Poltava - what if?

Poltava (1709) was one of the key battles of the various wars that raged across northern and central Europe in the early 18th Century. It was the first time the all conquering Swedes would lose to the Russians and led to Charles XII of Sweden fleeing into an unhappy exile in the Ottoman Court. 

In history Charles was wounded in the battle and did nt return from exile until 1714. Suppose though he'd been unharmed and had persuaded the Ottomans to attack immediately, while the Russians were recovering from the battle? That's the stage for our "what if" 

Both sides deployed as the attached diagram with the Ottomans attacking as swiftly as they could. With so much calvary on both sides a swirling melee quickly ensued on the east of the field with the Ottomans gradually pushing the Russians back. 

Janissaries assaulting the redoubt at the top 

Russian dragoons ready to attack

In the west the Ottoman infantry advanced. A mistake on how artillery misfire rule should work for large batteries robbed the Russian guns of some of their impact early on, with the gunners not finding their mark until about half way through the game. 

Ottoman eastern flank

With the Russian Horse under pressure the Janissaries assaulted and captured a redoubt after a couple of goes, pushing the shattered defenders out and routing them.  

Russian guns preparing to fire 

We ended the game at the point the Ottomans held one of the redoubts and had cut the road to Poltava. Charles was still alive having mostly chased evading Russian dragoons around the ruins of the old Swedish camp. So a win for the Turks with limited input from Charles.  

Spanning the centuries

The last 10 days have been pretty busy on the gaming front - thank goodness I'm retired as I've never have the time!

First up some WWII using the latest iteration of Keith Flints Startline battalion level rules. They have a strong heritage in the classic 80s WRG rules but cleaned-up and sped-up. We cracked through a 1944 scenario in an evening and there is interest in doing a Monday-night club campaign.   

Germans hiding in wait

British attackers

We're now almost ready to start our Montrose campaign so we did a final practice game that introduced the Scottish/Irish troops. They are more fighty than the Covenanters but shoot less well.  Not shown I also played a 20mm game with Roy but the intense heat forced us a to halt before the end.  

Highlanders attack

Irish getting stuck in

It was also monthly Beneath the Lilly Banners time with us once again fighting Ottomans vs Russians in the Great North Wars. This game has a distinctly colonial feel and was a resetting of the Battle of of the Pyramids. We called in a marginal victory for the Russians as they took the riverside village and withstood fierce Ottoman attacks which broke up the front square but did nt rout it. 

Front Russian square - they would bear the grunt of the casualties 

Finally some Blucher - the Battle of Mincio (1814) river which pitched French/Italians against Austrians in an encounter game where both armies were divided by a river. Both sides opted for a left flank movement with the French looking initially to be too slow. 

6mm Austrians

The French centre was able to hang-on while their comrades on the left destroyed all the Austrians west of the river. Units were traded in the centre allowing the French to break the Austrians when their losses hit 50%.  

 

French attacking the Austrian centre and flank

Finally finally (not pictured) was some Deadzone scifi skirmish. I'm playing in  a tournament in August so some practice was in order. I was nt entirely happy with the Enforcers I used (AKA space marines) so will return to my trusty cyborgs from the evil Mazon Labs list 

Battle of Kliszow - 1702. A game of Beneath the Lilly Banners

The action takes place in Poland during the Great North War and starts in typical fashion with the Swedes looking to attack the flank of  a larger and well dug-in Saxon army. As they manoeuvred to attack a large contingent of Polish-Lithuanian troops arrived to support the Saxons. This meant the Swedes had to reposition and adopt a defensive posture. We begin our battle as the Saxon and Polish cavalry starts its attack on both flanks of the Swedes. 

Polish with Hussars to the fore 

Saxon's well dug-in on a hill

Saxon Cuirassiers and Dragoon

Swedish opposite the Poles

Swedish opposite the Saxons

Swedish centre behind a stream, facing the Saxon centre 

The action began with the Saxon / Polish horse advancing towards the waiting Swedes. The Polish moved more rapidly as they were not hindered by marshy ground to their front.   

 

View from the Polish flank

View from the Saxon flank

On their left the Swedes were able to contain and push back the Polish attack. The Hussars died gloriously, leaving it to the Pancerni to carry the fight to the Swedes. Things were tougher on the other side as the Swedes were out numbered nearly 3-1 and so were gradually pushed back by the Saxon Cuirassier.      

 

With the Poles beaten back, the Swedes were able to move around the flank and launch an attack on the Saxon foot's dug-in position. The defences hampered the attack and so they were unable to break into the position before the end of the game.      

  

So likely a partial victory for the Swedes. They were just about hanging on on their right against the Saxon horse and had beaten off the Polish attack on their left. They had been able to mount an attack on the Saxon foot but had been unable to make much headway.

As some bonus content my latest effort from the painting table, some Russian foot. Even after Peter the Greats  military reforms not everyone fought in the familiar green/red uniforms. This unit is the Perm Regiment from early in the Great North Wars. They were it seems issued a yellow uniform at one point. Its not clear if they saw action in it but its good enough for me as its a nice bright look.      

 

Great North War - Blenheim reset

 The Great North War was a spawling affair which saw the rise and fall of a Swedish Baltic empire in a series of conflicts with the Russians and their allies. It saw a clash between The Lion of the North (Charles XII of Sweden) and Peter the Great of Russia. For our holiday weekend game we mustered our GNW figures and refought Blenheim in this period. 

The Swedes and German allies were the attackers with a superior quality force but facing enemy dug-in in villages. The Russians and Danes were lower quality but had the ground. The boggy terrain and village meant that both sides massed their Horse in the centre.

The field from behind the Russians on the defenders right

The attackers had the Swedes on their left, ready to attack the Russians opposite them and Germans (player by British) on the opposite side.   

  

Swedes read to attack

Swedish horse in the centre

Allied German horse 

British doubling-up as Germans

The defenders had Russian and Danish holding the flanks with a polyglot Horse centre.  

Russian defenders

Russian and allied Horse

Danes

The the opening moves the attackers moved cautiously on the flanks while the cavalry attacked in the middle. The Swedes were outnumbered but had superior tactics as they favoured the charge, sword in hand, rather than a steady trot shooting.   

Germans attacking the Danes

Swedish foot advance

As always in our GNW games the cavalry combat was messy and pretty deadly with both sides trading blows. Honours were pretty even, which favoured the defenders as they really just needed to hold out to stop the villages being flanked.  

Horse about the clash - in a few short moves lots of this will be dead!

When the attacking foot arrived they threw themselves into the defenders but were unable to break through the lines and take the villages. So unlike history the defenders were able to hold out and retain the field.    

 

Swedes charge in