Division game AAR - divisioonapeli pelipäivänä

So for the Nordic games day we staged a division size game at my local library.

Puolalaisjoukkojen keskustaa.

Hyökkäävät ruotsalaiset vasemmalla, puolalaiset oikealla

I had a Polish crown division, consisiting of force of pretty strong light and elite Cavalry regiments, Basic strength volunteer and Dragoon regiment, overstrength infantry regiment and some additional units.

My opponent brought a garrison division with two barestrength national infantry regiments, regiment of national reiters, minimum strength regiment of dragoons and some additional artillery and musketeers.

To my great surprise the Swedish commander, heavily outnumbered decided to use his forces for a surprise attack.   With the large difference in strength points he decided to use a surprise attack - giving him forward deployment, assisted with an additional artillery barrage and some field fortifications to cover his flanks.

Ruotsit valmiusasemissa

For additional effects he rolled major panic, good omens and march losses to my troops.

I won recon, uncontested, by throwing the light regiment to the task. Hit by march losses earlier that regiment took further losses by having troops straying during recon - so the regiment deployed in two different parts and quite battered even before the game began. For good measure this same regiment was hit by panic on turn one.

Puolalaisten vasenta sivustaa

 Even with dragoons detailed for flank attack and light regiment deployed in advance position I had trouble fitting all my troops to the deployment area. (We had slightly too narrow table, in future deployment area should probably be fixed for full size in such cases.)
Since I knew I had to take two rounds of fire without firing back I had a screen of less valuable troops between my heaviest hitters and the Swedish artillery.

In hindsight - this was a risky tactic.

Ruotsalainen tulivalmistelu.

I survived the initial barrage relatively unharmed and with formation almost intact.
On round 1 of actual game I tried to maneuver my troops forward to a position where they could charge the enemy next turn without being subject to musketry this turn. I simply could not get them all to position where they would not have been subject to case shot by artillery.
Losses to case shot cause automatic morale tests and with these fumbled I had fleeing troops crashing into ready troops, causing both disorder and panic as they fled from the Swedish guns.

Häröpallo kierroksen 1 lopussa

By the end of round 1 my hussar banner had fled the field, elite cavalry regiment was in severe disorder, volunteer regiment was in disorder, largely fleeing and covering the field of fire of the infantry and artillery and elements of the light cavalry that had deployed to Swedish flank had been shot to flee offboard.

By the end of round 2 Volunteers have been wiped out in cascade of fleeing that has taken with it crews of artillery and almost the musketeers of infantry regiment.
Light cavalry regiment was within one point of breaking and elite one was in only slightly better shape.
On the plus side my falcons and 6 pdr had hurt enemy infantry, although nowhere badly enough to force panic.

My dragoons enter from the Swedish right flank, but fail to cause any panic. On Round three some shots were exchanged with no real results. Poles have taken a beating although most losses were fleeing, not killed units. I have still hold of all the scenario points, but my main force is perilously close to braking - and the game would continue for 5 more rounds.

Nice experiment, with some, but not too many, interested spectators. For demo game I had too many minis on the table or rather, we should have come to do the setup hour before starting time. We made the scenery night before, but just unpacking and organizing armies to the table took much longer than anticipated. Also the game itself ran a bit slowly with little events. So for demo purposes a skirmish might be the way to go.

On tactical level - I should have launched those troops capable of reaching the enemy on first roun in charge despite anticipated losses. Now I ended up taking those losses anyway in space of two rounds, without touching the enemy. On my left flank I should have run sideways to get more space, despite exposing new troops to gunnery. And deployed in a way that would have allowed the volunteers to get sideways without blocking the artillery from shooting. I had congested deployment area, and my deployment added to the problem.

Something rotten in Denmark BFaS AAR Jotakin mättää Tanskanmaassa

For yesterdays game I took a plunge to new list and decided to bring forth the true rulers of Scandinavia: The Danes. My opponent once again fielded his trusty Swedes - or mercenaries in Swedish service.

My force was 3 companies of 3 bases of mercenary dragoons, squadron of 4 bases of National (read mediocre) reiters, colonel Mikkel Huitfelt and possibly some local irregular fighters, snapphanar.

This force of 5 Force points met Swedish detachment of 6 bases of Reiters, 4 bases of veteran dragoons, 2 companies of dragoons of 3 bases each, 2 cannons with both colonel Hochkirch and lieutenant-colonel for command - with Force points of 11

For scenario we got ambush: Swedes were struck with panic,( that was to hit his Reiters,) delay which left one of his guns out of board and choice of battle field that saw pigsty on edge of ambush area being moved off his deployment area.

As decoy I left one company of dragoons and deployed all my remaining troops behind the advancing blue menace. My idea was to let the evil Swede taste Danish gunpowder on round one from all possible muskets and let the national Reiters charge pellmell into the remaining artillery piece.

Kierros 1 Tanskalainen on liikkunut ruotsit eivät

 Round 1 At the pic Danes have moved Swedes not. Danish dragoons in the field, protected from cavalrycharge, Danish Reiters trying to reach that pesky cannon. The Swedish Reiters have suyffered from disorder, but were rallied and took defence order.

Helas, the Swedes avoided fire of dragoons totally. Snapphane sniper from the mill failed to hit the cannon, and Reiters did not reach any target. Losing their nerve from this they withdrew in disorder to about the same place they are in picture.

Kierroksella 2 Tanskalainen ratsuväki pahassa paikassa

On round 2 My mounted dragoons got herded tighter between two companies of Swedish dragoons. The hapless reiters in the open got charged by Swedish dragoons from the flank and squadron of reiters from the front. Now - following exchange was played falsely - namely when my dragoons in the field fired a salvo at the Reiters they - being six in number, twice the number of the dragoon company, could have ignored it. Now they took a morale test, failed and withdrew in disorder.
The charging dragoons and Danish reiters fought a skirmish that resulted in a draw, with both troops retreating away from the carnage.

Hyvin hämmentynyt eversti Hochkirch vuoron 2 lopulla.

The Swedish colonel is flabbergasted - and so is everyone else. Snapphane in the mill takes a cannoball, while one in pigsty merely terrifies Swedish officers.

Round 3 National reiters have charged the Swedish squadron an despite receiving a salvo from dragoons and case shot from the cannon have actually managed to push home and with a draw have outperformed any expectations there were to their life or performance.

Outside picture dragoon company is fighting two others with expected results.

Rounds 4 to 6 The Reiters charge dragoons despite case shot from the arty and demolish that unit. Swedish Reiters are very slow to get organized and fail to catch national reiters.

The decoy company gets annihilated. I kill 5 bases to 4, but lose the scenario since I fail to give the enemy enough losses.

Fun and relatively quick engagement. Lessons learned - dragoons might benefit from being deployed in squadrons of 2 companies. Both the volume of fire and the the ability to benefit from salvo against larger squadrons would say so.

To actually hurt the enemy with musket fire on round 1 is pretty hard since he gets to move first. At least if he is mounted. 

Snapphanar are great fun even though they failed to actually kill anything this time. That 50 cm reacvh of rifled barrels is more effective deterrent than it would actually merit.

PS: Work on Ottomans proceeds at steady pace: Gonullu and Beszli slowly getting ready for the table top.

Gonullu ja Beszli joukkoja. Kevyttä ratsuväkeä.

Bloody meeting at the nameless hill - verinen kohtaaminen nimettömällä kukkulalla BFaS AAR

After getting disappointing reports from the meetingengagement at the Mill and Pigsty both Swedish and Polish generals requested better information from their Colonels, who after short reorganization set out to scout a better route for the main army.

Both forces were again at 12 FP, This time I used Wallachians as standard, and instead had two banners of elite cossacks in a squadron of 6 bases. My dragoons at this time were ordered to work as two combanies of 3 bases. The Swede had let go of his armour and with the FP saved bought more bases of Reiters.

For special effect the Swede got unexpected reinforcements, I terrain for which I added a nasty little swamp to Swedish deployment zone, as close to the objective field as allowed by the rules. The Objectyives this time were top of the hill in center, enclosed field and a house closer to Polish deploymentzone.

Polish deployment: from the front company of dragoons, colonel, squadron of elite cossacks, banner of pancerny, banner of wallachians and in the background, far on the right flank squadron of cossacks and a company of dragoons under eyes of major Blankenhagen.

Kohteet, kukkula vasemmalla ja talo etualalla. Rakuunakomppania tiedusteluedun suomalla liikkeellä kohdetalon seinustalla. Taustalla eversti,  kahden eliittikasakkakomppanian eskadroona, pancerny lippue ja valakialaislippue käärmelipun kanssa. Kaukana taustalla kasakkaeskadroona, rakuunakomppania ja majuri.

The Swedish deployment: outside the picture  on the left a banner of veteran reiters, lieutenant colonel Brahe, banner of veteran arquebusreiters, colonel, veteranreiters, squadron of dragoons and banner of reiters with major Kniephausen

Ruotsalainen deployment - kuvan rajan vasemmalla puolella vielä neljän basen lippue veteraanireitereita. Vasemmalta everstiluutnantti, veteraani arkebuusireiterit, eversti veteraanireiterit, 2 komppaniaa rakuunoita yhtenä 4 alustan eskadroonana ja 3 alustan vahvuinen kansalliseten reitereiden lippue.  Suon edessä kohde pelto.

Round 1 Poles have intiative - I march my cossacks as far as they go, followed by dragoons. Wallachians followed by pancerni push forward in center, cossacks on left flank of the centre hill march forward and company of dragoons hole up in the target house. After movement wallachians, dragoonsin the house and cossacks  fire, causing some casualties while arquebusreiters return fire.

Kierros 1 puolalaiset syöksyvät marssitahtia koko rintaman leveydeltä eteenpäin.Molemmin puolin avataan tuli karbiineilla ja jousilla. Pistoolimiehet purevat kynsiään.

Round 2 Swede wins the initiative and gives all his troops able charge orders. On my right cossack squadron meets reiters with Blankenhagen attached. Both sides dragoons dismount on the side of the field to exchange fire. In the centre Wallachians break off when threatened by reiters charge and pancerny meet reiters in wild open order charge. Beyond the hill dragoons start defending the house and elite cossacksquadron is forced to countercharge two banners of veteran reiters. Getting shot by two banners while charging they lose a base and fail their morale test, cravnely withdrawing before contact. Reiters pursue and force the unit to flight. Uh - six bases of elite cossacks my strongest unit, in flight, on round two. Luckily in the centre the pancerny with their spears first put to flight the numerically superior reiters and then in pursuit annihilate them. Dragoons exchange fire with minor casualties for both sides. And on the right Blankenhagen and the cossacks force the national reiterbanner to retreat with bloody nose.
At the end of turn unexpected reinforcements effect brings banner of reiters back to the field. All the targets have been scouted by both combatants.

Kierros 2 oikea sivusta: rakuunat jalkautuneina, kasakat lyömässä reiterit, taustalla pancernyt iskevät veteraaneja vastapalloon. Kuvan ulkopuolella eliittikasakat ovat saamassa lyijymyrkytystä.

Round three - My Elite cossacks flee the table. Swedish reiters on that edge get orders to move and turn towards their left - my right flank. Shot by dragoons in the house has no effect what so ever. Wallachians ride towards the Swedish dragoons. Blankenhagen with cossacks charges Kniepahausen and his cossacks who break, flee and are cut down in pursuit. (That 20/+20 movement of Polish cavalry is just deadly - in pursuit.)
Swedish dragoons fire a salvo that scares my dragoons to disorganized withdrawl from the field edge. The wallachian missile fire on the other hand makes them flee. Pancerny banner already weakened countercharges the returning reiter banner. Pancerny lose a banner and outnumbered 2-1 succumb to the iron discipline of the Swedes - turning into flight.

Kasakat ovat lahdanneet laidalla pyörineet reiterit, molempien rakuunat ovat vetäytyneet ja pancernin rippeet ratsastavat täyttä karkua lipettiin. Kierroksen kolme loppu.

On round four I decided to cut my losses and moved all my remainin troops to leftmost edge of the field. To get some more casualties to enemy my remaining cossacks and colonel fired at the fleeing dragoons. On the other hand my pancerny fled the whole length of new enemy front and got shot into kingdom come.

Kierroksen 4 loppu Pancernyt on tapettu pakoretken päätteeksi karbiinitulella. Kasakat tyhjentävät karbiinit ja nuoliviint rakuunoihin, samalla kun valakialaiset ja rakuunat suorittavat taktista vetäytymistä.

Round fivnothing significant happened I moved my colonel and cossacks to other side of the swamp, wallachians tried to harass fleeing dragoons with no effect. Swedes just moved closer and reorganized their losses. Seeing that Swedes could charge the wallachians at the last turn I put 4 command chits to the last initietive roll - and win with natural 1 against natural 1.

End result - draw. I had slightly less casualties in killed but more fled to make up for the numbers. Both scouted all objectives and caused heavy casualties to other. Fast and deadly encounter with two armies engaging aggressively. On my left my enemy won by stacking the numbers - allowed by my over aggressive march on the first move. My victories on the left and centre can be partly accounted to nice dice for once. So lessons for me - refuse to engage when not having local superiority, and work harder to get it - my strong groups acted in singles my opponents in pair.