesting wargame and could, I think, have gone either way. The Japanese did not get their heavy infantry moving soon enough. I suspect that, as they were the defenders, I thought they should defend. On the other hand, the Koreans did not make the most of their cavalry advantage, with two bases hanging around rather redundantly in the centre. The main difference was the heroic activities (or good dice rolling, if you want to be prosaic) of the Korean spearmen on the hill, who accounted for three Japanese bases.

Strategically, this is a win for Korea, of course. I will have to decide whether the new Japanese fleet managed to get away from the invaders and is available to transport the northern army to regain Kyushu, and whether the Koreans, having made their strategic point about Japanese navies, will simply go home.

Next up, however, the Jurchen, no doubt having noticed the departure of the Korean army from the north, have raided, and so the Koreans are in action again.

1600 – Something: Deja Vu in Estonia

The last action in the Spring 1605 move sees attention turn back to Estonia. My reader might remember a clash between the Muscovites and Swedes here, where the Swedes won by a narrow margin. The resulting retreat led to two Muscovite armies being merged into one army and a train. Now, the way the campaign works is that trains (and siege trains, but no one has got one of them yet) are of 6 bases in strength. Two of those bases are artillery (siege artillery for a siege train, naturally), while the rest can be selected from the usual army list. A train, incidentally, costs the same as an army, following Charles I’s quip about the cost of artillery.

So, the Swedes still not having any pike, they deployed nine bases of cavalry and nine of shot. It would seem that historically the Swedes did not reintroduce pike until after the Battle of Kircholm, at which they were bested by Polish cavalry. So they have none here.

The Muscovites were a bit more complex, fielding seven bases of cavalry, three of Cossack light horse, three bases of Streltsi shot, two of Cossack shot and one of Cossack spears, alongside two medium guns. It has been a long time since I have deployed significant artillery assets in a wargame (for a variety of reasons, mostly probably laziness), and I was reminded of one of those early Seventeenth Century manuals which debated where to put the guns, so they were both protected and had an open field of fire. Tricky.

This being me, of course, I forget, again, the sub-generals. No matter, as it affected both sides. I did remember to deploy baggage, though, in proportion with the number of bases. The terrain was quite nice and open, a boon for cavalry-heavy armies, although the Swedes were very grateful to have a hill upon which to deploy their shot.

In the picture, the Swedes, on their hill, are to the left. They had initially deployed two cavalry bases ‘up front’, that is, on the centre line of the board, with the idea of rushing the Muscovite guns. However, the latter’s deployment of a significant wing of cavalry caused me to redeploy the Swedish cavalry back to their own lines. Still, the idea persisted. I was less sure about the Muscovite tactics and plan. The idea was to bombard the Swedish infantry to prevent an attack like last time, while tying up the Swedish cavalry. All right, maybe it was not much of a plan.

The action opened fairly predictably. Both sides were a bit cautious. The Muscovite artillery opened up on the infantry on the hill, without hitting anything. The Swedes, though, conscious that it was a matter of time before the artillery did cause some disruption, inched their right wing cavalry forward, covering the options both of stopping the Muscovite left and being able to rush the guns. The Muscovites responded by sending the Cossacks in to cover the guns.

The plans began to work. The Muscovites dispatched the rest of the Cossack light horse to delay any approach by the Swedish left, while the artillery fire started to disrupt the infantry on the hill. However, the Cossack light horse on the Muscovite left was caught between the duty to cover the guns and their heavy cavalry opposites, charged, and, as you can see above, more or less broken. The victorious Swedish cavalry, led by the general, has smashed into the gun line and disposed of one of the pieces.

The photograph shows the carnage in the Muscovite centre. The second Cossack light horse base has been disposed of, and the second artillery base has similarly gone. The Swedes have pursued on into the left flank of the Streltsi, while the Muscovite general has led his reserve cavalry into the other victorious Swedish base. And I am sure you can see the problem.

I actually made a mistake favouring the Muscovites, here, and counted the shot as having pike support (which they do not). The Streltsi base then recoiled, and it could have been worse. However, if you look closely at the picture, you can see that the Muscovite reserve cavalry has been recoiled, which led by the general, led to a ‘general at risk’ roll. As with the last game, a six was duly rolled and the Muscovite general bit the dust. That was not part of the plan.

The Muscovites, however, managed to stave off disaster in the centre by some lucky combat dice rolling. Both Swedish cavalry bases were recoiled and, being chargers, were thrown into disorder. They were a long way from any support, but the Swedish general was able to pull them back out of harm’s way while calling up the rest of the cavalry. The advancing left wing trotted into the remaining Cossacks and routed them easily. This was because the light horse had lost its orders when the Muscovites wavered when their guns were overrun, and the general was killed.

The loss of yet another base was too much for the Muscovites, and they rolled a withdraw on their morale dice. They had lost six bases, including the general, and, while still a pretty formidable fighting force, were going to struggle against hordes of Swedish cavalry, let alone the shot.

That was interesting. Two Swedish bases and the general more or less did for the Muscovite army. I need to think again about the use of cannon, and possibly, revisit the rules for them. The Muscovite artillery was only ever going to disrupt the Swedes and was very vulnerable. Probably, I should have deployed the foot with them, rather than leave covering duties to the Cossacks.

It does have to be admitted, however, that the Swedes had a plan and stuck to it, and it was a plan of attack which threw the Muscovites off balance and required the intervention of the reserves and the general to recover from. The Muscovites were unlucky, as this cost them the general, and it was all pretty well downhill from there.

1600 – Something: Burma

The next wargame in Spring 1605 is still in the east, being the Laotian invasion of Burma. Those of you with long memories, or not much else to do, will recall that the Laotians invaded Luang Prabang. In part, this was because the Laotians only have one province, and now have two armies, a garrison and an army in Laos proper. Thus, expansion was important. An extra province would provide the income to support the armies. The same, in fact, is true of the Swedes in the west. See how the logic of imperialism works!

The Laotians failed their GOOS roll and thus had to fight their way in. They had a general on an elephant, a base of cavalry, eight bases of tribal foot infantry, and two bases of bows. The Burmese did not draw an elephant card for their army, but had one cavalry base, nine tribal foot bases and two bows. The terrain rolling favoured the defending Burmese, with a large central hill.

The Laotians are to the left in the above picture, with the Burmese defenders mostly on the central hill. Given the strategic situation outlined above, the Laotians really needed to go for a win. This led to some initial jockeying for position. Originally, the Burmese had deployed their foot in two blocks of four, one on the hill and one behind it. The Laotians had also deployed four deep, looking for a mass charge up the hill in overwhelming depth. The Burmese took advantage of their ability to redeploy one troop block and closed up on the hill. The Laotians then split their tribal foot, as seen above.

The Laotian plan was to assault the hill frontally with the archers and demonstrate with the nearest block of tribal foot, until such time as the rest, led by the general, were in position to flank the troops on the hill. I knew the timing would be tricky, but previous experience suggests that a position on a hill is strong, and the Laotians, as I said, really needed a win.

The game opened predictably enough, with the Laotian archers advancing, and the flanking tribal foot led by the general heading into the valley between the hills (there is another hill on the far side of the table, by the way). The Laotian archers also got going, while the central tribal foot and the cavalry have hung back. I am afraid you will have to put up with the slightly iffy quality of the picture (even by my standards), however, and the camera battery decided to go on strike at this point.

Still, the absence of the camera did not mean that the reader is going to miss much of the action, as the Estimable Mrs P. returned at this point, and the action had to be resumed the next day. I was concerned for the Laotians, as their plan depended on the timing of the frontal and flank attacks. It turned out I was right to be worried.

It turned out badly for the Laotians. In my anxiety, I moved the Laotian foot facing the hill towards their enemy on the hill. I was hoping to win the next tempo round, and so I could bring, at least, the general on his elephant crashing into the wing of the pinned Burmese infantry. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men….

The Laotians lost the next tempo round, and their infantry got charged by the Burmese downhill, as you can see above. The tribal foot on the far side has been routed; those on the near side have been badly shaken. The chargers have swept past the Laotian general who was carefully lining himself up for a flank attack, and are now (or will be after following up) out of range.

Incidentally, in the foreground, you can see the Laotian cavalry advancing. They were hoping to get to the Burmese baggage and cause some disruption and despair. You can also see the Burmese cavalry countering them. On the top of the hill, you can see the Laotian bowmen have successfully routed their opponents, somewhat against the odds.

It was nearly, but not quite, all over for the Laotians. The remaining infantry facing the hill were duly routed, while the general tried to turn his forces back to face the rest of the Burmese foot on the hill. In the centre, the Laotian bowmen fought off a rear attack on them by some Burmese archers. It just goes to show that not all the Laotian dice rolling was bad. In the foreground, the Burmese cavalry has charged and routed their Laotian equivalents. Getting caught downhill and in flank was never going to be viable.

With that, the Laotian losses got to 5 bases, and a so-so morale roll indicated that it was time to withdraw. I suppose they were lucky not to do worse. The spare Burmese tribal foot base on the hill had refused to charge (albeit uphill) the hitherto victorious Laotian bowmen. If they had, and the other Burmese bowmen had hit them in the rear, then, most likely, the Laotians would have routed.

This was another interesting wargame, wherein the elephants did not make much impact. I think it has been remarked on before that tribal foot-based armies either win big or go home in a hurry, and the Burmese certainly did the winning big thing. The game also threw up some other points, such as the difficulty of assaulting hills which are held in strength, and the need to get the timing right, which the Laotians failed in.

The other real lesson is not to use isolated bases to try to get to the enemy’s baggage. The Muscovite cossacks failed a few games ago, and the Laotian cavalry did here. I suppose with a 12- or 18-base army, using one base to go after a speculative win is probably a waste of resources. I must school myself not to do it again, especially as the Muscovites and Swedes are next up.