On the Outskirts of Vienna

It's time for a miniatures game so I decided to did a small one with my mini set-up. Also, in the spirit of my latest historical craze, I'm featuring Poles vs. Turks.

Set-Up

I rolled on my scenario chart and came up with Defense. I decided that the Turks will defend a village on the outskirts of Vienna during the siege.

The Poles (red army) have 2 cavalry and 2 infantry with a leader

The Turks (blue army) have 3 infantry and 1 skirmisher unit

I'm using my MicroBattle rules for horse & musket battles. I'm not exactly sure yet how to tweak the rules to represent late 17th century battles.

Background

September 1683.

The Turks are besieging Vienna. The Poles have ridden to the relief of the city.

A Turkish detachment has garrisoned the tiny village of Nirgends outside of Vienna. Part of the Polish army approaches the detachment.

A unit of hussars crests a hill. The Turk sentinels raise the alarm.

The Poles advance on the village but are repulsed. On the left, the hussars wipe up Turkish skirmisher but the horse on the right is surprisingly immobile.

Note - the horse kept rolling 1 for activation, and I forgot to give them a bonus for having a general with them.

Finally, the hussars on the right charge into battle, overrunning some Turkish infantry.

They get swept up and attacked the village. They failed to take it, but did inflict some casualties.

The Polish infantry come up and storm the village. 

Victory for the Poles!

Game Notes

I made one tweak to the rules. Previously, I changed the rules so that both sides roll in melee. However, I realized that this provides a disincentive for getting stuck in. For musket-armed infantry, it's better to sit back and shoot. In order to encourage melee, I decided that units losing a melee will have a disadvantage when rolling for disorder and retreat. This will make melee risky, but potentially more decisive.