Republic to Empire-Revolutionary Wars Vendéans

There is a French Revolutionary Wars Appendix in Barry Hilton’s Republic to Empire.  It makes for an interesting read.  As ever he weighs the evidence and gives us options on how to game it.  The system is basing neutral which is always helpful.

 

He sees a Demi Brigade as comprising three battalions each of between 20 to 40 figures.  Big then, although my 16 figure battalions could simply be understrength.   Or, I could double them up. The rules will still work either way.

 

One of the three battalions (le blancs) is rated Drilled or Drilled Elite.   

 

The other two are le bleus who are Recruits or Recruits Elite.   

 

All fine there.

 

Should you wish one of the battalions can be dispersed as skirmishers, grande bande style.  It will be hard to reform such soldiers once so deployed.

There are some fine touches. le bleus fight with extra effect should they close. Nor do they need much encouragement to do so. For added zing charismatic officers can add more combat dice.  Conversely, they are very nervous about cavalry and are prone to losing formation.  That is all good from my perspective.  There is more too but it need not detain us here. Suffice to say Republic to Empire is a good thing.

A feature of these rules is that troops fight by Combat Group.  A Combat Group is 4 figures. Throw a dice for each Combat Group sort of thing. There is also a combat plus for pike armed troops.  All good and it opens the door to the Vendéans.  Let us consider how.

 

The best Vendéan units had the most muskets.  No Vendéan unit had a musket for every man.  I could field a Vendéan unit of say 24 figures as follows.  Sixteen musket armed troops and eight pikemen. They might be Drilled Elite.

The next best Vendéan units had less muskets than the best. Perhaps a unit of 24 such fellows would have 12 musket armed troops and 12 pikemen.  Or, 8 muskets and 16 pike men.   

 

Obviously, the Combat Group concept allows for permutations of the ratio of musket to pike.  Such fellows might be Drilled or Recruit Elite.

 

The worst Vendéan units had few muskets.  Taking our notional 24 figure unit we might say 4 muskets and 20 pike men.   

These lads, always committed last, might be deemed Recruits. 

 

While we are on matters Vendéan I bought a bag of command figures from Stonewall for mine.  Most are simply too big to match Lancashire Archive range.  These two (above centre) sort of fit well enough.

I find this all very satisfying.  Mr Hilton sold me my new copy of Republic to Empire for £10.00. That was satisfying too. He may have some left.  It is the best two pints you never had.  Economics is not, you may know, a Science.

Republic to Empire belongs an earlier stage of Barry’s rule writing evolution. The generation of action points (Manouvere Points) reminds me of the Piquet/FoB system.  

The difference? You generate points at every turn, rather than at the outset.  

How?  You throw an average dice for every brigade still at 50% or better of it's original strength. The total is the number of points you have to expend that turn.

No cards though, instead, the more difficult the action the more points you will spend.  It is solid throughout and easy to learn.

I considered using his War of Three Kings order system but that caters for an earlier and simpler form of warfare.  So far, I have not found an elegant way of adapting the one to the other. Indeed, perhaps that should not be attempted.  

Having moved on, eyes now open.  I began to see a new Order and a new troop type that would allow me to extend the scope of Republic to Empire to the Anglo-Sikh Wars. I will do a separate post on that. 

All for a tenner.

I got Warbases to do me some nice brigade order tokens.  The rules don’t require them but I will find them handy.  I'll have more to add on this subsequent.

The Brigade Order tokens below.

 

I should add, my initial motivation in buying Republic to Empire was its application for the Crimean War.  That is the ongoing project for the moment.  Research is proving challenging.

Meantime, I have a first draft of a Anglo-Sikh War Appendix for Republic to Empire. I intend a refight of the Battle of Mudki by way of proof of concept.  I'll report back in the New Year.

Meantime, Dear Reader, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

 

Anglo-Sikh Wars- Khalsa Infantry in 15mm -Comparisons

 

A short, but hopefully useful, post for those of you who fancy doing the Sikh Wars in 15mm. Three manufacturers provide the neccissary.  Shall we have a look?

QRF carry the old Steve Shaw range.  Three command figures, two variants in the rank and file.  Lovely sculpts.  These were my introduction to the period.

Irregular will do you an officer, a standard bearer and drummer. There are two infantry variants.  Advancing and firing.  Nice figures and they will work with both QRF and our next offering. 

Gladiator.  They pushed the boat out.  A command group of 5 figures. Khalsa firing two variants, one is loading.  Khalsa advancing, three variants.  Initially, I didn't much like these. Now I very much do.

I use all three offerings. Irregular will work with either of the other two, even on the same base.  In my opinion QRF and Gladiator don't quite make it on the same base.  I might consider making an exception of the Gladiator mounted command figure.

Front comparison from left to right Gladiator, QRF and Irregular.

 

Side comparison from left to right Gladiator, QRF and Irregular.

Rear comparison from left to right Gladiator, QRF and Irregular.

There now, job done.  Whatever you choose you wll be getting a nice product.

The Gorchurra of the Anglo-Sikh Wars

 

We have been on a literary and historical journey together. We began with the cavalry fighting at Mudki.

We then looked at the Bengal Native Cavalry and the British Cavalry.  Both regulars as we define such things. 

We saw the effectiveness of the Indian Irregular Cavalry in British employ. 

 

Today, we arrive at our destination.  We can now establish the tactical methods of the Sikh Gorchurra. Before we do so let us say why this is an important matter. Without understanding what the Gorchurra did on the battlfield we cannot make sense of the battles of the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

My own account of the Battle of Mudki relied on the latest and most complete research from Amarpal Singh-Sidhu.  I was at the time confident when I wrote: 

"On both flanks the British cavalry prevailed."

As we have seen this was incorrect.  True, the British cavalry charged through the Gorchurra. That is indisputable. What I missed was the terrible price that the Gorchurra extracted for that passage. Nor did that event render the Gorchurra defeated.

Were I to write about Mudki today I could not say "the British cavalry prevailed."  That alone changes our understanding of Mudki. Now, to Gorchurra tactics:

The Gorchurra were not arrayed in the formal lines of Regular cavalry.  They were excellent horsemen and well armed.  As we would expect with irregular troops armament was a matter of purse and preference. Lances, swords, and muskets, other weapons too.  They shot from the saddle, mostly. 

 

Nolan says sometimes they adopted a mixed formation of horse and foot.  The horseman protecting a shooting foot man on occassion.  He thought the British cavalry might do the same should the need arise.

Back in the days of Guru Gobind the Gorchurra had adopted a tactic the Sikhs called Dhai Phat.  Here we have an early European description.

"The men are accustomed to charge on full gallop, on a sudden they stop, discharge their pieces with deliberate aim, when suddenly wheeling about, after 3 or 4 turns, they renew the attack."

Dhai Phat had been devised to combat the Moghuls and the Afghans.  Against the British we can see it had evolved.  It still had 3, the Sikhs liked to say 2 and a half, parts to it. Fire, evade, attack.

When confronted by British cavalry some of the Gorchurra attempted to shoot down the opposing officers.  Like so, my emphasis:

"The Sikhs commenced a desultory matchlock fire. Unett steadily advanced, but the 5th, put into confusion by this reception, went about and fled in the greatest precipitation, in spite of the most earnest entreaties of their officers, of whom several received wounds."

This then, was individual aimed fire and not without effect.  It was not a volley.

Should the British charge the Gorchurra opened out to let them through. This was not simply a matter of getting out of the way.  It seems to have been finely calculated as we see below.  My emphasis.

"A squadron of the 3rd dragoons, under Major Tinett, charged a goel of Sikh horsemen, and the Major himself told me that they opened out, giving just sufficient room for our squadron to enter." 

Note that the British squadron is not given free passage on mass.

"The 3rd, forcing their way through the hostile ranks," 

Some individual combat might take place at this stage.  The real danger though was for the British trooper who had passed his foe.

 “Picture to yourself a British or Anglo-Indian trooper dashing onwards with a most uncontrollable horse, and a Goorchurra or Sikh horseman, after allowing his enemy to pass, turning quickly round to deal him an ugly wound on the back of the head."

That being a demonstration of the last stage of the Dhai Phat. 

As we have previously seen such a British force might end its charge diminished and dispersed and well clear of their opponents.  The latter turning to face and very ready to repeat the process.

 

Regular cavalry, British or Native, achieved very little against Gorchurra.  This is obscurred in post battle accounts of gallant cavalry charges.  They did take place but mostly cannot be said to have defeated the Gorchurra.

When a protracted melee took place the regulars had less control of their horses, less effective weapons and less freedom of movement than the Gorchurra.  Mostly they got the worse of it.

As Nolan observed, my emphasis again:

"Had our men worn arms like these in the last Sikh war, the enemy's horsemen would not have met them with such confidence in single combat."

None of this means the Gorchurra were some type of super warriors.  As we have seen when they met Indian Irregular Cavalry the outcomes were very different.  Both sets of combatants enjoyed the same advantages.

They disliked facing artillery.

Against steady regular infantry the Gorchurra needed to find a flank or the rear of the foe.  The threat of a Gorchurra charge could force British regulars to form square, and it did. 

Against steady regular infantry fire power the Gorchurra could expect severe casualties. It was not their style of fighting. Against retreating disordered infantry they wreaked havoc.

All of the foregoing articles drawing on Nolan further our understanding of how cavalry actions in the Anglo-Sikh Wars were fought.  

My initial motivation, alongside historical interest, was how to represent this on the table top. 

I hope to have something soon.  I believe it might be accomplished within the parameters of Barry Hilton's Republic to Empire.  An Anglo-Sikh War Appendix if you like.

You can see some of my Gorchurra on this page.  The basing is intended to indicate that they were not regular cavalry.