Battle of Panipat 1526 AD

[ZeaBed]

14 July 2014 Revision: v3.0 is now available.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/405 ... 20v3.0.zip


This battle took place after Babur's Mughal army invaded northwestern India and threatened the domains of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. The relatively early but heavy use of field artillery to compensate for inferiority in numbers (and to 'neutralise' 400 elephants) makes this an interesting subject for a FoG scenario. Enjoy.


For more information on this battle, see: Rickard, J (15 May 2010), First battle of Panipat, 21 April 1526 , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/ba ... first.html

[amenofi64]

Another great work, thanks for your care.

[ZeaBed]

You're welcome. I hope you like it. The great Babur has several interesting battles. His tactics in this one were very original, particularly for the time. Some tailoring of history was needed to compensate for the inability of the cannon to panic any elephants and that the carts could not be roped together. But it seems to have worked out reasonably well. The test games I played produced results eerily similar to the actual battle, down to the historical casualty estimates and the death of Ibrahim.

[Micha63]

Nice work, thank you.

[ZeaBed]

Updated to v1.1 with hopefully more precise troop placement.

[ZeaBed]

Upgraded to v1.2 with some slight "improvements" (I hope).

[stockwellpete]

Just finished another paired game with Rex of the first version of this. I see that a number of changes have been made now so things have obviously moved on. The results of the games were . . .

Mughals 14/53 beat Lodis 50/48
Mughals 27/53 beat Lodis 49/48

Both very one-sided. Army points were 1024-645 in favour of the Mughals which explains the results. I see the new values are 1070 to 939 which should give a much better game.

On the Mughals, I have read that a line of roped bullock carts protected the guns rather than "war wagons". You can edit war wagons down to having no weapons at all - they still would cost 15pts and that might represent the carts quite well. . For the guns to fire over a solid line of them they would need to be placed on individual elevated hexes. That might be worth a try at some stage. The other thing in my head is that the poor terrain on the flanks might come in a hex or two on each flank to "shape" the Lodis charge a bit more.

I have put a v2.0 chalenge on and will feedback in due course.

[ZeaBed]

Fantastic, Pete. All makes sense to me. I wasn't sure whether the carts contained some musketmen that might have jumped in them. I like the idea to place the cannon above raised hexes. I already did somethng similar to that for Cyrus's Persian artillery at Thymbra. Now I have my working plan for Panipat version 1.3. Thanks.

Do let me know how that 1.2 challenge turns out.

[batesmotel]

Upgraded to v1.2 with some slight "improvements" (I hope).

The link for 1.2 is currently giving a 404 File not found error.

Chris

[ZeaBed]

I'm updating it Chris but had to get off my tabletop before I could replace the link. Will see to it as soon as I get back. Thanks for your interest.

[ZeaBed]

Updated to v1.3. Sorry for the delay.

I've incorporated stockwellpete's recommendations and added one of my own. Pete, a small point: stripping the bullock carts of all their weapons (heavy weapons and bows) leaves them with a battle factor of 11, not 15. I haven't played this new version yet, of course, but it should prove interesting.

[stockwellpete]

Updated to v1.3. Sorry for the delay.

I've incorporated stockwellpete's recommendations and added one of my own. Pete, a small point: stripping the bullock carts of all their weapons (heavy weapons and bows) leaves them with a battle factor of 11, not 15. I haven't played this new version yet, of course, but it should prove interesting.

Ok, I have just looked at it and it looks great - I like the ditch idea and there is a real barrier now to protect the guns.

[ZeaBed]

Cool beans. Let's see how Babur fares against 400 Babars now.

[ZeaBed]

Oops, forgot to make the blasted bullock carts immobile. Fixed now.

PS: Also restored some weapons to the carts to bring them to an acceptable defense level (15), as they should be more than just a roadbump imo.

[stockwellpete]

I am play-testing v1.3 but my opponent has suddenly disappeared without warning!

[ZeaBed]

I am play-testing v1.3 but my opponent has suddenly disappeared without warning!

Have you checked behind the trees and the impassable terrain? Maybe he just routed off the map. Good fortune attend your endeavors.

[Lysimachos]

I just downloaded the scenario, unzipped it and placed in the "FieldOfGloryScenarios" folder but it doesn't even appear on my screen neither opening "Edit a Scenario" nor trying with "New Scenario Battle".

Any idea to solve the problem?

[Lysimachos]

And the same is happening with the battle of Civitate!

[ZeaBed]

This used to happen to me when I downloaded some scenarios. Even though I have no way of knowing if it's the same problem (after all, it could be envious gremlins at work), try this:

Go to the Slitherine folder in windows. Open the game folder. Make sure that the game files are inside a subfolder titled 'data'. If they're not, create such a subfolder and transfer the game files into it. Then open the game again and try to see if it comes up in the games menu listing. I routinely download my own games and I have no trouble opening them.

General question to others reading this: Has anyone else had any problems with Panipat and Civitate?

[stockwellpete]

Just downloaded Panipat OK again.

My opponent has returned to continue the play-test now. Lodis are getting slaughtered in one game and still have a chance to win in the other. I tend to think the wagons should be "speed-bumps", I am not sure about giving them cb's, to be honest. I will report in full when the two gamesare finished.