The Relief of Vienna, 12 September 1683 Part 1

On a scorching Saturday this weekend I had some of "The Burrowers" over for a game. I'd been toying with the idea of refighting the Battle of the Kahlenberg as it more properly known for some time but didn't think I had enough Ottomans or Holy League troops. Wrong on the first count, because thanks to a recent acquisition and a painting spree by friend Barry I had just enough Ottoman troops, and wrong on the second as I was able to press into service enough suitable Germanic-looking units from my 1670s armies. The Poles were never going to be a problem as I knew I had more than enough! Problem solved.

Anyone wanting the background to the battle can click here but suffice to say a massive Ottoman army was besieging Vienna, albeit ineptly, while a hastily assembled yet well organised combined force of Poles, Hapsburgs, Saxons, Bavarians and other German states' troops was marching to relieve the city.

I pinched this off t'internet. Pretty good plan of the battlefield and a great source for putting names to the 'great and the good' who led the Holy League army. 

For the orders of battle I used what information I could find on line as well as in the excellent Osprey Siege of Vienna book. I also ruthlessly plundered info sent to me by fellow blogger Steve Jones who had fought the battle recently. We were using Pike and Powder, i.e. Pike and Shot, suitably amended to reflect the troop types and abilities in the campaign, with various house rules and bits of Black Powder II added. The real battlefield was dotted with villages and vineyards and intersected by a few streams, but with the exception of the ruined and fortified village of Nussdorf all villages have been omitted to ease the flow of play. Likewise the vineyards are for aesthetic purposes only. The wooded slopes of the Kahlenburg are also largely for show, and for sticking to T-shirts as players reached over them, will not slow movement other than for artillery which cannot enter.

Battle lines drawn for the start of turn 1 as seen from the East. The fortified and ruined village of Nussdorf is in the foreground, while the  rest of the Ottoman army stretches long the left of the table and into the distance. Meanwhile the first of the German forces are on the table on the right (north) under the command of Charles Duke of Lorraine. The other German contingent will be arriving about half way along the right hand baseline while the Poles will join at the top right hand corner.

Close up of the Ottoman Janissaries garrisoning Nussdorf. They are supported by several units of Delli light cavalry and  Spahis.

The battlefield as seen from the other (western) end of the table. Thinly held by Tartars and several regiments of Spahis of the Porte and Feudal Spahis. I only gave the Ottomans these three small units of Tartars as they didn't do much in the real battle.

There was quite a crowd involved in the game. Richard, Conrad Ian and Shaun took the Ottomans while Paul, Dave, Neil and Nigel were the Holy League. A game of possibly epic proportions and expectations was about to begin, and for plans on both sides to unravel at an alarming rate.

ORDERS OF BATTLE

OTTOMAN ARMY OUTSIDE VIENNA

Commander in Chief: Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha(8)* RICHARD

Under direct command of Kara Mustafa Pasha(8)*

Spahi of the Porte x 4

Janissaries x 2

Anatolian Guard x 1

Right Wing: Kara Mehmet Pasha (8) IAN

Spahis of the Porte x 2

Feudal Spahis x 2

Dellis x 4

Janissaries x 4

Centre (Turkenschanz): Abaza Sari Hussein Pasha(7) CONRAD

Artillery x 2 (2-gun heavy batteries)

Azabs x 2

Tufceci x 2

Balkan Irregulars x 2

Janisaries x 1

Left Wing: Ibrahim Pasha (9) SHAUN

Spahis of the Porte x 2

Feudal Spahi x 4

Tartars: Count Imre Thokoli (8) SHAUN

Tartar light cavalry x 3

 * if CinC orders his own command to move he cannot perform a re-roll for any commanders who fail their roll.

HOLY LEAGUE RELIEF ARMY 

Commander in Chief: King John III Sobieski of Poland (9) {Arrives with Poles) PAUL

Polish: Arrives T5+1D3 (test for each command)

Polish Left Wing: Field Hetman Nicolas Sieniawski (8) PAUL

Winged Hussars x 2

Pancerni x 2

Cossacks x 1

Dragoons x 1

Polish Foot:  General Martin Katski (8) PAUL

Haiduk x 4

Polish Right Wing: Crown Hetman Stanislaw Jan Joblonowski (9) NIGEL

Winged Hussars x 2

Pancerni x 2

Cossacks x 2

  

German Left Wing: Duke Charles Sixte of Lorraine (8) DAVE

Horse: General of the Cavalry Count Alberto di Caprara (8) PAUL

Cuirassiers/Horse x 6

Dragoons x 1

Foot: Margrave Herman von Baden-Baden (8) DAVE

Infantry regiments x 6

Artillery x 3 emplaced guns

German Right Wing: Elector Max Emmanuel of Bavaria (7) Arrives T2 +1D3 NEIL

Horse: General of Cavalry the Duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg(8) NIGEL

Cuirassiers/Horse x 6

Foot: Field Marshal Lieut Margrave Christian Heinrich of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach (8) NEIL

Infantry regiments x 6

Artillery x 3 guns

Dragoons x 1

(Lorraine and Max Emmanuel act as ‘mini-CinCs’ for their wings of the army)

Paul and Nigel took subordinate commands in the German 'wings' until such time as the Poles arrived.

Part II, which I hope to finish tomorrow, will cover the game itself.

Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth

Prolific publishers Helion &Co have introduced another series of books under the “From Retinue to Regiment” banner. The first in the series is this book by Mike Ingham which I have to say is pretty good. I might st admit from the start to being a Lancastrian by birth and am not a fan of Richard. To be honest I also fell out of love with the Wars of the Roses a long time ago, but I have enjoyed reading what is in reality a detailed yet potted history of the Wars, their background, the key players and so forth culminating in a brief chapter on the battle itself. Is too much of the book devoted to everything except the battle? Not at all. I have to admit to a gruesome interest in the sections on medieval battle surgery and the analysis of the Towson grave pit skeletons and that of Richard III himself. Also of interest are the machinations of the French King Louis XI ‘the Spider’ as he attempted to interfere with the workings of the English crown. The book also includes some new or different interpretations of key players behaviour and incidents, such as the fence sitting of the Stanley’s. There are a host of contemporary illustrations, photos of re-enactors and of key locations such as the battlefield today, maps and diagrams and eight colour plates. The latter are mainly of banners of the key nobles, with a couple of ‘typical’ foot soldiers and one of Richards somewhat punctured skull. So, for the uninitiated and those with a passing interest this is a great and quite detailed introduction to the subject. A good start to a promising series.

Battleground Show, 30 November 2019 Advance Warning.

A quick heads up that this year’s Battleground will be held in the usual place on Saturday 30 November. I was quite chuffed that a flyer for this event (above) has a photo of my Battle of Zurich 1799 game plastered all over it. Fame at last no less, or not. All things being equal I shall be putting on a big demo game again, of which more in future posts. This is the only public wargaming event I put a game on these days, due largely to the fact that I live barely five minutes from Queens Campus making the logistics a simple affair. It’s also a good opportunity to invite friends from at least two out of the four corners of the kingdom to take part in my game.

The Other Partizan: A fine day out.

John the Red and I went down to Newark on Sunday. My wife Katherine came with us to make sure I didn't spend too much LOL! Actually, she does web design for businesses as part of a charitable enterprise she runs and wanted a bit of a scouting mission. PM me if that sparks any interest from anybody.

We had a quick run down (1hr 45 mins) and arrived around 9.35. I blagged us all in early  and jumped the queue as I needed the loo desperately, standing in queues is is painful and would spoil my day, Katherine is my carer and it wouldn't be fair to leave John outside.

I didn't have a shopping list, but I did have a pre-order-to-collect-list! 30 minutes later I was done, having been to Old Glory, Foundry and Barry Hilton for a few bits and pieces. I'd also paid my mate Barry from the Like a Stonewall Wargames Group for some figures he'd painted for me and dropped off a few more for him to do. I also gave him two tubs of Peas Pudding, which for the uninitiated is an incredible NE England delicacy.

So, here are photos of just some of the games. I took photos of them all but only include a selection, based more on the quality of my photos rather than of the games. For the life of me I can't remember all of the clubs involved, but I have done my best.

Like a Stone Wall's Award Winning attack on Pelelie during the Pacific Campaign, using  a fair bit of jungle and 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' rules. This game won the best participation game award. The guys put a tremendous amount of effort colouring barrow loads of sawdust, all to good effect.  Sadly I didn't have time to play.

1798 action in Ireland. Very pretty and lovely figures. Right up my street too.

 54mm ECW, courtesy of Simon Miller and friends. They also put on a Roman v Ancient Briton game but my photos were even worse than usual, and some guy kept putting his arm in the way!

WW2 in the desert.

My old friends of the Durham Wargames Group put on a massive 28mm Battle of Asculum between Republican Romans and Seleucids. We tried this game out at my place a few months ago using Hail Cesar, but this time they used Warhammer Ancient Battles. Not my cuppa tea but it looked good as a game.

AWI Battle of Chatterton's Mill by Steve Jones. Lovely.

WW2 Naval action big style. One table held the Japanese fleet, the other the US fleet. Airestrikes galore!

I quite liked this game.

3rd Afghan War iirc. Big.

I think this was the Battle of Ocana, French v Spanish in the Peninsular.

The obligatory Sudan game. Very pretty and some gorgeous figures and nice terrain pieces.

Battle of Madona Dell Olmo set during the War of the Austrian Succession in Italy. Lovely figures.

Ireland 1689, by Mark Shearwood

Barry Hilton running solo with a Great Northern War demonstration.

David Imrie & Jack Glanville and the Battle of Harelaw.

There are just a snapshot of the games on offer. The trade was pretty much the same as last time, and the time before that, and the time before that and so on, but good nonetheless. The games were generally put on by the same faces yet again, and while I have no intention or desire to want to offer a game for a future event, some of the games were getting a bit 'samey'. However, overall, I'd say the quality of the demo games and a good few of the participation games was better than last time, there were more games in periods I actively game in which was nice, and it was interesting to see the preponderance of mats and teddy bear fur-covered tabled rather than sculpted or otherwise terrain squares. Both have their place at a wargame event and their adherents and its very much a marmite thing. We (well not me personally but the guys with the talent) used to hand build terrain for winning demo games back in the 1980s but that was before mats (and Teddy Bears) came along. I think if one has the money and/or time and skills to build terrain then go for it, otherwise do the best you can without whatever constraints you find yourself in. I would perhaps draw the line at paying professionally for terrain boards etc without recusing oneself from any competition.

Highlight of the day was speaking to a whole bunch of my friends and acquaintances, e.g. David, Phil, Barry H, Barry F, Tim ( and the other Like a Stone Wall lads), everyone from Durham, Henry, Mark, Tony, Roger, Charles, Ian, Steve, Duncan, Rob, Graham, John and (briefly) Robbie to name but a few. Yet again I forgot my Harry Sidebottom books for the man himself to autograph. Next time.

The next show for me will be Border Reiver in Gateshead in early September.