Battle of Klissow : Poland-Lithuania July 9th 1702.

This is another battle of  the Great Northern War where an outnumbered Swedish army took on a larger force. However a few incidents happened which favoured the Swedes in winning this battle and I have tried to reflect this in the reconstruction.

The Swedish Army;

Infantry ; 8000 = 8 points x 3 = 24 points.

Cavalry ;  4000 = 4 points x 3 = 12 points.

Artillery ; This was available but was left trailing in order to get the army into battle formation as soon as possible.

1) General Carl Gustav Rehnskiold= 1 point.
2) General Knut Goransson Posse   = 1 point.
3) General Frederick 4th Duke
of Holstein-Gottorp = 2 points.

4 stands of Line Cavalry @ 3 points = 12 points.
7 stands of Line Muskets @ 2 points = 14 points.
2 stands of Pikemen @ 3points = 6 points.

Saxony Army.

Infantry ; 7000 = 7 points x 3 = 21 points.

Cavalry ; 9000 = 9 points x 3 = 27 points.

46 guns ( ÷10 ) = 4 guns.

A) General Adam Heinrich von Steinau = 1point.
B) Johann von Der Schulenburg = 1 point.
C) Jacob Heinrich von Fleming = 1 point.

Poland

Cavalry; 5000 = 5 points x 3 = 15 points.

Winged Hussars 1,250 = 1.250 points x 3 = 4 points.

Polish Infantry 660 = 0.660 points x 3 = 2 points.

D) General Hieronim Augustyn Lubomirski = 1 point.

7 stands of Saxon Line Cavalry @ 3 points = 21 points.
2 stands of Saxon Light Dragoons @ 2 points = 4 points.
10 stands of Saxon Line Infantry @ 2 points = 20 points.
4 stands of heavy guns @ 2 points = 8 points.

The Polish Wing.

4 stands of Line Cavalry @ 3points = 12 points.
1 stand of Line Dragoons @ 2 points = 2 points.
1 stand of Winged Hussars @ 4 points = 4 points.
1 stand of Line Infantry @ 2 points= 2 points.

Special notes;

This is another battle that needs a few special rules in order to obtain a reasonable outcome. The Swedes did win despite being outnumbered!! but the Saxons and Poles did put up a bit of a fight and I wanted to give
both sides a chance of victory.

● If cavalry attack enemy infantry within the marshy area they do not get the 3 points for attacking Infantry on flat open ground.

● Any stands moving into the marshy ground on each side of the stream plus the stream itself can only move one square each Game Turn.

●  The Saxon artillery cannot move.

● The artillery has only two squares range.

● Stands cannot be moved through the trees.

● The Nida river cannot be crossed.

●The Swedish army gets the Initiative point every Game-Turn and also moves  first every Game Turn.

● The Swedish player can move all their stands
on the movement phase. The Saxon player however has to throw a 12 sided die, the result showing the number of stands that can be, prior to the to the Saxon movement phase.

The above hopefully reflects the conditions of
the actual battle. Despite the Saxons having the
preponderance of artillery it didn't seem to affect the Swedish manoeuvres.
The Saxons attacked twice along with the Polish wing. After being beaten back twice the Swedes advanced. For some reason both Generals Fleming and Lubomirski
decided to withdraw their commands!!

The entire Polish wing plus the Saxon right wing cavalry and Dragoons left the field, leaving General Steinau's Cavalry and General Schulenbergs infantry ( which up to this point seemed to be doing little ) to fight a rearguard action!.

As the Swedes overan the Saxon artillery the guns were turned on their former owners.

● Ok, to reflect this, if a Swedish infantry stand moves into an adjacent square to a Saxon artillery stand and, the Swedes are not in combat the gun becomes Swedish!.

A couple of important points;

● Duke Frederick was mortally wounded at one point in the battle so the Swedish King himself took command of the Swedish left wing ( 2 points ).

● At the start of GAME TURN 6, All the Polish stands plus the Saxon right wing cavalry along with general's Fleming and Lubomirski are taken Off The Board! The Swedish player then moves their stands.

Winning the game.

Having played this game three times  I have found that numbers do count and, without the above restrictions the Swedes cannot win.
So, at the end of Game Turn 8, the Swedish player must have a minimum of Three Stands on the South Side of the stream within the marshy ground in order to win the game. The small red lines on each side of the map delianate how far forward the stands must be..

The Saxons win if they can prevent this.

One last historical note. This appears to be the
last battle in which the famous Polish Winged
Hussars took the field ( so it was nice to have a
historical reason to include a stand of these
famous troops on the table!!)

As before , I used a 3 foot x 2 foot ( 90 cm x 60 cm )
table with a 2 inch ( 50mm ) square grid.

Here is the map;

This is the board showing the set up;

All the figures are 15mm from either Essex Miniatures or Minifigs.

Finally, here's a glimpse of those famous horsemen from the Essex Miniatures range;

The Northern War part 2

I thought I would do another piece just to show you the results of the last 6 months in preparing the the two armies. Although retired I still found myself " burning the midnight oil" to get them completed to war game standard. All 15mm.

The Russian Army;

The Swedish Army;

The camera on my tablet is not brilliant, but I have tried to get some close-ups of the musketeers converted from the excessive pile of pikemen I bought plus the pikemen themselves. The flags are made from masking tape and painted free-hand by myself. They would not win any medals for artwork but at least you know which army the unit belongs to.

The Top picture here shows Russian musketeers converted from the large number of pikemen I didn’t need! The figures are from Miniature Figurines.

The middle picture here shows dismounted Polish cavalry ( red and white squares ) which are from the Minifigs range. The horse's and riders are converted from the Peterpig AWI range with Peterpig monteforino heads.

This is a part work to represent Narva in the board. Using a square grid makes the measuring and cutting of building parts a lot easier.

This was also built and painted in a day. I covered the whole model in texturing paste (sometimes called Gesso?? ) before doing the paint job.

I used all picture framing cardboard for this job.  The weather was bad in November 1700 so all battlefield effects need to have snow in them, but on this fortress piece I want a temporary effect so I can use it for other battles.

I still have some defensework pieces to prepare that will fit the grid.

Why bother? Well, I find that even when you are doing a war game solo, having the scenery near enough to something like the actual conditions adds to the "mental immersion" into the battle itself. It's all part of the enjoyment of the hobby.

I have used the weather rules before ( See Table Top Battles, Wargaming on a Grid 2nd Edition). A French force had to dislodge a Piedmontese force from a siegework at the point of the bayonet. The weather during the game came up with a die result of " storm" so muskets could not fire.

However this will be the first time I have tried to recreate a historical winter battle, ( in 50 odd years in the hobby! ). This is one of the many reasons that I love war gaming. There is always something new that surprises me even now.

If you have managed to stick with me so far, the next blog will be the battle. Oh! Just to re-cap;

The musketeers and pike men are from Miniature Figurines which is part of Caliver Books.

All the cavalry are from Miniature Figurines Northern War range but the heads on the Line Cavalry were converted from lobsterpot to Peterpig Tricorn heads.

The Cavalry Standards are conversions of the same cavalry figures. The standard pole is from North Star 50mm javelin.

The line infantry Standard bearers, Officers and Drummers are Peterpig AWI range.

The dismounted cavalrymen are Peterpig Jaegers.

The cavalry markers are Peterpig AWI British horses, the horseriders have Peterpig tricorn heads (conversion).

The Small Cannon and crews are all Peterpig AWI range as are the Generals. The Large Cannon are from the Peterpig English Civil War range.

The 40mm square Stands are cardboard I cut myself.

The round 40mm round mdf Stands are supplied by Minibits which I think is linked to Pendraken Miniatures.

I think thats covered everything for the moment. ( hopefully!! )