The Deluge Anyone?

Is that a groan I hear? Not another project? Not really a new project as such and probably one some of you have heard me mention before. 

Steve is planning Thirty Years War at some point anyway but I also have lots of Poles and Cossacks for the Great Northern War I had considered using for the earlier period. The Deluge refers to a period  at the end of the Thirty Years War when the Swedes invaded and over ran the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth whilst a Civil War raged between the Cossacks and the rest of the Commonwealth. So not only did the Poles fight the Swedes during this period, but both other Poles and the Ukraniane Cossacks and both Brandenburg and Transylvania invaded as well, the Poles were later supported by the Crimean Tatars and Imperialist forces. Both sides had a fair number of European Mercenaries fighting for them, all of which sit really well with having some Thirty Years Troops, particularly Dragoons.

The tipping point came for me when reading the latest Helion title on Ukraniane Cossacks who at different points had thousands of "German" mercenaries fighting for them. particularly during the rebellions in the mid century. This at the same time as reading Griff Hosker's Horse and Pistol novel set in the Thirty Years War has got me back interested.

So I decided to try a game with the Irregular Wars, aimed at this time frame, we have used them successfully for Elizabethan Ireland, before trying any new rules I wanted to see if they gave a feel. 

Worth mentioning that at the same time I am having a look at By Fire and Sword and whether these are a game I might try with amends to make them suitable for 28mm.

I decided to run a medium sized game with Ukranian Cossacks vs Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth troops, for the latter I added some mercenary Pike and Shot along with a light gun.

The Cossacks have 7 companies of foot, each of which is a single base. They had one unit of Hetmans bodyguard foot with 2 pike and 4 shot units supported by 4 light Cossack horse, another 2 light Cossack horse waited in ambush behind the Poles.

The Poles have two forces, the First has one unit of Winged Hussars with 2 Pancerni, one Cossack and one Dragoons supported by 2 mercenary shot and one mercenary pike. 

The second has again one winged Hussars, one Cossack, One Dragoon but 3 Pancerni supported by a   light gun.

On paper the Poles have the advantage but they are attacking and the Cossacks have a bottle neck to force the Poles through.

The most disciplined troops are the mercenary foot, these are unfortunately at the rear of the Polish force and moving the most slowly.

As soon as Chris moves his registered Cossacks into range the Ukranian Cossacks charge them.

As it is alternate unit movement Chris charges his Dragoons into the flank of the Cossacks who are in turn charged by more Cossacks in their flank. Each unit charged in the flank immediately takes a deduction to its resolve 

The Dragoons and another unit of Registered Cossacks drop to one resolve which is wavering and are forced to retreat. The registered Cossacks then break as the Dragoons touch them and the Dragoons lose their remaining resolve for being within 5 of a unit that breaks.

The Poles are suddenly not doing so well.

The Pancerni push forward into long range and fire their various weapons at the Cossacks, receiving a volley of musketry in reply.

The Cossack ambush fails dismally but it does hold up a unit of Polish Cossacks and all three Mercenary foot, allowing the Cossack defenders to concentrate on the advanced units of Polish horse.

Steve's plus 1 in initiative has meant that when it mattered he was able to make the first move and gain the advantage in melee's, as he could also decided which Melee went first, which could then impact other units when a unit was defeated he had a significant advantage over Chris.

The Winged Hussars with the Hetman are the last unit to go down fighting suitably enough against the Cossack Hetman and his biodyguard.

Despite initial outlook the Poles have been soundly beaten and the untouched European Mercenaries beat a steady retreat.

A fun game, I do like the rules for Ireland but not so much for Poland.

Hopefully By Sword and Flame will give me something with a more period feel.

Partizan Polish Soviet War 1920 Game

 So after a bit of  build up this weekend we played our Soviet Polish War game through.

Steve Shann provided the lovely terrain and the fabulous church, the rest of the gear was mine.

Our game sees the Poles advancing into Ukraine to disrupt Soviet concentrations ahead of a planned invasion of Poland. Meanwhile Ukranian Anarchists take advantage of the confusion. 

As an aside I managed to finish the couple of figures I was working on the Saturday night before. 

Our table is 12 feet by six feet with three small villages each with a very small garrison and the edge of a forest on the far edge you cant see so well on this picture.

Whilst the game played really well, the show was exceptionally busy and the game had a lot of interest which was fabulous but did mean we only got to play 3 moves through.

Both Poles and Reds had 2 regiments of cavalry with five regiments of infantry and supporting armoured cars, planes and Tchanka's. Rich C and Steve had the Poles, Chris C and Rich L the Reds and Chris F the Anarchists.

Added to this the Poles had 2 companies with a broken down FT17 occupying one village whilst the reds had a company and an MG each in two small villages on table.

After the Poles and Reds had gone, sneaky anarchists issued from the forest, two battalions supported by two guns and 2 squadrons of cavalry.

The terrain in particular excited a lot of interest, all hand made by the clever Mr Steve Shann.

Both sides deployed on table then had their moves, Poles followed by Reds.

Both sides deployed all their cavalry on one flank which had the advantage of a visually stunning mass cavalry brawl on one side.

The Reds are less colourful but offset by all the red banners and scruffy uniforms.

A little upset was caused by the Anarchists appearing on the flank of both sides out of the Forest after they had both moved. Chris seemed to have decided that the Reds posed the lesser threat so he should pick on them whilst keeping the Poles busy with his guns.

There are a real mix of figures here, especially the Anarchists, that does suit me, I like lots of variety in my forces.

Th Reds push their best troops, the naval infantry, to their left flank where the Anarchists are just starting to push forward.

The forward Red militia company come under pressure immediately taking 2 casualties. Completely expected they were always something of a speed bump.

The cavalry bust up on the Red right flank is shaping up.

The massed squadrons of cavalry look great with the armoured cars and biplanes.

The Tchanka and artillery have caused a mess with the first unit of Polish Lancers who fall back.

The Poles close in on the Red Militia who are running out of time to leg it!

A big cavalry Melee may look out of place but there were many much larger cavalry only battles so this is entirely realistic....ish.

The Tchanka proved to be the Reds best friend in this battle reducing the ranks of the better quality Poles before they were able to make contact.

At this point the table is looking very busy and we have a lot of people wanting to talk to us so there is a pause in proceedings. 

The Cavalry battle is coming to a crescendo, so again good to leave it a while as it looks great and pretty soon there will just be a lot of gaps where there used to be cavalry formations.

As both armies were right at the end of their supply lines I made it difficult for them to get a plane, I had them on table anyway as they looked great.

The Poles equally had no luck getting a plane. As these can be particularly devastating for cavalry its probably a good thing on this occasion.

Chris was grinning to himself as two battalions of Anarchists and two squadrons pounced on two unlucky companies of Sailors.

The Anarchist advance looks pretty impressive from above.

With the Militia under pressure the Reds manage to get an armoured car up to support which immediatly takes a hit but causes some casualties amongst the Poles..

Two squadrons of Red cavalry have cleared the way and prepare to push past the Polish horse to engage their foot.

At the opposite end of the table the Naval Infantry have to worry about Poles to their front and Anarchists on their flank, altogether facing 4 battalions with support on only one flank.

The cavalry on both sides are being thinned out, the rules are pretty quick and bloody when you get to hand to hand.

On the Red right the Anarchist cavalry hit a unit of Sailors in the open with predictable results and the company is destroyed.

The Anarchist foot close in on the MG and remaining company, it doesn't look good for the Red Navy.

We have run out of time for a further move but as the Reds finally rolled for a plane I let them see how it worked, As it happens they finished off pretty convincingly an already badly mauled Anarchist cavalry squadron!

Its nearly 4pm and we have only managed 3 moves but then the game was about the visitors and we seem to have captured a bit of interest.

For those of you who stopped to say hello thank you, for those of you who couldnt pry us away from other people talking (There was a que of interest at one point) sorry, we really did want to talk to everyone and it just didnt work out.

Thanks for stopping by,