Those of you who have been paying attention will know that the next action is a Muscovite civil war in the province of Muscovy itself. This arose, in part, from a winter rule change. It came to my attention, while perusing the diplomatic table, that several states were in a state of internal warfare, that is, the diplomatic score on the diagonal (so, the state’s relation with itself) was a one. Never being one to pass up the opportunity for a wargame, I decided that such states should roll each year to see if armed conflict had broken out.
There were a number of states in this perilous situation in the winter of 1605-6, and dice rolls were made appropriately for all of them. The only one which failed the roll was the Muscovites. You may recall that a Muscovite civil war was the subject of the first action in the campaign. As it happens, the internal tensions in Muscovy have never been resolved, and now the dice dictate a second go.
The government forces have the basic Muscovite force, six bases of cavalry, two mounted Cossack light horse, two streltsi shot, one Cossack shot and one Cossack spears. The foot Cossacks are not the classic Cossacks whom we normally think of, but urban dwellers. The rebels drew for their army, and got six bases of horse, two light horse, three bases of streltsi and a base of Cossack shot. So, fairly evenly matched, I thought.
The terrain was a bit interesting for the action. On the far side, there is a river, and the government forces are deployed on the left. Their lines are a bit broken up by woods, and on the near side, where their baggage is, is a hill, on the front face of which the streltsi are deployed. The cavalry is in the centre, and the foot Cossacks are on their left, between the wood and a marsh. This was a late deployment to block any attempted outflanking manoeuvre by the rebel horse.
The rebels deployed their baggage in the relative safety of the far side of the stream and put their shot on their left. They did, indeed, intend to outflank the government forces along the river, while hoping to keep the government cavalry at bay with firepower.
As you can see, the plans developed. The government streltsi advanced off their hill and are exchanging potshots with the rebels. On the far side, rebel cavalry is advancing along the river, while in the centre, the government Cossacks have been taking a gentle pounding by the rebels and are in some disarray.
A few moves later, and the rebel right centre cavalry has advanced into the government Cossacks, routing one base and driving the other back. Meanwhile, on the rebel left, the government streltsi are disrupting their rebel counterparts. On the far side, the rebel outflanking cavalry has come into contact with the urban Cossacks.
It all came to a head quite quickly. On the government's left, the rebel cavalry charged home and hit the infantry quite hard, but did not rout them. On the government centre left, the cavalry has charged home against the rebels, again causing damage but not destroying them. The possibilities are still open. If the rebel outflanking force can break through quickly, then the government's rear, baggage train, and the rest of the foot could be vulnerable. On the other hand, the loss of the rebels’ main force cavalry could be devastating to them. It was all down to the timing.
As things developed, the pendulum started to swing in favour of the government. On the far side, the urban Cossack shot were routed, but the spears put up a much stouter resistance, seeing off one of the charging cavalry and, at present, holding off the reserve cavalry who have charged in. The remaining government mounted Cossacks have been dispatched to help out, as, under the rules, bases under fire cannot rally.
In the centre, two bases of rebel cavalry have fled, pursued by government forces. A rebel attempt to outflank and trap a government cavalry base using a Cossack base has failed. On the other hand, the government moved up the rest of their cavalry in the hope of smashing the streltsi, but good shooting from the rebel foot has disrupted their formation. On the other hand, the government streltsi have hit the rebel foot with a recoil. You can just see the recoil base by the general.
Ah, yes, exactly. The rebel general, having been attached to a recoiled base, has to throw on the risk to leaders chart. It should not be a problem; anything but a six will do. However, this being Muscovites, I am sure you know what happened. The rebel general bit the dust.
That was not quite that, as the rebels managed to keep fighting for another turn or so. The reserve cavalry of the outflanking force managed to inflict damage on the urban Cossacks, but were themselves bounced. The remaining rebel cavalry in the centre was routed, while the rest of the centre degenerated into a long-range firefight.
However, the outflanking cavalry was badly disrupted, and the loss of the final central cavalry base was too much for the rebel morale, and it slumped to withdraw. The loss of the general, which was, to say the least, unfortunate, was just too much.
Wargames including the Muscovites, often turn out to be quite fast and fun, and this was no exception. The key here was the speed (or lack of it) of the outflanking force. They could not deploy fully due to the terrain, and while the shot were routed, the Cossack spears just about held out, delaying and blunting the effect of the outflanking manoeuvre. In the centre, the government could not exploit their local superiority much, but did enough to defeat the remaining rebel cavalry and, through shooting down the general, win the game.
So, I will need to decide whether the rebellion continues or not, but that is for next turn. The next action is another consequence of rule changes and also subversive French diplomacy, which has echoes even further west.
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