[custom scenario] Black Powder

[StuccoFresco]

This is the second scenario of my custom campaign, this time showing how the Northern Kingdoms looked for a counter to the mighty elephants of the Southerners.

The fall of the Kingdom of Ladakh was just the first step to the rise of the Elephant Kingdoms of the South. In 50 years several of them came North to beat and conquer their old overlords and establish a series of protectorates and tributaries. The Elephants dominated the battlefields, until someone experimented with gunpowder enough to develop functional, portable firearms to give to horsemen. Uniting the tradition of cavalry with the new weapons, both deadly and fearsome to elephants, several tributaries have formed an alliance, the Bengali Confederation, and challenged the Elephant Kings. The first battle will see the Confederation take on the very first one: the Kingdom (now Empire) of Rajput.

"Shah Shuja, as the de-facto leader of the Bengali Confederation, you have been chosen to lead the army against the Rajput Emperor himself, that is marching north with his army. He commands 250 elephants, and has much more infantry than us, but the new firearm cavalry is ready to show its power to the Raj. Use it carefully to soften up the enemy before charging in.

You army has taken up what seems to be a weak position, without much space to maneuver our cavalry, but it's a ruse to lure the Emperor forward and bait him to move in the valley. Your main cavalry force is hidden behind the hills, ready to outflank the enemy and strike at the right moment. The terrain is difficult but it's too much of a good chance to squander it. Wait for the enemy to move his elephants forward and blast them with our new weapons! Use your cavalry to outmaneuver him and charge him relentlessly!"

The enemy army, despite the various attempt to direct it via editor commands or skirmis AI setting, keeps throwing its infantry units in the woods, but this time I've given it extra units so even if some of them arrive later it shouldn't condemn the AI to an embarassing defeat. The enemy trails the foothills with the elephants, escorted by two infantry blocks and the Rajah's elite guard; actually a neat choice, while I'm still moving behind the hills to position my own firearm cavalry. I also decide to advance with my own infantry to force a confrontation as soon as possible, before the bulk of enemy infantry comes out of the woods.





In Turn 7 the battle truly starts: the Elephants hit my infantry lines, spearheaded by the Rajput Emperor himself charging the Mysore Lancers in a display of extreme bravery. My Misl Cavalry readies their pistols and cross the hills, seeing two Elephant units ready to smash into my lines and eager to see if the black powder can bring down the grey towers. The Misl Irregulars fire their carabines at the enemy Poligars that spotted them and started climbing the hill, surrounding them and making a mockery of their attempts to force a melee. My infantry blocks are garrisoning the center of the battlefield trying to form a line that will keep the mass of enemy infantry away from the cavalry action on the left.

[StuccoFresco]

Turn 10: the maneuvers in the center have been successfull. The enemy infantry can't reach the left side of the battlefield and it's forced to engage my own infantry. Meanwhile, gunfire and flanking are already taking care of the elephants, routing or felling many of them. One of my cavalry units have been charged by both enemy infantry and cavalry, sacrificing itself to intercept those threats and allow the rest of my cavalry to act unchallenged in the whole left side of the battlefield. To my surprise, one unit of Mysore Lancers have been routed by the enemy Rajah's Guards, but the other one is set up to score a flanking charge against it.



By Turn 11 the entire front is committed, with the bulk of enemy infantry concentrated in a massive block in the center-right, with a single line of my own spearment to keep them at bay. Other 7-8000 Rajput spearmen are fighting a single battalion of my own Misl Horsemen: those brave men has resisted for several turns now, but they are close to break.

The good news is that almost all the elephants are routed or about to be routed, and that my Irregulars are free to roam around.



In Turn 12 I finally rout the last elephants, but the situation is dire: the sheer amount of enemy infantry is slowly grinding down my main line in the center-right, and Southern light cavalry is dispersing my archers and moving freely behind it. The Mysore Lancers have routed the enemy Rajah's own guard, and my own Nawab's guards are now free to redeploy, but I don't have much time for saving my infantry.



Turn 14: my lines are buckling under the enemy pressure, but I'm still holding and actually my cavalry and infantry at the foothills have recovered and started pushing the enemy infantry back. The Lancers and the Nawab's Guard are now free to engage the advancing enemy troops in the center. In the next few turns I manage to smash the whole enemy right flank and set up a counteroffensive toward the center. My Irregulars are still around, peppering the enemy with carbine fire and trying to score some lucky charge to relieve the pressure on the infantry.

[StuccoFresco]

By turn 17 the enormous melee in the center is still undecided, but slowly turning to the Southern's favor. My only hope is the northern side of the battlefield, where I'm mounting a flanking attack on one of the enemy infantry blocks, and another one is close to rout after being rear-charged by my cavalry. The guards of the Nawab aren't doing good: they are barely winning their fight.

The enemy routs one of my infantries and opens a gap in my lines: my last infantry block in the right is now isolated and surrounded. However, the melee in the center is slowly swinging in my favour thanks to the renovated vigor of my Nawab's guards, that finally remember being an elite unit and push their opponents back.

In this troubling time, it's my light cavalry to save the day: their charge against a unit of enemy Longbowmen routs them and allows the Misl Irregulars to flank-charge the enemy Raiders and, crucially, an enemy infantry block. Said block was already fragmented, and the rear charge routs it; my own infantry block that was fighting it finds itself free to advance and flank-charge an enemy Poligar Cavalry unit, disrupting it! The same happens in the northern part of the battlefield, where the previous flank-charge of my infantry prompts a chain reaction that makes the whole Rajput lines to collapse.



In Turn 18 the battle is won, but I decide to keep pushing and try to truly annihilate the enemy army instead of letting it retreat in good order. In the next turn I manage to roll over the enemy left flank, that finally routed my brave Misl Horsemen and was about to surround my lone infantry block. A couple timely flank and rear charges relieve a bit of pressure on those heroes, while in my backfield the Archers and the Irregulars mop up the remnants of the enemy Poligar Cavalry.

The last enemy infantry units fight bravely, but they are pushed with the shoulders against the forest and swarmed by my own units. The battlefield belongs to the Bengali, and the battle is over.

[StuccoFresco]

The battle, despite the weird wood-loving enemy infantry, has been closer than the final results suggests: had the enemy infantry mass managed to smash through my lines a single turn earlier, the battle would have been lost. The AI, this time, used their cavalry rather badly, letting it get bogged down in the center without having much impact on the battle. A couple well-placed flanking charges saved my left flank and then allowed me to roll over the center, scoring more flank charges to rout the enemy infantry blocks.

The elephants have been countered well by the firearm-equipped cavalry: the Misl Irregulars shot from the distance with their carbines, and the Misl Cavalry used their pistols effectively by riding right in the face of the elephants and firing away. Two turns of gunfire were usually enough to disorganize the elephants, that then could be dealt with in melee. While one unit of Mysore Lancers got routed early by the enemy Rajah's guards, the other scored several decisive charges and turned a lot of fights in my favor, so their continued employment is still justified despite the excellent results obtained by the more modern Misl units.