Dirschau / Tczew 1627 at Salute 50 - The Game

This post marks a significant milestone for my Polish-Lithuanian project with the demonstration of the Dirschau / Tczew 1627 game at the Salute 50 show in the ExCel centre, London.

The Battle of Dirschau / Tczew 1627 - initial deployment, taken from the Swedish, NE corner of the table.  

Looking back through the blog I can see that it was the start of June 2019 that the first germ of an idea formed to move my 17th century collection into Eastern Europe, following the demo of the Battle of Lutzen 1632 at Salute that year.  So no awards for the fastest project to complete, that’s for sure! 

Travel and Set Up

It all fits in the car! Just a small space left for over night essentials.

Despite the long build up the final days and hours were still pretty hectic. It was a rainy day on the Friday before Salute when I had to load up the car, but everything fitted in, and there was still room for David K and I with overnight luggage.  The journey was uneventful until the last 500 yds when it all got incredibly difficult. Getting to the actual entrance to ExCel was a nightmare due some major repair work that seemed to involve closing access roads.  We eventually got into to ExCel and on to the show floor to unload but we’d lost over an hour with all of the extra shenanigans. 

The bare table of gaming potential.

While it would have been nice to have a quick cuppa after the long trip we were painfully aware that the show floor was being closed just after 4pm so we had to crack on.  We soon had the terrain on the table and the dress rehearsal was definitely paying benefits in everything fitting pretty much as expected.  We then started adding the the armies, but we had to leave the show floor before the armies were completely set up.  We were still pretty relaxed as we would be able to finish off in the morning before the doors opened to the public at 10am.  A relaxing evening talking gaming nonsense, and putting the world to rights, ensued.  

The terrain down, just waiting for the troops. This is the edge of Dirschau itself, and the Swedish fortified camp.

The terrain, from the Polish end of the table.  Polish camp on the left, with the marsh and two crossing points in front of it.

The approach to the town and Swedish camp.

Saturday was a hazy, but dry start, and there was time for a quick walk along the dockside before the Premier Inn started breakfast. We were nice and early getting in to ExCel and we managed to talk our way in as I’d stupidly left our entry-to-the-show “wrist bands” in a bag under our table - doh!

Early Saturday morning - a bit hazy across the Royal Albert Dock.

The Friends of General Haig was demonstrating two games at Salute and the other team were already busy setting up the Battle of the Berm, 1991, when we arrived.  The last of the troops were soon on the table for Dirschau/Tczew and then it was time for my favourite bit of the setup; adding the civilians, camp followers, vignettes, and general ‘garnish’ to the tabletop. In a blink of the eye, and only a single cup of coffee, the game was ready and the rest of the FOGH demo team had arrived.  We had five Friends on each of the two games which we hoped would mean there was enough people to keep the games moving, and also enough to engage with people looking at the game.

Other Games at Salute

In the last few minutes before the start of the show I managed to grab some time away from our tables to take look (and a picture) of two other games that I was really keen to see.  

Simon Miller’s monster Ipsus game.  Now that’s a phalanx! 

The first was unmissable, partly because it was next to our table, and also because it had two ginormous ancient phalanxes (2000+ pikemen I believe), over 30 elephants, scythed chariots, and hordes of cavalry and support troops all in 28mm and ready to clash in a test of ‘To The Strongest’ by Simon Miller.  It was great to catch a few words with Simon and to swap some terrain ideas. His Ipsus game looked truly magnificent - the most pikey thing I have ever seen.  It was a worthy winner of ‘Best 28mm Game”.  

What two squadrons of Thirty Years War horse looks like in 28mm 1:1 ratio.

The second game was one that I had been following in the build up to Salute on FaceBook. Steve Jones’ ‘Death Ride of Gustav Adolph’ in which two cavalry squadrons clashed at Lutzen 1632, in 28mm, at a 1:1 figure to man ratio. This was a brilliant game, not least because it looked awesome, but also because it was in effect a form of experimental archaeology; what did cavalry combat really look like?  In our Dirschau game this clash would have been just two 12 figure units butting up to one another, and a fair bit of abstraction and imagination required to imagine the actual fight.  In Steve’s game the whole chaotic maelstrom was brought to life.  It was fabulous to meet Steve in person and we managed to grab a few very brief chats over the day to discuss 17th century cavalry combat.

Playing The Game

To read some background to the battle see the following page on the blog: https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/p/the-battle-of-dirschau-tczew-1627.html

The show opened at 10am and, as the crowds surged in to the show, we started the Dirschau/Tczew game with throws of the dice to decide who was commanding what.  Sean and Simon ended up taking the Poles while David and Andy L took the Swedes.  I bravely umpired (which was a very non taxing activity as the 4 Friends played with positive good humour through the day) and was also chief ‘chatter’ to interested passers by.

The table from the Polish, SW corner. Initial deployment.

Following the experience of the dress rehearsal the Swedish players were coached to play aggressively and to take advantage of the Polish-Lithuanian forces being split across the marsh at the start of the game. David and Andy L took this to heart and sprung in to action, hurling the Swedish cavalry at the elements of the Polish cavalry who were isolated on the east bank of the marshes.

The village of Lunau ablaze, with the Swedish army deployed beyond it. 

The Swedish army deployed, ready for battle. 

A tough fight ensued with the few Polish cavalry on the east bank valiantly holding off the superior numbers of the Swedes, as more of the Polish cavalry struggled to get across the two bridges crossing the marsh. On this day of battle the Polish cavalry proved more than a match for the brave Swedes whose casualties were soon mounting alarmingly. 

The northern crossing of the marshes being defended against the Swedish onslaught.

[Note. I was so side tracked by talking to people during the game that I completely forgot to take pictures through the battle, so the pictorial record fails at this point.]

As described in my background to the battle (see link above) in this game we were combining the two days of the actual battle in to a single event. As the cavalry clash waned the Swedes brought up their three brigades of infantry in to the attack. The Swedish infantry came on very smartly at first but a ‘blunder’ by the left hand brigade broke up the formation some what. 

The Polish cavalry had survived the battle with the Swedish cavalry with few loses and there were still more reinforcements crossing the marshes in support. The Polish cossack cavalry were able to advance and skirmish with advancing Swedish infantry and managed to further break up their formation. Some well timed hussar charges then halted the second Swedish attack. 

We had reached about 4pm of the show afternoon by this point of the game and a quick check of overall loses showed that, with the latest infantry loses added to the earlier cavalry loses, the Swedish army had reached it break point. The game was therefore declared a Polish victory! 

Thoughts On The Game

Putting on a wargame at such a busy show doesn’t leave any time for a debrief immediately following the game, but the long miles of the drive home, and subsequent chats with the team, have allowed some discussion about the game itself. 

Overall the whole team were happy with the rules. We were using Warlord Games’ Pike & Shotte rules, with a small an amendment to the turn sequence so that shooting was carried out before command/movement. We’ve been using this for over a year now and we’re pretty happy with the change.  (Interestingly, several people we spoke to over the day mentioned that they also play with this amendment.)  The game moved along at a good pace, allowing for the necessary interruptions to talk to people interested in the game, and we only needed to refer to the rule book once over the day’s gaming.  

Generally all the players were happy with factors we used for the different troop types in the battle, except maybe for the Polish Hussars.  As the ‘poster-boys’ of the period they have a stat. line to match, and are both hard hitting and resilient.  There had been some discussion with people watching the game suggesting that the Hussars should hit slightly less effectively after their initial charge as they will start to run out of lances. (The Hussar lances were hollow to make them light enough to wield effectively and so they easily broke on impact.)  This would make sense but could need something to indicate when a unit has completed its first charge, which could be a faff to record.  

The Hussars have not always been battle winners in games we have played and so I am not inclined to rush to ‘nerf’ them after one or two more positive run outs. Their reputation as powerful troops was also well attested in the period.  Definitely something to keep an eye on though, as no one likes a super troop type that unbalances the game. I would be very interested in anybody else’s experience of using Polish Hussars under Pike & Shotte. 

For those interested here are the force rosters we used, shared as PDFs on Google Docs. 

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: https://drive.google.com/file/d/130ZANmlofUpRK8tbVCSiwNGtvWktw1-Z/view?usp=drivesdk

Swedish: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lt-NttEtxI8hQL2NS4CpvdPiM5H8Tbdu/view?usp=drivesdk

The scenario seemed to work, with the Poles being hampered with their initial deployment, caught as they were with their forces on both side of the marsh.  The Swedes were prevented from moving their infantry brigade for the first three turns, representing the time it took to deploy from their fortified camp. We didn’t get as far as either side trying to storm the opposing fortifications.  Now I’ve got such plentiful earthworks it would be interesting to try some games with attacks on prepared defences.  Perhaps a recreation of the actual second day of the battle with an attack by the Swedish infantry on the marsh crossing. 

Thoughts On The Show

I’m sure that by now most people with an interest will have already watched and read plenty of reviews about Salute 50, but here is my take anyway! I’m not a great veteran of past Salutes, and have only visited a few times before, but I did think there was a very definite positive ‘buzz’ about the day, and this lasted through the whole day.  At previous Salutes after an initial rush things have gone quiet by about 1pm or 2pm.  On this occasion there seemed to be a lot more interest in people still looking around the games and wanting to talk right up until the end. We were still in deep discussion about the game and the finer points of teddy bear fur preparation right up to 5pm.  

I was left with the feeling that the vast majority of people at the show were excited to be there, and wanted to engage with their fellow hobbyists. I found the whole show a very positive experience, and a great finale to the Dirschau / Tczew project.  It was great to meet in person so many people who have become friends on social media.

Thank You!

A big thank you to the South London Warlords for putting on another superb show.  From our point of view the whole team were helpful and supportive, and still had a smile on their faces as we drove off in to the sunset on Saturday evening.  Great to see new things being tried at the show, and I hope Salute will continue to go from strength to strength. 

All of the Friends of General Haig that were at Salute 50 want to say massive “thank you” to the many, many people who came and spoke to us and were happy to chat about the niceties of 17th century, or 20th century, gaming.  Bruce (who put on the 1991 Berm game) and I are also very grateful, and humbled, by the lovely things so many people said about our collections and games.  We are definitely bitten by the Salute bug, and we will hopefully be back. Not sure if it will be next year; maybe more than one year is required for a Salute project! 

Until next time!

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig

Day of Battle

I’ve already written quite a few words about he day of Salute on the 6th April, but not yet actually written much about the Lutzen 1632 refight played out by the Friends of General Haig on the day.  This post therefore aims to correct this omission, and is the official battle report.

The order of battle has already been covered in a previous post here.

The troop rosters, set out for Warlord Games’ Pike and Shote, are also shared on Google drive here.

We followed the historical deployment as described in this picture.

We had divided each army into three commands.  We had six players and an umpire and so to start with we divided the commands among the six players.  As the day went on we allowed the players to have time off to go and see the rest of the show and so other commanders in the same army would take temporary control of their command.  The Imperial army had a fourth command (Pappenheim) which would arrive later and we decided to allow Wallenstein to command that in addition to his own command.

You can see it is a fairly cramped battle field, without much room for manoeuvre.  This was intentional, as the cramped conditions were all part of Wallenstein’s defence.  He knew that Gustav would try to outflank him and so he used the terrain to mitigate against this.  He also refused both flanks in an echelon formation, with some skirmishing Croats thrown forward to further protect each flank.

Wallenstein had the town of Lutzen burned to prevent the Swedes taking it and attacking through it.  He also used commanded shot to hold the gardens that surrounded the walls of the town.  The Imperial army also had two artillery redoubts, and had fortified the Miller’s house next to the Windmill battery.  The final Wallenstein touch was arming a group of camp followers to look like an infantry reserve on the left flank.

On the Imperial right we see the Windmill battery, the Miller’s House and the town of Lutzen.  There is little room for the Swedes to exploit their advantage in cavalry numbers here.  

They will need to take the gardens and the Miller’s house to allow they cavalry to move through the gap.  Wallenstein’s command here looks secure.

In the Imperial Centre we can see Colloredo has strength in depth, with cavalry units also mixed in the second line of the foot regiments.

The Imperial left under Holk looks the weakest position.  There is plenty of skirmishing light horse to try and slow down the Swedes.  Also some camp followers cowering at the back!

On the Swedish right we see Gustav Adolf II ready to attack the Imperial position. (In fact he is still waiting for his commanded shot and some more horse to deploy in this picture.)

In the centre Knyphausen has six infantry brigades, all in their 3 squadron formation with light guns attached.  The front three brigades are the elite Yellow, Old Blue and Green brigades.  There is also the Swedish heavy artillery position. 

On the Swedish left Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar has little room to manoeuvre and has the defended gardens of Lutzen to deal with.

The game started with the Swedes taking the first turn.  Gustav had no doubt what was required and immediately charged forward with his cavalry.  In fact, so keen was he to get to grips with the Imperial cavalry opposite that he decided to leave behind his slower moving commanded shot while he chased away the skirmishing light horse defending the Imperial left.  The Croats were dealt with in fairly short order but they had done their job and delayed the Swedes for a little while.  

The Imperial commanders knew they were out numbered on their left and they decided to move the reserve cavalry from the centre over to bolster the left flank.  This had a decisive effect and Gustav’s attack was quickly bogged down.  All of the Imperial horse had been made Caracole troops which in Pike and Shotte means they can not countercharge enemy horse.  This allowed the Swedes to have a slight edge in initiative to reflect their aggressive cavalry tactics.  However, the Imperial cuirassiers were still very tough nuts to crack.  Units were lost on both sides. 

Meanwhile the Swedes ground forward in the centre.  There were moving in to a storm of fire from Imperial Muskets and artillery.  But they managed to give back pretty much as good as they got.  The command dice were not kind though and it was hard work for Knyphausen getting his brigades forward.  

The player taking the role of Gustav was well aware of the historical fate of the Swedish king at this battle.  Despite this he did risk Gustav in a melee in an attempt to break the Imperial line.  There was a collective sharp intake of breath as the dice were rolled for risk to the general in combat.  He survived, and won the melee.  After this Gustav was kept out of the fighting.

On the Imperial fourth turn they could roll to see if Pappenheim arrived.  A 5 or a 6 on a D6 was required and a 5 was duly rolled.  Pappenheim’s troops arrived and charged straight in to the fray on the Imperial left.  Just at this moment, Holk, who had been commanding the Imperial left, was killed in a melee.  Pappenheim had arrived in the nick of time.  

In the centre the Old Blue brigade were up to the Imperial line but the rest of the Swedish Brigades were still struggling to come up.  Both sides were losing units due to the concentrated firepower of close range muskets and guns.  (The grey smoke indicates units disordered by enemy fire.)  Frustrated by the Imperial defences Bernhard decided to demonstrate with his cavalry against the Imperial windmill battery. 

Bernhard also sent his cavalry to attack Wallenstein’s flank, but to no avail.  A storm of musket and carbine fire prevented his Saxon horse from making any impression.  Perhaps their hearts were not in it!  No such qualms for Bernhard’s lifeguards who continued to threaten the heavy guns, and suffered accordingly.  

The tide had now turned against Gustav and it was only the Swedish Commanded shot and support from the Yellow brigade that halted Pappenheim’s rampaging cavalry.  It seemed that a stalemate was being reached on the Swedish right, Imperial left.  The Imperial forces couldn’t break through the combined arms of the Swedes, and the Swedes had lost too many cavalry to push forward.  

Could the Swedish centre save the day?  The Swedish infantry brigades had finally made it to the Imperial battle line.  You can see here only a few reserves and the Swedish heavy guns left on the Swedish side. 

The Imperial commander in the centre, Colloredo, was not going to let the Swedes dictate this final phase of the battle, and as the Swedes approached, Colloredo marshalled his reserves and counter attacked.  Imperial pike blocks stormed forward in to the Swedish formations.  The Imperial troops had the best of the ensuing melees, but the couldn’t break the Swedes.  

With stalemates along the whole line of battle , and darkness falling, the two sides had to withdraw.  The Swedish attack had been stopped, so a marginal victory to the Imperial troops.  But Gustav had survived (as the god like finger points to in this picture!).  It would have been fascinating to fight a second day, but sadly the Excel centre wanted the hall back, and so we had to end it there.

This was the Friends of General Haig’s first Thirty Years War game, and so I was very pleased that all of the commanders had really enjoyed the game, and all were eager to play it again.  Both sides were sure they could pull it off next time.  I think this is a good sign that we have a well balanced game.  The rules worked well, and all the players felt we had the factors about right.  I am certainly really looking forward to getting these troops on the table again!

Until next time!