By Mat T.
Excellent hard fought game last night Gentlemen. Genuinely could have gone either way!
The Swedish force remaining in Warsaw to support the newly crowned King Stanislow I took to the field alongside the northern Polish supporters of the young King. They marched south dragging the ageing fortress guns of the old City to meet the larger combined Saxon Polish force of King Augustus on a warm spring morning.
Taking a strong defensive position on a low ridge with the Poles in the centre and Swedish battalions on the flank the Swedo-Polish force infiltrated cavalry into the woods on either flank and awaited their more numerous opponents.
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| A shot showing most of the Swedish lines in foreground and the Saxon-Polish line on the far side of the table |
The Saxons came on with vigour supported on their right by the massed artillery of their Polish allies and a glittering array of charging Polish horse. The first artillery exchange of the battle did not bode well for the Swedes as the charismatic Battalion commander of the Uppsalla Regiment was decapitated and died along side his command group, causing dismay amongst his troops. Buoyed by this start the Saxon-Polish pressed forwards and battle was joined on both flanks by cavalry.
The Saxon left started well driving back the Swedish horse in broken wooded country as the all Polish cavalry duel charged into life on the right. However, the Saxons soon ran into trouble as Lithuanian Cossacks filtered out of the woods on the far left catching them part way through a difficult river crossing. The slaughter was enormous and the tide of the melee started to turn against the Saxons.
In the centre both lines advanced and took heavy damage from the high proportion of artillery fielded by both sides.
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| A view of the Swedish line from their right flank through to their left flank |
On the right the Saxon’s Polish allies loyal to Augustus started to win the fight against Stanislow’s men. Sensing he was needed the young king bravely rode from the centre of the field to offer his support, but finding the field boggy and perhaps a little too hot he paused at a distance where he could observe the complexities of the melee rather than make the headstrong mistake of being drawn in too far (such a wise head on young shoulders!)
As the New King’s cavalry were gradually broken by Augustus’s men, redeeming themselves from their previous shame, the infantry centres met with a Swedish charge into the Saxon line. Steady Saxon fire halted two of the three Swedish battalions in their tracks but the third crashed home on the far left of the Saxon line, pushing the red-coated Germans back on their heels. This was enough for the sausage munchers and the bulk of the Saxon line collapsed and fled the field. With the Swedish cavalry now driving back the Saxon horse, the field was held by the Swedo-Polish forces.
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| Finally a view of the extreme right of the Swedish line, showing Saxon cavalry in the distance. |
Though outnumbered the young King Stanislow and his loyal Swedish General (puppet-master) Lowenhaubt had triumphed. However, the victory of Augustus’s Polish horse, and the heavy casualties on both sides meant that no pursuit was possible. The Royal Polish infantry standing unmolested on a major hill held firm and gave cover for the bloodied Saxons to the leave the field.
Poland is now assured a bloody slide into Civil War as the main Swedish force continues East under Charles XII for a climactic clash with the Russian Bear!
Hope you enjoyed the action, it has been a good shake-down of the troops and rules. We shall make some tweaks and write a whole section of complex rules around pikes in woodland based on the varying densities of seasonal canopy cover of the twelve major species of deciduous trees in different regions of the Baltic states.
