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.

1600 – Something: The Errors of the East

As mentioned last time, I had overlooked the Vietnamese move, which was deferred from the Winter turn to Spring 1605. So, to recompense, I turned my attention to what the Vietnamese were up to. It turned out that they had invaded Southern China, possibly detecting a slight weakness in the Ming regime, and an opportunity to remove the suzerainty of the overlord state. Well, maybe, or, given that China thought it had an ally in Vietnam, while the Vietnamese were hostile to China, perhaps it was a local general taking advantage. We will see.

Anyway, a Vietnamese army of 2 bases of elephants (including the general), 2 cavalry, 3 bows, 2 skirmishers and 3 assorted pole-arm bases were to take on a Chinese local force. This turned out to be 3 bows, 6 blades, 2 cavalry and a shot base. I admit to having a bitof a problem in putting these forces together, especially as the same day I had just undercoated a bunch of Chinese figures. But if I had delayed until I finished them, the whole campaign would stall, probably for weeks. So I pressed on.

The Vietnamese army is to the left in the above picture. The elephants and cavalry, including the general, are to the left centre, with the skirmishers up front on the right, nearest the camera. On the right of the shot, the Chinese have deployed archers on a hill, backed up by the shot and some blades (actually, spearmen, but the effect in the game is of blades). On their right, they have more blades, cavalry and a base of archers waiting, rather hopefully, to fill the elephants full of arrows.

I confess, I was not confident for either side. The Chinese position on the hill was fairly strong, but the other flank looked rather weak, especially against elephants. On the other hand, for the Vietnamese, the elephant/cavalry combination could be potent, but take a lot of coordination. While an assault up the hill was rather uninviting, albeit practical.

In an attempt to wrong-foot the Chinese, the Vietnamese decided to divert their blades and bows to the attack on the hill. The skirmishers, however, were getting a bit of a pasting from the firepower on the hill. Perhaps I should have smelt the coffee there and then, but the Vietnamese pressed on. The Chinese, recognising the threat, have started to move some more blades towards the hill as well.

The fight for the hill started to suck in more resources from both sides. The Vietnamese managed to get the skirmishers out of the way before they were destroyed by Chinese firepower. They have also, remarkably managed to rally them, and one base is being sent back into the marsh to have another go. The Vietnamese bows, nearest the camera, and the blades, next along, are about to make their assault. The blades, however, have had to drop a base due to the constraints of the terrain. The Chinese have moved up their blades from their right to by the wood, and the general has arrived to take control. The blades from the back of the hill are also advancing into line on the hill top. The Vietnamese general has also arrived; a general on an elephant is always a bit of a threat. On the far side, the remaining Vietnamese elephant and the cavalry have been ordered to advance.

It went a bit pear-shaped for the Vietnamese. The attack of the blades was, at best, a partial success, driving back one Chinese base but losing the other to a freak rout result. The attack up the hill was an equal failure, the Chinese blades driving back to bows and routing one base, while the Chinese bows held, or better, their Vietnamese opposites. A poor morale roll for the Vietnamese army meant that they went into ‘fall back’ mode, which is why no one has any move order markers anymore.

It was not the end for the Vietnamese, however. They regained their tempo point mojo, which had deserted them, and attempted to press on.

It was not to be, however, before the general could strike home on his elephant, another base of bows routed, and that was followed by the one you can see in the foreground, just about clinging on to existence. At this point, the Vietnamese conceded the game, being 4 bases down and with few resources to stop the inevitable advance of the Chinese infantry.

The Chinese, in fact, were happy to see them go, as their foot around the hill would take some reorganising to get back into a fighting force again. The game, therefore, counts as a defeat for the Vietnamese, but not as bad a loss as it could have been.

Well, it was nice, after a bit of a hiatus, to get the elephants out again, even if they had minimal impact on this game. The threat of elephants is enough to tie up some units, I find. In this case, two elephants and two cavalry started by holding 7 Chinese bases in front of them. But, as the Chinese realised that the main effort was to be an assault on the hill, they managed to move some resources around.

Could I have done more with the Vietnamese? Possibly the elephants could have been used more usefully against the hill, but I do have memories of a Mogul elephant assault on a hill that ended badly. The nature of the terrain was really against the offensive, I think, and they were channelled into one side or the other of the central wood. But deploying the elephants on the hill side of the wood would have signalled the assault even more, and made it more cramped. I could probably have used the skirmishers better in the terrain, rather than waltzing up to the enemy firepower, hopefully, and nearly getting blown away.

I suppose the last comment is that the Vietnamese tempo deserted them in the middle of the game, which did not help in coordinating the attack. Still, I think I could have done better, and I am considering increasing the foot skirmisher’s offensive capacity. Maybe another time I’ll actually get the elephants into combat. And so to Burma and Laos….

1600 – Something: Stirring in the East

After the excitement of Spring and Summer 1604, Autumn was rather quiet. Bavaria managed to fumble its initiative roll and suffered a diplomatic embarrassment, while the Poles raised another army. The French indulged in a little diplomacy, while the Muscovites were having a few problems. Their defeated army from the previous move had been forced back into Latvia, which is not Muscovite territory, and they did not have the finances to replace the lost bases, so it was an army that was at half strength anyway. Fortunately, before this got even more complicated, they got a move card and decided to merge the defeated army from Estonia into the one that was the support army for the original fight. So the Latvian force moved to Novgorod and became a train unit.

Winter 1604 saw the massive expansion of the map, as seen above. Europe is the left-hand side, above, with all the pins stuck in it. Eurasia east of the Urals is to the right, with few pins, at least until we get to south-east Asia, which is a bit of an armed camp. Persia, India, and China are quite demilitarised at this point. We will see how long that lasts.

Still, the changes to the campaign rules were minimal, largely consisting of lists of countries and their provinces, their strategic aims, and the initial locations of military forces. The East has, of course, its own diplomatic table, and the scruffy bit of paper pinned in the middle of the board is the overlap table, consisting of the Persians and Ottomans (who happen to be at war). The rules do incorporate possible raids by early colonial forces – Portuguese, Dutch, and possibly English, but I have not quite worked out how to incorporate these fully. Hopefully, I will have an idea soon.

There are rules for various raiders and unruliness in some parts of the continent. The Circassians, Tartars, Cossacks, Mongols, Tibetans, and Jurchen are all capable of having civil wars or invading somewhere contiguous if they have a mind. They are not ‘active powers’, but I am hoping they will have a disruptive effect. Mongols are also available for hire by China and the Moguls.

Still, with now 22 active powers, the rolling and card turning took a little longer. The Spanish raised a garrison in the Netherlands, while the Cambodians raised a second army. Laos raised a garrison, and Korea raised an army. The Vietnamese got a move card, which was deferred to spring. In random events, the Ottoman Emperor died, while Farsistan was hit by plague. The unruliness roll revealed that there was some disturbance among the Mongols in the summer of 1605.

Moving on to Spring 1605, a lot of diplomacy erupted. Poland, Persia, and Siam all raised extra armies. The Muscovites moved back into Estonia while the Laotians invaded Luang Prabang. They failed their GOOS score and so have to face a scratch local force. There was no random event in the West, but in the East the Jurchen invaded. This was resolved as the Jiang invading Haixi. Three wargames, therefore, and I had managed to forget the Vietnamese.

Both Jurchen armies (I decided to start at the east end and work my way west) were card drawn. The Jiang got 5 cavalry and 7 light horse, while the Haixi got 4 cavalry and 8 light horse. The table was very simple, the steppe only broken by a road and a hill.

I confess that this wargame stretched my resources of Mongols. The Jiang are to the right, drawn from my Mongol hordes, while the Haixi have had to accumulate a scratch light cavalry force from various sources – Cossacks, Tartars, and even a few Serbo-Croat hussars (I suppose I could have used Ottomans instead). The Haixi cavalry formation nearest the camera is on top of the hill.

The Haixi had the better of the opening skirmishes. As you can see above, the light horse have inflicted some damage on their opposite numbers, so much so that the Jiang heavy cavalry has had to move forward to provide a shield for the shaken lights.

Unfortunately for the Haixi, their tempo dice deserted them, leaving the general unable to control the light cavalry anymore. The first problem is shown above; the central Haixi lights simply did not move out of the way of the Jiang heavies and were ridden down. You can see the remnants fleeing past the Haixi heavy cavalry to the left.

Things did not get much better for the Haixi. The command disruption from a poor morale roll meant that their left flank light cavalry were the next caught by Jiang cavalry, and you can see their destruction starting on the far side, although one base has fought off the Jiang. In the centre, the Jiang heavy cavalry has withdrawn slightly to get out of the Haixi horse-shoe death trap of light cavalry.

The Jiang managed to get much of their light cavalry into action again, while their right wing saw off the Haixi left. In the centre, an exasperated Haixi general has brought up the heavy cavalry, but the losses have, again, caused command disruption and everything is starting to look a little parlous.

Again, the dice gods were not kind to the Haixi. The Jiang light cavalry saw off another Haixi light base (fleeing left front), while the Jiang cavalry got the drop on the Haixi and have started to demolish the centre. At this point, perhaps mercifully, the morale roll gave the Haixi a rout result.

That was very interesting. I am really not used to these all-cavalry armies, and to have two, not quite mirror images, was fascinating. In the end, it all came down to the Haixi not managing to get enough tempo to continue the light cavalry battle. One thing I have discovered is that you need quite a lot of tempo to keep the light cavalry going, pulling shaken bases out of line, re-ordering recoiled bases, and so on. On the other hand, I have also discovered that getting the general involved in the skirmish is risky, and neither general did that this action.

I am not sure what the result of this battle will be. The Jiang have now conquered another province, but they are not quite players yet. I will bear it in mind, and of course, Nurhaci lives to fight another day.

1600 – Something: Estonia

Next up in the 1600 – Something battles is a game which is a little different, in that it does not include the Ottomans. Believably, it is the Swedes against the Muscovites. Those of you who have kept up with the narrative so far will know that the Danes, Poles, Swedes, and Muscovites have been, so to speak, winding each other up all campaign so far. Northern Europe has the highest density of armed forces on the map. The Danes, as has been recounted, have invaded Poland, and now the Swedes have attacked Muscovite forces in Estonia.

The Swedes have support from their own fleet, while the Muscovites have back-up from their second army. The forces are therefore both of 18 bases. Examination of the ‘Early Vasa’ DBR army list suggested that, basically, the forces were all either shot or cavalry. A basic force would have 6 cuirassiers and 6 shot, so the augmented force has 9 bases of each. The Muscovites have a more mixed force, of cavalry, Cossacks, two varieties of shot (streltsi and Cossack), and some Cossack spearmen. I suspect that the term ‘Cossack’ for all but the light horse is a bit of a misnomer, as these were urban forces, rather than the free-ranging runaways of the south.

The terrain rolling was interesting a productive. I got quite a lot of terrain for Eastern Europe, but no hills. Plenty of rough going, marshes, and a stream. In fact, I rolled a river and two streams, but had to rationalise. The Muscovite position, in particular, was a bit cramped, and that did cause problems.

The battlefield is shown above. The Swedes are to the left, infantry to the front and centre, cavalry on the wings, and in reserve. The Swedish plan was to attack with the shot, while the cavalry held the wings and deterred the Cossacks. To the right, the Muscovites deployed their infantry in the centre, with much of the cavalry on their right, the only means by which I could see to get them into reasonably open terrain. The Cossack horse are to the left, right, and centre, aiming to evade the Swedes and get to their baggage. This was probably a mistake on my part, but I could not see much future for them harassing the shot. They would (and, in part, did) just get blown away.

I made a few errors in the game setup, which affected both sides equally. I did not put enough baggage out for 1.5 armies on either side, and both sides should have had a least a sub-general, if not an extra d3 tempo roll. But neither side got these, although their camps grew magically after a couple of moves. The only effect was to slow the start of the game, really, as both sides struggled for tempo and were slow to get going.

After a few moves, the Swedish foot has got going. The Cossacks covering the Muscovite foot have been shaken and recoiled, while the Swedish shot is opening up on the Muscovites. In the left foreground, the Cossack left has crossed the stream but is being blocked by some cuirassiers.

There really is not a lot you can do with an attack by musketeers except get going and keep going, and that is exactly what the Swedes did, perhaps half a century before Ga-Pa tactics were invented. All the general can do is concentrate the firepower as much as possible and keep going, hoping for a lucky break.

The Swedes did get at least a partial lucky break. The streltsi by the rough going in the centre were put to flight by the firepower of a couple of Swedish bases. The Muscovites got an influx of tempo, and have started to move their cavalry around on the far side, and have also sent forward some more shot to patch up the centre. The general has also moved from the head of the reserve to the front line, opposing the Swedish general.

The infantry battle was pretty desperate, I have to admit. Above, the Muscovites have broken into different sections, and the Swedes, too, are getting a bit scattered. The Cossack spearmen are holding out easily against the Swedes, but the general and his base are driving them back. On the other hand, more Swedish foot are arriving. On the Swedish left, a base of cuirassiers has taken the opportunity to charge some Muscovite cavalry. This should have been easy, but in fact, despite the damage they inflicted, they landed up bounced. But the Muscovites could not exploit this, for reasons which will become apparent in the next picture.

Above, you can see some more Muscovite foot fleeing in various directions. There is also a Swedish base routing top left. This was the base being driven back in the last photograph, but the Swedish general survived the rout. He was parked with the next Swedish foot and drove back into the fray, this time routing the forward Muscovite foot and attached general. The Muscovite general did not survive, and their morale went to ‘fall back’, which they have just done.

Flushed with success, the Swedes followed up, although without much initial success except for further firefights. On their left flank, the cavalry charged again against the shaken Muscovite horse. They were bounced again. However, their colleagues then charged through the shaken base and routed their counterparts, who swept away a stray base that was too close. This was too much for the Muscovites, whose morale hit withdraw.

Well, that was a bit different, cavalry-heavy armies relying on their infantry for success. Swedish firepower did make the difference in this terrain, but I would not be so sure if the field was a bit more open and the cavalry could get in. The essential separator between the sides, however, was that the Swedish general survived, but the Muscovite one did not. The difference between rolling a 3 and a 6 on a die. The contingencies of history….

1600 – Something: The Empire Strikes Back

As my loyal reader may recall, a while ago in the campaign, the Persians invaded Mesopotamia and won an action against the local Ottoman forces. The Poles invaded Crimea and, again, beat off the Ottomans. As we have seen, in Spring 1604 the Ottoman counterattacked in both Crimea and were differently successful. So the next wargame was in Mesopotamia, where an Ottoman field army faced a Persian one.

The Ottomans, as I have noted, face a bit of a problem with the Persians. Firstly, with 5 cavalry, 3 light horse, 2 shot and 2 militia against 6 cavalry, 2 light horse, 3 shot and 1 militia, they are a bit outnumbered in all departments, especially where it counts in heavier cavalry and shot. Secondly, the terrain tends to favour cavalry armies, which they are, but not quite so much as the Persians and frankly, it feels like the militia are just to make up the numbers.

For the terrain, I rolled up two woods, a marsh, a stream and a hill. The hill is in the bottom left of the above picture, with the Ottoman camp on the top, and the infantry on its lower slopes. The sudden appearance of the camps (the Persians have one, too, lower right) suggests that phase two of the rebasing project, in this case, the reboxing part, has started. Rather than be buried under loads of terrain-filled box files, the camps and wagons and similar stuff are now in a slimline plastic box just underneath the generals. Out of sight is no longer out of mind, and I have thought for ages that I should require a camp for each army in these games. So here they are. I have some plans for developing this further, so stay tuned.

The major tactical problem for both sides was the stream. As the Ottomans were on the strategic offensive, it was really up to them to cross it, but the Persians needed to be able to stretch their cavalry’s hooves as well. The Ottomans decided to cross the water in two places, the infantry on the near side and the light cavalry and three bases of cavalry on the far side. The Persians aimed to deny the crossing to the Ottomans with their light cavalry on the far side, and the heavier cavalry massed on the near side, ready to charge anyone who foolishly crossed.

The opening exchanges were fairly neutral. The Ottomans have had a light horse bounced on the far side, and the initial attempt by the janissaries to cross the stream has retreated after the Persian general brought his cavalry into charge range. The Ottomans just about had the tempo to enforce the general rule that discretion is the better part of valour, but the janissaries were disordered by the effort.

A few moves later, and the Ottomans and Persians are both attempting to ford the stream. On the Ottoman left, the light horse (or most of them) has forced the Persian lights back and created the space for the spahi, under the eye of the general, to cross. The spahi are reorganising while the lights keep the enemy occupied. In the centre, the Persians spotted a gap between the two Ottoman wings and have moved to exploit it. The Ottoman reserves, more spahi, are arriving, hoping to manage to seal the opening, while the light horse who were removed from the skirmish have been ordered to assist. One of the Persian bases has failed the crossing, but the others are rallying.

A few moves later, and the Persian position is deteriorating. In the centre, the Ottoman reserve spahi have attempted a charge. One base succeeded (the Persians were still disordered, so not a group, and so could not be charged by a group). One base has been destroyed, while the other Ottoman base refused to go in. The Ottoman light horse is keeping the remaining Persians entertained, however. Meanwhile, the Ottoman spahi on the left have reorganised, while their light horse is being a nuisance on the Persian right and centre. Anticipating further trouble, the Persian general has moved the left wing across towards the centre, in the hope of getting to the Ottomans before they are properly organised.

It got a wee bit complicated. In the centre, the second Ottoman base charged, with support from the militia taking the remaining Persian spahi in flank. Despite the numbers, the Ottomans were bounced. On the Ottoman left, however, the remaining Persian spahi attacked and was more or less surrounded and finished off, while the rest of the wing disposed of one of the Persian light horse and forced the other one back. The movement of the Persian left to the centre meant that the Ottoman infantry could now cross the stream safely, which they have just done. Persian morale sank rather at this point, and everyone fell back.

With a bit of a juggle and a goodly number of tempo points, the Ottomans managed to gang up on the leftmost base of the remaining Persian cavalry, and eliminated it by a combination of a frontal charge, the general, and a disorganised flank attack across the stream. Persian morale actually improved at this, however, and I wondered if, now the Ottoman cavalry was even more disorganised, victory, or at least a draw, could still be snatched.

It was not to be, however. The Ottoman general and his cavalry continued their charge across the field, and were about to take the disrodered and shaken Persian spahi base in flank, when the Ottoman light cavalry shot at it again and routed it. At this, the Persian general, after some thought, decided that the day was lost and started to withdraw. The morale dice at the end of the turn were not at all kind, however, and his army dissolved into a rout.

This was a tough action for both sides. Someone had to risk crossing the stream and exposing themselves to a charge while disordered. The Ottomans managed it in the confined space between the wood and the stream, where the Persian cavalry could not really get at them. The Persian lights never got the tempo they needed to really cause trouble on the disordered troops as they crossed. In the centre, the Persians got across, but were then rocked back by the Ottoman cavalry reserve, light horse and militia. It all went downhill from there, rather.

Strategically, the Ottomans finally have a win, and the threat to the eastern edge of the empire is blunted, at least for now. This might leave them free to counter the Poles in Crimea and the Austrians invading Hungary. I suspect my Ottoman troops might be demanding overtime soon!