Completed Pike and Shot: Polish-Ottoman online skirmish

[oscar]

I'll be posting my photos from an ongoing match in the great Slitherine title 'Pike and Shot'. We're both using the Early 17th Century mod what adds a lot of new army lists (Persians, Turks, Cossacks, Rus, Tatars etc) across different time periods. In general these East European and Middle Eastern armies are more cavalry focused with all musket infantry units (janissaries, streltsy, hadjuks etc) instead of the titular pike and shot formations of Western and Central Europe. This gives cavalry a somewhat more important role as these formations are obviously more vulnerable to cavalry charges that would otherwise be suicidal against pike tericos.

This is my first multiplayer match and I've drawn up my army in a fairly conventional formation with cavalry bulging on both flanks. Depending on how my opponent deploys and who has more artillery I'll likely make an advance for the stream (which will provide nice protection against any nasty Winged Hussars who might get funny ideas of trying to pull a Battle of Vienna 50 years early) and whittle him down with my (likely) superior fire power. I'm yet to actually check out the Polish army list so in truth I don't really know what I'm up against other than the fairly obvious guess that there's going to be some dangerous heavy cavalry.

 

[oscar]

And a new patch and expansion is out today (the latter of which brings 49 new army lists to the table)! Thankfully it hasn't ruined my game. Allyj turning on the more detailed combat logs can help in understanding what the heck is going on though of course there's also an element of luck.

While the famous janissaries by the 17th century had begun to decline and dilute from their earlier unsurpassed discipline they are still a reasonable infantry force with good fire power. Using their famous curved swords they also give a respectable account in melee, though will likely come out second best against Western-style pike formations or heavy shock cavalry in a fair fight.

Our cavalry is also fairly good and flexible. While only the elite household cavalry (Siphas of the Porte) carry firearms, the Timariot sipahis are both well-practised horse archers and medium cavalry (bows are a lot less effective against heavy armour, which does little to stop musket fire except at extreme range).

Pike and shot formations are of a varying ratio of musketeers to pikemen (on earlier lists usually about 60% pike to 40% musket getting closer to 50-50 at the end of the period). They effectively function as moving infantry fortresses on the battlefield, not suffering penalties for flank attacks while also being fairly decent at shooting. In some scenarios single pike-and-shot units get as large as 2,000 men. The best way to deal with them is focused fire (their cramped formation makes artillery more lethal against) to get them disrupted or routing crappy adjacent units which will spread the disorder to them.

Of note here is the rough ground that will give any cavalry who enter it the "Moderately Disordered" penalty. Thankfully my sipahis are out of charge range but I won't want them hanging around there

Looks like the Poles don't want me holding that stream (there being no hills in this map the only obvious defensive line) and recognising my artillery advantage (they only possess a single unit of popguns) they make quickly towards me. Of some concern is that he possesses Western-style pike and shot units. I can outshoot them but they'll be bad news for my janissaries in close combat.

My tatars let their arrows fly into the Polish ranks while on the right side of the map some of my detatched musket skirmishers exchange musket fire with Polish dragoons. Tatars are a skirmisher unit which means they generally fall back and regroup when charged (unless herded against a forest or something).

Overall I move forwards towards the stream but looks like the Poles will beat me across it. If I could go back I would have deployed further back so my artillery would have more time to chew up the pike and shot formations. Even at this stage of the game my superiority in fire power is evident though it looks like this battle will come to sword-point a little too soon for my linking.

 

[oscar]

A busy turn that has turned out fairly well for me

The Polish cavalry rushes forwards, though some get disordered by the mass of arrows and bullets they're moving forwards onto. The Ottoman cavalry also has the blessing to catch the far left of their cavalry mid-stream crossing, giving them a disorderly penalty. A Winged Hussar isn't so mighty when his charged is slowed by water. Likewise some of the Polish pike and shot are beginning to succumb to chaos as they're forced to cross under hails of deadly janissary lead.

Duel of the Steppe people

The Brotherhood of the Spoon fears no filthy infidels

This is presently the most dangerous situation for me. My sipahis will certainly be in trouble when the Winged Hussars enact their charge next turn (these ones made it across the stream)

Christians under Muslim leadership fight Muslims under Christian leadership as lance and saber fly

 

[oscar]

Quick response from my foe. A very mixed turn.

The bad news:

The Winged Hussars are cutting even through the Sultan's household cavalry like a hot knife through butter

The boys at the stream fare a little better against the intial charge but also start to suffer. What's worse is that the Hussar's onslaught is spooking nearby cavalry not even yet involved in the fight

Our light cavalry is about evenly matched with the motley collection of Tatars and Balkanoids suffering roughly equal casualties

While the left is in trouble, things are looking much rosier on the right. While my artillery is a little close to the frontline for comfort they (in conjunction with some great musketry) managed to make some serious dents in the Christian infantry, which I then exploit by sending in the janissaries with saber drawn.

The disloyal Balkan bandits are reminded of the foolishness in opposing the Sultan

My siphais on the right also catch some foolish cossacks mid-stream and send them running back to Novorussiya. My detatched muskeeters just visible in the rough ground on the far left are also winning the fight against the Polish dragoons.

Hard to say who has the upper hand at the moment. The hussars will certainly make this tricky.

 

[oscar]

Our cavalry starts to get the upper hand on the far left as the Polish light cavalry flees and the bogged down Hussars start to run out of steam

In one of the most amusing chains I've ever seen the engine produce the simultaneous success of our cavalry against the cossacks and failure against the hussars produces a long chain of flank and rear charges across the centre. Victorious pursuing units generally follow up their success by charging into enemies paths (hopefully into a nice juicy flank or rear). I'll try and show what happened in pictures

The pursuers find themselves the pursued. While our janissaries successfully smash the Balkan outlaws, cossacks create chaos on their left flank

A fairly nutty turn. I didn't take a screenshot but the white blimp behind enemy lines on the minimap is the cavalry that broke the cossacks and is now ripe for a nice rear attack. On the right side of the stream I might send the non-disrupted janissaries over to smoke that pike-and-shot unit with the 'F' (fragmented, even worse than discorded). I could then follow through with a charge on his artillery (lacking cover or fortifications and thus very vulnerable) but the centre is looking rather troubled. If my centre janissaries and the great cavalry confusion can hold I could create a nice hammer-and-anvil situation to trap the Poles in.

 

[Storyfag]

This looks interesting

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

You should make an entire series of these, seen as I'm an inconsistent fuck when it comes to LPs.

I could never get through the campaigns, especially the one where you fight bohemian forces in a narrow field flanked by thick forests. That one is a nightmare of SLOW.

 

[oscar]

Corporate_Jew_Master the English Civil War campaign is pretty damn fun. Winning Marston Moor as the Royalists by an absolutely perfectly timed cavalry charge that caught Cromwell's boys downhill than swooped left and rolled up the entire Parliamentarian line felt awesome. We should have a match sometime, the turn-sending system is incredibly simple and easy (it'd be damn nice to use for our SMAC game).

Another mixed turn that sees the bulk of both armies become disrupted and confused.

The stalemate on the left continues with our cavalry inflicting roughly 1:1
kills on the enemy. Being a straight on fight with no flanking and neither side possessing a major advantage (if it weren't for that stream the Hussars would've smashed through no trouble) as a bloody hack and slash battle of attrition ensures.

The Polish pikes advances into the janissary lines to support their cavalry. Their superior reach and bristling formation proves difficult for the already strained janissaries to handle and panic begins to spread in the ranks.

Our rebuffed siphais see a good opportunity to knock some out of the wind out of the Hussar's saddles, though in doing so have exposed themselves to a flank account from the unengaged Polish cavalry

The Hussars struggle in the uneven ground they foolhardy charged into

Once again the left proves this battle's bright spot as our cavalry surge forwards across the stream

If the central janissary line can hold out another turn we'll have a ripe opportunity for a rear charge from our right wing's cavalry

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Those pike'n shot units in the centre are gonna be trouble.

Would be fun if the game had nice artillery mechanics and they end up running headfirst into a fuill cannonade.

 

[Luka-boy]

I wish there were more strategy games focusing on Pike and Shot warfare and early 17th century Europe in general. Thanks for making this thread

 

[oscar]

These sides are now available from the expansion pack though I might make my next one a more 'conventional' pike and shot match up. The game engine even has stuff like elephants modelled (though modders would need to make the graphics) and some guy's working on a Sengoku jidai mod.

The Polish combined arms onslaught proves too much for the unexperienced janissaries of the centre

Our veteran janissaries fight twice as hard to make up for their lesser brothers (if they were a more clumsy infantry formation or cavalry they'd get the 'Moderately Disordered' penalty)

The hussars also pay the price for fighting on uneven ground. Their comrades to the left also meet mixed results

(will upload the second turn tomorrow)

 

[oscar]

The Polish cavalry cut down our cannon crews who quickly surrender

Their horse are less successful elsewhere though

The Polish cannon crew are made of sterner stuff however and blow a hole into an incoming formation of siphais

The bogged down hussars (close to retreating) are saved by the continued advance of the Polish centre pikes

Both our infantry and cavalry are fighting hard and it still remains unclear who has the upper hand (it looks likely that we'll have to get the 60% rout victory condition)

 

[Got bored and left]

Wow, this game looks cool as all hell. Definetely getting it!

 

[oscar]

A few more turns to post but the game is over. I won't spoil who won. I'm trying to post the more interesting/dramatic events so in general I haven't posted much of the cavalry stalemate on the left (seriously it's one of the most evenly balanced and longest fights I've ever seen in the engine due to that river).

ArtB yeah I'm a big fan of this engine. Goes to show that you can make these sorts of games with an accessible interface and graphics without sacrificing depth or quality (though I do miss the neat Osprey-esque drawings of units in the Jon Tiller games).

The helpless gun crew continue to get hacked down and throw their hands in the air when even more Polish cavalry surrounds them

Our janissaries remind the foe that they're not obsolete yet

While still disorganised from that nasty cannonade they received earlier the elite siphais see a good opportunity to help out the slave-soldiers (being charged on the flank by some unit types guarantees a drop in cohesion unless it's a light unit charging or the charged are in a keil or terico formation). The pressure is too much and the already thinned out
Polish foot turn tail.

Recruited from the far east of the Commonwealth's border the enemy heavy cossacks cut down our lighter siphais

After a long and mutually gruelling contest our Balkan subjects are starting to come out second best

 

[oscar]

The armoured cossacks continue to cut through the siphais but are rescued by our victorious forces on the left who are now rejoining the fight in the centre

The other khokhols are in trouble too

Once again the Polish commander learns the price of committing cavalry to improper terrain (I haven't posted much of this long fight, fallback, shootout and then fight again between my detached musketeers and his dragoons)

Tired of dying at the command of an alien sultan the Balkanites quit the field

The remaining Polish pike engage in a firefight with our brave centre janissaries (outside of direct commands, fights take place in the residual shooting and residual combat phases). They lose.

We repeat the always reliable "slam into them from the side" tactic further to the left

The right janissaries, having routed the Polish pike, advance to deal with the remaining Poles

At 55% routed the Poles are very close to throwing in the towel altogether

 

[oscar]

Final Turn

The Winged Hussars continue to earn their reputation but are forced to save their lives for another day as they realise the general defeat of the rest of the Polish force

The Poles who can't flee the field fast enough are ran down while most of the earlier cowards sheepishly rejoin our army. While not a grand confrontation the Sultan will surely be pleased at our success in giving the Commonwealth a black eye.

I'd have to say the random terrain was certainly in our favour with the stream taking a lot of the steam out of the Polish left's punch (though as seen in this turn they did eventually prevail). Even so it was certainly a close-run thing with us triumphing by a mere 6% in the final turn.