[custom scenario] Pike vs Pike

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StuccoFresco
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:10 am

[custom scenario] Pike vs Pike

Post by StuccoFresco »

Sixth scenario of my custom campaign; previous one: viewtopic.php?f=320&t=98185

Despite the superiority of the Misl cavalry, the southern pikemen blocks proved too strong and were able to win another battle for the Marathi, causing the doom of the Bahmanis Kingdom. But the North learns from his mistakes, and is quick to adapt to the circumstances by hastily training his infantry to use pikes as well. The first Northern Kingdom to field them en masse was the Kingdom of Hyderabad, another Bengali Confederation's successor states. And none too early, since the newly formed pikemen will have to face an immediate threat: an army from the Orissa Kingdom moving in to invade it. Meanwhile, in all the Raj archers have quickly fallen out of favor: the grievous losses in the wars have depleted the country of the (relatively) few trained archers, so the big states resorted to the use of gunpowder weapons for the infantry, too. The new units are now ready to prove their valor in the first field battle that will see them employed in great numbers.

This battle will be the first one to feature a big amount of firearm infantry and with both sides having artillery and pike blocks. I expect high losses and a tight outcome: enemy has superior numbers and his cavalry is crazy good in melee, while my cavalry is more versatile due to carbines and pistols. There is an interesting difference in firearm infantry: I have unarmoured long-range musketeers, while the enemy has partially armored, sword-wielding short range arquebusiers. My artillery is made of light guns: mobile but not as powerful, while the enemy has more medium guns.
The battlefield features a big hill closer to the enemy and a smaller one on my side, on the opposite sides of the central "valley". I'll try to put artillery and musketeers in "my" hill to soften up targets for my main pike push in the valley. My light flank will be covered by musketeers, artillery and light cavalry. On the right flank, I'll try to flank the enemy battle line with my three Irregulars and go harassing his reserves.
The big hill could be a problem, but I'll try to send my Musketeers up there, with a couple pike blocks to cover their asses. My heavy Misl Horsemen will stay in the immediate vicinity of the first line, ready to exploit any chance for a charge or to shoot their pistols.

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First 4 Turns are predictable: enemy Marathi Raiders on my left flank are greeted with gunfire when they advance, and they haven't many options available since my units are either in rough ground or too strong for them. The big hill has been garrisoned by enemy Arquebusiers and a block of Pikemen, but my Musketeers are firing on them. My own pike blocks are lining up in the valley, but one of them has been disrupted by enemy artillery and arquebus fire and I pulled it back slightly. The small hill is mine and I pushed back a charge of enemy Marathi Raiders that tried to take it. Enemy heavy cavalry is still held in reserve. Strange: I would have sent it on the big hill to try some charge.

Turn 5 starts really bad, with the aforementioned Marathi Raiders charging straight back into "my" hill and routing a unit of Musketeers. My Light guns narrowly avoid being overrun too. Enemy Arquebusiers advanced along the front and pack quite the punch; I'm pulling my cavalry forward to deal with them. Left flank is secure, my pikemen are climbing the big hill and the pike battle in the valley is in full swing.

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The situation further deteriorates the following turn, with one of my pike blocks being routed by Arquebusiers' fire on my right flank. The victorious enemy Raiders indeed successfully overrun my light artillery, and I have to spend my personal Rajah guard to chase them away to save my only remaining Musketeer on the hill. My Misl Cavalry is trying to hold the entire flank by itself with pistol fire and charging Arquebusiers, but there are too many enemy units. On the far right, my Irregulars are drawing enemy Raiders and a pike block far from the battlefield. Left flank see my units disperding or engaging enemy raiders and starting to roll up the entire flank. Good news from the big hill: an enemy pike block that advanced too far is being torn up by my own pikemen, and two of my own blocks have engaged the enemy Nawab's personal guard.

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StuccoFresco
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:10 am

Re: [custom scenario] Pike vs Pike

Post by StuccoFresco »

Enemy heavy cavalry is embarassing: it's roaming in the fields doing nothing while the rest of the army has to fend off for itself. Two enemy pike blocks are doing basically the same, staying right behind the first lines, doing nothing at all. If those reserves were to plug the hole I'm making on my left flank, I'd be in danger. My beloved Misl Horsemen take the entire right flank on their shoulders and charges in, routing three enemy Arquebusiers in a single turn and suddenly breaking through the enemy lines. Unfortunately, the big melee in the middle is turning against my units, with two pike blocks being disrupted by their counterparts; I decide to roleplay this as the enemy frontline pike blocks having stepped back to let their comrades in the back push for a while, wearing my units down. A sort of "mutatio".

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In Turn 10 my center collapses: two pike blocks are routed and enemy's own pike blocks advance steadily. One of the Misl unit that broke through enemy Arquebusiers is routed too. However, I manage to rout the enemy Rajah and a pike block on the big hill, so it sort of evens out. I'm using my remaining havy cavalry to strike some rear charge and disrupt the advancing pike blocks while calling in every firearm unit I can in the middle to whittle them down. In the backfield, enemy cavalry has finally chased off most of my Irregulars, but one of them is overrunning the enemy artillery. The battle is in a very delicate equilibrium now.

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The battle drags on: various units have routed their counterparts and ar enow marching to meet new enemies. The bulk of enemy cavalry is still free to roam, while all my units are committed in a furious melee. Two routing pike blocks have rallied, one in a spectacular manner: it rallied, got immediately rear-charged, endured the melee and further rallied to Disrupted! What an heroic unit!

My Telingas Musketeers on top of the small hill have pushed back no less than three charges by enemy Raiders, thanks to the rough terrain and the height difference. All enemy arquebusiers have been routed save for one, that managed to endure my Musketeers' fire and charged them, routing them after several turns of melee.

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It's Turn 14 and the battle is incredibly close. An enemy pike block has rallied and flank-charged my Nawab's personal guard, fragmenting it and putting the whole (remains of the) right flank at risk. I managed to pull off some interesting charge here and there, but the overall attrition works against me as the enemy has more units.

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StuccoFresco
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Sergeant Major - Armoured Train
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:10 am

Re: [custom scenario] Pike vs Pike

Post by StuccoFresco »

Turn 19: I'm hanging on... barely. The battle has fragmented in a series of duels between exhausted troops, with my Irregulars desperately trying to avoid enemy reinforcements to join the fray in time. My Nawab has been routed. Pikemen of all sides rout, rallies, gets back in the melee and get routed again. My heroic Musketeers on top of the hill keep belching lead on everything in sight, as does my lone Light Guns unit.

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Victory arrives, at last. It has been an incredibly tense battle, with much back-and-forth action that could have decided the outcome several times. The sheer tension seeing an enemy pike block regrouping, or your Irregulars coming back on the battlefield to distract an enemy cavalry... priceless. The outcome of a single melee could have decided the battle one way or another.

The AI maneuvered... with mixed results. Mostly well, but 2-3 cavalry units roamed in the fields for entire turns doing nothing, and they could have been just enough to win the battle if committed to the fight. I don't know why they did that. Other than that, it used its Arquebusiers offensively as expected, and moved around his pike blocks with sufficient competency.

Extremely fun battle, all things considered.

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