WIP- Vienna 1683.

I have been considering this for a while.
I have the Poles and I have the Ottomans.
And I've added Imperial and Bavarian Foote to play out the relief of Vienna in 1683. Many of my WSS Imperial Cuirassiers will be fine...and I have lots of them!
I need some Saxon Foote and Horse ( I might cheat and use some of my GNW Saxons...but don't tell anyone).

I guess it's one of those battles that all gamers have heard of and many have played, and I think as I have had the Ottomans for so long it's time to give it a crack.

It will mean a table with the Kahlenburg heights...and maybe a section of the walls of Vienna....and a Turkish camp.

Hmm.....time to get started.

The first of my Imperial regiments. ( I have to confess I didn't paint this unit!)

Poles and Muscovites- small scenario

Polish Pancerni

 I opened up a scenario booklet and was looking at one of the scenarios- a holding action. A small force stopping a larger force from pushing thru their line of defence. I looked up the required forces and put the Muscovites on the table as the defenders and the Poles as the attackers.

The Muscovite position. On the southern side of the road- a unit of Nobles ( Dvor) a units of Boyar cavalry a streltsi shot unit, big gun and just off screen at the bottom, some cossack light cavalry.
To the north another Boyar cavalry unit, two units of Streltsi, one with shot only, the other as 'German' infantry- pike and shot. Their mission was to stop the Poles pushing along the road.

Muscovites and Poles vs the Ottomans

 Well, there's lots of them- and I threw them all onto the table earlier this year.

A combined Polish and Muscovite force took on my full Ottoman army...and it was a blood bath.

Paul commanded the Muscovites, Ross the Poles and I of course commanded the mighty forces of the Sultan!!

Battle of Wallhof Jan 17th 1626- Baroque

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.

Poles vs Swedes

 Trying out our own rules and wanting to put some of my Poles and some of my 17th Century Swedes on the table, I dragged a couple of boxes over to Ross' house. The armies weren't big, we just wanted to get a feel for the period and our rules modifications- and see if I made the right choice in basing the infantry the way I did- see previous blog on TYW/ECW basing!

Poles to the left, Swedes to the right.

Renaissance Poles.

 My Renaissance Polish army is growing and so is my collection of relevant books. I had a Polish army 30 years ago, sold it, but always figured I would rebuild it one day. 30 years ago I had limited sources of information; the 2 Osprey books and a few articles in magazines as well as George Gush's book on Renaissance armies. 

Recently there have been quite a few on the market by Helion- so they have all been added to the collection!

I am particularly taken with the books on the Swedish Deluge- so many armies and fascinating campaigns! 

All my new books are at the end of the post!

Polish Winged Hussars...one of the most iconic of all wargame units!

My two all time favourite Osprey books- and my one of my favourite Osprey pictures ever is the cover of Volume 1! I have two copies of these; much thumbed, dog eared and well read over the years.

More Renaissance Poles.

 I sent away to The Assault Group a few weeks ago for some more figures to add to the Poles. 

They arrived a couple of weeks later- Cossacks, Artillery, some Tatar light cavalry. 

Now painted and added to the collection. I think I will order some more!

Renaissance Poles

I once had a 25mm Renaissance Polish army, a long time ago and sold them off to start my ACW stuff. But I had a yearning to rebuild one. So, after painting up some winged Hussars earlier in the year (see previous post) I decided that they looked rather lonely sitting on my shelf - right next to a couple of hundred Ottoman Turks. So they clearly needed some support!!

So over the last few weeks I painted up some Pancerni from the  "The Assault Group" to go with them and some Hungarian Haiduks for fire support!

So a small force....but growing....... 

( I know it's growing....I ordered some Tartars, Cossacks and artillery.)

Painting in progress- Winged Hussars and British Napoleonics

 Years and years ago ( yes, you've all done this) I bought a couple of boxes of figures and put them in a cupboard where they sat ( on the Lead Mountain) for over a decade. Then in a burst of painting inspiration I took them out a few weeks ago and thought...yes...now I want to paint them.

The figures were Warlord Games Polish Winged Hussars- for me not the easiest to paint and to be honest I'd always figured I might send them to a pro to get them done...but in a fit of impulsiveness i decided to give them a go.

It's funny how we spend all this money on stuff...just to put them away for 'later use'.

So as my GNW war collection is growing I have these based to fight my Ottomans for the Renaissance but the frontage can double up for the GNW.

The Napoleonic Brits were from Front Rank.

Why buy them?     I don't know, I just liked them.

Do I have any other British Napoleonic 28mm?     No.

Do I have any Napoleonic 28mm?     No

Do I intended building an army?    Not really.

Do i just want to spend money and paint them.? Well..yes. 

Why? ...well...I stupidly bought a book on Waterloo, and another one of the War of 1812......just had the urge. So they came out of the Lead Mountain.

Renaissance Poles and Turks

Here are some photos of a game played ages ago in 25mm, using Armati. Nick's Poles (long since sold) took on my Ottomans. I was winning (in the center and right), but as you can see in the last photos, my left wing collapsed and the Poles swept into my flank! It was race back to Istanbul!!