By Dave V
Mat T. put on the Battle of Kliszow, fought in July 1702, which of course you all knew already. Mat drove the combined Polish-Lithuanian and Saxon troops, whilst I had the Swedes
Mat's team were led by Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Elector of Saxony, and I was Charles XII, the young King of Sweden
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| Glorious 28mm Saxon Infantry |
Mat's force had the Saxon infantry, in their red coats, parked behind chevaux de frises, A second line was made up of scruffy Poles. On his left flank was a cavalry team made up of Saxon line cavalry and horse grenadiers. Behind the guns were one battery of heavy guns, and two of field (yes overhead fire is allowed).
One thing to note was that the Saxons did not have pikes, but the Swedes still had them (as did the Russians)
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| Finished 'Banner' of Pancerni, believe figures may be Wargames Foundry |
On his right was a force of Polish winged hussars, and Pancerni cavalry, with some Lithuanian Cossacks in support, all led by a Polish hetman.
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| Plastic Cossacks |
My Swedish infantry were in two lines, one battery in front, and one behind (this was to try out the different firing ranges and brackets etc)
On each flank were 3 or 4 veteran regular Swedish cavalry
In between the two forces was a large area of rough ground, which the Swedes had to cross to get to grips with the enemy.
To start, each commander has a rating, in this case, Charles was 8, and Augustus was 2. You roll D6, add the score, which shows how many units you can move. It is a bit like Rupert's rules, where you move two, he moves two, you move one, etc etc.. depending on the score. So Charles could move 14 units if he scored 6 and there is no pip to move a whole line, it's for each unit.
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| Pancerni Commander |
Mat's right wing cavalry came whooshing down to take on my cavalry, which I counter charged with. My infantry front line then moved forward an max speed, until they hit the rough ground. Artillery exchanged shots, causing casualties. My right wing and Mat left wing cavalry then spent some time just looking at one another.
The cavalry fight carried on, with both side reinforcing with a 2nd ranks, and it was back and forth, until surprisingly the winged hussars failed morale and legged it. But one team managed rout one of my cavalry units, which caused its supporting infantry to flee as well.
By now, my front line of infantry were through the rough ground and were approaching the defences. One of my units got into a melee with a Saxon battalion, who had been receiving punishment from my artillery, and through more by luck, pushed that unit back into the 2nd line line of Polish infantry.
By now, with pips to spare, I was able to get my right flank cavalry into action, and crash into the Saxon line cavalry, which was supported by the Horse Grenadiers (who could have had a shot from the saddle if they had been in front as the Swedes came in).
By now, time was getting on, Mat had fallen asleep into his dice box, and I had started to hear voices in my head...Mat conceded defeat as his entire right flank had gone, and the Swedes had now started to push into the centre.
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| Two Hussars, one with two wings, the other with just one. Single winged Hussar carries a national flag. |
Some interesting rules, which I found very easy to get to grips with after a short time, so they must be good then! I did enjoy them. Nice one, Mat ! We also tried to foresee any issues that might cause uproar by players, and come up with a solution.
By the way Mat, are the ranges for musket a bit extreme for 6mm? 25cm long range? and 100cm long range heavy guns?
How about reducing them a bit as muskets were max at about 200 yds... and the Swedes used to fire when they were virtually on top of the enemy. How about 10cm close, 15cm long for musket, or even 5cm and 10cm, and halve the artillery ranges? So field guns at long range now 50cm?
So, we have at the moment, got a game lined up on 1st April, which will include my Russian troops as well...
