More pics of Helsingborg

Right, here are some more pics of our Helsingborg game. Click the pics for larger images.

First up is an action shot of my poor, long-suffering opponent Steve as he plots my demise.


Swedish cavalry on the right flank charge uncontrollably forward in pursuit of the fleeing Danes.


Meanwhile over on the left flank the Danish cavalry are doling out some hurt to the Swedes.



In the centre the Swedish Livregiment til Hest sidles crabwise from one flank to the other. I should probably make some column stands for each unit too, so that they can march properly.

The Battle of Helsingborg, 10th March 1710

On a freezing cold day in March 1710 the Swedish army gulped down a shot of vodka for breakfast and set out on a march towards Helsingborg. Their march brought them down on the flank of the defending Danish army, which was forced to redeploy, leaving their guns behind. The progress of the Swedish march and the Danish redeployment can be seen in the picture below (Swedes in blue, Danes in red):


The Terrain of the battlefield was largely flat with marshy areas, streams criss-crossing it and a small number of low hills. You can check out a full description of the terrain on the Helsingborg page on this blog (see the toolbar at the top of the page. I plan to complete the full translation and post it there at a later date). For other images of the battlefield, you can view older maps on the Terra Scaniae website. These are really useful for understanding the terrain. We based our terrain for our refight on the map above and the maps on the Terra Scaniae website.

The Battle
Historically, the battle saw the Swedes advance on the Danish flank. The Danes had to redeploy to face the Swedes. The Swedish Centre and Right wing advanced steadily, but their Left wing seems to have had some difficulties, so a portion of the Right wing cavalry was redeployed to the Left wing and soon the Danes were being driven back. At the end of the battle, the Danes were in flight and the Swedes held the field.

So, how did our game go? Click on the pictures that follow for larger images.

The view from the Swedish lines:


The view from the Danish lines:


Overall view of the set-up:
We began the game with both armies deployed and ready to fight rather than modelling the approach march, largely because of lack of time, but also because we just wanted to get to the action as fast as we could.


Turns 1 and 2:
Both sides advance.



Turn 3:
I decided to try redeploying part of the Swedish right flank to their left flank, just to see if the rules would enable me to do this.


Turn 4:
The redeployment continues, while the Danish left flank cavalry have now crossed the stream and are ready to fall on my cavalry.


Turn 5:
The Danish cavalry learn the error of their ways, as the Swedish cavalry drive them off. Meanwhile on the Swedish left flank the Danish cavalry are looking decidedly stronger.


Turn 6:
On the Swedish left flank their cavalry are really getting the worst of it, but they are just holding on, while part of their force attempts a swift march around the flank. On their right, the victorious Swedish cavalry is proving hard to control, but the loss of the Danish first line of cavalry has caused that command to fail a command morale test. They are not happy.


Turn 7:
The failed command test causes the Danish left flank to begin disintegrating, while most of the Swedish cavalry comes under control again, with only one troop disappearing off into the distance in pursuit of the fleeing Danes. In the centre, both sides have started some desultory fire resulting in one Swedish battalion being driven back slightly, but no really effective fire. On the Swedish left flank, the cavalry is still struggling, but the flank march is now in place (and in view in this shot), ready to fall on the Danes just as soon as they have reordered their ranks.


Turn 8:
The Danish left flank is almost non-existant now. The Swedish right flank is close to routing and the infantry in the centre are now firing at close range, with the Swedish infantry getting the worst of it.


Turn 9:
The Swedish flank march falls on the Danes and drives off a number of them, while the rest of the cavalry on that flank has fallen back to regroup. The fighting in the centre still continues in a rather unenthusiastic manner.


Turn 10:
Things start to improve for the Swedes on the left flank as Danish units rout, but casualties have been fairly heavy and a Swedish cavalry troop has routed. Those that were fighting before are content to hold their ground and recover before charging again. In the centre a Swedish battalion has routed, but all is not lost yet.


Turn 11:
The Swedish flank march pays off. By falling on the enemy flank they are able to cause enough casualties to break the Danish right flank. With their left flank fled and Swedish cavalry swarming all around the Danish infantry surrender.


Conclusions
We had a good fun game using Polemos:GNW. I am warming more to these rules as we use them more, but the learning curve is steep and I can see how others might be put off. We managed to get a few rules wrong over the course of this game. I would like to refight it again and try to get the rules right, but even with the mistakes, the battle was enjoyable. In total, it took us about eight hours of playing time over three evenings, which was not too bad really, considering that we were busily relearning the rules as we went.

I have added some notes about terrain and orders of battle below, as I felt these comments needed more detail and sections of their own. Hopefully you can use the information here and on the Helsingborg page to refight the battle yourselves.

Terrain
We played the game on a 6x4 foot table with the terrain as closely modelled on the historical terrain as possible, within the limitations of the terrain tiles, etc, etc. We also set up the armies at the recommended 600mm apart so that we could get into the action quickly. Other rules might need to adjust that distance.

One area where we had to compromise was the stream through the deep gully on the Swedish right flank (closest to the camera in all the shots). Modelling that would have entailed raising the entire rest of the table, so we just agreed where the ravine went to and made allowances for that in our game play.

The streams are far too wide on the table, but we made some allowances for that in how we administered the terrain rules, once we saw how it was affecting the game. In a future refight, I would count the streams as rough going/area terrain so that they cause a level of shaken while you are in it but you lose that shaken level immediately upon exiting. What we found was that the Swedish infantry could not mirror the moves of their historical counterparts if we counted the streams as streams for terrain type.

The villages may have had too great an effect as well. I am not sure they hindered the real battle that much, so perhaps we should have just treated them as decorative features.

So, I suggest the following terrain rules for this battle using the Polemos rules:
Boggy areas, villages/farms and streams count as Rough Ground (does not hinder movement but disorders troops).
The Wall counts as a linear obstacle with an Obstacle Value of 1 (Reduces movement and disorders troops).
Roads are treated normally, even though they were barely more than muddy tracks at the time of the battle.

Orders of Battle
Another problem we had with the game was fitting in the troops into the space occupied by their historical counterparts. There were simply too many troops for the space available. Given that we modelled the terrain to the ground scale of the rules, the stands should have fitted in. Analysis of the orders of battle suggests to me that Nick, who wrote Polemos:GNW, has used the ration strengths of both sides to calculate the order of battle. This is fairly sensible because we know what they were for both sides. However, the Danish staff history records the field strength of the Danish army too so it is easy to work out what they actually fielded. The Swedish army is more problematic. On 17th March 1710 the Swedes reported that they had 4308 cavalrymen and that they had lost 1187 in the battle, which suggests that they had c.5500 cavalry at the battle. No records survive of the infantry losses. If we assume a similar level of loss for the infantry though, then we get a total army strength of around 14000 men versus a Danish strength of 14000 men. So, the armies are similar in numbers. How do their various arms compare though?

Danish Army:
Cavalry - c.1750 men
Dragoons - c.2250 men
Infantry - c.9600 men
Artillery - c.400 men (note that most of the Danish artillery did not see use in this battle because of the redeployment)

Swedish Army:
Cavalry - c. 5496 men
Infantry - c.8000 men
Artillery - c.400 men

So, the Swedish cavalry outnumbers the Danes while the Danes have more infantry. That should make the game interesting. So, where does this leave us in terms of numbers? For the Swedish army, I propose the following numbers and order of battle based on these calculations.

Swedish Army

Cavalry	Ration Strength	Probable Strength	Polemos Stands
Enkedronningens	976	770	3
Vestgöta	679	536	2
Vestgöta Tremänninger	632	499	2
Uplands Fyr- og Femmänninger	787	621	2
Skaanes Tre- og Femmänninger	678	535	2
Smalands	986	777	3
Østgöta	1000	788	3
Livregiment til hest	986	777	3
Adelsfane	250	197	1

Infantry	Ration Strength	Probable Strength	Polemos Stands
Elfsborgs	1216	959	2
Uplands Fyr- og Femmänninger	930	733	1
Sachsiske	700	552	1
Malmø Garnison	600	473	1
Uplands	1068	842	2
Østgöta	1165	919	2
Kalmar	1019	803	2
Vestmanlands	1141	900	2
Kronobergs	930	733	1
Jønkøpings	734	579	1
Sødermanlands	1167	920	2

I also suggest giving them two light guns and two field guns.

For the Danish army I propose the following order of battle:
Danish Army

Cavalry	Ration Strength	Field Strength	Polemos Stands
Livgarden til Hest	400	300	1
1st Sjællandske	452	250	1
3rd Sjællandske	392	200	1
1st Fynske	455	360	1
2nd Fynske	456	300	1
1st Jyske	456	330	1

Dragoons	Ration Strength	Field Strength	Polemos Stands
Livregimentet	992	700	3
Ungarske (Bulow)	994	660	3
Sjællandske Landdragonregiment	1200	900	3

Infantry	Ration Strength	Field Strength	Polemos Stands
Grenaderkorpset	1200	826	2
Garden til Fods	1344	925	2
Dronningens Livregiment	1365	940	2
Prins Christians	1408	969	2
Jyske	1352	931	2
Fynske	1335	919	2
Marineregimentet	1366	940	2
Prinsen af Hessens	1300	895	2
Leepels	1216	837	2
Vestsjællandske	1612	1110	2
Østsjællandske	1500	1032	2
Laalandske Bataillon	800	551	1

The Danish army could have one stand of light guns too.

Hopefully this should permit you to refight this battle. If you do, I hope you will post reports and let me know how it went. Any suggestions for ways to improve the details would be appreciated, as would any additional information on the battle. In the meantime, I shall continue trying to improve my html so that my tables take up less space and I shall also finish the translation of the staff history of this battle, when I can find a bit more time.

Polemos:GNW - Second Impressions

Following our first game of Polemos (see post dated 25 January 2009), I asked a couple of questions about the rules on the Polemos Yahoo Group. These were answered very quickly by Nick Dorrell, the rules' author, so full marks for support of the rules and a big thank you to Nick. I have now re-read the rules and they make much more sense with a game under my belt; it is much easier to see how the rules fit together and how the various parts interact. So, with all this behind us, Steve and I set to and played another game. This time we played an attack/defence game. Steve took the Saxons again, defending the small town of Nieder Kurzhosen, which is rumoured to be situated near Cleethorpes. I took the Swedes in a bid to drive the Saxons from the field.

The Scenario
The Saxon garrison of Nieder Kurzhosen has sallied forth from the town in an attempt to drive off the Swedish advance guard. They are afraid that the Swedes will be able to cut communications to the Saxon main army if left unchallenged, so sitting out a siege in the town with its poorly maintained defences is not an option. The Swedes wish to drive the Saxons from the field and sack the town because they are badly in need of the local schnapps, which drink is famous throughout the country.
The Game
In a bid to speed up the game, and taking our cue from the rules, the Saxons set up in their half of the board, while the Swedes were allowed to set up within 1' of their base edge. This meant that the two armies would start about 5 Base Widths (BW) apart. The Base Width is the basic unit of measurement in Polemos: GNW. My Baccus 6mm GNW figures are based on 60mm x 30mm bases so 1BW is 60mm. The table was 4' x 3'. The figures were deployed as shown in the picture below: The progress of the game was simple. We had two hours in which to play the game and managed seven turns. The Saxon infantry occupied earthworks in front of the town and stayed there for most of the game. Only one infantry battalion ventured forth to fire on the Swedish cavalry and that was both late in the game and ineffective. The Swedish infantry were assailed by the Saxon cavalry over on the Swedish left flank in a ding dong battle that saw first one Saxon cavalry unit routing and then a breakthrough by the Saxon second line that routed a Swedish infantry unit. Overall this fighting was inconclusive and honours were about even. On the Swedish right flank all of the Swedish cavalry assailed the Saxon dragoons and drove them from the field in the end. Typically, I had managed to give my worst commander command of my best cavalry, so their progress towards the fight was slower than might have been desirable. The following pictures were each taken at the end of a turn and hopefully should give you a taste of the flow of the battle (More pictures from this game may be found in my Photobucket account).

Conclusions
This game flowed much better than the last one. We achieved roughly the same result in half the time. Issues that were not covered in the rules still cropped up but we were able to work out our own solutions to them until I could ask about them on the Polemos yahoo group. All of my questions so far have been answered very quickly and I would commend Nick on his customer service in that regard. We still think that the game needs a better QRS, but other than that, it plays well and is worth checking out if you enjoy this fascinating period of history when Sweden was a great power.

The game itself felt about right for the period, although I would quite like to see the infantry getting stuck in more. Cavalry seem to dominate because of their extra movement. Command and control is key to winning the game and it is very easy for your commands to become disrupted. It then takes a while to reform them, or, if you have more pressing things to do with your tempo points, your errant troops will just sit there until charged or night falls. This emphasis on command and control really makes the game for us.

So, what does this mean for the game. Well, we enjoyed the game more now that we had clarified a couple of issues. The learning curve is steep but has been worth the climb for us. The down side is that our usual gaming slot is about 2-3 hours so even a small battle of Polemos is unlikely to be completed during one of our usual gaming sessions. We shall certainly play Polemos again because the look and feel of the game work for us but we shall need to allow more time, especially if we try a larger game.

Afterword
Both armies used in this game are Baccus 6mm starter armies. Baccus are linked from the sidebar if you want to investigate further. They also produce and sell the Polemos rules, which were used in this game.

If you are interested in the Great Northern War, I would recommend reading Voltaire's Life of Charles XII (the Everyman edition is good and usually fairly cheap secondhand) and Robert Frost's Northern Wars. The former should give you a good feel for the war from the Swedish perspective, while the latter is a drier but more informative history book. If you opt to buy either of these books, please use the links above because clicking through the Amazon link at the top of the page will help support my thrifty gaming project. Thank you.

Other sites you may find useful are:
Dan Schorr's Northern Wars site. This site keeps running out of bandwidth so get in early in the month. It has many useful pdf files about the period and is probably the most useful site for the period that you will find online.
Nick Dorrell's Great Northern War site has other information and links to other sites too. This is also an excellent site that neatly complements Dan's site.

Polemos: Great Northern War Review

We played Polemos:GNW for the first time yesterday. I have had the rules for a long time but have never yet managed to play them. One of the things that has put me off is difficulty in reading and understanding the rules. Normally I am very good at learning rules from the rules and do not need someone to demonstrate them first. However, I have really struggled with Polemos:GNW. There seems to be a lot of assumed knowledge on the part of the rules' author, which makes understanding the rules difficult. For this reason I have not previously got around to playing them. So, we steeled ourselves, girded our loins and set to.

The Rules

The rules themselves are fairly standard in many respects, with attack and defence values for each unit and opposed die rolls to see if you succeed. You then consult a table to see what result your attacks have had. The effects of combat see your units gaining levels of "shaken", possibly recoiling back from their enemy, or even being driven back. Casualties per se are not removed. Instead, when a unit reaches three or more levels of "shaken" it will rout. Under some circumstances it can be rallied, but otherwise it is removed from the game. This is how units are destroyed.

The really new idea that they present is in tempo bidding. Tempo is initiative. Each side gets a fixed number of tempo points each turn and add the score of a six-sided die roll to that. Then both players decide how many points they can afford to bid to win the initiative and still do what they need to do in that turn. The bids are compared and the higher bidder wins the initiative. Both players deduct their bids from their total tempo points and that is how many points you have left to do things. These points are used a bit like PIPs in the DBx series of games, but the person that lost the initiative has to spend more points to act with their units, which means that they could wind up unable to do as much as the player with the initiative can. One problem with the tempo bidding was allocating points to commands. This can take a little time as you try to work out what you need to do where.

The Game

So, how did they play? We set up a small battle on a 4'x3' table with two Baccus starter armies. I took the Swedes and Steve took the Saxons. The figures were set up 2' apart for an encounter battle as recommended in the rules.

The first thing we found was that we had plenty of tempo points each as we manoeuvred towards each other. During this phase of the game I made the mistake of positioning my field gun in the wrong place, so I was unable to bombard the Saxons while they bombarded my right wing (to little effect). Once we had closed to contact, however, tempo points and winning the initiative became more critical and we quickly found that we did not have enough points to do everything that we wanted to do. This was especially the case on my left wing, where some squadrons of my cavalry burst through the enemy lines and pursued the routing Saxon cavalry almost to the edge of the board before regaining control and halting. They spent the rest of the game waiting there because they were too far from their commander for me to be able to afford to spend points on them. Elsewhere on the battlefield the infantry had finally closed and were firing at each other, while the cavalry on the right wing were manoeuvring around the wood on the hill, trying to get at each other in an inconclusive cavalry melee that saw both of us with troops routing.

Our game took four hours, before Steve had to leave, and the game had not reached a conclusion, although it seemed to be favouring me, because Steve's right wing had all routed from the table. This left my left wing able to regroup and then they could have fallen on the enemy flank. However, this would have taken time that my centre and right wing might not have had. At this point we decided to call it a draw.

Conclusions

The game was fun to play despite our difficulties with actually reading the rules. More than any other rule set I have played these rules required game play to show how they worked. I would say that they are not for beginners purely because of the way they are written.

The tempo bidding was good fun and a great way of determining who would be able to act first and how much they would be able to do. Both Steve and I like this type of mechanism where you are trying to second-guess your opponent all the time.

Combat was simple enough with the opposed rolls, although the long list of modifiers might put some off. There were a number of situations that cropped up in our game, which did not appear to be covered in the rules but we were able to come up with solutions easily enough and I have now asked about them on the Polemos Yahoo Group, so I hope to have answers soon.

One thing that the rules really need is a coherent quick reference sheet. The QRS that comes with the rules seems to have bits put in wherever they fit rather than putting all the firing tables together, the close combat tables together, etc. This did cause us a few delays in game play as we tried to work out where the relevant tables were.

Overall, we enjoyed the game a lot and will be trying the rules again. We hope to significantly reduce the amount of time that the game took to play as we become more familiar with the game and its mechanisms. Producing a better QRS could help with this. We shall see how it works out.

If you have the time and patience to work through the rules then the game play is ultimately rewarding and I would recommend these rules to you. If you need everything served up in bite-sized chunks then these rules are not for you, unless you can find someone to teach you.