College of Kings

My personal favorites at Historicon.

My last post was an after action report of the Battle of Berestechko (1651) that I put on at Historicon in 28mm on Thursday morning. My next post will be an after action report of the Italian Wars Battle of Bicocca. In the meantime, I thought that I would do a quick review of some of the other tables that I saw and liked. Here are some of my personal favorites at Historicon.

I have to apologize to a number of people that put on excellent tables, but I was so busy looking and talking to them that I forgot to take any photos. The first was Joe Swartz that put on an excellent 28mm barbarian cavalry table. Joe was also very helpful in lending me both pliers and a baggage cart over the weekend. The second was Doug Fisher and his friend Richard who put on an excellent 15mm Roman assault on a hill fort, as they were in the ballroom where my table was located, I spent quite some time talking to Doug over the weekend and it was always a pleasure. There have been many photos posted of this game, which was well attended throughout the weekend. Next was Nigel Marsh who put on an excellent looking 28mm ECW game of the 1644 attack on Shaw Village; this game was everything that you could want visually. Another game that was very pleasing visually was the Aztec game by Mark Morin. I have been watching blog posts of his building the terrain and it was a pleasure to meet him in person. Finally there was the campaign style games for the Battle of Stalingrad put on by Miles Reidy. I don’t feel too guilty about not taking photos of this game as LWTV have and will cover it extensively. Miles was a pleasure to meet and offered kind words and support to me at my first convention putting on a game.

Now on to some of my personal favorites at Historicon that I did take pictures of, as the games were well spread out and I was occupied for a lot of the time with my games, I am sure that I missed some great looking tables. However, these pictures, plus the games that I commented about above, were my personal favorites of the tables that I saw.

First is the outstanding Test of Honour Samauri game by David Hill. In past years I have played in David’s game when it was much smaller. However, this year David went big and the result was amazing as you can see in the photos. I don’t know where he will go from this display at future events, but I can’t wait to see.

The next photo is from a game that I played in on Wednesday night by Mike Fatovic that pitted 1/700 scale modern Chinese ships against Western navies. The rules took some getting used to and we managed to loose our Chinese carriers quite quickly, but we did put a dent in the landing force sent to capture our island. As you can see the whole event was visually superb. Mike was also very supportive of myself and other people putting on events at Historicon.

The next table that I saw that had great scenery was the Hunting King Alfred game by Greg Wagman and LWTV. This table shows what can be accomplished on a reasonably small table.

The next two games were my favorites for Best of Theme. They were the Brazen Chariots games by Adam Wine and the Vietnam game by Tom McKinney and LWTV. I don’t know how the judges would choose between these two for Best of Theme. both were perfectly executed and include interesting terrain construction techniques.

The next game that I liked was by Mark McLaughlin and Arofan Gregory. It was the 333BC clash of the Macedonians and Persians. Some great looking figures on display. They also took time to tell me what was going on.

A game that I wish I could have joined in was the Leonardo Da Vinci and the Prince of Foxes game by Jeff Wasileski. This game was just eye candy. When Jeff puts this game on again, I will be first in line. I also just realized that this game was a theme game, so yet more competition for Best in Theme. He also put on a Die Hard game that drew a great crowd.

The final game that caught my eye was the Wars of Ozz game by Scott Hansen. Not being into fantasy I cannot pretend to understand this table, but it was one of those tables that you just cannot walk by without stopping to stare at it. My mind could not have come up with half of the things on the table, and everything was well painted and constructed.

That concludes the list of my personal favorites at Historicon. As with any kind of review it is purely subjective. I am sure that there were tables that I missed and that others had their own personal favorites. Next up will be my after action report on the Battle of Bicocca.

Historicon 2021 – Berestechko after action report.

I arrived at the hotel at around 2pm on Friday, having arranged an early check-in. I had made sure that my room was on the same side of the hotel as my games and I was lucky to be on the second floor. This made transporting my figures both from the car to the room, and from the room to the table, easy. I was settled into my room by 3pm and I had sorted out my figures and terrain into two piles, one for each of the two games I was running. I then explored the hotel and spoke to a few friends before enjoying a modern naval game at 6pm. At the end of the game I had a quick beer before getting an early night so that I could get up at 5am to start setting up the Battle of Berestechko for a 9am start. What follows is the Berestechko after action report.

Initial deployments.

The table was ready to go thirty minutes early which felt good. In the above picture in the foreground is the cossack peasant and non-register cossack wagon tabor. Above them on the left is the register cossack wagon tabor with some dismounted cossack cavalry between the two. On the upper left side of the table are the massed ranks of Tatar cavalry.

I deployed the Polish on the right with the infantry and artillery in the foreground. The Polish cavalry were then deployed starting heavy Pancerni and Winged Hussars. Above them are the Polish style cossacks and finally the noble levy.

Here are some pictures from the Cossack side:

Opening moves

We had places for eight players which were all sold-out. Seven of the eight showed up, which I was more than happy with for a 9am game on the first full day of the convention. Even more importantly, the guys that showed up were a fantastic bunch of people. All of the players got stuck in to the game, were friendly and made the game a joy to run. Now on to the Battle of Berestechko after action report.

The Polish objective was to destroy the two cossack wagon tabors. If they destroyed one the game would be considered a draw, if they destroyed none then it would be a cossack victory and if they destroyed two it would be a decisive victory.

The Poles started boldly with an advance all across the line.

Christopher starting the Polish Cossack Cavalry advance

Leslie starting the Polish Noble Levy Cavalry advance.

The Tatar cavalry moving out quickly to engage the enemy.

The cavalry battle on the cossack left would go back and forth for many turns of the battle. Although the Tatar theoretically outmatched the flamboyant Polish Nobel Levy, some great dice work by the Polish gave the Tatars some initial set backs and even destroyed a few units.

A close up of the Noble Levy Polish cavalry.

Polish Cossacks engaged with the Tatars.

I made some rule modifications to reflect the style of Battle in Eastern Europe. I added a cavalry formation called “open order”. This formation does not exist in the rules; it is essentially skirmish order, except that the cavalry can charge.

The Cossack right.

The advance of the Polish infantry starts.

On the cossack right, the Polish infantry started their advance against the two wagon tabors. They seemed undeterred by the defenses ahead of them.

The massed cavalry charges can be seen in the background as the Polish infantry advance.

Moves in the Center.

Polish Pancerni and Winged Hussars get stuck in

In the centre the Polish heavy cavalry charged forward to engage the Tatars. The Tatars thought better of getting into hand to hand combat with these formidable units and chose to keep firing their bows and running backs. This tactic worked for a while and inflicted some serious casualties. However, it would not work for ever, and the Polish cavalry eventually caught up with their foes and inflicted terrible casualties.

Register cossacks unexpectedly come face to face with the Winged Hussars.

As a result of the Winged Hussars routing some Tatars, they came face to face with some register cossacks that had come out of their wagon tabor hoping to take on the Polish infantry. Facing the mighty Hussars they decided to quickly retreat back to the wagon tabor in search of safety.

Back on the cossack right

On the cossack right, Polish continued to advance even in the face of fire.

The Polish infantry continued their advance on the cossacks even in the face of musket and cannon fire.

The Cavalry Battle turns

Although on the Cossack far left, the Tatars had routed the Polish Nobel Levy, in the centre the Polish Cossacks, Pancerni and Winged Hussars had cleared the Tatars in front of them. However, despite fighting valiantly, the Winged Hussars had taken too much damage and had to withdraw from the field. Their retreat gave a short lived moral boost to the cossack side.

The Polish cavalry start to threaten the wagon Tabor.

With command of the center the Polish Cavalry split into two, one unit went to engage the remaining Tatars on the edge of the battlefield and the other moved aggressively against the flank of the Register cossack wagon Tabor.

The Polish infantry continue to take the Cossack wagon Tabor

The endgame

With Haiduks attacking the front and the Polish heavy cavalry attacking from the flank, the Register Cossack was the first Wagon Tabor to fall. As the peasant cossacks were taking casualties from the Polish infantry, the remaining cossack wagon tabor could see the writing on the wall and decided to concede.

With 650 troops on the table we finished this fast paced battle in just three hours. Although this was an hour quicker than we had planned, everyone seemed very happy to have played an exciting fast paced game. There was also the added bonus that they had an extra hour to race around the dealer hall before their next scheduled game. Hopefully this Berestechko after action report gives you a flavor of the game. Within the next week, I plan to do a report on the other battle that I put on – Bicocca 1522.

Bicocca at Historicon – laying out the table

With my game of the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon only three weeks away I have just completed the final pieces of scenery for the table. With it being a sunny day in Philadelphia I wanted to layout the main scenery items on my deck to check they all fit together. I also wanted to check that there will be enough maneuver space for the troops. As the terrain will cover three 5′ x 8′ tables, I have no space large enough in my house, so the deck was the only option. As it was a little windy, I did not layout some of the lighter items such as trees, vineyards and orchards.

The layout

The terrain will be two 5′ x 8′ tables side by side with another 5′ x 8′ table intersecting in a “T” formation. This last 5′ x 8′ table will be where the Swiss march up the table for the inevitable clash with the Landsknechts at the field defenses.

The 6 feet of field defenses which the Swiss must assault.

In the center where the “T” shape joins will be the 6 feet of field defense at the sunken road. The Spanish arquebusiers and Landsknecht artillery will man the defenses. The Swiss Pike covered by the Black Band of Giovanni will march up the table to assault the defenses. To the right of the defenses is the Villa Bicocca with the marshes in the back-ground. The Venetians will make their way slowly through the marsh to threaten the Spanish left flank.

Construction of the ditch

To the left of the field defenses is the drainage ditch with a bridge going across it. The drainage ditch itself is impassable and protects the Spanish right flank. The only way across for the French will be the bridge, which the Milanese are racing to protect. If the French get across the bridge they will be into the Spanish camp and in the rear of the Spanish positions.

I constructed the drainage ditch from a 1′ x 4′ piece of mdf. I then lined the edges of the board with Killing Fields fur, textured the edges, painted the surface brown and varnished the center to represent water. Finally, I added flock and other terrain items. The rocks were molded using Woodland Scenics molds.

In this photo you can see some of the geese that I added to complete the scene. The geese are from the Assault Group.

I am now comfortable that I am ready to put on the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon. The terrain fits together well. All of the players will have plenty of room to move their forces and fight. In addition, the terrain should look full once the trees, extra buildings and Spanish camp are laid out. The terrain will be a great back-drop for the 1600 figures that I plan to deploy.

Villa Bicocca for Historicon

Historicon is rapidly approaching with only 44 days left until the start of the convention. While I am still on track with preparations for my games, there is still a lot left to do. This weekend I completed another 36 figure Spanish pike block and 16 Spanish Arquebusiers. Now it is time to finish the Villa Bicocca and the gardens of the villa.

The villa itself was a combination of 6 kits from Charlie Foxtrot models. The kits are mdf, so I needed to add texture the walls assembly. I also had to scratch build the roof system to make them all fit together.

The field defenses link up with the Villa.

The first photo shows the front of the villa. I still have to put a gravel path in front of the villa along with a small fountain. I should complete this work by the end of the week. The villa is assembled on a 1″ piece of foam board so that it can seamlessly integrate with the field defenses.

At the back I bought the railings and steps from a 3d printing company on Etsy. They were exactly 1″ tall so they worked very well with the foam board and allowed a smooth step down to the garden,

The garden has a number of statues. The main two statues were made from pdf plinths, I then added roman soldiers from Warlord Games. I then painted the statues to represent marble.

Some of the statues from the edge are Helen of Troy statues from the Foundry Greek mythology range. I scratch built the plinths for these from balsa. The plant pots were another find from Etsy, to which I added some flowers that I bought from Woodland Scenics.

The fountains were mdf kits. The stone paths were rubber stone tile mats that I bought at a previous Historicon. I cut these into the desired shape and then put grass mats down in between. I then scratch built some hedges.

To finish I put some trees around the edge of the garden.

Overall the Villa Bicocca and garden take up about 2′ x 4′ on the table. Overall I like how they have turned out. I think that they give a good representation of an Italian villa and Italian garden. They should provide a point of interest for the Battle of Bicocca terrain.

Historicon 2021 the final preparations.

With Historicon 2021 rapidly approaching, I am still preparing and play testing my two games.

Berestechko 1651.

My first game is the 1651 battle of Berestechko. The battle is part of the Khmelnytsky Cossack uprising against the Polish. I play tested this game at a local club games day in May this year. You can find the after action report here. The game performed reasonably well, but there are a couple of modifications that I will be making for Historicon. These modifications are designed to improve the play and lead to quicker combat. As a result of these changes, I have three units of Polish Haiduks on my paint bench that need to be finished. I also want to improve a building or two and paint some additional casualty markers.

The game will start at 9am on the Thursday morning, right at the start of the convention. There is space for eight players. The figures are 28mm. There will be about 600 figures with a large proportion of cavalry. There are also wagon tabors on both sides. I will use modified Pike and Shotte rules for easy game play.

Bicocca 1522 at Historicon 2021

My second game is the 1522 Battle of Bicocca in the Italian Wars. This game is going to be my larger game with a little over 1500 figures in 28mm. I am hoping to capture the spectacle of an Italian Wars Battle with large pike blocks and plenty of flags.

This weekend I play tested one portion of the battle, the assault on the defenses at the sunken road. I wanted to make sure that the game rules for the defenses made assault possible, but difficult. The Swiss managed to get to the defenses and engaged in fierce fighting before eventually being fought back. As a result of the play test I will be making a few minor changes to the rules.

The fight at the sunken road represents about 50 percent of the battlefield and about 50 percent of the troops that I will be using at Historicon 2021. There wasn’t enough space or players to deploy everything for the play test. Here are a few pictures of the play test.

A view of the Spanish defenses at the sunken road with Landsknechts behind.

A view from behind the Spanish line with the Ginetes out front.

Giovanni’s Black Band providing screening for the advancing Swiss pike blocks

The Rural Canton Swiss Pike block approaching the defenses.

The Swiss Pike block about to descend into the Sunken Road.

The final clash of pike between the Swiss and Landsknechts.

I still have a lot of work to do to be ready for Historicon 2021. There is the villa and grounds for the Villa Bicocca to finish. I have to make a large drainage ditch. I also have to paint a few more units. The Historicon 2021 counter at the HMGS website says I have 73 days left, so I should be ready.

I have scheduled the game for 9am on Friday morning and runs for 4 hours. There is space for at least ten players. In order to complete the game in the allotted time, I will need to keep things moving at a brisk pace. The rules will be Pike and Shotte. Some commands will be simpler to run for novice players and some will have a greater variety of units for experienced players. My aim for both games is to keep things moving fast and to focus on the enjoyment of the games. I will make sure that there are no long debates on rules.

Field Defenses for Bicocca.

This post is an update on the field defenses for Bicocca that I have built for Historicon. Even though the defenses are now finished, I still have a lot of work to be ready for the convention. The main item that I need to finish is the Villa at Bicocca and the gardens for the villa. I will be working on these items next week.

This weekend our club will be play testing the Historicon Bicocca game. The play test is to see if the rules that I have to represent the defenses work as I intend. I don’t want the defenses to be totally impregnable, but they should offer stiff resistance to a concerted attack.

Defenses length.

The field defenses are 6 feet long. The reason for the length was explained in the last blog post. The defenses have positions for three cannons and six units of Spanish arquebusiers that will be manning the defenses. There is also room for some landsknecht shot units as well as room behind the defense for the large landsknecht pike blocks to come up in support. the two Landsknecht pike blocks will be 100 figures each, so they need some room to maneuver.

Gun tower construction.

The gun positions use the log defenses from Anyscale models at the top. However, I also needed to build some extra log barricade at the bottom as retaining walls. These were constructed by cutting down balsa rods.

Finishing the terrain.

As explained last time, the base was made from foam covered by Killing Fields mats. A mixture of brown paint, model railroad ballast and PVA glue was the applied to the rest of the model. This mixture provided a base covering. The wooden defenses were then added using caulk to fix them and fill gaps.

Some rocks were then cast in dental stone using woodland scenics rock molds. These rocks were then painted and stuck to the model using the paint/ballast/PVA mixture. Once the rocks were fixed and dry, various shades of flock were added. I then fixed grass tufts and bushes to finish the model off. I also dry brushed some of the dirt areas to give a little more depth to the model.

The defenses took a little longer to make than I had hoped. However, they do blend very well with the Killing Fields terrain mats that they will stand on. I will add a road on the terrain mats to represent the sunken road. This road will run in front of the defenses. On the other side of the road I will put foam under the terrain mats to provide the opposite slope.

Although the field defenses for Bicocca are not model railroad quality, they turned out well for portable wargaming terrain. I am hoping that all the terrain items for this game at Historicon will work well together. The game will be reasonably large with 1500 figures and space for ten players.

Defenses for the Battle of Bicocca

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I am planning on running the Battle of Bicocca at Historicon. One of the most important terrain features will be the defenses for the Battle of Bicocca.

Historical description of the defenses

From the book “History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century” by Sir Charles Oman: On page 179 the defense width is listed at no more than 600 yards. On page 178 the defenses are described as: “On the North front, where a sunken road leading to the manor-house ran along the front of the park enclosure, he had deepened the hollow, and made a rampart along it, with the cast-up earth, piled above the existing bank. In several places he had constructed high platforms in this rampart, and placed guns upon them, which would sweep not only the fields in front, but laterally the ditch immediately below.

On page 181 he discusses the earthworks height. “the obstruction was so deep and the rampart behind it so high, that the head of a pole could hardly be stretched from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the earthwork.

Design of the defenses

From the description, there are some important factors to consider when designing this terrain feature for the game. The first is the overall length, the defenses are not a small item. The second feature is the height and the third feature are the gun platforms.

Length

On the length of 600 yards, this is 21,600 inches. If we take a 28mm at 1:56, scaled down this would be 385 inches. However, we need to remember our figure scale. I am running the game at 1 figure is about 25 men. For the pike blocks one figure would be about 5 men deep by 5 men wide. Using this frontage, I calculate that the required defense length would be 385 / 5 or about 77 inches. For table appearance, I actually made the defenses a little short of 6 feet long (72 inches). This size looks and feels about right. The defenses for the Battle of Bicocca are a dominant feature on the battlefield terrain.

Height

On the height, a pike is up to 18′ long. Using our 1:56 scale this would have meant that the defenses would need to be about 3.8″ tall. The height of the defenses is where I decided to make an artistic compromise. I used some inch thickness foam and then mounted some log barricades from AnyScale models on top. The barricades cost 2 UK Pounds a piece, which seemed reasonable. These barricades are around 0.75 inches high so the overall height of the defenses is just less than 2″. These are a little low, but still look imposing on the table top. I could still add another layer or two of foam board under these defenses to increase the height.

Close up of the gun platform which is still under construction.

Gun platforms

The next job was the gun platforms. It is important that they stick out so that the artillery can fire along the length of the sunken road. The image above shows the early stage of construction of these emplacements. I am going to add logs at the front and sides of the platforms to retain the earth. Also along the entire defenses I will add terrain and rock outcrops to give a better finished appearance.

Construction of the defenses

I used a hot wire cutting tool to cut the earthworks from a 1″ foam board. I then cut and laid some terrain mats from Killing fields terrain to give the bulk of the ground cover. This ground cover will allow the earthworks to blend with the rest of the terrain. I then shaved paths to the gun emplacements with hair trimmers. After I painted a mixture of paint, Elmers glue and rail road ballast over the paths and uncovered foam board. Finally I painted, weathered and glued down the log barricades.

I still have work to do to finish the defenses, but I feel that basic design and structure is complete. I hope to finish them in the next few weeks.

The defenses for the Battle of Bicocca will allow me to deploy 6 units of arquebusier and 3 artillery pieces. The Landsknechts can be easily moved up to the barricades due to the gentle slope at the back. Combined, there should be enough firepower to cause the advancing Swiss Pike some problems.

Changing 28mm Pike block flags

In this blog post I will look at how I converted pike block flags on three units. The units will be ready for a game at Historicon.

I am currently preparing all of my figures and terrain for the two games that I plan to put on. The first is the 1651 Battle of Berestechko that I play tested recently. I plan to run this game at 9am on the Thursday, right at the start of the convention. This game is essentially complete except for a couple of units of Polish Haiduks that I would like to paint.

My second game will be the 1522 Battle of Bicocca. I plan to run for ten players on the Friday morning. I still have a large amount of terrain and figures to complete, but I am on schedule. This game will be the larger of the two and will have about 1500 figures.

In going through the list of troops that I needed for Bicocca, I was short two Venetian pike blocks and one Landsknecht pike block in Imperial service.

However, I did have two Papal States pike blocks and a Landsknecht pike block in French service that were not needed for Bicocca and were available to be converted. With each figure on an individual 20mm x 20mm base, this conversion is as simple as painting new flag figures.

Converting Papal States to Venetian

This first picture shows my two 36 figure Papal States pike blocks with six flag figures between them.

The next picture shows the Papal States pike blocks with the Venetian flag figures that I will change out. The Flags were from Pete’s flags.

The new Venetian flags ready to take their place

The final picture of the pike blocks shows the converted Venetian pike blocks ready for action at Bicocca. Individually basing figures allows me to change both flags and the size of the pike blocks. It is very flexible. However, you need to be more careful with the movement trays than if you glued multiple figures to the base.

Landsknechts from French to Imperial Service

The next job was to convert the 100 figure Landsknecht pike block from French to Imperial service. The first picture shows the pike block before conversion.

The next picture shows the new flag figures ready to go into the pike block. The flags used a mixture of flags from Pete’s flags and Battle Flags.

The final two images show the pike block flags in Imperial service. It is ready to fight back the Swiss coming up from the sunken road at Bicocca.

I am not sure how many people at Historicon would have noticed if I had left French flags on an Imperial pike block. Or even Papal flags on a Venetian pike block. However, I would have known and it would have made me uncomfortable during the game – maybe I am over concerned about it.

Berestechko 1651 – After action report.

The battle of Berestechko 1651

The game was based on the first two days of the Battle of Berestechko 1651. This was the period before the Tatars left the field of battle. After the Tatars left, the Poles essentially surrounded the cossack tabor and the battle was almost siege warfare. Before the Tatars left, the battle was a huge cavalry engagement. I wanted to recreate a large cavalry battle typical of the period.

We had four players for the Polish side, two for the Tatars and two for the Cossacks. The starting positions for Berestechko 1651 were shown in the last blog post.

The Polish Cossacks and Nobel Levy ride out to engage the Tatars.

Opening moves

The first decisive move was that the entire Polish right flank, consisting of the Polish Cossacks and Nobel Levy rode out towards the mass of Tatars. The Tatars, rather than stand back and engage at long distance with their bows, decided to charge out to meet the Poles in the center of the battlefield.

Tim and Bob riding their Tatar horde out to meet the Polish Cavalry commanded by Lou and John.

The cavalry battle was a tussle for many turns, with units from each side taking casualties, being pushed back and regrouping, only to re-engage. One rule change that I made to Pike and Shotte to represent the open cavalry battles of Eastern Europe was to have an “Open Order” formation. This formation is like the skirmish formation, but unlike the skirmish formation, it allows units to charge. Also when a unit has to retire it can pass through other Open Order formations to the rear. I felt like this rule change allowed the looser cavalry battles and formations to be represented. All of the cavalry, with the exception of the Pancerni and Winged Hussars were in Open Order. This rule change worked very well and really captured the feel that I was looking for.

Strategic move of the Winged Hussars and Pancerni

The Pancerni and Hussars start their move in the background of this photo.

The Polish Pancerni and Winged Hussars on their left flank decided that supporting the infantry against the cossack foot troops and tabor was not their best course of action. They started a strategic move to deploy against the now engaged Tatars on the other flank. This was a risky move because it moved them across the front of the cossack artillery, even though it was at long range.

The Tatars and Polish cavalry continue their battle.

The photo above shows the back and forth nature of the Polish cavalry fight with the Tatars. Both sides suffered continuous casualties and many units became shaken. The Tatars, with superior numbers, managed flank the Nobel Levy in the center and wear them down.

One additional rule change that I adopted was to the broken battalia rule. This rules says that: When more than half the units in a battalia are lost or shaken, then the battalia becomes broken. For this battle, we did not count shaken units towards the total. I found that this slight rule change worked well for this period with large cavalry battles. If I had not changed it, the battle would have been over in a few turns. Instead we had about 6 or 7 turns of to and fro cavalry engagement.

Cossacks and Peasants on the move

With the Pancerni and Winged Hussars moving over to the other flank, the cossack infantry felt emboldened. They decided to come out from behind their Tabor and defenses. Some of the dismounted cossack horse decided to mount up so that they could move quickly to engage the Polish infantry.

The Winged Hussars and Pancerni arrive.

The Polish Heavy cavalry charge towards contact.

The Polish Heavy Cavalry arrived on the Tatar right flank at the center of the table. They had taken a few casualties from the cossack artillery en-route. They immediately decided to charge the Tatars. The Tatars then successfully used “Fire and Evade” to avoid what would have been a devastating charge. In the process they inflicted a few more casualties on the Poles.

Register cossacks attacking the reiters and German mercenary infantry.

Even though the Tatars had been rolling well with their Fire and Evades, the cossack infantry could not repeat their success. They had about ten fire dice on the Reiters and missed with everything, despite re-rolls due to their sharp-shooter skills.

Polish Hussars and Pancerni finish off the Tatars.

Despite the initial success of the Tatar, they were always going to be in trouble against the Pancerni and Hussars. The Winged Hussars charged again and smashed some Tatar units. The Pancerni rode into the flank of other Tater units and repeated the results. Only this decisive move prevented the Polish Nobel Levy being completely wiped out. Most of the Tatar units left the table, even though the had acquitted themselves well and destroyed a large percentage of the Polish cavalry.

The Cossack artillery take a long ranged shot at the Winged Hussars.

A lucky artillery shot

With the Polish infantry and peasants now in full advance against the Polish infantry, things were looking bad on the Polish left. The only hope for salvation was that the victorious Pancerni and Winged Hussars would ride back and reinforce the infantry after having routed the Tatars. However, the Hussars and Pancerni had taken a slow trickle of casualties all day long, first from the cossack artillery, then from the Tatar fire and evade and finally from the close combat with the Tatars.

Before the Polish Heavy Cavalry could regroup, the cossack artillery (shown in the photo above) decided to try a long range shot at the Winged Hussars. The result was a lucky direct hit. The already shaken Hussars took an excess casualty. The resulting morale test caused the Hussars to rout off the table. The Hussars had done some devastating damage to the Tatars, but when they routed off the table, the morale of the Polish players took a hit.

With the loss of the Winged Hussars, the possibility of the Polish infantry getting cavalry support from the center disappeared, as the rest of the units were shaken or disordered. This meant that the cossacks could continue their advance on the Polish tabor.

With no hope of victory the Polish decided to withdraw. The Battle of Berestechko 1651 had been a close run affair with many sweeping cavalry advances. I think that the the rules, with a few minor changes, had really captured the feel of the period. As the Polish Levy commander Lou always says, a rule set should have the 3 Fs – Fast, Fun and a Flavor of the Period. I think that this game passed that test.

In the next few weeks I plan to have a debrief with a few of the players to see if we should make any changes for the next time we play the Battle of Berestechko 1651 – which I plan to do at Historicon later this year – for those who are interested.

Battle of Berestechko 1651

This weekend was the first opportunity that I had to put my 1651 Cossack Uprising project on the table. The project was started in April 2020 and finished in April 2021. The first battle that we tried was the 1651 Battle of Berestechko. We played the first two days of the battle before the Tatars left.

We had four players per side and used the Pike and Shotte Rules. There were a total of 600 figures in 28mm. The video below shows the initial set up.

The orders of Battle were:

Polish army for the Battle of Berestechko

Heavy cavalry Battalia:

3 Units of Pancerni each of 8 figures
1 Unit of Winged Hussars of 8 figures
1 Unit of Reiters of 8 figures

Winged Hussars in the foreground with Pancerni and Reiters behind

Infantry Battlalia

1 Unit of German Style Pike of 12 figures
2 Units of German Style Shot each of 12 figures
1 Unit of German Mercenary Pike of 12 figures
2 Units of German Mercenary Shot each of 12 figures
3 Units of Medium Artillery
4 Tabor Wagons

Polish infantry and artillery in the Tabor

Noble Levy Battalia

5 Units of Noble Levy cavalry each of 8 figures

Polish Cossack Battalia

4 Units of Polish Cossack cavalry each of 8 figures

Polish cossacks in the foreground (4 units) with Polish Noble Levy in the background (5 units)

Tatar army

Cavalry Battalia

4 Units of Tatar cavalry each of 8 figures

Cavalry Battalia

4 Units of Tatar cavalry each of 8 figures

Cavalry Battalia

4 Units of Tatar cavalry each of 8 figures

The mass of Tatar cavalry (over 100 figures)

Cossack army

Cossack mounted Battalia

4 Units of Mounted cossacks each of 8 figures
(Horse holders and dismounted figures for the above units)
8 Chevaux de Frise field defenses
4 Gulay Gorad mobile defenses

Cossack Infantry Battalia

2 Units of Cossack Peasants each of 30 figures
2 Units of Medium Artillery
4 Units of Register Cossacks each of 12 figures
4 Units of Cossacks each of 12 figures
10 Cossack war wagons each with light artillery piece

The main cossack army in their Tabor with the two war drums commanding the situation.

Over 90% of the figures in the project are from the Assault Group. The Tatars do have Aventine miniature riders on Assault Group horses. Wagons and defenses are from various manufacturers and the larger artillery pieces are from Steel Fist.

Over the next week or two I hope to do an after action report of the Battle of Berestechko and post some more photos showing how the battle developed.