The last action in the Spring 1605 move sees attention turn back to Estonia. My reader might remember a clash between the Muscovites and Swedes here, where the Swedes won by a narrow margin. The resulting retreat led to two Muscovite armies being merged into one army and a train. Now, the way the campaign works is that trains (and siege trains, but no one has got one of them yet) are of 6 bases in strength. Two of those bases are artillery (siege artillery for a siege train, naturally), while the rest can be selected from the usual army list. A train, incidentally, costs the same as an army, following Charles I’s quip about the cost of artillery.
So, the Swedes still not having any pike, they deployed nine bases of cavalry and nine of shot. It would seem that historically the Swedes did not reintroduce pike until after the Battle of Kircholm, at which they were bested by Polish cavalry. So they have none here.
The Muscovites were a bit more complex, fielding seven bases of cavalry, three of Cossack light horse, three bases of Streltsi shot, two of Cossack shot and one of Cossack spears, alongside two medium guns. It has been a long time since I have deployed significant artillery assets in a wargame (for a variety of reasons, mostly probably laziness), and I was reminded of one of those early Seventeenth Century manuals which debated where to put the guns, so they were both protected and had an open field of fire. Tricky.
This being me, of course, I forget, again, the sub-generals. No matter, as it affected both sides. I did remember to deploy baggage, though, in proportion with the number of bases. The terrain was quite nice and open, a boon for cavalry-heavy armies, although the Swedes were very grateful to have a hill upon which to deploy their shot.
In the picture, the Swedes, on their hill, are to the left. They had initially deployed two cavalry bases ‘up front’, that is, on the centre line of the board, with the idea of rushing the Muscovite guns. However, the latter’s deployment of a significant wing of cavalry caused me to redeploy the Swedish cavalry back to their own lines. Still, the idea persisted. I was less sure about the Muscovite tactics and plan. The idea was to bombard the Swedish infantry to prevent an attack like last time, while tying up the Swedish cavalry. All right, maybe it was not much of a plan.
The action opened fairly predictably. Both sides were a bit cautious. The Muscovite artillery opened up on the infantry on the hill, without hitting anything. The Swedes, though, conscious that it was a matter of time before the artillery did cause some disruption, inched their right wing cavalry forward, covering the options both of stopping the Muscovite left and being able to rush the guns. The Muscovites responded by sending the Cossacks in to cover the guns.
The plans began to work. The Muscovites dispatched the rest of the Cossack light horse to delay any approach by the Swedish left, while the artillery fire started to disrupt the infantry on the hill. However, the Cossack light horse on the Muscovite left was caught between the duty to cover the guns and their heavy cavalry opposites, charged, and, as you can see above, more or less broken. The victorious Swedish cavalry, led by the general, has smashed into the gun line and disposed of one of the pieces.
The photograph shows the carnage in the Muscovite centre. The second Cossack light horse base has been disposed of, and the second artillery base has similarly gone. The Swedes have pursued on into the left flank of the Streltsi, while the Muscovite general has led his reserve cavalry into the other victorious Swedish base. And I am sure you can see the problem.
I actually made a mistake favouring the Muscovites, here, and counted the shot as having pike support (which they do not). The Streltsi base then recoiled, and it could have been worse. However, if you look closely at the picture, you can see that the Muscovite reserve cavalry has been recoiled, which led by the general, led to a ‘general at risk’ roll. As with the last game, a six was duly rolled and the Muscovite general bit the dust. That was not part of the plan.
The Muscovites, however, managed to stave off disaster in the centre by some lucky combat dice rolling. Both Swedish cavalry bases were recoiled and, being chargers, were thrown into disorder. They were a long way from any support, but the Swedish general was able to pull them back out of harm’s way while calling up the rest of the cavalry. The advancing left wing trotted into the remaining Cossacks and routed them easily. This was because the light horse had lost its orders when the Muscovites wavered when their guns were overrun, and the general was killed.
The loss of yet another base was too much for the Muscovites, and they rolled a withdraw on their morale dice. They had lost six bases, including the general, and, while still a pretty formidable fighting force, were going to struggle against hordes of Swedish cavalry, let alone the shot.
That was interesting. Two Swedish bases and the general more or less did for the Muscovite army. I need to think again about the use of cannon, and possibly, revisit the rules for them. The Muscovite artillery was only ever going to disrupt the Swedes and was very vulnerable. Probably, I should have deployed the foot with them, rather than leave covering duties to the Cossacks.
It does have to be admitted, however, that the Swedes had a plan and stuck to it, and it was a plan of attack which threw the Muscovites off balance and required the intervention of the reserves and the general to recover from. The Muscovites were unlucky, as this cost them the general, and it was all pretty well downhill from there.
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