The Battle of Satara: A Hanoverian AAR

[Megas Methuselah]

The Battle of Satara: A Hanoverian AAR

It is a dark and gloomy day outside the Maratha city of Satara. The normally vibrant and outgoing populace of the Indian city have retricted themselves indoors, abandoning the streets to the cows, dogs, and crows. This emptiness only serves to emphasize the eerie silence, where every dog's bark is so startling as to send shivers up and down the spines of the scared children, who hesitatingly peer outside the windows of their houses much to the frightened annoyance of their mothers, who quickly pull them out of view. Soon enough, the Army of Satara will be departing to combat a grave and mysterious threat.

News has arrived from the west. A European navy bearing unfamiliar colours have landed a large and proffessional army on the coast. Their business is clearly with Satara, as they have, as of yet, made no contact with the nearby Portuguese colony to the south. These mysterious men dress in red coats and stand tall, hoisting their flags and banners for all to see. These banners, showing a white horse amid a red background, seem to proclaim dominance over these lands. And so they do.

Across the sea in Europe, the monarchs of Hanover were a weak breed, and fought losing wars on losing sides. Its people, fed up with such imcompetence, beat their king from the throne and had him beheaded. Soon, the now-large and patriotic conscript armies of Hanover assumed dominance over the states of Germany, and decided to show to the world its new-found power. It trained together a proffessional army of Hanoverian volounteers and sent them off in an expedition to establish wealthy colonies in fabled India. With such wealth by its side, the Republic of Hanover would be accepted throughout Europe as one of the major powers.

And so their troops landed in western India, and marched towards the wealthy city of Satara, which owed its allegiance to the Maratha Condeferacy. The brave conquistadores had, at long last, reached the outskirts of the city.


Hanoverian troops outside Satara.

However, the Maratha Confederacy was no nation that would be invaded by a mere matter of marching. The soldiers in Satara were readied, and the reserves were brough into their ranks. The Hanoverian troops were soon met by the full might of Satara in its war-glory.


The soldiers of Satara march to meet the Hanoverian invaders.

The two well-equipped armies met face-to-face, and soon began exchanging fire. The Marathas, sensing weakness in the Hanoverian center, quickly send some camelry to exploit it.


Maratha camelry fighting in the Hanoverian center.

The shock induced by this charge is quickly followed up with a mass infantry charge. The Maratha soldiers, in defence of their city, quickly gather together their courage and charge in like true men. The Hanoverians, fighting for the honour and prestige of their glorious republic, grind their teeth and bravely hold the line. The creme of both Indian and Hanoverian soldiery fight viciously, bloodying each other as soldiers do.


Hanoverian and Maratha troops engaging in melee.

The Hanoverian general, seeing the deperation in the eyes of his men, quickly orders the reserve forces to advance in support of the front line. With a cheer and a cry to God, the soldiers of Hanover advance in support of their brothers-in-arms.


Hanoverians from the left flank performing a stunning bayonet charge.


Hanoverians from the reserve, tall and proud, advance to the beat of the drum.

Soon, the Hanoverians find themselves enjoying the advantage of superior numbers. Taking courage from each other's strength, the soldiers of the republic aggressively defend their ground against the Indian troops, much to the dismay of the watching general.


Maratha general witnessing the slow detoriation of his line.

To further strengthen his army's fate, the Hanoverian general orders his cavalry to wheel about the heavily assaulted right flank and flank the Maratha attackers, who were slowly gaining ground. The result is a success, as many valorous Indian troops fall mightily in combat. Despite this, their brothers, brave men all, still resolutely refuse to retreat.


Hanoverian dragoons in a cavalry charge on their right flank.


The dragoons in the resulting melee.

The Maratha general, hoping to use his army's strength on the Hanoverian right flank to his advantage, quickly sends his lancers in a bold attack on the Hanoverian dragoons. Despite their bravery and ferocity, the Hanoverian officers merely see this as a desperate move on the part of the Maratha army, and loudly encourage their men to fight on for the glory of the republic.


The brave and resolute Maratha lancers fighting a losing battle.

Despite their brave performance, the Maratha lancers are quickly driven from their position, and the Hanoverian right flank soon routs the opposing Maratha infantry. Noticing their exhaustion and the full extent of their losses, the Hanoverian general lets his men pull out of direct danger and lick their wounds.

On the left flank, the steady exchange of volley fire has been laying both the Hanoverian and Maratha troops low in numbers. Hoping to take advantage of this situation before it's too late, the general orders his artillery to re-direct their fire onto the opposing Maratha line on his left flank, and had them quickly driven into a rout with a whiff of grapeshot.

The left flank cheered, and advanced to the center. The Maratha troops, outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched, are quick to drop their muskets and run for the very existence of their lives.


Hanoverian troops driving off the remaining Marathas in the center.


The Maratha general, setting a fine example for his men, flees.

The Hanoverians, drunk with victory, sing their anthems and military chants in honour of the republic. However, the day is not yet done. The enemy general is quick to direct artillery fire towards the celebrating Hanoverians. In anger, the Hanoverian dragoons are ordered to remove this final threat. No quarter is given in the charge, and there were few survivors. The Maratha general was not among the survivors.


Hanoverian dragoons charging the final Maratha position.

The Battle of Satara is won, and the Republic of Hanover has shown the world the full extent of its military might and ambition. Whether this bodes well for its future or not is yet to be seen.







Author's Note

The results of my Hanoverian campaign. It is 1735, and no, this mod is not unstable. Plenty of factions have emerged, I have experienced 2 rebellions and change of governments, established many German protectorates, and am having a fun time.

The minor factions mod is reliable provided you don't play as an emergent faction or as a faction that is destined to merge with its mother faction (13 Colonies, Louisiana, New Spain, etc.).

Hanover has a relatively large unit roster. It also has the unique troops from the Indian theatre now available for recruitment in Satara. CA should've made them playable to begin with. Gah!

I was also planning to train light infantry and grenadiers for this expedition, but was too excited for it to begin and didn't bother. That being so, I apologise for the spammed line infantry.

[Fisherking]

Good Screenies there Meth!

Nice write up too.

Did you loose two units or have 18 in the stack to start? If you lost them, what were they?

[Megas Methuselah]

Good Screenies there Meth!

Nice write up too.

Did you loose two units or have 18 in the stack to start?

I forget. I'm already a few turns past these events now.

The main reason I only reported 1 battle was because I hate how AAR's limit the time you spend on campaigns. Thus, I'll only write out an AAR every once in a while, which will be years apart from the closest AAR, if I feel like it.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Wow, it is quite nice AAR you have got here. I didn't know you had any talents outside spamming Save for a couple of PMs and Tavern posts, everything else you usually posted was just brief bits of disguised spam. Nothing from which one could extract a tiniest bit of information.

This AAR might just make me want to play ETW


I wonder why CA haven't thought of posting such AARs before their game's releases. That would definitely boost the sales.

[Martok]

Moved to the Mead Hall.

Nice campaign, btw.

[A Very Super Market]

CAMELRY!!! And a lot of line infantry. Actually, it shouldn't be considered spam at all, since line infantry are THE basic part of an army.

And what did you use for the screenies? I like them. Its a shame my ETW stutters to much for me to take them. Good job!

[Megas Methuselah]

I wonder why CA haven't thought of posting such AARs before their game's releases. That would definitely boost the sales.

The closest thing we've had on the .Org was Jack Lusted's brief Swedish Campaign report. Informative and somewhat reassuring, but no pretty screenies.

Nice campaign, btw.

CAMELRY!!! And a lot of line infantry. Actually, it shouldn't be considered spam at all, since line infantry are THE basic part of an army.

That's true. But in this case, they were almost the only part of my army. Light infantry would've been helpful on the left flank, where the Hanoverians and Marathas were locked down in a firefight. Grenadiers would have been especially helpful in ensuing brawl in the center, mostly because of their grenades, but also because of their superior melee skills.

And what did you use for the screenies? I like them. Its a shame my ETW stutters to much for me to take them. Good job!

Fraps. I edited them a bit to take out the UI and reduce their size for the poor guys who have crappy PC's (like you, maybe? ). I also tried to include flags and a glimpse of Satara in most screenies.