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...