The Rise of the Mongols - Strategy & Tactics Press

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Khan:
The Rise of the Mongols
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4 #229
contents
F e A t U R e s
6 KHAn: the Rise of the Mongol empire
The Mongols conquer Eurasia in the 13 th century,
creating the first continent-wide empire.
by Joseph Miranda
20 the Russian navy in World War I
While facing sometimes difficult odds in the Great
War, the Russian navy won significant victories in
the Baltic and Black Sea.
by James gordon

F e A t U R e s
RUles
contents
42 the lion conquers Bavaria:
the Battle of lech, April 1632
Gustavus Adolphus fights his way into
Bavaria during the 30 Years War, demonstrating
the power of the new Swedish army.
by William Welsh
R1 KHAn: RIse oF tHe Mongols
by Joseph Miranda
depARtMents
Number 229
jul/aug 2005
33 for your iNformatioN
l.m.f.
by Gregory M. Smith
Confederate indian units in the american
Civil War
by Mark Lardas
the rise & fall of alexius Ducas
by Darin Levilloff
australian Conquest of Kaiser
Wilhelm’s land
by Peter Wyche
WWii electronic Warfare
by Gregory M. Smith
39 tHe long tRAdItIon
56 WoRKs In pRogRess
57 tHe WInneRs:
Best oF s&t 2004
strategy & tactics 5

6 #229
KHAN: KHAN: The Rise of the Mongol Mongol
Empire in the 13th Century Century
by Joseph Miranda

In AD 1206 a seemingly petty Mongol warlord by
the name of Temujin led a confederation of tribal
warriors in an invasion of China. The Chinese
had repelled many such invasions in the past,
but this time it would be different. Temujin had taken
the grandiloquent title of Genghis Khan, or universal
ruler, and this invasion was the beginning of a series
of campaigns that ended only when the Mongols had
created an empire stretching from the Yellow Sea to
Baghdad and the gates of Vienna. The Mongols would
burn into the peoples of Eurasia a reputation for military
efficiency and ferocity for centuries thereafter. But who
were the Mongols, and how was it that they could create
the mightiest empire of the Middle Ages?
Strategy
In military terms the Mongols had any number of
strategic advantages. One was central position. With their
heartland in the steppes of inner Asia, they could strike east
against the Chinese, south against the Muslim world, and
west against Europe. At the same time, their opponents
lacked the mobility and logistical wherewithal to attack
into the Mongol homeland. Routes into that heartland were
blocked by mountain ranges, deserts and vast uninhabited
expanses that more conventional armies would have had
difficulty negotiating. More fundamentally, the Mongols
lacked anything that might constitute a vulnerable strategic
center of mass, such as great cities or complex irrigation
systems. Being nomadic, they could move their populace
and their cattle as far as the grasslands that supported
them.
Given their central position, the Mongols could pick off
their enemies one at a time. If their opponents had formed
a grand alliance, the Mongols could have conceivably
been overwhelmed by having to fight on multiple fronts.
Of course no such alliance was likely, given the limits on
communications in the pre-modern era.
Much is made of the Mongols withdrawing from central
Europe in 1242 following the death of the Khan Ogedai. The
reason for the withdrawal was to attend a Kuriltai (grand
council) to elect a new great khan. Yet it was precisely
such institutions as the Kuriltai that cemented the Mongol
tribes into a devastating fighting force. Such councils
were routinely held prior to the start of any campaign.
Commanders could agree on strategy, and maneuvers for
upcoming campaigns were coordinated. This might be
compared with the much more haphazard system in effect
with such opponents as the Europeans of the time, where
councils of war were ad hoc affairs and strategy was often
a matter of determining aristocratic prerogatives. More
critically, the Kuriltais provided political unity via Mongol
leaders arriving at a consensus of who was to be the great
khan. Once that consensus had been achieved, a single
military strategy could be planned and implemented.
Genghis Khan launched his sweep to Eurasian empire
at a time when most of his opponents were divided. China
had disintegrated into three states, the Chi’in (or Kin,
sometimes Chin, Qu’in or Jin) in the north, the Sung in
strategy & tactics 7

8 #229

a Brief history of the 13 th Century
1190-1206: Unification of the Mongols. Temujin rises to
power as chief of inner Asian tribes and declares himself
Genghis Khan.
1204: Fall of Constantinople. The Fourth Crusade storms
and pillages the ancient capital, crippling the Byzantine
Empire.
1205-1209: Genghis’ War with Xi Xia. The Xi Xia kingdom
of western China becomes a Mongol vassal.
1211-15: War with the Chi’in. Mongols gain suzerainty
over northern China.
1211-50: Reign of Frederic II. The German king spends
much of his time involved in the petty politics of
the Italian states and campaigning against the popes.
Meanwhile the Mongols invade Europe.
1218-21: Khwarezmian War. Genghis leads an army
westward, defeating the Persian-based Khwarezmians in
a series of campaigns from the Caucasus to the Indus.
1218-21: Fifth Crusade. Crusaders invade Egypt but are
forced to withdraw after indecisive campaigning.
1224-27: Renewed War with Chinese. Xi Xia and Chi’in
rebel against Mongol rule. Genghis turns east and defeats
them.
1227: Death of Genghis Khan. Mongol leaders elect Ogedai
as new Great Khan. He reigns until his death in 1241.
1228-29: Sixth Crusade. Fredrick II of Germany obtains
Christian access to Jerusalem.
1231-34: Conquest of Chi’in. Ogedai allies with Sung
Chinese to defeat the Chi’in Empire.
1231-36: Mongol Conquest of Western Persia. This was
aided in part by Ottoman attacks against the remnant
Khwarezmian Empire.
1237: Mongol capital established at Karakorum. This
was Genghis’ great campsite. Karakorum becomes a
center for administration and tribute.
1234-79: Conquest of Sung Empire. Mongolian dispute
with Sung leads to open warfare that continues through
Ogedai’s successors, with Kublai Khan gaining the final
victory.
1236-63: Alexander Nevsky. Alexander of Novgorod
became a respected vassal of the Golden Horde, defeating
a Swedish invasion on the Neva River (1240), and the
Teutonic Knights at Lake Peipus (1242).
1241-42: Mongol Invasion of Central Europe. The Mongol
general Subedai, under the titular command of Genghis
Khan’s grandson Batu, overruns Poland, defeating a
combined eastern European army under Henry the
Pious at Leignitz (9 April 1241). Another Mongol army
advances into Hungary, defeating King Bela at Mohi (or
Sajo River, 11 April 1241).
1242-1256: Batu and the Golden Horde. Batu establishes
his capital at Sarai on the Volga and makes the Golden
Horde the major power in eastern Europe.
1243: Mongols push into Anatolia. They defeat the Anatolian
Turkish tribes and give the Byzantine Empire a respite.
1248-54: Seventh Crusade. Louis IX of France lands in Egypt
where he is defeated by the Moslems.
1250: Mamluks. Egyptian slave-soldiers seize control of the
country and establish a militaristic dynasty.
1251-59: Mongke (Mangu) as Great Khan. A capable
administrator, he maintains the unity of the empire.
1255-60: Hulegu and the Ilkhanate. Hulegu establishes
a khanate based in Persia, aligns with various Christian
forces, storms Baghdad (1258), and destroys the Abbasid
Caliphate.
1258-59: Mongol invasion of Syria. Hulegu attacks the
Egyptian-based Mamluk kingdom, but withdraws when
news of the death of the Khan Mongke reaches him.
1260: Battle of Ain Jalut. Mamluks defeat a Mongol army.
This battle becomes a psychological turning point,
demolishing the myth of Mongol invincibility.
1260-1294: Kublai Khan. Kublai comes to power following
a civil war with his brother. He establishes his capital in
Peking and proclaims the Yuan dynasty.
1261: Hungarians Defeat Mongols. King Bela repulses a
second Mongolian incursion.
1261: Byzantines Recapture Constantinople. While officially
re-established, the Byzantine Empire is never again able
to regain its former power. Asia Minor and the Balkans
continue to be a scene of constant warfare.
1261-62: Ilkhans Versus the Golden Horde. The two western
Mongol khanates vie for power in an inconclusive war.
1270: Eighth Crusade. Louis IX lands in Tunis, but the
crusade comes to an end when he dies during an epidemic.
1274: First Invasion of Japan. Mongols launch an invasion
from Korea, landing on Kyushu, but Japanese resistance
prevents them from advancing inland. The invasion army
withdraws following a storm that destroys many of their
ships.
1281: Second Invasion of Japan. Mongols face fierce Japanese
counterattacks and are defeated when a storm (kamikaze,
the “divine wind”) again wrecks their fleet.
1281-1300: Invasions of Southeast Asia. Mongol armies march
into Annam (Vietnam), Champa and Burma, experiencing
stout resistance. Those regions become Mongol vassals but
maintain a degree of autonomy. A Mongol naval expedition
to Java is defeated.
1291 Siege of Acre. Moslems capture the last Crusader
stronghold in the Holy Land. This was the end of the
Crusader states.
Armored Mongol warriors in action.
strategy & tactics 9

10 #229
the south, and Xi Xia (or Hsi Hsia) in the west. Those
states were often at war with each other and, indeed,
formed alliances with the Mongols at various times in
the 13th century thinking they would gain advantages
against their Chinese rivals—only to find out too late
the Mongols were the ultimate threat.
In what is today the Middle East, the once grand
Muslim Caliphate had long since divided into multiple
warring empires: the Ayyubid Caliphate based in
Egypt, the Abbasids in Iraq, the Khwarezmians in
Persia, the Seljuk Turks pressuring the decaying
Byzantine Empire, and the Ismailis in their mountain
redoubts.
Making matters worse were the Crusades, with
European (or “Frankish”) armies wreaking havoc
throughout much of the region. The First through
Fourth Crusades ranged over the years 1098-1204,
with more to follow in the 13 th century. One of the
Crusaders’ primary accomplishment was crippling
the once mighty Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines,
long a bulwark of Christendom in the east, had been
the victim of a plot to seize its mighty capital city,
Constantinople. Constantinople fell to a Crusader
army in 1204, becoming the center of a weak “Latin
Empire.” While the Byzantines would recover later in
the 13 th century (ironically, with some help from the
Mongols), the damage had been done, and the one state
which might have been a counterpoise to depredations
in the east had been rendered a shadow of its former
self.
With so much of the Muslim world engaged in
fending off the Fifth through Eighth Crusades during
the 13 th century, it’s small wonder a concerted defense
could not be established against the Mongol threat. It
was not until the rise of the Mamluks in Egypt in 1250
that an effective counterattack could begin.
As for Europe, since the collapse of the Carolingian
Empire centuries before, there was no single entity
capable of uniting the numerous kingdoms, states,
principalities, trading leagues and free cities into
a single military force. The Europeans spent most
of their time fighting each other. To make matters
worse, European divisions over the particular brand
of Christianity to be practiced, Catholicism or Eastern
Orthodox, not to mention assorted “heresies,” put the
kibosh on any political unity and, obviously, without
political unity there would be no united military
effort.
For example, prior to the Mongol invasion
of Hungary, King Bela was involved in a power
struggle against his own nobles there. Complicating
matters was the presence of numerous Turkish and
Muslim refugees from prior Mongol wars. Had all
those contingents formed a single army, combining
the heavy Hungarian cavalry with the eastern light
horsemen, they might have been able to gain some
tactical parity against the Mongols. Instead they all
fell to fighting among themselves, with the result, that
when the confrontation with the Mongols finally came
at the Battle of Mohi (11 April 1241), the Hungarians
were outmaneuvered and defeated.
Operations
Before starting a campaign, the Mongols would
gather intelligence information via spies, merchants
and scouts. The information was analyzed by Mongol
commanders using an impromptu staff system. Both
military and political intelligence were found useful.
For example, in preparing for their invasion of Europe,
the Mongols realized the division of Russia and the
lands to its west into numerous independent feuding
states would provide opportunities for exploitation.
Each European kingdom could be defeated one at a
time and, indeed, the Europeans were never able to
mount a single continent-wide defense. When the
Mongols launched their second invasion of Poland in
1261, Pope Alexander IV called for a European alliance
to fight the intruders, but could get no response. The
German emperors were busy asserting their authority
against the popes; the French were fighting the
English, and the various Baltic powers were struggling
for control over seaborne trade routes. Meanwhile, the
Crusades were absorbing the attention of the European
military class while providing no strategic advantages
in return.
The Mongols would often plan a campaign to take
advantage of the weather. Their 1237 invasion of
Russia was launched in the dead of winter. Winter was
not the normal campaign season for medieval armies,
but the Mongols were used to operating under such
conditions, though no doubt at some cost in attrition.
Ironically, the frozen ground facilitated movement,
and operations would slow down when the spring
thaw set in.
In the field, the Mongols divided their army into
independent columns when moving cross country,
but concentrated for fighting major battles. Riding in
separate columns reduced the strain foraging put on
the animals, as well as facilitating maneuver with units
operating in manageable formations. The numerous
columns helped spread rumors about Mongol “hordes”
overrunning the countryside, further demoralizing any
foes.
Timing of operations was agreed to at the precampaign
kuriltai. Communications were by an
efficient system of messengers with relay stations and
remounts. What is interesting is how often Mongol
maneuvers actually worked in the field. In the premodern
era, before the invention of instantaneous
communications, attempting to coordinate diverse
military columns for single maneuvers often ended
in disaster. Army commanders would frequently lose
contact with independent detachments and units would
show up late if at all.
For example, Napoleon Bonaparte, arguably the
best European general of the last millennium, suffered
several major setbacks when he attempted just such

maneuvers, and the French emperor had a well organized
staff system with a messenger service and some of
the best marshals of his time. At Bautzen (20-21 May
1813), Napoleon directed Marshal Ney’s corps to make
a wide sweeping movement in order to cut the lines of
communications of an Allied army. But Ney showed
up late, and the French lost the opportunity to envelop
and destroy the Allies. At Waterloo two years later,
Napoleon could not maintain contact between his own
main army and adjacent forces under Ney and Grouchy
even though they were all fighting within a day’s march
of each other. So it is all the more remarkable the
Mongols could “move divided, fight united,” especially
when maneuvering across relatively unknown terrain
and through hostile country.
Tactics
The Mongols stressed combined arms on the
battlefield. Originally, their entire army was made up
of horsemen, two-fifths of the troopers being heavy
cavalry and the remainder light horse-archers. The light
troopers would proceed on the front and flanks to harass
the foe. When the enemy was sufficiently disrupted,
the heavy cavalry would close in for the charge. In the
final assault, the heavies would go in first with the horse
archers firing overhead. Flanking forces would move to
envelop the enemy.
Commands in the field were transmitted by drums,
standards and signal flags. Mongol soldiers were
ordered to remain silent during the initial maneuvers
so orders could be understood. When the final assault
came, a single great war cry was raised, backed up by
the beating of great war drums.
Many of the Mongols’ tactics were millennia old,
but they still worked. For example, much use was
made of feigned flight, in which an advance guard
would withdraw on contact with the enemy in order
to lure him into an ambush. After winning a battle, the
Mongols would pursue ruthlessly. In the Khwarizm
campaign, Genghis chased the broken Persians for five
months, from central Asia to the shores of the Caspian.
Tactical victories could thereby be turned into strategic
triumphs.
strategy & tactics 11

Mongol Organization
Mongol armies were organized on the decimal basis; that
is, 10 units were combined in each echelon of command. The
touman of 10,000 warriors was the largest standard unit. it
was formed from 10 minghans (1000 men each), which in turn
consisted of ten jaguns (100 men), and then finally 10 arbans
(10 men). Obviously, strengths in the field could vary owing to
attrition, attachments, and so forth.
A Mongol field army or ordus would consist of two or three
toumans under the command of a general. “Ordus,” incidentally
is the origin of the word “horde,” though in its original sense it
meant a specific military unit. Genghis Khan’s army consisted
of three such armies: the Junghar (army of the left wing/east),
Baraunghar (army of the right/west), and Khol (army of the
center, with the khan himself). Mongol armies pitched camp
facing south, hence the titles refer to each sub-army’s relative
position. Contemporary observers noted the standardized units
facilitated Mongol generals in passing down orders, since each
officer had to deal with a limited number of subordinates. That
compared well to the often chaotic situation in polyglot European
armies where disputes over aristocratic privilege disrupted
command arrangements.
All able-bodied Mongol men owed military service. Heavy
cavalry wore armor made of iron or hardened leather. Light
cavalry were expert horse-archers. Silk shirts were worn by all
as arrowheads could not tear the material; so arrows could be
removed from body wounds simply by pulling out the garment.
Younger Mongols would accompany an army to herd cattle and
gain experience. Each unit had its own officers. Advancement
was generally based on proven skill in battle. Sometimes nobles
would be allowed to nominally command a major unit for political
reasons, but actual command devolved on a veteran subordinate
officer.
As the Mongols conquered more peoples, their armies were
accompanied by considerable numbers of subject levy troops,
as well as specialists such as engineers, artillerists (using early
gunpowder weapons) and camp artisans. Often, subject royalty
were in the field army where the khan could keep an eye on them,
as well as using them as hostages to maintain their citizenry’s
loyalties. The increase in size of Mongol armies by the mid-13 th
century does justify in some degree the belief in vast numbers of
Mongols overwhelming their foes, though how much of those
numbers represented auxiliaries is open to speculation.
There were some special units. The Keshig was the khan’s
guard. It was maintained at the strength of a touman and was used
as an elite reserve and assault force. Members of the Keshig had
higher status than the rest of the army, and guardsmen received
the equivalent of modern staff officer training. There were also
volunteer (and not-so-volunteer) “suicide” units, which would
lead assaults on fortified cities.
Mongol armies were well disciplined in the field. Military
codes specified punishments for offenses such as missing guard
duty. That was, apparently, the result of Mongol contact with the
Chinese civilizations to their south and east. The discipline, along
with non-stop training, gave the Mongols a real edge over the
armies of China and Europe, which usually consisted of a core of
professionals or feudal knights supported by much larger numbers
of militia levies. Two of the more significant Mongol defeats,
at Ain Jalut and in the invasions of Japan, were both inflicted
by opponents who had consistently high levels of military skill:
the Mamluks in the former battle and the samurai in the latter.
Regardless, Mongol iron discipline welded the usually unruly
tribes of the steppes into the most efficient military machine of
their time.
12 #229
As the Mongols absorbed more conquered peoples into
their empire, they increasingly deployed subject auxiliaries,
including infantry archers. There was occasional use of
camels to disrupt enemy cavalry formations (horses reacted
erratically to them), early gunpowder weapons (courtesy
of the Chinese), and “suicide” corps (picked volunteers or
conscripted prisoners who made the initial assault).
The Mongols exploited battlefield stratagems for all
they were worth, such as setting grass fires and mounting
straw-stuffed dummies on horses to deceive the enemy
about their strength. They also put a new spin on the old
Chinese battle tactic of leaving the enemy army a gap
through which it could withdraw. The original idea was
that would prevent the enemy from making a fanatic fight
to the death, but the Mongols wanted the enemy to think
he could get away. As his troops fell back, they lost their
cohesion and then the Mongols would launch a fierce
pursuit.
Logistics
As the cliché goes, “an army travels on its stomach.”
In the case of the Mongols, the army also traveled on
the backs of its animals. The Mongols, like many other
steppe peoples, were brought up from childhood to be
horsemen. The horses gave advantages in mobility, as
well as saving wear and tear on the troops who would
ride them—a critical factor when considering a Mongol
army might travel several thousand miles in the course of
a campaign.
Mongol fieldcraft was good—hunting, land navigating,
pitching tents, surviving in otherwise inhospitable terrain.
That meant the army could maintain itself in the field
without the logistical support that would otherwise be
required. The typical Mongol dwelling was the yurt, a
tent-like hut which could be moved easily and carried via
draught animals.
Each trooper would bring several horses for a campaign.
That minimized the exhaustion of animals by switching
mounts, as well as allowing the carrying of more supplies.
The horses themselves could be a source of nourishment,
with field rations including mare’s milk (often fermented
into yoghurt), blood (collected by opening a vein in a
horse’s neck and then closing it before the animal was too
impaired), and even meat (if the situation got desperate
enough).
The steppe horses were a small, hardy breed that could
live off various grasses. On the march, the Mongols would
also drive along immense herds of cattle for meat on the
hoof, as well as conducting the usual foraging to live off
the land.
The downside was that vast traveling menagerie
required immense amounts of fodder. So the Mongol
system could work well in lands with open grazing, but
would break down elsewhere. There is some speculation the
Mongols halted operations against central Europe because
the countryside simply could not support a Mongol army.
Similarly, the deserts of the Middle East also diminished
Mongol capabilities in the face of the Mamluks.

Unconventional Warfare
The Mongols had a reputation for terror, a reputation
that has persisted until this day. This was due in part
to propaganda the Mongols themselves disseminated
to demoralize their foes. It was also the result of the
panic that spread among defeated foes looking for
explanations for their defeats. One belief was the
Mongol “hordes” won through superior numbers, but
the reality was the Mongols were often outnumbered
by their foes.
There was another reason for the Mongol reputation
for ferocity, and that is they made no small use of terror
tactics in their campaigns. It was not uncommon for
Mongol armies to issue ultimatums to enemy cities,
demanding surrender or face total annihilation, a
threat the Mongols inevitably carried out. Great cities
such as Baghdad and Kiev were destroyed by Mongol
assaults.
Actually, the destruction of cities that refused to
surrender was common military practice in that era.
Crusader armies showed no hesitation in pillaging
Jerusalem in 1099 and Constantinople in 1204.
Sometimes the Mongols were responding to enemy
provocations—on more than one occasion, Mongol
envoys were executed by defiant defenders. The great
khan’s vengeance was often less than pleasant. And
there were Mongol massacres of otherwise peaceful
populaces, the usual devastation of the countryside by
foraging armies, the destruction of irrigation systems,
which returned fertile countryside into desert, and
such niceties as creating mountains of skulls.
What the Mongols did that was unique was to
deliberately exploit terror as a propaganda weapon
to demoralize their foes. They gained a psychological
edge over their foes such that, when the confrontation
came on the battlefield, the Mongols won before a
single arrow was fired.
Underlying the terror was a more subtle
psychological rationale for conquest. Genghis Khan
and his successors spread the belief the Mongols were
destined to rule the world. Consequently, the enemies
of the Mongols were considered rebel subjects who
ought to be vanquished and absorbed into the empire.
That belief served as a common unifying ideology
among the far-flung Mongol armies.
Mongol agents would frequently encourage
downtrodden groups within targeted countries to
believe the invaders would liberate them. And Mongol
tolerance for diverse religions sometimes encouraged
minority groups to enlist for the duration. Interestingly,
there were large Christian contingents among the
Mongol armies that invaded the Islamic caliphates.
Empire of the Steppes
Simply conquering territories was not enough to
establish an empire. The real problem was consolidating
power. That meant setting up a functioning
administration and gaining at least some support from
the locals. It is to the credit of the Mongols the states
they set up survived for a century or more, though
their ultimate demise was due to factors inherent in
the Mongol system, as will be seen.
Mongol practice was to conscript the best assets
from conquered peoples. For example, their early
armies lacked the ability to conduct sieges, a common
shortcoming in nomadic armies. The Mongols
overcame that by conscripting Chinese and Islamic
engineers (often sparing them from the usual massacre).
They also employed political talent. Yeh-lu Chu-ts’ai,
a Chi’in official, did much to ameliorate Mongol rule
in China by assisting Genghis in setting up an efficient
administration. Censuses and tax collection quickly
became part of the Mongol system.
The Mongols drafted troops from subject peoples
and created a multi-national army. Unusual for the
era, the Mongols practiced a considerable degree of
religious tolerance, really a necessity in forming an
empire that embraced so many different peoples. That
move also removed much of the internal squabbling
that had caused the disintegration of many other
alliances in the past. A Mongol army might contain
Buddhists, Christians, Moslems and assorted pagans.
The Mongols established law and order within
conquered territories with the usual ruthless methods.
The economy was encouraged, as the depredations of
bandits were considerably reduced and trade routes
flourished on a continent-wide basis. Consequently,
the khanates could rely on a degree of economic
stability, enhancing their revenues via customs duties
The Tartars
“Tartar” (or “Tatar”) is a general European term for various
Mongolian and Turkic peoples who raided or invaded westward
at various times throughout the Medieval era. The origin of
the term is disputed. Some linguists claim it is derived from
“Tartarus,” the pit of the underworld, reflecting the dread
inspired among the Europeans by the ferocity of the Mongols.
More likely, the term originates from the name of the Ta-Ta
Mongol clan. “Ta-Ta” means “warrior-warrior,” the idea being
the Mongols were doubly ferocious fighters.
strategy & tactics 13

14 #229
Men on horseback
Genghis Khan (1155?-1227)
Genghis Khan (Jinghiz Khan) was born as Temujin in
the Borjigan clan of the Mongols. He spent much of his
youth involved in the usual inter-fighting of the tribesmen,
displaying good military skill and even better political
leadership. He surrounded himself with loyal retainers,
thereby avoiding the backstabbing that inevitably caused the
disintegration of tribal confederations. His early campaigns
showed the skill he would later employ on a continent-wide
scale—exploitation of interior lines and mobility in order to
defeat his enemies in detail.
At a grand assembly of Mongols in 1206, Temujin
declared himself Genghis Khan or “Universal Ruler” (also
translated as “World Conqueror” or “Prince of Conquerors,”
or even as “Emperor of the Seas,” the latter illogically
enough for landlocked Mongolia). With formal unification
of Mongolia in hand, Genghis would begin his march of
Eurasian conquest. China, central Asia, the Khwarezmian
Empire would all fall to his horsemen. He also campaigned in
northwestern India in pursuit of the defeated Khwarezmians
and sent a reconaissance in force into southern Russia.
One of Genghis’ skills was the ability to assimilate tactical
methods from other peoples, including combined heavylight
cavalry tactics on the battlefield, and siege operations
against fortified cites. He enforced a rigid discipline
among his troops, a rarity for steppe armies. Politically, he
maintained the loyalty of his subordinates, no mean feat in an
era known for treachery and power grabs. That loyalty, along
with a reasonable administration of conquered territories,
maintained Genghis’ empire for decades after his death.
Kublai Khan (1215-1294)
Kublai Khan was Genghis’ grandson and one of the
greatest rulers in history, at least in terms of geographic
extent. His Mongol Empire stretched from Korea to eastern
Europe and into the Middle East. While serving in the
Mongols’ Chinese wars, he quickly showed his political
skills, making good use of local advisors to rationalize
administration. He also proved to be a talented general,
winning battles against the Sung Empire. When the great
Khan Mongke died in 1259, Kublai threw himself into
the struggle for the ultimate power, a struggle that led to
civil war. Kublai emerged triumphant in 1264, but it was
something of a balancing act. His urbane Chinese ways did
not sit well with the more traditional steppe warriors.
Kublai went on to unify China, establishing the Ta
Yuan dynasty (“Great Origin”) in 1271, though the fighting
continued until 1279. He launched somewhat successful
invasions of Burma and Vietnam, and somewhat disastrous
invasions of Java and Japan. Kublai made good use of
Chinese and foreign advisors. Among others, he appointed
the Venetian adventurer, Marco Polo, to high office. But he
allowed the traditional Confucian examination system, which
opened the civil service to all qualified applicants, to lapse,
replacing it with the Mongol practice of handing over key
posts to trusted individuals. While there was considerable
prosperity in his realm, it mainly benefited the ruling elites.
One legacy was he established his capital at Peking
(“Northern Capital,” formerly called Peiping or “the North is
Pacified”). The “Xanadu” of Samuel Taylor Coleridge fame
was actually Kublai’s palace at K’ai-p’ing. Incidentally,
Kublai was also known as Setsen Khan (“Wise Khan”).
alexander nevsky (1220-63)
Alexander of Novgorod has been something of a
Russian national hero, generally known in the west due to
Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 movie Alexander Nevsky about his
struggle against the Teutonic Knights. Alexander began his
career when elected prince of Novgorod, one of the leading
Russian principalities of the time. In 1240 he commanded
the Russian army that defeated a Swedish incursion at the
River Neva, hence his title “Nevsky.” Two years later,
the Teutonic Knights, a Crusader order based in Prussia,
marched into Novgorod’s lands. Alexander mobilized
another army and won a great victory over them at Lake
Peipus. His use of cavalry envelopment tactics in that battle
showed the influence of centuries of steppe warfare, and
once again demonstrated the vulnerability of heavy knights
against more mobile foes.
In dealing with the threat from the east, Alexander relied
on diplomacy rather than military skill. Bowing to the
inevitable, he played politics in several visits to the Golden
Horde and in return the Mongols appointed him prince of
Kiev and grand prince of Vladimir. Alexander generally
ruled well and reconstructed Russia after the devastation of
decades of warfare. He frequently interceded on the behalf
of the Russian people against the khans, and the Mongols
apparently liked him as he kept the peace on their northwest
frontier. While Alexander was a Mongol vassal, he did much
to make the best of a bad deal. He was later canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church.
Prester John
One of the more curious beliefs of Europeans in the middle
ages was that of Prester John. Prester John was supposedly
the king of a Christian kingdom located somewhere in central
Asia. The legend probably got its start in the 12 th century
with a confusion of various tales combining everything from
the historic Alexander the Great to the legend of Parsifal and
quest for the Holy Grail. It got a boost with the Crusaders,
who claimed that a Christian monarch was marching out
of Asia to link up with their own anti-Moslem efforts from
Europe in a grand strategic envelopment of the Holy Land.
Oddly enough, there actually was a great monarch sweeping
out of Asia, smashing Moslem states along the way—
Genghis Khan
The Mongols, with their more tolerant attitudes towards
religion, were open to Christian missionaries and they did,
on occasion, ally themselves with the Crusaders. By forcing
Moslem attention elsewhere, they probably saved the
Crusader States and the Byzantine Empire from destruction
in the 13 th century.
Of course, with the invasion of Europe the belief the
Mongols were a lost Christian host coming to the rescue
of the west went out the window. Odoricus de Foro Julii, a
monk who did missionary work in central Asia and who had
occasion to know the situation firsthand, would write “that
not a hundredth part of the things related of Prester John
were true.” Nonetheless, the legend of Prester John would
persist for centuries afterward.

(though that often did the local populace little good). And,
no doubt, the heavy-handed peace did much to discourage
local revolts.
Following the death of Genghis in 1227, the Mongol
Empire was divided into four khanates: the Golden Horde
(under Genghis’ grandson Batu, in Russia), Chagadai
(Central Asia, named after one of Genghis’ sons), the
Ilkhans (literally, “Glorious Rulers,” built around Persia by
Hulegu), and the Great Khan (China, where Kublai Khan
later established the Yuan dynasty). Each khanate had its
own khan, capital and army, along with a ruling Mongol
elite.
The great khan was supposedly ruler of them all, and
Kublai Khan’s writ theoretically ran the length of the
entire empire, but for practical purposes each khanate was
an independent kingdom. Probably, the khanates were as
large as a pre-modern state could be, given limitations
on communications and the span of control in which
administrations could function. Still, the regions covered
were immense. The Golden Horde was as large as western
Europe.
The Mongols also appeared to become rapidly civilized.
Kublai Khan made a genuine attempt to establish himself as
a legitimate Chinese ruler under the “Mandate of Heaven,”
with some respect for the citizenry. The lkhanates and
Golden Horde Mongols would, once they had settled in,
convert to Islam and fit in with their subject peoples.
continued on page 18
The Moguls
While the Mongols were no longer a world-shaking power in
the 16th century, Genghis’ name could still inspire the peoples of
the steppes. In 1526 Zahir-ud-Din Babur, a prince of Samarkand
in central Asia who was descended from both Genghis Khan
and Tamerlane, set himself up as King of Kabul with an army
based in Afghanistan (a major crossroads for trade routes at
the time). Invading northern India in 1525, he quickly carved
out an empire. His successors, notably Akbar, consolidated the
empire on a sound administrative and military basis. In the great
city of Agra they would build the wondrous palace and garden
called the Taj Mahal. Babur’s empire would become known as
the Mogul, from the Persian word for Mongol. Mogul dynasties
lasted well into the 19 th century, finally being dissolved into the
British Empire in India.
strategy & tactics 15

16 #229
The Opposition
It’s easy to list the Mongols military advantages: unity
of command, superior mobility, exploitation of intelligence,
psychological warfare, etc., as if they were unique in the
annals of medieval warfare. Yet all of these things were
practiced by armies for millennia. Military treatises such as
Stratagems (by the Roman Sextus Julius Frontinus), the Art
of War (by the Chinese Sun Tzu) and Strategikon (by the
Byzantine Leo) all provide similar expositions on strategy
and tactics. Why, then, were the Mongols’ enemies unable to
mount a successful defense?
As this narrative has indicated, the opposition was often
busy fighting among themselves instead of against the
Mongols; so many advantages that would have accrued to
more civilized armies were lost. The horse-archer tactic of
feigned retreat followed by an ambush had been known for
centuries. The Chinese had fought nomadic people since the
days of the Hsiung-Niu (known in the west as the Huns) and
worked out counter-tactics such as advancing with infantry
formed in great hollow squares, cavalry and baggage in
the center. Foot archers, especially crossbowmen, would
keep horse archers at bay, and then the cavalry would make
short, controlled charges to force back the lighter nomadic
horsemen without themselves falling into traps.
Similarly, the Hungarians and other eastern Europeans
had a long history of not only fighting against nomadic
raiders from the eastern steppes but also of employing such
tactics themselves. But they had long since converted their
armies to the western European feudal model, with a core
of heavy cavalry backed by infantry levies and mercenaries.
They proved less than adequate for dealing with Mongol
style warfare.
Where the Mongols were effective was in integrating
many diverse practices into a single military system. They
combined both traditional nomadic light cavalry with heavy
cavalry tactics, creating a force on the battlefield whose
synthesis was greater than the impact of its individual arms.
In many ways, the rise of the Mongol military system
is not unlike the French system that crystallized around
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800-05. Napoleon synthesized
military developments from the late 18 th century (combined
arms divisions, skirmishers, massed battlefield artillery)
with his own particular genius for war to create the kind
of organization that is in many ways the antecedent for all
modern armies. The Mongols did the same, and their system
worked—until their enemies relearned.
Chinese
At the time of the Mongol invasions, China was divided
into several independent kingdoms. The two main states
were the Chi’in in the north and the Sung in the south. The
Chi’in dynasty had its origins with the Jurchin tribes of
northern Manchuria. who invaded China proper in the 12 th
century. The Sung Empire had emerged during the confused
fighting of the 10 th century, when China was rent by both
internal struggle and external invasion. While the Chi’in had
a cavalry tradition, it had declined by the time of the Mongol
invasions. And the territory of the Sung Empire was not
suited for war-horse breeding; so both of those states were
unable to counter the Mongol cavalry armies in the field.
Defense was emphasized over offense, facilitated by China’s
numerous fortified cities and the deployment of “high-tech”
weapons such as gunpowder.
The Chinese had several echelons of forces, all subject to
the central government. At the top was the imperial guard,
an army in its own right, with units stationed in the capital
and at various strategic points around the realm. The militia
was responsible for local defense and often recruited from
military colonists. At the bottom was a labor corps. There
were also mercenaries and auxiliaries, often recruited from
the steppe nomads, as well as river flotillas. China’s great
rivers were natural lines of communications and centers for
economic activity. Several great battles of the era took place
between riverine forces.
The Chinese had a long tradition of military analysis
going back to Sun Tzu and his classic Art of War, but there
was also a tendency for Chinese military proficiency to
deteriorate the longer a dynasty remained in power. Troops
lost their skills in peacetime and corruption became endemic.
A good ruler was supposed to govern by political skill and
consensus, not military force. That worked when dealing
with internal threats, but proved less than efficient when
repelling foreign invaders.
Incidentally, the current Great Wall of China was not
built until later in the Ming dynasty, after the Mongols
had been overthrown in China. While there was a chain of
northern frontier fortifications in the 13 th century, they were
outflanked by the Mongols who invaded from the west.
Moslems
There were two competing Caliphates, the Ayyubid based
in Egypt, and the Abbasid in Iraq. Both claimed the rule of
the entire Islamic world, and both were highly developed
civilizations. Troops were raised by a quasi-feudal system
called the iqta’, in which amirs (noblemen) provided troops
in return for grants of land or sometimes cash. The grants
were not heredity, so the system remained more flexible than
the European and was more responsive to central control.
And, as was typical of most armies in that era, there was
also the usual plethora of auxiliaries drawn from nomadic
tribesmen, militias and freebooters. Often, armies could
be raised to incredibly large sizes, but with a simultaneous
decline in efficiency.
The Mamluks were unique, originally elite slave-soldiers
who were subject only to the state, but eventually they
became a force in their own right. They were usually cavalry
and also usually well trained. In the mid-13 th century, the
Mamluks would take over Egypt and make themselves into
a new military aristocracy.
The ghazis were warrior brotherhoods who frequently
undertook their own version of the crusades.
Turks
Turkic tribes, some of them well organized (such as the
Seljuks and Ottomans), roamed between Central Asia and
the Balkans, frequently carving out kingdoms such as the
Khwarizm Empire based in Persia. The Turks fought in a
manner similar to the Mongols, though without the same
degree of military efficiency. They frequently made use of
the iqta’ organization and employed Mamluks.

The assassins
The Assassins had their origins in the humble Ismaili
sect of Islam. The Ismailis tended to have some unorthodox
beliefs, including the rejection of much of Islamic law and
the adoption of some Gnostic-style practices. That made
the Ismailis less than popular, and so in the 11 th century
one of their splinter groups established a chain of mountain
fortresses scattered throughout the Middle East, where they
could more properly defend themselves. The tactic they are
most well known for was assassination. Assassins killed
quite a few leaders of the time, Moslem, Crusader and
Mongol, the last including Genghis’ son Chagadai.
When the Mongols attacked and destroyed the Ismaili
stronghold of Alamut in 1256, there was much rejoicing in
the Islamic world, though it was short-lived as the Mongols
then turned on the Caliphates. Interestingly, the assassins
sent an envoy to appeal for help from the Europeans, though
he was met with scorn.
The origin of the word assassin is usually given as
coming from Hashishin (Arabic Hashishiyun), meaning a
user of hashish, under the influence of which the Ismailis
supposedly conducted their campaigns of terror. There is
some dispute as to whether they actually operated under
the influence, though hashish was widely used at the time.
One rumor was that, while on crusade, the Knights Templars
learned forbidden secrets of eastern mysticism from the
Ismailis, something that later led to the persecution of the
Templars in Europe. While the Mongols had destroyed all
of the assassin’s fortresses by the end of the 13 th century, the
Ismaili sect survived and still exists today, albeit in a more
peaceful form.
Japan
Japan in the 13 th century was more or less under the control
of the Hojo family Shogunate. “Shogun” translates roughly
as “Supreme Barbarian Fighting General,” and fight the
barbarians the Japanese did, defeating two Mongol invasions
in 1274 and 1281. The Japanese response to Mongol envoys
demanding submission was to execute the ambassadors, a
then common on-the-job hazard for Mongolian diplomats
and one which inevitably led to terrible follow-on invasions,
though this time the defenders won the day.
While the Japanese paid lip service to Confucian ideals,
there was no Chinese style central bureaucracy and army. At
the top was the Shogun as supreme warlord. The mainstay
of any army were the samurai (“one who serves”), feudal
troops who owed allegiance to daimyos (barons). Levies of
peasant troops, usually poorly trained and armed, filled out
the rank-and-file. There’s some debate about the extent of
samurai organization. The general belief is in that period
they fought in bands under the leadership of their daimyos.
The invasion scrolls, painted to commemorate the Japanese
victory, show Japanese troops fighting in ordered ranks even
though there is little other evidence for regularly formed
units. Regardless, the samurai were supremely trained,
armed and motivated warriors. They also had the advantage
of fighting from fixed defenses that pinned in the invading
army against the coast, negating the usual Mongol advantage
in mobility.
Europe and the Crusaders
In theory, the Holy Roman Emperor (usually a German)
ruled all of Germany, Italy and adjoining regions. But the reality
was Europe was divided into numerous warring entities; so no
single grand army could be mustered. The Europeans relied on
the feudal system to raise armies, with the nobility responsible
for providing contingents of troops. There was the occasional
diet, or assembly, which had the power to vote funds to create an
imperial army. But that rarely happened, since the nobility did
not want to give the emperor any more power than he already
possessed.
One of the shortfalls created by the feudal system was troops
were required to serve for only a limited time each year. While
that worked in inter-European conflicts where everyone was
playing by the same rules (more or less), it proved disastrous
against the Mongols who campaigned year-round. The lack
of unity extended to the battlefield, where armies might often
be composed of several different contingents,not trained to
maneuver and fight together.
The mainstay of European armies was the heavily armored
cavalryman or knight. The knights were backed up by small
numbers of professional infantry, large numbers of peasant
levies and, in the east, light cavalry auxiliaries. There were
town-based militias, some of which also proved effective in the
field. The military orders, such as the Teutonic Knights, Knights
Hospitallars and Knights Templars, operated outside normal
feudal arrangements and could take independent action, but
there never were enough of them.
The Europeans had considerable experience in dealing with
eastern-style armies from the Crusades. Formations had been
developed to counter horse archers and repel heavy cavalry
attacks. So the disastrous defeats at Leignitz and Mohi are
inexcusable. It is fascinating to speculate on the outcome of the
1241-42 campaign had not the Mongols turned back following
the death of Ogedai. Perhaps the density of western European
castles, forests and cultivated fields would have countered
Mongol mobility.
Castles and other fortifications were central to the European
system. They served not only as centers of defense, but political
rallying points. This was especially true in the Crusader States.
Those miniature kingdoms had been established by the Crusaders
during the 12 th century in Palestine and Syria to hold the Holy
Land against the Moslems. The survival of those states, located
along a narrow strip on the eastern Mediterranean littoral, was
precarious at best, and their defense was a careful balancing act
combining military campaigns, diplomacy and treachery.
One curious episode occurred when the Ilkhan Khan Hulegu
launched his invasion of the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258. There
was no small rejoicing among the Crusader States, as well as the
numerous Christian communities scattered throughout Anatolia
and the Caucasus. Encouraged by tales of Prester John and by
Mongol religious tolerance, some of those communities even
provided contingents of troops to fight alongside the Ilkhanate
armies. Christians were present when the Mongols stormed
such great Islamic cities as Baghdad and Damascus, converting
mosques into churches. While it seemed Islam was going to be
swept away and the Holy Land finally liberated, saner heads
prevailed among Crusader state leaders. They realized when
the Mongols had finished with the Muslims, they would no
doubt turn on the Christian world. So the Crusaders agreed to
a quiet alliance with the Mamluks as the latter launched the
counteroffensive that defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut. For
once, the enemies of the Mongols had united—and won.
strategy & tactics 17

18 #229
Somewhere in inner Asia: Mongol cavalry clashes with a foe.
The inherent flaw to the Mongol system was it relied
on a small ruling elite. That led to the usual problems
of the elite being either assimilated into the populace,
and thus losing their unique Mongol characteristics,
or maintaining themselves separate and apart from the
ruled, becoming isolated and unable to deal with new
foes.
In the Great Khan’s Shadow
The Golden Horde remained the chief power in
eastern Europe well into the 14 th century. The Mongols
would establish Russian Prince Ivan in Moscow as their
chief vassal, thus beginning that city’s rise to power.
But Batu’s old khanate was disintegrating. Toktamish,
khan of the White Horde (emerging around the Aral
Sea in central Asia), made a bid for empire, sweeping
westward into the Golden Horde and then engaging
in a disastrous war with Tamerlane’s new empire. The
devastation was too much for the khanates. In 1380,
the Moscovites would defeat the Mongols at the Battle
of Kulikovo, leading to a chain of events in which the
Russians finally destroyed the Golden Horde in 1502.
Later in the 16 th century, Ivan IV, the “Terrible,” would
sweep up the last remnants of Mongol Europe when he
conquered Kazan.
Still, there was some life left in the Mongols. In
1369, a Turkic tribesman by the name of Timur Lenk
(or Tamerlane) seized control of the Chagadai khanate.
Leading a coalition of steppe tribesman, he carved out
an empire based in Persia and made a general nuisance
of himself in the surrounding lands. Among other
things, he defeated the armies of the Golden and White
Hordes (1395), pillaged northern India (1399), and
invaded Syria and Anatolia (1400) before dying on his
way to attack China (1405). With the Mongols fighting
each other, the central political strength of Genghis
Khan’s empire—unity—was lost. Upon his death,
Tamerlane’s empire fell apart as warring factions vied
for power and the loot.
In 1356, an anti-Mongol revolt broke out in China,
lead by Chu Yuan-Chang, a Buddhist monk. By that
time, the Mongol overlords were divided among
themselves and unable to maintain order. After more
than a decade of fighting, the rebels gained control of
the country, and in 1368 Chu Yuan-Chang proclaimed
the Ming dynasty. The denouement came in 1388,
when the Mings invaded once-impenetrable Mongolia
and took Karakorum. And so the empire that had once
spanned all of Eurasia faded into the tales told around
the campfires of the steppes.

If you want to know more—try the issue game:
KHAN: THE RISE OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE
KHAN: THE RISE OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE, A.D. 1206 – 1295, is a wargame simulating the rise of
the Mongols from their origins as a minor nomadic tribe through their sweep across Eurasia, during which they
conquered the prominent empires of the age and established a vast realm that stretched from China to Russia and
the Middle East. The game has several scenarios, representing the initial Mongol explosion out of Central Asia,
the later campaigns of consolidation in the era of Kublai Khan, and a grand scenario representing the entire era.
KHAN is a two-player game. The Mongol player controls the forces of the Mongols themselves, as well
as their various subject peoples. The Kingdoms player controls various independent states and rebels who are
opposed to the Mongols. The Mongol player, representing a single, centralized empire, has more direct control
over his forces. The Kingdoms player, representing a range of sometimes competing powers, will find the game
system causes various subordinate forces to enter and exit from his control at different times. Both player’s forces
are represented by military units and stratagem markers. Players must use a combination of military strength and
cunning strategy to expand their power or defend their independence.
Each game turn represents five years. Each hex is approximately 100 miles across. Each military unit represents
10,000 – 100,000 troops, plus pack animals, camp followers, bureaucrats, etc. Each leader represents a single
great person or cadre of generals and officials, plus an elite bodyguard.
To purchase the game that covers the battles featured
in this issue send your name and address along with:
$22 US Customers
$25 Canadian Customers
$28 Overseas Customers
All prices include postage for first class or airmail
shipping. CA residents add ($1.09) sales tax.
Send to:
Decision Games
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PO Box 21598
Bakersfield CA 93390
strategy & tactics 19

Allied ships are in bold.
The Baltic
Strategic Background
The Baltic Sea was a more complex front in World
War I than is generally appreciated. There were major
geographic considerations that affected activities for both
the Allies and Central Powers. Oddly enough, both sides felt
they were the inferior force. Overall the Imperial German
Navy was vastly superior to the Russian fleet in 1914. But
Germany’s attention was on the North Sea with the Royal
Navy as the main adversary. The Baltic had a low priority,
and German naval forces there were actually weak. The
Germans could, however, quickly transfer ships from the
North Sea in an emergency. Thus, while the Russians had
local superiority, they knew if they ever became a threat
the Germans could bring in reinforcements.
20 #229
The Russian Navy in World War I
By Steve Thomas
The Goeben and Breslau on patrol.
The Russians operated under a number of
constraints. Their major fear was of an invasion that
would threaten St Petersburg, Russia’s capital. The
position of Sweden also had to be considered, as there
was a serious concern it might abandon its neutrality
and side with Germany. So the Russians had to tread
cautiously in the north to avoid provoking Stockholm.
Finally, the Japanese naval victory at Tsushima in
1905, where a Russian fleet had been destroyed, was
a shattering blow to the Tsar’s navy and the fleet high
command was not prepared to risk another such loss.
So Russian naval strategy was primarily defensive.
Accordingly the Russians built a network of protective
minefields in the Gulf of Finland, supplemented by
shore batteries, and waited.

Operations
At the start of the Great War the Germans mined
parts of the Kattegat to prevent Allied ships from
sailing into the Baltic. Meanwhile, the Danes and
Swedes, concerned over their neutrality, mined
other sections of the Baltic. Fairly soon the sea
channels became virtually impassable for Allied
surface ships, though the British were able to slip in
a few submarines.
The Russian commander in the Baltic, Adm.
Essen, did his best to pursue an aggressive naval
policy. Given the relatively low number of ships
available, he had a limited capacity to exercise
control of the sea. The Germans were faced with
the same problem. Missions on both sides were
mainly minelaying, convoy raiding and shore
bombardment, punctuated by the occasional surface
engagement between a few cruisers and destroyers.
Generally damage was light in those clashes, but
overall the Russians were getting the better of the
encounters as 1914 closed.
The Germans responded by bringing some of
their capital ships into the Baltic. A major push”came
in August 1915, when the Germans dispatched 11
dreadnoughts into the Gulf of Riga along with the
usual support ships. It took them several days to
clear the minefields covering the entrance to the
gulf. Poor weather and repeated Russian minelaying
compelled the Germans to withdraw. And, as they
did, a British submarine torpedoed and damaged
the Moltke.
Despite this dramatic turn of events, the Russians
failed to exploit the situation. Adm. Essen died in
1915 and his successor, Adm. Kanin, lacked drive
and was in turn replaced by the more energetic
Adm. Nepenin the following year.
Under Baltic Seas
At the start of the war the Russians had 11
submarines in the Baltic. Subsequently another 23
were completed, but many arrived too late to be of
use. That did not matter much, as they were all of
inferior design and achieved little.
The British managed to get two E-class
submarines through the Kattegat in October 1914.
The whole affair was amateurish, and the Royal
Navy did not even bother to tell the Russians the
submarines were coming. Four more subs made the
difficult journey in the autumn of 1915, one being
sunk in transit. In July 1916 the British also sent
four small C-class submarines to the White Sea
port of Archangel. From there they were shipped on
barges by canal to the Baltic, arriving in September.
When eventually put into service, they were too
old and small to be of much use, but their presence
caused the Germans concern.
The latter half of 1915 was the high point for the
undersea warriors. In October 1915 the British E-8
torpedoed the cruiser Prinz Adalbert off Libau. Prinz
Adalbert’s magazines blew up and virtually all her crew
were lost. The following month E-19 torpedoed the
light cruiser Undine in the western Baltic. In addition,
14 merchant ships were sunk enroute from Sweden to
Germany.
While those sinkings represented only a small fraction
of the fleet, the effect of their loss was significant. The
Germans suspended shipping and transferred destroyers
from the High Seas Fleet to provide escorts. Cruisers and
destroyers were sent out on anti-submarine patrols, which
proved fairly useless, it being difficult to find and destroy
submarines given the level of technology. Some naval
staff officers sensibly suggested sailing merchant vessels
in convoys, but that option was resisted because it would
disrupt shipping schedules. In the end, it was the Swedes
who took the lead by running their own ships in convoys
for mutual protection. With that example, the Germans
switched to running their merchant ships in convoys as
well. As a result, shipping losses dropped.
The Germans deployed some U-boats into the Baltic,
but their only real success came in October 1914.
strategy & tactics 21

22 #229
While patrolling the mouth of the Gulf of Riga, U-26
torpedoed the Russian armored cruiser Pallada. Her
magazines blew up and she sank with no survivors.
In 1916, the Russians used their surface ships to
raid German merchant shipping. But that effort was
hampered by the fact the merchant ships could spend
most of the trip in Swedish waters, where the Russians
could not operate without violating neutrality.
Things started to fall apart for the Russian Navy
in March 1917 as the revolution swept the Czar from
power. Nepenin never got a chance to achieve much as
he became a casualty, being killed in March. Morale
among Russian sailors collapsed, and most of the fleet
became useless as sailors’ committees concentrated on
politics and not fighting.
Operation Albion
The collapse of the Russian army in 1917 brought
about the biggest single naval action of the Baltic
war. The German capture of Riga in September gave
the Kaiser a real incentive to open the Gulf of Riga
to shipping, as that port would allow resupply for
army units in northwest Russia. So in October 1917
the German Navy launched Operation Albion. Aside
from the military considerations, the German High
Command needed to give the increasingly restive
fleet something to do. Years of inaction as well as
revolutionary agitation, were undermining the morale
of the sailors. Eleven battleships with auxiliaries were
detached to support the landings.
The Russians realized the strategic importance
of the islands, so they defended them with a large
garrison, minefields and shore batteries. Several
German ships ran aground during the operation due
to the tricky currents, narrow channels and shallow
waters along the approach route. The Germans also
found it difficult to clear the minefields covering the
north of Osel Island. While moving to bombard the
shore batteries, two battleships, Bayern and Grosser
Kurfurst, struck mines and were damaged, the former
severely. Despite all that, the German warships carried
out the bombardment and the transports moved in with
assault troops.
The initial landings on 12 October at Tagga Bay
met little resistance. To cut off the islands the Germans
also needed to control the approaches from the Gulf
of Finland. German light ships tried to force their way
through the shallow Soela Sound between Dago and
Osel Islands into Moon Sound. Over the next few days
there was a series of skirmishes between destroyers
and torpedo boats. The Russians bought up the predreadnoughts
Slava and Grazhdanin, plus some
cruisers, but were unable to drive back the Germans.
Meanwhile, German minesweepers spent several
days clearing a passage through the Irben Straits.
Again, several battleships were needed to suppress the
Russian shore batteries covering the minefields. After
three days the Germans broke through into the gulf.
Those ships then attempted to clear the channel north
from the Gulf into Moon Sound, with minesweepers
having to move under fire from the Slava. They were
supported by Koenig and Kronprinz, and those two
dreadnoughts should easily have been able to neutralize
the Slava. Much to the Germans’ surprise, the old
Slava’s guns outranged their own. Braving incoming
shells, the minesweepers pushed forward clearing a
channel. The Koenig and Kronprinz managed to close
into range and scored several hits on the Slava. On fire
and listing, the Russian pre-dreadnought was scuttled
in an attempt to block the channel.
Faced with even more minefields, the Germans
decided not to push their ships into further danger.
By that stage of the operation, they had achieved
their objectives anyway. The demoralized Russian
defenders crumpled with hardly a fight, most of the
troops being evacuated. By the 20 th the Germans had
occupied all the islands.
Overall, Operation Albion had been a strategic
success for Germany. The loss of the islands opened
up a large section of the Russian coast to invasion;
however, the battleship Markgraf was damaged by a
mine on its way back to port
After Operation Albion, significant naval
operations ceased in the Baltic. The Russians still
held behind Petrograd’s defenses, and the Germans
had little incentive to risk more of their strength. With
the Russian collapse in March 1918, the Baltic was
secure for Berlin, and the only activity was a German
operation to occupy several strategic points in the Gulf
of Finland during April 1918.
The Black Sea
Background
Because of the aura surrounding the German
battlecruiser Goeben and the epic of its escape to
Constantinople (Istanbul) at the outbreak of the war in
1914, there is often an assumption the Central Powers
dominated the Black Sea. The Goeben certainly was
important, but the reality was the Russians had the
upper hand there—and exploited their advantage.
Turkish entry into World War I is a complex and
often misunderstood topic. The main factor was the
Ottoman government decided to back the seeming
winners, when they saw their traditional enemy Russia
being beaten by Central Powers’ armies in the east
front battles of 1914. It was the German-led Turkish
navy that opened hostilities for Constantinople, with a
surprise attack on the Russians on 29 th October.
Turkish ships laid mines at key ports, including the
main Russian naval base at Sevastopol. The German
light cruiser Breslau, two old Turkish cruisers and
some destroyers, attacked Russian shipping and shelled
harbor installations. Goeben led a major attack on the
harbor at Sevastopol with a dawn bombardment. The
intention was presumably to draw out the Russian fleet
into the minefields. Instead; the Goeben took three

The Navies
At the higher levels of command the Russians often had
second-rate leadership, factional infighting, and indecisive
strategies. The navy suffered because Russian leaders
always saw fleet operations as secondary to those on land.
Grand Duke Nikolai, supreme commander of the Russian
forces, did not think much of the navy and downgraded
its representation at Stavka, the Russian supreme military
staff.
Too much attention was given to building new ships and
not enough effort was put into training the officers and men
to crew them. The ordinary sailors were treated appallingly.
Discipline was harsh and living conditions were miserable.
Little was done to keep up morale, particularly during the
long Baltic winters. British submarine crew who served in
the Baltic were amazed at the harsh treatment endured by the
Russian sailors.
Still, the Russians had some good fleet commanders
who performed well and to a large degree overcame the
deficiencies. And the Russian navy was also fairly efficient in
a number of areas. Signals intelligence was good. On several
occasions signal interception gave them an advantage and
enabled them to engage or avoid German forces in the Baltic
at will. Gunnery control was also sophisticated, particularly
in the use of radio to coordinate fires.
The Russian Baltic Fleet was not particularly powerful,
but had local superiority for much of the war. There were a
few pre-dreadnoughts and a collection of older cruisers and
destroyers. A building program was underway during the
war, and the Russians turned out four powerful dreadnoughts
and several good destroyers.
The balance of power was initially fairly even in the
Black Sea, as neither side really had the strength to dominate
there. As the war progressed, however, the Russian building
program gave them a navy that tipped the balance of power.
The Turks had two old pre-dreadnoughts battleships that
were virtually useless for operations. These ships spent most
of the war in the Dardanelles. In the Black Sea the Turks could
deploy a motley collection of old cruisers and destroyers.
Crews were poorly trained, officers ineffective, and in some
cases the ships did not have all of their guns. The Turks’
strength lay in the Goeben, a German battlecruiser faster,
better gunned and more heavily armored than anything the
Russians had.
In August 1914 the Goeben and light cruiser Breslau,
under command of Adm. Souchon, had arrived in the
Bosphorus. In theory, the Goeben and the Breslau were
transferred to the Turkish navy. The two ships retained their
German crews and their sailors continued to refer to the
ships by their German names. Adm. Souchon was attached
to the Turkish Navy and became its commander, but he took
his orders from both Berlin and Constantinople.
The Russians only had five pre-dreadnoughts in the Black
Sea, which individually were no match for Goeben. But as
a combined force they could fight something of an equal
battle. Most of the lighter Russians ships, while old, were in
better condition than their Turkish counterparts. The Russian
crews were also better trained than their Turkish counterparts.
The Russian navy’s strong point was its advanced building
program, which included three powerful dreadnoughts in the
works for the Black Sea. The Russians also had fast, modern
destroyers and some good submarines.
The Baltic
There is only one sea entrance to the Baltic, and that’s
through the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden. That
strait was within range of the German High Seas Fleet;
as well as being the site of extensive minefields, these
effectively made it impossible any for Allied surface ships
to get in or out of the Baltic. A further complication was
the weather. Even in summer, conditions were rarely good.
During winter the weather was atrocious, with most northern
ports closed by ice. Russian crews particularly were crowded
together for long months of inactivity and boredom. Those
conditions proved to be ideal breeding grounds for sedition.
The sailors of the Russian Baltic Fleet were some of the first
to mutiny in 1917.
The Baltic has numerous islands, particularly along the
Swedish coast. Large sections are shallow and not suitable
for navigation by big ships. The shallow waters and difficult
weather led to high number of ships running aground, which
had interesting implications. On 26 August, Magdeburg ran
aground off the Estonian coast. In an attempt to prevent her
from being captured by the Russians, the Germans blew up
the ship’s forward magazine. A Russian force later boarded
and searched the wreck. Amazingly they found the secret
German naval code books. These were passed to the British
and enabled the Royal Navy to gain a major intelligence
advantage.
The Black Sea
Conditions in the Black Sea were far better, a large,
generally deep sea with good weather for most of the year.
Again, there is only one passage through to the outside—the
Bosphorus—and that was controlled by Turkey. The Allies
conducted a major amphibious operation at Gallipoli in
1915 to attempt to force the strait, but it was repulsed by the
Turks. No Allied ships could get in to help the Russians but,
at the same time, due to Allied control of the Mediterranean,
no German ships other than submarines could get in to help
Turkey. The Bosphorus did make a safe refuge for Turkish
and Germans ships but, on the other hand, it made it easier
for them to be bottled up with minefields.
Minelaying
Mines, while an often unsung weapons system, were widely used in
the Baltic both defensively and offensively. They inflicted some damage
on both sides’ light shipping, including destroyers. The Germans lost the
armored cruiser Friederich Carl in a minefield off Pillau in November
1914, and in December 1915 the light cruiser Bremen was sunk by mines
off Windau. A further three German cruisers were damaged that way
during the war.
A German destroyer raid in the Gulf of Finland turned into a disaster in
November 1916. A squadron of 11 destroyers ran into a minefield and two
were sunk. The destroyers pushed on to execute a shore bombardment. On
their return they ran into the minefields again and a further five were lost.
The loss of seven modern destroyers to a relatively low profile weapons
system—the mine—was remarkable.
strategy & tactics 23

24 #229
hits from Russian shore batteries and had to fight off
aggressive Russian torpedo boats.
The attack on Sevastopol achieved little of real
value. A few transports, a gunboat and a minelayer
were sunk, and there was damage to some shore
installations, but it was just the beginning of the naval
war.
Russian Response
In the early stages of the war the Russian high
command was concerned about the Turks landing
around the vital Black Sea port of Odessa. It is doubtful
the Central Powers could have seized Odessa, but
Petrograd pressured the Russian commander in the
Black Sea, Adm. Ebergard, to act cautiously. That was
a shortsighted policy, as the Russian pre-dreadnoughts
were only effective if they concentrated for striking
a major blow on the offensive. Dispersed to defend
different harbors along the littoral, they would have
been easy targets had the Goeben led the Turkish
navy on a sweep of the Black Sea. Ebergard thought
the better option was to pressure the Turks, and his
objective was to blockade the Bosphorus and cut
Turkish sea communications.
The Russians, however, did not have the resources
for a permanent blockade of the Turkish coast. The
pre-dreadnoughts had a limited range of operations,
only being able to remain at sea for about four
days. It would take them a day to get to the Turkish
coast, which meant only two days on blockade duty.
Ebergard’s plan was therefore to establish minefields
at key points.
The Battle of Cape Sarych
On 17 November, Ebergard was at sea with his
five pre-dreadnoughts, shelling the port of Trebizond.
Goeben sailed, hoping to pick off isolated Russian
ships as they were returning to the Crimea. Instead,
on the 18 th , she encountered the squadron off Cape
Sarych. Visibility was poor, and when the Russian
flagship Evstafi, leading the line, finally spotted the
Goeben they were only 8,000 yards apart. None of
the ships following could spot the target, and finally
Evstafi opened fire on her own.
It came down to a brief skirmish between the Goeben
and the Evstafi. The Goeben was hit at least once,
probably from Evstafi’s first salvo. That hit knocked
out a port secondary gun and started an ammunition

fire that caused a magazine to flood. Goeben altered
course and steamed away at full speed. Evstafi took
four hits but was not seriously damaged
Russia on the Offensive
In December the Russians launched naval
operations against both the Bosphorus and Songuldak.
Extensive minelaying took place off the former, and
they attempted to block the harbor of the latter with
four old ships. Breslau was on patrol and, learning of
the raid, moved to intercept. Two of the Russian ships
were sunk and the others were scuttled.
Goeben had led a lucky life so far, but that was about
to change. She was also out at sea and returning to the
Bosphorus when she hit two mines on 26 December.
Damage was considerable and the ship spent three
months undergoing repairs, which was not helped by
the absence of a suitable dry dock. Engineers were sent
from Germany to facilitate the repairs, filling breaches
in the hull with concrete.
1915 also saw two Russian seaplane carriers in
action. While relatively ineffectual as attack aircraft,
the seaplanes proved useful for reconnaissance. In
response to the increased Russian aggressiveness,
the Germans and Turks launched a major raid on
Russian shipping. The raid backfired, as the old cruiser
Medjidieh hit a mine off Odessa and was sunk. The
Russians actually managed to salvage that ship and put
it back into service in October as the Prut.
In February 1915 the British and French launched
their operation against Gallipoli. The Allied objective
was to force the Bosphorus, make an amphibious
landing outside the Ottoman capital, and then seize
Constantinople. Unfortunately for the Allies, the
operation quickly bogged down as Turkish resistance
stiffened. Throughout April and May 1915, the
Russians raided the area around the Bosphorus in
support of the operation.
Goeben came out again on 9 May to try to pick
off isolated ships, and on the 10 th nearly caught two
pre-dreadnoughts, two seaplane carriers and some
light ships that were engaged in bombardment
The Imperatritsa Mariia battle ship.
operations. But the German ship was spotted by a
screening cruiser, and the Russians concentrated two
pre-dreadnoughts against her. The Goeben ought to
have had the upper hand, but German gunnery did
not live up to its reputation and, amazingly, failed to
score a single hit on the Russian ships, despite ideal
conditions. With considerable skill, Ebergard brought
two more pre-dreadnoughts to bear, and the Goeben
took several more hits before fleeing.
In October 1915, the Russians brought into service
the first of their eagerly awaited modern battleships,
followed three months later by a second. Each was a
match for the Goeben, well armored and with heavy
firepower. The Goeben’s only advantage was her
superior speed, which gave her the opportunity to
avoid combat. The Russians now formed two battle
groups, one around each of the new battleships and a
third based on the pre-dreadnoughts. The balance was
turning.
The Shipping War
Sea transport in the Black Sea was important for the
Turks due to the lack of roads and rail lines along their
coasts. There was extensive commercial shipping, and
sea transport was also essential for moving troops and
supplies to the Caucasus front. The port of Songuldak
on the Black Sea shipped most of the coal used in
Constantinople. So the Russians devoted much effort
to raiding shipping along those routes. The Turks could
do little about it as their navy was unsuited for escort
duties.
The Russians started raiding with four large, fast
destroyers, and by 1915 more were entering service.
The Turkish merchant fleet was steadily worn down
and the loss of coal in particular was a major setback
to the economy. That, in turn, limited naval operations
as the Central Powers’ ships needed coal to fire their
boilers.
Convoy raiding was not entirely one sided. Goeben
and Breslau were occasionally sent out to attack
Russian shipping or to bombard enemy ports. Those
raids achieved little except to act as a morale boost.
strategy & tactics 25

The Commanders
Russian
Nikolai Essen. Born in 1860 in St Petersburg, Essen graduated
from the Russian Naval Cadet Corps in 1880. During
the Russo-Japanese War he proved to be an aggressive
commander. While other Russian warships in the harbor were
being sunk by Japanese artillery, he moved his battleship
outside and set up minefields and torpedo nets. From 1906
to 1911 he held a succession of senior naval posts and was
finally appointed to command the Baltic Fleet. As Baltic
commander he implemented a series of reforms, encouraging
initiative, improving training, and emphasizing minelaying.
Essen was a hard worker, even when sick. That proved to be
his undoing, for when he neglected a cold it developed into
pneumonia. He died in May 1915. Essen was probably one
of the best naval leaders Russia ever produced, but he did not
have the resources to demonstrate his full potential.
Andrei Ebergard (Eberhardt). In 1904, Ebergard was appointed
commander of the battleship Potemkin following the famous
mutiny of its crew. In 1912, he was appointed to command
the Black Sea Fleet. There he put considerable effort into
developing ships’ ability to coordinate with each other. In two
years he transformed the fleet, making it into a disciplined,
competent and aggressive force. Ebergard did much to
encourage initiative among his officers, and had a sound grasp
of strategic realities, but he could have done more to defend
coastal shipping from German submarines. His rivals within
the Russian navy charged he was inefficient. Dismissed in
1916, Ebergard was appointed as a member of the council
of state. He was arrested during the 1917 revolution but later
released. In the chaos of the Civil War he died of starvation in
St Petersburg in 1922.
Aleksandr Kolchak. Born in 1874 in St Petersburg, Kolchak
graduated from the Naval College in 1894. His first few years
as a naval officer were spent with the Vladivostok Fleet.
Returning to St Petersburg in 1899, he managed to obtain a
place in a major Arctic expedition and gained something of
a reputation as an explorer. When the Russo-Japanese War
broke out in 1904, he was given command of a destroyer at
Port Arthur. During the Japanese siege he showed himself to
be a brave, intelligent and aggressive commander. He served
in various positions between 1906 and 1912 and was active in
the move to reform the navy.
With the outbreak of the Great War, Kolchak became
a leading figure in the naval planning staff. In 1916 he was
promoted to vice admiral
and took over command
of the Black Sea Fleet.
When the Bolsheviks
seized power, he joined
with the anti-Bolshevik
forces, eventually heading
up White Russian forces in
Siberia. He soon found he
had taken on a hopeless task
and, after a series of defeats,
his government fell apart.
In January 1920, he was
captured by the Bolsheviks
and quickly executed by
firing squad.
26 #229
Admiral Kolchak
Admiral Essen
German
Wilhelm Souchon. Born 1864 in Leipzig, Souchon went to
the Kiel Naval School in 1881. A steady climb through
the ranks bought him to the rank of rear admiral and, in
1913, command of the Mediterranean Squadron. On his
arrival at Constantinople he became a major influence on
Turkey’s entry into the war. In September 1917, Souchon
was recalled to take command of the Fourth Battleship
Squadron in Germany. He was in action right away, as
Fourth Squadron was part of the naval forces assigned to
Operation Albion. A talented officer, Souchon was noted
for his even temper and adaptability. What he achieved
was limited partly by the resources available, but it was
still remarkable.
Final Voyage of the Goeben
Souchon’s replacement felt a more aggressive policy was
needed. In January 1918 he took Goeben and Breslau out of the
Dardanelles to raid British naval forces. On the way out, Goeben hit
a mine but suffered only minor damage. After sinking two British
monitors, both German ships set out to seek other targets. They ran
into a major minefield in which Breslau hit four mines and sank.
Goeben also hit a mine and headed back into Dardanelles, where
she hit her third mine for the day. Limping back, she was attacked
by British aeroplanes and, while turning to avoid them, she ran hard
aground in the narrows. British aircraft continued the attack on the
Goeben for days, but their light bombs proved ineffective against
her armor. The battlecruiser was towed back to Constantinople, but
for lack of adequate repair facilities was effectively out of action
for the remainder of the war.
The Goeben sailed to Sevastopol in July 1918 and was partly
repaired there. She was finally handed over to the Turks in November
1918. Neglected after the war, the Goeben was left abandoned
in a small bay where she eventually sank owing to accumulated
damage. In 1927 she was salvaged and underwent a major refit,
re-emerging on the seas in 1930. The Goeben served until 1950,
when she was decommissioned
and turned into a museum as one
of the last surviving major ships
of World War I.

The war on land
The Baltic
During 1914 and 1915 the Russians suffered a series
of defeats fighting against the Germans. Despite some
success against the Austrians, the Russians were forced
back deep into their own territory. By September 1915
the Germans flank had pushed up the Baltic coast to Riga
where they were stopped at the river Dvina. Control of
the Gulf of Riga now became important. The Russians
were able to protect their naval flank and bring in some
supplies by sea. The Germans were unable to threaten
the Russians with any kind of amphibious landing to
turn the line. This situation changed in September 1917
when General Hutier launched in offensive which broke
through the Russian lines and took the city.
The Black Sea
The Turkish-Russian border along the Caucuses was
the scene of much bitter fighting. Given the ruggedness
of the terrain, the region was easy to defend and made
communication difficult. An initial Russian probe in
November 1914 was repulsed. Encouraged, the Turks
launched a foolhardy, unprepared attack towards
Sarikamis in the depth of winter. This offensive turned
into a disaster, with the Turkish Army losing nearly
70,000 dead. Most of the casualties simply froze to death.
The front remained quiet until the Russians launched a
carefully prepared winter assault, and took Erzerum in
February 1916. The Russians then launched an offensive
along the Black Sea coast, backed up with amphibious
landings behind the Turkish lines. They took Trebizond
in April 1916, but afterwards the front stabilized. The
Turks took advantage of the chaos following the Russian
Revolution to regain lost territories and even push into
Russia itself. The great war in the east.
Some relief came with the arrival, in June 1915, of
several German U-boats in Constantinople. Fearing
their pre-dreadnoughts were vulnerable to undersea
attack, the Russians pulled back. As a result, Ebergard
was dismissed from his command in July. But that was
no help for the Central Powers, as his replacement was
the highly competent and even more aggressive Adm.
Kolchak.
Kolchak launched a major minelaying campaign
that severely restricted U-boat access to the Black
Sea. Goeben narrowly avoided being torpedoed by a
Russian submarine in November 1915. That incident
made Souchon even more reluctant to risk his ship
unless it was for a vital mission. That led to some
friction with the Turkish command as they wanted a
more aggressive role for the German battlecruiser.
The Russians launched a seaplane carrier raid
against Songuldak on 6 February 1916, sinking a large
collier. The coal crisis became so critical Goeben spent
an increasing amount of its time at sea on convoy
escort. On 8 January 1916, Goeben was pursuing
two Russian destroyers when she ran into one of the new
Russian dreadnoughts, the Imperatritsa Ekaterina. The
Russian gunnery was good and bracketed the German ship
with shells at a range of 20,000 yards. Unable to challenge
the far more powerful Russian ship, the Goeben fled
undamaged.
Russian Dominance
As 1916 opened, the Russian navy focused on supporting
army operations on the Caucasus front. There they built
up Batum as a base for small warships. In January 1916,
the Rostislav and some light escorts bombarded Turkish
positions on the coast. The Turks, outgunned, had to fall
back. There were also destroyer raids between Trebizond
and Batum.
Interestingly, while the disastrous Allied Gallipoli
operation has gotten much historical attention, Russian
amphibious operations proved much more successful. The
Russians adapted coastal merchant vessels then operating
in the shallow waters of the Sea of Azov into landing craft.
continued on page 30
strategy & tactics 27

Baltic Sea forces
Germany Displacement Speed Guns Armor Completed
Tons knots inches belt Date
Battleships
Koenig Jan 1915
Kronprinz 25,390 21 10 x 12 14in - 3.2in Feb 1915
14 x 5.9
No German battleships were stationed in the Baltic, however, ships were detached from the High Seas Fleet for short
term missions. Those listed above took part in Operation Albion in 1917. The few pre-dreadnoughts allocated to the Baltic
saw little action other than carrying out some shore bombardment. The cruisers listed below were permanently stationed in
the Baltic as were a number of destroyers. During the war, various cruisers and destroyers were temporarily detached from
the High Seas Fleet to carry out specific operations.
Heavy cruisers Displacement Speed Guns Armor Completed
Tons knots inches belt Date
Roon 10,104 21 4 x 8.25 5 April 1906
Prinz Heinrich 9,652 20 4 x 9.5 11 March 1902
Prinz Adalbert 12 Jan 1904
Friedrich Carl 9,719 20 4 x 8.25 12 Dec 1903
Light Cruisers
Magdeburg 4,570 27.6 10 x 4.1 20 Aug 1912
Augsburg 4,362 26 12 x 4.1 1 Nov 1910
Thetis 14 Sept 1901
Gazelle 6 Oct 1900
Amazone 15 Nov 1901
Undine 3,033 21 10 x 4.1 5 Jan 1904
Bremen 19 May 1904
Danzig 1 Feb 1907
Lubeck 3,756 23 10 x 4.1 26 April 1904
Russia
Battleships
Gangut Poltava
Petropavlosk Sevastopol
All commissioned in 1914 but saw no action, being retained for the defence of the Gulf of Finland.
Old battleships Displacement Speed Guns Armor Completed
Tons knots inches belt Date
Slava 13,516 17.5 4 x 12 7.5 - 6 June 1905
12 x 6
Tsesarevitch 12,195 18.5 4 x 12 10 - 7 August 1903
(Grazhdanin) 12 x 6
Andrei Pervozvanny
Imperator Pavel I
Neither saw action during the war, being retained for the defence of the Gulf of Finland.
Armored cruisers
Admiral Makarov April 1908
Pallada Feb 1911
Bayan 7,775 21 2 x 8 Dec 1911
8 x 6
Gromoboi 13,220 20 4 x 8 1900
16 x 6
Rurik 15,190 21 4 x 10 Sept 1908
8 x 8
Armored cruiser (served primarily as a minelayer)
Rossija 13,675 20 4 x 8 1897
16 x 6
Protected cruisers
Diana 1902
Aurora 6,823 19 8 x 6 1903
Bogatyr 1902
Oleg 6,645 23 12 x 6 1904
28 #229

Modern destroyers
Start of the war 1
Commissioned during war 26
Old, light destroyers
Start of the war 27
Black Sea forces
Russia Displacement Speed Guns Armor Completed
Tons knots inches belt (in) Date
Many ships were renamed after the Russian Revolution. The later names are shown in brackets.
Battleships
Imperatritsa Mariya 6 July 1915
Imperator Alexander III (Volya) 28 June 1917
Imperatritsa Ekaterina 22,600 21 12 x 12 18 Oct 1915
Velikaya (Svobodnaya Rossiya) 18 x 5 10.5 - 4
Old battleships
Evstafi 5 Nov 1910
Ioann Zlatoust 12,840 16.5 4 x 12 9 - 5 11 Nov 1910
4 x 8
Pantelimon* 12,582 16.6 4 x 12 9 - 5 Nov 1903
(Boretz za Svobodu) 16 x 6
*Originally named ‘Kniaz Potemkin Tavritcheski’ but renamed after the notorious mutiny.
Rostislav 8,880 15.6 4 x 10 14 - 5 1898
8 x 6
Tri Svititelia 13,318 17 4 x 12 18 - 9 1898
8 x 6
Protected cruisers
Kagul 1905
Pamiat Merkuria 6,645 23 12 x 6 1907
Modern destroyers
Start of the war 4
Commissioned during war 9
Old, light destroyers
Start of the war 13
Turkey
Battlecruisers Displacement Speed Guns Armor Completed
Tons knots inches belt (in) Date
Goeben 22,600 21 12 x 12 10.5 - 4 28 Aug 1912
18 x 5.
Protected cruisers
Medjidieh 3,330 22 2 x 6 1903
8 x 4.7
Hamidieh 3,830 22 2 x 6 1903
8 x 4.7
Light cruisers
Breslau 4,570 27.5 12 x 4.1 12 May 1912
Old, light destroyers
Start of the war 8
strategy & tactics 29

30 #229
Using those ships, they landed 2,100 men behind the
Turkish lines in March 1916. Again, Rostislav and
escorting ships provided gunfire support. And again, the
operation forced the Turks to pull back. Following up,
the Russians seized the small port of Rize. While neither
of those operations encountered much opposition, they
were well executed and a fine example of the Russian
ability to exploit naval superiority and mobility.
During April the Russians shipped into Rize major
reinforcements from Novorossiysk. It was a well
organized operation involving 22 transports with
proper beach control, clearly marked channels swept
for mines, aerial reconnaissance from seaplane carriers,
anti-submarine patrols, and offshore screening battle
groups. The pressure was sufficient to force the Turks
to abandon Trebizond, and Russian troops seized that
town in May.
Things Go Wrong
The Russians suffered a major setback in October
1916 with the loss of Imperatritsa Maria. The battleship
was moored in Sevastopol when an explosion in the
forward magazine tore through her hull. The ship was
scuttled at her mooring to prevent further explosions.
There were the inevitable claims of sabotage, but the
explosion was probably an accident.
The strategic situation as 1917 opened was not
good for the Allies in the East. The Russian army
was beginning to disintegrate in the face of massive
casualties and battlefield defeat. Talk of revolution
spread throughout the ranks, and plans for a new
offensive against the Ottoman Empire had to be
scrapped. The first Russian revolution overthrew the
Czar in March 1917, replacing the Romanovs with a
provisional government. The provisional government
wanted to stay in the war, and the fleet continued to
operate, albeit at a lower level of efficiency.
In April 1917 the Russians carried out mine laying
and a series of bombing attacks around Sinope in
Rumania. The latter were launched from an expanded
fleet of seaplane carriers. While the raids were too weak
to do much damage, they were a harbinger of things to
come and demonstrated the willingness of the navy to
adopt new techniques.
Disintegration in the East
Despite its relatively successful operations, the
morale and discipline of the Russian Black Sea Fleet
started to collapse. It is a measure of the leadership
of Ebergard and Kolchak that the fleet’s sailors were
among the last to give way to the November revolution,
which swept the Bolsheviks into power and triggered
the great Russian Civil War. As a result, the Russians
continued to dominate the Black Sea throughout the
year and Goeben and Breslau could still venture out
only for the occasional raid.
The final Russian collapse came just in time to
save the Turks. Their economy was crumbling under
the pressure of the blockade and defeats on land.
From late 1917 the Germans and Austro-Hungarians
steadily occupied Russia, and in May 1918 they entered
Sevastopol. The best of the Russian warships fled to other
ports, while the Germans captured some of the older
ships. In June 1918 some of the newer Russian ships,
including the Volya, were taken over by the Germans
and sailed back to Sevastopol. The rest were scuttled,
including the Svobodnaya Rossiya. The Germans never
had the chance to use the captured ships, as their own
collapse in November 1918 ended the war. It would not
have made much of a difference anyway—the German
navy did not have the crews to man captured vessels.
Conclusion
The Russian Navy started with a marginal superiority
at sea, but it engaged in an aggressive campaign that
caused the Central Powers considerable inconvenience.
Essen was determined to take the war to the enemy, and
in doing so he dictated the course of naval events.
The Germans kept their High Seas Fleet largely in
port, achieving little there other than the indecisive Battle
of Jutland. Operation Albion demonstrated the potential
for amphibious operations, and more German attention
on the Baltic might have led to a quicker victory over
Russia.
In the Black Sea, the Germans had a brilliant leader
in Souchon, but he lacked the resources to do much.
And the Russians had commanders who were his match.
The key to naval dominance proved to be determined,
aggressive leadership. Ebergard and Kolchak seized the
initiative but were not overly reckless.
The Russian navy performed well throughout
the war. Their destroyers conducted a relentless and
devastating campaign of raiding and mine laying. Their
achievements were limited more by a lack of targets
rather than resources. Turkish shipping was crippled and
the Goeben was forced to respond to Russian initiatives.
The great tragedy, of course, was in the end the heroism
of both Russian and German navies did not outlast the
revolutions that brought down their governments in
1918.
Bibliography
A naval history of World War I. P G Halpern. University College
London, London, 1994. Originally published by United States Naval
Institute.
North of Gallipoli. G Nekrasov. East European Monographs, distributed
by Columbia University Press, New York, 1992
Decline & Fall of the Ottoman Empire. A Palmer. John Murray
(Publishers) Ltd, London, 1993
History of the First World War, various authors. BPC Publishing Ltd,
London for Purnell, 1966?
All the worlds fighting ships. R Gardiner, Volumes 1860-1905 and 1905-
1922. Conway Maritime Press
Action off Cape Sarych. Steve McLaughlin .
Biographies of Russian naval leaders. Steve McLaughlin
Unpublished articles
The Ship that Changed the World. D van der Vat. Baltic Assignment.
Michael Wilson.

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Did you Know?
➢ After the Battle of Lutzen, 2 May
1813, Napoleon was shocked
when he saw Marshal Ney, one
of his favorites, covered in blood.
Ney calmly responded to the
emperor’s concern, commenting
about the gore: “It isn’t mine…except
where that dammed bullet
passed through my leg.”
➢ During 2005 the US plans to spend
some $200 billion fighting in Iraq
and Afghanistan. In comparison,
Americans annually spend about
$43 billion on lottery tickets,
roughly another $35 billion
playing on-line poker, and about
$2 billion more on home décor
candles.
➢ The arquebus, a light musket, became
one of the samurai’s favorite
weapons during the 16th century.
➢ The Osage tribe, which lived along
the lower Missouri River, began
to acquire firearms through trade
during the second half of the
17th century. By 1750 they had
obtained so many that modern
archaeological digs show gun
parts outnumbering arrowheads
and spear points. In their own
language, the Osage called gunpowder
weapons Wa-ho-to’n-the,
which translates as “[that] which
causes things to cry out.”
➢ During the Vietnam War, sappers
were elite communist assault
units.
➢ The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
author of Xanadu, enlisted in
Britain’s 15th Light Dragoon regiment
in 1794.
➢ In June 1763, a combined effort
by the Ottawa and Ojibwe tribes
captured British occupied Fort
Michilimackinac, which was located
near the point where Lakes
Superior, Huron and Michigan
come together. To do so they used
a ploy that might be termed the
“Trojan Lacrosse Game.” Posing
as non-warring Indians, they
staged a heated match of that sport
in front of the fort. Their play
engrossed the soldiers’ attention
such that they dropped their
guard. The Indian players then
pursued a purposefully aimed ball
through the open gate, quickly
rushed in, and seized the fort.
➢ Since the turn of the 21st century,
the number of Israeli-born Moslems
volunteering to serve in that
nation’s defense forces has gone
up 64 percent.
➢ About 90 percent of American
soldiers wounded in combat in
Afghanistan or Iraq survived. The
comparable figure for the Vietnam
War was 75 percent. Reasons
include improved body armor and
even more rapid medical evacuation.
fallujah footnotes
During the days prior to the start
of the November 2004 US offensive
into the Iraqi insurgent stronghold of
Fallujah, satellite photography was
used to keep track of the cars parked
along that city’s streets. On the first
day of the offensive, those vehicles
the photos showed to have remained
stationary for the previous three or
more days were targeted as likely
explosive devices. That amounted to
roughly 650 vehicles, almost all of
which did give off huge secondary
explosions when struck during the 12
hours of preliminary airstrikes that
began the battle.
The three most common types
of materiel found by advancing US
forces in Fallujah were small arms
We need writers for this FYI column.
If you can write tight, pithy articles of
nomorethan2,000wordsoninteresting,obscure,orotherwiselittleknown
aspects of military history, contact
the FYI editor, Ty Bomba, in care of
this magazine, or by emailing him at:
FYI
For Your Information
and ammunition, bomb making tools,
and suicide-bomber supplies, such
as explosive-carrying vests. The next
most common items were caches of
drugs (mostly amphetamines and
cocaine) and pornography.
During the actual Battle of Fallujah
the US lost over 50 soldiers KIA,
including one company commander,
a sergeant major and eight platoon
leaders. In return, the Americans
killed some 1,600 armed insurgents
and took prisoner roughly another
1,000. The nationalities among the
insurgents included men from Iraq,
Chechnya, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan and Afghanistan.
Of the 100 mosques that lay within
the enemy held areas of Fallujah at
the start of the November battle, 60 of
them were used as firing points by the
insurrectionists.
After the November fighting in
Fallujah, every resident head-ofhousehold
who was cleared through
Iraqi government security was given
a check for USD $2,500 in order to
help reestablish his family’s home
there.
—Ty Bomba
l.m.f.
Aircrews in World War II’s
strategic bombing campaigns suffered
a significant amount of stress during
combat. Flying bombers deep into
enemy territory, often without fighter
escort and against targets heavily
defended by enemy interceptors and
antiaircraft guns, could and did lead
to men cracking under the pressure.
One US bomber crewman remembered:
“The worst part was being
awakened for a briefing, sullenly
eating breakfast, going to the briefing,
and awaiting the moment when the
blue curtain was pulled back [on the
briefing room stage], revealing our
target and the route to it. When it was
France or the Lowlands, instant relief
occurred. When the target was deep in
strategy & tactics 33

34 #229
From the dustbin of History
“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win…if you
will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you
may come to the moment when you will have to fight with the odds
against you and only a precarious chance of survival.”
Germany, utter terror [followed].”
The Royal Air Force’s (RAF)
Bomber Command had the additional
stress of flying its missions at night
against often unseen German radarequipped
fighters that could wreak terrific
damage on the bombers. The occurrence
of neurosis cases in Bomber
Command was about four times higher
than the rest of the RAF. Naturally, the
stress was directly related to the crews’
fear of death. Bomber Command missions
suffered an average five percent
loss rate. Though a five percent loss
rate doesn’t sound high, it is analogous
to playing Russian roulette 30 times
with a gun that has 20 chambers, one
of which is loaded. A crew had only
about a 25 percent chance of surviving
a full 30-mission tour. Even the
non-mathematically inclined crewmen
realized their odds of survival were not
good.
The official RAF term for crewmembers
who wouldn’t go on flying
was: “Lack of Moral Fibre.” That term
carried with it harsh connotations. In
essence, those men were being called
cowards. LMF symptoms were usually
diagnosed in crews who dropped their
bombs early so they would obtain a
higher altitude when they actually
did pass over the target (if they even
reached it), and in crews who had a
high incidence of early return to base
for “mechanical troubles.”
The LMF regulations were harsh,
bordering on draconian. Crewmen
were sometimes drummed out of the
service and thereafter prevented from
obtaining good jobs in the civilian
world. Later they were more likely
to be reassigned to the army or navy.
The main objective was to make being
branded “LMF” so repugnant the men
would rather die than become such
officially declared outcasts. In some
cases the program worked; in other
cases it didn’t.
Aircrew Losses in Bomber Command
for 1939-45 by Percentage
Killed on Operations: 51%
Killed in Crashes in Britain: 9%
Seriously Injured in Crashes: 3%
Prisoners of War: 12%
Shot Down and Evaded escape: 1%
Survived Unharmed: 24%
—Gregory M. Smith
Data file:
Confederate indian units
in the american Civil War
During the American Civil War
nearly 7,000 American Indians fought
in units organized by both the Union
and Confederacy. Some Indian units
battled in the eastern theaters, but
most fought west of the Mississippi.
They campaigned in western Arkansas,
southwestern Missouri and southern
Kansas, but mainly in the Indian
Territory – the region now the state
of Oklahoma. In 1851 it became the
preserve of sovereign Indian nations,
including the “Five Civilized Tribes”:
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek
and Seminole.
Those tribes actively allied with the
Confederacy formally declared war on
the United States and raised military
units set up on European patterns:
regiments and battalions organized by
companies and troops. Some of those
independent regiments and battalions
were in turn organized into ad-hoc
brigades, generally named for their
commanders.
Individual tribes raised the units
and organized them as “mounted
rifles.” Armed with rifles and traveling
on horseback, they could fight either as
cavalry or infantry. With one exception:
the men elected their officers in
the same manner as American militia
units of that era.
While Confederate tribal units
never totaled more than 3,500 men at
—Sir Winston Churchill, 1948
any one time, some 5,000 Indians
belonged to those units over the course
of the Civil War. Many of those same
men later joined the Union Indian
home guard regiments. The units
themselves also changed during the
war. Battalions grew into regiments;
regiments split into new regiments or
simply disappeared. In order of their
formation, the tribal units that served
the Confederacy in the Civil War were
as follows.
Chickasaw & Choctaw 1st Cavalry
Regiment, Mounted Rifles. First
commanded by Douglas H. Cooper, a
former Indian agent, this was the first
and longest-lived American Indian
regiment. Formed in the early summer
of 1861, it surrendered only on 26 May
1865, when Kirby-Smith, commander
of the CSA’s Trans-Mississippi
Department, ordered his forces to
“disperse.” The only regiment built
along mixed tribal lines, it was made
up of members of both the Chickasaw
and Choctaw tribes. (Other tribal
regiments sometimes organizationally
attached smaller units from other
tribes, and brigade-sized units
frequently combined tribes.) This unit
fought at Round Mountain (11/19/61),
Chusto-Talasah (12/9/61), Newtonia
(11/30/62), Honey Springs (7/17/63)
and Poison Springs (4/18/64).
1st Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
(later Cherokee 2nd Cavalry Regiment,
Mounted Rifles, and renamed the
Cherokee 1st Cavalry Regiment,
Mounted Rifles, when the original 1st
Mounted Rifles dissolved in 1862). The
regiment’s commander, Stand Watie,
became the war’s only native American
brigadier general. Raised for a
one-year tour of duty on 12 July 1861,
the regiment was reenlisted on 12 July
1862 for two more years or the
duration. Stand Watie finally surrendered
the unit on 23 June 1865 at
Doakeville, Oklahoma, while commanding
all Confederate forces, white

and Indian, in the Indian Territory.
The unit was raised from the
“treaty faction” of the Cherokee
Nation, which supported slavery and
was led by Stand Watie. Though it
was the first Cherokee regiment raised
for the Confederacy, it became the
“2nd” Mounted Rifles due to tribal
politics. The Cherokee Nation
declared war on the United States on
26 August 1861, six weeks after the
1st Cherokee Mounted Volunteers had
organized, and two weeks after it
fought at Wilson’s Creek. In October,
the Cherokee Nation authorized a
regiment that became the Cherokee
1st Mounted Rifles. The 1st Cherokee
Mounted Volunteers then became the
Cherokee 2nd Mounted Rifles.
It fought at Wilson’s Creek
(8/10/61), Chustenahalan (12/26/61),
Pea Ridge (3/6-8/62), Old Fort Wayne
(10/22/62), Honey Springs (7/17/63),
Fort Gibson (9/16/64), and Cabin
Creek (9/19/64).
Creek 1st Cavalry Regiment. Also
known as the Creek 1st Mounted
Rifles and the Creek 1st Mounted
Volunteers, this unit was raised for a
one-year term of service on 17 August
1861, and was reenlisted for a two
year term on 17 August 1862 and
again on that date in 1864. The first
colonel was Daniel N. McIntosh (a
Creek, despite the name). It surrendered
on 26 May 1865.
Along with the 1st Creek Cavalry
Battalion, it was initially employed in
the Opothleyahola campaign against
the pro-Union Creeks and Seminoles
led by the Creek Chief Opothleyahola.
Opothleyahola’s force was made
up of traditionalist Indians and
runaway slaves who fought in ad hoc
units. They were driven from the
Indian Territory in December 1861.
The Creek 1st Cavalry Regiment
fought at Round Mountain (11/19/61),
Chusto-Talasah (12/9/61), Chustenahalan
(12/26/61), Pea Ridge (3/6-
8/62), Honey Springs (7/17/63), Fort
Gibson (9/16/64), and Cabin Creek
(9/19/64).
Creek 1st Cavalry Battalion (later
Creek 2nd Cavalry Regiment). Raised
in August 1861, after the Creek 1st
Cavalry Regiment, it was initially
paired with the 1st Seminole Cavalry
Battalion. The first commander was
Chilly McIntosh. In late 1862 this
battalion was expanded into a
regiment and designated the Creek
2nd Cavalry Regiment. It surrendered
on 26 May 1865.
As 1st Cavalry Battalion it fought
at Round Mountain (11/19/61),
Chusto-Talasah (12/9/61), Chustenahalan
(12/26/61) and Pea Ridge (3/6-
8/62). As the 2nd Cavalry Regiment it
fought at Old Fort Wayne (10/22/62),
Honey Springs (7/17/63), Fort Gibson
(9/16/64), and Cabin Creek (9/19/64).
Seminole 1st Cavalry Battalion
(later Seminole 1st Cavalry Regiment).
This battalion was raised on 19
September 1861, with six companies.
Maj. (later Col.) John Jumper was its
first commander. Early in 1863 it was
expanded into a full regiment, but the
documentation showing the exact date
is missing. It surrendered on 2 June
1865.
As the 1st Cavalry Battalion it
fought at Round Mountain (11/19/61),
Chusto-Talasah (12/9/61), Chustenahalan
(12/26/61) and Pea Ridge (3/6-
8/62). As the 1st Cavalry Regiment it
fought at Cabin Creek (9/19/64).
Cherokee 1st Cavalry Regiment,
Mounted Rifles (Drew’s Mounted
Rifles). This regiment was raised on 4
October 1861, by the Cherokee Tribal
Government at the direction of
Principal Chief John Ross. He also
appointed the officers of the regiment
based on their loyalty to him,
including its commander John Drew.
Most of the Ross-loyalist officers
were mixed-blood slaveholders, but
the troops were mostly full-blood
Cherokee. Many also belonged to the
Keetoowah, a secret society opposed
to slavery and that fostered traditional
Indian ways. The regiment thus
identified itself as “Indian,” not
“Confederate.” While the unit
acquitted itself well fighting white
troops, it suffered mass desertions
whenever it faced pro-Union Indians.
A third of the unit deserted to
Opothleyahola on the eve of Chusto-
Talasah. Virtually everyone – except
the senior officers – deserted to the
Union in June 1862, when the Ross
faction of the Cherokee Nation
declared for the Union after a US
Army expeditionary force reached the
Cherokee capitol of Talequah. The
Confederate regiment was then
officially dissolved. Stand Watie’s
2nd Mounted Rifles then became the
1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles.
The Cherokee 1st Cavalry
Regiment, Mounted Rifles; fought at
Chusto-Talasah (12/9/61) and Pea
Ridge (3/6-8/62).
Choctaw Deneale’s Cavalry
Battalion (also known as Choctaw
Deneale’s Cavalry Regiment, and
later the Choctaw 2nd Cavalry
Regiment). Raised on 14 July 1862,
with five companies and George
Deneale as its Lt. Col., the battalion
was disbanded on 5 May 1862. Its
record then becomes cloudy. The
troops were absorbed into other units,
but it’s also possible it was reformed
as Choctaw Deneale’s Cavalry
Regiment. Either way, neither
Deneale’s Cavalry Regiment or the
Choctaw 2nd Cavalry Regiment
played an active part in the war.
Choctaw 1st Cavalry Battalion
(also called Folsum’s Choctaw
Cavalry Battalion). This battalion was
raised in either March or April 1862,
with Simpson Folsum as its commander.
Initially it seemed to have
been raised as the 1st Cavalry
Regiment, Mounted Rifles, but that
unit disappears from the records after
May 1862. It’s likely Folsum failed to
recruit enough men for a regiment,
and the unit was therefore reorganized
as a battalion with Folsum still
commanding, but as a major rather
than a lieutenant colonel. In any case,
it was expanded into the 1st Choctaw
War Regiment (or the Choctaw 1st
Cavalry Regiment) in February 1864.
The 1st Choctaw War Regiment
surrendered on 26 May 1865. This
unit served in the southern Indian
Territory as well as in southwestern
Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
As Folsum’s Battalion it fought at
Newtonia (9/30/62) and operations in
Cherokee County (12/4-12/62). At the
1st Choctaw War Regiment it
participated in the Camden Expedition
(Mar-May/64), and fought at
Poison Springs (4/18/64) and
Massard’s Prairie (6/27/64).
Chickasaw 1st Cavalry Battalion.
Organized in April 1862, with Lt. Col.
Joseph D. Harris as its commander.
The battalion surrendered on 26 May
1865. It served brigaded with other
Choctaw and Chickasaw units in the
southern Indian Territory and
Arkansas. It participated in the
Arkansas campaign of April 1864.
Cherokee 1st Cavalry Battalion,
Partisan Rangers (Bryan’s Cherokee
Cavalry Battalion). It was organized
with five companies on 3 September
1862, and was expanded into a
regiment (2nd Cherokee Mounted
Volunteers) by combining five
companies of Stand Watie’s Cherokee
Mounted Rifles into the new formation.
Maj. J. M. Bryan commanded
strategy & tactics 35

36 #229
the Partisan Ranger Battalion. William
P. Adair served as the first colonel of
the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Volunteers.
This regiment was also called the
Cherokee 2nd Cavalry Regiment,
Mounted Rifles, after the original 2nd
Mounted Rifles was redesignated the
Cherokee 1st Cavalry Regiment,
Mounted Rifles.
As Bryan’s Cavalry Battalion it
fought at Newtonia (9/30/62), Grandby
(10/4/62) and participated in operations
in Cherokee County (12/4-12/62).
As the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles, it
fought at Honey Springs (7/17/63).
Osage (Broke Arm’s) Cavalry
Battalion. Commanded by Maj. Broke
Arm (an Osage), it was organized in
March 1863, with three companies. It
was the only Confederate unit
organized by a tribe other than the five
principal Indian nations. At the end of
the war it served with Stand Watie’s
brigade, but didn’t participate in any
major battles. The unit surrendered on
23 June 1865.
Chickasaw 1st Cavalry Regiment
(or Chickasaw 1st Infantry Regiment).
Raised on 23 October 1863 for local
defense of the Chickasaw Nation.
Once organized, a shortage of horses
led to confusion as to whether it would
be employed as an infantry or cavalry
unit, but cavalry’s prestige held sway.
William L. Hunter was the first
colonel. The unit surrendered 26 May
1865.
Choctaw 1st Cavalry Battalion
(also called McCurtain’s Battalion).
This unit was raised in August 1864,
with Jackson McCurtain as Lt. Col.
Increased to a regiment in February
1865, it became the Choctaw 3rd Cavalry
Regiment. Provided local defense
of the Choctaw Nation, surrendered 26
May 1865.
—Mark N. Lardas
the rise & fall of
alexius Ducas
Nothing epitomizes the tragedy of
medieval ambition more than the rule
in 1204 of Alexius Ducas as Byzantine
emperor. He briefly led the Byzantine
Greeks against the Fourth Crusade in
their attempt to control Constantinople
and subvert the ancient Eastern Orthodox
realm.
What later historians call the
Byzantine Empire was the successor
to the Roman Empire in the east. At its
highpoint, the Byzantine writ ran from
Rome to Alexandria, but successive
waves of invaders had forced it back to
its core in the Balkans and the Anatolian
coastlines.
Ducas was born into a noble family
of Greek origin where he found himself
near the center of political power.
In the labyrinthine and unstable system
of that time, he was often drawn into
the political machinations of those who
sought to wear the purple of imperial
Byzantium, machinations that often led
to civil war.
After the blinding and imprisonment
of Emperor Isaac Angelos, Ducas
found himself imprisoned for seven
years by the new emperor, Alexius
III. In 1203, Alexius III was in turn
faced with concerted opposition from
a Frankish army, a Venetian navy and
Isaac’s son (also named Alexius).
While the Fourth Crusaders were theoretically
supposed to be marching on
the Holy Land to free Jerusalem from
the Muslims, they had decided taking
control of the rich metropolis of Constantinople
would be more profitable.
Despite a strong military position and
the command of a large army, Alexius
III chose to flee the imperial capital
when the Crusaders placed a puppet on
the throne.
The ascension of Isaac’s son
Alexius IV led Ducas to regain his
freedom and assume a position of
power within the new regime. He was
soon appointed to the post of protovestarius,
or chamberlain, a high official
in the court. As such he had the ear of
the young emperor, who was trying
hard to fulfill the generous promises
he’d made to the Crusader allies who’d
secured him his throne. As tensions
rose between the new emperor and the
Crusaders, Ducas found himself firmly
in the anti-Crusader camp, criticizing
Alexius for having mortgaged lands to
pay the Crusaders, and urging him to
make them leave.
On 7 January 1204, as tension
continued to escalate between the Byzantine
court and the Crusader camp,
Ducas, a man of some military skill,
led a group of horsemen out of the
city to confront the Westerners. In the
skirmish that followed, he was nearly
captured when toppled from his horse.
The action, while militarily insignificant,
gained him popularity among the
Greeks as a man willing to stand up to
the Crusaders and ignore the emperor’s
prohibitions on such conduct.
Fed up with the misrule of Alexius
IV, the populace sought another leader.
The Constantinople citizenry soon put
forward one of their own, a hapless
Nicholas Kannovos, as rival emperor.
Though there was little doubt
the reluctant appointee would not be
able to assume power, that development
convinced Ducas the time had
come to remove Alexius IV. When the
still-grasping Alexius went so far as
to offer the Crusaders control over his
own palace if they would maintain him
in power there, Ducas decided to act.
On the night of 27-28 January, Ducas
and the palace guards crept into the
emperor’s room, captured Alexius III
and imprisoned him in the dungeon.
Shortly thereafter, Ducas brazenly proclaimed
himself as Emperor Alexius V.
His first task was to solidify his
position by removing the many threats
to his power. Whether by natural
causes or treachery, the aged Isaac
Angelos became ill and died shortly
after Alexius V’s ascension. Nicholas
Kannavos, who’d meanwhile lost the
support of the people who had appointed
him, was soon arrested at the Hagia
Sophia cathedral and quickly thereafter
decapitated. Alexius IV also soon met
his doom at the hands of the man who
had removed him from power.
With control over Constantinople’s
political machine firmly in his hands,
Alexius V then took steps to remove
the threat posed by the Crusaders encamped
outside the city. Ordering them
to depart or face death, he incurred the
wrath of the Westerners. After participating
in several skirmishes with them,
he decided to sortie and attack their
camp.
Alexius’s forces, bearing the venerated
icon of the Virgin Mary, set out to
meet the Western invaders. The presence
of that revered relic displayed the
new emperor’s confidence in his task.
Unfortunately for him, that confidence
was greater than his ability to lead
troops. The Crusaders beat back his
forces and captured the relic. Alexius
abandoned the imperial standard and
fled back into the city.
The Crusaders, their morale
boosted, were encouraged to attempt
outright capture of Constantinople.
At the same time, Greek morale was
undermined. The situation wasn’t
helped much when Alexius attempted
to mislead the people into believing
he had won an imperial victory. The
Crusaders were more than happy to
refute the fabrication, displaying the
captured icon and standard on the prow
of a Venetian vessel that sailed back
and forth in the waters just outside the
city.

On 9 April the Crusaders began
their attack, but Alexius rallied his
troops and led them in a spirited
resistance. The Crusaders’ first attack
failed when their galleys were
hampered by strong cross winds that
prevented them from drawing close to
the fortifications. But the great prize
lay in front of them and, when they
renewed their efforts on the 12th, it
was with a new sense of dedication
with rousing sermons and benedictions.
The weather, which previously
assisted the Byzantines, turned in
the Crusaders’ favor. The shifting
winds allowed the Venetian ships to
get close to the city walls and an amphibious
assault captured two towers.
The Crusaders then forced open two
gates, allowing the rest of their army
to stream into Constantinople itself.
Frankish horsemen charged the
emperor’s tents and Alexius, abandoned
by his guard, fled to Bucoleon
Place. Faced with the fury of the
Western warriors, the entire Byzantine
army routed. The Crusaders then
began an orgy of pillage. Constantinople,
the great Christian defense of
the East, had finally fallen.
While the city burned, the emperor
commandeered a fishing boat and
escaped across the Bosphorous. The
tragedy of Alexius V had, however,
only just begun.
The Crusaders, now in control,
appointed one of their own, Baldwin
of Flanders, to lead what was to be
called the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
At the same time, Alexius III,
in a gesture of reconciliation, offered
to give his daughter in marriage to
Alexius V (she was already romantically
linked with him), and suggested
a formal alliance. As the Crusader
army advanced in all directions from
Constantinople, the two emperors met
in the Thracian town of Mosynopolis,
ostensibly to cement their new understanding.
During that meeting, however,
Alexius III had his men seize Ducas
and blind him. By Roman/Byzantine
custom, blinding would prevent
someone from being able to rule.
Shortly thereafter Ducas was turned
over to the Crusaders, who returned
him to Constantinople where he was
promptly tried and sentenced to death.
The elderly doge (ruler) of Venice
suggested the sentence: since Ducas
was of high birth, he should be given
“high justice.” Elaborating on his
idea, the doge suggested Ducas be
made to climb one of the high towers
of the city and then “be thrown to the
ground.”
Thus the one-time ruler of the
ancient Byzantine Empire was flungfrom
the column of Theodosius in the
heart of the ancient capital. The Latin
Empire, which he had attempted to
forestall, was established and lasted
for 57 years. In his brief rule as Alexius
V, Ducas had organized Byzantine
resistance against the avarice of the
Crusaders. Unfortunately for him and
his empire, he lacked the ability to
avoid the treachery of those vying for
the same increasingly meaningless
power.
— Darin Leviloff
the australian Conquest
of Kaiser
Wilhelm’s land
When the Great War broke out in
1914, the British government requested
the Australian military remove
the threat of German wireless radio
stations in the Pacific. Such stations
were on islands in German colonial
territories called Kaiser Wilhelm’s
Land. The German Pacific Territories
included northeast New Guinea,
New Britain, New Ireland, Manus,
Bougainville, Nauru and numerous
islands in Micronesia including Yap,
Ponape and Angaur. The administration
of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land was
conducted from Rabaul on the island
of New Britain. Kaiser Wilhem’s
Land abutted the old Queensland and
the then-Australian territory of Papua,
which was centered on Port Moresby.
The Germans had gained control
of those territories during the
scramble for colonies in the late
19th century. They had stationed a
small contingent of police and native
troops to defend the region. With the
outbreak of war, the Germans passed
a new law allowing commanders
in overseas territories to recall to
the colors all Germans belonging to
the Landwehr, their army’s secondline
reserve. When that was done in
Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land, the Germans
were able to mobilize a defense force
of seven German officers, 52 German
enlisted, and 240 native soldiers.
It did not seem to be a particularly
formidable force to defend an island
empire.
The Australians, meanwhile,
raised the 20,000 man Australian
Imperial Force (1st AIF) for service
in Europe. To fight in the Pacific they
formed a separate unit called the
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary
Force (AN & MEF). That
expeditionary force came to consist of
a mixed battalion of army troops and
naval reservists, as well as several
ships of the Royal Australian Navy
(RAN). The whole force was under
the command of Rear Adm. George
Patey, with the land component led by
a Col. Howes.
On 19 August 1914, a RAN
squadron raided Blanche Bay, the inlet
on which Rabaul is situated. That
move temporarily shut down the radio
station there, disrupting communications
with Germany. As a result, the
Germans moved their administration
inland from Rabaul to Toma.
That same day the AN&MEF
steamed in the transport Berrima
escorted by submarines and destroyers
of the RAN. The combined force
refueled at an island off Milne Bay
and then proceeded to Rabaul. At
3:30 a.m. on 11 September, HMA
ships Sydney and Parramatta entered
Blanche Bay, swept the waterway for
enemy ship only to find the entire area
empty. At 6:00 a.m. HMAS Australia,
Encounter and Berrima arrived and
made ready to land troops.
The Australians were aware
the main radio station was inland
on the south side of the bay near
Herbertshohe, and so landed a naval
party to occupy that area. Part of the
force landed at Herbertshohe and
part at Kabakaul Bay. The plan was
to use the local piers and jetties as
debarkation points, as the Australian
commanders expected and indeed
encountered no resistance at the shore
line. Rear Adm. Patey then sent a note
to the German governor asking for his
surrender. When no response came,
one Australian contingent began moving
inland from Kabakaul Bay under
command of a Lt. Bowen, while the
other started from Herbertshohe.
Their mission was to capture the radio
station known to have been moved
inland.
Two miles inland, Bowen’s
advance party encountered a group
of German troops holding a position
in the bush along a bend in the
road. A Petty Officer Palmer opened
fire on the Germans and hit one of
in the hand. The wounded man was
Sgt. Maj. Mauderer, commander of
the detachment. The Australians had
strategy & tactics 37

38 #229
some good luck there, as Mauderer
promptly came forward to surrender
himself. The other Germans, though,
weren’t as cooperative and opened fire.
Bowen soon realized he was outnumbered,
but he still managed to convince
Mauderer the Australians were moving
up a whole battalion in support. With
that, Mauderer called out and soon
convinced the others to surrender.
That action set the tone for the
fighting throughout the area. Brief
firefights were followed quickly by
German surrenders. The Australians
continued to use Mauderer and other
cooperative prisoners of war to convince
more defenders to cease fighting.
The Germans were a long way from
home and in no position to gain any
support. It is therefore not surprising
they proved willing to quit the fight.
By the end of that day the Australians
were in possession of the radio
transmitter. Thus ended the fighting on
11 September.
The broader situation was that
Toma was isolated, radio station taken,
and Rabaul’s coast under Australian
occupation. On the afternoon of 12
September, the troop transport Berrima
sailed into Simpson Harbor
and took up position along the docks
near Rabaul. At 6:00 p.m. it tied up
alongside the wharf and began landing
troops. With that, for all practical
purposes, the conquest of Kaiser
Wilhelm’s Land was complete. The
official ceremonies transferring authority
to Holmes as governor took place
on the 13th.
Over the next few weeks, small
detachments of Australians secured the
other parts of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land,
including that portion on New Guinea
itself. No German troops actively defended
any portion of the colony. Thus
ended the Australian military’s first
amphibious operations.
HMA Ships Involved
HMAS Australia battle cruiser (RAN
flagship), HMAS Sydney cruiser,
HMAS Melbourne cruiser, HMAS
Encounter cruiser, HMAS Berrima
auxiliary cruiser, HMAS Parramatta
destroyer, HMAS Warrago destroyer,
HMAS Yarra destroyer, AE 1 submarine,
AE 2 submarine.
— Peter Wyche
Data file
World War ii electronic
Warfare
World War II saw dramatic increases
in electronic warfare technology.
One of the primary battlegrounds
for electronic warfare was in the skies
over the Third Reich as Royal Air
Force intruders sought to penetrate
Luftwaffe defenses. Some of the more
significant developments included
the following codenamed devices and
projects.
Royal Air Force
Airborne Cigar (ABC) – a jammer
that worked against German receiver/transmitter
(R/T) transmissions.
The jamming signal sent out was
a musical sounding warbling tone
with a range of about 50 miles. It
had maintenance problems, being
affected by icing and vibration.
This device was installed in the
US-manufactured B-17s of Bomber
Command’s 100 Group.
AI Mark IV – An early British airborne
intercept (AI) radar, it was
first developed in 1940. It had a
maximum range of 6,400 meters
and a minimum range of 300. It
had two CRT displays to give
azimuth and elevation, and was
reasonably successful.
AI Mark VIII – Developed in 1942,
AI Mk VIII was a 10 centimeter radar
with maximum range increased
to about 10 kilometers.
Boozer – This was a tail warning
device that gave visual indications
of Wurzburg GCI, FuG202 or 212
‘painting’ of the bomber. Boozer
was not well liked, as it gave off
numerous false alarms due to the
large amount of radar and radio
frequency transmissions in the
skies over Germany. Fine in theory,
it proved almost useless in practice.
Corona – Corona was another jamming
system used against German
R/T transmissions. Instead of
merely jamming enemy frequencies,
the system attempted to give
false and misdirecting information
by using German speaking operators.
Corona was ground based in
southeastern England.
Ground Cigar – This was the ground
based jammer version of Airborne
Cigar. Obviously, the main limitation
was the range from bases in
England; however, because it used
larger, more powerful transmitters
it had a more powerful signal.
Ground Grocer – A land based jamming
system that interfered with
German FuG202 and FuG212 sets.
It was phased out after Window
came into use.
H2S – This radar was carried by aircraft
and actually ‘looked down’ to
identify ground targets. It was used
as a navigation aid by the British
in night bombing over targets too
far for Oboe navigation. It used a
10 centimeter magnetron and was
extremely useful. Unfortunately,
it was compromised early and
the Germans developed a homing
device with which to guide their
interceptors toward the bombers
using it.
Mandrel – Mandrel was a jammer the
RAF used to limit the effectiveness
of the FuGM 80 Freya series
of early warning radars, including
Wasserman and Mammut. Mandrel
at first jammed only frequencies in
the 118-128 MHz band, but later
versions covered the 68-78 and
138-148 MHz bands. Though with
experience the Germans learned to
work around this jamming, overall
it was considered moderately successful.
Monica – Another tail warning device,
this was an active system compromised
when a downed bomber revealed
its existence. The Germans
then developed a detector for it.
Serrate – Serrate was a device that
homed in on German nightfighter
radar transmissions, specifically
FuG202, FuG212 and FuG220. It
was used in British intruder Mosquito
escort fighters to good effect.
Tinsel – An air based jamming system
that used a microphone placed in
the engine nacelle of the bomber.
When an enemy R/T frequency
was found, Tinsel was switched
on, transmitting continuous engine
noise.
Window – The British name for chaff,
the ‘secret’ weapon both sides
were initially afraid to use. Both
the RAF and Luftwaffe realized
how devastating it might be to
radar, and therefore didn’t want to
alert the other side to its existence,
since they didn’t want it being
used against themselves. Bomber
Command’s losses, however, soon
convinced the British that Window
had to be employed to prevent a
disaster. The initial Window system
was composed of aluminum strips,
2,000 to the bundle, cut to 27cm

(11.5 inches) in length. It was capable of jamming
FuG202, FuG212 and Wurzburg GCI radars.
Luftwaffe
FuG 202 Lichtenstein BC – The Germans’ first airborne
intercept radar, it was built by Telefunken and entered
service in 1942. Normally this radar used the quadruple
Mattress aerial installation in the nose of the aircraft,
along with a triple cathode ray tube (CRT) display to
show altitude, azimuth and range. It had maximum and
minimum ranges of 3,500 and 200 meters, respectively.
FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1 – A slightly improved version
of the FuG202, the wide-angle radar had a single pole
antenna that branched out into four dipoles and four
reflectors. Later the frequency was altered to overcome
jamming.
FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 – The Germans developed
this airborne radar in a crash program after the Window
jamming of July 1943. First available in September, it
was reasonably immune to Window due to the different
wavelength on which it operated. Unfortunately for
the Germans, its minimum range was between 300-500
meters, so early versions included Lichtenstein C-1 to
compensate. SN-2 radar featured the recognizable “stag
antler” antenna array in the nose of aircraft in which it
was mounted.
FuG 221a Rosendaal-Halbe – This homing device was
developed by Siemens and detected Monica transmissions.
FuG 227 Flensburg – This improved homing device
detected Monica and Mandrel transmissions. Mounted
in nightfighters, Flensburg remained effective well into
1944, when the British discovered its existence and
were forced to remove Monica from its bombers.
FuG 350 Naxos Z – Another German airborne homing
device, Naxos Z detected transmissions from H2S and
other British centimetric radars, such as the AI Mark
VIII. The RAF responded by instructing crews to
use H2S as little as possible. The Naxos ZR version,
mounted in Ju88s, also featured a tail warning radar that
could detect British nightfighter centimetric radars.
FuMG 80 Freya – This was the standard German early
warning radar. Later versions included upgrades to the
Freya itself, as well as new types such as the FuMo
51 Mammut and FuMG 402 Wasserman. These radars
generally had a range of 125 miles or more, depending
on the altitude of incoming contacts.
FuMG 62D Wurzburg – This was the standard German
ground control intercept (GCI) and Gun Laying (GL)
radar. Two Wurzburg radars were used in the “Himmelbett”
(four-post bed) system of nightfighting. One
kept track of the intruder bomber, and one kept track of
the intercepting nightfighter. Wurzburg was also used to
help direct FLAK defenses.
Spanner – This device deserves mention because it was
probably the world’s first operationally used infrared
homing device. The first version had an infrared searchlight,
but later versions were passive and homed in on
a targeted bomber’s engine heat. It was not produced in
large numbers due to its limited range and other technical
problems. Still, it was a harbinger of future infrared
systems.
—Gregory M. Smith
the long tradition:
50 issues ago, S&t 179:
first afghan War. Joseph Miranda
design marches to the Khyber
Pass and back, 1839-42. Bryan
Booker sweeps across Persia
with Nadir Shah. And Brian
Train heads for apocalypse in
Peru with the Shining Path guerrillas.
100 issues ago, S&t 129:
Harvest of Death. Martin and Milman
simulate the bloodbath at
Gettysburg. Then an eclectic mix
of articles on Angola, Logistics,
Sevastapol, German war plans,
and dispatches from the Soviet
army.
150 issues ago, S&t 79:
berlin 85. Jim Dunnigan, Dave
Ritchie, Kerry Pendergast and
Redmond Simonsen create a
classic Cold War simulation with
Battle for Berlin, 1985. Dave
Parham goes east for more house
to house fighting at the Battle of
Stalingrad. Plus For Your Eyes
Only and Briefings.
200 issues ago, S&t 29:
uSN. Epic simulation of the war in
the Pacific, 1941-43 (Jim Dunnigan,
John Young, R. Champer
and Al Nofi). Victor Madej analyzes
blitzkrieg warfare. Plus Jim
Flanagan, John Young and Rod
Walker review games and books.
strategy & tactics 39

x
15 11I
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6 (3) 6
4
9I
x
9I
6 (2) 6
i i i
i i i
22 18
2 (6) 7
i i i
21 21
2 (3) 6
i i
4
2 (5) 6
5th Air Grp
2
1
USaaF
1A
i i
2 12
1
2 (3) 10
92
CA
40 #229
New Classics from Decision Games
Pacific Battles
Volume 1, The Rising Sun
Pacific Battles is a wargame series covering the
great land battles of the Pacific theater in WWII.
Units are battalions, with companies and regiments.
Most games in the series have players commanding
anywhere from a division to a corps worth of forces,
and employment of combined arms tactics becomes
critical. The system shows the evolution of tactical
doctrine in both the Japanese and Allied armies
with Banzai charges, superior U.S. fire coordination,
naval bombardment, airpower, amphibious
landings, and engineer operations. Games in this
volume include:
The Fall of Singapore from December of 1941
to February of 1942, a Japanese force of three
divisions under General Yamashita would force
the British off the Malay Peninsula and seize the
island fortress of Singapore.
Struggle on Bataan recreates the desperate U.S.
and Filipino defense of the Bataan Peninsula between
9 January and 9 April 1942.
Turning Point: Guadalcanal is the struggle
between the United States and Japan for possession
of the island of Guadalcanal in the southern
Solomons chain. The battle lasted from August
1942 until early February 1943 and resulted in a
strategic defeat for Japan.
Components: 2 34 x 22 inch mapsheet, rules booklet,
player aid cards, 460 die cut counters, storage bags
and 1 die.
$48. 00
Drive on Stalingrad
38 (3) 8
i i
B
37 Advanced European Theater of Operations
This is an update of the European Theater of Operations game published by TSR/SPI.
SPA It is a corps-level simulation of the battle in Europe during World War II.
(4) 12Advanced
ETO contains almost twice as many pieces the original ETO (over 2200!),
including new mechanized, mountain, commando and cavalry units, additional naval and
aircraft types, more Generals and even Admirals. For you naval buffs; Advanced ETO now
contains absolutely every capital ship that existed during World War II, including additional
aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers and raiders. Advanced ETO even includes numerous
naval vessels that were planned but never completed—allowing the players some very
interesting “what if” possibilities. If air power is your forte, Advanced ETO includes just
about every type of combat air unit that saw action in Europe during World War II.
Virtually every aspect of World War II in Europe is here. Best of all, Advanced ETO can
be played as an exciting grand strategic game (from the beginning of the war to the end), or
as one of the many quick campaigns or scenarios.
$110. 00
ships as 3 items on ship chart
Contents: 2240 die cut counters, 7 Player Aid cards, 2 Rules
Books, 2 34” x 22” maps, 3 dice & Storage bags.
Drive on Stalingrad is a two-player strategic-level
simulation of Fall Blau (Operation Blue), the German attempt
to conquer Stalingrad and the Caucasus area of the
southwest Soviet Union in 1942. The German player is on
the offensive, attempting to win by seizing key areas on the
map. The Soviet player is primarily on the defensive in the
first scenario, but he is also given the chance to run a fullblown
counter-offensive in the second, “Operation Uranus,”
scenario.
Game play of the main scenario encompasses the period
that began with the Germans’launching of “Operation Blue,”
their offensive toward Stalingrad and the Caucasus on 28
June 1942. That scenario ends on 15 September, after 11
weekly game turns. The second scenario starts on 19 November
1942, with the launching of the Soviet “Operation
Uranus” counter-offensive, and continues for six weekly
turns to the end of December, when historically the German
attempt to free their encircled 6thArmy at Stalingrad ground
to a halt.
Each hexagon on the map represents approximately 16
miles (26 kilometers) from side to opposite side. The units
of maneuver for both sides are primarily divisions, along
with what were actually similarly sized Soviet tank and
mechanized “corps.” Air power is represented abstractly.
Components: 2 34 x 22 inch mapsheet, rules booklet, 420 die
cut counters, storage bags and 1 die.
$48. 00

Another Classic Game from Decision Games
Wacht Am Rhein
The Battle of the Bulge,
16 Dec 44 – 2 Jan 45 (New Edition)
On 16 December 16 1944, Hitler’s armies suddenly
seemed to regain the insurmountable skill that
brought them victory in the first years of the war. For
months,Hitlerhadworkedtoreorganizeandre-equip
thebeatendivisionsstreamingbacktowardGermany.
Amassivesurprisecounterattack—code-named“Wacht
am Rhein”—against the weak Ardennes sector
of the American front was prepared.
Wacht am Rhein, 2nd Edition, is a tactical simulation
of that enormous battle. The 2,380 counters
represent every formation, at company and battalion
levels, which fought in both armies. Infantry, armor, anti-tank, recon, engineer, assault gun, howitzer, rocket, parachute, ranger, glider
and headquarters are all included. The four maps are an accurate representation of the Ardennes. Compiled from 1944 German staff
maps and the 1943-1944 1:50,000 US Army maps, they show primary and secondary roads, trails and other terrains in relation to their
suitability for armor and infantry. Towns and villages, bastions of the American defense, as well as creeks and rivers, which can’t be
crossed by vehicles without a bridge, are accurately positioned.
Players use single maps for small scenarios, or fight a campaign game that utilizes all four maps and portrays all three weeks. In
it, the Germans race attack in the face of ever-increasing concentrations of Allied infantry, armor and air power. Extensive supply,
weather and air power rules are included.
WaR2 has undergone modification to its combat, artillery and supply subsystems
to accurately depict tactical warfare. An exploitation mode has been created for
mechanized units to take advantage of breakthroughs in the enemy line during
the combat phase. That movement is mixed with the opponent’s to recreate the
fluidity that existed during the first week. Further changes include the addition of
high-ground vantage points, which enable units to more effectively spot for artillery,
as well as constricted terrain, which represents steep gullies and ravines.
The order of battle has also been revamped to provide an accurate depiction of
the armies. Units are in the organizations within which they actually fought, not
the administrative formations that were quickly discarded due to the demands of
battle.
Contents: 422x34inchmaps,2380die-cutcounters,rulebooklet,scenariobooklet,
player aid cards, and dice.
Name
address
City, state Zip
phoNe email
Visa/mC (oNly)#
expiratioN date
sigNature
$150.00
PO Box 21598
Bakersfield CA 93390
661/587-9633 • fax 661/587-5031 • www.decisiongames.com
shipping Charges
*ships as 3 units on ship chart.
1st item Adt’l items Type of Service
$8 $2 UPS Ground/US Mail Domestic Priority
15(20) 4 UPS 2nd Day Air (Metro AK & HI)
14(10) 2(7) Canada, Mexico (Express)
17(25) 7(10) Europe (Express)
20(25) 9(10) Asia, Africa, Australia (Express)
strategy & tactics 41

The Lion Conquers Bavaria:
42 #229
The Battle of the Lech, April 1632
by William E. Welsh
Midway through the Thirty Years
War of 1618-48 the Swedish army,
commanded by King Gustavus
Adolphus, swept down on the
Kingdom of Bavaria. The Swedish king hoped to
use Bavaria as the staging area for a final assault on
Austria, political center of the Holy Roman Empire.
At Donauworth, on the border of Bavaria, the 37-yearold
Gustavus Adolphus found his opponent, Johan
Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, had left the front door to the
region wide open.
Donauworth, a small town on the north bank of
the Danube, was held by a small imperial garrison of
2,000 men under Duke Rudolph of Saxe-Lauenberg.
Though vastly outnumbered by the 37,000-strong
Swedish army when it attacked on 5 April 1632, the
duke resisted until he found out Tilly was not coming
to his assistance.
The Swedes methodically set about reducing the
garrison. Lennart Torstensson, Gustavus’ artillery chief,
arrayed a portion of his guns on the high ground around
the town. He then treated its garrison to a terrifying
display of firepower with a non-stop bombardment.
During the night, one-third of the Imperialists managed
to cut their way out of the Swedish encirclement, but
the other two-thirds were not as fortunate. They ended
up either dead or prisoners.
Leaving 2,000 men behind to garrison the town,
Gustavus entered Bavaria proper. He found Tilly
strongly entrenched behind the Lech River, a tributary

of the Danube. He spent the next week securing the
countryside on the river’s left bank. By 12 April,
Gustavus had brushed aside the remaining resistance
and assembled his entire army opposite Tilly.
Gustavus carefully reconnoitered Tilly’s position
along the Lech. For his part, Tilly had taken the
necessary precautions to thwart Gustavus’ advance
into Bavaria. He had destroyed the main bridge over
the Danube, which might have been used to turn his
flank, as well as the bridge over the Lech at the town
of Rain. He then selected a position behind the Lech
from which he could react to any crossing.
Gustavus initially contemplated rebuilding the
bridge at Rain, but then dismissed the idea. Next, he
made a brief demonstration to see whether Tilly’s
soldiers guarding the most obvious crossings were
alert. When the probe was repulsed, Gustavus
undertook a more comprehensive reconnaissance. The
king, accompanied by his aides, rode up and down the
Lech surveying every bend and possible crossing in
strategy & tactics 43

44 #229
the river. It was on one of his stops along the river
that he had a brief encounter with the enemy. As he
surveyed the enemy position with his escort, Gustavus
was hailed by sentries on the other side of the river.
“Where’s your king?” they cried. The imperialist
pickets did not recognize the “Lion of the North” in
his elk-skin buffcoat and plumed hat.
“Nearer than you think,” Gustavus shouted back,
before spurring his horse and riding off.
Taking in all he had seen during his long
reconnaissance, Gustavus devised a clever plan.
Confrontation
The Lech has its source in the higher elevations of
the Alps. From there, it flows north through Bavaria
until it joins the Danube. When Gustavus arrived
before the Lech, he found it swollen from a mixture
of spring rain and melting snow. Tilly’s force of more
than 22,000 men was entrenched on the other side
in the town of Rain, not far from the Danube. The
countryside through which the Lech flows is low-lying
ground with occasional marshes. The western bank,
which is higher than the eastern bank, would afford
Gustavus a significant advantage if he chose to use
his artillery to soften the enemy before launching an
assault across the river.
To many generals of the day, Tilly’s position would
have seemed impregnable, and the risk of attacking
it hardly worth taking. To delay the Swedes and their
allies, Tilly ordered the destruction of every one of the
bridges along a 30-mile stretch of the Lech between
the Danube and Augsburg, and stationed his troops to
guard all possible crossings. In the vicinity of Rain, he
had constructed a large redoubt about 1,200 feet back
from the river. He had at his disposal about 20 cannon,
most of which he placed inside the redoubt. The army’s
main camp was located on firmer ground in woods
behind the redoubt. The camp was separated from the
redoubt by a small stream known as the Ach. Tilly was
not seeking a decisive victory, he was merely trying to
hold back the Swedish juggernaut until reinforcements
could arrive.
Rather than moving upstream in hope of finding
a river crossing that was unguarded, Gustavus chose
instead to dislodge the enemy from the vicinity of Rain
before Wallenstein could arrive with reinforcements.
Gustavus hoped to mislead Tilly into believing that
he was going to cross the river and attack the redoubt
in a direct assault. To carry out his plan, Gustavus
deployed his artillery in a bend along the river so he
would be able to bring converging fire on the redoubt.
The artillery bombardment would serve primarily as
a diversion so his engineers could construct sections
for a bridge. The makeshift bridge would enable his
infantry to cross just upstream of the redoubt where
a small island divided the Lech into two narrow
channels. Just south of Rain, the Lech made a sharp
turn to the west before turning abruptly east again.
Along the outside of river bend, Gustavus planned to
erect three large gun emplacements—one in the center
and one on each end—with 24 guns in each battery.
In a council of war, Horn argued against the plan on
the grounds it was too risky, but the king was adamant
the maneuver could be carried out. Horn argued the
imperialist position was too strong, but Gustavus
countered the opposing army was comprised mostly
of raw recruits who could not stand up to Swedish
veterans. Horn argued that the army would have
to cross a river in the face of strong opposition, but
Gustavus noted the army had done just that in previous
campaigns.
On 13 April, Swedish engineers and gunners began
constructing the emplacements and deploying the
guns in the manner outlined by Gustavus. Meanwhile,
the king ordered the army to deploy in battle formation
directly opposite the imperialist redoubt to give the
impression the enemy strongpoint was his main
objective. The Swedish deployment was similar to
that of Breitenfeld. Twelve infantry brigades were in
two lines with cavalry on both wings. As in the earlier
battle, the cavalry was strengthened with detachments
of musketeers. The only thing missing was artillery.
Nearly all of the Swedish pieces, barring some shortrange
guns, had been run up to the river’s edge. And
the two sides proceeded to shell each other throughout
the day of 14 April.
The heavy Swedish guns not only had the range to
strike the redoubt, but also the imperial camp behind
it. Their 24 pound shells crashed into the woods,
shattering trunks and tree limbs and sending them
crashing down on the troops below. Just as Gustavus
had hoped, the bombardment had a devastating effect
on the morale of Tilly’s recruits. The imperial gunners
fired back, but failed to silence the Swedish artillery.
Though Tilly had destroyed all of the boats in the
vicinity of Rain, Gustavus’s soldiers returned to the
Danube for boats that might be used for the crossing.
To keep the enemy from detecting the crossing, the
Swedish king ordered his troops to generate thick
smoke by burning a mixture of green wood, wet straw
and gunpowder. The Swedish army also completed
earthworks and trenches at the crossing site. During
the night, the engineers carried the bridge in sections
to the bank, so the crossing could begin the following
morning.
Combat Crossing
The main assault began at 8:00 a.m., when the 334
Finns of the Hastfer Infantry crossed to the island by
boat. Serving as combat engineers, the Finns quickly
assembled the bridge from the west bank to the island.
Once the bridge to the island was completed, Gustavus
sent infantry and light artillery across to support the
final assault on the east bank. As those troops arrived
on the island, the Finns returned to their boats and
crossed to the eastern bank under cover of another
smokescreen. As soon as the Finns landed, Gustavus
extended the final section to them. The bridge was flush

Background to Battle
The Thirty Years War had dragged on for 14 years by the
time Gustavus Adolphus arrived on the border of Bavaria in
the spring of 1632. Initially a religious conflict, the war had
begun in Bohemia when Protestant nobles revolted against the
Austrian branch of the Hapsburg dynasty that controlled the
Holy Roman Empire. The Protestants wanted Frederick V of
Palatine elected emperor, while the Catholics sought to have
Ferdinand II of Austria elected to the same office.
From Bohemia, the war spread from one principality to the
next, burning brightest in such highly fractious areas as the
Rhineland. The early years of the war were marked by a string
of Catholic League victories. The League had been founded
by a group of pro-Catholic German princes backed by the
Austrian Hapsburgs. But the conflict gradually pulled in other
nations that bordered the empire. France, England and the
United Netherlands were willing to back either the Danes or
the Swedes against the imperialist Hapsburgs, more to maintain
the balance of power than for any religious motivation.
In 1625, Danish King Christian IV attempted unsuccessfully
to counter the imperial forces, whose armies by then controlled
most of Germany. During Christian’s foray into Germany,
Gustavus was content to sit on the sidelines, still more interested
in Poland than central Europe. But once the Danish king was
defeated by the imperialists, Gustavus resolved to support the
Protestants in Germany. Imperial armies on the Baltic coast
would have been a threat to Sweden’s control of that lucrative
region, as well as to the existence of Protestantism in Europe.
In July 1630, Gustavus and his army landed at Peenemunde
on the island of Usedom. In less than a week’s time, the
Swedes marched unopposed into Stettin, capital of Pomerania.
An experienced and able commander, Gustavus faced two
formidable foes in Germany— Johan Tserclaes, Count of Tilly
and Duke Albert Wallenstein of Friedland and Mechlenberg,
both of whom were veteran imperial generals.
From his base in Pomerania, Gustavus waged a war of
maneuver against Tilly, forcing the septuagenarian count to
fall back toward southern Germany. At Werben, Gustavus
showed he had a good eye for defense. He set his men to work
fortifying a position on the Elbe River with strong earthworks
and redoubts. With the river on both flanks, Tilly was left with
no choice but to hurl his army against the Swedish fortifications.
After two days of unsuccessful attacks, Tilly withdrew leaving
Gustavus in possession of the battlefield.
The following year, Gustavus recruited a key ally in
Johan Georg, elector of Saxony, a move which substantially
augmented his army. On 17 September 1631, Gustavus won a
clear victory over Tilly at Breitenfeld. The superior firepower
and tactical flexibility of the Swedes, both direct results of the
tactical reforms instituted by Gustavus during the previous
decade, played a major role in his victory.
After Breitenfeld, Gustavus turned west to liberate the
Rhineland and tap the wealth of the Catholic church lands
that lay along the way. He wintered in Mainz, from where
he embarked in March 1632 for what he hoped would be the
conquest of Bavaria and Austria. Gustavus’s past military
experience was crucial to his performance in the Thirty Years
War. Born in 1594, he was 11-years-old when he entered
military service. When his father Charles IX died in 1611,
Gustavus inherited his crown as well as his wars against
Russia, Poland and Denmark.
Gustavus resolved the disputes with Russia and Denmark,
but the Polish situation was not so easily concluded. Sigismund
Vasa, King of Poland, was Gustavus’ cousin. Sigismund was
determined to assert the claim he had to the Swedish throne.
A truce, however, gave the young Gustavus a chance to enact
reforms that would enable his army to triumph on the battlefields
of Germany. In a move that turned the recruiting practice of
the day on its head, which relied on mercenaries, Gustavus
molded his regiments, recruited mainly from the Swedish
peasant militia, into a regular army. He also adopted the tactics
and reforms of the renowned Dutch military strategist Maurice
of Orange, which emphasized flexible tactical units and the
exploitation of firepower. During that time, Dutch military
experts also traveled to Sweden to instruct Gustavus and his
officers in the optimum use of artillery and the craft of siege
warfare.
The Polish wars were concluded in 1629, with the signing
of a treaty that granted Sweden control of Livonia as well as a
number of key Baltic ports. This left Gustavus free to enter the
Thirty Years War on the side of the Protestant princes.
Gustavus had an impressive record. Since his accession to
the throne, he had fought six campaigns against Poland and
two against Denmark and Russia. During the Polish wars, the
king had been wounded in the hip and neck, and had narrowly
escaped capture at the Battle of Honigfelde on 27 June 1629.
In the Polish wars, Gustavus worked with the same circle
of generals—Gustav Horn, Johan Baner, Karl Wrangel and
Torstensson—who would serve under him in the coming
conflict. Gustavus also learned from his enemies, adopting the
fierce Polish cavalry charge to his own Swedish horsemen.
Gustavus’s reforms would ensure success throughout his
advance through Germany until his untimely death in battle.
Swedish Lion King: King Gustavus Adolphus
strategy & tactics 45

46 #229
with the water, making it difficult for enemy gunners
to hit. It was not long before the last section was in
place. Three infantry brigades crossed and established
a bridgehead on the far bank. There, they braced for
a counterattack as they watched the imperial army
forming in the distance.
As soon as he discovered a crossing was in progress,
Tilly swung into action. He set his troops to work
strengthening the earthworks nearest the crossing site.
At the same time, he organized a detachment and sent
it off in the direction of the crossing. That detachment
included infantry, cavalry and two artillery batteries.
The artillerists established their guns in the marsh
and proceeded to bombard the Swedish troops at the
bridgehead. To Tilly’s disappointment, the fire had
little effect because of the low ground on which the
guns were placed. Despite this ineffective fire, the
imperialists still had several advantages. One was they
could feed troops into the fight faster than the Swedes,
who were constricted by the bridge in moving up
reinforcements. Another advantage was the marsh at
the river’s edge would slow the Swedish advance.
A fierce battle soon raged as both sides rushed in
reinforcements. The Swedes, for whom retreat across
the narrow bridge was not an option, fought with
desperation. At one point they were forced back into
the shallows at the river’s edge. By mid-afternoon the
action at the bridge was stalemated, with each side
suffering upward of 1,000 casualties.
The imperial army’s superiority in numbers
prevented the Swedes from breaking out of the
bridgehead. For that reason, Gustavus ordered Duke
Wilhelm Saxe-Weimer to lead 2,000 cavalry two miles
further south and ford the river. At the same time,
he ordered another 400 horsemen to move an equal
distance north and swim their horses across a deeper
section of the river.
About 4:00 p.m., the main body of cavalry under
Saxe-Weimer splashed through the ford and thundered
Vile Gunpowder: Weapons of the Thirty Years’ War
across the flat plain beyond. Moving to contest their
advance was Tilly’s 3,000-strong cavalry reserve.
Though outnumbered, Saxe-Weimer ordered the
attack. After just two charges, the imperialist cavalry
withdrew to the safety of their camp; however, the
other Swedish troop that had crossed upstream was
easily held in check by the imperialists.
While the flanks were being contested, Tilly ordered
Gen. Johan von Aldringer to form his cavalry for an
attack on the bridgehead. Aldringer was to circumvent
the marsh and attack the enemy from firmer ground.
Skirting the marsh, Aldringer personally led his men
in a valiant but futile charge against the Swedish
infantry. After their first unsuccessful attack, the
imperial troopers fell back, regrouped, and then
charged a second time. The second charge was also
thrown back. Aldringer himself was struck in the head
by a cannon ball. Having lost their commander and
under heavy fire from both musket and cannon fire, the
imperial cavalry fled in disorder. Aldringer, who lay
unconscious on the battlefield, was taken to the rear by
his men.
With Aldringer wounded, Tilly had no other choice
but to lead the next attack himself. So, with a fresh
contingent of veterans, he emerged from the woods
and advanced against the bridgehead. The combat
reached new heights as the cream of the imperial army
crashed into the Swedish line in a final attempt to
destroy the bridgehead. For his part, Tilly fought with
ardor despite his age. About 20 minutes into that last
round of fighting, the imperial commander crumpled
to the ground when a cannon ball fired from a falconet
struck his knee, shattering the bone. Though he did
not die on the battlefield, the wound ultimately proved
fatal.
The command now devolved upon Duke
Maximilian of Bavaria. Maximilian faced a Hobson’s
choice: he could fight the following day and risk the
destruction of his army or he could withdraw while his
Cannon Weight Bore Length Round Effective Range
(kg) (cm) (m) (kg) (m)
4 pounder 350 4.0 2.0 1.8 200-250
6 pounder 550 8.5 2.4 2.7 450-500
12 pounder 1400 11.5 3.0 5.4 600-700
24 pounder 2200 15.0 4.0 10.8 1200-1700
48 pounder 3200 20.0 4.5 21.6 1500-1700
Firearm Weight Bore Length Round Effective Range
(kg) (cm) (m) (grams) (m)
Pistol 2.5 1.5 0.5 20 20-30
Arquebus 5.0 2.0 1.5 28 75-100
Dutch Musket 6.0 2.0 2.0 37 100-150
Spanish Musket 8.0 2.5 2.0 57 100-150

Weapons & Tactics of the Thirty Years War 1618-48
The 17 th century brought profound changes in military weapons.
A large number of hand-to-hand weapons popular during medieval
combat were deemed obsolete, and therefore put in permanent storage.
Infantry and cavalry increasingly armed themselves with firearms, as
gunpowder weapons grew both in efficiency and killing power.
The infantry during the Thirty Years War was composed of
musketeers (“shot”) and pikemen. The pikemen were armed with a
long spear and sword. They were clad in partial armor which consisted
of a helmet, breastplate and backplate. The pikes themselves were of
varying lengths, depending on the army, and often were cut down by
the troops for ease of handling. The musketeers were armed with the
matchlock musket. The matchlock was a cumbersome firearm that,
initially at least, required a forked rest as a platform from which to fire.
For his army, though, Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus eventually
introduced a lighter musket that could achieve a higher rate of fire. The
matchlock, as the name indicates, used a trigger mechanism containing
a burning match that detonated the priming powder. That was somewhat
cumbersome; however, the weapon was simple enough and recruits
could be trained in its used in a few weeks. Some specialists were also
armed with the firelock, an early form of the flintlock. Despite the
myth, Gustavus did not arm the bulk of his infantry with wheel-lock
muskets; however, he probably did standardize weapons which made
supply that much easier.
Like their infantry counterparts, the cavalry were undergoing
profound change. During the Thirty Years War cavalry carried one form
of firearm or another. Those weapons usually consisted of wheel-lock
pistols and various shortened muskets. The wheel-lock mechanism,
similar to a modern cigarette lighter, was expensive and subject to
breakdown but was much more efficient than the matchlock for a
horseman. The heavy cavalry, often referred to as cuirassiers, were
armed with two or three pistols and a sword. The light cavalry, called
arquebusiers, were armed with a carbine, a pistol and a sword. The
cuirassiers donned a complete suit of plate armor and helmet for battle,
while the arquebusiers simply wore an open helmet, breastplate and
backplate. There were also dragoons, who at the time were mounted
infantry and frequently used for outpost duties.
The job of the cavalry during battle was to defeat the enemy’s
mounted troops and then exploit vulnerabilities in the enemy line,
particularly by attacking the enemy in the flank or rear. For the most
part, cavalry used the caracole, a maneuver whereby each horseman
fired his weapon and then rode to the rear to reload. If an enemy
formation was shaken, the horsemen would charge forward. Those
tactics are sometimes criticized as being uninspired but, given the
immense defensive power of infantry squares, they were an efficient
use of the horsemen. Gustavus found the caracole too passive for his
tastes and abolished it. Instead, he ordered his cavalry to charge the
enemy and discharge their gunpowder weapons at the foe during the
subsequent melee. The Swedish horsemen were assisted by small bodies
of detached musketeers who would provide additional firepower.
Gustavus is credited with introducing mobile field artillery during
his campaigns on the continent. That contrasted with the usual
practice of an army emplacing its guns at the start of a battle and their
remaining in position until the fray ended or they were captured. The
Swedes deployed 1½ pounders and 3 pounders organic to infantry
formations. Those light guns were moved across the battlefield either
by horsepower or manpower. The larger guns, such as the 12 and 20
pounders, were deployed in fixed positions in the line of battle.
A typical line of battle consisted of infantry in the center with
cavalry on each wing. There was often more than one line, and reserve
contingents to boot. The prevailing “Spanish” style of deployment had
the infantry in dense blocks of tercios (regiments, but the term tercio
has come to mean a particular tactical style). Within each tercio block,
the pikemen formed up in the center and were flanked by “sleeves” of
musketeers. The pikes defended against enemy cavalry and pushed
forward for shock effect, while the musketeers provided firepower.
The front rank men in the musketeer column would discharge their
pieces in the direction of the enemy, then retire to reload as the next
rank came forward to repeat the process. It was also common to
detach small parties of musketeers to act as skirmishers and to deploy
in rough terrain where the pikes could not close up.
Maurice of Nassau made a critical reform in reducing the size
of the basic infantry unit to the battalion, 500 or so men, which
was much more flexible in combat. The battalions could maneuver
independently and, with more men “up front,” could deliver more
firepower per unit. That system was adopted by Gustavus. Two or
three battalions comprised a regiment, though often battalions were
formed up into brigades on the battlefield. The Swedes tended to
keep their brigades together, which did much to improve tactical
control as the officers and men were used to working with each other.
Gustavus also made his artillerists regular soldiers, breaking with
the contemporary practice of considering gunners hired technicians.
Those reforms, combined with a strict but fair (or “fairer” for the
period) discipline, resulted in a more cohesive army on the battlefield,
though later in the war the Swedes would rely upon mercenaries like
everyone else.
At Breitenfeld, 17 September 1631, Tilly deployed his infantry
in phalanxes 40 or 50 men deep. Gustavus arranged the Swedes in
ranks six to 10 deep. The Swedes also used the much more efficient
volley system to deliver fire. That gave the Swedish battalions more
firepower, albeit at the expense of all around-defense. The result
was a decisive Swedish victory and Gustavus’ nomination to “great
captain” status; however, the imperials learned and in later battles
used much less dense formations.
strategy & tactics 47

48 #229
army was still intact, exposing Bavaria to the enemy.
After holding council of war and consulting with the
wounded Tilly, Maximilian gave the order to withdraw
during the dark of night. The imperialists managed to
slip away to Ingolstadt unnoticed. It was not until the
following day that the Swedes realized the enemy had
abandoned their works and they were in possession
of the battlefield. The Swedes lost about 2,000 men
in the fight, while the imperialists took about 3,000
casualties.
When he discovered that the imperialists had
withdrawn, Gustavus ordered his cavalry to pursue
in the hope of overtaking the enemy’s rearguard. To
his disappointment, the Swedish cavalry were only
able to capture a few of the enemy’s supply wagons.
Meanwhile, the king rode over to inspect the redoubt
that was the centerpiece of the imperial defense.
Unable to fathom what would compel Maximilian to
withdraw from such a formidable position, Gustavus
exclaimed, “Had I been the Bavarian, I would not have
abandoned these works even if the ball had carried off
my chin as well as my beard!”
Aftermath
After the battle of Lech, Gustavus and Maximilian
marched in opposite directions. The Swedish army
turned south toward Augsburg, while the imperial army
marched north to Ingolstadt. Maximillian eventually
fled to Austria where he stayed for three years until it
was safe for him to return to Bavaria.
A month after the battle, Gustavus marched
victoriously into Munich where he plundered the
duke’s treasure. The Swedes proceeded to lay waste to
Bavaria in retribution for previous atrocities inflicted
by the Catholics on German Protestant towns earlier in
the war. The sack of Bavaria was a devastating blow
to the Catholic cause, since the region was considered
the heart and soul of Catholic Germany.
Gustavus was distracted by the movement of
Wallenstein’s army to his north. Fearing his lines of
communication would be cut, he turned north to meet
Wallenstein thereby abandoning an advance deep into
Austria. In changing his axis of advance, he ignored
the advice of Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna
who urged him to head for the imperial center of
gravity at Vienna. Fully aware of Gustavus’ tactical
genius, Wallenstein avoided open battle and was
content instead to entrench in the hope that Gustavus
would squander his manpower with costly attacks.
Summer turned to fall with the two armies still
facing each other until, having exhausted the supplies
that could be squeezed from the land, both forces
shifted north. The two adversaries finally met outside
the Saxon town of Luetzen on 16 November 1632.
Luetzen was to be Gustavus’ last battle. While leading
a Swedish cavalry charge on the right flank, the Lion
of the North was slain by enemy cavalry.
It was an undignified, but perhaps fitting end, to
an exemplary military career. The king’s body was
recovered by the Swedes during the night and returned
to Stockholm. The Thirty Years War would drag on for
another 16 years.
Sources
Bonney, Richard. The Thirty Years’ War 1618-1648. Oxford,
England: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2002.
Guthrie, William P. Battles of the Thirty Years’ War: From White
Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 2002.

Order of Battle: Battle of the Lech
Swedish
Commander-in-chief
Gustav II, King of Sweden
Infantry
Hand Infantry Regiment (Swedish)
Hard Infantry Regiment (Swedish)
Hastfer Infantry Regiment (Finnish)
Royal Guard Coy (Mixed)
N. Brahe Infantry Regiment (German)
Winckel Infantry Regiment (German)
Thurn Infantry Regiment (German)
Baner Infantry Regiment (German)
Bernard Saxe-Weimar Infantry Regiment (German)
Burt Infantry Regiment (German)
Chemnitz Infantry Regiment (German)
Forbes Infantry Regiment (German)
Horn Infantry Regiment (German)
Kagge Infantry Regiment (German)
Kanoffsky Infantry Regiment (German)
Liebenstein Infantry Regiment (German)
Mitschefall Infantry Regiment (German)
Mitzlaff Infantry Regiment (German)
Monro of Fowles Infantry Regiment (German)
Riese Infantry Regiment (German)
Schaffalitsky Infantry Regiment (German)
B. Schlammersdorf Infantry Regiment (German)
T. Schlammersdorf Infantry Regiment (German)
Schneidwinds Infantry Regiment (German)
Truchsess Infantry Regiment (German)
Wildenstein Infantry Regiment (German)
Hepburn Infantry Regiment (Scottish)
Mackay Infantry Regiment (German)
Spens (German)
Cavalry
Stenbock Cuirassier (Swedish)
Soop Cuirassier (Swedish)
Silversparre Squadron (Swedish)
Sack Squadron (Swedish)
Sperreuter Squadron (Swedish)
Stahlhansk Cuirassier (Finn)
Tiesenhaussen (Livonian)
Domhoff Squadron (Kurland)
Baudissin Cuirassier (German)
B. Saxe-Weimer Cuirassier (German)
Courville Cuirassier (German)
E. Saxe-Weimer Cuirassier (German)
Horn Cuirassier (German)
Kotchtitzky Cuirassier (German)
Baden Cuirassier (German)
Monro of Fowles Cuirassier (German)
Schonberg Cuirassier (German)
Solms Squadron (German)
Sperreuter Cuirassier (German)
Streiff Squadron (German)
Tott Cuirassier (German)
Truchsess Cuirassier (German)
Uslar Cuirassier (German)
Wedel Cuirassier (German)
W. Saxe-Weimer Cuirassier (German)
Ohm Cuirassier (German)
Horn Leib Coy (German)
Free Coy (German)
Du Menys Dragoon (German)
Taupadel Dragoon (German)
Imperial-Catholic League Army
Commander:
John Tserclaes, Count of Tilly
Infantry
Alt-Tilly Infantry Regiment (Catholic League-Wurzburg)
Reinach Infantry Regime (Catholic League-High German)
Comargo Infantry Regiment (Catholic League-High German)
Pappenheim Infantry Regiment
(Catholic League-High German)
Wahl Infantry Regiment (Catholic League-High German)
Jung-Furstenberg Infantry Regiment
(Catholic League-High German)
Free Companies Infantry Regiment
(Catholic League-High German)
Beck Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-Walloon)
Conteras Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-German)
Savelli Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-Low German)
Witzleban Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-German)
Baldiron Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-Spanish)
Fahrenbach Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-High German)
Rittberg Infantry Regiment (Imperialist-German)
Cavalry
Cronberg Heavy Cavalry (Catholic League-High German)
Billehe Heavy Cavalry (Catholic League-High German)
J. Fugger Cuirassier (Catholic League-Low German)
Blankhart Cuirassier (Catholic League-Low German)
D’Espagne Cuirassier (Catholic League-Low German)
Cratz Cuirassier (Catholic League-High German)
Hasslang Cuirassier (Catholic League-High German)
Merode Cuirassier (Catholic League-High German)
Free Coy (Catholic League-High German)
Dragoons (Catholic League-High German)
O.H. Fugger Croats (Catholic League-High German)
Merode Arquebussier (Imperialist-Walloon)
Bucquoy Heavy Cavalry (Imperialist-Walloon)
Free Coy (Imperialist-High German)
Croats Light Cavalry (Imperialist-Croatian)
Source: Guthrie, William P. Battles of the Thirty Years’ War: From
White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 2002.
Comparisons of opposing forces engaged in key battles of
Gustavus Adolphus
Total Infantry Cavalry Guns
Breitenfeld 1631
Imperialist 31,000 21,000 10,000 30
Swedish 41,000 27,800 13,200 70
Lech 1632
Imperialist 22,100 16,800 5,300 72
Swedish 37,500 22,640 14,860 20
Luetzen 1632
Imperialist 19,000 9,800 9,200 60
Swedish 18,900 12,700 6,200 38
strategy & tactics 49

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MFG 1856 45
MFG 1870 45
MFG Alexander & Cheops 18
MFG Australian Rails (tube) 25
MFG Bang! (card) 10
MFG British Rails (tube) 25
MFG Dancing Dice 25
MFG Dodge City (Bang exp) 10
MFG Domaine 49
MFG Dos Rios: Valley 2 Rivers 49
MFG Empire Builder 38
MFG Euphrate & Tigris 50
MFG Eurorails 30
MFG Express 13
MFG Family Business (2nd ed) 15
MFG Freight Train 20
MFG India Rails 35
MFG Iron Dragon 30
MFG King Me! 25
MFG Lunar Rails 38
MFG Manhattan 30
MFG More Cosmic Encounter 35
MFG Nippon Rails (tube) 25
MFG Pyramids 25
MFG Quo Vadis-Roman Senate 35
MFG Russian Rails 38
MFG Settlers of Canaan 30
MFG Kids of Catan 49
MFG Settlers of Catan 38
MFG SoC/ 5&6 expan 20
MFG SoC/Scenario box (Ger) 25
MFG SoC/Seafarers 35
MFG SoC/Seafarers expan 20
MFG SoC/Cities & Knights expan 38
MFG SoC/Cities & Knights-5&6 20
MFG SoC/replacement cards 9
MFG SoC/Travel ed 25
Unpunched Games
MFG Settlers of Stone Age 49
MFG Starfarers Catan/Germ 60
MFG Starfarers Catan/Eng 60
MFG Starfarers Catan-5&6 30
MFG Starship Catan (2 player) 30
MFG Silverton (2nd ed) 45
MFG Simply Cosmic 20
MFG Streetcar 30
MFG Theophrastus 25
MFG Uncle Happy's Train Gm 15
MIH Fields of Glory P44
MIH In Flanders Field (zip) 30
MIH Iron Bottom Sound II 42
MIH Lodz 1914 (zip) 49
MIH Pierce the Reich 35
MIH Tunisia 43 44
MIH Turning the Tables 30
MIH Velikye Luki (zip) 32
MIH White Ensign (zip) 35
MKD Barnet (zip) 20
MKD Mortimer's Cross (zip) 20
MKD Tewkesbury (zip) 20
MWF Master of Wars 30
NES Battle for Dresden 30
NES Killing Ground 60
NVA Ace of Aces 40
NVA Bounty Hunter 45
NVA Battle for Factories 200
NVA Fire on Volga 200
NVA Jet Eagles 35
OMGA 1864 35
OMGA Carrier War 40
OMGA Carrier War Expan. (zip) 20
OMGA Desert Victory 40
OMGA Victory in Europe (2nd /zip) 40
OMGA War to Death (1st ed) 30
OMGA War to Death (2nd ed/zip) 25
OOB Apples to Apples 20
OOB Apples to Apples exp. 1 13
OOB Apples to Apples exp. 2 13
OOB Apples to Apples exp. 3 15
OOB Apples to Apples exp. 4 15
OOB Apples to Apples exp. 5 15
OOB Apples to Apples Jr. 16
OOB Apples to Apples Jr. 9+ 17
OOB Apples to Apples Party bx 30
OOB Apples to Apples Crate 30
OOB Apples to Apples Crate Exp 25
OOB Qwitch 10
OOB Shipwrecked 16
OOB Squint 20
OSS Jaunty Jalopies 25
OSS Mill. Wars- Iraq 20
OSS Mill. Wars- Kashmir 20
OSS Mill. Wars- America 20
OSS Mill. Wars- Ukraine 20
OSS Mill. Wars- Korea 20
OSS Mill. Wars- Air Wars expan 20
OSG 1806: Rossbach 48
OSG Bonaparte in Italy 39
OSG Devils Den 40
OSG Highway to the Kremlin 48
OSG Hundred Days Battle (zip) P40
OSG La Guerre de l'Emperor 48
OSG Last Days -Grand Armee 36
OSG Napoleon at Bay (2nd ed) 48
OSG Sun of Austerlitz 46
OSG Rommel @ Tunisia 60
PB Lionheart 36
PRP Frozen Chosin 30
PHA A House Divided 45
PHA Waterloo 45
PWG Kanev 45
QD Grant Moves South P75
QD Incredible Victory P60
QD Ironbottom Sound 75
Quan Fire & Fury ACW Rules 23
Quan Great Western Battles Scen 15
RAND Omaha Beach (folio) 50
RAV Shark 40
RIO GR Africa 40
strategy & tactics 51
Desert Fox
Games

Desert Fox
Games
Unpunched Games
RIO GR Age of Napoleon $45
RIO GR Aladdin's Dragon 40
RIO GR Alexandros 33
RIO GR Amun Re 38
RIO GR Andromeda 40
RIO GR Around World 80 38
RIO GR Attika 33
RIO GR Babel 23
RIO GR Balloon Cup 20
RIO GR Barnyard Critters (card) 10
RIO GR Bean Trader 38
RIO GR Bohnanza 18
RIO GR Bohnanza Bonaparte exp 15
RIO GR Bucket King 25
RIO GR Cabale 40
RIO GR Caesar & Cleopatra 23
RIO GR Canyon 25
RIO GR Cape Horn 30
RIO GR Caprice 40
RIO GR Capt'n Clever 25
RIO GR Carcassone 23
RIO GR Carcassone Castle 23
RIO GR Carcassone City 50
RIO GR Carcassone Count 6
RIO GR Carc Hunters & Gatherers 23
RIO GR Carc exp./I&C 13
RIO GR Carc exp./T&B 13
RIO GR Carc exp./King & Scout 5
RIO GR Carolus Magnus 40
RIO GR Caribbean 28
RIO GR Cartagena 25
RIO GR Chicken Cha Cha Cha 38
RIO GR Clans 25
RIO GR Clash of Gladiators 30
RIO GR Coloretto (card) 12
RIO GR Corsairs 20
RIO GR Corsari (card) 12
RIO GR Crocodile Pool Party 23
RIO GR Dawn Under 45
RIO GR Doge 40
RIO GR Dracula 23
RIO GR Dragonland 35
RIO GR The Duell 25
RIO GR Dvonn 30
RIO GR Edison & Co. 40
RIO GR El Grande 40
RIO GR Evergreen 30
RIO GR FBI (card) 13
RIO GR Fossil 30
RIO GR Frank's Zoo (card) 10
RIO GR Galloping Pigs (card) 10
RIO GR Gargon (card) 10
RIO GR Ghost Chase 40
RIO GR Gipf 25
RIO GR Gnummies (card) 10
RIO GR Goa 33
RIO GR Goldbrau 38
RIO GR Gone Fishing 23
RIO GR Gulo Gulo 38
RIO GR Halli Galli 18
RIO GR Hare & Tortise 25
RIO GR Heart of Africa 45
RIO GR Heave Ho 23
RIO GR Hector & Achilles 30
RIO GR Hellas 23
RIO GR Hera & Zeus 23
RIO GR Ido 50
RIO GR Igloo Pop 33
RIO GR Industrial Waste 30
RIO GR Jambo 23
RIO GR Java 38
RIO GR Kahuna 20
RIO GR Katzenjammer Blues (card) 10
RIO GR King's Breakfast (card) 12
RIO GR Klunker (card) 10
RIO GR La Citta 40
RIO GR LotR The Search 23
RIO GR Landlord (card) 10
RIO GR Lowenherz 40
RIO GR Lost Cities 23
RIO GR Marco Polo
52 #229
38
Unpunched Games Unpunched Games Unpunched Games
RIO GR Magna Grecia $38
RIO GR Maharaja 45
RIO GR Mall World 33
RIO GR Mama Mia (card) 10
RIO GR Mammoth Hunters 35
RIO GR Maya 28
RIO GR Medici 30
RIO GR Medina 40
RIO GR Medeival Merchant 40
RIO GR Merchant of Amsterdam 45
RIO GR Meridian 40
RIO GR Message to Czar 25
RIO GR Mexica 35
RIO GR Mississippi Queen 40
RIO GR Mü & More (card) 12
RIO GR Nero 45
RIO GR Niagara 45
RIO GR Odin's Ravens 20
RIO GR O Zoo le Mio 33
RIO GR Paris, Paris 25
RIO GR Pick Picknic 16
RIO GR Pizarro & Co. 25
RIO GR Power Grid 45
RIO GR Princes of Florence 40
RIO GR Pueblo 40
RIO GR Puerto Rico 38
RIO GR Richochet Robots 25
RIO GR Samarkand 30
RIO GR Samurai 40
RIO GR San Juan 25
RIO GR Secrets of Tombs 35
RIO GR Shadow of Emp. 28
RIO GR Siesta 40
RIO GR 6 Billion 25
RIO GR St Petersburg 28
RIO GR Submarine 28
RIO GR Tally Ho 23
RIO GR Tamsk 50
RIO GR Tayu 60
RIO GR The Prince 30
RIO GR The Reef 20
RIO GR Tikal 45
RIO GR Time Pirates 30
RIO GR Top Secret Spies 30
RIO GR Torres 40
RIO GR Toscana 30
RIO GR T-Rex (card) 10
RIO GR Traders of Genoa 40
RIO GR Transamerica 28
RIO GR Trias 23
RIO GR Trick R. Treat (card) 10
RIO GR Vampire 35
RIO GR Vino 40
RIO GR Yeti Slalom 20
RIO GR Yinsh 33
RIO GR Where's Bob Hat? (card) 10
RIO GR Wyatt Earp 23
RIO GR Zertz 30
SDI 1862 40
SJG Awful Green Things 20
SJG Car Wars 25
SJG Coup 30
SJG FRAG 35
SJG FRAG Deadlands 35
SJG FRAG Exp 1 Death Match 15
SJG FRAG Exp 2 Fire Zone 7
SJG Munchkin 25
SJG Munchkin Blender 17
SJG Munchkin Fu 25
SJG Munchkin Fu 2: Monky 17
SJG Munchkin Players Guide 20
SJG Munchkin miniatures 25
SJG Munchkin 2: Unnatural Axe 17
SJG Munchkin 3: Clerical Errors 17
SJG Munchkin T-Shirt 22
SJG Snits Revenge 20
SJG Star Munchkin 25
SJG Star Munchkin 2: Clown War 17
SLS Bells of War 50
SMCN Assault on Tobruk (zip) 25
SMCN Battle Ship (zip) 25
SMCN Battlestations (zip) $25
SMCN Divine Wind (zip) P25
SMCN Kriegsmarine (zip) 25
SMCN Line of Battle (zip) 25
SMCN Man of War (zip) 25
SMCN Ortona 30
SMCN Power & Resloution (zip) P25
SMCN Wilderness (zip) 25
SMG Material World 40
SMGC Amer. Megafauna (box) 40
SMGC Amer. Megafauna (zip) 16
SMGM Kesserling 40
SMTC Sagunto 90
SPI Across Suez P/Z40
SPI Air War P70
SPI Alma (zip) P40
SPI Ardennes Offensive Z/P50
SPI Austerlitz (zip) P75
SPI Barbarossa 60
SPI Bulge (zip) P40
SPI Bundeswehr (Conf Series) P40
SPI Cassino Z40
SPI Cauldron (zip) 25
SPI China War (box) 40
SPI Chinese Farm (zip) 25
SPI Cobra (zip) 40
SPI Combined Arms P40
SPI Commando Z50
SPI Dallas (RPG) 30
SPI Delta-Vee (zip) 25
SPI East is Red Z/P60
SPI Firefight Z/P40
SPI Flying Circus Z/P100
SPI Freedom in Galaxy 50
SPI Grunt (wh. box) 90
SPI Island War quad 125
SPI Kharkov Z/P60
SPI Lee at Gettysburg (zip) 75
SPI Leningrad 25
SPI Modern Battles P90
SPI Mod Btl-Mukden (zip) 35
SPI Mod Btl-Wurzburg(zip) 40
SPI Mod Btl2-Jerusalem (zip) 35
SPI Napoleon @ Waterloo P75
SPI Nap @ War-Marengo (zip) P45
SPI Napoleon’s Last Battles
(zip/missing Quatre Bras) 55
SPI NLB-Wavre (folio) 35
SPI Ney vs. Wellington (zip) 65
SPI Nordlingen (folio) 50
SPI October War Z60
SPI Oil War (zip/copy'd rules) P40
SPI Panzer Battles Z50
SPI PanzerArmee Afrika P50
SPI Paratroop Z40
SPI Patton’s 3rd Army Z40
SPI Plot to Assn. Hitler Z70
SPI Raid Z/P45
SPI Red Star/White Star (wh box) 45
SPI Rescue from Hive 30
SPI Rifle & Saber Z/P100
SPI Scrimmage Z/P50
SPI Sixth Fleet 75
SPI Spies Z50
SPI Spitfire Z/P75
SPI Starforce Z/P50
SPI Stargate (folio) 25
SPI Starsoldier Z/P60
SPI Strike Force One (zip) 20
SPI Titan Strike (folio) 25
SPI To the Green Fields (FT) 85
SPI Up Scope Z/P75
SPI Vector 3 (folio) 25
SPI War in the Pacific (FT) 600
SPI World Killer 40
SPRHD Bloodiest Day/Antietam 35
SPRHD Bodyguard Overlord 35
SPRHD Met at Gettysburg 35
SPRT Gettysburg:3 days/July 40
SPW Italian Front 40
SPW Serbia & Romania 40
SPW Tannenberg & Galicia $40
SPW Western Front 70
SSI Great Naval Bat.II (IBM) 40
STGM Cry Havoc Scen BK 1 6
STGM Dark Blades 35
STGM Starship Captain 30
STGM Thunder-rin Guns 30
TTC Central Powers-WWI
Axis & Allies Access. 35
TTC New World Order-Mod
Axis & Allies Access. 35
TTC Risk 2042 Variant 35
TAUR Raiders of North 50
TF Ceberus (folio) 30
TF Columbus (Viceroy expan) 13
TF Grand Army of the Republic 40
TF King's Bounty 25
TF Op. Pegasus (folio) 30
TF Starfire (folio) 30
TF Viceroys 30
TGC Red Christmas P30
TLC Haunting House 23
TLC Haunting House 2 10
TLC Say What? 10
TLC Bag of Zombies! 10
TLC Zombies! 20
TLC Zombies! 2 expan 15
TLC Zombies! 3 Mall/expan 15
TLC Zombies! 3.5/expan 10
TLC Zombies! 4 The End 25
TMJM 2038: Tycoon of Asteroid 50
Tsk Hob Lepoard II 90
TSR Air War (zip) 45
TSR Barbarossa P45
TSR Battle Over Britain Z20
TSR Best of Dragon Games 35
TSR Buck Rogers Hi Adv. 25
TSR Cobra 50
TSR Firefight Z15
TSR Hetzer: Sniper 45
TSR Icebergs (zip) 25
TSR Line in Sand 45
TSR Spies Z20
TSR Twilight War (zip) 30
TSR Wellington's Victory 55
UBR Alhambra 35
UBR Ark of the Covenant 25
UBR Hoity Toity 35
UBR New England 45
UBR Shakespeare the Bard 40
UBR Sunken City 40
UGG Ashes of Empire 10
UGG Blitzkreig Gen (2nd ed) 39
UGG Cold Days in Hell 59
UGG Morsecode 59
UGG Parasan 29
UGG The Hell Game 65
UGG Triumph & Fall (zip) 25
VG Central America 40
VG Gulf Strike (1st ed) 50
VG Hell's Highway P45
VG James Bond/007 Goldfinger 10
VG Open Fire 45
VG Panzer Command 45
VNGRD Pas de Calais 60
VPG Vanished Planet 45
WE Against the Reich P30
WE Air Cav P25
WE Air & Armor (1st ed) P25
WE Killer Angels 40
WE Soldiers 40
WE Tank Leader 40
WHY Tenjo 50
WIN Colorado Rails 20
WIN Ferrocarriles Pampas 20
WIN MINE! 15
WIN TRANSSIB-Russ Mafia 40
WIN Trainsport Austria 20
WIN Tracks to Titicaca 40
WIN Tracks to Telluride 50
WIN Adv. Tracks/Telluride exp. 25
WOLF Swords of Glory 35
WOTC Filthy Rich 45

Unpunched Games Punched Games
WOTC Guillotine (card) $13
3W 1944: Second Front 38
3W Aachen 28
3W Aces High (box) 60
3W Aces High (zip) 50
3W Aces High (2nd ed) 25
3W American Aces 25
3W Ancients II 40
3W Arabian Nightmare (zip) 25
3W Army of the Tenn. 75
3W Barbarians 46
3W Battle of the Alma 33
3W Battle Cry 50
3W Blitzkrieg in the South 35
3W Blood & Iron 35
3W Campaigns of Civil War 27
3W Crimean Shield 35
3W Crossbow & Cannon 2 33
3W Dark Crusade 45
3W Defense of Rorke's Drift 34
3W Duel for Kharkov 40
3W Frederick the Great 28
3W Fury on Champlain 33
3W Give Me Liberty 35
3W Ironsides 36
3W Last Blitzkrieg 30
3W Last Battles: Prussia 30
3W Light Division P28
3W Napoleon at Aust. 28
3W Napoleons Later Bat. 35
3W Never Call Retreat 50
3W Panzerkrieg 33
3W Raid on Richmond 36
3W Royalists & Roundheads I (zip) 40
3W Royalists & Roundheads III 30
3W Run Silent, Run Deep 33
3W SS Amerika 75
3W Salvo 40
3W Salvo II 28
3W Scratch One Flat Top 32
3W Sink the Bismarck 28
3W Spitfire 36
3W Spires of the Kremlin 42
3W Star Force Terra 20
3W Strategy (zip) 10
3W Tahiti 27
3W Tarawa 28
3W Tide of Fortune 30
3W To the Far Shore 36
XNO Cent. of Glory (min. rules) 14
XNO Europe at War 40
XNO Florida 30
XTR Back to Iraq (zip) 20
XTR Black Gold (zip) 40
XTR Miss. Banzai (zip) 50
XTR NATO, Nukes & Nazis (zip) 60
XTR Red Sky Morning (zip) 60
XTR Seven Seas to Victory (zip) 50
XTR Smithereens (zip) 30
XTR Wahoo! (zip) 20
YAQ Apache 60
YAQ Asteroid Pirates 50
YAQ Attack of Mutants 55
YAQ Battle 45
YAQ Beachhead 40
YAQ Beastlord 50
YAQ Demons Run 30
YAQ Fast Attack Boats 50
YAQ Ironbottom Sound 75
YAQ Marine 2002 P60
YAQ Murfreesboro 50
YAQ Neck & Neck 50
YAQ Raider 40
YAQ Superiority P40
YAQ Timeship 45
AH Amoeba War $24
AH Raid on St Nazaire 27
AH Tactics II 36
AH Verdict II 80
ADV GMS Johnny Reb 40
ATTX 8th Army 25
BTL Airforce & Dauntless 50
BTL Dauntless 24
BTL Flat Top 36
BTL Submarine 36
CONF Overlord (1st) 30
FASA Battlespace 35
GDW 1815 (box) 27
GxD Star Fighter 36
HG Campaign 30
HISTO GM Eagle Day (zip) 24
Rhino Legend Begins (zip) 25
SDC Hue (zip) 30
SMCN DAK 25
ST COLE Poland 39 (zip) 35
SPI Big Red One 24
SPI Bull Run 33
SPI CA (zip) 30
SPI Fast Carriers 48
SPI Frigate 30
SPI Lee Moves North Z48
SPI Legion 60
SPI Moscow Camp. 48
SPI Musket & Pike 60
SPI Napoleons Last Battles (box) 50
SPI Sniper 24
SPI Sorceror 30
SPI Tannenberg (box) 27
SPI Tank 36
SPI Wacht am Rhein 180
SPI Westwall-Bastogne (zip) 18
SPI Wilderness Camp. Z48
TSR Boot Hill 24
TSR Onslaught 24
3M Breakthru 30
3M Executive Decision 50
3M Foil 50
3M Oh Wah Ree 35
3M Point of Law 40
3M Quinto 50
VG Ambush 24
VG Battle Hymn 24
WE Marlborough 36
YAQ CV 36
YAQ Great Redoubt 30
StrateGy & taCtiCS
Iss # Title Price
30 Combat Command $80
32 Borodino 90
34 Armageddon 60
37 Scrimmage 30
38 CA 50
39 Fall of Rome P60
40 Panzer Armee Afrika 50
41 Kampfpanzer 50
42 The East is Red P45
43 American Civil War P35
44 Tank! 45
45 Operation Olympic 50
46 Combined Arms P40
47 Wolf Pack 55
48 Sixth Fleet P60
49 Frederick the Great P55
50 Battle for Germany P65
51 World War I P60
52 Oil War P40
53 Punic Wars P55
54 Dixie P35
55 Breitenfeld P50
56 Revolt in the East P40
57 Panzergruppe 50
58 Conquistador P40
59 Plot to Assassinate Hitler 30
60 The Road to Richmond P50
61 October War 45
62 South Africa P35
63 Veracruz 1847 25
64 Raid! P25
65 Cobra P45
66 Constantinople 45
67 Stonewall P50
68 Kharkov P40
69 Tannenberg P40
70 Crusades 55
StrateGy & taCtiCS
Iss # Title Price
71 Cassino $P25
72 Armada 30
73 Panzer Battles 30
74 Ney vs. Wellington P50
75 Napoleon’s Art of War P45
76 China War 25
77 Paratroop 30
78 Patton’s 3rd Army 25
79 Berlin ’85 P30
80 Wilson’s Creek P50
81 Tito P20
82 Fifth Corps P25
83 Kaiser’s Battles P30
84 Operation Grenade 30
85 Fighting Sail P30
86 Cedar Mountain P50
87 Desert Fox P55
88 BAOR 35
89 Sicily: Race to Messina 35
90 Monmouth 30
91 RDF 50
92 Iwo Jima 45
93 American Civil War 40
94 Nordkapp 40
95 Soldiers of Queen 50
96 Singapore 45
97 Trail of Fox 40
98 Central Command 40
99 Thunder at Luetzen 40
100 Super Powers 40
101 Cromwell’s Victory 40
102 Monty’s D-Day 50
103 Road to Vicksburg 40
104 Colonies Revolt 60
105 Ruweisat Ridge 25
106 Pleasant Hill 40
107 Warsaw Rising P30
108 Remember the Maine 40
109 Target: Libya 40
110 Hastings, 1066 40
111 Korea 40
112 Patton to War 30
113 Battle of Abensberg 40
114 Battle of Eckmuhl 40
115 Kanev 30
116 Manchu 30
117 North German Plain 30
118 The Tigers are Burning 30
119 Horse Soldiers 40
120 Nicaraugua 25
121 Indian Mutiny 25
122 Pegasus Bridge P30
123 Campaign in Valley 30
125 Far Seas 50
126 Beirut ’82 20
127 Rush for Glory 20
128 Africa Orientale 30
129 Harvest of Death 30
130 Tsushima 25
131 Donau Front 20
132 Iron Cross 25
133 Baton Rouge 20
136 Borodino: Doomed Victory 40
137 Men at Arms 40
138 Eylau 25
139 Arabian Nightmare 30
140 Objective Tunis 20
142 Red Beach One:Tarawa 20
143 Rio Grande:Valverde 15
144 Chad: The Toyota Wars 15
146 Italian Camp: Sicily 25
147 Holy War: Afghanistan 25
148 Cropredy Bridge 15
150 Italian Camp: Salerno 50
151 Vittoria/Friedland 20
152 Case Green P15
153 Felix/ZAMA 25
155 Italian Camp: Anzio 20
156 White Eagle Eastward 20
159 Zeppelin 25
160 Italian Camp: MedWar 16
161 Successors 25
162 Clontarf/Saipan 20
163 Seven Years War 25
166 Savage Station 40
168 Operation Shock Troop 30
169 Battles of Atlanta I 25
170 Battles of Atlanta II 25
172 Molotov's War 25
175 Germania 20
Desert Fox
Games
Buy • Sell • Trade
One of a Kind Games
ARIEL Mystic Wood $75
ARIEL Seastrike 50
ARIEL The English Civil War 50
ARIEL Historical Pastime 50
ADI Four Kingdoms 45
CADACO Fighter Bomber 65
CADACO King Tuts Game 50
CADACO Wizard of Oz 45
COM Trial of Century 30
GLDN Solarquest 40
HAN Backgammon 30
HAN 221-B Baker St 30
HAN Time the Game 30
HAS Trivia 30
INT TM Conquistodors 40
LIT GMS Danger Island 45
MB Pathfinder 45
MB Power Barons 45
MB Shogun 65
MB Pokemon Trainer 40
MB Jumanji 40
MB Go to the Head of Class 25
MB Game of the States 25
NAID Trade Wars 35
NGS Global Pursuit 15
PB Calling All Cars (metal) 65
PB Camelot 50
PB Pit w/bell 25
PGA In Pursuit of Par 35
RAV Enchanted Forest 20
RAV Journey thru Europe 25
SELRITE Meet the Presidents (1960s) 45
UNV Harry Potter: Sorcerer's Stone 20
UNV Harry Potter: Quidditch 20
WAD Campaign 40
WAD Rat Race 40
PUNCHED
PB Risk (wood pcs) 35
StrOMat Hockey 30
StrOMat Basketball 30
STATPRO Baseball, 1956 75
strategy & tactics 53

Desert Fox
Games
StrateGy & taCtiCS
Iss # Title Price
179 First Afghan War $20
180 Reinforce the Right! 20
182 Balkans 1941 25
190 The Gauntlet: Korea 30
196 Vietnam Battles 25
198 OTT: Lemberg/Verdun 30
199 Forgotten Axis: Finnish 20
201 Crimean War (SPI) 20
208 Back to Iraq 25
212 Rough & Ready: Mex-Am. War 20
213 Span. Civil War Bat. vol 1 25
214 BAW: Marathon & Granicus 25
216 Asia Crossroads: Great Game 22
217 The Lost Battlion 25
218 Chancellorsville/Plevna 22
219 Span. Civil War Bat, vol 2 22
220 Grp Sov Forces (GSOFG) 22
221 7 Years World War 22
222 The Ottomans 22
223 1918 22
224 The Sedan Camp, 1970 22
225 Twilight's Last Gleaming 2 22
226 Middle East Battles 22
227 Vinegar Joe's War:CBI 22
228 Old Contemptibles 22
229 Khan: Mongols 22
S&T Special Edition #1-4 20/ea.
S&T iSSUeS PUNCheD
35 Year of Rat $42
S&T iSSUeS PUNCheD
NO mAG
63 Veracruz 1847 $25
64 Raid 20
67 Stonewall 25
S&T iSSUeS miNT
GAme Only-nO mAG
56 Revolt in East $30
76 China War 20
81 Tito 15
86 Cedar Mountain 45
94 Nordkapp 35
115 Kanev 15
146 It. Camp: Sicily 10
163 Seven Years War 15
168 Oper. Shock Troop 15
186, 191, 194, 198,
199, 201, 204, 207-210 15
212-214, 216 17
217 22
218 to current* 17
*Not all issues available.
S&T iSSUeS w/O GAmeS
183-187, 190-210
211-current* $5
*Not all issues available.
54 #229
wArGAmer Vol.1
Iss # Title Price
7 Marston Moor $60
10 Chinese Civil War 45
12 Aces High 40
13 Forward to Richmond 40
16 Carrier Strike 60
18 Birth of a Nation P40
19 Sturm Nach Osten 50
20 Little Round Top 50
22 No Trumpets No Drums 50
23 Decision @ Kasserine 60
24 Lawrence of Arabia 50
25 Never Call Retreat 30
26 Race to the Meuse P15
27 Peter the Great P20
29 Lodz: Blitz in the East 15
30 Stars and Bars 30
31 Clash of Steel 20
32 Napoleon at Lutzen 30
34 Khyber Rifles 40
35 West Wall 25
36 Unconditional Surrender 30
37 China Incident 25
38 Hath No Fury 25
39 Hellfire Pass 20
40 Fight on the Beaches 15
41 O’Conner’s Offensive 15
42 End of Iron Dream 30
43 Wellington 25
44 MacArthur 25
45 Custer’s Luck 40
46 House of Sa’ud 15
47 Struggle for Stalingrad 35
48 The Red Baron 30
49 Napoleon vs. Charles 30
50 Knights of Justice 40
51 Duel in the Desert 15
52 Glory Road P20
53 Dunkirk 30
54 Condottieri 15
56 First Team 20
57 Race for Tunis P25
58 Empires: 1914 20
59 Bloody Keren 15
60 Anvil-Dragoon 15
62 Fallen Eagle 25
AGAiNST The ODDS
1.2 $30
2.2 Go Tell Spartans 30
2.3 Dark & Bloody Ground 35
3.1 Suleimann 35
3.2 Bear Trap 35
3.3 The Big Push 35
AreS
1 World Killer $P30
7 Rescue from the Hive P25
15 Nightmare House (no mag) 20
15 Nightmare House 25
17 Mongoose & Cobra (RPG) 25
Spec Ed #2 15
BATTle FlAG
3, 4, 5, 8-11 $10 each
BATTlePlAN
6 Central America $10
8 Deluxe Third Reich 10
9 Air Superiority 10
BOArDGAme JOUrNAl
1 $5
BrOG NewSleTTer
vol 2 nos 7-12 $5 each
C3I 1, 3, 6, 8, 9 $10 each
CAmPAiGN mAGAZiNe
99 Origins ’80 $10
101 1942 Cross of Iron 10
111 Origins Reports 10
COmmAND
1 Blitzkrieg ’41 $100
2 Sunrise of Victory 100
5 Hamburger Hill 50
6 Krim 60
7 Battle of Kadesh 60
8 Victory at Midway 60
9 Inchon 40
11 Hougoumont P25
13 Desert Storm P40
15 I Am Sparatcus 50
16 1918 40
17 Gettysburg 40
18 Tet 40
19 Port Arthur 40
21 Blood & Iron 40
22 Antietam 40
23 Sekigahara 45
24 Czech ’38 40
27 Proud Monster 2 40
29 1914 25
30 Across Potomac 20
34 Death & Destruction 35
35 Mason-Dixon 35
36 SS Panzer P35
37 Mukden & Moscow Option 35
39 World War 1862 35
40 Moscow Burning 35
41 Battle of Bulge 35
42 Hell B4 Night/Blitz 40 35
43 Chattanooga 35
44 Dark Victory 35
45 Op. Sea Lion/Yarmuk 30
50 Back to Iraq (2nd) 25
51 Meuse-Argonne 35
COmmAND (GAme ONly)
11 Hougomount $15
42 Hell B4 Night/Blitz 42 25
52 Grunwald 15
COmmAND
(PUNCheD ONly)
17 Gettysburg $15
COmmAND
(mAGAZiNe ONly)
19-23, 25-31, 33-35, 42, 49
COmPeTiTiVe eDGe
$10
1-4, 6, 8-9, 12
CONFliCT
$7
5 Nomonhan $75
6 War in Indochina
COUNTerATTACk
75
1, 4
Fire & mOVemeNT
$15
1 $40
2-7, 9-10, 30
8, 21,
11-15,17-20, 37-38, 41, 45,
25
48, 53, 83
22-27, 29-32, 36, 39-40, 42-44, 46-47
15
49-52, 54-56, 59, 73,77
33-35, 57-58, 60-72, 74-76,
10
78-82,84-122 6
123-132 7
133 to current
GAme NewS
8
2-6, 8, 11 $7
The GeNerAl
19:4-6, 20:3,1, 3,5-6, 21:1,
27:1, 3, 5, 6, 28:5, 6
29:2, 6, 30:2, 31:5 $7
GreNADier
1 DNO/UNT $40
6 Operation Crusader 20
7 Marita Merkur 20
8 Marita-Merkur 20
9 White Death 20
10 French Navy/WWII 15
11 Narvik 15
12 Dutch in Fall of France 15
13 French Armor in BoF 15
14 Fall of France 15
15 Streets of Stalingrad 15
16 Kanev 12
17 Fall Blau 12
18 Bomber 12
22 Battle Over Britain 10
24 Games of ACW 10
26 Wargaming w/o Intell 10
29 World in Flames 10
30 Gleam of Bayonets 10
31 Ambush 10
JAGDPANTher
12 Anvil-Dragoon $40
15 Jacksonville 40
mOVeS
1 $25
2, 4, 33, 34, 39, 49,56 20
89, 90 12
6-8, 11-32, 35-38, 40-48,
50-55, 57-59, 62, 78 10
61, 63-77, 79-88 6
91-108 7
NexUS
8, 13, 14 $6
OPerATiONS
18, 19 $4
PyrAmiD
2, 4, 8 $4
OTher mAGAZiNeS
SE #1 Assault on Sevastapol $6
ViP OF wArGAmiNG
1, 3, 5 $10
wArGAmer VOl. 2
14 $15
1-13, 15-25 2
Complete Set (1-25) 79

Game
Supplies
Counter Ziplock Bags
3 x 5 inch ziplock counter bags.
Holds up to 100 counters per bag.
Only $5 for a roll of 100 bags.
magazine Ziplock Bags
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for all your game design needs
The maps (22 x34) are large (19mm) or small
hex (16mm) in long (length of paper) or short
grain (width of paper).
(Please specify the style you want.)
Additional shipping charge for mailing in tubes.
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Counters are 1/2 inch and 280 per sheet on
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amount or more: F&M or S&T Mag S&T w/Game S&T and F&M
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started or renewed at the time an order is placed with Desert Fox to receive the discount.
iSS #/TiTle
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These magnetic counter holders make playing on
a vertical surface a perfect alternative for gamers
with limited playing areas, small children or
pets. Counter Magnets can be stacked 8-12 high
and come in: 5/8 inch (only) for Panzerblitz size
counters (55/box)
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strategy & tactics 55

56 #229
Works in
Progress
the triple alliance War, 1865-1870
Designer: Javier Romero
This conflict was a classic contest between quality
and quantity. The Paraguayans have a better army, with
excellent morale and cohesion, but their manpower
pool was much smaller than that of their enemies, the
Brazilians and Argentineans. The latter two countries
had major reserves of manpower, but were still in the
process of nation-building; so their troop morale was
often poor.
There will be several scenarios, including an
1865 “On to Uruguay!” scenario, and a campaign game
(1865-1869). The Paraguayans start with a large army
that’s better trained and armed than its foes. Against it
are a loose confederacy of Argentine provinces and the
Brazilian Empire, neither of which has fully mobilized.
The Paraguayan player can try to win big by inflicting
enough casualties to demoralize the Argentineans or
force Corrientes and Entrerrios (the two provinces
historically opposed to Buenos Aires’ hegemony) to
defect. But an early offensive may run up losses the
Paraguayans can’t replace.
The Allied (Argentine-Brazil-Uruguay)
counterattack starts in 1866 as those countries mobilize.
The Paraguayans must fight a protracted campaign
around the fortress at Humaítá, the key of the defense
of Asunción, the final objective of the Allies. Asunción,
with its shipyards, iron works and armaments factories,
was the great prize. If the Paraguayan player can’t
grab a quick victory in the opening offensive, he can
still win by controlling Asunción, Humaítá and other
strategic objectives at the end of the game. After the
fall of Asunción (historically, January 1869), the game
ends. Organized resistance ceased and the war turned
into the manhunt of Solano López, the Paraguayan
dictator.
Turns represent three months each, from April-
June 1865 to October-December 1868. Players
alternate activations (up to three per turn) during
each turn. To use an “activation,” a player must spend
national morale points (NMP). The use of NMP
simulates the shift between periods of swift mobile
operations and longer stretches of positional warfare.
If one player doesn’t attack during a given turn, he
may recover a certain amount of NMP. If a country’s
morale collapses, it withdraws from the war. A single
bloody defeat, as happened at Curupaytí in 1866, will
force a player to cease operations for a few turns as his
forces recuperate.
The Paraguayans don’t have a national morale track.
Historically, they believed they were fighting for
national survival, and their sense of nationhood was
much more developed than that of their neighbors.
Ninety percent of their male population was lost in
the war, and still the Paraguayans kept on fighting. In
the game, therefore, the Paraguayan have a Manpower
Track. When the last levies are recruited and the track
reaches the “Children and Old Men” space, Paraguayan
units start to lose effectiveness.
There will be a random events phase at the
beginning of each turn. Politics, diplomacy and offmap
events will be handled there. Unit types include
infantry, cavalry, mobile artillery, siege artillery,
engineers, fortresses, river flotillas, logistic columns
and leaders.
next Issue
S&T 230 Downfall: If the US had invaded Japan,
1945. Hit the beaches in this great “what if” campaign.
Future articles: Air-land operations in the Battle of the
Bulge;Allenby’swarinthedesert,Musashi’ssamuraitac-
S&t upcoming features
tics, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis.
#230 Downfall: If the US had Invaded Japan, 1945.
#231 French & Indian War: The Struggle for North America, 1754-62.
#232 Catherine the Great: Solitaire game of the Russian Empire vs. Europe.
#233 Dagger Thrusts: Montgomery & Patton, September 1944.
#234 Lest Darkness Fall: Rome in Crisis, A.D. 235-285.
#235 Cold War Battles: Budapest 1956 & Angola 1987.

est of Strategy & tactics 2004
A new annual survey ran in issue #226 to select the best three articles
and best game from Strategy & Tactics in 2004. Thanks to all the readers
who sent in their selections. What was not announced ahead of time was the
publisher provided certificates for the best article and best game and $500 in
cash awards for these outstanding efforts. This year, the winner of the best
game will receive $200, and the best three articles will receive awards of
$150, $100 and $50, respectively. Here are the results.
There is a tie for second best Strategy & Tactics article between three
articles: “Seven Years World War: The First Global Crisis,” by Lt. Col. Alistair
Pope; “The Greatest Tank Battle: The Kursk-Orel Salients,” by William
Sariego, and “Middle East Battles: Clash of Arms in the Sinai Campaigns of
1956 & 1967,” by Joseph Miranda. Each author will receive $50.
The best Strategy & Tactics article of 2004 is “The World War That
Never Was: NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact,” by Col. Wilbur Gray.
The best Strategy & Tactics game of 2004 is “Middle East Battles” by
designer Joseph Miranda.
Congratulations to the authors and designer on being selected as
the best of Strategy & Tactics 2004!
To purchase the game that covers the
battles featured in this issue, Khan: rise
of the mogols, send:
$22 US Customers
$25 Canadian Customers
$28 Overseas Customers
All prices include postage for first class or airmail shipping.
CA residents add ($1.09) sales tax. Send to:
Decision Games
ATTN: S&T Game Offer
PO Box 21598
Bakersfield CA 93390
NAme
ADDreSS
CiTy, STATe ZiP
PhONe emAil
ViSA/mC (ONly)#
exPirATiON DATe
SiGNATUre
strategy & tactics 57

58 #229
hexwar ad

to the Green Fields Beyond
“Through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond.” This
quote, attributed to Brigadier General Hugh Elles, who led the Tank
Corps into action at Cambrai, succinctly states the British objective—to
penetrate the German trenches and break into their rear areas. The idea
of a breakthrough to the green fields beyond had dominated Allied
thinking since 1915. Cambrai was to be as close as they were to come
before the final breakthrough of 1918.
To the Green Fields Beyond is an operational level simulation of
the Battle of Cambrai which lasted from 20 November to 7 December,
1917. There are two players, one commanding the British and the other
the German forces. The game consists of three scenarios and a campaign
game. The players should start with a scenario— the British Breakthrough is best— before attempting the
full 17 turns of the campaign game. Players should note that each game turn in To the Green Fields Beyond
requires many decisions, and will probably take between 30 and 75 minutes to play.
To the Green Fields Beyond is uncommon amongst games in that both players get the opportunity to take
the offensive. The campaign game provides opportunities for both
sides to attack. The British Breakthrough and Battle for Bourlon
scenarios have the British attacking, while the German Counterattack
scenario obviously has them as defenders, although they can still often
mount attacks as well.
Each hex on the mapsheet represents 1250 yards from side to side.
Each Game Turn is equivalent to 24 hours. Contents: Rules booklet,
420 Die cut counters, 1 34” x 22” Map, 1 Die and Storage bags.
title
Qty priCe total
shipping Charges
Ziplocks count as 2 for 1
for shipping.
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tAX (CA. rEs.)
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HT Bridge
x
3-3-8
0832
B/C 1424
i
44
4Lg/4
2-1-8
0-0-8
1324
(2)b1
i i i
DH4
1-2-12
2f1
4 Cav
1123
Camel
3
64
121
2-2-5
2-12
1f2
2-1-9
2-10
XXI
DH5
46R/119
14Br/9BR
i i i
2-4-8
i i i
2-3-8
9
send to: decision games,
po Box 21598, Bakersfield Ca
93390 • 661/587-9633
Fax- 661/587-5031
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Excalibre Games banner
25
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44/214
(1)r0
1f1
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strategy & tactics 59

1513
Tenn
e
1313
1113
1413
1213
1013
Rebels & Redcoats, vol. I
American Revolutionary battles of
Bunker Hill, Brandywine, Germantown and
Monmouth. The game system simply but accurately
recreates the battlefield conditions
with a move-fight-rally play sequence to simulate
the grand tactics of the American Revolution. Ad-
Portrfld
Irish
ditional rules cover command control, morale, artillery, light infantry and Vol
6 7
dragoons. Each battle is represented by its own units and map along with
2 4 6 4
exclusive rules to recreate the unique conditions of each battle. Units are
generally regiments rated for combat strength, morale and march capabilities.
Components: 16 page Rules Booklet, 2 PlayerAid Cards, 440 die-cut
counters, Two 22” x 34” Maps, 1 Ten-sided die. $35.00
Rebels & Redcoats, vol. III
American Revolutionary battles of Brooklyn, Harlem Heights, White
Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Stony Point and King’s Mountain. The game
system is the same as that in Volume One. Components: 16 page Rules
Booklet, 1 Player Aid Card, 560 die-cut counters, Two 22” x 34” Maps,
1 Ten-sided die. $49. 95
1514
1414
Name
1515
address
City, state Zip
phoNe email
Visa/mC (oNly)#
expiratioN date
sigNature
60 #229 #228
1415
The Alamo
Aldama The famous battle from the
Texas Revolution 8 1 Line in 1836. With updated
Cemetery
graphics and revised map. $15.00
War of the Rebellion
This game uses the
8
originalSouth Mountainsystemwiththe
1
addition of a unique division/corps/army
activation system. The battles include:
South Mountain, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and Shiloh.
Components: 80 page illustrated Wellrules
booklet, four player-aid cards
Aldama
Lou
and two folders for rules 8 referencing, 880 die-cut counters, 4 22” x 34”
8
9 1 Scouts 2
mapsheets, six-sided and ten-sided die. $35.00
1314
1114
1214
1315
1115
1215
Blue & Gray9
1014
1015
1516
1316
1116
1416
1216
1016
1317
1117
7 MD
8
2 4
6
8 4
Refight five of the crucial battles of8 1 Line the American Civil War: First Bull
amo Plaza
Run (new), Shiloh, Second Bull Run (new), Mo Cemetery Hill, and Chicka-
8
mauga. Brigades and divisions slug it out—brother 8 against brother. This
2
updated edition of the SPI classic makes for an enjoyable set of games
for an afternoon or evening of fun. Components: 8 page Rules Booklet,
360 die-cut counters, 4 22” x 17” Maps, 1 Die. $35.00
0913
0813
0914
0814
Convent
inside
Aldama
8 1 Line
0915
Aldama
8 1 Line
7
Forgn
0815
10
3
Penn
0916
7
7
1
Decision Games
Americana Collection
Unkn
0816
1517
0917
1417
1217
1017
0817
Aldama
1518
1318
1118
0918
1418
1218
1018
0818
1519
1319
1119
0919
3 NC
Dixon
1/23
8
3 4
Legion
7
3 6
Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles includes four battles of the American Civil
War, plus a campaign game that combines all four maps into one game.
The battles are: Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, Frayser’s Farm, and Malvern
Hill. Components:400 die-cut counters, 1 rules booklet and 2 34” by
22” maps. $28.00
Antietam Campaign
Each unit and commander which could
have fought in the campaign is rated for
movement, combat, and leadership capabilities.Battlescenariosinclude:Antietam,
South Mountain, and Harper’s Ferry. All
canbelinkedtogethertore-createtheentire
campaign. Will your bold gamble end up
like Lee’s?
Components: 8 page Rules Booklet, 280 die-cut counters, 2 Player Aid
cards, Two 22” x 34” Maps, 1 die. $35.00
Lords of the Sierra Madre
Northern Mexico, 1898- An economic
boom, a dictator that encourages foreign investment,
and wide-open land—the stage is set
for one of the greatest capitalistic free-for-alls
in history!
In Lords of the Sierra Madre,
2-8 players take the roles of hacendados
(great landowning entrepreneurs).
Players vie to build economic
empires of railroads, mines,
ranches, and other businesses to
earn profits, however this is not a
simple empire or railroad game.
Twin Buttes
1
SAN
XAVIER
Reservation
C34 Mine 10
Lawson & Qtrs
Rockefeller
Twin Buttes
Mine
Senator Morgan Shaft,
Amalgamated Copper
Corporation
THIS IS A
GOLD/SILVER
MINE
Players may employ bandidos, strikers, and other
sneaky maneuvers to tax, bribe, raid, and destroy the
RR8
7[4]
University
of Arizona
MERCENARY
MACHINE GUN
5
SANTA
CRUZ
COUNTY Nogales
Nogales
E10 Huelguistas
VETORR13
Naco Bullring
[4]
Municipal 4
2 Land Law
NOGALES Widespread 1
tax riots. 1
Cananea
best laid plans of their opponents. Victory goes to the player who survives
to the end with the most gold.
Components: 352 counters, 200 Playing Cards, Player Calendars, 22” x
34” mapsheet, 28 page rules booklet. $39.95
ASSAY
San Xavier,
Arizona
MINE
THIS IS A
COPPER
7
Empire
STRIKER
+1 to End Game
Roll a die for each Mexican C or RR
Card. A 1 or 2 = place strike counter on
it. Strikers will burn at the end
of every round after being attacked.
PO Box 21598
Bakersfield CA 93390
661/587-9633 • fax 661/587-5031 • www.decisiongames.com
shipping Charges
1st item Adt’l items Type of Service
$8 $2 UPS Ground/US Mail Domestic Priority
15(20) 4 UPS 2nd Day Air (Metro AK & HI)
14(10) 2(7) Canada, Mexico (Express)
17(25) 7(10) Europe (Express)
20(25) 9(10) Asia, Africa, Australia (Express)
RR9
[3]
Fort
Huachuca
C 1
San Rafael
Can
R

Emperor’s First Battles Deluxe
6
Includes Austerlitz and Jena-Auerstadt, in which the
French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, won smashing
victories against the armies of the old regime of Europe.
Emperor’s First Battles game system is based on the
DecisionGames’releaseNapoleon’s First Battles. It includes
rules for elan, command control, and functional differences
between infantry, cavalry, artillery and field engineers. The
game also includes cavalry rules, allowing it to perform historical
screening functions. Units are regiments and brigades,
with historical leaders.
Components: 16 page Rules Booklet, Player Aid Card, 2 22” x 34” Maps,
480 die-cut counters, die.
Now includes Napoleon’s First Battles which covers four of Napoleon
Bonaparte’s earliest victories—Montenotte, Arcola, The Pyramids, &
Marengo. Components: 400 die-cut counters, rules booklet and 4 17” by
22” maps. $40.00
Napoleon’s Last Battles
June 1815 finds a triumphant, but beleaguered Napoleon again on the
throne.Napoleonisoutnumberedandvirtuallysurrounded;hisonlychance
to maintain the throne and the position of France is to gain a significant
military victory. To succeed against these overwhelming odds, Napoleon
boldly decides on an offensive designed to destroy two of his opponents
and drive the English from the continent. The games include Ligny, Quatre
Bras, Wavre, and La Belle Alliance. The game system utilizes leaders and
brigade level units, with cavalry, infantry and artillery. There are three
new scenarios in addition to the four scenarios and the campaign game
published in the SPI original.
Components: 24 page Rules Booklet, 340 die-cut counters, 2 22” x 34”
mapsheets, 1 Die. $35.00
Empires at War
A simulation of four of the battles of the 19th century. The battles
include: Inkerman, Königgratz, Gravelotte and Solferino. Rules include
provisions for command control, morale, fog of war, and mitrailleuse
(early machine guns). Components: 16 page Rules Booklet, 400 die-cut
counters, 4 Maps on Two 22” x 34” mapsheets, die. $35.00
Name
address
City, state Zip
phoNe email
Visa/mC (oNly)#
expiratioN date
sigNature
Decision Games
Gunpowder & Napoleonic
Collection
NAPOLEON
3
1-8
GRENADIERS
G 3
3-4
Thirty Years War Quad
PICARD
IM GD
KUTUSOV GUSTAVUS
Consists offourbattles: 2
Lutzen, 4 Nordlingen,
Rocroi,andWhiteMountain(newscenario)each
1-7
9-3
with its own map, counters and Exclusive Rules.
TheStandardrulesarecommontoallfourgames
2 *
3 6 23
1-8
MAXIMILLIAN
8
in this update of 3/6an
SPI classic. 8
Components: 2 24 page Rules Booklet, 2 22” 1 x
34” Maps, 420 die-cut counters, die.
2 8 3
$35.00
E
2-6
4-4
1-3
The ‘45
9 3 5 8
In 1745 Charles Stuart or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ set sail from France
to capture the throne of England for the deposed house of Stuart. It was a
gamble at long odds, for Charles sailed with few companions and faced
uncertain reception in the Highlands of Scotland. But the events that followed
became legend as Charles and his army of Highlanders overran
Scotland and marched to London.AFrench naval force failed to invade and
Charles was forced to retreat to Scotland. In the following year the bloody
battle of Culloden smashed the Clans and ended the Jacobite Rebellion.
The game is played on a point-to-point map of England with units that are
regimental in scale with detached companies and squadrons of ships.
Components: 24 page Rules Booklet, 3 Player Aid Cards, 352 (5/8”)
die-cut counters, 1 22” x 34” Map, Die. $35.00
The Sun Never Sets
3510
The Sun Never Sets covers the campaigns of
3710
3910
3410
March to Peking, Zulu War andSudan: The River 3610
3810
War. Players can march to the far flung frontiers 3511
3711
3911
of British civilization, engage vast hordes 3411 of 3611
3811
“natives,” and plant the British flag in Khartoum, 3512
Peking and Ulundi! The game emphasizes lead-
3712
Isandhlwana
3912
3412
ership, with commanders having a major role in
3513
marchesandbattles(Gordon,Kitchener,Wolseley,
3612
helpmakaar
3812
roarke's drift
3713
3913
3413
3613
andtheMahdiareincluded).Battlesareresolved WOLSELEY
35143
through a multi-phase system with units (regi-
2 10
ment/battalion/battery)ratedforstrength,typeof
3414
3614
EMPEROR HSIEN
FENG
03714
0 10
3813
KHARTOUM
3914 R
(4)n - 4
3814
weapon and elan. Leader counters will influence C
3515
V
tactical and strategic situations. There are also
3415 1 F -3615 6
rules for relief forces being dispatched, riverine
HUNAN
3715
l
4 M -6
Umsinga
1/CC
3915
l
3815 1 F -10
gunboats and the building of railroads.
3516 ANSAR
F
3716 USMC
l
CETSHWAYO 3916
1
3416 10 s - 3616 6 3 R - 6 3816
Components: 620 counters, 2 34” x 22” mapsheets, 16 page rules booklet, 2 8
3517
3717
3917
and Player Aid Cards. NGWEKWE $40.00
shipping Charges
Tugela R.
1 POL
1 NEAP
Buffalo R.
V
5 s - 8
PO Box 21598
Bakersfield CA 93390
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strategy & tactics 61
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62 #229
Der Weltkrieg SerieS
the Western Front:
1914-1918
Der Weltkrieg series #6. The Western
Front: 1914-1918, contains six scenarios,
each covering a major WWI campaign
fought in France or Belgium. It can also
be played as a start-to-finish simulation
of the entire western front, or linked with
other games in the series into a grandcampaigncoveringalltheEuropeanfronts.
The scenarios are: “August 1914: The Schlieffen Plan;” “May 1915:
Ypres;” “February 1916: Verdun;” “July 1916: The Somme;” “April
1917: Nivelle’s Offensive;” “March 1918: The Kaiser’s Battle.”
Components: one 22” x 34” mapsheet, 1,680 die-cut counters, standard and
scenario books, corps displays, and player aid cards.
taNNeNBerG & GaliCia
Der Weltkrieg series #2. This is a division/brigade level WW1 game
that covers the campaign in East Prussia and southern Poland in 1914.
You assume the role of the commander of either the German or Allied
armies. The forces available to you are
the same ones commanded by the historic
participants.
Components: 560 counters, two 22x 34” mapsheets,
player aid cards, standard and scenario
rule books.
SerBia & rOmaNia
Der Weltkriegseries#3.CoverstheWorld
War I campaigns in Serbia and Romania
with links between the two campaigns as
well as to the previous volumes.
Components: two 22x 34” mapsheets, one
11x17” mapsheet, 560 die-cut counters, standard and scenario rule books, player
aid cards.
$69. 95
the SChlieFFeN PlaN
Der Weltkrieg series #1. This game covers the fluid warfare of the
western front from 1 August to 15 November 1914. You assume the
role of commander of either the German or Allied armies. The forces
available to you are the same as those commanded by the historic participants,
but it is up to you to make your own strategic decisions and
execute your own plans as you see fit.
Components: one 22 x 34 inch mapsheet, a rule book and player aid cards, 560
die-cut counters and one die.
$39. 95
$39. 95
$39. 95
Don’t forget to pledge for the next two games:
grand Campaign (#13) and middle east Campaigns (#17). information
on the Pledge page on the Decision games website.
Send To: Decision Games,
PO Box 21598, Bakersfield CA 93390
661/587-9633
Fax- 661/587-5031
www.decisiongames.com click on WWI Games
or use the order form on page 55
italiaN FrONt: 1915-1918
Der Weltkrieg series #5. This wargame contains five separate scenarios,
and can be linked with East Front (and later West Front)
games of the series for duration games.
May 1915: 1st Isonzo
The first battles along the Isonzo are a futile foreshadowing
of what is to come.
May 1916: Strafexpedition
The Chief of Staff of the Austro Hungarian army, Conrad von
Hotzendorff, feels the time is right to strike a blow against Italy.
He ignores the advice of German Chief of staff von Falkenhayn,
who sees the main threat coming from the Russian front.
The Italians in the southernTyrol have neglected their rear area
defenses. That, and the fury of the Austro-Hungarian attack, puts
the Italian army in peril. Cadorna, its commanding general, rushes
reinforcements to the front. It is a dicey affair, but the Italian lines
hold; the threat along the Isonzo is checked.
May 1917: 10th Isonzo
In endless offensives, valiant Italian infantry go over the top
and into the maelstrom of the Isonzo. Each battle differs from the
last only by its increasing intensity and skyrocketing casualty list.
In the end, both armies are exhausted. The Italians have become
weary of the war, but the Austrians believe one more effort on the
Isonzo can break through.
October 1917: Caporreto
When the Central Powers strike, they break through the Italian
linesalongtheheadwaters oftheIsonzo. GermanandAustrian units
pour through the mountain passes and into the Italian rear areas.
Caporreto is an overwhelming victory for Germany and Austria;
but Italy is not fully defeated, and her citizens rally.
June 1918: Albrecht & Radetzky
Conrad’s attacks across the Piave are initially successful, but
his divisions then bog down. TheAustrians are unable to push their
bridgeheads far enough forward to keep their pontoon bridges out
of range of Italian artillery. Unable to reinforce their spearheads
or maintain viable supply lines, the Austro-Hungarian armies fall
back, awaiting the inevitable Italian counterattack.
Components: one 22” x 34” mapsheet, 560 die-cut counters, standard and
scenario books, player aid cards.
$39. 95

Decision Games… home of fine publications and games
Highlights of the 2005 Conventions and Events Decision Games will be attending.
8-12 june Consimworld expo in tempe aZ
This major event is the home of MosterGame.con. Decision Games will be
there with games of Wacht am Rhein, War Between the States, Totaler
Krieg and demos of upcoming games including Atlantic Wall, Storm of
Steel, Panzers East and Ty Bomba’s Kursk.
30 june - 3 july origins in Columbus oH
Come be a member of the War Room and see all the latest games and participate
in some special tournaments and demonstration games.
Special tournaments include:
Lightning Midway—winner recieves a copy of the new War in the Pacific
(a $400 value)*.
The Sedan Campaign (S&T #224)—winner recieves a copy of the new
War Between the States (a $110 value)**.
* Minimum attendance of 200 particpants.
** Minimum attendance of 60 particpants.
2-7 august World boardgaming Championships in lancaster Pa
Visit scenic Amish country and be a part of this annual gaming extravaganza.
Decision Games will sponsor an exclusive 2,000 square foot play and demonstration
area the first three days of the convention for published games
along with previews of some upcoming products. (Attendees are welcome
to contact Doc to request events and demos for this exclusive time.)
Links for the websites to these conventions are on the Decision Games homepage (www.decisiongames.
com) or contact us directly for more information.
SPeCiAl PreView
War in the Pacific
On Sunday, 7 December 1941, the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by Japanese aircraft. For the next
four years, Allied task forces engaged elements of the Imperial Japanese fleet throughout the ocean. Marines and army units
began their program of island-hopping, wresting from the Japanese the empire that they had expanded in every direction.
War in the Pacific is a multi-level simulation of the Pacific theater of operations during World War II. The game enables
players to recreate the entire course of the war, form the opening Japanese attack on 7 December, 1941 to the climatic Allied
assaults in the closing days of 1945. Representing some 30% of the globe, the strategic maps let players move and engage in
combat on all levels: air, ground and naval. War in the Pacific is the most detailed board game of the Pacific Theater ever
created. There are a number of rules and concepts that will, at first, be unfamiliar to a majority of players. But playing through
smaller map sections and scenarios enables the player to become familiar with the mechanincs of the game.
Components: 7 full size strategic maps in full color, new tactical maps with nearly 150 individual islands for new ground units to fight over,
32 die-counter sheets, nearly 9,000 counters showing all types of units from the Pacific Theater, rule books and assorted displays and player
aid charts. Est. price $440 (Est. Pledge $330). Projected release date is September 2005.
Pledge for this game (#49) on the Decision Games Pledge page on the web.
www.decisiongames.com
strategy & tactics 63

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