FK&P AAR: Cossacks vs Muscovites

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Time to get my new Muscovites onto the tabletop and into action, with their opponents being the Zaphorogian Cossacks. Russians verses Ukrainians: who would have thought!

I played the Cossacks, daughter #1’s boyfriend, Kavan, played the Muscovites. The rules used were For King & Parliament with the Eastern Front adaptations taken from the Tales from a Wargaming Shed website.

This turned out to be a fast and furious battle with what seemed like an endless wave of Muscovite horse crashing onto the Cossack tabor and infantry.

Here a gallery of the set up so that you can see the two sides:

The battle opened with a brigade of Muscovite Reiters thundering forward on the Cossack right flank, held by a brigade of Moloitsy and Registered Cossacks. The cards were with Kavan, with a couple of consecutive “10’s” ensuring that he actually charged home on his first turn!

The rapid charge had, however, obviously exhausted his cavalrymen, as they bounced backwards from the Cossack infantry, losing one squadron in the process.

The Muscovites also advanced another brigade of Reiters on my left flank, but not as fast, so I sent my Tartar allies out to deal with them whilst I advanced the tabor forward and prepared to deploy.

I almost came a cropper at this point, as his Reiters were once again quick off the mark, and hit one of my tabor wagons before it had a chance to deploy. Fortunately, I managed to survive the charge, but there was definitely now a weak point in my line!

Even worse, my Tatar Nobles (the best troops I had) had obviously been bribed by the Muscovites, as they left the table, along with some of their horse archers, without achieving anything!

I was now in quite serious danger of being outflanked on the left!

Fortunately I had a reserve brigade of infantry that I could deploy to face this threat, and the battle became a series of Muscovite assault on a fortress of Cossack tabor. Again and again, the Reiters and elite National Cavalry charged home, and again and again the Cossack line held.

My artillery was overrun, two of the tabor wagons were overrun, my Registered Cossacks on the right were wavering, but still we held, and the relentless assaults were costing the Muscovites dearly.

Kavan also wasn’t helped by a run of bad cards, including what you can see in the last picture, above: an absolute dead-cert winning flank charge on the reserve unit holding my left flank foiled by a couple of Aces drawn in a row.

This gave me the chance to get the last remaining unit of Tatars in on his flank and, finally, the Muscovites had had enough and retreated. A very narrow escape for the Cossacks!

It had been a terrific game, with everything coming right down to the wire. I had lost half my army, but had just managed to hold on long enough to get the win. Roll on the next game!

IABSM AAR: All American #03: La Fiere II

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Great write up of a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum from the keyboards of Dan Albrecht and Shane Waley.

Dan used a modified version of the third scenario from the All American scenario pack, along with a modified version of IABSM using Derek Hodge’s command card activation system.

Click on the pic below to see all:

TFL Painting Challenge: Final August Update

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Just time to squeeze in a quick Painting Challenge update before we hit September.

Lots of entries this time around, so do visit the individual galleries. Here’s a taster to wet your whistle:

Interestingly, I’ve just realised that I’ve been using the phrase “whet your whistle” almost every time we have a Painting Challenge update…and spelling/using it incorrectly each time. It’s “whet your appetite” as in “sharpen your appetite” but “wet your whistle” as in “have a drink”.

So I now need to go back and change every Painting Challenge update to “whet your appetite”…or not bother as a reminder to myself not to get it wrong again!

FK&P: Lists for the Eastern Front

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Whilst researching for my English Civil War armies, I came across the blog Tales from a Wargaming Shed. It’s author, Tim, had some rules and army lists for using For King & Parliament to fight pike and shot battles in 17th Century Eastern Europe as opposed to just the UK’s green and pleasant land.

Muscovites versus Cossacks, from a recent game

This, combined with the comprehensive miniatures for the theatre available from Wargamer.pl, inspired me to start a collection of Zaphorogian Cossacks to face friend Bevan’s Polish Lithuanians and then, as my collection expanded to include Muscovites, Transylvanians and others, to build on Tim’s work and the information provided in the By Fire & Sword rules by Wargamer.pl, to create more detailed army lists for For King & Parliament for the theatre.

On this new page on this blog, therefore, you will find pdfs of the army lists I have created so far. These are, I hasten to say again, hugely based on Tim’s work and the information provided in the By Fire & Sword rules by Wargamer.pl. All I have done is build upon their work, adding information taken from other sources (for example, the Steven’s Balagan blog) to put together enough information to get as many different eastern front '“pike and shot” armies as possible on the tabletop. Any mistakes are my own, and I welcome corrections or suggestions (send to admin@vislardica.com).

FK&P: The Eastern Front

IABSM AAR: Capturing Rauray

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Earlier this year, at the Lardy Games Day Operation Market Lardon, I played in a very enjoyable game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum run by Phil and Jenny.

The game involved elements of 2. SS Panzer-Division Das Reich and 9. SS Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen attempting to recapture the town of Rauray in Normandy from the 1st Battalion Tyneside Scottish. Noddy and I played the British against some very skilful German opposition.

The game had actually been playtested several times, and here’s an AAR from one of those playtests from the excellent Bleaseworld blog.

Click on the picture, below, to see all:

More Kudos to Warbases

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I recently bought a whole load of painted figures for use with my Zaphorogian Cossacks: there was a complete Muscovite army, large numbers of Transylvanians, and a smattering of Ottomans as well.

The only problem was that they were all based for the miniatures’ parent rule system By Fire and Sword: so although I wouldn’t have any problems adapting the units to FK&P/Eastern Front version, it did mean that I would be moving figures on lots of bases around the field rather than my usual large element bases.

I did think about re-basing, but the bases that the figures came on were far too well done to be casually destroyed…and re-basing figures is always a tedious and sometimes risky business. I needed another solution.

Step forward Warbases: that excellent company from north of the border who specialise in bases of all sorts. They already supply the custom bases I use for IABSM infantry squads, the larger bases I use for TTS deep units, and the standard movement trays I use for my Vikings, so I investigated what they could do.

I wanted movement trays of two different types (one for foot, one for horse) but with a narrower lip than usual so they wouldn’t end up being too prominent on the battlefield.

One quick e-mail to Warbases describing what I wanted and they were happy to provide. Okay so I had to stick the extra thin lip on myself, but that was hardly a hardship!

Here are the results: multi-based infantry, horse and artillery units now beautifully and conveniently trayed-up and ready for the tabletop. Once again: well done Warbases!

 

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AoE AAR: Heilsberg

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A couple of weeks ago it was over to Benson to play in a huge re-fight of the Napoleonic battle of Heilsberg.

From Wikipedia:

On 24 May 1807, the Siege of Danzig ended when Prussian General Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth capitulated to French Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre. This gave Napoleon the opportunity to engage the Russian forces led by Levin August von Bennigsen. On 2 June, before Napoleon could act, Bennigsen ordered his columns to converge on Marshal Michel Ney's exposed VI Corps. Outnumbered by 63,000 to 17,000, Ney fought a rear guard action at the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen on 5 and 6 June. Though he lost his baggage train, two guns, and 2,042 men, Ney managed to escape to the southwest over the Pasłęka (Passarge) River with the bulk of his soldiers.

Within two days, Napoleon had ordered his 190,000-man army to close in on the 100,000 Russians and 15,000 Prussians. Aware of their approach, Bennigsen ordered his troops to fall back on Lidzbark Warmiński ("Heilsberg" in German). The Russian army took up strong defensive positions around the town, which stood on the Łyna (Alle) River. The French army, under Marshals Murat and Lannes, attacked on 10 June. Bennigsen repelled several attacks, resulting in huge French casualties, but had to withdraw towards Friedland the following day. Four days later, the decisive Battle of Friedland occurred, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition with the passing of the Treaty of Tilsit.

And about the battle itself:

The French cavalry under Joachim Murat was selected to lead the frontal attack, but Napoleon did not arrive on the field in person until Murat had already led a disastrous charge. Marshal Mortier and Marshal Davout advanced on the Königsberg side. Soult and Lannes, leading separate cavalry units, and Ney, with the infantry, moved forwards on both sides of the River Łyna. These smaller units proved ineffective, especially when Prussian reinforcements arrived, sent by Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq at Bennigsen's request. Lannes made an unsuccessful attack which cost the French 3,000 casualties. On the Russian side, Bennigsen was suffering from fever and had difficulty remaining in command.

On 11 June, the substantial casualties on both sides and the success of the Russian defence gave Bennigsen and Napoleon little choice but to call an undocumented truce to end hostilities. The French had lost an estimated 12,000 men. The truce was focused primarily on the recovery of wounded soldiers. The battle ended with medics and soldiers from both sides helping the wounded and retrieving the dead. When Napoleon entered the deserted Russian positions the following day, he found that all except the wounded had been evacuated overnight.

I would play Murat, commander of the French cavalry, with Anon and Mark leading the French infantry. The Russians would be played by Edward and John. We also had two referees (and the architects behind the game): Bevan on the French side and Dave on the Russian side. The rules used were Age of Eagles.

The French cavalry corps, with me as Murat commanding, arrive on the edge of the table. Our objective is the town that you can just see top right.

I knew that historically Murat had just thundered forward and charged up the slope at the waiting Russians. I also knew that that hadn’t worked, so my aim (and orders from our Napoleon) was to head to the left and try and get through the gap in the ridge past the trees with the house in front of them.

I duly headed off in that direction as fast as I could, but my troops quickly got a bit strung out. The Lights were okay, but the Heavies were having none of this fast-moving malarky!

Meanwhile, the Russians pulled back so all their troops were on the ridge and our infantry started to arrive on table.

The Russians were waiting for me with two strong (well, large) units of Cossacks and a battery of guns, so rather than recklessly trying to force the gap with the Lights, I waited until my Heavies actually deigned to arrive.

Meanwhile, the Russians were receiving reinforcements.

Time to earn my spurs! I brought the Heavies up along with my Horse Artillery and thundered through the gap, with the enemy Cossacks counter-charging my advancing cavalry.

I didn’t smash the Cossacks from the table - their large sotnias absorbing a lot of the impetus from my smaller but much better quality units - but definitely pushed them back, allowing me to start to pour through the gap.

Meanwhile, the French infantry was advancing forwards as fast as possible, and fighting had broken out around the village on the Russian left. This benighted place would change hands several times before finally falling to the French.

The Russian reinforcements were still streaming towards the fighting!

As the French infantry continued to pour forward, I kept the pressure up on the Cossacks and the regular cavalry that had begun to arrive to reinforce them.

By now, battle was becoming general across the whole of the front of the ridge.

On my side of the table, my cavalry were now definitely starting to push the Russian horse backwards, even with their reinforcements, and were starting to push forward onto the ridge itself: the flank of the Russian infantry beckoned, and I even managed to overrun a Russian artillery piece in its redoubt.

The French infantry were also getting well stuck in, and the Russians were gradually being pushed back all along their line.

This was not an easy fight, I hasten to add. French casualties were mounting up, and the action was a see-saw backwards and forwards rather than a steady advance from the French. My cavalry were facing a lot of fresh Russian regular horse and I was having to attack in surges: charge and get disordered, hopefully survive enemy actions, re-order and charge in again…but the enemy were definitely starting to crumble under our relentless assault!

What finally broke the Russian horse were a series of flank charges: my smaller units being much more manoeuvrable than his massive columns.

With my cavalry now dominant on the left side of the ridge, and my horse artillery on the way, and the Russian infantry in the centre starting to crumble, it was looking deadly serious for the Russians.

The clock was ticking, however, and we had to end the game there having fought 16 of the 23 turns that the scenario allowed.

So, who had won?

Well the French were definitely winning, and had secured two of their four objectives: the river line in front of the ridge and the ridge itself. They had also inflicted 41% casualties on the Russians whilst taking approximately half that themselves. Admittedly they technically only had seven turns to secure the riverline behind the ridge (that would have been very, very do-able) but taking the town, with its infantry defenders would have been very tough to do indeed within that time limit.

In the end, the referees ruled that extreme Russian casualties would have meant that their army abandoned both the field and the town, giving victory to the French. Huzzah!

It is, however, only fair to mention that the Russians disagreed vehemently with this interpretation of the result: claiming that they would have quite happily holed up in the town and waited for nightfall and the technical end of the action, giving them the victory despite their enormous casualties and loss of 75% of their objectives. I leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide who was right!

I was quite relieved to have done better than my historical counterpart, and was pleased with the way I had forced the Russian right flank.

The Age of Eagles rules give a good, fast-moving game, although I find the fact that you’re always rolling one die for a test or combat rather than two makes things uncomfortably random: there’s no normal distribution with just one die, and the fact that it’s a D10 gives you a nine point variance in result…it’s just that bit too random for me.

My thanks to all involved, but especially to Dave and Bevan who organised and ran the game. Perhaps a last word from one of the Russian commanders…

Really good to see some of you on Saturday, and big thanks for such a fun day and battle. The Russian right flank (which was weakly defended) took a pounding from some very skillfully handled French cavalry…but I think if we'd strengthened the flank from the start, the French infantry would have cleared the central high ground even quicker than they did. Even though we lost, I really enjoyed playing the Russians…an excellent defence over such a long period.

 

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IABSM AAR: Calais at Britcon 2022

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Michael Curtis ran two games of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum at Britcon this year, ably helped by Phil and Jenny Turner.

This was a truly superb looking game: click on the picture below to see lots of photographs…and to be inspired!

 

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IABSM AAR: Hungary 1945

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It’s heatwave after heatwave at the moment, so Mark Luther attempts to cool us all down with a great game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum set in Hungary, 1945.

This was just a quickie scenario setup that wasn't based on a specific historical battle, but was inspired by the German actions to relieve Budapest in early 1945. Mark also wanted to get his Tiger IIs on the board.

Click on the picture below to see all:

 

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FK&P AAR: Widbrooke Common Again

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As Rob had not only come a long way but also beaten me fairly quickly playing The Attack on Marlowe scenario, it seemed only meet and right to have another game…and being logical chaps, we set up the table for the second scenario from Marlowe the Maidenhythe scenario pack: Widbrooke Common.

Scene from behind the Parliamentarian lines

It’s the Royalists on the attack: advancing against the Parliamentarians across the eponymous common. Although Rob had played the Cavaliers in the first game, we got switched around somehow, and now I would take the loyalists into battle against the Roundheads.

The Royalists wasted no time, and marched forward smartly towards the traitors opposite them. One slight worry was that a lot of my infantry were Untried (the yellow markers in the picture below) meaning that the first time they encountered anything battle-ly (were shot at, wanted to shoot, were charged etc) they would have to check their morale

Slightly to the left of centre, the two cavalry lines clashed, with honours really falling to the Roundheads: their bigger ‘Dutch’ units surviving the initial charges of my smaller ‘Swedish’ squadrons and then bashing me up in the melee that followed.

In the event, both sides cavalry effectively cancelled each other out, especially as one of my infantry units was able to turn and blast a Roundhead horse unit in the flank. The battle would end with each sides’ surviving cavalry manoeuvering for advantage in the open ground on my left wing.

Which meant that the battle would be decided in the centre and on my right.

As you can just about see in the picture above, the first thing that I did was to dispose of the Roundhead artillery with my small unit of Cuirassiers. A bit risky, but the cards were with me and the guns were silenced for no loss.

The Cuirassiers then went on to threaten the Roundhead rear, eventually destroying the unit of commanded shot that formed the Parliamentarian reserve.

You can also see, in the picture on the right, that my infantry have moved forward and begun to push back his main line. Here’s a couple of great shots of them going into action:

What isn’t shown in the pictures above, and the reason that victory was eventually mine, is that on the right flank my horse had moved forward and outflanked two Parliamentarian infantry units that were trying to evict a Royalist Forlorn Hope from a small farm building.

Here’s a shot from earlier in the game: the Forlorn Hope would keep the Roundhead infantry distracted for long enough for my horse to turn left and hit them in the flank…which meant that when I broke the infantry in the centre, Rob ran out of Victory Medals and I had won!

It had been a great game, fairly tight right until the end. The initial Roundhead success with the cavalry hadn’t turned into more mainly because his horse pursued my retreating horse for too long, which gave me a chance to re-group what I had left and at least keep him occupied while my infantry moved forward.

The Cuirassiers were, despite their small size, the stars of the game: punching a hole in the enemy line and then disordering the main Roundhead line by violently removing their reserves behind them.

Another great game of FK&P!

 

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TFL Painting Challenge: Mid-August Update

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Well maybe a few days too early, but there were a lot of entries piling up, so I thought I’d better clear them before things became unmanageable!

Please do heck out the individual galleries, but here are some highlights:

6mm Battle Damaged Church from Mr Luther

 

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FK&P AAR: The Attack on Marlowe Again

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New friend Rob came up for a couple of games of For King & Parliament, a system he was considering but hadn’t played before, so where better to start than the first game from my Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack.

Without going into the detail of why and what for, the Royalists are attacking a Parliamentarian force “dug in” on the approaches to Marlowe. Rob would play the Royalist, I took the Parliamentarians.

Royalists on the left, Roundheads on the right

Here’s a pictorial account of the game:

So a win for the Royalists, and for Rob in his first game.

A Quick Three Huts

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A recent purchase left me in possession of three resin huts from the Wargamer Company, so I thought I’d better get some paint on them before they even got to the lead mountain.

These are painted with Contrast paints…and here I’ll tell you a little secret to getting the thatch and wood looking like it does: paint them upside down. No, not standing on your head, but paint the thatch upside down so that a down stroke takes the paint towards the top of the roof. It doesn’t change much, but it just makes sure that the paint runs into all the horizontal crevices without you having to go back and check them all again.

The Aggaros Dunes colour I used for the thatch is too light, I know, but provides a contrast with the Wyldwood used for the walls. The walls of the hut in the middle I did by stippling i.e. getting some Bleached Bone on an old brush and just jabbing it up and down. You can’t really see it in the pic, above, but it works really well at giving an uneven finish.

TTS AAR: Sassanids Win Three Out Of Three

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So with Bevan having defeated me twice in quick succession, it was my turn to take the Persians and his to take the Gauls.

Having watched the master at work, I knew that the best tactics were just to get forward as fast as possible, get my horse archers shooting quickety-quick, and charge home with the heavies as soon as I got the opportunity!

The terrain forced the action into three separate channels: the left past the woods, the centre, and the right past the woods.

On the left, two of my heavy units backed up by the elephants faced the Gauls’ three main cavalry units. The heavies quickly chewed through the more likely armed Celts, but the elephants had to divert to protect the rear from a marauding Gallic warband. These Gauls weren’t up to much snuff, however, and the elephants quick sent them packing.

On the other flank, I used another unit of heavies and some horse archers to quickly dispatch his final unit of horse: things weren’t going too badly at all!

Regular readers will know that usually when I say that, it presages an immediate reversal of fortunes and a catastrophic defeat…but not this time.

The two centres clashed, and I scored an immediate success as a unit of veteran clibanarii smashed an enemy warband off the table!

My line wasn’t (unfortunately!) a solid wall of heavy cavalry, so Bevan pushed forward hard at the sections held only by horse archers. These naturally danced backwards, which was fine except for the fact that it meant that the Gallic warbands concerned now had a chance of taking my camps.

One of the good things about having a cavalry army, however, is its ability to move rapidly around the table, including to head backwards to head off travel.

As one of my heavy units headed for the Gallic camp, another headed straight into the rear of one of the warbands threatening my camps. The hit was, as you might imagine, devastating: the warband shattered and I had won the game!

So one game back for me, making the day two for Bevan and one for me…but three-to-nothing for the Sassanids.

This must make them one of the best armies under the To The Strongest system, at least where the battlefield is fairly open. Must be time to re-base the Sassanid infantry as well then!

TTS AAR: Gauls vs Sassanids - the Re-Match

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Having been sliced and diced in under and hour in our first game, the Gauls had plenty of time for a re-match against the Sassanids. Bevan and I played the same sides again: me taking the brave and heroic Celtic underdogs again, him taking the Persians.

Both sides set up in a fairly similar fashion as last time, although the Gauls did split their cavalry between the two wings rather than concentrating on just the one.

As the game opened, once again the Sassanids shot forward rapidly, effectively clearing half the battlefield before the poor Celts had even had time to finish their croissants.

Out in front were the two wings of each army, and the first action was therefore clashes on the left and right.

On the left, two units of Celtic horse (the third had hung back for some reason) faced a unit of Sassanid Clibanarii and, led by a Boudicca type in her chariot, smashed the first unit from the field. They then went on to engage a second unit behind and quickly disordered them too. Yes they disordered themselves in the process, but things were certainly looking promising on the left!

On the right, I also achieved what I saw as an advantage: another cavalry unit and some Gaeseti fanatics effectively got the drop on another lot of clibanarii, getting a two-on-one advantage, and although some horse archers had slipped through my line, things looked promising here too.

Meanwhile, in the centre, my main group of warbands had hit the enemy line (a combination of horse archers and heavies) and pushed it back. Okay, the horse archers were evading away rather than being broken, but his camps were soon in sight, and they were worth a lot of victory medals!

Although I had taken some casualties, I was on the cusp of victory: all I had to do was survive the next, Sassanid, turn, and I would presumably finish off one or two enemy units, take his camps, and therefore win the game.

As you may already have been guessing, the salient part of that last paragraph was “all I had to do”!

Although Boudicca survived another round of combat, my infantry units heading for the Sassanid flanks were now hit in the flanks by those horse archers that had danced away from their advance. I wasn’t too bothered: deep warbands can soak up a lot of damage…but not, unfortunately, enough!

One was dashed from the field, the other disordered, effectively curtailing its advance next turn.

On the right, where my horse supported by infantry had been mullering his clibanarii, the fortunes of war suddenly turned against me. I went from two undamaged units facing a disordered enemy heavy cavalry unit to a lone, disordered warband facing two enemy units!

Finally, and to add insult to injury, that lone unit of horse archers that had slipped through my lines managed to get into my camp and ravage my Gallic baggage. That cost me three victory coins and the game!

I had, however, actually come quite close to winning the game, and had certainly lasted longer than last time!

Even better, next game it was my turn to run the Sassanids!

TFL Painting Challenge: A First August Update

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Just a quick update to keep on top of things.

Entries today from Lloyd, Ralph, Mervyn, Stumpy, Carole and Mr Luther. Do visit the individual galleries, but here’s a taster:

TTS AAR: Gauls versus Sassanids

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Having re-based all my Sassanids, I couldn’t wait to get them onto the tabletop…and fortunately friend Bevan was available to help me do so.

The real question was who to pitch them against: the Sassanids are one of the most successful armies under the To The Strongest system: the combination of horse archers and chunky lancers giving everyone except a similar army real problems. I eventually decided upon the Gauls as suitable opponents: lots of big warbands that could soak up damage, not as fragile as the Ancient Brits, and with some decent cavalry of their own. Chuck in some Gaeseti fanatics, and on paper it looked like it might be a good match.

On paper.

Despite the fact that I had re-based the Sassanids, I elected to take the Gauls first time round. Outscouted, I decided to put all my cavalry on one wing: probably a mistake as that allowed Bevan to get his elephants opposite my horse…and if there’s one thing Gallic horse don’t like, it’s the look and smell of nellies!

The Sassanids opened proceedings by sprinting up the battlefield towards my line. Most unusually, the elephants shot out in front of the already fast-moving Sassanid line and stomped into the forest that I had thought I might use to protect my flank.

This looked like a good opportunity to me, so I sent a unit of Gaeseti fanatics into the woods to root the pachyderms out. Surely this was a couple of points I could secure before the rest of his line arrived.

Apparently not.

The elephants proved their worth and soon my fanatics were reeling backwards, with my CinC falling heroically in the melee!

Also on the left flank, the first charge of the Gallic cavalry versus the Sassanid cataphracts had taken place. Despite having the initiative, my horse had failed to dent the armoured horsemen at all, and another of my generals died!

Worse, some enemy Clibanarii were working their way down the flank and needed to be dealt with before they got into my rear!

Meanwhile, on the right flank, I had taken possession of the hill in front of my line. My thinking was that I could soak up a bit of horse archer fire, rallying if necessary, and then be uphill when the enemy lancers went in.

This didn’t really work either, as the Sassanid horse archers were having a very good day, and soon my two warbands looked like pincushions…and, you guessed it, I lost a third general!

So thirty minutes into the game, the situation looked like this:

The Gauls look pretty solid, but that’s an illusion. Next turn, the Gaeseti got mullered by the elephants, the lead cavalry unit got smashed off the table by the cataphracts (foreground action in the pic above), and I also lost the unit of cavalry next to the fanatics and one of the warbands on the hill. That, plus the three officers, was it: I was out of victory medals and out of the game!

Horrendous: Bevan had expertly sliced and diced the Gauls and served them for Sassanid tea!

FK&P AAR: Swedish vs Moghuls

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With the Moghuls having defeated the Cossacks in short order (see previous post) there was time to have another game. This time I thought that I would wheel out the Swedes: not sure quite how the contemporary but not contemporaneous Swedes and Moghuls would ever encounter each other…but then that’s the great joy of wargaming!

I was a bit more confident of victory this time: the Swedish army has a good mix of pike-armed infantry and decent Reiter horse: surely this would be enough to put the upstart easterners in their place!

The Swedes

The Moghuls

I drew up my Swedes in entirely the traditional manner: two brigades of infantry in the centre, a brigade of cavalry on each wing. My plan was to advance in a line and just get stuck in as soon as possible: my pike should be able to defeat his largely musket- or sword-armed infantry through reach alone!

The Moghul plan was to sweep his wings forward using weight of numbers to win the cavalry battle there, then curl in to take my main line in the flanks just as his main line hit them from the front.

His cavalry duly swept forward, with my cavalry advancing to meet them.

Left flank

Right flank

As the cavalry on both sides began their fight for dominance on the wings, the Swedes marched their infantry forward in the centre.

On the left wing, my cavalry were initially successful, and had a great opportunity to charge his main horse units in the rear by swinging around the small wood top left in the left hand picture above. Unfortunately, I drew a “10” for my first movement card, so got into the perfect position to launch the charge but just couldn’t actually charge before the way into the enemy cavalry’s rear was blocked by Moghul elephants.

Meanwhile, on my right wing, the cavalry clash had proved inconclusive. Both sides had lost multiple units, and things ended up with his cavalry technically ready to do more, but positionally unable to do so before the main battle lines clashed.

With the cavalry actions on the wings proving inconclusive, it was obvious that the battle would be decided in the centre. The two lines moved into contact and a grinding melee began.

As with most grinding melees, it was 50/50 who would win: the advantage I had from my pikes countered by the Moghuls slightly outnumbering me.

To cut a long story short, after a long series of to-and-fro clashes, I lost. At the end of the battle, the Moghuls had only three victory medals left, so if I’d broken one of his foot units before he broke one of mine, then I would have won.

All that was left in the centre of battlefield!

A great game, with the Swedes proving decidedly harder for the Moghuls to beat than the Cossacks!

Here’s a chronological, pictorial history of the battle: