A Crimean War Batrep - The Battle of Tenitsa Pass

A few weeks ago some of the Rejects got together for a Crimean War bash.

The game was set in the mountains near the Danube, before the British and French got involved in the Crimea. The Turks have been tasked to hold the mountain pass and stop the Russians from breaking through. Luckily for the Turks they have had prior warning that the Russians are on their way and their engineers have had time to build some hasty redoubts 

Myself and Surj picked out the Turks while Lee and Smiffy were the Russians.

Orders of Battle ( Ruthlessly stolen from Big Lee's Blog!)
Ottoman Turkish Army - C/O Omar Pasha
   1st Infantry Division
      1st Brigade
         1st Line Regiment (3)
         2nd Line Regiment (3)
         2x Heavy Gun Batteries
      2nd Brigade
         3rd Line Regiment (3)
         4th Line Regiment (3)
         1x Medium Gun Battery
      3rd Brigade
         5th Line Regiment (3)
         6th Line Regiment (3)
         2x Medium Gun Batteries
      4th Brigade
         7th Line Regiment (3)
      1st cavalry Brigade
         1st and 2nd Regiments Lt Horse
         1 Battery Horse Artillery
      2nd Cavalry Brigade
         3rd Regiment Lt Horse
Attached Engineers - 4 Companies

Russian Army - C/O General Dannenberg
   10th Infantry Division (4th Corps) c/o Maj Gen Vilbon
      1st Brigade
         19th Ykaterenburg Line Regiment (4)
         20th Tobolsk Line Regiment (4)
         3x Medium Gun Batteries
      2nd Brigade
         19th Tomsk Jager Regiment (4)
         20th Kolyvan Jager Reginment (4)
         4th Schutzen Battalion (1)
         3x Heavy Gun Batteries
      4th Light Cavalry Division
         4th Hussar Brigade
         7th Hussars (2)
         8th Hussars (2)
         1st Ural Cossacks
         1x Horse Artillery Battery

The set up

Our plan was pretty simple really, try and soak up the casualties and not running away!

The only sneaky bit of the plan was my Turkish Horse. The would charge out as quickly as possible to try and draw the Russians to us. Then we'd fall back and they would hot our infantry squares and artillery......easy!

Good ol Engineers. Lovely hastily erected fortifications!

CnC Surg's command on our right.

Protect those gaps!!

Gulp!

The Russian Bear!

The 3 Turk units, whose plan was to skewer the Russian Horse.

Posties strategically place rocks, oh how I'd like to place 2 units at the defences?

Not allowed I'm afraid!!

Oh what colourful chaps the Turks are!

We win first move, so my Cavalry go hell for leather!!

As does the Bear!

Smiffy on the left and Lee on the right.

What???

My rushing forward had an effect, that was even better than the original plan.

Smiffy unlimbered his artillery and set up defensively, if you can do that with Cavalry, which you can't!

So I stuck to the plan and moved straight back.

You never know I might need the Cavalry in the centre?

We try and plug the gaps, leaving nowhere for the Russians to attack.

Smiffy's moves his Horse forward but very slowly. Suits me fine!

Hmm? They're getting pretty close, we'd hoped to knock a few more casualties off by now?

Lee's skirmishers can just be seen on the hill top right. These are gonna be a pain me thinks?

All's going well, the Turkish Cavalry swap places with the infantry.

Stoopid move, I don't know why I listened to Surj.

I moved my infantry up through the gap, now I couldn't fire canister!!

Idiot!!!

David Bailey at work.

A view across the table, from our right.

Don't bunch up Surj.....

The 4th Schutzen

Is this gonna be enough?

Musical chairs

Let's go see whats going on round here?

Uh oh, The Russians charge, and my Turks fail their morale check and flee!

Hmm? Not looking good....

Meanwhile on our left the Turks start to form a defensive line between the pass entrance.

I'm so glad we planned for the Cavalry to come back around.

Luckily I managed to get another Turkish infantry unit back to the defences, but they're disorganised having been passed through by their fleeing friends.

Smiffy finally opens up with his artillery, causing mayhem in the Turkish ranks.

Protect that flank!!!

Smiffy continues his slow advance.

Crap the Ruskies are over the defences!!!

Lee's Russians also charge forward. But some have lost quite a few casualties in the process.

The Russians were very sensible not attacking the centre.

Things don't go all our way, two of Surj's units are pushed back with one in route.

Oi, come back err?

Its Surj's turn to push through the gaps. trying to get a good shot at the Russians.

Surj;'s Turks beat the Russians in melee.

We're doomed!!! Smiffy charges my artillery

I knock a stand off with my last cannister shot, this should help a little in melee

Oh my God!

This is the first time I've ever seen the like.

Due to exceptional dice throwing from me and rather crap from Smiffy.

My artillery crew beat the Russian column in melee and even manage to capture their flag!!

Told you not to bunch those troops up Surj!

Its square time.

I get hit with another charge!

While its very indecisive on the right??

Come on Smiffy!!

Hold on, hold on.....

Another charge onto my hero artilleryman.

And they do it again, beating the Russians in combat!

But the heroes couldn't hold out for another melee and are killed to a man.

Their names shall go down in history!!

Praise the Lord here come the Cavalry"!

Its just not happening for the Russians on our right.

Good! 

Its gonna be close.

Comrades Smiffy and BigLee

The Evil One and Surj

Smiffy loses some momentum as his front unit is pushed back.

The Turkish Cavalry charge in!

As my brigade fail a morale check and all move back 12 inches.

Its getting dark, its going to be really close.

I so want Smiffy to charge.....

My other two Cavalry move around the woods.

While our centre still sits unmolested.

Come on Turks!!!!

Lee changes tactics and forms line.

Which seems to have worked.

The Turkish cavalry are victorious!!

Darkness begins to fall and Postie called time on the game. 

Nobody knew who had won it was so close?

But in the end it was a clear win for the Turks with a 26-20 point victory.

Conclusion

This was a real cracker of a game. It was a very close call and could have gone either way. We had done enough damage and as we still held most of the pass the points went our way. 

I did think it was going to be a tough game, as everytime we've previously played with the Turks they've got their butts kicked, Their main problem is their size, being only 12 figures strong, compared to the 20 figure Russians. But the defenses made up for the smaller units! That and a far superior dice throwing ability!