The Battle of On Alti - A Russo-Turkish 18th Century Battle

Continuing the 18th century theme of recent remote games, Surjit and I got together to fight a fictional encounter between a Russian army and an Ottoman Turkish force at a field of battle called On Alti.

Now, my ownership of 18th century armies is limited to an Austrian and a French collection.  I have have no intention of buying or painting any other armies for this period, and certainly not for playing via Zoom.  So, for the sake of flexibility, I painted up MDF bases into red and blue armies... and BOOM! I now have whatever horse and musket army I want.

I know that this particular development may be offensive to some.  For me, this is a logical step in remote gaming for these reasons:
1. The players are not really going to enjoy the aesthetics of the painted figures via Zoom.
2. Experience has shown that even with figures, remote players often need regular updates on which unit is which.
3. The important scale in wargaming is the base, not the figure.
4.  All wargames bases of figures are essentially very aesthetically pleasing counters.  So, why worry about the figure when that aesthetic cannot be enjoyed.

Anyway, enough justification, onto the game.

The rules used are my hex adapted version of Koenig Krieg.
The armies were constructed from my adaptations of army lists from the Age of Reason (1st Ed.).

The Red army are the Russians, the Turks are blue.

The Ottoman army (played by me) consisted of:

5 units of Janissaries

1 unit of Levy

2 units of skirmish troops (Seyman and Azab)

4 regiments of Akinji light horse

4 regiments of heavy armoured cavalry (including 2 Guard Visierial regts)

2 medium and 1 heavy artillery.

The Russian army (led by Surjit):

7 units of line infantry

1 unit of Grenadiers

1 unit of militia

1 unit of Jagers

2 regiments of Dragoons

2 regiments of Hussars

1 regiment of Cuirassiers

1 unit of Cossacks (skirmishers)

4 medium guns and 2 heavy guns

This was an intriguing clash of assymetric forces.  The Ottomans holding a heavy cavalry advantage, while the Russians had strength in infantry and artillery.  Much of the Russian army being regular, but the Turks containing many irregular troops potentially prone to running back at the first sign of trouble.

The Russians slowly edged forward.  Clearly intending to bring their artillery advantage to bear, and to deploy their horse to try and counter the Turks.  Both sides were seeking to push out on the flanks.  The Ottoman armoured cavalry flew forward on the left flank.  Meanwhile, the Akinji moved out onto right, hoping to avoid shooting from the Russian jagers now holed up in the village.

The Ottoman plan was simple.  Keep the infantry at a distance and let the heavy cavalry defeat the Russian horse and turn the flank.  The light horse on the right were to perform and occupy enough Tsarist infantry to stop them overwhelming the Janissaries in the centre.

The Russian infantry brushed aside the Turkish skirmishers, but were yet to make their artillery advantage tell.
Meanwhile, a big cavalry showdown was developing on the left.

Surprisingly, the Ottoman commander was able to seize the initiative in the charges.
From L to R: Armoured Spahi vs Hussars; Armoured Spahi versus Hussars; and two Armoured Grand Visierial regiments charging the flank of a Cuirassier unit and the front of Russian Dragoons.

The outcome was suitably bloody.  The lighter Russian horse were unable to withstand the armoured lances.  Hussars and Cuirassiers were thrown back in disarray and a unit of Dragoons was destroyed.

The Ottoman's were not going to let this moment slip and proceeded to exploit the situation.  With most of the Turks realigning themselves, one Visierial unit ploughed straight into an already damaged Dragoon unit and despatched them without quarter.

The Russian flank was now open and the infantry cruelly exposed.

The Russian commander was asked the question at this point, "what would you do now, if this was part of a campaign?"  His response was, "I would retreat and leave the field to the Turks."

Nonetheless, we played on just a little longer.

The Ottoman's, with new found confidence, made a general advance.
The Russians desperately turned infantry and artillery to protect their open flank.  However, the Turkish cavalry slammed into them before they had the chance to form square or any other such defensive action.

A view of the battlefield looking towards the exposed Russian flank.

At this point, we had to call time on the game.

We agreed that this was an Ottoman victory and that the Russians would not want to hang around to see what would happen next.

After thoughts

That was a lot of fun.  It was very interesting having these very different armies square up to each other. 

There were a lot of artillery exchanges in the centre with casualties being taken by the Turks.  However, the dice rolled kindly and kept the Ottoman irregulars in place long enough for their heavy cavalry to do their job.

The Russians couldn't quite get all of their artillery into the fight and never quite made their foot advantage tell.

The use of the red and blue blocks worked a treat.  There was no confusion about what each unit was.  In fact, Surjit was able to follow his units clearly as cavalry and infantry were easier to identify than my 6mm troops.

I'd be interested to hear how much of a wargaming heretic you think this makes me.

The next 18th century remote game I'd like to do is a SYW battle in India.