Double Elephants! at BHGS Teams 2022
Delhi Sultanate vs Classical Indian
Game 1 Delhi Sultanate vs Timurid
Game 2 Delhi Sultanate vs Alexander The Great
Game 3 Delhi Sultanate vs Classical Indian
Game 4 Delhi Sultanate vs Seleucid
Game 5 Delhi Sultanate vs Timurid
Game three in the round robin, and the Late Delhi Sultanese Indians were matched up against the Classical Textbook Indians.
Classical Indian - so classic that you can almost predict the list design before it hits the table - elephants, with mixed shooters in between the pachyderms, three commands of near identical composition. The only variation is which of these 3 near-identical commands will have 2 LF bow, and which will have a mix of LF Bow and Javelin. Oh, and of course, whether the Crap Medium Cavalry will come out first or last.
In a dramatic change of plan, these Indians had broken the mould, and started with a crazy charging block of Rajput Cavalry aimed like a well-thrown onion bhaji straight down the middle of the table. On either side of course were two textbook Indian mixed shooter and elephant commands, so not all was lost from the standard way of doing things.
With the Sultanate's combat-ready Death Stars being in theory better, well, in combat than the Classical Indian's Shooting Death Stars the Sultanate approach was simple - to trundle forwards at a steady pace and roll into and hopefully over the opposition
Views of the Red Fort in Delhi (taken in 2006)
With the Rajputs drifting to the left and a whole command of Indians labouring forward on that flank as well, the Sultanate army simply didn't have enough expensive troops to deploy to face thenm off as well as engage the rest of the multitudinous Indian army. Throwing some unwilling cavalry out wide the Moslem forces looked to execute a hold on this wing and attack on the opposite flank.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - The Classical Indians have relatively poor command and control, certainly not enough to dance around with their unmanoueverable elephants. This means that concentrating swiftly on one wing and refusing the other is almost always a viable tactic against them
This was the Flank of Slowing Stuff Down, and the Sultanate's infantry had absolutely take that message to heart
Sultanian skirmishers had already leapt bravely from the safety of the field to engage the Indian skirmishers screening their elephants, and with a sudden win now found themselves actually fighting the pachyderms as well, splitting the Indian command into fragments as the rest of the troops on this wing ploughed forward in an agricultural metaphor ideally suited to describing troops moving through a field.
On the opposite flank the third Indian command had drifted out to the left of the Sutanate line, presumably in it's efforts to avoid being targeted by the advanced gunpowder artillery of the not-quite-Mughal forces. The Sultanate Death Stars waited eagerly for their arrival
Indian War Elephants
Suddenly, amongst all of these Elephant Parades, some fighting broke out! The two sets of heavyweight battle beasts slammed together on the left hand end of the Sultanate line pitting Museum Z range against what I believe to be Museum pre-Z range pachyderms in a battle of trunkage of the highest order
L'Art de la Guerre hint - The Delhi elephants have Armour, but unfortunately this does not apply when fighting against Elephants. So, the Elite status of the Classical Indian elephants makes them a little better in this matchup
Sourav Ganguly! The skirmishing battle-refusing Delhi Nobility were attempting to make sure that almost nothing remotely similar could occur on the opposite flank though, drawing elephants and supporting Classical Indian foot out towards the edge of the table before no doubt swiftly withdrawing away to relative safety
Well, as long as they managed to evade properly and didn't get pincushioned by enemy shooting before that happened..
Actually, scratch that. With the Indians taking some shooting hits, and the Sultanate cavalry realising they hadn't left enough space to retreat back into, a bold aggressive end of Day 1 style plan suddenly sprang into life as the forces of Later Delhi launched a surprise attack!
L'Art de la Guerre hint - Normally the Sultanate Cavalry would not be able to scoot right past the front of the enemy elephant, as it's Zone of Control would prevent them ignoring it's proximity. In this case however a Moslem Light Cavalry unit has engaged the flank of the Elephant (at almost certain fatal risk to itself). This places the elephant into melee, with the consequence that it is now fully occupied and no longer exerts a ZoC to its front
Yuvraj Singh! The bold and audacious Cavalry charge however failed to sweep away the Indian infantry, and with the elephant shrugging off the attacking light horsemen in short order, things suddenly looked rather grim for the over-confident Delhi Nobility
Just Who Are These Dudes Then?
The Delhi sultanate finally reached the peak of its geographical reach during the Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the Indian subcontinent under Muhammad bin Tughluq. This was followed by decline due to Hindu reconquests, Hindu kingdoms such as the Vijayanagara Empire and Mewar asserting independence, and new Muslim sultanates such as the Bengal Sultanate breaking off. In 1526, the Sultanate was conquered and succeeded by the Mughal Empire.
The Sultanate infantry and elephants were coming off much the worst in the centre against the assaults of their ancestors
Massive chasms were opening up in the Sultanate's lines, and their artillery crew in particular were starting to sweat profusely in a manner not attributable to the sub-continental heat as the enemy closed on their vulnerable position
That is a lot of hit markers on table as well.
Rise of the Guptas
As their well padded elephants ploughed forward, the supporting cast of Sultanate infantry became becalmed in the face of countless swarms of Old School Indian warriors
Every where they looked the loincloth-wearing sword and bow combos were ready and poised to attack fronts, flank and rear of any and all targets from the forces of near-Medieval Delhi
With the over-bold, or badly disciplined flank distraction force now enmeshed in a painful combat against an Indian elephant in the far distance, the rest of the Classical force started to swing into the centre to pile pressure and shooting hits on the army of Delhi. Expert anti-elephant naptha throwers were immediately pressed into duty to try and stem the advancing tide of pachydermness with limited success
Indian War Elephants
In a photo which clearly the Delhi Sultanate Ministry of Interior have attempted to suppress, the supposedly distracted elephant steamed into the flank of the foolhardy Sultanian Commander to cause him a near-immediately fatal reverse of fortune
Views of the Red Fort in Delhi (taken in 2006)
The Sultanate army had gone tow to toe with their ancestors, in a brutal and messy head on battle of elephant attrition, but in the end they fell just short of success, losing the game by a single hit point as the Classical forces survived and the army of the Sultanate fell to defeat
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Delhi Sultanate Commander
Well, my little roti-wrapped friends, that came awfully close to being a third win of the weekend, with the finest of margins condemning my late era army to defeat at the hands and trunks of their honourable forebears
With such a tiny difference between the forces and such a balanced outcome I am sure that callinng it a win for India will go down well in the Del;hi Times and indeed no-one needs to know "which" India it was who actually came out on top, really, do they?
The world still revolves on its axis after a battle in which herds of elephants roamed the plains untroubled by human intervention, in a way which hasn't been seen in millennia, so this is not only a victory for India but for the sanctity of wildlife as well
With three Indian wins out of three the next day should be great indeed for us all.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
>A hundred blows by a goldsmith is equal to one by a blacksmith and you sir here had the weakness of spirit and of arms to be a half-hearted goldsmith in a world of horseshoe makers.
You may think this was a step upwards, but all I see if the bitter tears of defeat on those of yoru men who survived as you failed utterly to implement the most simple of anti-Indian army tactics, despite having done exactly that in your last game in the previous competition. When you think of looking forward to more wins, I say unto you don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water, and there are veritable monsoons of water ready still to run through your hands and down the drain here I warrant.
There is no hand to catch time, but time will catch up with you soon enough in the next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
You may also like....
Game 1 Delhi Sultanate vs Timurid
Game 2 Delhi Sultanate vs Alexander The Great
Game 3 Delhi Sultanate vs Classical Indian
Game 4 Delhi Sultanate vs Seleucid
Game 5 Delhi Sultanate vs Timurid
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