This Will Never Work - Portable 30YW Action

Massive activation roll for the Swedes moving first!

Following on from the previous but one posting, here begins an account of the Battle of Lutzen, 1632, as fought out on my table. The leading picture was taken upon the completion of the Swedish first turn. The Swedes begin 'with the initiative', that is to say, they went first in the first 'turn' of the IGoUGo action. How many units may be activated to move or shoot is determined by the number of whole multiples of 6 units there are, plus the number of 'generals', including their army commander. There being 30 units plus 4 generals, the 'Swedes' threw 9 dice, for the massive score you see in that leading picture: 39. This result is halved (dropping the odd half) allowing an action by 19 units out of the 30. The two gun batteries having fired, seventeen units lurched into motion.

Swedish left. led by their King, cross the 
Lutzen road

The Swedish army began its operations on the wings, King Gustavus Adolphus sweeping past the flank of the forlorn hope lining the road, whilst part of the right wing cavalry, commanded musketeers, accompanied by the flanking infantry 'brigade' attempted to storm the forlorn hope itself. The wall lining the road, by the way, really represents the roadside ditch that formed a species of entrenchment. I deemed it to be cover, which, despite the thin line having just 1SP per element, proved a serious obstacle to the Swedish attack.

The Imperialist forlorn hope at once engaged.
Surely they will be quickly overrun...

In their turn, the Imperialists at once counter-attacked on their left wing. Almost immediately the whole stretch of front from the Flossgraben stream to the Lutzen end of the forlorn hope line became the scene of a vicious fight that lasted the whole duration of the battle. Two harquebusier regiments and the Croats ganged up on the right-most Swedish horse, which, considering the advantage of the latter (+1 on the dice roll, and they got to roll for all three combats) went rather in favour of the Imperialists. The addition of the commanded musketeers and battalion guns might have come to the aid of the embattled horse.  We'll see anon with what effect. Thereafter, however, the harquebusiers relied upon their firepower, leaving it to the Swedes to bring on the close assaults.

Piccolomini's horse carry the fight to the Swedish right.

For the rest, the Imperialist army stood off to await the Swedish assault. There was no choice. In contrast to their opponents' terrific activation roll, 'Wallenstein's' was truly dismal.  There were but 6 dice to roll anyhow: three 'generals' on the table, and 20 units - just 3 whole multiples of 6. The roll: 16; halved = 8. The four gun batteries having fired in the artillery phase, just 4 units could be activated. Those four were the four horsed units on the left flank.

Imperialist first activation roll. Miserable.

Imperialist left fully engaged; the rest of the army waits

Nevertheless, there was plenty of excitement to be had on this wing. Winning the initiative for the second turn, the Swedes' roll was rather closer to the statistical expectation 31 or 32. The wings  absorbed most of the 15 'points worth' of attention, especially as the Imperialist left flank horse were putting up a tremendous fight. Already, Gustavus Adolphus had to survive one survivability test. But the Swedes were handing out a few licks of their own. 

Both sides carving each other up.

From the picture below, the Imperialists have lost at least 2SPs, possibly 4, but the Swedes have lost 6SP already, four of them inflicted by that forlorn hope line!

Swedish tight gradually forcing back the Imperialists

On the other wing, the leading Swedish cavalry, including a unit of cuirassiers, clashed with the Imperialist gun line. Once again, the Imperialists put up the kind of fight that exasperated their opponents, who were to spend much of the rest of the day entangled with the artillery, whilst the Imperialist harquebusiers waited for the chance to counter attack. Enveloping the Swedish left, the guns and commanded musketeers around 'Windmill' Hill poured hot lead and hot shot into the enemy flank.

Swedish left strikes the Imperialist gun line...

The Imperialists' second activation roll outdid the first for utter wretchedness: just 10 - eleven short of a roll that would be merely average. There's the statistical mean - and then there's really mean. So, with just 5 units that could be activated, and some of those had been taken up by the guns, that left even the embattled left wing cavalry short of options. The rest of the army continued, perforce, to wait.

10 on 3xD6 - a truly woeful Turn 2 activation roll!

And then! ... and then came karma, or the reward for patience. Or something. The Imperialists wrested the initiative from their opponents for Turn Three - and on top of that rolled a huge activation roll: 31 on just the six dice! 

On top of winning the initiative, the Imperialists
roll this huge activation roll!

Able to activate 15 units, less the two gun batteries that had fired this turn, the Imperialists were able not only to take the fight to the enemy on the flanks, but had enough movement to spare to loosen up the crowded centre. This led to the lozenge arrangement of tercios in the picture below. In case you're wondering, this was not at all motivated by the arrangement pictured in the engravings reproduced in the previous posting. But those engravings did go a long way to induce a feeling that it was 'right' when I noticed where this regrouping had led.  This arrangement was a lot easier to move about on the table - not that they did much moving.

The wings hard at it, especially in the foreground

The fight on the east wing carried on unabated, though the Imperialists were feeling the want of reserves in this part of the field. So far Graf zu Pappenheim still hadn't arrived (requiring a D6 roll of 6 to do so), and losses were mounting. But they were mounting on both sides. Although pushed back to their own side of the road for the moment, the harquebusiers were giving as good as they were taking.

The King's Own unit is looking shaky despite the 
presence of their monarch.

The following couple of pictures show the much improved arrangement of the tercios, and the Swedish centre, yet to move, covered by their guns. One of their battalion guns has begun to pepper the lead tercio unit.

This tercio arrangement looks far better articulated 
than that in which they began. that does leave 
the lead tercio a little vulnerable, though

Close by Lutzen, the Imperialists limited their operations to fire action. They were leaving it to the Swedes to get up close and personal.

The one real counter attack came from a harquebusier regiment trying to ease the pressure on one of the gun batteries.

Near Lutzen, the Swedish horse just can not catch a break

The battle continued to rage on the Swedish right with no breakthrough in sight, although all four Imperialist units had taken losses. So had the unit King Gustavus was leading, and they were looking rather shaken. Yet it seemed worth the risk to charge the enemy pistoleers in front of him: a 'three' good enough to hit, with the enemy requiring a 'five'. So of course, the Swedes roll a 'one' and the imperialists a 'six'; the unit dies; and the king is left isolated and alone.

The fierce bloodletting continues on this flank.
The King's charge is decisively repulsed and his
horsemen abandon him in their flight

Fortunately, this time, the King himself survived the action, but I wondered whether the harquebusiers ought to follow up. I decided not, as it was the King himself who brought on the close combat. If the rules do not imply that only the bringer on of a close combat can follow up a success, one feels inclined to make that explicit. The harquebusiers, by the way, are not so inclined, being designed for fire action, rather than the close quarter stuff.

A second Swedish cavalry unit is also thrown back

Meanwhile, the cavalry unit to his left was also driven back. Those damned cowardly harquebusiers were proving stubbornly resistant to persuasion that they quit the field.

The first Swedish assault on the right almost completely 
repulsed, but Imperialist losses have been almost as 
heavy.

One more we draw back to survey the field. Whilst the flanks remain bloodily, though indecisively, engaged, the Swedish battalia in the centre are approaching close enough to engage the centre tercio in a fire action.  The action is becoming general across the whole front. Though the Swedes are carrying the fight to their opponents, they are also on the whole taking the worse of the losses. After 4 Turns, the Imperials have lost 8 SPs, the Swedes - 20! 

All this while, the forlorn hope continues to hold out, the Swedish attacks getting nowhere, except where the brigade crossed the road, whence they engage the nearest tercio in a musketry duel. 

The Imperialist right continues comfortably to hold on against the ineffectual Swedish attacks. It is not the want of effort by the Swedes. Their losses on this wing have been heavy enough. One cuirassier unit has been destroyed - minus 4SPs right there - to no loss to the Imperialist wing, apart from the 1 SP from the leftmost battery... 

Here we will suspend the narrative, quite in the style of Henry Fielding, as being quite long enough for this posting. Will the Swedes overcome their misfortunes so far? Will the bellicose Swedish King survive to see victory?  And whatever has happened to Graf zu Pappenheim and his cuirassiers?

To be continued...