Battle of the Lake, April 5, 1242

The Battle of the Lake (a.k.a. The Battle on the Ice) was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by Prince Alexander Nevsky and the forces of the Livonian Order led by Bishop Hermann of Dorpat at Lake Peipus.

The battle is notable for having been fought largely on a frozen lake, and this gave the battle its name(s).

The Livonian Order was an sub-division of the more well known Teutonic Knights, as such many of their number were German noblemen, crusading against the Novograd pagans and the  'heathen Russian Eastern Orthodox Christians...

John is recreating the battle in miniature and this is scheduled to run May 10th & 17th, be there early for best commands.

Snow effects achieved by using salt and the trees, lake ice and snow drifts supplied by Mark from his WW2 Russo-Fininsh War collection.

A video of the Background to the battle and the real events of the battle can be found here:

The Tabletop, frozen lake to left and shoreline to right

First week was devoted to set-up and a good start on the battle its-self. Rupert, Mike W & Phil took n the Russian side, with Rupert playing Alexander Nevsky - commanding the Russian horse on the right, Mike W playing his brother -Andrei who commanded the Russian Horse on the left and Phil commanded the infantry in the centre.

Prince Andrei's Heavy Cavalry,
deployed on Russian Left

Russian Centre, shore manned by City Militia and
local tribesmen a mix of Spear  and Crossbowmen

As expected Steve took command of the Crusader Military Orders in the Crusader centre and then the allied Germans were placed on the Crusader left under Mike N. and the Danish contingent was placed under Mark's command on the Crusader right wing.

Teutonic Infantry, backed by German & Danish Crusaders
formed second rank on the Crusader right

Military Orders, formed centre of Teutonic Line

German Knights formed the Crusader left wing

The battle opened with a general Crusader advance whilst Russian infantry lines were straightened out and extended and the Russian horse under Andrei Nevsky was deployed to their left and the allied Mongol hordes were deployed to the right wing.

Crusader control was lax and as soon as they saw the flank moves the central knights were unleashed in an all out charge to the Russian Infantry lines on the lake shoreline.

Whilst Danish Knights formed the Crusader Right Wing

Again as expected the Military Orders were pretty much unstoppable, cutting their way through the infantry lines, although the allied Danish and German knights found the going tougher and they got caught up in a series of long running melees with the stout Russian defenders - with one German unit of knights even being routed.

Estonian Infantry lined up in the second rank to the left of centre.

However, quality wins and the Military orders then pushed through the centre to meet Alexander Nevsky and his horse who fought them off for a couple of turns before they too were pushed back.

As expected Steve, commanded the Military Orders and
charged straight in flanked by German and Danish Knights

Military Orders break trough the Russian front line and then hit lines of Heavy Cavalry

On both flanks Russian Cavalry loop
in to attack the Crusader flanks

Meanwhile, Andrei Nevsky and his Russian heavy cavalry rounded the Russian Infantry line son the left flank and turned in towards the centre, with a view to cashing in on the exposed flanks and rear of the Danish Knights.

Similarly on the other flank, Mongol light cavalry were able to crash into the flanks of the German knights and engage in melee - albeit indecisive, they got a few free hacks at the German flanks.

Crusader Infantry were largely inactive in the game, having been left behind by the knights all out charge, they only got a few passing shots at enemy cavalry passing their front as they closed on the centre.

All still to play for in Week Two!

Famous last words and all that! Week Two started with the two Russian Cavalry flanking forces closing nearer to the exposed flanks of the Crusader forces.

Confused melee on the lake shore,
Andrei Nevsky leads his cavalry into Crusader flanks

The epic melee between Russian spear and crossbow men continued on the lank banks, with heavy casualties taken by both sides. However the end came for the Russians in turn two when the Holy Orders continued their rampage in the centre by smashing into Alexander Nevsky's heavy cavalry and breaking one unite and routing two other units as they failed their morale checks

The Russian army had reached its break point and the game was instantly over...

As it was still early in the evening it was decided to play on, on the Russian left a spearman unit of the Novograd city guard had managed to engage a Danish heavy cavalry unit in their flank, this unit was broken and the attached Battle Commander killed! Too little too late..

Alexander Nevsky and his cavalry in full flight

The game rumbled on for several more tuns with the inevitable destruction of the Russian forces in detail - albeit at significant Crusade cost - most of the German wing of the army were mauled and routed in their long running melee on their flank and in the centre - even one Military Order unit was routed.

Good win for the Crusaders and a good run out for John's rules.