Mesto Vody: an Eastern Renaissance scenario for Pike and Shotte

Although Steve and I have settled on Pike and Shotte (or at least our version of it) as our rules for this period we do look at other rule sets to see if there are any mechanisms which could be transferred.  One set which I have looked at is "By Fire and Sword" by Wargamer. One thing that caught my attention was the way in which they dealt with the various categories of firearms.  They make provision for the quality of the firearms, giving the better quality ones a greater range.  Therefore, a standard musket has a range of say 18" whereas a poor quality firearm has a range of 12".  We thought we could use this to reflect the variable quality of equipment of levy, militia and standing units within the Eastern theatre; this game was a trial of that idea.  A mixed Polish/Cossack force is raiding into Muscovite territory in response to an earlier incursion by the Muscovites.  It comprises of two Cossack infantry units, one of registered Cossacks and one of moloisty and two Polish infantry units, a "foreign regiment" and a Lan militia unit.  They have a light gun to support them and four units of cavalry, 2 of pancerni and two of Cossack light cavalry.  In response the local Muscovite boyar has assembled 3 local infantry units, two units of servant Cossacks and a unit of border dragoons.  He has been joined by the commander of the local garrison commander with a Soldatski unit, a unit of urban streltsy and a light gun.  There are also four units of cavalry, two of feudal cavalry and two of light cavalry. 

The initial set up, Polish/Cossack forces in foreground

The Muscovite force had deployed by the settlement of Mesto Vody to block and repulse the Polish/Cossack raid.

The Polish Lan regiment

The battle began with a swift advance by the Cossack infantry, the Poles seemingly more reluctant to move forward.  On the Polish/Cossack left one unit of Pancerni advanced further than the rest, but it's isolation was ignored by the waiting Muscovite cavalry, the first of several failures by their commander.  

The Muscovite commander with a unit of servant Cossacks beyond

The Cossack infantry were now coming into musket range of the Soldatski, but they chose to wait, rather than fire at long range.  On the left the Polish cavalry had managed  organise their advance and were now closing in on the Muscovite cavalry.  

The Cossack infantry near the Muscovite line

The Pancerni charged and caught a unit of Muscovite light cavalry before they could move.  Caught at such a disadvantage, the light cavalry had little chance and were pushed back.  Charged again before they could rally, the Muscovites quit the field, however, the Pancerni resisted the urge to pursue and re-dressed their ranks. 

The Pancerni stike

Matters were looking slightly better for the Muscovites in the centre.  The Soldatski's first volley was sufficient to disorder the Registered Cossack unit facing them.  A second inflicted more casualties and forced the Cossacks to halt to rally.  On the extreme right, the Moloisty unit was coming under fire from the Muscovite light gun and also a small unit of Border Dragoons ensconced in the buildings of Mesto Vody.  The Polish infantry had now moved up onto the left flank of the Registered Cossacks and into range of the Streltsy and Servant Cossack units.  Even though the Servant Cossacks had poor quality firearms and were therefore firing at long range they managed to inflict losses on the Lan infantry, whose return fire was less effective.  Volleys from the Streltsy disordered the Foreign Regiment before it could fire and the Polish light artillery was slow to get in position to support their infantry.  To the Muscovite commander it looked like the enemy infantry were beginning to waver and he ordered the Soldatski to charge.  They did charge, but not far enough to reach the enemy line, (we use variable move distances), and received a short range volley.  Fortunately for the Muscovites this was ineffective, the return volley was not and the Registered Cossacks took further casualties. Next turn the Soldatski charged, received another short range volley, but closed to melee.

The Soldatski charge falls short

The cavalry battle was now in full swing.  The remaining Muscovite light cavalry unit was charged by a Cossack unit, counter-charged and managed to defeat their opponents, pushing them back.  However, the  Muscovites now had to deal with the reserve Cossack unit which charged forward to cover their comrades while they rallied.  The feudal cavalry and Pancerni were also now locked in melee.

The cavalry battle in full swing

The feudal cavalry struggled against the Pancerni,   As they fought, the last Muscovite light cavalry unit broke and routed from the field.  The nearest feudal cavalry unit had just pulled back disordered from melee, as had the opposing Pancerni.  Before they could recover they were hit by the Cossacks and routed, with the Cossacks in pursuit.

The Muscovite light cavalry rout

Followed by one of the feudal cavalry units

In the infantry battle, the Soldatski were not fairing too well, (a roll of 5 '1's out of 7 dice did not help).  None of the other Muscovite infantry units had ventured forward  so the Soldatski were unsupported;  the Registered Cossacks meanwhile had two flank supports and this swung the balance.  The Soldatski fell back onto the hill, disordered.  Here they attempted to rally, but a volley from the Registered Cossacks proved too much and the Soldatski routed.

With the final feudal cavalry unit being overwhelmed by the two Pancerni units, the Muscovite infantry were now on their own.  The Steltsy had inflicted heavy losses on the foreign regiment and the Lan regiment had been hit hard by the fire from the Servant Cossacks, but without cavalry the position was hopeless and victory went to the Polish/Cossack force.

The final position

Discussing the game afterwards Steve and I thought that the new musketry rules had worked quite well.  Although the difference in effective range was only a matter of a few inches, the troops with the better quality firearms did get an advantage lacking in the standard Pike and Shotte rules.  The only area the poorer quality firearms achieved parity was at close range (set at pistol range), at that range we felt the quality of the firearms made no difference.

As for the Muscovite cavalry, they were at a disadvantage from the very start, or even before we started.  We had established that the respective C in C's would be rated '8' for command and that the two sub generals would roll for rating.  1/2 meaning a rating of '7' ; 3-6 '8'.  Both Polish/Cossack sub-commanders achieved '8' ratings, one of the Muscovite commanders rolled a '1'; that commander was of course for the cavalry.  Taken together with rating the feudal cavalry as militia, it meant that to move the cavalry had to get 2-6 on two d6, less than a 50% chance.  Hampered like that, they were always going to struggle.  Lesson for the future, try not to give militia to poor commanders!

Two ECW scenarios

Over the past few weeks our Skype games have been ECW affairs.  The first was a version of "The battle of Upper Downington" which I found on TMP (link).  A fairly straightforward scenario with roughly equal armies representing King and Parliament, each aiming to defeat the opposition and drive them from the field.  Below is a photo of the terrain

Steve commanded the Royalists (bottom of photo) and sent one brigade of three infantry regiments against the enclosure.  The second infantry brigade was to hold the centre, and the cavalry was to contain and defeat the Parliamentary cavalry.  Steve's cavalry made good progress and was able to deploy beyond the wood.  The initial cavalry melee went in favour of the Royalists, but their losses were such that they could not follow up their success.

To try and stabalise my left wing I wheeled the reserve infantry regiment to fire against the flank of any further Royalist advance; hoping that this would buy enough time for my battered cavalry regiments to recover.

On the right, the unit advancing through the enclosure was slowed by the heavy terrain and the unit on the extreme right was also advancing slowly, but this was because of a succession of failed command tests.  This resulted in the Royalist infantry reaching the hedge of the enclosure first.  However, a magnificent volley from my raw infantry regiment managed to disorder their veteran opponents and then followed this up with a  charge. 

Slow progress through the ploughed field

The Royalists get there first

The melee lasted several rounds, with both sides taking heavy casualties.

In the centre, the other two infantry brigades were now in musketry range and began to exchange volleys.  Both had artillery support, the Royalists two light guns and the Parliamentarians one medium gun, but neither side achieved a decisive advantage.

On the Royalist right, the cavalry pulled back, keen to avoid the chance of suffering losses from a volley from the advancing Parliamentary infantry.  When this infantry was joined by the reformed Parliamentary cavalry, progress began to be made.  First, one Royalist cavalry regiment was routed by a cavalry charge and then the other failed a command test and didn't fall back, leaving it open to a volley from the advancing infantry.  The resulting casualties were sufficient to rout this unit as well and the flank of the Royalist centre was now 'in the air'.

On the opposite flank, matters favoured the Royalists.  After a tough struggle, the veteran Royalist infantry broke their opponents, routing them from the field.  To their right, the Parliamentary infantry had shaken their Royalist opponents by musketry and attempted to complete the job by charging them.  This attack failed and they fell back in disorder.  They had to had to test for 'friends routing' but managed to hold their ground, even so the position on the Parliamentary right was not promising.

Parliamentary rout

With time running out, we called a halt.  It was decided that with no cavalry, the Royalists would have to fall back, but the level of Parliamentary losses was such that there would be no pursuit.

The game reported on TMP used the "Victory without Quarter" rules, which are free to download.  

Our second game was one devised by Steve, where the Parliamentarians were trying to get a supply train through to a beleaguered garrison.

The view of the terrain from behind the Parliamentary start line; the Royalists had to deploy along the line of the transverse road at the far end of the table.  To escort the three wagons Parliament had; 5 regiments of cavalry (1 large, 3 standard and 1 small), 2 units of commanded shot (1 large and 1 standard) and a unit of dragoons.  As Parliamentary commander I did not know the strength of the opposing forces, but as the game progressed it became clear the Royalists had 3 regiments of cavalry (1 large, 1 standard and 1 small), a unit of dragoons, 2 standard sized 3:2 infantry regiments and a light gun.  The Royalists had two commanders, one of whom could only command cavalry; whilst Parliament had 3, but one was a '7', which affected command.

I deployed with infantry and horse on both flanks.  My plan was to push forward on the left to defeat any enemy forces there while my right would occupy the attention of any remaining Royalist forces. Initially, the large cavalry regiment was to be held in reserve, a mistake which would have some severe consequences.

As the cavalry on my left ( 2 standard regiments and a small one), advanced they saw the Royalist cavalry was coming to meet them.  Steve had deployed his large and standard regiment on his right flank (it was the best cavalry ground on the board) and although the numbers were equal some failed commands meant that I was attacking piecemeal.  

The Royalist deployment

Although I managed to hold my ground in the first round of melee, losses had been heavy and a further round would, in all likelihood see me forced to fall back.  Some reinforcements would have been useful, but my large cavalry unit was trapped on the other side of the wagon train and when the wagons eventually moved far enough forward, the unit failed to respond to a command for three consecutive moves.

The situation on the Royalist right

In the following round of melee the large Royalist regiment routed their opponents, who proceeded to run through the commanded shot who had been moving forward to support them.  Still recovering from this, the commanded shot were then hit by the Royalist cavalry who were in full pursuit.  The other Royalist cavalry unit had already routed one Parliamentary cavalry unit and now took on the remaining small unit.  This also routed, but they had inflicted sufficient casualties to 'shake' the Royalists and prevent them moving any further forward. 

Seeing the mayhem the leading wagon decided that the left hand road was not safe and instead took the next to the right.

Over on the Parliamentary right most of the units had advanced, but once again in a piecemeal fashion.  All except the dragoons who had shot off to the right, round the far enclosure, with the intention of reaching the transverse road.  They had reckoned without the small Royalist cavalry regiment which had been kept in reserve.  The Royalists charged through a gap in the hedge and caught the dragoons before they could deploy.  In a very one-sided affair, the dragoons routed from the field.  

The Royalist cavalry see off the dragoons

When the Royalist cavalry predictably destroyed the commanded shot, two thirds of the firepower of the Parliamentary force had been eliminated; not a good position to be in when there were two infantry regiments to overcome.

At this point it all seemed over, perhaps Steve thought so too as he launched his large cavalry regiment against the remnants of my left wing cavalry which was still trying to rally.  However, my last remaining commanded shot unit had deployed along the road facing the left and when the Royalist cavalry charged past they received a close range volley.  This stopped them in their tracks and forced them to fall back.  By now my large cavalry regiment had decided to take part and had moved across to the left.  Together with the now rallied remnants of my left wing they counter-attacked and drove back the Royalist horse. 

The Parliamentary counter-attack

The Parliamentary cavalry on the right had manoeuvred itself into a terrible position.  One unit faced the Royalist centre unable to advance in the face of an infantry unit behind a hedge with a light gun in support.  The other had charged the small Royalist unit which had destroyed the dragoons.  They had lost the melee and had to fall back, towards the Royalist dragoons who were deployed behind a hedge.  Pushed further back, the Parliamentary cavalry forced their way through a narrow gap and ended up on the transverse road.  However, disordered, shaken and with infantry on both flanks their only route to survival was to leave the field.

The Parliamentary wagons were also in trouble.  One of the Royalist infantry units had advanced and was firing at the wagons, hoping to drive off the crews.

The lead wagon was abandoned, blocking the second wagon and leaving them at the mercy of the Royalist infantry.  Surveying the carnage, the Parliamentary commander decided that he would have to fall back taking the remaining wagon and leaving the others to the Royalists.

This was a very entertaining scenario and we decided to swap sides and run it again.  Steve concentrated more of his cavalry on his left and put both commanded shot units on his right.  Once again the initial cavalry melee went against me, both Royalist cavalry units falling back needing to rally.  The fighting continued, flowing back and forth, but each time the Royalist were that little bit further back.

With one Royalist unit already routed from the field the fighting was eventually taking place on the transverse road.  In spite of the personal intervention of the Royalist cavalry commander, the large cavalry unit routed, carrying him with it.  The one crumb of comfort was that the Parliamentary cavalry routed as well. 

In the centre, the commanded shot were firing at the light gun and eventually succeeded in driving off the gunners.  On the Royalist left the opposing units of dragoons were sniping at each other.  With the Royalist units having to meet multiple probes by the Parliamentary units the defensive line was beginning to fracture

The Parliamentary wagons were now reaching the transverse road and so the Royalist commander had to order the retreat.