Great Northern War game and rules updates

Last night I played a solo game set in the Great Northern War. I rolled up scenario 25 in the one Hour Wargames book, which is infiltration. This consists of a lone unit of red force (the Russians) having to hold off four units of Blue Force (the Swedes) until reinforcements arrive. For their part the Swedes had to get 2 units off the north-west corner of the table via the road. The Swedes rolled up 3 infantry and 1 cavalry unit, the Russians got 4 infantry, 1 gun and a Dragoon unit.
My camera battery died so I thought I might try using the ipad to take photos. This is the main reason why the photos below are so bad. I shan't be using that option again.

Starting shot. The Rostovski regiment alone on the hill, surrounded by Swedes.

Things as they were in Turn 6. The Vasterbotten regiment is chasing down the remains of the Rostovski regiment while the other three units of Swedes head for the north. The Uppland regiment has responsibility for taking out the Ingermanlandski regiment in the north, and suffers hideous casualties on the way in. The rest of the Russian force has just arrived in the South (edge nearest the camera).

The Russians are outnumbered but holding on grimly.

A bitter battle ended - the Uppland regiment broken.

The Vasterbotten Regiment finally wipes out the Rostovski, only to find itself surrounded.

I forgot to check the rules and allowed the Swedes to escape off the northern table edge without using the road, thereby winning the game. I had already packed up when I reread the scenario conditions and realised that they needed to use the road. In hindsight I think they would have made it, but only just, taking the Russians on the road in the flank.

Playing the game made me realise that there were some things missing from the rules, which I've since updated. The first is that the rules for marching weren't in the GNW rules, not that it affected the game as the deployment of the Russians hindered any chance of marching, but I have now added them in.

Second, what to do about artillery if attacked in hand to hand. For all of the OHW rules I have amended artillery. Now artillery cannot be charged frontally if it has a friendly unit within 10 cm. Secondly, I've changed the charge restrictions from not being able to charge 'if the opposing unit has more bases', to 'if the opposing unit has more hits remaining'. This means the single element of the artillery won't always be outnumbered. Finally, for artillery that is caught in hand to hand combat, it is automatically destroyed. No need to worry about how it fights back etc. I think this balances artillery out - keep them supported and they should manage to avoid hand to hand combat which will annihilate them. Leave them out on heir own and they may be able to shoot up the opposition so that they can't charge, but their flanks will be exposed. I'll have to have a test and see how this plays out.

Finally, I've amended the combat outcome rules so that they make sense. Essentially a combat ends when a unit is destroyed or forced to withdraw because it loses a base. If neither of these conditions apply, the combat goes into the next player's turn, and the charged unit may turn to its flank if necessary.

All of the OHW rules have now been updated with these amendments.

Nate

The Great Northern War Compendium

I became aware of the project to put this 2 volume set of books on the Great Northern War together last year, and signed up for an alert when it was eventually published. I knew it would probably be quite expensive, but I really love this period and information in English is limited, to say the least.

The pictures on the facebook page are absolutely stunning.

So I hoped that when it came out I would have access to the funds necessary to purchase it. Well, it is out in a few days and Caliver Books have a limited number that they are taking orders for. The price tag is £110, plus p&p which comes out at about $300 NZD, but if I miss out on these books I'll kick myself, so this is where the next lot of commission money is going. I've put my name on Dave Ryan's list and I'm really hoping I'll get a set. I'll have to put back the plan to purchase some more bits and pieces for the Indo-Pakistan War, but they will still be there in a few months time.

 I've also been looking at getting some figures for the New Zealand Musket Wars from Empress and Eureka's upcoming precolonial Maori range. The plan at the moment is to use them with the Muskets and Tomahawks rules. I'm still going down that track, but maybe a bit later on in the year now.

Fingers crossed that in a couple of weeks time I can post a review of the GNW compendium.

Nate

Welcome home.

As a consequence of my disillusionment with the Force Awakens I began toying with the idea of moving on my rather large collection of Star Wars miniatures. When I mentioned it to John he said that he was interested, and I suggested a swap. In return for the Star Wars collection, I could have the Arab-Israeli, Crimean War and Great Northern War figures returned to their place of origin. He seemed to think that was fair, so in the last week this deal has been duly done. John dropped them all around today (minus the Arab-Israeli jets which I'll get later) and I felt I needed to take a few photos of my prodigal sons before they are returned to the cabinets.

From left to right: Great Northern War, Arab Israelis, Crimean War

The Great Northern War Pocket Project. This might be expanded in 2016 as I have a few extra regiments to paint

The Israeli army, originally built for the Yom Kippur War but kitted out to work for 1967 as well.

The Egyptians (UAR) which has the same back story.

The Crimean War pocket project. I may yet expand this a bit further as well - particularly artillery and cavalry

It is great to have these guys back. The latest Flames of War book for Fate of a Nation is on my shopping list, and expect a few battle reports in 2016 involving these chaps.

Nate

Cossacks

This is the last unit that I needed for my Great Northern War pocket project - Cossacks. They are 15mm Irregular minis like the rest of the armies. I really struggled with painting these chaps, mostly in terms of colour selection. In the end I just went with a bit of a rainbow but red bags on all of the caps. It seems to have worked OK.

'Charge! But only if the enemy aren't looking...'

The rules as they stand at the moment state that the Russians will have a seventh unit on the table - either an artillery unit or the Cossacks. The artillery seemed to work well in the last battle and balanced out the Swedes' hitting power. It will be interesting to see if the Cossacks can do the same thing.

Nate

Battle of Wolmer 1st April 1702 - a One Hour Wargame

For this game I rolled up scenario 1 - pitched battle. Two hills, two armies and the victor would be the one with the higher head count at the end.

The forces deployed, seen from the Swedish side.

Opening moves - the Russians advance their wings, the Swedes just advance.

Straight into the action, the Swedish right wing crashes into the their Russian opposites.

The Swedish left advances to get into hand to hand combat.

The Swedes continue to push the Russians back on the right wing, despite some devastating musketry by the Rostovski regiment.

Stalemate on the Swedish left.

The Schlusselberg Dragoons and the Ostgota regiment hold the centre in the face of devastating ratillery fire.

The Jonskoping regiment savages the Tverski Dragoons while the Uppland regiment suffers heavily from close range artillery fire.

The Russian left flank is just about broken.

The Swedish centre continues to soak up the attention of the Russian artillery.

The Karelska regiment charges into a Russian battery and destroys it. The Smaland cavalry deal with the last of the Vladimirski Dragoons. Not sure why this picture came out so bright?

The Uppland regiment is destroyed by the Ingermanlandski regiment. The Jonskoping regiment advance to within short range of the Tverski Dragoons.

In the centre the Ostgota regiment and Karelska cavalry combine to recoil the Semenovski guards.

And two turns later a second double whammy, this time with the Smaland cavalry acting in tandem with the Ostgota, routs the Semenovski guards from the board. 

Turn 15 sees a last desperate charge by the Tverski Dragoons, which causes some damage but is ultimately futile.

At the end of the game the Russians had three units on the board and the Swedes had 4. A narrow win to the Swedes which will see the Russians retreat from Wolmer in some disarray - after all they don't have access to a road as it was blocked by the army they just fought.

The rules worked better than I had hoped. I was worried that the extra unit for the Russians would unbalance things too much, but it worked perfectly in the end.  The Swedes carve up in melee, no doubt about it, but they suffer in the run up from unanswered musketry. Automatically eliminating contacted artillery also streamlines the game quite well, but they give a decent wallop with their d6+3 hits at 15cm range. I have made a couple of minor changes to the rules, as I noticed that there were a couple of things that I had assumed but hadn't specified. Cavalry now automatically retire from combat with infantry even if the infantry also retires from losing 4 hits.
The next battle will also be in the April turn, as Gyllentrad pursues the retreating Russians. I haven't rolled this one up yet, so we will have to wait and see what the next battle looks like.

Nate

Livonian Campaign February through April 1702

After being repulsed outside Marienberg the Swedes retired on Valk, while the Russians continued with their siege operation in the snow. On 6th February with little hope of being relieved Marienberg surrendered. The new Russian commander General Nobakstorii determined to use this advantage to maximum effect.

Marienberg is captured.

The castle where Nobakstorii planned his next moves. (from Wikipedia)

March moves

 In March Nobakstorii moved to cut the muddy road between Riga and Valk, thus limiting the reinforcements available to the Swedish army. The Swedish General Gyllentrad hunkered down in Valk preparing the town for a siege. His plan was to weaken the Russians and await reinforcements from Sweden via Reval and Dorpat.

The surprise move

Then, suddenly, on March 24th the Russians made a surprise move. They went west and attempted to storm the town of Wolmer. The storming failed, but the town was caught unprepared and would be unable to resist a siege for long. On March 29th Gyllentrad left Valk with all of the troops he could muster. If Wolmer fell then he would be fatally cut off from Riga. If he lost this battle it would be highly likely that he would lose Riga. He needed to defeat the Russians before they could get their siege lines ready. The stakes were high on the morning of 1st April as the Swedes approached the Russian army arrayed for battle around a small hill outside Wolmer.

Nate

The attempted relief of Marienberg 15th January 1702 - a One Hour Wargame

After the battle on the Ludzha river the Swedes withdrew to Dorpat to winter while the Russians withdrew to Pskov. At the end of December came the Russians under Kantstanski used the frozen conditions to make a strike for Marienberg, to try to capture it. Their coup de main failed and the army dug in to conduct a siege on the tiny garrison, figuring that they were in supply and that the winter was not too deep. In early January the Swedes under General Gyllentrad moved out to relieve the endangered town.

This game was a chance to try out a birthday present - a new folding card table that is 86 x 86cm - an inch short on each side of a 3' x 3' table. I went down to the shops today and bought a green polar fleece which I then spray painted and voila, I can play games in the house without having to sit on the floor!

I rolled up scenario 15 from the book, which was just perfect for the campaign scenario I had in mind. Based on Fontenoy it features an army in two defensive strongpoints holding out against an attack. Neil Thomas makes the strongpoints towns, but I substituted these for redoubts, because I'd already specifically made the terrain for them. I ignored the two special rules, the first that the redoubts had additional firepower, the second that the attacking army could replenish itself and bring on a whole new army. This didn't fit within the limited scheme of the campaign.

So the Swedes had 15 turns to occupy both redoubts and this would relieve Marienberg. If they failed they would retire to Valk and await reinforcement.

Turn One. The Swedes advance onto the table

First firefight between the Dragoons

The initial assault against the first redoubt manned by the Rostovski regiment.

A wider view of the Swedish advance

The Tverski Dragoons decide to hold up the Uppland regiment.

The Vasterbotten regiment decides it will deal with the Moscowski Dragoons directly

The Uppland regiment continue their stand-off with the Tverski Dragoons.

The assault on the redoubt falls to the Jonskoping regiment.

Slowly the Tverski Dragoons begin to gain the upper hand.

The Rostovski regiment is on its last legs.

The Vasterbotten regiment assault the Moscowski Dragoons, inflict some damage and then recoil. This incident has led me to make some amendments to the hand to hand combat rules in my Great Northern War variant.

Uppland take revenge on the Tverski Dragoons.

In a last desperate act of defiance the Rostovski regiment just about destroys the Ostgota regiment.

In the upper left corner you can see that the Semenovski regiment has been called out of reserve to support the redoubt.

Too late - Jonskoping capture the first redoubt!

The Vladimirski Dragoons are brought out of reserve to aid the failing Moscowski dragoons.

Jonskoping leave the redoubt to advance on the Semenovski Guards.

Vasterbotten turns and gives a solid volley to the Vladimirski Dragoons.

Semenovski unleash an unsteady salvo against the Jonskoping regiment.

The conflict in the centre is about to end in defeat for the Uppland regiment.

The battle of the minnows continues on the right flank.

The Vasterbotten begins to advance in the face of the Vladimirski charges.

Jonskoping go through the Semenovski guards like a hot knife through butter.

The Smaland cavalry comes forward to finish off the Vladimirski regiment.

The Swedes begin to close in o the final redoubt.

General Kantstanski is knocked out in the fighting trying to rally the Vladimirski regiment.

It is turn 15 and a furious Swedish assault is launched..

A view through the woods of the final moments of the battle

Bird's eye view of the end of the battle.

So at the end of Turn 15 the Swedes had not secured both redoubts. This meant a tactical draw, in which the Swedes would need to withdraw. February will see the Russians attempt to take Marienberg.

The game did throw up a few interesting moments, and I have amended the rules again for the next play through.

Nate