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View Full Version : Bridge Janissaries\' Diary [longish]



Daevyll
10-14-2002, 16:26
It is the year 1215, and the first all-janissary army of the Empire of the Turks is ready for action.

Four units of Janissary Archers, six units of Janissary Infantry and four units of Janissary Heavy Infantry make up the corps, supported by two catapults for sieges.

They are sent forth into Bulgaria from their mustering place of Constantinople (which should be called Istanbul by now, I've held it long enough fs), and their combat baptism goes without a hitch.

Even though the general leading the corps is only a piddling 2-star tactician, he leads the Janissary Corps to victory over the Spanish defenders with minimal losses, killing 427 men and capturing 67 more. The remnants of the opposing army flee into the castle.

The next year sees a castle assault on the Bulgaria keep, and once again the Janissaries do not disappoint. The catapults tore down both gatehouses, and a single units of Janissary Heavy Infantry clears the place out. Total losses are 7 Janissaries and a few catapult crew.
The general has improved to three stars by now, and has the 'skilled attacker' virtue which increases it by one more for future offensives. Moreover the title to Bulgaria grants him another star of command, making him a useful 4-star general.

I decide to stay in bulgaria for a turn, to ensure public loyalty and to rest my troops while I bring up catapult crew reinforcements.

Then, in 1217, disaster strikes. The Holy Roman Empire decided it is the spiritual heir to the Roman Empire, and declares a crusade to take the Eastern Roman Capital, Byzantium. The large crusade which resulted from this desire is now on my doorstep, and poised to invade Bulgaria next turn.
At the same time a Spanish Crusade is moving towards Tripoli along the African coast, obliging me to reinforce my Egyptian garrison, and Italian-held Greece has just been reinforced by a 1000-men army and is right next to Constantinople; no reinforcements from that quarter either, since I cannot afford to gamble with Constantinople. It looks like the Janissaries are on their own.

Sure enough in 1218 the German Crusade, 2400 men strong, invades Bulgaria. However, that is not the whole of it. Their allies, the evil Hungarians, also send an army into Bulgaria of no less then 1800 men.

I will have to hold back this onslaught with just 840 Janissaries and two catapults... not an easy chore under the most ideal circumstances, and the circumstances under which this battle are fought are far from ideal.
The speed of the german/hungarian advance must have caught my troops unawares, as they are forced to fight on a flat, nearly featureless plain. No elevated positions for their archery, no downhil fighting for the shock infantry.

"Fac ut nemo me vocet"*, says the General, and prepares for defence.

The opposing army is huge, both forces have sent about 800 men at me in the first wave, forcing me to fight 1600 enemy soldiers at once.
My massed archery thinnes the enemy lines considerably, and the German general soon falls to the arrows of my Janissaries. The sky turns dark with our arrows, and a glimmer of hope sparks in the eye of every man. Soon however, a few Janissaries in the front ranks begin to fall. The enemy has brought his own missile troops, and their Crossbows and Arbalests outrange our bows.
This leaves us with the unpleasant alternatives of staying put in our defensive positions, or sallying out and engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

The decision is soon made for us however, as the Germans and Hungarians press home a formidable attack. The Janissary Heavy infatry fight doggedly on, at 3 to 1 odds or worse, but emerge victoriously "Luctor et emergo!"* cries my general (who took Latin as a foreign language in his youth as he finds Turkish way too difficult), and soon the enemy broke from our ranks, leaving about 1/3 of the Janissary Heavies dead on the field, but losing many times that number themselves.

Crawling over the hill however the next wave of enemies, mostly Spearmen and Militia Sergeants but also a few Halberdiers, is already moving in.
Worse, our ammo is completely gone and losses from the still active Horse Archers and Mounted Crossbowmen from the first wave are mounting. We have no counter to this cowardly tactic, and are getting desperate.

With another 800 men of troops closing in, the general thinks to himself "Obesa cantavit"* and orders all Janissary Archers to withdraw from battle. The Janissary Heavies move forward to cover the advance, and the infantry withdraws as well. Once all light troops have gone, the Heavies disengage and leave as well, leaving 3/4 of their number dead on the field.

All in all the Janissaries killed 1489 enemy soldiers that day, and captured 127 more.
Total losses amounted to 263, 238 of which were Janissary Heavy Infantry.

***

Lessons learned:

= All-Janissary armies dont work; you really do need fast cavalry of a sort, else you are helpless against horse archers and their ilk. Furthermore you miss out on a lot of slaves as the Janissaries lack the speed to run down fleeing troops.
I'm going to add some Ottoman Sipahi.

= Janissary Heavy Infantry is rock hard. Engaged by 300 enemies from 3 sides, one unit managed to rout all of their opponents and was left with 42 men surrounded by heaps of corpses

= Janissary Archers, like all archers, run out of ammo all too quickly in long fights. Perhaps more micromanagement is called for to concentrate their fire on hard targets, and take them off 'fire at will' orders.

***

Quotes:
*1: Hold my calls
*2: I struggle and emerge [victoriously]
*3: The fat lady has sung

***

Oh, and there was never any bridge....


Daevyll

maroule
10-14-2002, 17:31
nice one

Rosacrux
10-14-2002, 17:53
err... where is the bridge? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

Cyricist
10-14-2002, 20:51
Entertaining and informative! Good topic! http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

Ckrisz
10-14-2002, 21:35
Learn to love your Heavy Janissaries! http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

They are the ultimate infantry. Playtested them against SAPs, the other "ultimate" infantry unit in the game, and the Jannies ripped them up one side and down the other. Have not tried them against Varangians, though.

Oda Matsu
10-15-2002, 01:54
I prefer the Varangians to Heavy Janissaries. Likely, because I prefer playing the Byzantines to the Turks.

Once the Turks can field Jannisaries, they're unstoppable. Don't know why anyone would bother with Jannisary Archers though - Janissary Infantry have bows too, and they fight much better when "empty".

Oda Matsu
10-15-2002, 06:34
(..also, this proves the Napoleanic adage - the immobile army is a dead army... A deliberate attack against each army, in turn, designed to send one a'routing before the other had time to engage, would likely have carried the day. The Heavy Janissaries are formidable, will smash cavalry in a charge, and likely would have made short work of the predomitantly cavalry-heavy forces one sees in a first wave attack. If the archers were held back or, better, used to launch rear melee attack instead of expending arrows early, the whole affair almost certainly would have ended as an Ottoman triumph.

Speed and dash in execution - the Janissaries have it, but movement must be executed with boldness and immediacy for it to work. Dawdling in a defensive position, especially on the open plains, simply won't do.

Daevyll
10-15-2002, 14:32
Actually, the Janissaries have no such thing as speed (in MTW).

I added 4 units of Ottoman Sipahi now, as planned, which pursue routers and engage missile troops and I've never won battles with so few losses as at the moment.

I'm playing on Hard and with this setup I have yet to fight a battle where the killratio was less than 10-1 in my advantage, and at times the killratio is simply unbelievable (losing 2 men while killing/capturing 589 in my last battle yesterday).

Swoosh So
10-15-2002, 14:34
What are jannisary hvy cav?

Swoosh So
10-15-2002, 14:39
I made a jannisary army last night and for a laugh marched them through all enemy territories from constantinople to scotland, All armies in their path fleed!