Cossack defeat

[FierceKitty]

i) Rather a lot of Turkish cavalry menacing the Cossack right wing. Despite popular images (which are accurate enough a few centuries later), Zaporozhian Cossacks are an infantry army, and need to use their large numbers of musketeers to win.
ii) The Istambul Janissary "New Soldiers" (in blue) rolled dismally. As usual, when you rely on a unit of elite troops led by a general.

Figures Pendraken and Kallistra, with a handful of Irregular Miniatures.

[FierceKitty]

iii) Hetwoman Leevna tried using the war waggons very aggressively. Fortunately, though the Cossack army was generally pretty mobile in this battle, they took a long time to get near the action, though they shot the Hell out of us when they moved up. Those waggons mount numerous little cannon and muskets, and can largely ignore incoming fire or cavalry attack (anyone fancy a Hussite army?).  Note the Cossacks getting deadly use from heir handful of pikemen; my Turkmen auxilliaries were annihilated this round.
iv) The Serbian light horse are fanatics; the Cossacks facing them were brave, but a simultaneous Moorish attack on their flank was too much for them, as it would probably have been for anyone.

[FierceKitty]

v) Sultan Selim the Drunkard, Lord of the Four Quarters, Fountain of Mercy, Sword of the Lord, the Wisest in Council, the Most Resolute in Policy, the Most Valiant in Battle, Indefatigable in the Bedroom, the Great, Glorious, and Good, leads the Kapakullu household cavalry into the decisive attack, backed up by the Roumeliot Balkan Sipahis. He lost half the regiment (it's a big one too) to a stubborn Cossack defence, but there was only one likely outcome, and after a few successful Cossack rolls against demoralisation, the critical round saw them having to test six times. Even Spartans don't feel confident about that.

[FierceKitty]

Dellis bypassing the Ukrainian Panzers and going off to loot the camp.

Reflections: As local gamer Viljar observed after playing them a while ago, one of the strengths of the Cossack army is that it won't go away. Without obvious key units of noblity, they don't have the weak spot that can break the whole army in a single round (the "glass jaw" of the Poles, for instance), and they seldom run out of units. Their firepower at close range is very good, and their musketeers can still hand out plenty of punishment in a charge with those two-handed axes. On the down side, Cossacks are unusually vulnerable to control; they have a lot of impetuous troops who may attack against the odds, and with a low roll they will refuse to attack cavalry. Their long range firepower is hopeless, and their heavy cavalry are an embarrassment, being few, under-armed, and unarmoured. Not an easy army to win with, even for Lee.

[paulr]

Not an easy army to win with, even for Lee.

[Techno]

 


Good looking scrap, Alexander. 

Cheers - Phil

[FierceKitty]

We're setting up a rematch with sides reversed even as I type.

[Orcs]

We're setting up a rematch with sides reversed even as I type.

I assume Lee won. 

[FierceKitty]

She's a bit ahead, but it's early days....

[Orcs]

She's a bit ahead, but it's early days....

Come on, pull the other one its got bells on.     

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Thanks Alexander for a different report, like it.

[FierceKitty]

Tomorrow there may be a follow-up report concerning today's battle. Advance warning for Lee fans - it was a draw today.

[Orcs]

Tomorrow there may be a follow-up report concerning today's battle. Advance warning for Lee fans - it was a draw today.

You probably cheated, or fixed the scenario   

[FierceKitty]

Love you too.

And your sister.

[paulr]

Tomorrow there may be a follow-up report concerning today's battle. Advance warning for Lee fans - it was a draw today.