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.
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.
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.
