A Portable Breitenfeld - Concluded.

We left off the Breitenfeld narrative last time with the Swedes, minus, it would appear, King Gustavus Adolphus (or maybe it was not he, but Maximilien Teuffel who bit the dust), having seized the initiative. The loss of a commander combined with three Swedish units - 2 cavalry and a commanded musketeer units also having been routed or dispersed, left them with just 6 activation dice. Twenty-seven, halved, permitted 13 units to do something of interest. The central reserves moved forward in support of the front line brigades, pushing in the Imperialist centre.

For their part, the Imperialists still had 7 dice - no units destroyed yet, and all their commanders still issuing orders, but their roll of 22 halved to just 11 units moving. Still having to cope with the Saxons, and Baner's cavalry on the other wing, The Imperialists were finding the situation in the centre becoming critical. 

As the wings were closely engaged - the fighting close combats, once begun, continue until one side or both break off with a 'retreat' outcome - The Imperialist begin a counter-drive in the centre. One tercio becoming depleted - down to 1SP only - two others come in from their left flank. One Swedish brigade having involved itself in the fighting on Baner's front has left a gap the Imperialist foot can exploit.
 

In a surprisingly short time, the Imperialist foot have gone far to straighten out the line of battle, although their line is receding slightly on the Saxon front.

By now, Gottfried Pappenheim's wing is looking very tired: 15 strength points (SP) remaining from the original 24, though all units are still in action. But the opposing Swedish wing is looking even more threadbare: just four cavalry units and a commanded musketeer - 13SPs - still in the fight. A brigade caught up in the fight gets hit in flank by Imperialist heavy horse. 

Another brigade, in a deadly fight against an equally depleted tercio is attacked in flank also, and has become practically surrounded. Losses mounting on both sides.

Despite early losses, the Saxons are putting up a tremendous fight, refusing to go back for anyone. Going third this turn, their pitiful roll of 4 on 2D6 translates to the two units on the green die pictured. Not a lot of movement, but they don't need more. One close combat continuing, the other two front line units engage in a firefight with the Imperialist horse. The Imperialists are outnumbered but holding their own.

This time the Saxons go first! But their 2D6 roll is even worse, translating to just one unit doing much of anything. As the front lines have become separated, this does not redound to the Saxons' benefit!

Meanwhile. looking along the line, one sees that the Imperialists have almost restored their front. One gun battery is still in action. On the Allied side, the tide of brigades has receded somewhat; and Baner's wing is starting to crumble.

  

On foot, Otto von Schoenburg leads his troops into action against the Swedish foot. The latter's superior firepower is neutralised when the tercios close into a hand-to-hand fight. Perhaps the Imperialists are now in the ascendancy?

But a wisp remains, it seems, of Baner's wing: 12SP lost. Pappenheim's command is in little better shape: 10SP gone out of 24. The brigade sent to help Baner finds itself assailied in front and flank.

Suddenly, Imperialist success on the Saxon front! The lead Saxon tercio collapses, whereat Furstenburg leads a cavalry charge into the rather shaken (1SP remaining) Saxon left flank cavalry unit. This will be awkward for the Saxons, reduced to a single activation die.

Baner's wing is just about ready to collapse, just ragged remains of horse and foot still in the fight.

In this general view, the Imperialist resurgence becomes apparent. Baner just barely holding up his wing, the centre pushed back, and the Saxons in trouble. The Saxons going first activated one unit; the Swedes then activated 11 - still doing fairly well despite losses; and finally the Imperialists doing no more than matching the Swedish roll. But there is no denying, the Imperialists have now the upper hand.

Wiping out the two isolated brigades, the Imperialists reinforce Pappenheim's wing with a tercio. In the centre, they start encountering fresh Swedish reserve brigades. Baner is still on the field, but just 5SP remain of his 21SP command.

Absent my notes, I can't state for certain why I called the battle at this point. Before I began this write-up I could not recall the result. But in examining the pictures for this posting it becomes clear that in fact the battle went quite against history and resulted in an Imperialist success. The Saxons defied history and refused to collapse, and Pappenheim actually wore down Baner's command, though at a high cost. I think it pretty certain that the Swedish Army became exhausted, and were starting to go backwards. 

So Graf Tserclaes von Tilly proclaimed a great and glorious victory for the Catholic League. And King Gastaf Adolph? I have an idea that he did not leave the battlefield under his own power...

OK, then. Although it was a pretty gripping action to play out, the constraints of the battlefield compared with the size of the armies obviated the main early envelopment by Pappenheim's wing, and left Furstenburg's wing too narrow a front to deal with the inexperienced Saxons. So, as a refight, not an unqualified success.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other 30YW battles to fight (Nordlingen!). I am also thinking of doing English Civil War battles, but under the guise of a conflict between the rival nations, the Kingdom of Severeia and the Empire of Austereia. A future 'project' perhaps...

A Portable Breitenfeld

This is a very belated posting, my version of the Battle of Breitenfeld having been fought in December, last year (2025). I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find the notes I took of the battle. So this was intended to be less a post-action narrative as some comments on the organisation and play. As it transpired, I changed my plan...

Imperialist Army

Three Armies drawn up. Imperialists to the left
Swedish and, closer to the camera, the Saxons

For one thing Breitenfeld was a battle rather larger than - about twice the numbers of - the Battle of Lutzen that I played through a couple of years back. This required certain adjustments to scaling and unit organisation. Even then it was to run into a problem. But first, we'll start with the armies.

Imperialist centre

Imperialist: Count Johann Tserclaes von Tilly 

Right Wing: Furstenberg and Isolani (1 command stand)
3 Cuirassier Horse @ 4SP = 12SP
1 Croat Light Horse = 2SP
1 Dragoon = 2SP

Centre: Otto von Schoenburg
2 field gun batteries @ 2SP = 4SP
8 Tercios @ 4SP * = 32SP
1 unit of harquebusier horse = 3SP

Left Wing: Graf Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim
6 Cuirassier Horse @ 4SP = 24SP

Totals: 
4 commands and 22 units: 7 activation dice.
79 Strength Points: Exhaustion point = 27SP lost; Rout point = 40SP lost

Swedish Army of Gustavus Adolphus

Allied: King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden

Swedish Right Wing: Sir Johan Baner
6 Charging Cavalry @ 3SP = 18SP
2 Commanded Musketeer @ 1SP = 2SP
1 Battalion Gun = 1SP

Swedish Centre: Maximilien Teuffel
8 Battalia/Brigades @ 3SP = 24SP
1 Field Gun = 2SP
1 Battalion Gun = 1SP

Swedish Left Wing: Gustav Horn
5 Charging Cavalry @ 3SP = 15SP
1 Commanded Shot = 1SP
1 Battalion Gun = 1SP

Total Swedish: 
4 commands and 26 units: 8 activation dice
65 Strength Points: Exhaustion Point = 22SP lost; Rout Point = 33SP lost

The Saxons: small army, and not a lot of room to deploy

Saxon Allies: Prince John-George, Elector of Saxony
1 elite Cuirassier Horse = 4SP
2 other Cuirassier Horse @ 3SP = 6SP
3 Tercio @ 3SP = 9SP
1 Field Gun = 2SP

Total Saxons:
1 command and 7 units = 2 activation dice
21 Strength Points: Exhaustion Point = 7SP lost; Rout point = 11SP lost

Some points to note, here:
1. I made the infantry formations smaller: 2 shot and 2 pike for the tercio; 1 pike and 2 shot for the Swedish infantry units 
2. The tercio were arranged 4 stands deep: shot/pike/pike/shot. Their default strength points were 4SP, but the inexperienced Saxons were rated at 3SP only. Here I might have done better to have given the Saxons the standard 4SP, but rated all but the sole elite unit 'Poor'.
3. The Swedish infantry were arranged with a pike stand in front of two 'shot' stands in line. These units were rated at 3SP. 
4. The tercio received 1 die for shooting; the Swedish, 2 dice.
5. In close quarter fighting, 1 D6 each; the tercio adding 1 to their roll for their heavier weight.
6. Swedish charging cavalry added 1 to their close combat score against Imperialist horse.
7. The Swedish and Saxon contingents rolled separately for activation - Red die for Imperialists; White for Swedish; Green for Saxon.
8. The three armies' exhaustion and rout points were assessed separately.

Opening moves. Imperialists went first, but now 
the Swedes scored 34 on their 8 dice- great roll! -
 halved to 17 units to move.

The Battle:

Right from the start, the limitations of my battle surface became apparent: the enveloping manoeuvre Graf Pappenheim tried against the Swedish right simply could not be done. There wasn't enough room on the table. Methinks the thing would work a deal better on my 6'x4' game board - were it divvied up into a hex grid.

Having said that, the action descended rapidly into the historical long drawn out, indecisive struggle when I called the action.

Initiative and activation rolls for the first turn...

On the other wing, the Saxons were meant pretty much to get rolled. Their strength points for horse and foot had been reduced in the expectations that they would been soon overrun. Not a bit of it. At the end of the day, they had lost one tercio, but were otherwise well and truly still in the action. That rather spoiled the Imperialist programme.

The wings in action early

In the centre, the Swedish battalia rapidly advanced, their firepower putting a lot of pressure upon the Imperialist foot. However, once the latter closed with their enemy, the tide of battle began to turn. By the end of the day, several battalia had been eliminated, and the rest driven back almost to their start line.

Furstenburg versus John George of Saxony. I've had to use 
Swedish proxies for the Saxons. I ought to ask 'Jacko' if 
he still has his Saxons... Figures are Revell.

Imperialist versus Saxons. Furstenburg's Imperialist cuirassiers have taken 1SP loss, but have inflicted 1 each upon horse and foot.

Pappenheim versus Baner...

Other wing: Pappenheim vs Baner. Pistolery knocks over a Swedish strength point (SP). 

Swedish foot rushing to support Baner...

Imperialist left - Pappenheim's - wing. Reinforcements hurrying up top support the leading horse now engaged. 

Saxons not only go first, but score a brilliant activation roll. 
If only they had room to use it...!

This turn the Saxons got to move first. On top of John George rolled a double-six to activate his whole army. In their respective activations, Graf Tilly and King Gustaf Adolf activated 13 units apiece.

General view of the battle. Action has become general on the Saxon and upon Baner's wing in the distance. The centres are closing, two Swedish brigades engaging the Imperialist foot and artillery, and a horsed unit also shooting up the other Imperialist battery.

Pappenheim vs Baner: heavy losses on both sides already. Indications are that perhaps Pappenheim is getting the better of the fight.

Activation dice: Swedes went first, Saxons second, Imperialists third. Swedes got a massive roll to activate 16 units; Imperialist the miserable side of average to activate just 10. The Saxon roll was OK-ish, but restricted to their narrow front, and closely engaged, that doesn't really matter.  The Imperialists are being perceptibly driven back in the centre.

Furstenburg vs Saxons, inflicts 2SP loss for 1SP. This in scarcely rolling the Saxons off the battlefield, though. It transpires that the Saxons in this battle were disinclined to be hustled anywhere!

Action in the centre. The Swedes are pressing, but sustaining rather heavier losses than their adversaries.

Pappenheim vs Baner again. A real cavalry melee has developed. Two of the Swedish horse units have become seriously depleted. The Imperialists have also taken losses, but little concern so far of any imminent collapse.

Carnage in the centre. Costly Swedish cavalry attacks have reduced, but not destroyed the Imperialist batteries. But disaster for the Swedes: a mounted commander - he looks very like the King himself! - bites the dust. The Swedish activation dice is reduced by 1.

General view, looking up from the Saxon left. The Imperialist line is looking distinctively concave as effective Swedish firepower drive back the Imperialist tercios.

This turn, the Imperialists go first. The previous picture indicates that they activated 13 units. The raw Swedish roll here adds up to 24 - rather below expectation (28) - which translates to 12 units activated. It may take a while to get the Swedish reserves into the action!

The fight in the centre. The leading Swedish brigades have advanced rather ahead of the supports and risk becoming isolated. Rather careless addition to the battlefield of spectacles and hearing aids (the latter were new)...

Swedish get to move first in this turn...

... and the imperialist response

Imperialist foot counterattack in the centre halts the Swedish attack. Although the firepower of the three brigades equals that of the six tercios, the former are a deal less able to sustain or endure it. When the tercios close, the power differential will be so much greater.

Pappenheim's fight is wearing down his cuirassiers - 7SP lost so far - but Baner's cavalry is becoming even more depleted, 6SP down, not counting a commanded musketeer company and a cavalry unit destroyed.

The Saxons activate 2 units, but they are still hanging in there. Although the Saxons have lost 5SP to 2SP, they are not shifting. There are even indications that they are driving back Furstenburg's horse.

Next turn: the Swedes go first....

I'll break off the pictorial narrative at this point and resume with a second posting. I had intended just a brief account with a short selection of pictures, but going through them I recalled that I included the initiative and activation dice in most of the photos. It seemed to be worth it, then, to extend the story to feature those rolls, and to observe the ebb and flow of the action. So, it is...

... to be concluded.

The Portable White Mountain (2)

 So begins the narrative of White Mountain: a refight of the battle that kicked off a European-wide war that lasted 30 years. The text will be by way of captions for the pictures immediately preceding.

Facing the Imperialist host, the Bohemian Confederation Army lines the forward slopes of the Witteberg - White Mountain. Observe the very Swedish look to the Confederation Army. I had to use Swedish 'proxies'. I could instead have called the feature 'Cremefarbenberg' - Off-white Mountain - and the armies the bitter enemies, the Austerian Empire and the Kingdom of Severia.

Before them, the Imperialists advance: gun batteries in front; horse interspersed among the tercios. Note that, absent horsed teams, the guns of neither side can move. A bit of a nuisance for the infantry, but no real obstacle to friendly cavalry.

Beginning with the initiative, the Imperialist activation dice roll is truly dismal. The number of dice rolled is equal to the number of generals (three) plus whole multiples of 6 units (23/6 => 3), that is to say, 6 dice. That score is divided by 2, so the 6 dice must have rolled 14 to get to the 7 displayed in the battle box. All four gun batteries having fired, that left just three units to be activated. The Imperialist right flank cavalry, two cuirassier and one harquebusier units, move forward. That's it.

The second cuirassier unit beginning near the rear of the Imperialist army has a long way to catch up! The hope is that the Confederation's line might be outflanked and rolled up.

Well... the Confederation's activation roll wasn't a whole lot better than the Imperialists'. But as the artillery, masked by tercios in front, didn't fire, the army has a lot more flexibility. Question, then: should they wait on the defensive, or take the fight to the enemy? I'll give you three guesses...

Of course, they take the fight to the enemy. On the left, four cavalry units thunder out to meet the three oncoming Imperialist horse units. Close by the Remy hamlet a swirling cavalry fight develops that was to last more than half  the duration of the battle, with heavy losses on both sides.

In the centre, two Confederation horse units attack one of the Imperialist gun batteries. They do some damage, but are in turn  counter-attacked by couple of harquebusier units.  Partly to clear the front of the centre gun emplacement, the centre Confederation tercio pushes forward and veers to their left, aiming for the gap between Remy and the nearby copse. The Imperialist gun battery there has already taken some toll upon the left hand Confederation tercio, standing guard over the left flank.  

A couple of Confederation cavalry units attack the cuirassier and harquebusier units on the Imperial left in front of the Ruzyne village. Both sides take early hits.

Turn three: the Confederation activation roll is pretty good this time. The situation on the Imperialist left and left-centre: under attack by four Confederation cavalry units, with more coming up. Gradually the forward Confederation tercios also grind forward.

General view after three turns. Cavalry battles have developed all along the Imperialist front, which has the effect of stymying their push forward. The fighting is pretty savage, with most 'hits' being counted as SP losses. They mount up pretty quickly!

Reaching the Imperial battery between Remy and the wood, the Confederation tercio come under attack from two harquebusier units. The harquebusiers don't charge home; they do what they do best: engage the enemy in a fire fight. 

Behind the battle lines about Remy, stand an Imperialist gun battery and tercio, awaiting the outcome...

The cavalry battle on the Imperialist right is thinning out, with fearful losses to both sides. The Imperialist harquebusiers have disappeared, and one of the cuirassiers units is badly depleted. The Confederation cavalry is in not much better shape. One of their cavalry units has also been dispersed, another - faced by a fresh cuirassier unit - is barely staying in the fight.

To the left of the copse, the Imperialists mount a telling fire action counter-attack upon the two Confederation cavalry units there. The latter badly need help, but it is not forthcoming.

The opposite is true about Ruzyne. Somewhat isolated beyond the village, the two Imperialist horse units find themselves under attack by Confederation charging Confederation cavalry. Both have taken hits. 

Much of the Confederation's cavalry having carried the fight to their opponents, they are holding up the Imperialist advance. Meanwhile, the bulk of the Confederation stands to await the outcome. This was partly due to the generally woeful activation rolls on both sides, the Confederation Turn 3 roll being something of an exception. The early exchanges marginally in Imperialist favour, during Turns 3 and 4 the losses were fearful. Both sides lost heavily, but the Imperialists got the worse of it. The 'score' so far: Confederation lost 17SP, the Imperialists 21! 

The larger picture shows the general situation at the end of Turn 3.

By now the Imperialist horse on the right has been badly worn down - just 3SP remaining of the 11 they began with. The Confederation horse still have 7SPs of their original 12.  

Then, at the beginning of Turn 5 (and a reasonable - that is to say, about average - activation roll by the Confederation) one of the cuirassiers breaks and scatters, leaving a tired lone unit facing three, and odds of 6 to one.

Turn 5 and one of the better Imperialist activation
rolls: just half a pip-score below the
statistical average!

Even so, the last remnants of the Imperialist horse don't go without handing out a few licks of their own. Surrounded, facing odds of five to one, they finally break. But just 5SP remain of the Confederation horse, and two of the three units are badly depleted. The fourth unit has long since disappeared.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, matters are also going well for the Confederation. The harquebusiers conquered, three cavalry units assail a lone, battered unit of cuirassiers. The nearby tercio might have plodded around the village to lend a hand, but not whilst the situation nearer the centre remained problematic. 

 

Instead, a unit of harquebusiers began filing across the river bridges and through the town...

... to fall, betimes, upon the flank rear of the Confederation unit itself attacking the flank of the cuirassiers.

Matters begin looking up for the Imperialists in the left centre as well. Although taking heavy losses themselves, the harquebusiers have been gradually asserting an ascendancy over their adversaries, helped of course by the musketry of the tercio between the two horsed units. 

The encounter between horse, foot and guns near Remy was also stalled in a prolonged fire fight. Between them, the two harquebusier units have lost half their strength. Although having lost 2SP themselves, the Confederation tercio, with another looming up to assist, is maintaining itself amid gunfire and assaults from front and flank.

At this point, the end of Turn 5, we will defer the conclusion for another time. Losses have been heavy on both sides, with the Confederation down 25SPs, the Imperialists down 27. Pretty steep, considering that the Imperialist tercios in particular have hardly seen action!

To be concluded...