GNW Bust up in Bury

I was invited over to chum Daves this Sunday for a game and he was keen for us to get the Great Northern War collections on table. He has a lovely Russian Army and we have only played it 2 or 3 times, so I loaded the car up with all my figures and bobbed over to Bury.

Dave has a lovely games room with a 14 by 6 feet table, the biscuits hardly made it to the table at all before being demolished. Cheers Dave. Shh dont tell his missis.

We supplemented Daves Russians with my Poles and Saxons giving Dave the following.

Brigade of 4 Cossack Cavalry
2 Brigades of 3 Russian Dragoons
3 Brigades of 2 Polish Cavalry
3 Brigades of Russian foot (2 x 5 and 1 x 4)
2 Brigades of 3 Saxon Foot
4 Russian guns in redoubts.

The Russians had mainly average commanders and the two poor units of foot cossacks were behind the fences and hedges of the two farms.

16 Regiments of Horse
20 Battalions of Foot
4 Guns

I had the Swedes with slightly fewer troops:

11 Regiments of Horse (2 Guards) in 4 brigades
14 Battalions of foot (4 Guards) also in 4 brigades
3 Guns

So whilst Dave has the edge in numbers quality is as usual in favour of the Swedes.

Both sides placed all their horse on the flanks, the Russians putting more onto their right, the Swedes a bit more even on both flanks. The strongest two brigades of foot would attack the centre left of the Swedish front with the weaker two brigades hoping to pin three of the Allied 5 Brigades in the centre and right.

Things go well initially for the Swedes, two brigades of foot in the centre fail to move but the Guard Cavalry see off two units of Poles in quick time and pounce straight onto two more 

The Russians Advance to form a line linking the two Villages and the gun positions, two lines of foot with a further line of Saxons bringing up the rear. A tried and tested tactic to wear down the attacking Swedes.

On the left the mass of Russian horse advance steadily with the Cossacks ont he extreme Allied right. These guys put up a surprisingly good fight frustratingly.

I throw my horse forward on the Left but they are not really getting forward as quickly as I would like and only one unit actually gets into contact with the Cossacks. The Cossacks are beaten but Daves morale dice are good and he simply withdraws behind the rest of the brigade whilst my unit is shaken and needs to stand where it is.

On the right my foot is starting to take casualties from the Guns, but on the left we are doing OK and advancing steadily.

Next move and the Guards charge the village on the left taking it at the point of the bayonet and pushing the mauled Cossack foot out the back. Unfortunately the next brigade in doesn't move at all so the attack has become a bit disjointed and the Russians can concentrate their fire on my Guards, the battalion outside the village holds its ground and it becomes a slogging match between these two units.

Further left the horse have finally got going and we hit the Russian horse, again Dave's morale dice see him retire rather than break and we pounce onto the next Russian horse with the same result.

Another unit of Cossacks tries its luck against my shaken unit that cannot charge in response. I get lucky and see them off. But really need to get the rest of this brigade In front of the exposed unit.

With lots of Sweeping charges we get a little confused with how many times you an use a sweeping charge. We decide (correctly I think) that just the once, if you break two units then the second sweeping advance is just that and you cant instigate another melee.

The Guard cavalry on the right have destroyed Four units of Poles but the last combat is a stretch for them and one of the two units breaks, a Brigade break test sees the other one taken off and things suddenly look a little different. Fortunately I have brought two units of the other Brigade up behind them to stop the remaining Poles taking any advantage from the situation.

The Russians now charge the Swedish horse again, but again are seen off and again Fave manages to hold their morale whilst the Cossacks charge the other Brigade with the same result.

On the right two regiments of remaining horse stare daggers at each other, but the Swedes wont be charging across the front of the supporting Infantry to be galled by their fire on the way in. the third regiment of horse is nearer the centre ready to pounce should the Russians try to envelope my first brigade of foot which is in a fair degree of trouble from the guns and musketry of Dave's front line of Russians.

Half the Swedish first Brigade is dis-ordered by the guns the other half charges the Russians, one Russian battalion is broken but the other stands and both Swedish units are badly mauled.

To the left the Swedes manage to see off two battalions of Russians, but the supporting fire from the Saxons brigade leaves one of the Guard units shaken.

Far left and the Russian horse are now all off table and both shaken and dis-ordered with just two damaged units of Cossacks remaining. , however the Russians have held us up long enough that the Cavalry wont be able to take advantage of their success.

In the centre the two lagging Swedish Brigades finally get going, one stalls in front of the right hand village but manages to break a Russian battalion, the other charges the guns, Dave's dice desert him at this critical moment and the guns are taken with the brigade almost untouched. The Russians now need a brigade break test which they fail and the rest of the Russian brigade routs from the table.

Things are starting to come to a head. With a number of units being at the end of their tether.

On the right now the Swedes have run out of steam, I manage a last charge by one unit and break another Russian unit but the foot are curling around my flank, the Guns are cutting swathes from my two stalled units and now the Russians are confident enough to charge the disordered Swedish foot, first one battalion break and then a second. The resulting Brigade test sees the whole damaged brigade flee the table.

My cavalry have relatively little left int he game and still have a few units of Allies to deal with. I have lost one brigade of foot and one of the others is in poor shape.

The Russians have lost the majority of their cavalry and whilst the Swedish horse has had casualties we definitely have the edge on both flanks. The first village is taken but the second his still held and there are three brigades of Allied foot available to dispute its possession with my three Brigades of Swedish foot.

The day is almost done and we agree its a marginal Swedish Victory.

Our after game chat leaves us with plenty of food for thought on making the games less one dimensional and ensuring that the Allies enjoy the games as much as the Swedes.

Thanks for the hospitality Dave, I look forward to our next game.