Renaissance campaign - week 3

This week we played the second game of Turn 2 - a kill scenario between the Ottomans and the Imperial forces. The Turks were pretty much the same as last week but the Germans are a different prospect to the Polish - more powerful / numerous infantry but on a similar level to the Ottomans.

Ottoman heavy cavlary

Ottoman centre

The Sekban guard the flank

Both sides deployed with a strong cavalry force on the western end of the table with infantry in the centre. The Ottomans deployed their spear-armed Sekban on the eastern side in the hopes of blocking that side of the table. 

Imperial horse

The early turns went very much in favour of the Imperial army as their cavalry beat-back the Ottomans all across the line with some strong rolling. Centrally the German infantry pushed forward taking steady fire from the Janissaries and artillery, which slowed their advance. 

Imperial infantry squadron

The middle phase saw a change in the fortunes of the Turkish horsemen as they bounced back and were able to route the bulk of the Imperial Cuirassiers / Lancers facing them and begin turning the flank.  

Ottoman and Imperial heavy cavalry slug it out 

With the centre slowed to a crawl the game ended with the Imperial forces taking the highest casualties and so losing a tight game. It was a see-saw affair with the Germans winning easily at first before the Ottomans rallied and eventually won. 

So this turn saw two Ottoman victories and the capture of a further Polish province. So steady progress for the Sublime Porte as they advance into Polish territory.  

     

Renaissance campaign - week 2

With the Imperial commander hors-de-combat we are splitting turn 2 over a couple of weeks and fighting some larger games. The first sees the Polish on the offensive into Ottoman territory. This game is an objectives one - so three to control with points awarded for having units within 6".

The Polish deployed with two powerful forces of heavy cavalry on each flank, the larger protecting the objective in their half and the smaller attacking the one in the Ottoman half. A smallish infantry force sat in the centre. 

Polish Hussars and Pancerni

The Ottomans were more asymmetric. A strong mounted forced looked to attack the Polish side with an objective whilst  infantry and artillery protected their objective. Centrally the Janissaries looked to secure that objective. 

Janissaries in the Ottoman centre

Sekbans and artillery guard the objective

The Ottomans stole the initiative in the centre using the Vanguard move to have a pregame march up the table with the entire centre and secure a good defensive position. The slower moving Polish infantry chipped away at the Turks but were unable to shift them from their position and early on it was fairly clear the Ottomans were likely to hold this.  

On the Ottoman left the Polish advanced quickly and got stuck into the larger Ottoman mounted force. The Winged Hussars and their Lithuanian brothers proved a tough nut to crack, with standing waves of Turkish attacks. They caused plenty of damage but it all took time and they were unable to break through in time.    

Hussars on the advance 

On the Ottoman right the Polish advanced cautiously against the dug-in guns and supporting infantry. Attacking them would have meant exposing their flanks to to waiting Ottoman cavalry, so they halted the assault and eventually moved towards the centre.  

So the Polish had the better of the combats but were unable to stop the Ottomans dominating the field position and capturing 2 objectives to win 6 VP:s to 3 VPs. So an Ottoman win and the Polish attack repelled. 

   

Ottoman reinforcements

Despite a lockdown of painting I found myself short of some cavalry for the Ottomans. I was looking to add 4 squadrons of Kapikulu, the household cavalry units that were effectively the mounted equivalent to the Janissaries Corps.  

They are often depicted as riding barded horses in all metal armour, so a little anachronistic but easy to paint! I've gone with Gripping Beasts late Roman cataphracts and done 2 boxes to give me my 4 squadrons.  

The basing means that they could also be used as a Knight Horde in Kings of War if needed with the addition of a sabot base. 

Thunder of hooves - renaissance campaign week 1

This first week saw the Ottomans and Imperial troops contesting part of the Ukraine, while a second Ottoman army also invaded Polish territory. 

Ottomans vs Polish

In this game both sides lined-up with their cavalry mostly on the western side of the table and a relatively smaller infantry centre. 

Polish massed cavlary

Ottoman heavies ready to receive them

Janissaries ready to advance

The main action was cavalry clash in the west which was won reasonably decisively by the Polish, but not without the loss of one of the Winged Hussar units.  

The decisive clash

The centre was pretty even but with the flank turned the Ottomans conceded defeat. 

Hadjuks in the woods

  Ottomans vs Imperials

This battle had a more classic deployment of infantry centre and roughly equal cavalry wings. The Imperial forces had a stronger infantry force and so held the advantage here. 

Imperial infantry squadrons

Ottoman main line

Fearing an artillery bombardment the Germans attacked in the centre, whilst holding back their weaker cavalry on the flanks. The Ottomans adopted entirely the opposite plan, going for a bulls-horns attack. 

The Imperial attack in the centre stalled and they found their western flank rolled-up by Ottoman horese, forcing them to concede defeat.   

Germans bounce off the Ottomans in cover

So the final result was a victory each and a small gain for the Ottomans on the campaign map.  

Tercios Polish

For our final practise game before starting the campaign we tried out the Polish again with the proper figures. As expected the Hussars and Pancernai are tough customers to deal with but not unkillable.

In this game one unit of Hussars did perish to a rear charge after they got distracted riding down some light horse. I think the real power of the Polish is the high Courage, which means they are highly likely to shrug-off light damage. 

28mm Celts and a mystery bonus

 I've been gifted a few Celts in a slightly damaged condition that would be ideal as "change" for any kind of vaguely tribal units in Saga. So following a small refurbishment they have been painted-up ready to go.

I've got about 20 more who might also make an appearance at some point. The figures are mostly Warlord games plus some old Wargames Factory. 

The bonus figure is a Wizard painted for my Basilean army in Kings of War. He is busy summoning a magical sword, as you do....

  

Tercios - first look at the Polish

As I'm still tweaking the campaign rules we tried out the Polish army this week. The core of the army are the various Hussar heavy cavalry units with some western-style infantry and Hadjuk (literally highway men) auxiliary units in support. We used stand-in models for all the troops on this occasion.

Both sides advanced on the flanks which brought the Wing Hussars and  Pancerni quickly into action and as expected they chewed through the weaker Ottoman horsemen fairly quickly. This was helped though by some pretty poor rolling from the Turks. 

The bigger surprise was the effectiveness of the Hadjuk  who managed to outshoot the Turkish skirmishers some Janissaries. So overall a powerful looking force.  

We also concluded that 1200 points was a little too large for a 6' table and will try 1000 points next.