1655 The Death of Prince Boguslaw - Polish Renaissance last game of the year!!!

As the Last game in the year, Bart wanted to play his 15mm Polish / Swedes collection using the By Fire & Sword rules set. I choose the Lithuanian Skirmish Force of Prince Bogusslaw Radzwill at Podlasie for 13 FSP, Rec 29 size 29). Bart got a Swedish Detachment in for FSP 11, Rec 15 and size 23. Due to the fact that my force was bigger (??), I had to accept that half of my half drunken nobles were panicky. I choose one flank attack of my pancerni unit and two double forced marches of the winged hussars and the clustered dragoon unit.

Bart outnumbered forces were made of a huge reiter unit and mostly veteran dragoons and musketeers, he had two guns as well. The aim of the game to get the hill in the middle (4pts) and or the two t-crossroads (each 1 pts).

I won the first initiative and advanced with my winged hussars and a giant dragoon force atop the said hill. My pancerni cluster was deep into the enemy flank. That was the height of my game and I would have won the battle if A) the time would have stopped there and B) I would have understood the hidden subtleties of the rules better...

Bart moved his shotte with the gun to the right and settled to barrage me. His Reiters were in front of my winged hussars and I daringly decided that my dragoon lump of massed cluster unit, just charged the few highly specialised veteran dragoons/musketeers in front next to the table edge. Good idea? No!

Apparently the dragoons are not made for dashing cavalry charges and these veteran (dismounted) dragoons (even when totally outnumbered) could make a quick step back before my cavalry hit AND at the same time execute a volley that stopped mine in track to failed precisely the charge. As I didn't know, Bart was so kind to show me that this can have the opposite effect, the whole dragoon unit got disrupted and picked apart in front of the savy shotte unable to get their act together. 

Next my winged hussars charged into the reiters and should have annihilated them easily, as we know Polish hussars a well known for that -  but not this time somehow for some reason my dices weren‘t up for and the reiter were exreeemly good -  that so they had to flee ... off table ...

Next the reiter followed the hussars and run into my reiter elite and pancerni elite. But because, I was outnumbered (my points must have all gotten into the booze of the drunken levy nobility units) these units were just picked apart one after each other.

Then I just decided to retreat my cluster beaten dragoons to the hill in a bet to win by retreat!!! (I will patent that move!!) And attack with my hero Boguslaw and the last pancerni cluster the veterans again ... BUT to no avail, unlike when I play Swedes, they can apparently easily fire off any cavalry charge and pick out the commanding unit. 

So I let good old Boguslaw die. Firstly because otherwise I wouldn't have won the combat (point and unit wise and I AM brutal to all my tin troopers regardless of creed)  and secondly because Bart didn‘t like him so, naturally as a guest player I obliged.

Then we ended the battle also as the nobility more ore less left the table. Point wise I wasn't given the hill points as Barts reiter were within 10cm and contested my dragoons. As Bart told me after he concluded the point score it was a draw. My units were annihilated and the rest I really didn‘t understand. BUT afterwards he mailed me that good old Boguslaw was fat 5 points in the victory which made this retrospectively a whopping defeat for the commonwealth.

As we played over House party all miniatures, scenery, set up as well as loveley miniatures and pictures taken were courtesy of Bart.

The Great Polish-Lithuanian hussars with lances and feathers ...

... are called hussars, but only in this period, even when they have long sticks!!! Later you must call them lancers, and never anything else, but I digress...

This Thursday it was, 15mm, By Fire & Sword, and true to my word, I choose the Swedish side (with Campbell as the main commander), even when we knew we would be outnumbered. While Peter, Chris and Alisdair choose the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. All of the magnificent figures came from Barts impressive collection (and  I think it was his complete collection - all of them beauties!!!).

The scenario I believe as well from Bart or it was from the rulebook (BF&S) as he umpired. We, the Swedish, had the most points, although on the table it rather looked the opposite, as if the the majority were lost to the Swedish teamster union. We were told to hold the line, while 2 wagons should arrive and pass behind us ... but of course they were late, not enough bakhshish. So Campbell formulated a secret victory condition, which he whisperd in my ear: "If we still stand at the end of turn 4, we won..." , morally, I guess is what he really meant.

We had the first turn and missed the opportunity to soften up the polish cavalry (all misses), but who can really shoot at men clad in feathers ... (yaah ...OK  ... the Spanish and the Anglo-Saxons ... I should have let Campbell throw the dice ...) Then the Polish charged with 3 units of winged hussars, as it turns out it wasn't enough to repulse and beat the old veteran Swedes (old swedes are hard to chew on!?!), which mentally demoralised our opponents from the start.

What amazes me is that even when we were doing fine (dice wise) we had to retreat, so we developed a overwhelming tactical superiority out of it. We lost the fights, saved the morale, retreat, and stood our ground again (albeit with less men). All the Commonwealth aristo-cats could do was repeatedly throw the Poles (feathered hussars) against us. I guess the other half of their (most of the time immobile) army were disenfrenchised Lithuanians.

Only in the 4th turn, we were pushed back from the hill and the unlanced, but still very much quick-winged Hussars rushed in front of the two wagons and captured them and our cheese crackers (symbol of our steadfast unwavering moral superiority). Naah,  actually I confess, I ate them beforehand. So technically we lost, but according to Campbell, we nearly won - which is still a loss in my books, but I ate that as well.

All in all it was a great game, and I enjoyed it very much ('cmon it‘s a renaissance game!!!). I get to learn the rules a little bit more every time we play. It must be an era that gives Polish players a great pride to play the invincible hussars, which makes me wonder what went wrong with the great state in the end ... when did they loose their boni ... but that seems to be another story another time ...

The Polish side ...

My Swedish guns and Infantry

The Lithuanian side

and the Commonwealth side... 

vs overwhelming Swedish centre and Campbells cavalry surrounding ...

all my guns were primed well

until the Polish Hussars with their longer lances came ...

lots of them (3 units)

we took the hits

won some combats and still ... no poles on the hill

on the road more of the same ...

in turn 3 finally the teamster stopped their strike (the cheese crackers are the Swedish morale)

Again the hussars charged in

And again my Swedish veterans took the hits

and still we send them back

at the end of the 3rd turn

Campbells dragoons were dismounting

and his Reiters were actually doing right repulsing the hussars again ... 

but then in the 4th turn ...

the end of battle ...