Battle of Varna 1444

[Dalauppror]

Not realy a Hail Caesar! game but close...

Monday 26th May 2010 I and some freinds tryed out to use the Black Powder rules for a Medieval game, the Battle of varna 1444. The allied Christian army tryed to stop the Ottoman Empire outside the city of Varna in Bulgaria.Here are the OOB we used:

- The Ottoman Empire -

 

Commander-in-Chief

• Sultan Murad II

Right Wing –  Turahan

• 4xSipahis - Cavalry
• 2xAkıncıs - Irregular Light Horse
• 1x Balkan Horse - Light Horse

Center -  Mehmed

• 2xJanissaries - Guard Archers dug in behind ditches and palisades
• 1xKapikulus - Guard Cavalry
• 2xAzabs - Irregular Light Infanry
• 4xArtillery - Large guns:)

Left Wing – Karadzsa

• 4xSipahis - Cavalry
• 2xAkıncıs - Irregular Light Horse
• 1x Balkan Horse - Light Horse

- The Christians Alliance -

Commander-in-Chief

• John Hunyadi

Right Wing – Bishop Jan Dominek of Varadin

• Bishop Jan Dominek of Varadins Hungarian Feudal Knight banner
• The Bishop of Egers Hungarian Mercenaries Knight banner
• Franco Talotsis Croatian Mercenaries Knight banner
• Cesarinis German and Bosnian Mercenaries Knight banner
• 2xWallachian Horse - Light Cavalry

Center - Władysław III of Poland

1^st line

• The king's Polish and Hungarian bodyguards Feudal Knight banner
• 4xPolish and Hungarian Feudal Knight banner
• 1xWallachian Horse - Light Cavalry

2^nd Line

• 2x Szeklers - Light Horse

Left Wing – Michael Szilágyi 

• 4xSzeklers Hunyadi's Transylvanians - Light Horse
• 2xBulgarian Mercenaries Knight banner

 Wagenburg -

• Handgunner, crossbowmen and light artillery

And here are the Stats:

 And now to the AAR...As the army of the Christian Alliance under command of the Polish King was caugth with its back to the Black Sea, tha Lake Varna and some marches to its left and the Franga Plateau with steep wooded hills to its right...The Battle of Varna was a fairly stright forward affair, both armys deployed and the battle could begin...all measurement was at 2/3 of the original, i.e. Infantry moved 8" instead of 12"...The right wing and part of the center of the Christian Alliance forces...with a steady Wagenburg in the back.The Ottoman Jannisaries and Artillery behind filedworks, supported by the kapikulus Guard and the Camp of Sultan Murad II.Opening moves... All the zealous Polish and Hungarian feudal Knights in the center under command of the young Polish King rushed away to the left to attack the Ottoman right flank that quicly retreated faced by the knightly threat... On the Christian right flank the Feudal Knights alsoe rushed against the enemy, but the Mercenary Knights took a more careful approach... it´s seems that they need to get more pay to be moving...On the Christian right flank the Feudal Knights was stoped by heavy fire from several Ottoman Cavalry and Light Horse units...and the mercenary Knights still waited for the extra money...After they have driven off the Ottomans on the leftflank the eager Polish King se a new and more imobilize target...the Ottoman Artillery and Jannisaries....2 of the 5 Polish Knight units manages to get in contact...the knights manages to breake through and the artillery breakes, but the Steady Jannisaries hold their ground...Half way in the fight...The Polish king and some of his knights are involved in a fearsome fight with the Ottoman elit Jannisarie unit...and the Mercenary Knights on the Right have still not get paid enough to join in the fight...The Polish king and his support get beaten up by the Jannisaries and retreat...or flees... The rest of the Feudal Knights on the left flank have come to grips with the Ottoman Cavalry and start to weare them down...and you could say thet the German Mercenary Knights at least are tough negotiaters...End possitions...on the right flank the Feudale Knights create chaos amongst the Ottomans that respon by moving forward against the Transylvaninan that until now merely been spectators...one of the knight units manages to get in beinh the ottoman fortifications...On the Right flank the payment to the Mercenary Knights at last arrives and they charges the Ottoman at onec... finishing of 2 Shiphai cavalry units...Our conclution was that the Christian Allians would breake the ottoman right flank and then sweep around against the forticifation and Sultan Murads camp... Minor victory for the Christians...As this was the first time we used Black Powder for a medieval game it worked out allright and it was a realy nice gaming sesion. We will make some small modification until next game, we hade some problem to interpret the Determined Charge rule, how and when do the unit move? do they move even if they dont recive a order? is it possible to hold a unit by giving it a order? many questions to be answerd...I think we will solve it this way...Detremined Charge: If the unit have enemys within charge range (Infantry 36", Cavalry 54") it will automaticly make a 1D3 charge moves towards the enemy without order (18" each time). The General can try to restrain the unit by giving them a hold order for each success they recive -1 on the 1D3 for the automatic move. If the unit dont have enemys within charge range they can recive order as normal.We realy looking forward to the releas of Hail Caesar!Best regards Dalauppror

[Cubster]

Superb battle report and great pics. Have a pickled herring on me sir.

[BigMike]

That looks ace! fun had by all

[paulsmodellingworkshop]

That looks grand Sir! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Dalauppror]

Thanks ! Glad that you liked the AAR. It was a realy good ant interesting game and we realy like the ideea of having several players on each side, very good for our club events.Best regards Dalauppror

[Lovstrom]

Hmmm ok totally off topic question..sorry.But who is it you in Dalarna is rebelling against?