The War of Stuart Succession

On 24^th March 1603 Queen Elizabeth of England died. In real history, of course, she was succeeded fairly seamlessly by James VI of Scotland, and propaganda would have us believe that it was seamless and James was simply acclaimed King. It was not that straightforward, of course. There were at least three other claimants to the throne, including Isabella of Austria, the Hapsburg governor of the Low Countries, Arbella Stuart, whose claim to the throne was more or less as strong as James’, and Edward Seymour, who sprang from the Grey branch of the English royal family and whose aunt was Lady Jane Grey.

Other interested parties were also around, of course, including the Spanish, French and Dutch, all of whom had ideas about who should succeed. Nevertheless, in real life no-one did. Isabella was not interested, and no other claimant even tried. It was reported that the claims of others aside from James were raised at the Privy Council meeting held on the morning of the Queen’s death. It was also reported that the Earl of Northumberland had 50 armed men nearby to ensure the succession of James.

With that background, I started a ‘what if….’ What if the Privy Council had come to no conclusion and each of the claimants had decided to press, or try to, their rights. With that in mind I tried to find a map of the Atlantic Islands suitable to my purposes. I failed, so I had to draw my own (which took a while), which those of you who follow me in another place will already have seen. I cobbled together some campaign rules, including the intriguingly named GOOS score (God On Our Side) which controls the momentum of each campaign to be ruler.

The situation in April 1603 is above. James VI has moved into Northumberland with an army. He failed his GOOS roll and is therefore opposed by the trained bands. In the Channel a complicated sequence of moves and diplomacy have landed up with a French army, transported in Spanish ships, attempting a landing in Hampshire, also opposed by the trained bands (another failed GOOS roll). In other news, Arballa has raised an army in Derbyshire, while Seymour fumbled his initiative roll and hit a military disaster. As he did not have any military force at the time, I ruled that the Wiltshire trained bands failed to support him and he took a GOOS hit. He has just failed to raise the trained bands of Berkshire.

Still, the point of the campaign is to have wargames and the first one in Northumberland. I rolled up the terrain using my normal rules – it was understandably hilly, and the ground was split up a bit by streams. James had 4 pike and 4 shot, 2 light horse, and 2 demi-lancer bases. The Northumberland trained bands had 5 shot, 5 pike, and 2 light horse.

James deployed his demi-lancers across the stream with orders to outflank the English and cross the stream. Otherwise, the infantry were to press forward, covered by the light horse, and crush the English foot in detail, as they looked a little spread out.

The battle started slowly, as tempo was in short supply, but the Scots eventually got moving. The opening exchanges between the light horse took a while, but the Scots gained the upper hand, while their left-wing musketeers eventually routed a base of English light horse.

Above you can also see that the English have turned a block of foot to prevent the Scots cavalry from crossing the stream, while they have advanced some foot on their left. As the action developed, James forgot to withdraw his light horse now they had seen off the opposition, with the result that they suffered a bit from English musketry. On the other hand, his right-wing infantry were bearing down on an outnumbered English regiment, and the English have had to turn their stream covering infantry back towards the centre as the Scottish foot’s advance develops, while one of the reserve regiments has taken their place further to the rear.

The Scottish attacks went in with mixed results. The Scot’s musketry has clearly deteriorated since the Armada campaign and they struggled to make an impact. On the other hand, two deep pike blocks against single depth should have been a walk-over. But it was not. The English defended themselves manfully, in fact, counter-attacking with some effect.

In the foreground you can see that the nearest regiment of Scots has been suffering quite badly at the hands of the English. While they have routed one base of English pike (fleeing on the far right of the picture) they have lost a base of musketeers (fleeing far left) and the pike and shot remaining are shaken. On the Scot’s right, their musketeers are making little headway against the English, while the King is locked in combat next to them with his pikes being held by the English including the general. On the far side, the Scottish cavalry has crossed the stream, charged home and, while they have driven the English back, have not exactly blown them away.

The English luck could not hold. Eventually, the odds got the better of them. On the far side, the Scottish cavalry are starting to prevail – the musketeers have fled, and the pike are shaken. In the centre, while the musketeers are still held up by their foes, James and his pikemen have prevailed against the English general, although the central English regiment is advancing against the Scottish light horse. On the near flank, the shaken base of Scottish musketeers has now routed and the English pikemen are locked in combat with the shaken Scots. Both sides had to throw for morale, as James had lost another musketeer base and the English their general and a pike base.

James got a ‘withdraw’ result, but the English got a ‘rout’. So James had won. Just about. His dice rolling had not been great throughout. The outflanking manoeuvrer, while it had worked, had not been as decisive as he hoped, and it turned out that two deep pike are not automatic winners against one deep. Still, he won and his GOOS score will be adjusted accordingly. The march south continues.

Reminder - Interview Next Week

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Now, just for fun, a close-up of the latest action from the next campaign - more details on Saturday. Any guesses as to what is going on?

VMCW – With a Whimper, not a Bang

The result of the last action was, of course, the rout of the Maratha army, and that was removed from play. It has to be noted that the Marathas proved to be a potent force in the Deccan for a campaign concept which was of a disruptor. They plundered a significant number of cities before the army of Bijapur got them.

That action was in April 1660, turn 24 of the campaign. The next move the Bijapurians decided to plunder the nearest city. I guess that the troops requested some pay. No-one else moved at that point, however. In June Aurungazeb moved north finally, as did the Bijapurians. I am not sure quite what the latter were trying to achieve by doing so, except that in the next move, September, they resorted to plundering again. In October, Aurungazeb attempted to subvert the Bijapurian army, and failed, while Jia Singh attempted subversion on Shah Suja (who had been immobile since fleeing without an army). This was successful and resulted in the murder of the prince.

Aurungazeb was now the last prince standing, and he moved north again to Ajmer in Rajasthan. Both Bijapur and Jia Singh attempted to achieve some subversion against him but failed. In December 1660, turn 29, Aurungazeb and Bijapur both attempted some diplomacy (without much result, it has to be said) while Jia Singh fumbled his initiative roll. A die roll concluded that he had been murdered. Historians will, no doubt argue as to whether it was supporters of Shah Suja or on Aurungazeb’s order that this happened. It was highly convenient for Aurungazeb, however, as it removed the last opposition in the north-east.

In January 1661 Aurungaeb plundered Ajmer, while Bijapur fumbled their initiative roll. The dice again came up with murder, and the last potential opposition to Aurungazeb was removed. I had envisaged the game lasting 30 turns, and, right at the last, Aurungazeb was the last prince standing, within striking distance of the Emperor in Agra, and the only army remaining on the map.

As with the historical civil war, Aurungazeb was the victor, and could now crown himself Emperor. The campaign was really rather enjoyable, with 8 wargames and a great deal of skulduggery going on. You might wonder how, as a solo player, I managed to create skulduggery, but it was mainly through the diplomatic table (see that book) with a few additions of a card draw for each active player, which could be move, engage in diplomacy, subvert or plunder. The short green pins in the map show the plundered cities, incidentally.

I did miss a few tricks. I decided not to fill in the diagonals of the diplomatic table but should have as the opportunities arose to subvert armies from their leaders. I occasionally lost track of whether the row or the column represented someone’s view of someone else, but usually managed to sort that out. I also had to quickly invent rules for rocket fire and for camel guns in action, as they appeared in the army lists but not in my rules as such. The camel guns were not particularly useful (and only appeared in the Maratha army anyway) while the rockets could give an account of themselves, particularly in firing at already shaken troops preventing them from reforming.

One thing that the campaign has shown me is that complexity can be created and handled fairly simply. There were eight sides in the game initially – four princes, the Rajputs, Bijapur, Golconda, and the Marathas. I was a little apprehensive that it might get confusing, but it turned out to be quite straightforward, although my diplomatic table is so scribbled upon as to be heading into illegibility.

Was I biased in favour of Aurungazeb? After he was captured by Mir Jumla I thought he was finished, but Mir Jumla decided to try to use him as a figurehead. However, a few initiative rolls and two subversion cards flipped that on its head and it was Mir Jumla who fled, to be mopped up by Bijapur. So I think that Aurungazeb was lucky there. On the other hand, true to historical form, he had Murad murdered.

So, that was a lot of fun. The campaign is summarised from the page link on the right, which gives you links to all the wargames and gives a narrative. Some time I will write the campaign and its rules up, possibly for publication in Lone Warrior (if they’ll have it). I think the basic system could be used to cover other warfare, civil or not.

Which brings me to my next problem of course. The Very Mogul Civil War has taken up most of my wargaming time for the past couple of months. Towards the end I started to wonder what I was going to do next, and now the problem faces me in spade-loads. I think that I have, for the moment, had a sufficient number of elephants on the table, so something different calls. But what, I ponder.

A few options present themselves. Something ancient possibly, after all those early-modern campaigns and games. The system (both this one and the Aztec one modified for Burma) would work for ancient Greeks, I think, without much modification. Another possibility that occurs is something like the Roman invasion of Britain in the First Century AD, with various tribes declaring their allegiance or not. On the other hand, I do have a slight hankering for war wagons, so Hussites or Poles might be part of the next activity.

It might come down to maps. The map of India was scanned in from a book, and then the main roads were added from another one, by hand. The result was then ‘hexed’ and printed out. The process was not quite as straightforward as it sounds, but the result worked. On the other hand, a pure narrative campaign like the Armada Abbeys also works. So many choices, so little time.

Any suggestions?

Advanced Warning

A while ago, I was contacted, via my publisher, by Steve from the Company of Makers. The Company of Makers, it turns out, is a social enterprise supporting veterans and their families on their return to civilian life. A worthy cause, I think, and I hope that you agree.

Anyway, the upshot is that Steve would like to interview me for their On the Line podcast, and I agreed.

The podcast will be broadcast (technology permitting, I presume) on 29^th April 2025, 19:00 – 20:00 BST, and will thereafter be immortalised on YouTube. Tickets are free and available from Eventbrite:

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The format is that I will be interviewed about that book for about 40 minutes, and there is room for about 20 minutes of questions. I suppose that how many questions get answered depends on how much I get to waffle. Still, book in if you are free.

The End of the Marathas – VMCW Battle 8

I have commented before that one of the unexpected outcomes of this campaign has been the number of wargames which have not involved the Moguls. Here, we have another case in point. The Maratha have been merrily plundering the south of India for a couple of years or so now, and no-one has tried to stop them. Aurungzeb, the nearest of the Princes, has, in fact, been allowed to march through them on his way north to confront Murad, while the raiders continue their depredations.

Now, however, the army of Bijapur, fresh from the conquest of Golconda, has decided to take a hand. Marching north, they have encountered the Maratha army and decided to end the looting. Mind you, the Bijapurians are by no means averse to a bit of plundering, have looted three cities on the coast. On the other hand, their home city has also been a target. So, maybe, they just want to go home.

Learning from the last time the Marathas took to the field, I elected to have a more open battlefield, so the light horse could, hopefully, play. The Marathas also went for a second militia base instead of a second cavalry. Whether this was wise is a bit moot, but that is what happened. The Marathas are deployed to the left, above, with their light horse echeloned forward, the militia in the central village, the rockets on a hill, and the camel guns in the village nearest the camera. The idea was to skirmish the life out of the Bijapur hordes and, hopefully, turn their near flank.

The as yet unnamed Bijapur general also learned from the last time and kept his forces in a compact formation. The aim was to get the militia (in column on the far side) onto the hill where the Maratha rockets are, while advancing the infantry through the Maratha centre, supported by the elephants.

In the photograph, you can also see a rather nice cheese scone, ready for the sustenance of the wargamer, along with a cup of coffee which is out of shot. These things are important, even if they slightly delay the game.

Above you can see the plans developing. The Maratha skirmish line has swept forward and has, in fact, inflicted a fair amount of damage on the Bijapur militia, so much so that the skirmishers have routed and another base has been shaken. The Bijapur infantry have moved up, however, and have inflicted damage on the centre of the Maratha line with wickedly accurate bow fire. The Maratha rockets, meanwhile, have hit the elephants, but without inflicting any damage.

The crunch, or the first one, came when the left wing Maratha light horse were caught flat-footed (flat hoofed?) by the Bijapur swordsmen, who charged in and after a harder fight than expected put them to flight (in process above). The Maratha right (nearest the camera) is bogged down against the Bijapur cavalry. The light cavalry can disrupt the cavalry but are struggling to damage them.

The second crunch came as the Bijapur swordsmen pursued the fleeing light horse. One of the swordsmen bases was countercharged and routed by the charging Maratha cavalry and the general. Meanwhile the Bijapur militia, on the far side, are closing in on a base of light horse who have been shooting at them for ages and not made any impact at all. On this side of the central confrontation, the Bijapur archers have put one base of light horse to flight, while another is looking very rocky indeed, so much so that the Maratha militia has sallied forth to try to give them, at least, a safe place to hide.

The final position is above. The pursuing Maratha cavalry and general ran splat into the Bijapur elephants. Meanwhile, the Bijapur militia walked into their opposing light horse (the Marathas had a tempo point dearth) and routed them, while the archers finished off the other base of light horse facing them. The cavalry and general held on for half a turn against the elephants, but the Maratha morale had sunk the ‘withdraw’. I decided to fight on for a turn, largely because the Maratha general was in close combat. However, he was routed in the next bound, and fled himself to the nearest Maratha force (the militia by the village) while the cavalry fled. At this point, Maratha morale had to be rolled again, and the army routed.

That was a lot of fun as a wargame. I think I got the Bijapur tactics right, using the swords and bows to confront the central light horse, while facing off the flanking movement with the cavalry. While the Maratha light horse did disrupt the militia column greatly, the rest of the infantry did their job and the back up of the elephants administered the coup de grace, as it were.

As for the Marathas, I still have not got the hang of the army. I am sure that outflanking is the way forward – how could it not be with that quantity of light cavalry? - but making the skirmishing count is the problem. They did disrupt the Bijapur militia, but had very few other strikes indeed. The other thing about light horse armies is that the ranges need very close watching – it can be easy to let the lights stray into charge range, and then they can easily become toast. However, when in front of terrain there sometimes is not much option except to allow the ranges to close. More practice is required, I think. I know that light horse armies can win under these rules, it is just that the Marathas have not done so, partly because of poor dice rolling from time to time.

Still, this is now the eight wargame from the campaign, and some clarity is emerging from the chaos of civil war. Dara and Murad are dead (Aurungazeb decided to execute his brother), as is Mir Jumla. It is really now Aurungazeb’s war to lose – all he really needs to do at this point is to march to Agra, secure the person of the Emperor, and job done.

Incidentally, if this is getting all too confusing, I have created a campaign page for this war – see the VMCW link on the right.

The Brother’s Battle – VMCW 7

With due apologies to those who are bored by this sequence of campaign battles, I now turn to the next one, between Aurungzeb and Murad, respectively the third and fourth sons of the Emperor Shah Jahan. Murad, in the campaign as those of you who have been paying attention will know, has a track record in having his brothers killed in battle. The question arises as to whether Aurungzeb will be the next one.

Both sides had actually moved into contact, so there was no formal defender in this game. Therefore, both are deployed 10 inches from their base lines, Murad to the right, Aurungzeb to the left. I did dice to see whether Aurungzeb had replaced his Hindu army inherited (sort of) from Mir Jumla with a Mogul one. He had, and so the two brothers faced off with identical forces.

There is a tendency in me to deploy identical forces identically. I decided to try to change things here, so Aurungzeb has split his cavalry hoping to storm the hill upon which Murad has placed his rocketeers and outflank the enemy, while holding the left (on a hill) and centre with cavalry, elephants, and infantry. Murad, on the other hand, aimed to smash the depleted cavalry in the center with his own, and then send in the elephants and infantry.

This was a tough battle (one might say ‘epic’) for both sides. Tempo dice rolling was awful, and some of the combat dice were poor too, especially for Aurungzeb who several times, I thought, had the battle sewn up only for poor dice rolling to undo it. It was also another case of the splintering effect of longer actions, where bases, particularly of cavalry, land up all over the table, which can be an advantage and can render them useless.

The results of the initial cavalry clash are above. One base of Murad’s has routed its opponent and is now rallying on Aurungzeb’s baseline. Another of Murad’s is now chasing some routing shot. Meanwhile, two bases of Murad’s cavalry are now fleeing, one on the far side of Murad’s command elephant, and one in the centre of the table. Nearest the camera, you can see that Aurungzeb’s right wing has destroyed the enemy rocketeers, but is now rapidly retreating in the face of oncoming infantry.

Aurungzeb’s retreating right wing cavalry landed up chasing Murad’s remaining successful horse who were attempting to rally. There was some terrible dice rolling, and this landed up being a sort of stand off until Murad’s foot arrived and started to pound Aurungazeb’s horse. In a desperate attempt to rectify matters, Aurungzeb led his elephants into Murad’s. This was supposed to be the final, climatic act of the action, a duel to the death between the two rival brothers and princes. The stuff of which Hollywood (or, in this case I suppose, Bollywood) memories are made.

The battle of the elephants was hard and close. Aurungzeb managed, eventually, to beat his opposition, putting the elephant base to flight. His own elephants, however, had a hard fight against a grimly determined Murad. While Murad took two lots of shaken levels, a lucky roll meant that Aurungzeb’s elephant base had a recoil which, as a charger, also added two levels of terrain shaken to it, rendering it hor d’combat, at least for the moment. However, Aurungzeb’s rocket battery then opened up on Murad’s shaken command base. It did not, as it happened, do much damage, but it meant that Murad could not attempt to rally the shakenness.

Meanwhile, in Aurungzeb’s centre rear his cavalry and shot were under great pressure from Murad’s remaining cavalry and newly advancing infantry. Aurungzeb’s cavalry kept refusing to charge the enemy, and he never seemed to roll sufficient tempo to do anything much with his infantry on the hill protecting the rockets. On the other hand, Murad is looking rather weak and isolated on his elephant. The shot does not show another of Aurungzeb’s cavalry bases on Murad’s base line. If only Aurungzeb could get it moving!

It all came down to a bit of chance. Aurungzeb’s elephant command base, in full pursuit of the fleeing elephants, managed to pull itself together and start rallying. Murad was trying to move his elephant towards his infantry, for a bit of protection if nothing else, while Augungzeb’s cavalry and remaining shot were just about clinging on. Murad’s movement meant that he was in front of Aurungzeb’s command elephant, and, actually, open to being charged in flank by Aurungzeb’s other nellie. On the other hand, the general being seen to retreat in these armies is not great, as the army tended to assume that the paymaster was dead and run away. So sideways it had to be.

The final crunch came when Aurungzeb’s nearly rallied elephant command base charged Murad’s doubly shaken base from behind, while Aurungzeb’s other elephant base attempted a flank charge. Meanwhile, Aurungzeb’s cavalry finally got a charge in on the flank of some of Murad’s shot. While the shot rather miraculously survived, Murad’s base was routed. This led to a drop of 4 morale points for Murad’s army (2 for the general, 2 for a base) and led his army to a -3 morale score, which was not improved by rolling a pair of threes on the morale dice.

Murad’s army fled. Whether the man himself is alive or dead I am not yet sure. That surely was an epic battle – you can tell roughly how long it was by the distance Murad’s foot has advanced. On the other hand, Aurungzeb rather won against the run of the dice, and is quite likely to claim personal responsibility for the victory. However, he might be out to execute a few cavalry commanders, among others, for cowardice. They could have won the battle for him if they had charged home earlier.

At present, pending the dead or alive roll on Murad, Aurungzeb is the only brother both alive and with an army. Shah Suja, you remember, is fleeing Jia Singh in the east having mislaid his army, while Dara is already dead. Things could change, of course, but Aurungzeb looks possibly on course to become emperor.

The Golcondan Scratch Force – VMCW 6

The next action in the Very Mogul Civil War was in the south again, with the long-running hostilities between Golconda and Bijapur breaking out again. After the politicking, which removed the Golcondan army from Mir Jumla and installed Aurungazeb as commander (it was complicated) Mir Jumla had fled back to Golconda (Hyderabad) without any forces. The newly constituted Bijapur army then closed in. However, for once, Mir Jumla failed his initiative roll and was facing an incoming army (which had been busy looting in the west) pretty much on his own. A desperate dice roll revealed that he could raise a scratch militia force to oppose the invaders.

The force raised looked very much like a Maratha army, with 7 bases of light horse, two of heavier cavalry, a camel gun, some rockets, a skirmisher base, and some militia. This caused a great deal of head-scratching from me as to how this lot were to take on a regular Muslim Indian army of elephants, cavalry and decent infantry.

For reasons which might not have been the best, Mir Jumla asked for dense terrain. My thinking was that he needed to be ambushing the Bijapurians. On reflection, this might not have been the right terrain choice, because a mainly light cavalry force possibly needs more room to manoeuvre. I tried several deployments of the Golcondans (the defenders) eventually deciding on trying to outflank the attackers over the stream, while skirmishing furiously in the centre and on the right. I also hoped that the rockets and camel gun (for which I had to invent some rules pronto) might disrupt the advances or even cause the enemy elephants some real problems – elephants get a -1 when fighting firearm.

The deployment of Bijapur was also a bit problematic. I have no experience fighting the Maratha army, never having, I think, deployed one on the table before. Eventually I decided on attempting to break through in the centre with the cavalry, while sending the militia to take the village. The elephants would back the cavalry up, and the bows, with the swordsmen, would try to be useful either on the centre or the left. It was all a bit of a puzzle.

The photograph does not show the hilly nature of the terrain. The centre of the Bijapur army was up a hill – the bows and swordsmen are on it. The rear of the Golcondan position was basically a long ridge – the heavier cavalry and the rocket are deployed on one peak of it, the central light cavalry on the lower slopes. The light cavalry on the far side were aiming to outflank the Bijapur position across the stream.

A few turns into the action, and it is all more or less going to plan(s). On the far side you can see the outflanking Golcondan light cavalry, while the Bijapur centre has advanced past the march in the middle and is under fire from Golcondan skirmishers (who missed everything, all day). Nearest the camera, the Bijapur militia are about to assault the village, having driven back the covering light horse.

It was one of those wargames in which everything suddenly happened. The above situation developed, with the militia assaulting the village. Mir Jumla decided to make use of the light horse behind the village to annoy the Golconadan elephants. This worked, sort of, insofar as the Bijapurian general was a bit irritated and, as the light horse had strayed into range, advanced on them. The first base was driven back through the other, shaken and recoiling. The second base, hit by the general’s elephant base on the follow up, simply routed, and then the original base was followed up into again and routed in turn. The same move the militia routed their opponents. Suddenly, Mir Jumla was three bases down.

The canny Golcondan was not giving up just yet. Even though his right had vaporised, he still had light horse behind the Bijapur centre, and the Golcondan elephant base was looking potentially vulnerable, he thought. Firstly, he sent the camel guns in to shoot at it (you can see the recoil marker if you look closely). Secondly, the Bijapur general was seriously in the wrong place. So the Golcondans carried on.

The next action was the charge of the Golcondan cavalry – the Maratha list I was using gives them two bases. These careered down the hill into the Bijapur elephant and routed it. Unfortunately for Bijapur, this carried away the supporting cavalry base. Suddenly, things were looking a bit more even.

Mir Jumla, however, had not counted on the further heroics of the Bijapur general (who really needs a name). Mir Jumla had commanded his cavalry attack, and then found himself taken in flank by the said elephant. A couple of moves of combat and this was too much for him and his base broke, just as the other cavalry base was pursing the Bijapur elephant. Mir Jumla himself survived, however, and fled to his light horse lines on the hill. However, his army’s morale had started to slide a bit.

The next move bought near disaster, as the victorious Bijapur commander, not resting on his laurels, charged the camel gun base and routed that too. This was, finally, too much for the Golcondans and they withdrew.

The final position is above, with Mir Jumal with his central light horse line and the Bijapur commander pursuing the fleeing camel guns. In the centre, the victorious Golcondan cavalry is pursuing the fleeing elephants and cavalry base, incidentally blocking the fire of the outflanking light horse.

That was an interesting action. I have forgotten most of the little I knew about how to handle light cavalry based armies, and I suspect the deployment rules rather mitigated against their effective use. I also messed up the terrain choice, thinking that Mir Jumla could make better use of outflanking and ambushes than he did. Still, the battle was largely won by the Bijapurian general, who routed 4 bases single-handedly. That should tell me something, but I am by no means sure what.

Rajputs against Moguls – VMCW Battle 5

The Very Mogul Civil War continues, with a few delays because I’ve been a tad unwell. The unfinished business from the last wargame was the fate of Prince Dara, the Emperor’s eldest and favourite son. Well, the Emperor might have favoured him, but the die did not, and he was honourably killed in action against his younger brother Murad. That means, of course, that one prince is down in the demolition derby to become the next Emperor of the Mogul state.

Things were also interesting in the Deccan, where Aurungaeb had been wounded and captured by Mir Jumla, the Golcondan chief minister. There, it got confusing, and in a series of diplomatic moves, rank subversion and threats, Aurungazeb has taken over Mir Jumla’s army, and the gentleman himself has fled back to Goldconda, army-less, while the newly reconstituted Bijar army seems to be bearing down upon him.

The Deccan events were the results of quite a few diplomacy and subversion cards being played by the Princes, Bijapur and the Marathas. On the face of it Aurungazeb has come out of it rather well, but not, in fact, as well as the Marathas who have plundered more cities. Attention now, however, has switched to the north-east, and the long-awaited confrontation between Shah Suja, the Emperor’s second son, and the Rajput army of Jia Singh. These two started the game as enemies but Jia Singh has been subverted from the cause of Dara a while ago and then was further subverted to become an enemy of the Prince. So, after a bit more looting and movement, the two clashed.

In terms of these armies, the Rajputs have 5 bases of lancer cavalry, but no elephants (What? No elephants! Shame). Shah Suja, of course, leads a standard Mogul army, and so has himself and a base of nellies, so the basic idea of getting my elephants onto the table is achieved. They clashed on a fairly open area, both wanting to deploy their cavalry with ease.

The picture shows the deployments. To the left, Jia Singh has deployed his cavalry echeloned back, with the bows and shot behind. His militia and swordsmen are behind the village, the idea being to ambush the Mogul elephants from the flank. Shah Suja has deployed his cavalry on his right to face the Rajput lancers, supported by the elephants and firepower. Nearest the camera, to the right, are the militia, aimed at taking the village, and the rocketeers.

As you might expect, things got a bit ‘swirl-y’ on the cavalry flank. A lot depends, in the rules, on who gets to move first on the turn that the cavalry are in charge range. This turned out to be the Moguls, and the consequences were, well, a bit mixed. Mogul dice rolling seemed to be a bit hit-and-miss, to say the least.

In the top left of the picture, you can see some Rajput cavalry fleeing, pursued by some Mogul cavalry. So far, so according to plan. Slightly more towards the top centre, however, you can see a Mogul cavalry base that charged, shaken up the enemy but has then been recoiled. Not according to plan. Further right still you can see that the middle echelon Rajput cavalry, under the leadership of Jia Singh himself, have counter-charged the Moguls. They have routed one base of cavalry, which has swept away a base of archers. The other base is reeling under the impact. In the village on the near-side, the militias have clashed, to the Mogul advantage.

The action developed. The Mogul centre advanced steadily, and the militia captured most of the village, sending one of the Rajput bases fleeing. On the other side, the Rajputs routed the other base of Mogul cavalry (the other one is rallying top left). It got a bit complicated here, as the Rajput bows worked out they were in range of the bounced Mogul cavalry, and opened up on it, inflicting considerable casualties. It was also vulnerable to being charged by the lead Rajput cavalry, which duly happened with predictable results. That was not the end of the exploits of the Rajput bows, however, as they then turned on the rallying Moguls and prevented them from completing their recovery, at least immediately.

The end of the game is shown above. The rallied Rajput lancers under their general have charged some Mogul shot from behind and routed them (centre) while the Rajput swordsmen have seen off a speculative flank attack from the Mogul militia in the village and then turned to face the Prince and his elephants. Unfortunately for the Moguls, fire from the Rajput musketeers (you can just see the base edge on the left of the photograph) has caused the elephant base to recoil, and the Prince’s base has just refused to charge the reformed swordsmen.

At this point, casualties meant that the Mogul morale check had become a bit tricky, and they got a second fallback result. After some contemplation, Shah Suja decided to call it a day and withdraw. His casualties were heavy (3 cavalry bases and a shot, as opposed to one cavalry and a militia for the Rajputs) and, more to the point, his own person was in some danger of being surrounded. On the other hand, both armies were becoming rather scattered, which meant that his escape should be unimpeded.

In reality, of course, I did not fancy Shah Suja’s changes on his own against the Rajput swordsmen, particularly as there were lurking bases of lancers and musketeers around the place who could have spoilt his whole day. Discretion was the better part of valour, I suspected, and so Shah Suja lived to fight another day.

Strategically, this means that one Prince is still bottled up in the eastern part of India, without, at present, much hope of getting out and making himself emperor. In the south, the victorious Murad has not moved since defeating and killing Dara, while what Aurungaeb might do next is anybody’s guess.

Overall this is turning into a nice, active campaign with many twists and turns, and very limited bookkeeping (always a relief in a campaign). Mind you, my diplomatic table is getting very messy, and it might need to be redrawn. Onwards! The campaign is not over yet.

VMCW – Dara and Murad Again

After the excitement died away after the last two battles (in the same month) a little breathing space was due. Firstly, I had to sort out the fate of Aurungazeb, whose elephant was seen to fall in the last battle A short table was drawn up of possible outcomes, and die rolled, and it transpired that the Prince was wounded and captured by his former ally Mir Jumla. This could be an interesting scenario for the Deccan in the next few turns,. We shall have to see. Mir Jumla, after all, now has both a Prince of the blood and the chief minister of Bijapur in his possession.

Further north, there was still the confrontation between Dara and Murad going on. Dara, a turn or two later, received a ‘move’ card, as did Murad. However, Dara had a choice, as he was aware that Jia Singh in the northeast had betrayed him. He could either assume that Murad would cease to be a problem at least until he had re-secured Agra and the emperor, or he could have another go at his youngest brother. A quick dice roll indicated that Murad would be the target again. After all, an enemy next door is probably more of a risk than the one about 3 months march away.

Thus, the scene was set for the second part of the Dara versus Murad action. Again, Dara was the aggressor, so Murad had the space to set up. Under the rules for this (based, I think, on DBA, but I could be wrong), the defender sets up in their half of the table, while the attacker has their first third. This can mean the armies are quite close together initially, which is not my usual style but which does work.

The picture shows deployment, Murad to the left, and Dara to the right. Slightly alarmingly, Murad has deployed with his rear to a river. This might make escape difficult, but on the other hand, it might convince his brother that he is desperate and that attacking is a great idea. Murad’s plan was to take and hold the village towards the centre of the field with his archers, backed by the militia, while acting defensively across the rest of the field, hoping Dara would come to him.

Dara, on the other hand, decided that crushing Murad’s right and ignoring and masking the village was the best idea. To that end, he deployed his cavalry to the left, with the elephants on the left centre in support. Dara’s musketeers and bowmen, with the militia, will ensure that Murad’s infantry cannot intervene.

The above picture shows the action well underway. The rocket batteries have opened up, not to a great deal of purpose, but Murad’s have clobbered Dara’s elephant base somewhat, which, coupled with effective fire from his archers in the village, meant that the elephant is rendered somewhat hors d’combat, at least a present, and, given that the rockets keep firing at it, even if ineffectively, it is likely to stay that way.

In the foreground, you can see the cavalry confrontation on Dara’s left. I say confrontation rather than anything else because the lead elements of Dara’s army have been reluctant to get to grips, for reasons that historians will ponder over for decades. Actually, it was bad dice rolling – the cavalry simply refused to charge.

Eventually, Dara got fed up with the failure of his cavalry and ordered them simply to advance into the enemy. While obviously they did not receive that plus two for a charge striking home, and any potential disorder that that might cause, the plus one should have been sufficient for them. That this was not the case is amply demonstrated in the above picture, which shows two of Dara’s cavalry fleeing from the apparently unperturbed, cavalry of Murad. This was, to say the least, vexing for Dara, and he has ordered his infantry forward to show the mounted army how it is done.

Meanwhile, at the village, the militia have tried to assault Murad’s archers. One unit has been stopped by bow fire, the other is failing to make any headway. Things went from bad to worse for Dara as his army failed its morale test and was forced to fall back a move, opening the remaining militia base to further damage from Murad’s bows, which they duly obliged with.

It was all going badly wrong for Dara. In the centre, Murad’s cavalry have charged his infantry. The base Dara himself was not supporting has been routed, and Murad’s cavalry has marauded into another base of musketeers. The base Dara was supporting was made of sterner stuff and had only recoiled, but that still triggered a leader check on Dara’s well-being, which was failed. Another army morale test was required. This time Dara’s dice were not too bad – the army could have routed, but in this case, chose to only withdraw.

From Dara’s point of view, of course, that did not go at all how it was planned. On the other hand, I suppose every losing general can say that. But his dice rolls really were awful at crucial times, although letting his elephant stray unnecessarily into the range of the archers in the village was a mistake, especially as the rocket fire hit it at the same time, turning a minor inconvenience into a major problem.

On the other hand, Murad’s plan worked perfectly. He took the village, turned it into a firebase for the archers and held it against attack while the rest of Dara’s assault was blunted, or, should I say, blunted itself. The final straw came when having failed to throw much above a 3 all morning, Dara managed a 6 on his general’s risk roll, meaning he was down. That really was the end of the effort of his army and, to be fair to my rules, that would have been the case historically, as the general was the paymaster.

So, that was fun, but now I have to work out what happens to Dara. The road to Agra could well be open for Murad, but will he take it?

A Very Mogul Civil War Battle 3

We are still in October 1658, but several hundred miles south of the last action in the VMCW campaign. Here, former allies Aurangzeb and Mir Jumla are squaring up to each other over the plunder of Bijapur. As related last time, the new leader of Bijapur had managed to subvert the old alliance and make the two hostile to each other. The fact that a newly raised although rag-tag Bijapur army is also in the offing is also of interest, although they are trying not to get involved, at least yet.

The terrain was rolled up and it turned out the Mir Jumla had a great big hill near his baseline, and so he immediately did the obvious and occupied it with all his strength. He needed something, I felt, to offset Aurungazeb’s advantage in cavalry – the Mogul prince had 4 bases of cavalry against Mir Jumla’s one guard lancer base and one light horse.

The initial deployments are in the photograph.

First things first. If you look in the top right of the photo you will see the outline of our household feline, waiting to be let out of the snug in which I wargame. I am fortunate to have a picture at all because shortly before I took it she was using my general’s armchair to admire the view out of the window. Fortunately, the lure of her food bowl was too much for her to take permanent residency.

Back to less important matters. Mir Jumla is deployed on the right of the shot, with his command elephant on top of the hill, as you do if you are an Indian commander. The rest of the troops are deployed on the hill itself, aside from the light horse who are on the right, thrown forward to disrupt whatever Aurungzeb might try.

Aurungzeb’s plan was to outflank the hill on both sides with the cavalry and lock up the centre with his firepower, keeping the elephants in reserve for the final breakthrough. The rockets were held back to lob little parcels of joy onto the hill, hopefully disrupting command and control if nothing else.

The picture above shows the plan developing, as the cavalry advances to left and right, with the central infantry units advancing and the rockets in full flight (they only had one hit all game, and that was ineffective). Mir Jumla has deployed his levies on the hill on his left to ward off the Mogul cavalry. For the rest the Golcondans are waiting for the hammer blow of the attacks. A lot will depend on whether Aurungzeb can coordinate his attacks.

The above shows the problems that the Moguls ran into. The cavalry have become disrupted on both wings. The light horse have done their job on Mir Jumla’s right, splitting the Mogul cavalry and opening one of the bases to being charged by the guard lancers while the other is still entertained by the lights. On the flank nearest the cavalry, the disruption was caused by Mir Jumla’s archers. The other base is about to advance too far unless Aurungzeb stops them. In the centre, the firefight has developed, slightly in the Mogul’s favour.

The picture above shows the crisis on Mir Jumla’s right, from behind his lines. The guard lancers have done their job in the distance and are now pursuing one of the Mogul cavalry bases. Nearer to the camera, the remaining Mogul cavalry charged the light horse and both have been recoiled. The Moguls, having charged and been repulsed now pick up two terrain-shaken levels, with a base of elephants bearing down the hill at them. On the other flank, Aurungzeb’s cavalry has deployed facing the Golcondan levies. However, they have refused to charge uphill and overlapped.

To say Aurungzeb was getting a bit frustrated would be an understatement. You can see he is pushing himself and the elephant base up. This will have, shall we say, consequences.

The crisis in the centre was a bit messy. Aurungzeb attacked the archers up the hill, and the other Mogul elephants attacked the other one. They put the archers to flight but at the cost of their mutual support. Mir Jumla then led his swordsmen downhill into the general’s elephant base. In fact, the swordsmen at first refused to charge so Mir Jumla had to take command and move them down the slope. A couple of rounds of combat led to the Mogul general’s base being routed, as you can see above, and that routing base also swept away a base of archers – you can that about to see.

This was catastrophic for the Mogul army command. They lost the general and two bases of troops (the general’s elephant counting as well as a base for morale purposes) in one move. The army went to ‘withdraw’ status, and so it did.

That was a quite short but fun action. Aurungzeb’s coordination was very poor because at crucial times he rolled really badly for tempo. I did wonder if his plan was over-ambitious, but then it worked for Hopton at Stratton, so I let it be implemented. The terrain on Mir Jumla’s left was a bit constrained for the cavalry, which led to one base being stopped before it got into a flanking position, so that was one disruption. On the other flank, the Golcondan light horse did its job magnificently disrupting the advancing Moguls and opening them to being charged by the guard lancers downhill. The Golcondan elephants then arrived to finish the job.

In the centre Aurungzeb’s assault was a bit ‘do or die’, it has to be admitted. He could have withdrawn, I suppose, but for someone who wanted to be Emperor that might be viewed as being a bit wimp. He had a chance, but Mir Jumla’s reserve swordsmen finished the job. I do not know yet whether Aurungzeb is alive or dead, wounded or carried off by his guards to a place of safety. If one brother is down, that could well affect the development of the campaign. We shall see.

War and Wilderness

As the longer-term reader of the blog might be aware, I rarely stray to an era more recent than the very early Eighteenth Century. All right, I admit to having wargamed World War Two, occasionally, and also to have lost to the British in a Napoleonic Wars game. But mostly I stick to the Seventeenth Century and earlier. This is not for any particular ethical or taste reason. They just do not appeal that much.

Be that as it may, I was intrigued by an article in this month’s (roughly) History Today:

Scribner, V., ‘Natural Enemies’, History Today, 75, 2, 38-49, February 2025.

The article recounts the various difficulties British (and assorted German, of course) forces had with the natural environment in the American War of Independence (or American Revolutionary War, if that is more to your taste).

The basic idea was that not only was there a human enemy, but the natural environment of the territories fought over was also against the soldiers. Firstly, there was the trip across the Atlantic to even get to the theatre. This was scary enough for many troops and could take up to three months. The reinforcements could arrive weary, sick, and despondent, which is probably not what the local commanders needed.

The major obstacle to the forces movement was the great American swampland. I imagine that this was a good deal more extensive than it is today, and most troops seem to have found it a memorable and dangerous problem. The ‘Great Swamp’ in New York was bad enough, but further south they got bigger and more dangerous. The ‘Great Dismal Swamp’ in Virginia and North Carolina was daunting, not only was it difficult country, but the natural fauna as well as rebels were a major problem, for scouting let alone moving bodies of troops.

Then, of course, we come to the larger animals found there. Alligators were creatures of fear for many troops. This did actually inhibit movement, as troops refused to sleep in boats and insisted on camping on high ground with a fire to ward off the nasties. There were a lot of them, as well – one diarist reckoned that he could walk across the river on their heads. No wonder they were a bit apprehensive.

Other problems abounded, of course. Mosquitoes were a persistent nuisance, with their bites a constant aggravation. Yellow fever and malaria were also common causes of sickness and death. Scribner remarks that for each death in combat there were 8 from disease. The British and German troops had no prior exposure or immunity to these diseases, and so were particularly vulnerable. The cultivation of rice in the southern states led, of course, to perfect mosquito breeding grounds. It is quite possible that malaria caused the loss of Yorktown, as disease is reported to have reduced Cornwallis- forces by up to 65%.

There were worse places, of course. The young Nelson was sent to capture the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the ‘Mosquito Coast’ in 1780. Indeed, the entry of Spain and France into the war forced Britain to defend Florida as well as take the offensive in Central America. The fortress in inland, downstream from Lake Nicaragua. The approach was bad, the boats accompanied by manatees, which the men thought to be alligators. Some of the troops succumbed to snake bites and the like, let alone the jaguar that attacked an outlying unit, or seemingly potable water poisoned by nearby trees. Nelson himself had to retreat, seriously ill with, apparently, malaria and dysentery, before the fort fell. He returned to England to recuperate. I would guess that many of his troops were not so lucky.

Even those who did return from North America were, shall we say, affected by the experience. Scribner has an account by a young officer of wandering around the delights of Brighton and finding little pleasure in the amusements on offer. As the officer in question, Thomas Hughes, had been in America for five years and endured battles, captivity, disease and thoughts of suicide. A modern diagnosis of post-traumatic stress might be appropriate, if anachronistic.

I am sure I do not need to spell out the implications of this for the reader of this blog. We all sort of know that disease was a problem in most armies; it still is, after all, in those places of the world unfortunate enough to have any modern infrastructure it might have destroyed. Largely, however, as wargamers, we ignore it. I do not have a problem with that, but it is as well to be reminded of disease from time to time.

The question of the environment fighting back is, however, something we perhaps consider a bit less. Aside from ferocious wild animals, the attack of which could make a good skirmish or role-playing game scenario, the sheer difficulty of some of the terrain is something we probably underestimate. We are quite happy scattering around bits of ‘difficult going’ without really considering how difficult it is, or how troops of one side or the other might be more at home in it. This does seem to have been a significant problem in the AWI, with British and Hessian troops uneasy in the terrain which their foes had already adjusted to.

These points do not just apply to North America, of course. As colonial empires expanded from the Fifteenth Century on, European adventurers encountered more and more dangerous animals, difficult terrain and inhabitants who knew the land extremely well. Including these things in a set of wargame rules, whether for battles or campaigns is a challenge, I think. We can always go down the route of ‘Rebel forces get +1 cm move in swamps’ but while workable, it does not really capture the essence of was going on. British forces were quite happy operating in the fields of New England, I believe. It was the swamplands and other areas that were the problem. And that is even before we consider logistics...

VMCW Battle 2: Dara Against Murad

The last battle was in turn 2 of the campaign and featured the routing of the army of Bijapur by Mir Jumla of Golconda. The dice suggested that the commander of the Bijapur army, Afzal Khan was a casualty of the rout, and the dice indicated that he was alive but a prisoner of Mir Jumla.

In the next few months, there was no overt military action, but there was a lot going on. In March Aurungazeb moved to Bijapur, while, in the north, Jai Singh moved the Rajput army to Allahabad. In April Aurungazeb drew a subvert card (he is rolling really well for a 50% initiative character) and Bijapur surrendered to him with no further fighting. His ally, Mir Jumla also moved to Bijapur.

May saw Dara move from Agra towards Murad’s forces in Gujerat. He was allied with Jai Singh who was watching Shah Suhoh in the east, so he felt his rear was secure enough to engage with one of the others. It was also a fact that he was already at war (a 1 on the diplomacy table) with Murad, as was the latter with him. In June, however, Murad scored a subversion success against Dara when he induced Jai Singh to abandon his allegiance to the oldest prince and become hostile to him. This does not, at present, make much material difference to the campaign but leaves Dara a bit exposed. In the south the new (currently nameless leader of Bijapur drew a subvert card and managed to switch Mir Jumla and Aurungazeb to being hostile to each other.

In September Aurungazeb attempted to subvert Mir Jumla, with only limited success, while Bijapur rebelled against its squabbling conquerors (this was a fumbled initiative roll). Meanwhile, Murad has plundered the city of Champanar, and the now-active Marathas tried some diplomacy in the south.

It all came to a bit of a head in October. Both Aurangzeb and Mir Jumlam drew plunder cards. Given that they could not really both plunder the same city in the same turn, I decided that they came to blows over who was going to take the spoils. At the same time, Dara contacted Murad’s army outside Champanar. Meanwhile, Shah Suhoh subverted Jai Singh, who was now not only hostile to Dara but an ally of his. The Marathas plundered Poona, creating an army. It was all getting a little busy.

There were, therefore, two wargames to resolve: Murad against Dara and Aurangzeb against Mir Jumal. I decided on dealing with the two princes first, so wargame 2 of the campaign was staged.

The deployment is above, Dara to the left and Murad to the right. The forces are mirror images of each other. Dara’s plan was to get his rocketeers and archers (on the far side) onto the hill in front of them to take on and disrupt Murad’s cavalry, while his own cavalry swept the centre. Murad’s plan was to take the hill and Dara’s forces on it with the said cavalry, and then outflank the rest of his army while holding the hill on his left (right front of the picture) with his shot, militia and rocketeers.

The picture shows the action developing. Murad’s cavalry have charged some of Dara’s in the centre (brick red counters) while the rest of Murad’s cavalry are manoeuvring to assault the hill. The rocketeers of both sides have opened up, totally ineffectively.

The cavalry clash developed slightly unusually, in that, despite the early shock of being charged, Dara’s cavalry rallied rather magnificently and more than saw off the enemy. The action with the brick red counter shows Murad’s squadron losing rather badly, while just up from them in the picture Dara’s cavalry, despite being shaken, have recoiled their opponents. On the other hand, Murad’s elephant has just arrived to sort things out, while on the hill at the top of the photograph, Murad’s cavalry have taken out the rocketeers, although they are finding the resistance from the archers had to overcome.

The ongoing cavalry combat in the centre was resolved in Dara’s favour, and Murad’s army managed a horrendous morale throw, which meant they had to fall back. The pressure on Dara’s left was relieved, while the latter had the opportunity to bring the rest of the cavalry, and himself, to the fray. As Murad tried to advance his archers to assist, Dara and his cavalry charged Murad’s elephants and routed them, sweeping away a cavalry squadron into the bargain.

I did debate whether it was fair to have Dara charge with his cavalry and the general’s bases are combat units in these armies. I thought it was reasonable enough, and, as it happened, the odds were so stacked against the elephant once the charge was resolved that any other result would have been a surprise.

Murad was now 3 bases down, and another poor morale roll meant that his forces fell back again. At this point, he had some strategic thinking to do. He still had the loot from sacking Champaner (the ox carts at the rear of his position, by the mosque), and most of his army intact. Staying on the field could lose him the war, as well as his life, and almost certainly the money. His army was also getting a bit scattered while Dara’s was a little more coherent, and he had lost half his cavalry. If this had been a stand-alone game, he would probably have fought on; his position was tricky but not hopeless, and a change in luck could have gone in his favour. But in a campaign, the risk is not worth it. Murad retreated, keeping the loot and his life while conceding the battle.

As for Dara, he can always claim the kudos of having led the charge that clinched the battle, with the caveat above. In campaign terms, Murad will retreat to Chambar while Dara decides whether to follow up his victory or retreat back to Agra after the defection of Jai Singh. Meanwhile, in the south, I have to resolve the fate of Bijapur.