The Battle:
Things open with me (Trofimov) pushing two of my cavalry units (the "White Lances" and the "St. Andrew's lancers" forwards to "feel-out" the situation in the centre, holding the infantry and all the artillery with me.
Almost immediately the Blue Dragoons come under fire from the walls around the southernmost village (prompted by the Unknown token and a turn of a card) and the White and St. Andrew's lads receive shots from locals in the crags around the tower overlooking the village with the mosque (in the north east part of the table).
Damage is slight - but I don't want my cavalry shot at unnecessarily.....
I readjust the position of the main body to partly face the northern enemy and dispatch two units of infantry. One to deal with the southernmost locals (and burn the village). One to climb the northern crags and see off the locals there.
The commander of my Blue Dragoons (quick reaction test) pulls his men back towards the starting line further from the village. He seems shaken by the unexpected shooting.
As the moves progress my two detached infantry units will have different luck. The southernmost will move to their target, engage in a firefight and destroy their enemies.
Suddenly things change dramatically. One of the Emirs, Dara Tebel, throws his men towards my lancers in a charge. The St. Andrews unit rapidly pulls back to behind the line of infantry. I re-jig the main body to face the threat and my artillery unlimber. But the White lancers aren't quick enough. They are hit head-on by the Emir's bodyguard and, outnumbered and overwhelmed, practically wiped out.
This prompts the other Emir, beyond the crags, to move his men forward too..
Suddenly it looks I have a significant fight on my hands.
My southernmost infantry unit moves up to support the main body. My main force, flanks fixed on the northern crags and slopes of the southern heights, with unlimbered artillery and mitrailleuses ready for action, presents a formidable sight. My whole main force opens fire. The enemy think twice about a headlong charge into THAT, and hover around, indecisive. For a couple of moves the enemy sit there, fixed and taking hits, but not quite getting their bottle up enough to charge home.
I feel confident, reorganise my force and issue new instructions.
The Blues and St. Andrews cavalry are brigaded with one cannon and a mitrailleuse and are (again) dispatched to go round the southern flank of the southernmost heights, with instructions to demonstrate against the enemy's right flank.
The main body, I decide, will hold position to continue to fix and intimidate the enemy horse. This seems to work.
Eventually the enemy in the north pull back - but still hover menacingly.
After a while I will FINALLY start seeing lots of smoke as that force gets down to the destruction of the village and mosque, but shooting from this direction will still be heard throughout most of the battle, indicating that there is still resistance.
In the south my "Blues Brigade" make very good progress. Suddenly an opportunity seems to present itself; while the Emirs are concentrating on my main line the western village appears vulnerable to a swift attack by my cavalry...
We are about midway into the game. "Blues Brigade" (Yellow A on the pic below) are cautiously watching the enemy Emir of Dara Tebel (Blue Two), who has been making most of the running so far. My Southern infantry (Yellow B) have halted to watch and support the Blues - all well and good, but this doesn't get the village burned.
The Emir of Backai (Blue One), having moved up earlier, seem hesitant to commit. Well and good, say I....
My Main Force as Yellow C hold, watching both Emirs.
My Northern infantry (Yellow D) will continue to make a right meal of their simple task, the enemy skirmishers (Blue Three) being a nuisance for the rest of the game.
After a while I decide to move my main force up onto the southern plateau.
Once the village there has been destroyed I will form a mobile "square" and march to the final target, reasonably confident that the enemy horde will simply get out of the way, rather than face the cannon and volleys of my army...
I get my lads up onto the plateau, the village is set ablaze by a detached company and then, suddenly, the Emir of Backai wakes up - and throws his troops up the slopes and against my line. They charge home, cutting down one of my artillery crews and isolating and slashing into the infantry on the north slope.
I get the chance to reorganise my remaining line (lucky tokens) and rush a unit across to form a rough "Inverted U" while the enemy are swarming up onto the plateau. It is touch and go....
Luckily, my isolated infantry hold, and "do a Gloucesters" - while the rest of my guys and the mitrailleuse shoot "into the brown". The Emir pulls his bodyguard back to reorganise (Shock has been building) but a sudden charge by the Blue Dragoons takes him in the flank. The Emir goes down, and the men around him flee - but not all his chaps see this, and it takes more volley firing to finally disperse the rest of them.
In the north there is progress.... FINALLY the village is afire.....
But not for long.... As the mosque in the north finally gets set afire the Emir of Dara Tebel, whether exasperated by this blasphemy or out of frustration, throws HIS men against the west side of the plateau - but to no avail.
Three very short moves (basically shooting only) follow. Good for me.
The volleys from my foot, the chatter of the mitrailleuses and the crash of the cannon halt his rush and the enemy charge stalls in confusion.
The Emir himself is wounded, but holds his men in check and they pull back in some semblance of order out of range of my muskets.
There they wait, shocked, but not broken.....
I assess the situation. Two villages have been burned, but dusk is rapidly approaching. I have a dilemma. I cannot realistically see that I will be able to push my way to the third village without the risk of going against my orders to return to Base Camp before nightfall. Also, withdrawing now may well prompt another enemy cavalry charge....
Reluctantly I order my men to start edging back - knowing this may well provoke another wild assault...
At first things go well. For the first time in the game the unit sent to deal with the village in the north gets their skates on and clamber over the crags tout suite - but equally speedily followed by the vengeful tribesmen they drove out earlier...
The St. Andrew's Lancers also make good progress, as does my southernmost infantry unit. But the rest of my force is slow to get going - and have to satisfy themselves by throwing shells into the enemy hoard, at a distance, for two moves.
Finally I get the chance to limber up the artillery. I get my line of remaining infantry to fall back slowly in sections - always keeping some troops facing the enemy....
But this isn't good enough.
After three more VERY short moves (straight to "Tiffin" or just one or two individual units on the move) my command is looking pretty scattered and dusk is almost upon me.
The Emir of Dara Tebel, after having had a couple of moves allowing him to deal with Shock, gets another lucky token, Activates, checks his attitude, is seemingly inspired with rage at the burning buildings - inc. the mosque - and encouraged by my withdrawal (Callwell warned me about this kind of thing.. But did I listen..?) and hurls his warriors at me, thinking he already has me on the run....
His horde sweeps forward and makes contact - luckily mainly with my remaining formed infantry. I lose an artillery crew and take casualties among my foot but my line (such as it is) holds firm and inflicts serious casualties on the wing of the enemy, throwing back a large chunk of the Emir's men and causing the others to hesitate.
Next move I get the chance to move my artillery further towards safety, and my line is able to give ground, facing the enemy. Last move - but we only get the chance to loose a volley before it starts to get dark. My time is up......
I have failed in my mission. My brief was to destroy the three villages (Fail) AND get my force back before night set in (Double Fail).
Casualties could have been worse, given the circumstances, and I reclaimed the "lost" gun (it was dragged back by infantry) and held onto my wounded.
The successful "seeing off" of the attacks of the Emirs was incidental and earns me no Brownie Points. Their forces, being irregular (mainly light horse, so break, reform, break reform - no problem to them) probably saw this as an experience, rather than a lesson. Their losses could have been worse. They retain their wounded - and their being left in command of the field, with me withdrawing, likely means THEY class this as a victory for them....
I foresee a telling-off for Trofimov....
Conclusion:
A fun and exciting game. The random activities of the Emirs kept me guessing right up to the end. The issues of my own detached commanders being slow (!!! I'm looking at you North Force) or hesitant (the Blues, initially) as frustrating as any real-life attempt to get people to work as a team - or do what you've clearly asked of them.
The only thing for further consideration - and I've seen the same criticism of other rules sets where Activation (or similar) is limited by random Command Points, PiPs, Tokens or Cards - is that highly mobile, irregular armies can be suddenly paralysed by ill luck in a way that feels wrong.
Maybe permitted "Tiffin"/Move End activities for certain "swarm" type cavalry previously unactivated that move may be the answer (I already have certain "Move End" allowances built in for my Romans re. Shock Recovery to reflect their period-superior C&C and training)? Needs more thought... Hmmm....
Anyway, this was a jolly excursion into a smaller scale. Next month sees me retiring from paid work so, unless She Who Must Be obeyed sees this as an opportunity to claim me for other duties, I hope to post more regularly and get to grips with some serious campaigning....
As always; thoughts, comments and constructive sniping always welcome...
