Gentleman Pensioners Sunday Game

 A couple of weeks ago I posted (link) that our Sunday game following the Phalanx Show would be an Eastern Renaissance battle.  What follows is a brief resume of that battle.  The situation was that an Allied army of Muscovites, Poles and Cossacks was trying to stop an Ottoman army (with some Tartar allies) from attacking the city of Kiev.

After a fairly ineffective exchange of long range artillery fire, the Ottoman forces began their advance.  The two Ottoman cavalry wings, preceded by a screen of skirmishing horse archers attempted to drive off the Allied horse archers.  In the centre a number of Azab units, both missile and melee moved forward, with Janissary units in a second wave.

Azab units about to cross the gully on the Ottoman right

The Ottoman advance was not very well co-ordinated (the Azabs could not be given brigade orders, so had to test unit by unit for movement), but did draw the fire of the Allied infantry, which was the Ottoman commander was hoping would happen.  One Azab unit did pay a heavy price, being routed before it could even fire it's opening volley.

An Azab unit routed by losses from artillery and musketry

On the Ottoman left, the cavalry battle was fierce, with several units destroyed, but the Ottoman commander was drawing more and more of the Allied cavalry into the fight. 

As the Ottoman infantry neared the Allied centre the Allied units were tempted to attack piecemeal, with varying results.

Ottoman infantry bearing down on the Allied centre

It was on the Allied left that the first real crisis came.  An Azab unit charged forward against the line of wagons covering the right flank of the Allied centre.  Through oversight, or ineptitude, the infantry commander had not garrisoned the wagons, so the only defenders were the gun crew.

They didn't offer much resistance and the chance was there for an attack on the flank of the Allied infantry.  Fortunately, the Azabs faltered and a small unit of Haiduk and a unit of Polish levy were able to drive them back.  The Allied left wing cavalry were also struggling.  After an initial success, they were repeatedly driven back, giving space for more and more Ottoman cavalry to cross the gully

The Ottoman right wing cavalry crossing the gully and pushing back
the Alliance left wing cavalry

In the centre, one unit of Soldatski had been routed, but a unit of Streltsy moved forward to attack the Azab advance.

That Streltsy attack was successful, the Azabs routing.  However, behind them were units of Janissaries and they proved a tougher nut to crack. 

Not invincible though, as a unit of Cossacks proved on the left.

By mid - late afternoon, after 4-5 hours of gaming the Ottomans had made some progress.  On both flanks their cavalry had the upper hand.  In the centre, although they had taken losses, the Allied formation had broken up with units making un co-ordinated attacks.  A third wave of janissaries and the Sipahi of the Porte were available to exploit any gaps.  For their part, the Allied army had committed most of their infantry and also some of their cavalry reserve.

The Allied left

The Boyar cavalry on the Alliance right are committed to hold
back the Ottoman light cavalry

However, approaching are the provincial sipahi

The participating Gentlemen Pensioners
Will, Chris, David, John and Steve

A most enjoyable game.  Thanks to Steve for hosting and organising things and to Gwen, his wife, for the lovely lunch.   Thanks also to Will, Chris and John who although not familiar with the rules made the game the success it was.

Gentleman Pensioners Weekend 2024

 The weekend of the Phalanx Show at St Helens is coming up soon.  Once again we will be running a game in support of the Lance and Longbow Society, this year provided by Will.  On the Sunday, Steve usually hosts a game and this year it will be an Eastern Renaissance 'bash'.

We will be using Steve's 8 x 6 table and almost 1000 25mm figures.  The battle will involve an Ottoman army, with some Tartar allies confronting an 'Alliance' army of Muscovite, Cossack and Polish/Lithuanian troops.  Here are a few photos of the initial deployment.

View along the table from behind the Alliance left wing

The Alliance centre flanked by wagons

The Ottoman centre, Janissaries and Spahi of the Porte

Ottoman right flank

Soldatski and Cossack foot

Hopefully, a report of the show and the Sunday battle will appear in a fortnight's time.

Cavalry and yet more cavalry

Steve and I have continued to 'tinker' with the Pike and Shotte rules and our next target was the cavalry melee.  It seems odd that they are limited to one turn and no reinforcements, although contemporary accounts do mention units being 'seconded' by others.  Steve therefore devised some 'tweaks' to enable cavalry melees to continue, (but not endlessly with 'rubber swords' ie successive rounds with no casualties).  To try them out we needed a cavalry scenario and where better than the open spaces of Eastern Europe?

I therefore put together two forces, one of Muscovites with Tartar allies and a smaller force of Poles and Cossacks.   Purists would raise their eyebrows (at the very least) at the sight of my 'Tartars', who actually included Huns and Scythians in their ranks.  However, they were all skirmishing light cavalry armed with bows and needs must when the finances are tight.

The Polish right

The Tartars

Boyar levy

A roll of the dice allocated the Muscovite/Tartars to Steve, whilst I took the Polish/Cossack force.  I was outnumbered roughly 3:2, but did have better quality troops.  My plan was to hold off the Tartars with the Cossacks and try and drive off the Muscovites with the Poles, spearheaded by my Hussars.

The Cossacks advance

Early on the Muscovites proved unwilling to advance, though the Tartars were more aggressive.  Fortunately, the Cossacks managed to hold the Tartars whilst my centre moved forward.  The first clash took place there with my hussars punching through the leading Muscovite unit and then engaging the one behind.   After a fierce struggle the Hussars came through again, but at the cost of going Shaken.  Supported by the Pancerni they managed to hold the attack of Steve's bodyguard and after two turns the two units fell back.

A rare sight, Polish Hussars routing

On the Polish left it took some time to get the units moving and my reserve (a unit of Hussars and one of Pancerni), proved even more reluctant to advance.  When the clash eventually occurred on the left it was the Poles who were routed, my best troops, the Hussars ignominiously scattered by the Noble Levy.  Only some stout fighting by the Pancerni managed to stabilise  the situation.

On the right, the Cossacks were pushing the Tartars back, though the latter's 'fire and evade' tactics were inflicting casualties.  I was moving the reserve unit around to try and cover the gaps and prevent any Tartars sneaking through to cause mayhem.  However, when one of my units went Shaken they were charged by the Tartars and pushed back.  The reserves steadied the line, but then the other unit went Shaken.  My left was looking vulnerable.

The central melee

The melee continues

In the centre units were charging, meleeing and then after two turns of no decision pulling back.  My reserve eventually moved forward and the fresh units gave the necessary impetus to break the deadlock.  The Muscovite centre was all but destroyed.

The Polish left routs

However on my left, the boot was on the other foot.  Slowly the Noble Levy were gaining the advantage and my troops were being pushed back.  Then a unit broke, leaving a gap and through this moved a Muscovite unit.  If that unit could sweep round and attack the rear of my centre, the day would be lost.  Only the difficulty of issuing orders to the unit saved me.  It gave me enough time to organise a new flank and then counter attack.

With the reserve and two units from the centre the Poles pushed the remaining Noble Levy back and from the field of battle.  It was just as well, because on the right the Cossacks were facing defeat.  One unit had been destroyed, another was in danger of going the same way.  They were saved by the Tartar Khan ordering his men to fall back.  He recognised that they could not prevail against the Polish cavalry and so narrowly, the day belonged to the Poles.

How did the new amendments work?  Well some melees were 'seconded' and the new support mechanism seemed to work well.  We found that the polish Hussars were just too powerful and in the afternoon session educed their advantages.  This resulted in closer melees, as the +3 made a Polish victory far too likely.

Pike and Shotte; Poles versus Cossacks and Tartars

Steve and I have experimented with a few rule sets when fighting eastern european battles and the latest was Pike and Shotte.  The army lists we used were ones I had cobbled together and although they worked so so, there seemed to be something lacking.  Wandering down the leafy lanes of the internet I came across a blog where Thaddeus Urban had taken the time to put together not only the army lists for Muscovites, Cossacks and Tartars, but also a potted history and a list of historical characters.  (This is available to download from post 16 on the link above, and is called "Edge of Empires, early modern warfare in Eastern Europe").  Included were a few special rules, firing from the saddle, gun shy and spear company, which offered the opportunity to reflect more accurately the eastern way of fighting.  Inspired, I set up a scenario pitting a small Polish force against a much larger alliance of Tartars and Cossacks.  It was very loosely based on the battle of  Podhajce (1667).  The Polish position was flanked by impassable terrain meaning the alliance had to attack head on, nullifying their usual enveloping tactics.  Hildinger (HILDINGER, Erik, Warriors of the Steppe.  Spellmount, 1997) gave it as an example of the supremacy of firepower over the usual tactics of the steppe peoples.

Polish Levy infantry

The Polish force consisted of two units of Haiduks with a unit of levy infantry ensconced in a wagonberg.  The latter were supported by a light gun.  On the flanks were two medium guns in earthworks.  In reserve were two units of pancerni and one small unit of Hussars.  The goal of the Polish force was to hold their position and prevent the alliance advancing on the town of Podhajce which lay behind them.

Opposing them was a force of 7 units of tartar cavalry, together with a further 7 units of Cossack cavalry.  In support were 5 units of Cossack foot, 3 spear and musket Moloisty units, 1 unit of registered cossacks and a unit of 'adventurers'.  The force lacked any artillery.  There objective was to brush aside the Polish force and capture Podhajce.

The Cossack forces

A roll of the dice decided that I would command the Poles.  Steve duly sent forward the first wave of skirmish cavalry to harass the Polish infantry.  As they got into range my artillery opened fire to devastating effect - for the Poles!  Pike and Shotte includes a rule whereby any artillery fire which includes 2 '1's results in the gun not being able to fire again that game.  My first roll for the light gun put it out of action,  My second disabled one of the flanking guns.  In no time at all the very essence of Sobieski's strategy of firepower had been undermined.  On the plus side, the 'Gun shy' rule did manage to disorder some of the Tartar cavalry and force them to fall back to regroup.  Volleys from the Haiduks also drove off the first wave of Cossack cavalry.  When the Cossack infantry reached the front, one large unit of Moloisty targeted the Polish levy and charged home.  Even with the benefit of the wagons and supports the levy lost the melee and routed.  Unfortunately, that initiated a test on the supports.  Both units of Haiduks failed one routing, the other falling back in disorder.  The final blow came when the Hussars took their break test (as a supporting unit) and they also routed off the table. With half the army gone I had no option but to concede defeat.

The Moloisty attack

After lunch we replayed the battle, swapping sides.  Steve opted for a more aggressive defence and when opportunity allowed charged out with his cavalry.  My cavalry were unable to stand up to the attacks and one by one my units were forced back in disorder.  However, as Steve continued to push forward his losses increased, eventually resulting in them being 'shaken'.  This gave my cavalry the opportunity to charge and with this added impetus the tide turned.  Outflanked and outnumbered the Poles were forced back behind their infantry.  My further attacks made little progress against the combination of artillery and musket and in the end I had to concede defeat again.

The Pancerni broken by the Cossack horse

The special rules and lists seemed to work well (once my erratic dice rolling was removed from the equation) and we will try them again on a more open field which gives the steppe armies more freedom of manoeuvre.  My apologies about the photographs for this blog, I was struggling against some unseasonable sunshine flooding in through the window.

The Haiduks drive off a unit of Cossacks

Poles v Cossacks, a Ga Pa scenario

After a few trials with the Ga Pa rules using the GNW Prince August figures we decided to 'push the envelope' a bit and use the Polish and Cossack troops.  The second edition of the Ga Pa rules does have a useful appendix which enables you to build up your own forces and it covers most troop types for the late 17th and early 18th century period.  There are army list volumes published to support the 2nd edition of the Ga Pa rules, but we managed to make do with the appendix lists for this small scale scenario.

It is based on an article which appeared in Miniature wargames about 10 years ago on John Sobieski and his military exploits.  The Vienna campaign of 1683 is the one which most people have heard of, but the Polish forces spent many years fighting the Cossacks and Muscovites on the eastern borders.  For our scenario, a local centre is being threatened by a Cossack raiding force.  The local commander has gathered two units of the local militia infantry to form a garrison and do what they can to improve the defences.  He also has a single 3lb gun and a small unit of light cavalry.  A messenger has been sent to the nearest garrison requesting help.

The Cossack force consists of 3 units of infantry, seven of light cavalry and four units of tartar 'allies'.  Their objective is to capture the village and carry off the stores within it, before any relief force arrives.  The Polish relief force consists of 1 unit of hussars, 4 of pancerni and one light cavalry unit; they would arrive on turn 4 +d6. (In the event 1 rolled a 6 so the reinforcements didn't arrive until turn 10)

The Polish village and defences

The Cossacks attacked with their infantry in the centre and 4 cavalry units on the left wing.  The Tartars were on the right and the cavalry reserve of three units, initially in the centre, moved to the right to follow the Tartars.   First blood went to the Polish artillery which targeted the lead Cossack cavalry unit. Long range fire was ineffective, but once in close range, the Cossacks suffered and took a step loss which,as they were a small unit, removed them from play.

The Polish artillery

The Polish light cavalry, although outnumbered, decided to take on the Tartars.  They charged the leading unit, which evaded (ie fled) and then carried on towards a second which also evaded.  Unfortunately, their success meant that they were now disordered and in danger of being surrounded.  To their left were the remaining two units of Tartars and to their front Cossack light cavalry.  The Tartars shot their arrows and moved round behind the Poles and Cossacks also fired.  Unable to recover their formation, the Poles were helpless to resist as they were charged from front and rear and were destroyed.  Their action had however, slowed the advance of the Cossack right and also forced them to spend further time reorganising.

The Polish light cavalry endangered by their success

Steve, as the Cossack commander, knew that Polish reinforcements were on their way and roughly from which direction they would appear.  Therefore his cavalry spent the next few turns moving into a position to screen his impending infantry attack from 'interference' from the Polish cavalry.

Before the Cossacks had arrived, the Polish levy infantry had managed to create an obstacle across the likely line of attack.  This now proved its worth as the Sandormirz unit of Cossacks were brought to a halt by the stakes as they came in musketry range.  Supported by fire from the gun the levy were able to prevent the Cossack infantry from making any further progress.

However, two more units of Cossack infantry avoided the obstacle and attacked the village.  Although one unit refused to attack, the Godicz unit closed with the defenders.  Forcing their way over the improvised defences they established themselves in the houses.

The Godicz Cossacks enter the village

As the defenders from that face of the village fell back, I formed up the defenders from two other sides of the village to oppose any further Cossack progress.  With everyone disordered by the terrain and also benefiting from the cover provided by the buildings a stalemate developed.

At this point the clock intervened.  It was the end of turn nine, so the Polish reinforcements would have arrived next turn.  It is possible that they could have driven off the Cossack cavalry and so saved the Polish infantry.  Equally, the Cossack cavalry could have delayed the Polish cavalry long enough for their infantry to capture the town.

The rules worked well for this scenario, coping with the small units.  They do give units carrying out 'perimeter defence' an increased firepower, though at the cost of reduced melee power which balances things out.  Although the 2nd edition of the rules have an index (a notable improvement over the first edition) we still had problems with the various aspects of fighting in villages; though this perhaps may be due to our unfamiliarity with the rules.

"Patriots & Loyalists"

We are having a trial run of a third set of AWI rules at the moment and for comparison purposes are using the same scenario as before, so you could perhaps call it Threeman's Farm.  The mechanisms are quite different from the norm; one of the biggest differences being that you don't roll to inflict casualties, but to 'save' the casualties indicated by the tables and variables in the rules.  Good quality troops are more likely to be unaffected and you can try and use your non-commissioned officers to offset the risk.  However, this also carries a risk and you could find yourself with reduced morale anyway. 

At the moment we are part way through the scenario and I will post a fuller report once the action is settled. So far, the American troops have proved to be more likely to suffer casualties and need rallying, but the British have not had things all their own way.  After capturing part of the village a line battalion was driven from the buildings by close range artillery fire, suffering quite heavy casualties in the process.  One thing that we may well alter is the fire from rifles.  Although they fire less frequently than muskets, they are very effective at close range.  We felt that the historical role of rifles would be to fire at longer ranges, so we may well amend the values to reflect this.

Meanwhile a couple of new units have been added to the Eastern Renaissance forces.  The Poles now have a unit of mounted dragoons, the dismounted figures came via an ebay purchase and just need a touch of paint and re-basing.

The ragamuffin force reflecting the Tartar horde has also had a small reinforcement.