This is my personal interpretation of this battle. Any mistakes are my own.
After winning the battle of Breitenfeld, the Protestant army led by King Gustavus of Sweden had devastated most of the Imperial Principalities within Northern Germany. The King had then taken up residence in the City of Mainz. The citizen Council had opened the gates hoping to be spared from the horror of being sacked and burnt. In return Gustavus demanded massive amounts of Tribute
Gustavus called a truce with Maximillian of Bavaria and entered into negotiations centered on Religious tolerance, trade tariffs and financial security. All was going well. That was until Count Gustav Horn, one of the Swedish Kings Generals decided to take matters into his own hands.
Horn had found out that the City of Bamberg was virtually defenseless. Gathering up some militia and some expensive mercenaries Horn marched from Shweinfurt and stormed Bamberg. The City had a minimal Garrison of Militia so fell virtually without a fight. Horn needed money to maintain his mercenary army.
The Inperial Commander, Count of Tilly, Johann Tserclaes, was no slouch. On hearing of the attack, Tilly gathered up 12,000 men at Nordlingen and moved the 86 miles north to Bamberg.
After nine days of marching, he caught the Swedish troops dispersed and engaged in robbery and looting, the Swedish commanders thinking that there were no Imperial forces able to stop them.The Swedes were driven from the City suffering heavy casualties.
With the truce broken Gustavus had no other option but to reinforce Horn and resume the offensive. The King decided to move further into Bavaria intent on looting the State. However there was a dilemma. The river Donau ( English:the Danube ) split the Electorate in half. Gustavus did not want to split his army. Therefore, the King decided to attack the Southern half with the rich city of Munich as a target.
Tilly got wind of what the King was doing and, knowing he was outnumbered, force marched south through Nuremberg and Nordlingen ahead of the Swedish army. Tilly then made for Ingolstadt. Gustavus meanwhile made for Donauworth. By doing so, he outflanked all the Imperial Cities on the Donau. The leading citizens opened the gates in a gesture of goodwill and were promptly massacred as their reward.
Having located the Swedish army, Tilly made one last attempt to stop the advance. He entrenched his army just south of Rain with the river Lech to his front. After recent heavy rain in the Alps, the river was in full spate, being four metres ( 13 feet ) in places. Tilly was confident that the river and the entrenchments would offset the enemy’s numbers. However, he had not reckoned on the Swedish Kings engineering capability.
In the early dawn, 300 Finns ( Hakkapelliita : Light Cavalrymen ) rowed across the swollen part of the river from an island towing bridge sections, covered by smoke from burning hay bales and digging a redoubt. They were joined by a Forlorn Hope of 300 musketeers. Meanwhile, Swedish heavy guns opened up opposite Rain with a continuous barrage. This was to convince the Imperial commanders that was where the crossing would take place and to cover the noise of the digging.
Once the bridge was in place the Swedish army stormed across. Tilly had been outflanked and had a fight on his hands…….
THE IMPERIAL ARMY: 25,000 = 25 points x 2= 50 points.
18,000 Infantry = 18pts x 2 = 36pts =
6 stands Pikemen @ 3pts = 18 points.
9 stands Musketeers @ 2pts = 18 points.
7000 Cavalry = 7pts x 2 = 14 points.
= 4 stands of Cavalry @ 3pts = 12pts.
Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly @1pt.
Count Johann Von Aldringen @ 1pt.
20 guns x 50 gunners = 1000 = 1pt x 2= 2pts.
= 2 stands of Light Artillery @ 1pt.
THE SWEDISH ARMY: 37,000 = 37pts x 2 = 74pts.
10,000 Cavalry = 10pts x 2 = 20pts
= 6 stands of Cavalry @ 3pts = 18pts
King Gustavus Adolphus @ 2pts.
27,000 Infantry = 27pts x 2 = 54pts
= 16,000 Musketeers = 16pts x 2 = 32pts.
= 16 stands of musketeers @ 2pts = 32pts.
= 300 Hakkapeliita =0.300pts x 2 = 0.600pts = 1pt r/u.
= 300 Forlorn Hope Muskets = 0.300pts x2 = 0.600pts = 1pt r/u.
+ Johann Baner @1pt. + Count Gustav Horn @1pt.
9,000 Pikemen = 9pts x 2 = 18pts
= 6 Stands of Pikes @ 3pts. = 18pts.
70 Guns x 50 gunners = 3,500 gunners = 3.5pts x 2 = 7pts. = 3 Light Artillery stands @ 1pt. = 3pts
2 stands of Heavy Artillery @ 2pts = 4pts. ( Not on the table as the Heavy Artillery were downriver opposite Rain ).
SPECIAL RULES:
* The Swedish army moves first and fires first in the first Game-Turn and, also has the Initiative Point.
* From Game-Turn 2 onward, both side will throw to see who gets the Initiative Point.
* The side that gained the Initiative Point wins any tied results.
* The Swedish army can only move from the Island via the bridge. Any stands not able to retreat and/or forced into the River Lech are lost.( the river was flowing very rapidly).
* The battle will be played out for eight Game-Turns.
* The Hakkapeliiter are armed with pistols only.
* The Imperial Cavalry used their pistols in this battle. Although the stand is three points, only 2pts are added to the die roll when firing pistols. ( one square range.)
* The Swedish cavalry were trained to charge to contact without the use of pistols, so, the Swedish cavalry cannot fire however, one extra point is added to the combat die.
* Note: While the main Swedish army crossed from the island the King had sent 2,000 cavalry further upriver to cross over the Lech. These were ordered to fall on the flank of the Imperial army if and when they attacked the redoubt.
* When firing at stands within the camp or redoubt from outside, 2pts are deducted from the firing die.( but not on the Swedish Heavy Artillery die rolls).
* In Close Combat between opposed Infantry stands, the defenses are counted as Trench. ( ie the defense works are negated). However, Pikemen are reduced to 2 points when fighting over Defenceworks. Pikemen cannot be included in a close combat if they are positioned behind another stand fighting over or within defenseworks
*. Cavalry cannot engage any stands behind defenseworks or hedgerows.
*. One point is deducted from all firing die when firing at any stand behind hedgerow. ( The hedgerow represents half submerged trees. )
* THE SWEDISH ARTILLERY:
The heavy guns are not represented on table. However they did have an impact on the battle:
The river Lech had a bend near the island which allowed the Swedish Heavy artillery to hit the camp quite hard. Therefore: At the start of the Game-Turn the Swedish player nominates two stands within the Imperial Camp:
They then roll a 6-sided die twice: on a score of 1, 2 or 3 it's a Miss. on a score of 4, 5 or 6 it’s a possible hit.
The Swedish player throws a 12 sided die and add two points (for heavy artillery). There is no deduction for defenseworks. The defending Imperial player rolls a 12 side and adds the points of the target stand. The target stand is removed on any lower score. The same happens for the second target stand. Only stands within the Imperial Camp can be targeted by the Swedish Heavy guns.
* Should the figure of Tilly or Aldringen be next to the removed stand they must also be removed. Both Generals were badly wounded during the battle, and both passing away within a few days.
VICTORY:
The Swedes win if they have three INFANTRY stands on the Imperial side of of the river by the end of Game-Turn 8.
The Imperial army wins if they can take the Redoubt and stop the Swedes from having three INFANTRY stands on their side of the river.
CREDITS:
As before I’ve used the Peter Dennis illustrations mounted on foamboard. The flags are made from sticky labels. The cannon are made from card, buttons and plastic tubing.
The earthworks are made from cold cure clay. The bridge and river are cut from card. All the hedgerows is cut from panscrubbers mounted on cardboard.
The small round weights you can see dotted around the table are 1 penny coins wth blue tack on top. These were painted then I added a small grass tuft to finish them off.
THE HISTORY:
All military historians agree that the crossing of the Lech was one of the Swedish Monarchs finest manouvres. The bridge sections were built away from the river being constructed of extra weight to make them more sturdy in the rivers strong current. The Swedish General Torstensson was responsible for the siting and the execution of the artillery barrage.
Although Tilly was a veteran Commander, some of his troops were green and Tilly himself was of the “ old school” and not expecting the rapid moves from the Swedish Army. Nonetheless he did what he could with the troops available.Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to halt the Swedish advance.
