Band of Wargame Brothers: January 2022

GNW- Battle of Holowczyn: July 1708.

Finally a chance to get all my Swedes and Russians onto the table- very gratifying to see the project come together!

A large game that represented Charles XII attempt to force the Russian positions along the Vabich river in 1708.

A bit of background:

After dealing with Poland, Saxony and Denmark, Charles XII of Sweden decided in 1708 on an invasion of Russia. The Russians had created a solid defensive line along the River Vabich. Charles decided to force the river by launching a surprise attack through what was thought to be an impassable marsh. He selected a spot between the villages of Holowczyn and Novoje Selo. Struggling through the marshes the Swedes took the Russians by surprise. In a very tough, confusing battle, fought with little subtlety, the Swedes drove the numerically superior Russians off.

The game:

I had been working towards recreating this for a while as I think it's a fascinating battle. The table was set up with two Russian infantry brigades in the redoubt (8 Battalions with 4 stands of guns) and the Swedes just emerging from the swamp to their north.

The Swedes: Ralph, Richard M, Richard T.
The Russians: Ross, Paul and me!

The Russian redoubt!

The table setup for opening moves.

Click here to read this entry and see the pics;

Greek War of Independence- first game

The scenario was simple- 24point force each- two units of Ross' Greeks were holding a small village and were being attacked by my Ottoman forces. The remainder of the Greeks had to break the siege.

The Greeks had a unit of regular cavalry ( which got destroyed pretty quickly) a regular infantry unit and three units of irregulars.

The Ottomans had 2 cavalry ( One regular - which got shot to bits by the Greek regular infantry) and one irregular (which also got shot to bits by the same Greeks!), a field gun, two irregular infantry units and one regular infantry.

Our first small attempt using the Men Who Would Be Kings rules.