Revolution to Regency#1: The Armed Forces of Mysore part 2

Mangalore Fort

CONTENTS

Introduction.

Part 1: The History of Mysore (in progress)

Part 2: The organisation of the Mysorean Army.

Part 3: The army on the march.

Part 4: Tactics

Part 5: The dress of the Mysorean Army.

Part 6: Flags, Banners and insignia of rank.

Part 7: Arms and Equipment.

Part 8: Army Lists.

Part 9: The Navy of Mysore.

Part 10: Glossary of Indian terms.

Part 11: Bibliography and sources.

Part 2:

Baillie surrenders to Haider Ali at Pollilur

The organisation of the Mysorean Army.

The army of Mysore began life as Mughal remnant but was rapidly transformed into a modern force organized and trained along European Lines, presumably using the drills then used by the French army. Haider and his son, not content with modernising the army, also saw fit to update their navy in order to control their own coasts and as a means of attacking their enemies. This navy can only be faulted in its' shortage of deep water vessels, the majority being coastal vessels such as Ghorabs (Grabs) and Galivats along with brigs, ketches and dhows. From his father, Haider Ali, Tipu Sultan or “The Presence” had inherited a system of compulsory service from which all feudal elements and ties had been removed.

The Mysorean armed forces answered directly to the ruler and he alone was responsible for promotions, rewards and punishments.

After Haider Ali's death, Tipu strengthened this personal control and given the prevalence of intrigues, coups and assassinations in the Indian states at this time one can hardly blame him. As far as possible he kept the army under his eye. He kept the army under his personal careful supervision and established a system of reports and checks laid out in the “Futtah al Mujahiddin”, a set of army regulations written by Zain-al-Abedin Mehdivi by order of the Sultan and following his ideas concerning organisation, duties and tactics. These checks and reports were not so much to encourage loyalty amongst the troops and officer corps so much as to ensure that should disloyalty be intended, that he the Sultan would know of it and be in a position to act.

Most regular troops were cantoned around Seringapatam and officers were never left in command of the same troops for very long. Certainly never long enough for them to foster feelings of loyalty to the officer rather than “The Presence” amongst the men. Although there was an official intelligence system in place to keep the Sultan informed of the morale of his regiments, it appears that Tipu encouraged certain Sipahdars (commander of a cushoon – roughly equivalent to a Colonel or Brigadier in the British army) to write to him over the heads of their commanding generals, even on matters of current strategy.

Eleven departments were established to look after the administration, organisation and welfare of the army. Tipu paid his soldiers a greater salary than did the Mahrattas and the Nizam and he imported superior breeds of horses, cattle and mules for his cavalry and the transportation of supplies. These animals were trained in Mysore and had their own special department called Amrit Mahal devoted to their upkeep.

Separate departments were also established for the construction of forts and the production of arms and ammunitions, with huge quantities of iron and steel said to be better than the quality of that produced in Europe being turned out. The regular forces were originally organised into cushoons, risalas and juqs, roughly equivalent to brigades, battalions and companies that were commanded by Sipahdars, Risaldars and Juqdars respectively but were reorganised by Tipu Sultan, who divided the infantry and cavalry into brigades (cutcheries), subdividing them into regiments, the infantry into cushoons and the cavalry into mokums.

Each cushoon contained 1392 men (of whom 1056 carried muskets) with a suitable staff, combatant and non-combatant. A company of rocket men was attached to each cushoon along with two artillery pieces. Tipu and his father Haider Ali also developed a military tactic of mass attacks by rocket brigades. However, Tipu was the first to have a full-fledged force of over 5000 rocket men and each cushoon, of which there were 27, had a company called a juq of 200 rocket men attached.

e were also separate sizeable regiments of POWs which included many Hindus and Christians forcibly converted to Islam through circumcision. (See Ahmedis and Assad Ilahi) Recruitment was fairly cosmopolitan with soldiers coming from neighbouring states as well as within Mysore. Most of the Hindus fighting in Tipu’s army were Rajputs and Mahrattas while the Muslims included Pathans, Mughals, Baluchis - a people closely related to the Pathans but who wore their hair long rather than cropped short- Sheikhs and Syeds -a Muslim sect who believed another prophet was to come after Mohamed- the recruitment from among st these people was encouraged because of their martial prowess. Tipu exempted brahmins, darweshes and merchants from military service.

Soldiers recruited in Mysore were called zumra and were given green turbans with a reddish border; while those recruited outside the kingdom were called ghair zumra and their turbans were wholly green.

The cavalry force was divided into three establishments

1) Regular cavalry.

2) Silahdars, who provided their own horses.

3) Kazakhs, (from the same root as “Cossacks) or Predatory Cavalry. Of these the first called ‘Sawar Askar’, comprised three cutcheries, consisting each of six mokums of 376 troopers. The Silahdars mustered 6000 horse, and the Kazakhs 8000.

The most versatile of Tipu’s troops were the irregular cavalry, or Silahdars. In contrast to the regular horse, (Askars), these found their own arms and mounts. Their pay and allowances were adjusted accordingly. They and the irregular infantry were responsible for much of the devastation wrought by Tipu’s armies in the Carnatic and Malabar. Many, being hunters by profession were excellent marksmen with matchlocks, accustomed to pursuing tigers and deer in the woods and indefatigable in running down their prey, which in war time was an extremely useful skill.

There were several organisational changes made to the army of Mysore during the reign of Tipu Sultan, many of which were in the terms used rather than substantial. There were also several changes that appeared to have considerably decreased the size of the armed forces though, in light of the almost constant state of war between Mysore and the British, the Nizam of Hyderabad or various Maratha factions, it is more likely that these seeming reductions in forces led to an increase in the number of smaller, less unwieldy formations of troops.

At the start of his reign, Tipu's inherited army was organised into infantry cushoons (brigades) also spelt as kushoons or kushuns of 8 risalas (battalions) each of which in turn consisted of 8 companies called juqs or jowks. These cushoons each had their own integral artillery and rocket support, with each cushoon having (according to some sources) a juq of 200 rocketeers attached.

Each cushoon was commanded by a Sipahdar and had a bakhshi (paymaster) and a mutasaddis attached to it. Each risala was commanded by a risaldar (roughly equivalent to a lieutenant colonel,) each juq by a juqdar (captain). Below these came the Sarkheils, jamadars, dafadars and yazakdars. It was the sipahdars duty to look after the men of his cushoon and he was empowered to promote or punish the juqdars and other lower officers, though risaldars had to be reported to the Sultan for promotion or punishment. The sipahdar with the bakhshi and the mutasaddis, were required to take the muster roll of the troops once every month, and inspect their firelocks and accoutrements.

He was then to submit a report conjointly with the bakhshi He was to see that his cushoon was well supplied with arms and ammunition, that guns were kept clean and that parade was regularly held. lf he was faced with some difficulty, he was to consult the risaldars and take their opinions in writing. If their views differed

from his own the decision was to be taken by mutual agreement.

The duty of the bakhshi was the examination of the cushoons books and records and the preparation of a monthly statement on the battalions strength and the pay due each man He was also to collect the money and distribute it on the first Monday of every month.

The risaldar was responsible for the daily parades of the risala (except on Thursdays which were holidays) Another important officer was the saryasaqchi, who's duty was to visit his risala every day, observe its' condition and report first to the sipahdar and then to the jaish cutchery of the huzur (I have been unable to find out anything concerning this officer) and finally to the Sultan himself. This

officer was one of Haider Ali and Tipu's checks on the officer corps and had a role similar to a Soviet era political commissar.

The yasaqchi's duty was to keep the senior officers in touch with the men, report to them on the men's condition and carry their orders to their subordinates in time of war. If they merited promotion it was to juqdar and if demoted to sarkheil, so presumably they were some kind of ensign or officer cadet.

The Askar or Uskar (regular cavalry) was organised into mokums (regiments) each of which had four risalas (squadrons.) Five such mokums were grouped into cavalry cushoons. Apart from the regimental commander being a mokumdar rather than a risaldar, ranks were as for the infantry. The number in each cushoon or mokum was not fixed.

At some uncertain point (but before 1790,) Tipu changed the organisation of the jaish (infantry). The cushoons were down-graded from brigades to regiments, each of two, eight juq risalas (battalions) and replaced with a brigade now called a cutchery which consisted of six such cushoons (regiments.) The regular cavalry was now organised into cavalry cutcheries consisting of five, four juq (squadron) risalas.(cavalry regiments)

The brigades were now commanded by a bakhshi, who was no longer simply a pay-master. Under him were the mokumdars and sipahdars.

The irregular cavalry was not organised into corps in the same manner as the regulars but were arranged as their commander saw fit. Although the irregular horse was very useful it was without any discipline. The horses of the regular cavalry were the property of the Government at whose expense the soldiers were clothed and armed but the horses of the irregular cavalry belonged to the commander or the horsemen, and the Government paid a regular monthly salary

to their owners. If the horse was killed on service the Government paid its price. Half of the plunder obtained by the regular cavalry was regarded as the property of the Government. The rest was distributed among the soldiers.

Observers at various times seem to give very different views of the army of Mysore. According to “The Military Systems of the Mahrattas” the word “Gardi” was used by the Mahrattas for troops who were European trained and was derived from “Guard”. If we assume the same system for Mysore, many of whose officers would be Hindi Mahrattas and Rajputs anyway, it seems likely that Tipu’s “guards” were trained and armed as European sepoys.

A Risala was the equivalent of a battalion, 2 of which made up a cushoon or regiment, 6 of which make up an infantry cutchery, the equivalent of a Brigade.

The cavalry cutcheries were of 5 mokums equating to cavalry regiments.

In “Wellington's Campaigns in India,” RG Burton (page 11) says:-

“To oppose the British Army he (Tipoo) had a force of some 76,000 men, well armed and equipped, and composed as follows:—

Regular Cavalry 6,000

Irregular Cavalry 7,000

Guards (Slaves) 4,000

Regular Infantry 30,000

Pikemen 16,000

Carnatic Peons 8,000

Pioneers 6,000

These numbers include the lascars and gunners. Each regiment of regular horse had two three-pounder galloper guns, and each body f irregular horse had three six-pounders; these were drawn by mules. Each infantry brigade had two eighteen-pounders. Each brigade had an elephant attached to it, to assist the guns through difficulties. The cavalry and infantry were clothed alike in a striped blue and white stuff of country manufacture. The artillery were clothed in white cotton with large round blue spots.”

No mention is made of rockets.

1793 and the implementation of the “Futtah al Mujahiddin” (“Victory of the Soldier of Faith”) saw further changes to the regular infantry -jaish or jysh- now known as the Piaddeh Uskur was divided into several types, which formed five separate cutcheries.

1st Cutchery Ahmedi, or the Ahmedi Cutchery.

Two Bukhshies (bakhshies) commanding the whole,-'' and having a Teep of Uskur, consisting of 346 men, attached immediately to them.

Six Cushoons of Uskur (askari)- men of the Koreish tribe and of the Suni sect with twelve field pieces attached.

2nd Cutchery Huzoor Uskur

Six Cushoons of Uskur, composed of men of the same tribe and sect

as the preceeding. Twelve field pieces were attached.

3rd Second Cutchery of Piadeh Uskur.

Five Cushoons of Uskur, and one Teep of Uskur consisting of 346 men attached to the Bakhshies.

Men of the tribe of Koreish, Siyuds, Moghuls, and Pathans of the Suni sect, with ten field pieces.

Illustration 8: The Futtah al Mujahaddin

4th. Third Cuchery of Piadeh Uskur.

Five Cushoons. Men of the Koreish tribe, Siyuds, Pathans and

Moghuls of the Suni sect; with one Teep of Uskur (consisting of 346 men) attached to the Bakhshies. Ten field pieces.

5th The Assad Ilahi Cutcherry.

Five cushoons, i.e: three Uskur, composed of men of the Koreish tribe, and of Siyuds of the Suni sect and two cushoons of Assad Ilahi (or Usud Ilhyes), with ten guns.

Total twenty-seven Cushoons, with three independent Teeps (battalions) of Uskur and fifty-four field pieces.

The Ahmedi (Ahmudi ) and Assad Ilahi (Ussud Ilyhe )

These two groups mentioned in the preceding infantry organisation need some explanation. In most of the books I've read involving the army of Mysore, The Ahmedi corps and the Assad Ilahi are generally understood to both be the same thing -prisoners of war from the Malabar coast treated as slave sepoys and who were poor quality, unreliable troops. However, I do not believe this to be the case

as there are clear distinctions between the two corps.

To take the Ahmedis first. In “A History of the Reign of Tipu Sultan” Mir Hussein Kermani states:-

“When the Sultan arrived at Seringapatam, the prisoners taken in the

country of Koorg, who had been all made Mussulmans and were styled

Ahmudees, were formed into eight Risalas or regiments, and veteran

officers were appointed to train and discipline them, and they with very

little labour having instructed these wild men, soon made them perfect in their military exercise.

About this time the Sultan caused gorgets of gold, silver and jewels to be made, and they were presented to the officers of horse and foot, the

Assud Ilahi and Ahmudi regiments, according to their different ranks,

and the uniforms of these regiments being also made up of tiger cloth, (a new invention in weaving) they were clothed in it.”

This refers quite obviously to Hindus forcibly converted to Islam by means of circumcision -a practice deplorable to them which they regarded as rendering them unclean. Good reason perhaps for considering them to be “unreliable” troops. It also explains why the teep of uskur were attached to the Bakhshies – as a guard and to ensure the Ahmudis behaved.

The Assud Ilahi were a completely different case. They were, from the same source:-

“Slaves brought up by the late Nawab and trained for service by the

Sultan, and when formed into regiments called by him Assud Ilahi”

The important phrase here is “brought up by the late Nawab” i.e. They had been taken as children and schooled in Islam from an early age in the same manner as the Ottoman Janissaries who were Christians taken from the Balkans as children, and the Mameluks who were Christians taken from the Caucasus as children. Both groups of course became fanatical supporters of Islam and it is

likely that the same happened with the Assud Ilahi. It is telling that whilst there was an independent teep attached to the Ahmedi Cutchery, there was no such force attached to the Assud Ilahi. This seems to indicate that this formation was considered totally loyal.

The “Tiger Grenadiers”

There are questions also around the identity of the cushoons known as the “Tiger Grenadiers” by Europeans. In “Narrative Sketches of the Conquest of the Mysore,” the author states:-

“The grenadier battalions of Tippoo's sepoys, or regular infantry are composed of Moormen, or Hindoos of large stature, who carry firelocks chiefly of French manufacture, with long and indented bayonets. They are, by our troops, called Tiger Grenadiers, or Tiger Men, from their dress, which is a short bannian of purple woollen stuff, transversely striped, or speckled with white irregular spots of a lozenge form, and thence named the Tiger Jacket. The ferocity of their appearance is heightened by their thick black beards and whiskers. On the head is worn a muslin turban of a red colour, and round the waist, a cumber-band, or sash of the same their legs and feet are entirely naked, excepting a kind of sandal-slipper worn to protect their soles from the roughness of a march: their pay is about twelve rupees, or thirty shillings per month; being rated equal with the artillery, and rocket men of Tippoo's army.”

Indian and Persian sources say nothing about these soldiers. There are however a few “clues” about them. They are sometimes identified as “gardi” believed to be a term for an elite soldier with its roots in “guards” and is also used as both a soldier trained and equipped in the European manner and as a slave soldier. All three of these descriptions fit the Assad Ilahi corp.

In “The History of the reign of Tipu Sultan”, The Persian writer Mir Hussein Ali Kirmani makes mention of further elite or guard units:-

“The Sipahdars of the Sultan’s cavalry according to his orders on seeing the approach of the enemy, posted a body of infantry in the low grounds, the guns attached to them being loaded with grape, were kept in readiness, while the household cavalry accompanied by the horse of the Paigahs, and the body guard, with great show paraded over the higher ground.”

The Paigahs are a family in the senior aristocracy of Hyderabad State and each maintained his own court, individual palaces, and a standing army of three or four thousand soldiers, however, they were ultra-loyal subjects of the Nizam and considered second only to him in importance in Hyderabad, so it is unlikely they would have fought for his enemy Tipu. I have found no other references to the Paigahs or bodyguard so it is possible that they were part of the Assad Ilahi.

Besides the guns belonging to the Cushoons, there was a park of artillery attached (apparently) to the whole body of infantry, and consisting of a heavy train of:-

10 battering guns

6 long guns (for distant cannonading), and

6 howitzers

The staff of each Cutchery seems to have consisted of:-

2 Bakhshies

1 Mirzaiy Duftur

1 Hindooy duftur

16 Gumashtehs,

2 Sur-yusakchies

2 Nukeebs

5 Hazirbashies

4 Standard bearers

1 Furrash

2 Surwans (in charge of three camels)

1 Mushalchy

Establishment of a Cushoon

Staff:

1 Sipahadar (paid according to qualification)

2 Mutusuddies

1 Yasakchy

1 Hukeem (or physician)

Revolution to Regency vol.1: The Armed Forces of Mysore page 28

1 Jurrah (or surgeon)

1 Musalchy

Each Cushoon was composed of four Teeps (companies) of Uskur, of which the

first, second, and third were denominated Ouwuls (or of the first class}, and the

fourth, Dooeni (or of the second class), Each teep consisted of four yooz (yaz), and

each yooz was composed as follows:

1 Yoozdar (or yazdar)

2 Surkheels (surkheils)

8 Jumuadars (jamadars)

64 Yuzukhdars, (yazakhdars) or privates

1 Bheesty (bhistie)

9 Nujm-walahs, for bell tents, &c.

Strength of one yooz or yaz 87 men

Strength of one teep or four yooz 348

Strength of a cushoon, or four teeps, 1392 men, (of which, however, only 1056 are

stated to have carried muskets).

The following were likewise attached to each cushoon:-

One Jowk (juq) of rocket-men,

1 Jowkdar (including horse)

1 Surkheel

4 Jumuadars.

32 Privates

1 Nujm-walah

Each man carrying 2 rockets, or (with Jumuadars) 72 rockets.

One Juq of Durkhshundaz, or gunners, for the service of the two guns attached to

the cushoon. Consisting of:-

2 Surkheils (one to each gun) each armed with a pair of pistols

28 Gunners.

2 Nujm-walah

N. B. Each gun was in length two dirais (or guz) and a half [about seven feet], and

carried shot weighing four short duhs or seers: ie. about six pounds weight.

Two Juqs of Burkundaz, or matchlock-men, each consisting of:-

1 Juqdar,

5 Jemadars,

45 Privates

5 Nujm-walah

Two Juqs of Khulasies (probably the native equivalent to HEIC Lascars), each Juq

consisting as follows:-

1 Juqdar,

6 Daffadars,

54 Privates.

The guns were drawn each by twelve bullocks having three men (drivers) attached

to them. (6 men)

The two tumbrils were drawn by forty bullocks, having ten drivers attached. (10

men) There was also an ammunition cart to each Cushoon, drawn by twenty bullocks, having five drivers attached to them. (5 men)To twelve spare bullocks, drivers (2 men)

Spare cart drawn by eight bullocks, with drivers (2 men)

Two Chowdries (A kind of superintendant or officer) of bullocks, with their

assistants (23 men)

Besides the regular establishment of bullocks attached to each cushoon, In 1793

the Meer Sudoor department was directed to furnish 1000 extra bullocks for the

use of every cushoon on an expedition conducted by the Sultan

To the whole of the bullock-drivers belonging to the guns were attached four

Dafadars (4 men)

A Darogha over the whole (1 man)

One camel-driver to two camels, carrying 108 rockets (1 man)

One Moallum, or teacher of the Koran (1 man)

Total strength of the cushoon (including all descriptions of men) 1,752

Those carrying firelocks amounted to 1,146, Total of twenty-seven

cushoons 47,304 and of firelocks 30,942

The cushoons composing the fifth, or Usud Ilhiy Cutchery, of regular infantry,

differed a little in their formation, as well as in point of pay, from the other

cutcheries, possibly because they were considered an “elite” force.

1 Sipahdar

2 Mutusuddies

1 Sur-yusakchy

1 Physician 5

1 Surgeon 3

1 Mushalchy

1 Moallum (or instructor in the Koran)

The cushoon was divided into four Risalas (instead of Teeps), each consisting

of 348 men,

1 Risaladar

1 Yusakchy

1 Drummer and 1 fifer

1 Standard bearer

1 Munshoor

Each Risala was composed of four Jowks (instead of Yooz), each juq consisting of:

1 Juqdar

2 Surkheils each

8 Jemadars

64 Fuzukdars, or privates

9 Nujm-walehs

1 Bheestij, or water-carrier

Total of a juq 86 men

Of four juqs 340

Staff of the Risala 8 men

Total of a Risala 348

and of four Risalas 1,392 ; being the same strength as the cushoons of the other

cutcherries.

The Ehsham, or garrison troops, are stated, in the ordinance of 1793, addressed

to the Sudoor department, at 25,000 men. Of these twenty-five thousand Ehsham

troops (armed with swords and matchlocks) fifteen thousand were distributed among the several forts throughout the country. These were ordered to be relieved

annually, and were paid at the computation of forty days to the month, and at the

rate of two pagodas per man. The remaining ten thousand Ehsham were

stationed at Seringapatam, or with the Huzoor. The number of Kunduchar- the

provincial troops or militia is unknown.

The Zumra-Gumrah Battalions

One type of troops not mentioned so far are the Zumra-Gumrah Battalions.

in its' makeup with members of most religions being included, Muslims -Shia and

Sunni, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and from many ethnic groups including Mahrattas,

Afghans and Rajputs aprticularly in the regiment known as the Zumrah-Gumrah.

Which is described thus:-

“In the Tarikh e Tipu Sultan, Mir Husssain Kirmani writes that the Sultan selected ten thousand men from the soldiers in his army. Shaikhs and Syeds, inhabitants of Seringapatam, Kilar, Devanahalli, Suba Sira, great Balapur and Tanjore were enrolled and Tipu called them his ‘Zumrai Khas’. The name of their batallion was derived from the Farsi couplet – ‘dur Zumrai Ma Ghumm Nubashud’, that is, ‘in our company sorrow shall find no entrance’. “Zumrai” in Farsi means “company or unit” and Khas means “personal.” So this unit was his personal bodyguard. And what is very interesting here is that each consonant sound of the ‘Ghumm Nubashud’ was said to point to some racial element of the batallion. The letter ghayn (G) being the symbol of men of foreign nations(probably the French), mim(M) to denote mughals and marathas, nun (N) for Navayats (Muslims from the Konkan coast), be (B) for Brahmin, alif (A) for Afghan, shin(Sh) for Shia muslim and dal (D) for the Mehdivis in the army. The Mehdivis were Shia Muslims who believed that Prophet Mohamed was not the last prophet and another one would follow. They made good soldiers but were later deported out of Mysorean territory on Tipu Sultan’s orders on account of their fanaticism to religion and deviation from the Sunni Muslim mainstream.

However in contemporary parlance of that time, the battalion began to be

called ‘Zumra Ghumra’. Kirmani further writes that the men of this division now became the most acceptable in the eyes of the Sultan, and all confidence was implicitly placed upon them. Towards the end of Tipu’s reign, Kirmani observes, this battalion (Kirmani calls it an ‘infidel’ batallion probably on account of it’s large Hindu and Shia Muslim elements) gained complete ascendancy over all the departments of the state, and entered boldly into all the measures of government.

Unlike other choice battalions in Tipu’s service like the Asad ilahi or the Jaish Risala, this was one with a mix of members professing different faiths as well as racial backgrounds. Tipu would have felt it safer to associate the safety of his inner circle and himself in the company of such men who would not be bound by one single religion or nationality but would be subservient only to their master – Tipu Sultan and the greater cause of Mysore.

However Kirmani also mentions that Mir Nadim, the killedar of Seringapatam who would later be accused of not opening an inner gate inspite of Tipu’s personal orders to do so, and thus in the end bring about Tipu’s martyrdom during the final battle of Seringapatam also belonged to this battalion.”

Mistrusted by the mainstream Muslims they were seen as a threat to The Presence and the state.

“The men of this division of the army now became the most acceptable in the eyes of the Sultan, and all confidence was implicitly placed in them, to that degree indeed, that towards the end of the Sultan’s reign, this (Zumra Gumrah) infidel battalion gained complete ascendancy over all the departments of the State, and entered boldly into all the measures of Government,—as an instance of this, one of these men named Mir Nudim an inexperienced man was made Governor of the Fort of Seringaputtun, and although the Sultan placed entire dependence on this worthless body of men, still, they were outwardly obedient only, for in their hearts

they were all the devoted servants of the Sahib Dewan, for that traitor had laid a deep plan, for the ruin of his master’s state and kingdom.”

The general administration of the army was carried on by the mir miran

(general staff) department. After the Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) a

separate department was formed to look after the troops recruited from

among the inhabitants of the Mysore kingdom. The mir sudur department

was responsible for inspecting the defenses of the kneed and be supplying

the latter with provisions war stern and troop But a far as matters relating to

military policy web concerned they were decided by the Sultan himself who

was commander in-chief.

“The History of the reign of Tipoo Sultan” gives us the following description of

Tipoo’s changes to the army (spelling is that of the translator Col. W. Miles):-

“When the kingly throne became enlightened by the resplendent countenance of that sun of the firmament of victory, (the Sultan), he addressed him self seriously to the regulation of the country, his army and all the departments depending on his state, and revised and altered the rules and principles of the protection and efence of his kingdom after a new form ; —for instance, in former days, that is in the time of the deceased Nawab, the exercises and manoeuvres of the regular troops were arranged and performed, and the word given according to the French system of military evolution or tactics,—but, now, the Sultan drawing the pen of examination or correction through that system, with the advice of Zein al Abidin Shustree, (the brother of Abiil Kasim Khan, Hydurabadi, who was also honoured with the title of Mir Alum Shusteri), he changed the military code of regulations and altered the technical terms or words of command, above mentioned, (the French), to words of the Persian and Turkish languages; and a separate treatise called Futtah al ujahidin“ was written by Zein al Abidin and his system was confirmed.

From the regular infantry, five thousand men being selected, they were named a Kushoon, and the officer commanding that body was called a Sipahdar. In each Kushoon were four Risaladars or colonels of infantry, and one of cavalry, and under the orders of each Risaladar or colonel, were ten Jowkdars or captains, and on that scale or proportion one hundred men being a Jowk, the chief of them was called a Jowkdar, every Jowk or company included two Sur Kheil, ten Jemadars, and ten Duffadars.-—In the regiments of troop or regular horse, which were formed and appointed after the manner of the Europeans, the Teepdar and Soubadar who, in the French and English languages are called major and adjutant, were called Youzdar and Nakib. In distinction to the Nakib of the Kushoon and Risala, he, who was called Yussakchiy had his name changed to Shurbushurn. The officer commanding three or four Teeps, (regiments of cavalry), was called Mokubdar. In this mode he invented new terms in all departments, as will be succinctly mentioned hereafter.”

Rockets

Although war rockets (ban) had been in use for a considerable time in India, the

Mysorean army was probably the first to adopt their use on a large scale with

each regiment having a juq of 200 rocketeers attached as well as separate

battalions of 1000 men according to some witnesses.

Rockets could also be camel mounted with 10 being carried on each beast.

Unit Names

Apart from the Ahmedis, Issad-Ilahi and Zumrah-Gumrah, the names or designations of only a few of the Mysore cutcheries are known. Those that are

were, at least in 1799, named after the great men of Mysore. Those below and

their commanders (in brackets) were recorded in the casualty lists by British

forces

Infantry Cutcherries

Futtah Cutchery (Bahkshi Hussain Huleel)

Musjid Cutchery (Bahkshi Mauzzum Khan)

Kurreem Cutchery (Bahkshi Abdul Cadur)

Nasir Cutchery (Bahkshi Syed Mahodeen)

Nazir Cutchery (Mir Beedun)

Ally Cutchery (Bahkshi Syed Shallie)

Goffcor Cutchery (Abdul Cauder)

Kurrum Cutchery (Hubbeeb Cawn)

Fattah Cutchery (Mahomed Cawn)

Mokkudum Cutchery (Mahomed Bakur)

Ahmudy Cutchery (Abdul Khan Ghoru)

Regular (stable) Cavalry Cutcheries

Moize Cutchery (Mokumdar Shaik Mohamed)

Kaeem Cutchery (Mokumdar Hyder

Malik)lly Cutchery (Mokumdar Daoud Begalee)

Illustration 9: Tipu enters Seringapatam on an elephant

Illustration 10: Casualty returns showing Cutcherry names

Illustration 11: Casualty returns showing Cutcherry names

Landscapes and Terrain in Central Europe

 

So often, when planning a games table that we are going to spend many hours building and detailing, we ignore the actual landscape upon which it is based. We probably get hills, rivers, roads &c. in the right places, but do we look close enough at the style of buildings? Of field types and boundaries or the area covered by woodlands or types of trees? What sorts of crops were grown? The nature of the landscape to some extent affected the style of warfare, so it's good to get it right.
Thanks to Rob Thompson for allowing me to use the following piece which fits in so well with the “Atlas” themed pages.

Landscapes and Terrain in Central Europe ( with specific reference to the seats of wars 1740-1813 in Silesia, Saxony,  and Bohemia)   - Notes for Wargamers:
First The Bad News:  Why it is Tricky to Generalise:

Even if we took the most restricted possible definition of the theatres of war, in order to get the smallest area of study, the variation within it would still be massive.  The (good news ?) is that there would be (and still are) some commonalities across the broadly similar landscape and climate of Central Europe. These commonalities arise from a long period of fairly static, and broadly common farming methods, exploiting a broadly similar environment. However, within that large chunk of land, there would still be (and still is ) significant variation in landscapes, and, actually a series of variationS (plural), superimposed on top of one another, at a variety of scales. As soon as one strays from the Northern European Plain the degrees of localised variation in landscapes increases markedly as the terrain (and climates) become significantly different. This then impinges on settlement patterns, social organisation and farming practices. Culture and ethnicity also plays a part.

What Area is covered?

It’s the area of the upper Oder / Odra and Elbe Rivers as shown on this map of Seven Years War battle sites, at the centre and right centre of the map:

This area was also fought over  by Austria Prussia and Saxony in the 1740s, 1780s, to  a more limited extent in 1806 and again in 1813 – the map below shows the rival armies lining up to contest the region in 1813:
The Northern European Plain:

This lies on the Northern fringe of the area which this appraisal is primarily concerned with.   A few comments about it are in order as the term can be misinterpreted.. It is called a plain but the word can be misunderstood by wargamers and others. Like almost all plains it isn't as flat as a pancake or as flat as a table top. It has no mountains,   . . . . but certain areas might still be of "high relief" i.e. rugged / hilly with reasonably steep slope angles, ravines, incised river valleys with abrupt edges to their flood plains etc    On this map (below)  it is NOT all the land within the ring, (the ring unhelpfully includes the mountainous areas of the Sudeten and Carpathian mountains between modern Czechia and Solvakia to the south, and SE Germany  and Poland to the north).  The plain is rather where the words are located on the map:


 
What Were The Common Identifiable Landscape Attributes of the  Central European Battlefields’ Zone’s Countryside Areas?
1) Data on the % of land which was woodland vis a vis today is very poor. For Silesia, possibly about the same amount overall in 1750 as today, so far more than there was in say 1945. Photos of Lower Silesia from the 1930s and 40s of agricultural areas show far fewer trees then than in today's landscape, in every single case. But in 1750 the population was far less, and hadn't entered the cycle of rapid population growth associated with agricultural and industrial revolutions, which is what reduced the numbers of trees. Post the 1945 population exchanges there were less people in Silesia, and rural to urban migration since then also has meant plots of farmland have reverted to scrub woodland in Silesia.  Bohemia and Saxony changed somewhat less, as they were not subjected to wholesale population transfers in 1945. It is rather more likely that there were slightly more trees in Bohemia and Saxony in 1740-1813 than today.

2) There are many more extensive and medium sized forested areas than there are in the UK. Many communities relied on having access to forest, and the population density being much lower meant that a lot less land had been cleared of trees.  Usually the land left forested was hillier, or was on the sides of ravines (too steep to be cultivated and thinner soils) or, it was the most distant land from the villages. Plus there would have been large tracts of totally uninhabited forest areas, 90% of the Sudeten / Carpathian mountains would have been like this, but also big tracts of uninhabited forest (pines) on areas of glacial sands where settlers had realised that the soils were barren and had kept out. The so called "Pine Barrens" which Prussia was infamous for, and helped explain why Federick the Great was very keen to get hold of the generally agriculturally richer lands of Silesia.  There are however some “Pine Barrens” within Silesia.
3) No hedges.    British wargamers often make the understandable error of assuming there must have been hedges around fields, but this isn’t the case, as there had been nothing comparable in Central Europe to the  “Enclosure Acts” which had shaped the landscape of much of lowland UK.
4) No Yorkshire Dales type stone walls, surprisingly, not even in the mountains where stone was lying about in abundance.
5) An occasional wooden fence, but not around the main  "fields" (strips). It was quite common to have a small area (veg plot / fowl run) fenced off around, or adjacent to, a house.  Fences were usually made from vertically placed irregularly shaped slats of wood: (without the glass jars!)

6) Long thin strips of land were the rough equivalent of what are termed fields in the UK. Size today varies a bit and shapes can be irregular where terrain is hilly or cut up by ravines, but most common dimensions would be 20 to 40m wide by 100 to 500m long. Its likely that since 1750 some strips have been consolidated and back then there would have been more of the smaller ones. "Field boundaries" would have been often not very obvious due to 3) 4) 5). At certain times of year, and according to what crops were being grown they would show up. Eg peasant x has done his ploughing but peasant y next to him has not yet. Often there was a small "baulk" - a tiny unploughed strip to mark the strip boundary, but this could be absent and instead the ploughing pattern would generally be turning soil away from the boundary on each side, so this formed a shallow ditch with the soil surface in the ditch being say 10-20cm deeper than the strips. In some areas some or all strip ends’ boundaries would be marked with a few big rocks.
 
7) The end 8m or so of each strip was mostly not ever ploughed in pre tractor times, as it was the turning area for the plough team. There might also be a crude drainage ditch running along the strip ends adjacent to the road, and quite often the banks and environs of this might have been colonised by a few trees.
 
The most common village form is dispersed linear. Dispersed - each farmstead (house and any associated barns etc) would be situated 30 to 200m from the next house. The houses would typically straggle along both sides of a routeway, sometimes, but not always, often only one dwelling deep, so that each peasant had easy access to the road. This made for very long thin straggling villages compared to the more compact ones found in most parts of the UK. Alternatively there could be a network of tracks on one side of the routeway.  This is a modern picture  and the buildings have been modernised or replaced but it illustrates  atypical sprawling village layout with the long strips running to left and right from the village:

 
9) The long axes of the strips are most often laid out perpendicular to the road or track which they abut, this is so every farmer/peasant can get to one end of the land he works via a track.
 
10) Village buildings - in many cases one end of a building was the barn the middle or the entire ground floor was for animals and the human accomodation would mainly be upstairs at one end. Before the Prussians had colonised Silesia in numbers (1780s onwards), and then built some enormous farms, most houses were relatively small.

This is a 1910 photo, but it is of a certified and listed farm building from renaissance times (part of it, internal, and not visible in this shot, at the back, is actually medieval). The house still stands, and still looks very similar. It is in the village of Karlowiec, between Gryfow Slaski and Mirsk in Lower Silesia, now Poland. It is about 2km from my home in the next village. It is being renovated by friends of ours, using the old construction methods, though they don't have to re-thatch it. I've been helping them occasionally with some bits of the work. One can tell it used to have thatch as a roof material, by the very steep pitch (slope) of the roof. The far end is all barn. The middle of the ground floor to the right of the central entrance door, has a brick vaulted ceiling (as is typical) , and very obviously has been a piggery. It has its own bread oven. This would have been one of the larger farm houses in existence before the Prussian colonisation which got underway at pace from the 1780s.  The incoming Prussians noticeably built bigger farmhouses, but colonisation was reltively slow.  Ground floor walls of the nearest 2/3 are mainly made of rough irregular local stone and some very poor quality brick. Actually there are unfired bricks on the inside of the end wall! All the barn and all higher bits are big wood frame structure with wattle and daub infill originally, some infill has been replaced by brick at a later date. [This half timbered style of house is called "Fachwerk".]
11) Farms were pretty much all "mixed" ( = all farms had both animal and crop production) but few quadruped animals were kept. Reasons were they ate too much of the crops, people were often hungry and their diets were less meat and dairy rich than today. The conversion of plant calories to animal calories would have been well below 10% efficiency, so having lots of animals was risky and wasteful. A median peasant might have one or two cows and a calf. The better off ones might have three times that many and would have owned oxen / steers and or a horse or two. A cow would be walked out to graze a field each morning and tethered there. It might be walked home to drink water from a well at lunchtime and then go back to the field again.
 
12) Chickens ducks and geese were all commonly kept. Most farms would have one or two pigs; the richer ones would have more.
13) Sheep and goats would have been almost unknown outside of some of the very mountainous areas.
 
14) Grains were the main crops in terms of areas planted, but potatoes were becoming more and more common as the 18^th Century progressed.  Just what proportion of the land was under potatoes is hard to say, but more by 1813 than there had been in 1740.   The grains cultivated were a mix of Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley and Buckwheat.   Most of the ploughable land away from floodplains would be under one of these staple crops - perhaps 60% (?) of the total ploughable land. There was no pre-winter sowing, all were spring planted, so harvested quite late, but staggered in time. The first 4 could get up to head high on the best land by late summer.  Buckwheat takes longest to mature and doesn't get so tall – more like waist high.  A buckwheat field at all stages looks really quite different to the others, it becomes mainly a darkish brown with reddish stems prior to harvest.. Some of what was not cereal land would be growing vegetables - a bit of cabbage (it could be preserved easily as sauerkraut), some turnips and beetroot, and plenty of  protein rich beans / peas for drying than anything else.  Some flax (with blue flowers) for local cloth production as well.   Maybe 20% of the land may have been under these non-cereal crops. The remaining 20% or so would be down to grass for grazing pasture, or hay making. Possibly some was left fallow, but I'm uncertain of this.    There was no yellow flowering oilseed rape until well after WW2.     Below is some buckwheat which has been cut and left to continue drying ripening in stooks in the field. This was sometimes also done with the other cereal crops.

Buckwheat crop in mid summer:

15) Land very close to small rivers would not be used for crop cultivation due to the flooding risk. Thus it would tend to be a water meadow and down to permanent grass and used for grazing or, sometimes, for hay making.  Unlike property developers and speculators today, buildings were not built on flood plains.  Settlements large and small would be often on the first river terrace – one small step up from the at risk area.
16) Small orchards were very common and were usually located near the farm buildings.  Trees were typically big and tall, not dwarf for easy picking and pruning, like many modern varieties.
17) Fish ponds for carp and trout were also very common but there were more in certain areas where the soils were heavy enough to retain water well, or where nearby clay deposits were available to line them. Old ponds were usually quite small say 10 x 10 or 10 x 20m.
A few towns would be dotted about across the rural landscape.   Most would be small – more like what we might term a large village. Approx one every 15-25km or so.   Each town would typically have a large market square at its centre. Many but not all had walls around them though not necessarily in a good state of repair, and by 1813 a still fully walled town was becoming unusual. The reason being that simple stone walls were vulnerable to artillery.
By  1740-1813  wealthier townsfolk were building in brick and were having tile rather than thatched roofs (occasionally slate but only in a few rare areas).  Maybe one in four of the villages  would also have a “posh” manor house, or a chateau-like pile or  a “palace”.
19) Finally, bear in mind that even away from the Sudeten and Carpathian mountains themselves,  all of Bohemia,  a lot of Silesia, (especially in the south), and Saxony are really very hilly.  Using Google earth street view to get a sense of the relief is a good thing to do.
_____________________________________________________________________
These notes are my own observations, research and interpretations.  I’ve brazenly stolen/ copied  the photos (for educational purposes not for personal gain).  I first produced a fair few of these notes for a SYW facebook group enquiry.  But since the same question comes up every now and again, I thought I’d make them into a file to be put into a few wargaming facebook groups  I decided to tidy the notes up, expand them a bit and add a few points made by others in the discussion, and to add some more pictures.  They may not be entirely accurate,  and as I pointed out at the start, there is quite a bit of local variation, but I expect they are a fairly good starting point for wargamers wanting to model terrain.
I've lived in the extremity of SW Poland (former Lower Silesia) for some years now (we have a small farm there just 10km from the Izery Mountains  and within spitting distance of Czechia and Germany).  I grew up on a UK farm, and I worked on local farms, but then I spent many years teaching both History and Geography, including the evolution of rural landscapes, and I've travelled fairly widely in the region, visiting numerous battlefields.  Mainly the 1813 ones, but also some from the 1740s and 1750s.   It is an interesting landscape and region.   If anyone wants some help and advice about visiting the region then feel free to message me on facebook. You will be able to find me as I am a group member of this facebook group. [ Bruce Quarrie Rules and Napoleonic Wargame Group ]
Rob Thompson  09/03/2021

To some extent, Rob's description of the landscape where he lives in Poland echoes the area of the Britain where I live on the “Humber-head Levels.”. The dispersed linear villages are the same, built along higher points and low ridges that the roads followed in what was once a seasonal wetland, whilst it has only been within the last 10 years that the old mediaeval strip field systems that were exactly as he describes.

Projekt Veenaland

 Projekt Veenaland (The Meadowlands Project)

    This is a bit of an odd post in that it is the first of a series looking at a project from its very beginning, from planning to completion. Apart from anything else, it's one of my rare forays into something other than the Napoleonic period.

  I love this Footsore Miniatures figure of Odin. I've painted him in his usual attire of unassuming blues and greys and added Freki and Geri from the Northstar figures wolf pack. I'm really pleased with the way the model came out, though I must say, I never thought I'd find myself researching colour schemes for things like wolves, viking sheep and chickens! 
   

 The idea of the Veenaland project is to build a game set in the high age of the Norse gods -basically a historical rather than fantasy game, but a history where peoples lives are touched by the gods -either their own or others, where fates (or wyrds) are real and the Norns spin the tales of mens' lives. Veenaland - taken from Thomas Holt's fantastic book "Meadowland" is based on the theory that "Vinland" is a mistranslation of the word for meadow, replacing "veen" with "vin."

    I don't want the game to be simply a skirmish wargame but more an almost RPG campaign game centred round ships crews. Yes, I know there are already games like that, but I like to do things for myself. What I want is a game where players build up their crews and wealth through trading, raiding and building, where the crews aren't simply figures, but represent characters who may become heroes. I can see it in my mind's eye!    

 

  The clear first choice is how large the world in which the game is set should be. Should it be the whole of the Norse world or smaller? Obviously both have their advantages and disadvantages. Should it even be set in what we SEE as the "Viking World?" The game could just as easily be a sort of "Bjorn in the USA" (ouch!) scenario.

    There are myths or legends that when the Norse -I hesitate to call them "Vikings"- first arrived in North America, they discovered Irish monks farming alongside the Indians. Now these Irish were said to have crossed the Atlantic in one of two ways. the first was that they had used boats made of animal skins - precursors of the curraghs of the Irish West Coast, and, secondly that they had crossed in boats made of stone. Of course THAT was just a little too hard to believe in the days before iron ships and ferro-concrete racing yachts. So you see, it is possible to build the game almost entirely in North West Europe and the North East of America, with the protagonists being the Norse, the Irish and the "First of the Mohegans." Being a "son of death" -a mixture of Gael and Norse- myself, I quite like that idea but we'll see where the project takes us.

      Of course, whatever happens, our heroes will need someone to record their deeds, so "The Minstrel Boy", Bard or Skjald will be around to ensure their fame lives on.

Revolution to Regency#1: The Armed Forces of Mysore.

  The Armed Forces of Mysore.

"The Presence" himself: Tipu Sultan.

Introduction. 

    For me, one of the greatest joys of wargaming as a hobby lies in the background work -the research of an army, campaign or war. There can be few other hobbies that encourage reading and research to quite such a degree and for me at least, the “discovery” of a whole new area of study within my chosen period is something akin to finding the holy grail! All too often we forget that the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars were a global conflict and that many of the forces involved were far from the “state of the art” armies of Western Europe. Fair enough, these weren’t exactly in the main theatres of operation but did, nevertheless have potentially important effects on the outcomes in those theatres.

     Having been interested in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars for many years -since the “Waterloo” film came out when I was about 12 years old in fact,- I have always found anything to do with them a source of fascination. To a lesser extent, this fascination spreads to the whole of the Eighteenth Century, a century of warfare and upheaval, revolutions -social, military, industrial and economic- a century that moulded modern Europe into what it is today. I had, until recently, largely ignored those perennial bones of contention the Indies, West and East, which were peripheral to the main events happening in Europe, with the Ottoman Empire being the most outré state in which I was vaguely interested. 

    It was probably boredom that first piqued my interest in the “exotic” armies of the period. I’d got tired of painting the usual French, British, Austrians etcetera and reading ever more about a fairly limited period. How some people can concentrate on the “Hundred Days” is quite beyond me, covering as it does just 4 days of real fighting involving pretty limited forces. In a fit of defiance against an increasingly uniform hobby (see what I did there?) I consciously looked for something a bit different and being an avid devourer of Napoleonic naval fiction decided to look more deeply into the Ottoman Empire. This is where I found the major hurdle to building up an “exotic” army wasn’t so much the lack of miniatures as the lack of resources to do the research. It was whilst looking for information on the Ottomans that I found Mark Bevis's book “Tangiers to Tehran- A Wargamers’ Guide to the Armies of the Middle East in the Napoleonic and Pre-Colonial Eras” which sparked not just my interest, but my imagination too in a completely different direction as I began to realise these “peripheral” areas were far from that and I found, Like Napoleon before me, that my thoughts were turning to the East. 

    

    Mark's book led to me wanting more information and the Persian (Qajar) army really piqued my interest with it’s mix of line troops, mediaeval knights, Afghan tribesmen and hundreds of camel mounted swivel guns. Whilst looking for more information I found David Brown's excellent e-book “The Persian Army of the Napoleonic Era-Qajar Dynasty 1779-1857” which sadly hinted at events and forces even further East…. the Mughals, The Mahrattas, the “Honourable” (?) East India Company, the VOC and Compagnie des Indes Orientales, Mysore, Hyderabad –names to conjour with. Images of elephants, huge cannon, masses of cavalry and ranks of wild infantry in all the glowing colours of the Orient filled my head…. But where to begin? And so I began looking at the various warring states and empires on the Indian Peninsula. I soon realised that information on the armies of the Indian subcontinent, including the forces of Britain, France, Holland and Portugal was sketchy to say the least. Apart from a couple of “Osprey” books on battles and others covering the Sikhs and Mughals that there was practically nothing covering the period before the British Raj. 

    I feel that this lack of ready information prevents a lot of wargamers becoming interested in the region, which provides so many opportunities for table-top gaming at all scales from massive battles down to skirmishes. We tend to be drawn towards those periods and regions on which details of uniforms, forces and colours /banners are known, hence this attempt Revolution to Regency vol.1: The Armed Forces of Mysore page 5at gathering and compiling brief histories of the armies of India during the Napoleonic era which, I hope, will be the first of a series of guides covering the various armies.. Of course, Indian History doesn't neatly fit into that 1793-1815 slot that the Napoleonic Wars fill, so these guides will start at around the 1780s -around the time of the first of the “Revolutionary Wars”, that between Britain and her American colonies- and finish at around 1820 which marks a watershed in British (the dominant European force in the region) uniform and re-organisation from a largely European army to that of a sepoy one, so the period should be more “Revolution to Regency” than the “Revolutionary and Napoleonic”. I had expected armies of tribal war-bands, ill equipped, ill disciplined and ill led. What I found, much to my surprise, were large, well organised -at least in partforces based around cores of regular infantry disciplined and trained in the manner of Europe and in some cases backed by surprisingly sophisticated economies and industries, though the history will begin slightly earlier in order to place events in context. 

    Just as Indian history in general doesn’t fit in with European periods, neither does that of Mysore, the end of which, as an independent entity comes in 1799, consequently, any history beyond then will be that of a British ally. For those who are prepared to make the effort, there is a tremendous amount of information available. As far as possible, I have tried to work from period sources using books readily available on-line and images taken from Indian rather than European art. Most modern books on the subject seem to add little information that isn’t available in these older works. The difficult part is separating the wheat from the chaff –in knowing what is relevant and what merely appears to be so. To that end, some information that I find of interest but of dubious value I have added as an appendix. Finally, in some cases, the original writer does such a wonderful job of describing an event or scene that it cannot be bettered. When this occurs, I have made no attempt to alter their words. Those words have stirred my imagination and curiosity and, I hope, they will stir yours in just the same way, so don’t expect some deep and fancy history book –this isn’t it. This is a simple guide to an obscure army that will, I hope, act as a spring-board for others to begin their own journey of discovery. 

La Haye Sainte

This is a cardstock model of La Haye Sainte, the famous farm from the Battle of Waterloo. It is scaled for use with 15-18mm figures, though it could be scaled up for 25-28mm.

These illustrations are more or less contemporary with the Battle of Waterloo and modern photos of La Haye Sainte as it stands today. these are the images I used to design the model

The parts of the model are pretty self explanatory. Doors and windows can be cut out and inset using card spacers

Thoughts on Campaign Games part 2

There isn't any particular organisation in the way I'm presenting these -just as I manage to find them on my PC and put them on here. 

2 SCOUTING.

Napoleonic armies used line and light cavalry both for scouting and for screening their movements against enemy reconnaissance units. Heavy cavalry (cuirassiers) were not usually used in such roles as they were too expensive to equip, too few in numbers, too slow and too valuable on the battlefield to risk.

Scouting can take the form of a series of actions in which cavalry units attempt to locate enemy troops then either avoiding or driving in the enemy vedettes to gain information about their parent formations. The scouting system assumes reconnaissance by units of at least a squadron and that at least some will be intercepted by piquets. Piquets are infantry, Vedettes cavalry and whilst infantry are effective as a screen aren't much use for long range intelligence gathering.

Each player should have diagrams of each of their columns clearly indicating order of march, the location of units acting as screens (by company/squadron) and their distance from the parent formation expressed as up to 1, 3 or 5 miles (which affects combat values). Beyond 5 miles, the contact may be classed as a skirmish and fought on table using 12-16 figures to represent each squadron/company involved. Note should also be made as to whether the vedettes are to respond to enemy scouts aggressively or defensively. Unless changed, these values remain throughout the campaign.

Lengthening of columns alters the distance between screening units but not their distance away, i.e., a circle of piquets becomes an oval.

METHOD

The direction of the scouts approach should indicate on the diagram of the column how many piquets/vedettes are likely to be contacted. Piquets/vedettes cannot be moved round from another point without change of orders which is not allowed during a contact situation, though it is all well and good after one as the player will have gained knowledge of where scouts are likely to approach from.

Note that scouting combats are done in numbers of troops not figures.

A cavalry squadron will normally have between 3-5 figures giving a troop strength of 99-165. This gives a far better idea of losses incurred.

Each unit (squadron/company) involve throws 1xd10 which gives the basic percentage of them that make contact i.e., 7 =70% which is modified by the following

Add or subtract the modifiers to the percentage roll for each unit present e.g.

60% tired, veteran lancers of a squadron of 165 operating 4 miles from their parent column =50% = 82 men (rounded down)

If more than one unit is present, add them together

Compare the two sides and work out the odds i.e. 1:1, 2:1, 3:2 each of which represents a roll of a dx6. The higher the odds, the more chances of a good roll a player gets, so 3:1 would give 3 chances against only 1 for the other side. Each dice roll replaces the one made before it, with both sides alternating rolls with the side with the fewest number of rolls (or only roll) always going last. Players cannot choose which roll they use but may “stick” at any roll, foregoing any other chances.

The difference between the two scores is then looked up on the scouts/piquets table to give the combat results then casualties divided by 33 to give the result in figures.

MAP COMBAT

I'm not entirely sure where I got the idea for this from. I think it may have been from an article in one of the original “Miniature Wargames” magazine. For some reason, the name “Jim Webster” springs to mind, though I've tinkered with it a lot to bring it into line with my thoughts.

Map combats are fought in a similar way to scouting skirmishes and using the same list of modifiers, except that these are only 1 digit modifiers (eg. -10 becomes -1, +20 becomes +2. In addition, commanders morale modifiers are added as a +or- for each area and for the CinC in the overall action. However, to get some idea of what has occurred, each player draws up a plan of their forces, showing flanks, centre and reserves (who may be thrown in anywhere in the battle. )

The players then dice for which area of the battlefield engages first.

Each area of the battlefield is treated as a separate conflict with the reserves counting as a plus modifier of 2 to any section if in defence. The reserves can only be added to the final area fought if on the attack. Use of reserves need not be disclosed until they are used, i.e. After the other side has rolled their final dice

In this example, Blue attack Red's right first at odds of 4:3 So Blue rolls 2x dice coming up with 4 and a 2, Red rolls a die which lands on a 1. Blue rolls a 4 and a 5 which, as the modifiers come to +1 gives them a 6. Red rolls 3 with no modifiers then a 4. This means that there is a difference between attackers and defenders of 1, so we look at the result table which shows Blue take the position with heavy losses and must rally overnight before resuming advance and takes a few prisoners. Red withdraws in good order at dusk with moderate losses without pursuit.

The other flank comes up as area 2. Blue must use its reserves (+2) to bolster it's attack. Blues dice come up as 4,3 and as this is a poor score modified to 5, rolls again and gets a 1 modified to 3. Reds rolls end up as a 6 which means they are repulsed with severe losses, leaving wounded on the field and losing some baggage and many stragglers whilst red hold their positions but with severe losses. They may retire in good order if they choose.

The centre fights next with no modifiers on either side. Red can either use its reserve as a+2 bonus or use it for a separate attack. The dice rolls come up as the same on both sides. Red then rolls a 3 and has moderate losses. Blue rolls a 6 and has heavy losses, with positions remaining as they were.

Finally, in an attempt to win the day, red launches its reserve at blue's centre. Being veterans, these have a +1 modifier. They roll a 6 and “stick” with blue rolling a 5 on a -1 modifier. Red drives blue from the field with severe losses, leaving wounded on the field and losing some baggage and many stragglers, but takes severe losses itself and cannot pursue past nightfall. Blue's victorious flank can either stay on the field or retire with the rest of the blue force.

Generals should write up despatches in the character of the person they are playing, giving praise or apportioning blame as appropriate.

"Well I can't find ANYWHERE in the rules that it says they're allowed to win!"