The Battle Of Pruth River - A Scenario For 'Dominion Of Marlborough and Peter The Great'

This is a scenario for 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great from a side-conflict of the Great Northern War. It's an excuse to get Ottomans on the table (and for me to use my Nottomans).

The 1711 battle of the Pruth River was a pivotal confrontation during the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711, which saw Tsar Peter the Great of Russia take on the Ottoman Empire under Grand Vizier Baltacı Mehmet Pasha. The battle was more a diplomatic and logistical crisis culminating in a negotiated escape for Russia, but I have set it up as a conventional battle. It represents a couple of days fighting, with the cavalry forces of both sides clashing before the Ottomans besiege the Russian camp.

The Battle of Pruth River (July 18-21 1711)

In the early 18th century, Russia was expanding its influence southward, especially following its victory at Poltava (1709) over Sweden. The defeated Swedish king, Charles XII, took refuge in Ottoman territory, encouraging the Sultan to declare war on Russia. Eager to establish Russian access to the Black Sea and check Ottoman influence, Peter launched a campaign into the Danubian Principalities (modern-day Romania and Moldova) in 1711 hoping to strike a decisive blow.

The Russian army was a large one of over 38,000 troops, supported by the Moldavian prince Dimitrie Cantemir, who had defected to the Russian side. However Peter underestimated the logistical difficulties and overestimated the support he would receive from local populations and allies like Wallachia. Meanwhile the Ottomans quickly mobilized a larger arm - some 120,000 men - comprising Janissaries, Sipahis, and provincial levies, and they were also joined by Crimean Tatars.

By July, Peter’s army had advanced as far as the Pruth River, but became dangerously overextended, cut off from resupply, and trapped between the river and a superior Ottoman force. The Ottomans used their numerical advantage and superior knowledge of the terrain to surround the Russians near Stănilești.

Ottomans: 1 x Elite Line Infantry (Janissaries) , 1 x Elite Artillery, 1 x Pistoliers, 2 x Dragoons

Russians: 2 x Fortified Line Infantry, 1 x Line Infantry (Moldavians), 1 x Dragoons , 2 x Unreliable Dragoons

Ottomans (Attackers)

Line Infantry (E), Artillery (E)
Dragoons	Pistoliers	Dragoons
Dragoons (UR)	Dragoons	Dragoons (UR)
2 x Line Infantry (D), Line Infantry

Russians (Defenders)

Fighting took place from July 18–21, primarily as a series of skirmishes and defensive actions. The Russian infantry entrenched themselves in a fortified camp after becoming separated from their cavalry. Ottoman forces launched repeated assaults and maintained pressure through cavalry harassment and the deployment of around 300 pieces of artillery. Despite being surrounded and outnumbered, the Russian troops held firm in a desperate defense.

Russian supplies dwindled rapidly and disease and starvation set in. Sensing the vulnerability of Peter's position the Ottomans pressed negotiations. Despite having the upper hand militarily Mehmet Pasha was cautious, possibly fearing a drawn-out campaign, or having been bribed by Russian envoys.

The resulting Treaty of the Pruth allowed the Russian army to withdraw in exchange for territorial and diplomatic concessions, including the return of Azov to the Ottomans and the destruction of Russian forts. While a humiliation for Peter diplomatically, he avoided disaster. The Ottomans, despite their advantage, failed to exploit their victory decisively.

As with anything I post here, feedback is more than welcome, especially alternative views on the setup or  army compositions.

Design Notes: I gave the Ottomans elite infantry and artillery to represent the furious assaults on the Russian camp as well as the sheer weight of artillery they were able to bring to bear. Another option would be to make the artillery disciplined instead, which would increase its longevity against the Russian infantry. The Ottoman pistoliers represent some decent cavalry, using missile to weaken an enemy before charging. All other cavalry, on both sides, is represented by dragoons, and these could also represent Cossack foot units as well. The Russian cavalry went off looking to attack the Ottoman's supplies and camp, and became detached from the main army. Hence the unreliable rating. The initial setup means that the battle should flow from an initial series of cavalry actions to an assault on the Russian infantry in their fortified camp.

The Warhoon Ride!

I'd planned to go out today, but the weather has been absolute shite, so I gave it a miss. But it's your gain, because I got out my two Green Martian armies so I could have the head-to-head fight I've been waiting to do for so long.

So the Tharks, under their Jeddak, Tars Tarkas, find themselves under attack by the savage Warhoon. The two armies, whilst essentially the same, had slightly different makeups:

Tharks: 1 x Hero General, 6 x Knight, 4 x Shooter (The classic Peter Pig configuration)

Warhoon: 1 x Knight General, 7 x Knights, 3 x Shooter, 1 x Beasts

I did stick the alternative Thark general in (as a normal knight), since I'd gone to the effort of painting him. And the beasts in the Warhoon army were so I could use at least some of my newly-painted calots.

Tharks on the left, Warhoon on the right. The Warhoon army was broken up by bad going, whilst the Tharks had some useful hills in their deployment zone.

I opted to push the Tharks forward, though, as the Warhoon struggles to extricate themselves from the bad going.

On the Thark right they pushed their infantry forward, hoping to shoot down their more numerous Warhoon opponents before they could form up.

But they were attacked by the supporting calots ...

... and this left them vulnerable to the Warhoon who quickly spread into a line to oppose them. First blood to the Horde of Warhoon.

(You'd notice that I've painted coloured dots on the rear corners of the elements - red for the Warhoon and blue for the Tharks. Whilst there are some differences in the paint-scheme for each army, they're not obvious to a first glance.)

On the Thark left they had more success, pushing some Warhoon into an area of ravines ...

... where they were quickly destroyed.

The two centres closed up on each other. The Thark right was looking very weak though.

More so when the savage calots tore some Thark soldiers apart.

The fighting was now full-on, with the last of the Thark shooters being overwhelmed on their right, and the Warhoon attacking in the centre.

The Tharks had more success on their left, although they did lose some knights.

The centre was a bit to and fro, with the Tharks unable to bring Tars Tarkas to bear with any great effect.

Both sides were in a position to bring their left flank troops in to win teh battle. But the Warhoon did it first, and the calots tore across the battlefield into the flank of the Thark centre.

More Thark riders fell, and that was it for their army; they broke.

The score was 12-8 to the Warhoon, but it was a close-run thing; the Tharks were set up to get some kills themselves on their next bound and could have just as easily won the day. But they didn't.

Alarmed by the defeat of their Thark allies, Helium sent an expeditionary force to punish the Warhoon. The Warhoon met them in rough terrain that would counter the Red Martians' aerial navy. They added another element of calots as well, losing an element of knights.

The Warhoon formed up with strong flanks in rough terrain and their centre on a series of hills. John Carter sent his army against the Thark left and centre, trusting to the navy to hold of any Warhoon moves there.

In go the Martians. John Carter directed from the rear, ready to leap in as a reserve where needed.

The airboats went in as well, but were pushed back. In addition the Warhoon calots destroyed some Red Men, breaking their line.

The calots on both flanks now swung into action, one element taking the flank on the airboats and the other going after John Carter himself. This was a suicidal move, but it would tie him up for a bound or two and also blocked the recoil of some of his foot.

A mighty airboat was brought down by the Green Men and their beasts.

John Carter was pushed back by calots! And some Red Martians had their recoil blocked and were destroyed.

John Carter finally did something useful and cut down the calots facing him.

But things were looking pretty dicey in Helium's centre as theWarhoon pressed forward.

They pulled back their fliers to get them into a better position.

But the Warhoon were everywhere now. More Red Men fell.

What was left of the Helium centre pulled back to regroup.

But over on their right another element fell trying to clear Green Martians out of the rocky ground, and that was the end of Helium's army.

Warhoon beat Helium 13-2 - a decisive victory by any standards.

So the new Green Martians won both of the debut games; always a good sign for a new army.

Ten Years Ago - August 2015

This blog has been around for over 13 years now and has, I think, seen a fair amount of activity compared to many. The other day I was idly looking through old posts and sometimes came across things that I didn't even remember posting.

So I thought that it would be fun to resurrect an old post each month, and I have decided to go back ten years to do it. Hopefully it will allow me to revisit forgotten projects and maybe introduce you to things you haven't seen before.

So as we begin August 2025, let's have a look at something I was up to ten years ago.

Oddly enough I was playing a lot of games with my Risk-figure Great Northern War armies, mostly using a variant of the rules in One Hour Wargames. I was also working through my horribly stalled project to play all of the One Hour Wargames scenarios in order. And I was coming to the point where I was going to play the Fortified Defence scenario, which needed some forts.

So I built a couple of redoubts. 

This is the final post, that shows the finished products. There's three posts in August 2015 that show the build process, step by step.

So hop in your time machine and read In Which I Make A Redoubt - Part 4

I've barely used the redoubts since I made them. That needs to change, I reckon.

And here's the whole of August 2015

Dominion Night

Last night I ran some games of 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great' at the Wollongong Wargamers. Caesar and Daniel played most of them, whilst I sorted out troops and explained the rules.

Since I knew we'd fit in multiple games, I decided to use the evening as an excuse to try out my simple WSS campaign mechanism. Rather than use random armies, though, I simply picked eight scenarios from the book, mostly covering the battles on  the Low Countries, but with a couple of Italian ones thrown in for fans of Eugene of Savoy.

Caesar bravely took the French and their allies, whilst Daniel commanded the Grand Alliance.

I don't have detailed reports of each battle, but I at least photographed the setup of each. We used my Great Northern War armies, with Swedes playing the French and the Russians playing the Alliance.

The first battle we played was a learning game - Chiari (September 1701). The French were assaulting Eugene, who was in a prepared position.

The French right turned into a cavalry battle

The French lost it, and Eugene rolled up the French line for a win.

With the basic game mechanisms under their belts, Daniel and Caesar were ready for the first campaign battle. We opened with the Storming Of The Schellenberg (July 1704). In all of the French and allies are on the left and the Grand Alliance on the right. Terrain is mostly garnish, but does sometimes indicate troops with defensive bonuses.

The fortress of Donauworth held off the initial Alliance assault.

But it all went horribly wrong for Caesar in the centre, Donauworth fell and the Bavarians were defeated.

The second battle of the campaign was Blenheim (August 1704). The playing cards are the campaign. Basically each player has a hand of cards, one of which is randomly placed in front of them as a stake. There are also four pool cards available. The winner of the battle gets to take one card. If they win decisively then they get to take two. At the end of the campaign - which will be after 3-8 battles, randomly determined - the player who can make the best five-card poker hand from their cards wins campaign. I'll write it all up properly soon, though.

The fighting around Blenheim descended into a slog so teh battle really became about cavalry smashing into each other in the centre.

Both sides saw units lost and then rallied, and the fighting continued.

But, once again, Marlborough was victorious, this time decisively.

Two games in and the French had yet to win a battle. How would they do at Elixheim (July 1705)?

This starts with a big cavalry fight along the line, with the French infantry at the rear defending a sunken road. Naturally the French lost the cavalry action and Marlborough's horseman rode down the infantry as well. Another decisive win.

On to Ramillies  (May 1706) and things were not looking good for the French. Daniel had a nice fat hand of cards, and Caesar ... didn't. Would the French dice finally come good?

The battle was hard-fought ...

... and the French cavalry was victorious on their right.

... and then it all went horribly wrong, and Marlborough won again.

On to battle number five and a return to Italy and the exploits of Eugene of Savoy. The battles was Turin (September 1706). The French were defending earthworks against an Allied assault. Their morale was not high.

And what ensued was another French rout!

The dice spoke at that point, ending the campaign and putting Caesar out of his misery. Comparing hands, Caesar could only manage a pair of threes, whilst Daniel had a nice six/ace full house. So the Grand Alliance very much dominated the negotiations of the Treaty of Utrecht.

To be fair Caesar's die-rolling was abysmal all evening; he barely rolled above a 3 in any combat. A couple f times he actually had a decent position and could have turned the battle in his favour, but a run of rubbish rolls threw it all away.

With plenty of evening left I thought we'd switch to the Great Northern War, and try out that old classic, Poltava (August 1709). In this picture the attacking Swedes (Caesar) are on the  left and the Russians (Daniel) on the right).

Initial Swedish successes were stymied by some stubborn resistance from the redoubts and a solid Russian infantry performance beyond them. History repeated itself and the Swedes lost.

Daniel and Caesar swapped sides. 

The Russians won again - Caesar's only victory of the evening.

Caesar decided to rest on his laurels and we decided to fit in just one more wafer-tin game. I'd scribbled some notes for a new scenario, and we tried it out - the Battle of Pruth River (1711). This was really an excuse to get my Nottomans out, as this battle saw Peter the Great's Russians attacked by an Ottoman army in modern-day Romania.

The Russians are in a fortified camp, and the Ottomans had a lot of guns.

Ottoman cavalry in action with the janissaries being rallied in the foreground.

Janissaries assault the camp and are repulsed.

But the Ottoman guns win the day, forcing the Russians to sue for terms.

So we managed nine games in about three hours, including a complete campaign, which I thought was pretty good. I think that the campaign was probably a little biased towards Marlborough, Caesar's die-rolling aside, because I don't think that the scenarios are intended to be entirely balanced; they are slightly weighted in favour of the historical victors. So whilst it was a chance to test out the card-driven mechanisms of the campaign it was kind of a skewed result owing to the complete whitewash of the French. I need to try it out with some random armies.