Moghuls & Medieval Muslim Armies

These armies are very colourful due to the barding on the heavy cavalry horses and bright clothes, also many are truly romantic, especially the Indian varieties with elephants.. In general they are competent heavy cavalry armies with various flavours of supporting troops. I have opted for the more colourful of these in troop types and history. I started with DBR Moghuls, built down to DBM Late Muslim Indian, and then morphed out to the various contemporary armies.

My Favourites in DBM are:

My Eastern Favourites in DBR are:

Return to Ancients or to Renaissance

Late Muslim Indian

Army Structure

I took my Moghuls (er, I mean Late Muslim Indian) army to Roll Call last year in the eastern theme. The resulting experiences are a good view of the Late Muslim army in action against contemporary enemies. Its order of battle was:

Rajah of Didlisqwat CiC Cv(S), 6 Jaghir Cv(S), 1 Elephant (S), 2 LH(O), 8 Bw(I), 4 Ax(X) (includes 1 maiden guard unit), 6 town levy Hd(O)

Sultan Mahommed S-G Cv(S), 6 Jaghir Cv(S), 3 LH(F), 8 Bw(I), 4 Ps(O), 4 town levy Hd(O)

Nabob S-G Cv(S), 2 Art(S), 1 Art(O), 4 Art(I), 4 Bw(I), 4 Ps(S), 6 Mounted Bd(F) Battle

Battles

1 - The Battle of the Great Silk Road

On a great, empty plain a road stretches onto the Horizon, and there, in the distance is a small hamlet. A great storm of dust kicks up on the horizon, which as it draws closer reveals itself to be a Hsi Hsia host. On such an open plain, the Nabob covered the left flank with the Hindus and guns, who faced a large contingent of Hsi Hsia knights and cataphracts, and their Jurchen allies faced off against the Sultan Mahommed's jaghir horse on the right. In the centre was the Rajah's command facing a wall of chinese heavy infantry with long choppers. The enemy attacked, but the Jurchen appeared very unwilling. The Rajah resolved to skirmish the centre and assault the flanks.

Moving quickly, the Rajah switched his own jaghirs and elephant in column to support the Hindu guns on the left as fast as he could, and swung the Hindu blades, now mounted in column, into the centre. On the right, the Sultan swung his horse wide across the plain to come in on the flank of the Jurchen, who appeared to have had second thoughts about fighting at all. The Hsi Hsia started to shuffle their line, not wishing to advance too far from the reluctant Jurchens. This allowed the Nabob to roll up the big guns, and begin blasting away at the skirmish screen in front of the enemy knights and cataphracts. A Hsi Hsi light horse probe on the far left was sent packing by 4 companies of Hindu archers, exposing some more Hs Hsia knights. All this had taken time, as the big guns move painfully slowly. Aware of this, the Rajah wheeled and charged the Jaghirs into the Chinese bladesmen to his front, and watched in amazement as the Chinese ran in droves. Soon after, the rockets and big guns opened a furious barrage, and what remained of the Hsi Hsia skirmish screen ran too. Some of their horse pulled back, but not fast enough to survive the next great barrage, which tumbled many a man from horse. The Hsi Hsia moved a smaller command around the far left flank to attempt to take the Gun Line in flank, but this was negated by Hindu archers, who toppled many knights from their saddles, and the arrival of the elephant corps on the rockets' flanks.

The Hsi Hsia's general's command had by now had enough of the carnage, and fled for their lives under the barrage and hooves of the rampaging Jaghirs. Things were looking good. Meanwhile, the Sultan's superior Jaghir horse crashed into the still undecided Jurchen horse, three Jurchen companies of high quality horse like the Jaghirs, two of lesser armour, and one positively moth eaten - who was instantly ridden down. And then disaster struck - two companies of Jaghir horse, one the Sultan's bodyguard, were badly overwhelmed, and the Sultan got such a shock from seeing real bloodshed that he ran to his tent in the gathering evening, leaving his demoralised command to fend for themselves. The gloom mounted, allowing the remaining Hsi Hsia to steal away, and the Rajah reckoned the battle went about 7-3 his way.

"Whaaahooooo" yelled the Rajah! "We kicked ass! Can we go home now!" "Er....the regretfullness is terrific, but no, we will shortly be transported by heavenly hands to Burma, there to face a rampaging Khmer force....

Battle 2 - The Battle of the Lost Temple

Yet again the Rajah blinked, as his Host was deposited on a large jungle clearing. A great river was on the right, and a small village some way off on the left. Ominous grey storm clouds were in the sky. A strong wind blew in the faces of the Indian forces. It looked like rain. And in the distance came a host, of many men in garish colours, and elephants with very large parasols. "What are those, with the big umbrellas?" said the Sultan, feeling a twinge of Parasol envy. "Khmer" "OK, I'm here. What are they?" "Khmer! I told you! They are basically a force of light foot backed up by archers, with many an elephant and a few guns."

In the distance was a ruined Temple, about which the Khmer host had pitched their camps. Without ado the Khmer host attacked across the fields, wind at their backs, rain threatening. The Rajah deployed his Hindu guns and rockets on the right covering the river in case the Khmer had boats, his own horse a nd elephant in the centre, and the Sultan's forces on the right. He planned to skirmish in the centre with his light horse while the Hindu blades took out the right flank and the Sultan's horse the left. At first, things went to plan. The Khmer in the centre were turning rouge with frustration as 5 LH held them pinned while the Indian flank forces prepared for the assault. Then the Khmer brought up elephants and auxilia to face the Hindu bladesmen, so the Rajah sent his Jaghirs up instead and switched the Hindus to the centre, and swung the guns to track the Khmer elephants, which meant the Khmer brought up some light foot to cover them....

Then disaster befell the centre - the Afghan LH were cut down by a good old Ax/El one-two, and the skirmish line was broached. The Hindu blades moved up in case, supported by both big Bw(I) batteries. The Khmer reshuffled their line-up to compensate for the new threat, moving El behind the Ax(S) and trying to switch them to face the Bd. But by now the LH(F) had come across and the skirmish line re-set, while on both flanks Jaghir cavalry crashed into the Khmer troops. Well, to cut a long story short - it was a game that was fascinating by its feints, counter feints, pushes, retreats, ups and downs for both sides, and I felt very sorry for Bob Whitehouse, my opponent, when he created an excellent attack on my right, only for it to dissolve in lousy pip dice.

We went to a 5-5, with both armies doing a lot of slugging. The best part of this game was the spectacle - my Moghuls are my most colourful army, the Khmer is quite a sight and well painted and Bob's ruined temple baggage is splendid, many players commented on how good it all looked And so, running 5th in the tables after day 1, the mighty Rajah returned on day 2 to fight the Battle of Battles:

Battle 3 - The Late Muslim Indian Civil War

Or the Right to be the True Unfortunate Sultan Mahommed (There were 2 LMI armies in the tourney, we were running 3rd and 5th after day 1, and as we deployed we found our structures were very similar except I had an elephant and 2 big guns, Neil Taylor had 4 more Jaghir horse. The main difference was that Neil's army had its 6 mounted Hindu Bladesmen with the CiC, mine were with the Nabob, a Sub. This was to prove a key difference.) My Rajah deployed the Nabob's Hindus and Guns on the left, their flank covered by a small hamlet in which the Afghan skirmishers were in ambush. Facing them was a force of LMI Jaghirs, Bw(I) etc. In the centre the Rajah's Jaghirs, El and LH faced an LMI S-G with Jaghirs and rockets et al, and on the right my Sultan Mahommed faced his opposite number who had Hindu mounted Bd and more Jaghirs.

In brief, we both had similar tactics - our Jaghirs raced at each others' Mounted blades, while the centres manouvred to get positional superiority - in my case a good enfilade with the guns, in Neil's to bring his superior numbers of Jaghirs onto mine without getting shot at. It was in the Jaghir vs Hindu Bd that command structure mattered - Neil's CiC was able to control his Hindus better than I was mine, and after a string of low pip die my Hindus were despatched by his Jaghirs, and though they took losses from the rockets and Bw(I) they then broke the Nabob's command. He, OTOH, was able to keep his Hindu from going loopy and thus being taken out by my Jaghirs as fast, and was able to bring other troops to bear. The centre was pretty much a stalemate, with Neil charging in and killing me on overlaps, but losing some Jaghirs to my guns which had managed to enfilade the Jaghir lines. Time was called, me 4-6 down, my Jaghirs had not knocked off enough of Neil's Hindus yet to break the command.

And so, my Sultan Mahommed became the True Unfortunate Sultan Mahommed, who lost the civil war, and was despatched to Didlisqwat.

Battle 4 - The Gaining of Heavenly Enlightenment from Raining Arrows

"What the heck are those?" said the Rajah, looking at a lot of little men with long bows and longer sticks, all swarming across a set of fields narrowed by a huge mass of scrubby hills on the left flank. "Early Samurai, O master" said his Fakir " all armed with long bows and long sticks".

"Yes Yes, but what do I do? They will shoot my army to shreds, and there is not enough space to go wide on the flanks so its a frontal slog. I could I suppose skirmish them for hours and hope for nightfall"

"That will not do, O master. You must demonstrate valour at all times. For 'tis better to die a man than live a mouse"....the Rajah rather liked the mouse option right now.... "

O well....Nabob, you take the left, cover my flank with the guns, put the Hindu Blades in column far out so that they can move onto the flank of the Samurai. I will cover the centre. The Sultan will take the right. Our only chance is to mass the Jaghirs and try to blast through the Samurai General's command and skirmish with the rest, hopefully a few of us can reach the baggage behind. Follow me.......BANZAIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!"

And that was it - 12 Jaghirs squadrons threw themselves into the front of the Samurai army in a mass, hoping to break through, flood through the gap, and take out both rear and baggage. Well, it didn't work. They were shot down, one after another, in a slow but inexorable process. The Ikko Ikki Shrine was propitiating the Dice gods far better than a little Indian Fakir on a flying carpet... To make it worse, a large force of mounted Samurai moved out to take on the Hindu command, and the Nabob was so transfixed by the speed of the Samurai manouvre that he could not get his Bladesmen out the way and turn the guns fast enough, and the Samurai horse hit home, destroying all the Hindu blades in a few short, painful minutes.

But despite appalling combat results, and near stationary manouvre on all fronts, the army clung onto its order and morale until near nightfall. Then, at the last moment, as the Gods called time, the Samurai made a last ditch push, won all their combats (again) and pushed the Moghuls past breaking point, taking the field. "Was that valiant enough" growled a very rueful Rajah."Truely have I never seen any army fight so poorly and move so slowly. It was a massacre. Why did I not just sit tight and skirmish all day, for verily my Score in the Pantheon of Great Generals would be higher?"

"O No master, the poets will sing of your valour for many aeons. Now, if you will be so kind, it is time to return before the Samurai get the baggage.....there is a certain goat I want to keep safe ...."

Thus endeth the Call of the Rolls, and the Tale of the Valorous Rajah.

Muslim India & The Moghul Empire

 

If you have ever visited Delhi or Agra you cannot but be in awe of the splendour of the Moghul Empire. Moghul history is colourful, romantic, and bloody. Moghul art (including the celebrated erotic art), architecture and cuisine are some of the finest in world - all good reasons to build this army. In addition, companies such as Museum, Gladiator, Roundway and Irregular surpass themselves in their figures for this period. Even Essex does a flying carpet! But what really clinched it for me was all the goodies you can have in a Moghul army - Elephants, War-Waggons, Rockets, Camel-Guns, Maiden Guards, Men with Big Scimitars - makes the average Warhammer outfit look positively tame.

 

Fighting ye Moogols with ye Armye of Parlyement;

By the Rt Honbl. Mike Kroon, Being Certain Comments upon ye Tale of Battel among Ye Moogols and Ye Armie of Parlyement in India of ye Right Honbl. Alan Patrick, this Author being further informd upon sych Subjekt by Fantastik Adventuring of Like Nature with ye Armie of Ye Holy Romish Empyre.

1. Ye Bw(I) vs All Manner of Cavalerie: Ye use of Archery shall give sucess agaist ye unarmor'd Horse unless ye Horse be able to charge ym or hath ymselves Shot to rauvage ye Bowmen. Wherefore upon ye Rear and Flank of sych Bowmen sh'd be disposd Souldiers as be dangerous to sych Enemie Shot as may present ymselfes amongst or before ye rankes of ye Horse, or let ym be deploy'd in other wise upon advantageous ground whych shall present difficulty to ye Horse.

2. Shot vs. Ye Sipahis and Ye LH. Shot lacking ye protection of ye Horse, Pykes or subtle Artifice to obstruct ye advers Horse upon ye open Countrie shall
be sore troubled by ye Ln(F), Si(F) and to lesser degree also by LH whych can make a charge upon ym without ye Shot giving Fyre, and in any case if yr Flanks be turn'd ye Shot may be swiftly destroy'd. If dispos'd against Shot with Pistoliers in yr support, it is most neces'ry by fyre or manoeuver to disord'r
and disrupt ym in yr Good Order that yore Sipahis may with advantage fall upon ye unsupport'd Shot and destroy them, even sh'd sych disordring be at some Cost to ye lesser troops.

3. Artillerie. The great gonnes Superior and immovable are best employ'd in ye assault upon fix'd works whych can withstand ye Ordinary gonnes, whilst ye
lesser peices may with advantage be employ'd in ye feild and disposed at readiness in ye close support of ye Foot and even also ye Horse. Yet unless
mass'd in batterie sych gonnes are doubtful of rendring much damage upon ye foe, but even at ye longest rainge are yet most helpful to cause ye Enemie either to decide himself upon a direct advance or a divers'n to avoid yore fire, and even to ye cowardlie device of disposing ymselves with hills and woods betwixt ymselves and yr artillerie, whych ye Auystrians did employ.

4. Elefants. Ye Elefants have high factors in most cases sych as make ym aweful to both ye Horse and Foot and troubling to destroy, even such animals as
are Inferior by nature, so ye best course to oppose ym is to destroy yr supports, and if it be possible to also bringe Artillerie against ye Elefants. Being of such great Expense and Prestige, loss of his Elefants will most sorely dismay ye Enemie. If employ'd, take care to ensure ye Elefanterie is well
screen'd and support'd.

With great regard,

Yr Obdt Svt

Mk Krn