Olaschin 1696

We had an open gaming weeend at Deeside Defenders so yesterday I put on a big Black Powder game covering the battle of Olaschin 1696. It is covered in the latest Arquebusier, the journal of the Pike and Shot Society which deals with the campaign of 1696 where the Imperialists led by Frederich Augustus attempted to captured the city of Timisvar but were defeated by the Turks under Sultan Mustapha at Olaschin.

Only a couple of photos of the battle.

In the foreground the massive cavalry melee gets under way with Turkish right flank cavalry being fed across. In the distance the two infantry bodies square up to each other. The far table edge is the river Bega .

Another view of the cavalry melee, The large open flank meant that the Turkish superiority could gradually bear on the Imperialists and by the end of the game their three brigades had all become broken.

The terrain was pretty flat with only a few areas of brush to break up movement. These were impenetrable to all but skirmishing infantry, but had no effect on line of sight.

On the infantry flank one of the Turkish brigades had been broken by the end of the game and the second coming under pressure from two Imperial brigades. It should have been supported by the Janissary brigade, but they decided to retire back to the Wagon laager at the wrong moment (A lovely blunder roll)

Orbats

Imperialists - 11 Foot, 8 Cuirassier and 4 Dragoon Regiments plus 3 guns

Ottomans - 4 Jannisaries, 7 Other Foot, 2 Skirmish, 5 Heavy Sipahis, 5 Medium Sipahis, 8 Light Horse Regiments plus 4 guns.

Played using the Black Powder variations (see previous post) plus the inclusion of mobile chevaux de frise. These took 2 moves/phases to deploy but gave +2 to the saving roll in Hand to Hand.

It was a pleasure to find that the same battle was refought by Wargames Amateur (link)

Finally thanks to Mike Ian and Kyle for participating in the game