1600 – Something: Wallachia Defensive

The Summer 1602 move became kind of interesting (to me, anyway; I’m not sure anyone else is really interested in these posts and this campaign). In the west, Spain got a move card and decided that the best way to secure the Spanish Road was to invade Savoy. They had a fleet and the army in Franche-Comte to support, but failed their GOOS roll, and so a Savoyard army opposed them. Not only that, but the French, smarting from their defeat in Spring, added two supporting armies to the resistance. I had to think about this a bit, but fortunately, my notes indicated that the defeated French army was the one in Champagne, not the other two. So a 24-base a side wargame was in the offing.

In the east, too, things were hotting up. The Muscovites made their initiative roll and drew a subvert card. A bit of perusing the diplomatic table suggested that detaching Poland from its friendly neutrality to the Ottomans was a good idea, and they had a 55% chance of doing so. The roll was made, and the Muscovite diplomats had scored a critical success! A bit more head-scratching ensued, and the Ottomans declared war on Poland.

There was just one snag for the Ottomans in the opening of the war. The Poles sent their army south, no problem. The Ottomans sent theirs north, into Wallachia. They failed their GOOS roll, and the Wallachians decided to resist. So now I have a wargame between the Wallachians on the defensive and the invading Ottomans, who are not really interested in invading Wallachia per se, but rather in attacking Poland.

The standard Ottoman army under the rules and army lists is 5 Cv, 3 LH, 2 Sh (Janissary), and 2 militia bases. The Wallachians, being an uncontrolled army, got a card pick which gave them 3 Cv, 4 LH, and 5 Bw bases. An interesting match-up, I thought.

The opening deployments are above. You’ll notice that the Ottoman infantry is deployed in a stream. This was a simple mistake on my part – it was treated as a road during the whole game. I made a mistake, but at least it was a consistent one. Anyway, the Wallachians are to the left, with their bows on a hill. The Ottoman plan was to move the central infantry and their cavalry up quickly (using the road, which was not) to engage the Wallachians, while the column of cavalry on the far side looped around the wood to take the Wallachians in flank.

A few moves in, and the light cavalry is engaged on both wings. In the foreground, the Wallachian lights are under pressure, and the Ottoman foot and cavalry are moving up. On the far side, however, the Wallachians have scored a minor success against the heavier Ottoman cavalry and forced them back a bit. At the time, I did not think much about this; they would soon recover.

A few moves later on again, and the Ottoman infantry have deployed against the Wallachians on the hill, while the Ottoman light cavalry, having gained a temporary advantage over their opponents, strayed a bit close to the massed Wallachian bows and have been forced back. The central Ottoman cavalry has deployed on the forward slope of the central hill, guarding against any naughty flank attacks from the Wallachian cavalry.

On the far side, however, a very strange situation has arisen. After their initial success, the left flank Wallachian lights have followed up with some remarkable combat rolls. The opposing spahi are now, in fact, only one bad roll away from breaking. Initially, they were recoiled, which meant that the front element went to the back of the column. No problem, really. Then the front element was recoiled and shaken. Problem: Shaken bases cannot pass through each other, so the whole column recoiled and was shaken. Then they were recoiled again, which meant that they are teetering on the edge, doubly shaken and recoiled.

The Wallachian’s luck held. Their light cavalry on their left made another recoil roll, and the Ottoman heavies fled. The Wallachians now turned across the Ottoman rear, while the Ottoman general frantically redeployed horse archers to deal with them. You can see one of the said horse archer bases fleeing above. Meanwhile, the Ottoman foot approached the hill and was met with devastating bow fire. Not only that, but the Wallachian general saw an opportunity and launched one base of his noble cavalry at the infantry flank. The first time, in fact, the cavalry refused to charge, but the second time they went home, and the Ottoman infantry collapsed.

That was, of course, too much for the Ottoman army, who routed. It has to be said that the real difference between the two was a very hot combat dice for the Wallachians. Those left flank light horse were truly devastating. The two bases routed four Ottoman cavalry bases. I have never seen such a successful skirmish in my games, I confess.

Aside from my errors, that was a remarkable game. The mistake over the stream did not really matter, as it benefited both sides. The Ottomans got their foot into the game quickly along it, while the Wallachians charged across it at the end, so it balanced out. The Wallachian infantry was solid on their hill, and had reserves so they could have defended it from a flank attack. But the day belonged to those Wallachian light cavalry, who doubtless will become the subject of song and poem.

Strategically, this means that the Ottoman army, which routed, will have dispersed. Thus, the Ottomans are trying to fight a war without any armed forces, which should be interesting. The Poles, on the other hand, have to decide whether to settle down in Little Poland supporting the Wallachians, in case the Ottomans return, or whether to take the offensive, move through Wallachia themselves (hopefully unopposed, but you never know) and attack the now wide open spaces of the Empire.

Still, the next action is in Western Europe, with two armies that are rather larger than I am used to dealing with. I will let you know how I get on in due course.