A couple of us assembled around Ross' gaming table on Friday night a couple of months ago and Ralph put on the Battle of Wallhof fought between the Poles and Swedes using his 15mm collection.
I love this period ( like all the others I play -I guess!) The Swedes have excellent infantry and more of it- but the Poles have more cavalry- and three units of the dreaded winged Hussars- classed as 'Feared Units' in the Baroque rules.
As we played through the game- a thought hit me- I also have these figures in 28mm...and have a home grown set of rules.....so a replay in a larger scale was on the cards too.
 |
| One of the Swedish foot units and a gun. |
 |
| The Table at the start of the battle. |
 |
| The feared Polish Hussars! |
 |
| Swedish Baggage Train |
 |
| Polish 'German' infantry |
 |
| Cossacks backing the Hussars |
 |
| The Swedish Infantry! |
 |
| Swedish cuirassiers |
 |
| Polish left flank- the cossacks move past the haiduks with the Hussars in support. |
 |
| Polish right flank- Cossack skirmishers tussle with the Swedish Horse and shot units. |
 |
| Polish center and right |
 |
| Polish left- my hussars hit his cuirassiers.....and didn't do real well. Cossacks shot at the Finnish hackapels....and didn't do much damage- and when they opportunity charged, the Cossacks didn't last long. |
 |
| A very depleted Hussar unit. |
 |
| Polish infantry advance in the center- melee in the distance on the Polish right- the Polish 'German' style cavalry - cuirassiers- fight with the Finns- and win! |
 |
| Polish left (me) - down to two units- my haiduks and the depleted hussars. |
 |
The centers engage!
|
The game went to the Poles in the end- their cavalry was victorious on both flanks- even though the Swedish infantry outshot their Polish opposites! It took about 2 hours with 5 of us to play.
And so onto the larger version...same number of units- just in 28mm using a homegrown set!
 |
| View from the Swedish side- cuirassiers at this end. |
 |
| The Hussars!! |
 |
| Polish Infantry on the hill |
 |
| Three regiments of Swedish infantry |
 |
| Swedish infantry |
 |
| Swedes- Cuirassiers on the left, Harquebusiers on the right. |
 |
| The extreme right flank of the Swedes- a mixed Horse and Shot unit. |
 |
| Polish left- Cossacks on each side of Haiduks. |
 |
| Cossacks- Polish right. |
 |
| By turn three the Polish Hussars had torn through the Swedish Cavalry and here are mopping up the artillery. |
 |
| The Hussars sweep away one of the Swedish Cuirassiers- and then hit a Swedish battery. |
 |
| Infantry clash in the centre. |
 |
| The Winged Hussars - the Swedish cuirassiers countercharge- but didn't do them much good. |
 |
| The mixed Horse and shot unit under pressure from Cossacks and the Haiduks. |
 |
| Two Swedish Cuirassier Units vs two Winged Hussars both pushed back and disordered...and not going to be around for too much longer |
 |
| Interesting photo...the Swedish infantry are assaulting the Polish Infantry on the hill.....and the Hussars are BEHIND them....not looking good. |
 |
| The last turn - no Swedish Cavalry, no Swedish artillery...and not much Swedish hope! |
The 28mm game was over in exactly 48 minutes. Our home grown set is a very fast play set! They're actually designed for much larger games. Our ancient set has accommodated up to 130 units on the table ( about 65 units a side) and gets a result in around 4-5 hours for a game that size. Most of our games are 15-20 units and are over in around 2 hours.
The interesting thing about both games is that the result was the same- the Swedish army lost.
And even more interesting was it was won in both games by the actions of the Winged Hussars!
Excellent looking battle!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal!
DeleteAn excellent pair of battle reports, John. Where did you get the Baroque markers? Having played the same scenario with two sets of rules, which one came out on top? Baroque or your own? And why?
ReplyDeleteI love BI and have played several games of Baroque using my 30mm ECW armies. I more often play ECW with my own homegrown rules. I did a compare and contrast a long time ago between these two rules. Perhaps I ought to revisit this exercise to see if my preference still remains the same?
Thanks Jonathan!. The Baroque markers are Ralphs. He bought them from the LITKO website - I think he placed a special order. I have always liked Baroque, but they are not my 'go to' set for this period. Some of the Brothers love them and prefer them over other sets. We have a home grown set that incorporates quite a few aspects ( but no cohesion test and a few other omissions) that play much much faster which tend to be my 'go-to' set as they play very quickly and are very bloody. If I am putting on a large game - more than 15 or 20 units a side, then it is always the home grown set- especially if there are more than four players. I also find that with larger games and a lot of players,Baroque (and Impetus) tend to be very slow- and sometimes players can be waiting a while for a turn. I played one game where it was nearly two hours between moves for myself and another player. The home grown set allows everyone to be involved consistently. So for me- the homegrown set wins out!
DeleteThat's a great looking game and really nice figures that you have there John. I always feel like doing ECW/TYW games at this year, something to do with it being the new campaign season for the local re-enactors of the ECW I think!. Best wishes, Jason
ReplyDeleteThanks Jason- Glad you were inspired to play an ECW/TYW game- and enjoy the re-enacting!
DeleteAn excellent duo of games John. I have recently been reading (for the first time) a book I have owned for thirty years or more about Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World - and interestingly, I read a few days back, that it was their battles with the Poles that influenced the Swedes and Gustavas Adophus in particular, to abandon the fire power caracole cavalry tactics of W Europe and go back to the theory of mass impact assault cavalry - the so called Swedish system or methods....maybe the results of both your games indicate why this was! You did say in the earlier GNW post that you believed replaying these battles could provide insights into what actually happened....!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith- yes the Osprey Book on Polish armies says the same thing- and I think you are right- this just proves it!! It's interesting that under two different rule sets that we got identical results- two different ways fo getting there- and the same ending. Appreciate your comments!
Delete