An Ottoman Raid

This week's skype game provided a first proper outing for my Ottoman army.  At present the units painted are primarily those which would appear in the provinces, rather than the main field army.  The majority of the infantry are levy, with a single unit of janissaries, a small unit of skirmishers and two light guns. There are two units of light cavalry and one of sipahi.  It was a fairly standard scenario with the Ottoman force raiding into the southern Muscovite lands.  The Muscovites have a local force of two urban streltsy units, two border dragoon units and a unit of servant Cossacks; backed up by a unit of Cossack cavalry and a unit of feudal horse. 

The Muscovites manning the defences

Outnumbered, the Muscovite commander has decided to concentrate his forces in a village, although one unit of border dragoons is holding a camp where the majority of the supply horses are held, there being no room in the village.

The field of battle before the Ottoman deployment

Informed by his scouts that the village ahead was held against him, the Ottoman commander deployed his force with the infantry on the right facing the isolated border dragoons the artillery in the centre and the cavalry on the left.  

The Ottoman cavalry prepare to advance

On the commander's signal the skirmishers moved forward, followed by the levy and then the janissaries.  The levy unit on the extreme right seemed to have been inspired by a preacher's speech as they surged forward chanting.  In no time they had left behind the other levy units and even the skirmishers, as they homed in on the border dragoons.

The levy advance with speed.

The Ottoman cavalry was advancing at a steady pace, wary of approaching too close to the village; indeed the Muscovite light artillery had already begun to fire at the leading regiment.  Concerned that his own artillery seemed to be lagging behind, the Ottoman commander personally led one of the batteries forward, though to be honest, his presence did not increase the speed with which it was advancing.

For his part, the Muscovite commander had hoped his cavalry would move over to support the border dragoons, but the Cossacks were reluctant to advance and the chance was lost.  The border dragoons had been firing at the approaching Ottomans but although they had inflicted casualties, it was not enough to slow the enemy advance.  They would need to depend on their defences to hold up the attack.  In this they were sorely disappointed.  The original plan was for two levy units to attack, but the precipitate advance of the right hand unit meant they attacked unsupported.  Even the skirmishers were unable to help, they had been struck by a volley from the streltsy and had to fall back to rally.

The Muscovite light artillery prepares to fire at the Ottoman cavalry

Undaunted, the levy closed up to the chevaux de frise, ignored the volley from the defenders and fired a volley of their own.  Although behind cover, the dragoons took heavy casualties and control evaporated.  The survivors took to their heels, abandoning their defences and running towards the village.  As they emerged from their defences and entered the open area near the village the dragoons offered a tempting target for the Ottoman light cavalry.  It was one they did not decline.  Galloping through the flanking fire from the village, they hacked and stabbed their way through the unfortunate Muscovites, eliminating them as a fighting force.  

The border dragoons rout

and are cut down

On cutting their way through the border dragoons, the Ottoman cavalry saw the Cossack cavalry and charged them.  The Cossacks were caught at the halt and proved unable to withstand the Ottoman attack.  They had to fall back to rally, but the feudal cavalry came to their rescue driving back the Ottomans.  As the broken unit routed back, the feudal cavalry followed up, against the wishes of it's commander.

One unit of ottoman light cavalry routs

Meanwhile the Ottoman infantry were beginning to bring pressure to bear on the village defences.  Still with their artillery lagging behind, the levy approached the village.  The unit on the left struggled against an accurate defensive fire from the streltsy, the central unit was fortunate that the cavalry conflict shielded it from fire.  The irresponsible advance of the feudal cavalry left them open to a charge by the remaining unit of Ottoman light cavalry.  This charge was met at the halt by the feudal cavalry, who absorbed the initial shock, but were unable to drive off their assailants.  Seeing an opportunity, the Ottoman cavalry commander ordered the sipahi to reinforce the melee.  As the mass of cavalrymen fought, they obscured the advance of the Ottoman infantry.

A general overview before the Ottoman assault

Eventually numbers prevailed and the feudal cavalry were overwhelmed, routing.  The Ottoman light cavalry were shaken and unable to advance, but the siipahi were in good order and, passing through the light cavalry, followed up their victory.  A dire consequence of the cavalry melee was that the streltsy unit which saw the feudal cavalry defeated became disordered.  This reduced their ability to withstand the assault by the Ottoman levy infantry.  The gun crew who had provided sterling service suffered heavy casualties and the remainder fled.  With their defences crumbling, the streltsy also wavered and a final push by the Ottomans had them falling back.

To the left of the levy the janissaries had also charged against the village.  After a fierce struggle they too forced their way over the defences, routing the streltsy facing them.

The defences breached

With the defences breached, his best units driven back and only a servant Cossack unit remaining to him, the Muscovite commander ordered a general retreat.  Fortunately for him, the Ottoman troops were more concerned with looting the provisions stored in the village than pursuing the beaten Muscovite troops.

An interesting first outing for the Ottomans.  We experimented with allowing a levy unit which rolled low enough to obtain three actions to go 'fanatic'.  The rules state that this advantage lasts until the unit goes shaken.  It seemed odd that it persisted even when the unit didn't move; so we decided that in future the fanatic status would only last for the move in which 3 actions were obtained.