Those of you (is there anyone?) who have been following this campaign closely will recall that in Summer 1605 there were to be some ructions among the Mongol tribes, whose territories run along the northern edge of the map from Persia to the Jurchen. After some dice rolling and suitable pondering (and counting of territories) it was determined that the specific ruction was a Mongol civil war between two tribes in the province of Khalkha. If you do not know where Khalkha is, you can join the club. On my map, it is to the north-west of Mongolistan.
Now, as I observed before, my knowledge of political geography in early seventeenth-century Mongol territory is sadly lacking, so what follows is even more made up than usual. However, the region seems to have been really rather unstable, although, of course, the glory days of Mongols conquering everything, everywhere, from China to the Near East and Western Europe were long gone.
As this was a civil war, both sides were card drawn. I allotted Ace – 6 as light cavalry, 7 – Q as heavy cavalry and a King would be either militia or skirmishers. The defenders (side one) got 4 light cavalry, 6 heavy cavalry (hereafter simply cavalry) and two militia. I think their leader should give up on the fighting and take up poker, myself. The attackers (side two) got a standard army of 6 light cavalry bases and 6 cavalry bases.
The terrain is above, with the initial deployments. The defenders, who were dubbed the ‘White Sheep’ after their dice, are on the left. The camp is top left, on the top of a hill, defended by the militia. You’ll notice that the bases of these nomads are green. This is because I do not have sufficient Mongol figures for both sides, so the defenders got a hotchpotch of Chinese, Ottoman and Tartar figures. After some whining and a check that the footprint of the armies would not increase (i.e. that I have room in the boxes for some more), permission has been granted to obtain some more Mongols. But I think they will be on green bases to differentiate them from the others, as well as because the campaign rules permit hiring Mongols as mercenaries.
The attackers, the Black Sheep, are to the right, of course. The only other item of interest is the rough ground behind their centre. I realised the last time I had a wargame in a semi-arid region that I do not have any rough ground terrain, and so produced some just in time for this action. It is all polyfiller except for the scrub, and in my view, turned out quite nicely. It will certainly do the job. Anyway, the plan for the Black Sheep was to mask the centre and right and attack on the left.
The Black Sheep plan was implemented, as seen. It did not go quite as well as hoped, as the White Sheep light cavalry administered a bit of a thumping to their opposite number, even though they were outnumbered. On the far side, you can see the Black Sheep light cavalry in some disarray, while on the near side, while things are a little better, one base has been both shaken and recoiled.
I should note that the White Sheep tempo rolling was superb. They only lost the tempo once in the entire game, which does seem to give a bit of an edge in the light cavalry combat. Still, the Black Sheep kept on going, and on their left have started to force the White Sheep light cavalry back, while bringing the central cavalry into charge range of the White Sheep cavalry.
The point at which the White Sheep lost the tempo was, of course, the time the Black Sheep needed to win it to charge home. They did this successfully on the charge roll, but, as you can see, not initially as successfully on the first combat round. On the far side, you can see the light cavalry on both sides still plugging away, incidentally.
The cavalry combat nearest the camera eventually went the Black Sheep’s way, and the result is two Black Sheep bases rallying on the table edge while the third, which had a tougher fight, is about to pursue off said edge. The White Sheep survived the subsequent morale throw quite handsomely, and have turned their remaining light cavalry onto propping up the flank. I did wonder if the light cavalry could have been better occupied in harassing the victorious Black Sheep cavalry and preventing them from rallying, but I was also concerned that the Black Sheep light cavalry could disrupt the central cavalry block and open them to a disadvantageous charge.
After a bit of reorganisation, the Black Sheep left-wing cavalry returned to the fray. One base took out a light cavalry base, while on the far side, the Black Sheep lights scored their first success, routing another light cavalry base. The White Sheep morale slumped at this, and they fell back, which left their central cavalry to be flanked by the victorious Black Sheep cavalry, but which saved another light cavalry base from an untimely demise.
It could not go on much longer, of course. The first base of the central White Sheep cavalry was routed, although the heroic general turned the next base to stem the flow. However, although the morale throw indicated only another fallback result, the White Sheep general felt that the game was up, having lost 6 bases against none. He therefore gave the order to withdraw and sent out an offer of peace to the Black Sheep, along with a suggestion that they settle their differences over a game of cards.
That was a good game between slightly unequal sides. I expected the White Sheep to do a bit worse than they did, but the militia were hardly in action, and their light horse did very well considering they were outnumbered. The White Sheep were helped by their tempo rolling, which meant that the Black Sheep only rarely got sufficient tempo to move, let alone control the light cavalry battle. But in the end, the charge of the Black Sheep left wing clinched the day.
Next up is a supported Cambodian army against a supported Siamese army. Eighteen bases a side, and guess what, I do not have sufficient bases for this one, either.
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