The Khalsa Part 2

Khalsa Cavalry, Gorchurra and the irregulars

The Khalsa regular cavalry were trained by veteran soldiers who had military experience in European wars.  Accordingly, they could carry out all of the evolutions and manoeuvres expected of their European counter parts.  There were three branches of the Khalsa cavalry, cuirassiers, dragoons and lancers all fully and appropriately equipped.  They could be supported by Khalsa horse artillery.

The Punjab was horse territory however the numerous and more socially prestigious Gorchurra seem to have had their pick of the horse flesh available.  The Khalsa cavalry chose from what was left.  It also seems clear that the cavalry was the least prestigious branch of the Khalsa.  This inclines me to rate them all simply as regular – if you disagree upgrade or down grade some of them.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Cuirassiers	Sword	D10	D6	-	-	-
Lancers	Lance	D10	D6	0-1	-	-
Dragoons	Carbine	D8	D6	0-1	2-3	-
Dragoons	Carbine	D10	D6	0-1	2-3	-

The Gorchurra were the nobility and gentry of the Sikh kingdom and their immediate followers.  They were well equipped, often armoured and sometimes rode barded horses.  Their weapons were of good quality and included lances, swords, axes and long Jezzail like matchlocks.  They were all excellent horsemen.  

Before Ranjit created the Khalsa they had been the mainstay of the army and with the Alkali its battle winners.  Their favoured tactic was to wear the enemy down by firing from the saddle in a skirmishing or caracole fashion followed up by a fierce charge.   

Such tactics were less effective against European regular infantry who could both out shoot and out range the Gorchurra.  That said there is no reason to believe that a new tactical repertoire was adopted and so my Gorchurra may both charge or skirmish or both if they carry matchlocks.

The question arises of how to model the effect of armour in respect of the wealthier Gorchurra and Khalsa cuirassiers.  Plainly this is an advantage in melee and we should also note that even unarmoured Gorchurra were reported by British cavalry as very difficult to hurt as they leaned over their horses presenting only a thick turban and a shield on the back as a target.  A unit of Bengali irregular cavalry proved to be the British exception (as Brent Nosworthy noted) and caused havoc among the Gorchurra with their razor sharp swords.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Fully Armoured	Lance	D12	D10	-	-	-
Armoured	Matchlock	D12	D8	0-1	2-3	-
Unarmoured	Matchlock	D10	D6	0-1	2-3	-

Let’s look at the remainder of the irregulars now.  Many of them had previous military experience and all owned and practiced with weapons. For convenience I have divided them into matchlock infantry and melee infantry in reality the division would not have been so hard and fast.  Also it seems a good place to include the camel gunners.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Matchlock men	Matchlock	D8	D4	0-2	3-4	5-6
Swordsmen	Sword	D10	D4	-	-	-
Camel Guns	Up to 3lb Gun	D8	D4	0-3	4-5	6

There are a couple of points here that could be reflected in the rules to add flavour when gaming Sikh War battles.  I'm minded to adopt the following:

• British cavalry,except lancers and a single unit of irregular cavalry, are down 1(in FOB terms) in melee against Gorchurra or Cuirassiers
• The Matchlock was clumsy compared to the Musket so down 1 (FOB again) for all firing

Finally a word on the Sikh command, treachery only infected the highest level of command below that officers were as able or otherwise as in any other professional army. 

An Army List for the Khalsa

Part 1

In writing this I have mostly drawn upon Sidhu’s First Anglo Sikh War and I have applied the information therein to the ratings in Piquet’s Field of Battle (FOB).  I hope it is of use to those interested and obviously if you disagree with my ratings change them to suit yourself.

Let’s take the infantry first.  They are the backbone of the army, well trained, often by French Napoleonic veterans, and fully equipped to the best European standard.  Apart from the British there was nothing like them in India.  

Following the death of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, creator of the Khalsa, some commentators feel the disciple of the infantry broke down effecting their battle worthiness.  I find no evidence of this in the first Anglo Sikh war. That said I’m mindful of making the Khalsa over mighty in game terms and therefore have opted for a crack brigade and a regular one both of three battalions.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Crack	Musket	D12	D8	0-2	3-4	5-6
Crack	Musket	D12+1	D8	0-2	3-4	5-6
Crack	Musket	D12	D8	0-2	3-4	5-6
Regular	Musket	D10	D6	0-2	3-4	5-6
Regular	Musket	D12+1	D6	0-2	3-4	5-6
Regular	Musket	D10	D6	0-2	3-4	5-6

To this we can add a battalion of Sikh Ghurkhas, one of Dogra Light Infantry and some Alkali devotees of God the Immortal.  The Ghurkhas and the Dogra are regulars.  The Alkali are a sort of Sikh version of the Knights of the Temple.  I have given them only short range fire power to reflect a mix of matchlocks, pistols and quoits but if they close they will be formidable.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Ghurkhas	Musket	D10	D6	0-2	3-4	5-6
Dogra	Musket	D10	D6	0-2	3-4	5-6
Alkali	Various	D12+1	D10	0-2	-	-

Now, to consider the artillery.  The Khalsa often used very heavy calibre guns and the Muslim gunners were very skilled indeed. Consequently, I’ve rated the gunners as crack and the guns as heavy.  The Khalsa also had horse artillery and I’ve included the ratings for them too.  Irregular artillery could also appear but I don’t yet own any and so have not listed it.  I currently field three batteries of Khalsa guns.

Unit	Armament	Combat Die	Defence Die	Short Range	Medium Range	Long Range
Heavy Art	12lb Smoothbore	D12	D8	0-6	7-10	11-18
Heavy Art	12lb Smoothbore	D12+1	D8	0-6	7-10	11-18
Heavy Art	12lb Smoothbore	D12	D8	0-6	7-10	11-18
Horse Art	6lb Smoothbore	D10	D6	0-4	5-8	9-16

In part two we will look at the regular cavalry, the Gorchurra and Sikh irregulars including camel guns and at the command issue.