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.
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2020, 03:11:14 AM
Not an easy army to win with, even for Lee.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Good looking scrap, Alexander. :)
Cheers - Phil
We're setting up a rematch with sides reversed even as I type.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2020, 07:03:08 AM
We're setting up a rematch with sides reversed even as I type.
I assume Lee won. :D
She's a bit ahead, but it's early days....
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2020, 08:09:55 AM
She's a bit ahead, but it's early days....
Come on, pull the other one its got bells on. :D
Thanks Alexander for a different report, like it.
:)
Tomorrow there may be a follow-up report concerning today's battle. Advance warning for Lee fans - it was a draw today.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2020, 12:00:42 PM
:)
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 ;D ;D
Love you too.
And your sister.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 14 April 2020, 12:00:42 PM
:)
Tomorrow there may be a follow-up report concerning today's battle. Advance warning for Lee fans - it was a draw today.
:o X_X
I) Cossack ambushers realise they chose rather an obvious bit of cover, and are directly in front of a large Janissary unit too.
2) Tartars and Sipahis of the Porte crush Don Cossack LC.
1) Crunch time for the Cossack left flank. I'd intended this to be my main attack, but, as the previous two pictures show, it was already going wrong
2) My gun waggons performed disgracefully, even after the rain had stopped.
1) Asian feudal Sipahis and Turkmen Akinji wipe out one of the few disciplined units I had.
2) Counter attack. Hetman Bogdanovich leads our HC and smashes the Turkmen, at the cost of his own life. The Asian Sipahis, however, carved up a big unit of axemen at this stage.
1) Dellis ride down the Plastun. I wasn't expecting to win this one.
2) The Cossack left flank, going fast.
At close of play I had my waggons left and nothing else; if it hadn't been for the rain and a Turkish ammunition shortage which neutralised their guns, I'd have lost those too. Fortunately the Turks decided they had had enough at about the same time as the battered Cossacks, and both sides retreated. It may be that the Turks didn't realise in the mist that there were no enemies left facing them!
Awwww....If only they'd known.....Then you could have formed the wagons into a circle.....And that tactic always works....Doesn't it ? :-\
Well...I've seen it on the tele. ;)
Good looking scrap again, Alexander !
Cheers - Phil. :)
So long as it was fun..
We are now setting up the battle of Kittipore, 1576.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 16 April 2020, 03:01:15 AM
At close of play I had my waggons left and nothing else; if it hadn't been for the rain and a Turkish ammunition shortage which neutralised their guns, I'd have lost those too. Fortunately the Turks decided they had had enough at about the same time as the battered Cossacks, and both sides retreated. It may be that the Turks didn't realise in the mist that there were no enemies left facing them!
Great report, looks like good fun. Must get my 15mm Renaissance stuff an airing.
So your relief at a draw was shortlived. Lee won again.
Congratulations Lee
Great report, well played Lee
Quote from: Orcs on 16 April 2020, 08:28:55 AM
Great report, looks like good fun. Must get my 15mm Renaissance stuff an airing.
So your relief at a draw was shortlived. Lee won again.
Congratulations Lee
Thou speakest the thing which is not. But she's giving me a rough time in a Mogul battle right now (assisted by my overlooking a critical move until it was too late).
Well, I took a right old paddywhacking there. Even lost my camp when my own levies looted the baggage as they fled the field.
Well done Lee =D>
Nah.....Foregone conclusion. ;)
Cheers - Phil