Battle of Palikao, part II

A week on from the last game, I returned to Shedquarters to work through the latter stages of the battle.


In the interim I have painted up a General Montauban figure on a base with a Hussar trumpeter. That trumpet needs straitening.


Picking up from last week, hordes of Mongols threw themselves at the French infantry on the allied right.


On the allied left, the Indian cavalry continued to drive the Manchu horse back. The Chinese infantry formed schiltron to save themselves from being overwhelmed.


Not a moment to soon, as the cavalry finally broke through.


The Mongols were being fended off over on the right.


In the centre, the French infantry stormed and took the village, pursuing their opponents into the green fields and beyond.


Most of the Chinese army was going backwards.


In the centre, the French infantry broke their opponents.


Probyn's horse was still being held up on the left, and even lost a round of combat.


The French have brought their reserve infantry up through the woods, followed by some newly painted guns.


Over on the left, the troops and guns occupying the village are giving the British some stiff opposition.


At last, the final Mongol cavalry unit is seen off, and the French main force advances on the bridge.


On the left, despite the hard fighting in the village, the British have started to envelope the Chinese right centre.


The Chinese are hard pressed on their left, and with well over 50% of the army in retreat or rout, it is a Franco-British victory. However, unexpectedly stiff resistance meant that most of the Chinese units fled unscathed. The road to Beijing may be open, but more opposition is a distinct possibility.

A very satisfactory game. The fairly closed terrain made it hard to deploy and use the Franco-British artillery, which can break Chinese units in fairly short order. A large army of Chinese can take a lot of punishment, especially if their commanders are present to bolster their morale. The failure of the British cavalry to break through rapidly, after their initial successes last week, meant that a lot of the Chinese army got away.

I think I will revisit this battle in the future, and try to rework the ground layout. I was not completely happy with what I had set up, and some further research is probably required.

Still, it passes the time.

Comments

  1. That all seemed to work well.

    You might consider posting it on the LAF Colonial Board. I've put Taiping stuff there in the past and it got a good number of readers.

    Btw, and off topic I thoroughly enjoyed your Edgecote book. I'm dipping a toe into the WOTR.

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    1. Can you cross post on LAF then?

      Good to hear you enjoyed the Edgcote book. If you are interested in WotR we do a lot of stuff on the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society Facebook page.

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  2. I don't think so.

    Yes, great use of the Welsh sources to achieve clarity of when the battle was fought

    My review of Taiping Era is now up on my blog.

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    1. The issue with the date of the battle is unforgivable for English historians. BTW if you are a Battlefield Trust member i'm doing a talk on Edgcote on Wednesday evening. You need to register, but otherwise it is free.

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  3. Not related to this post I'm afraid, but just to say I was watching your Battlefields Trust lecture on Edgecote tonight, thanks very much for an excellent talk!

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    1. No worries. Glad you enjoyed it. Buy the book! There's loads more good stuff in there.

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    2. I'm sure I'll get to the book.. I did buy your Northampton Game, at a Battlefields Trust study day a couple of years ago. Good stuff!

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    3. Brilliant. Hope you enjoyed the game.

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  4. Interesting battle. I have been trying to piece together an OOB and add this to my release of colonial wargames (board) later this summer which will include several little known titles. Were you able to find any source material. I think I have pieced it together but if you have any information, it would be appreciated.

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    1. The French Army for the campaign is fairly well documented on French websites, and the British is likewise not too difficult to track down. "Taiping Era" has full orbats for the campaign as an appendix. I don't read Mandarin, so I was a bit at sea with the Chinese. I made a lot of use of Michael Mann's "China 1860", which is very good, having access to papers in the Windsor Royal archives. There's also an article in Weapons and Warfare which you can find on line. It accords with most of the other sources I could find, and is the only one that has a proper go at a map.

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  5. Thanks. A lot of what is easily (relatively) available just gives the order of battle for the expeditonary force or campaign, not the troops involved at Palikao and Chang Kia Wan a few days before. I think I have a fairly reliable OOB and double checked some regimental battle honors, and found period maps for both battles. Now to see if Palikao can translate into a hex and counter game within my usual game constraints.

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    1. Unfortunately I can't find my scenario notes. I'm less careful with them these days as I capture most things on the blog. My recollection is that we have good info for the brigade formations, and we know which brigades are at the battle, so the Anglo /French aren't too difficult to sort out. The issue for this battle as a boardgame is what your victory conditions will be. If you have a link/source for the contemporary/period maps I'd much appreciate them.

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  6. Here is the link for the battle of Palikao. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84411670. I will have to root around for the one on Changa Kia Wan and I may no longer have the link, just the copy of the map. I believe I have all of the regiments identified.

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    1. Sure. I don't have the link anymore to the map of Chang Kia Wan but if you send your email to me I can send you a copy. If you prefer not to post, you can message me at my game company on FB: https://www.facebook.com/THGCPublishing.

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