Seven Years War Swedes

 

  For better or for worse, I've been fascinated by the armies of Sweden in the Seven Years War and in the Napoleonic wars. I have no idea why. Maybe it's Ikea's meatballs with lingonberry sauce.

   In any event, last Saturday at the Hamilton Road Games Group, Andy, Glenn, and I tried out my Swedes against Andy's Wurttemberg troops who were allies of Frederick the Great's Prussia. Neither side had seen the table before so the "New Unit Curse" was in full force. (For those not "in the know", units of toy soldiers pretty much always fail, run, or get demolished on their first time out on the gaming table.) So off we went, using Osprey Publication's Honours of War rules. We may have stretched them to the limit with some things that went on. I like the rules and the rules, being somewhat abstract in counting casualties, do not lend themselves easily to a campaign setting. The rules count casualties as both actual losses in numbers and decline in unit morale. Did the unit choke and break or did they get decimated? The rules don't say and we can't be sure. Maybe someone else knows.

Well, here are some photos of my troops from my perspective. I tried to paint up a number of Finnish units out of deference to my friend, Vihtori, in Finland. At that time in history, Sweden and Finland were united... and I'm not sure that the Finns have ever forgiven the Swedes for that.

A view of the Swedish left flank and left centre.
A small light unit is headed for the town.
The Swedes were quite deficient in light infantry for quite a while.

 

The Swedish centre exchanges fire with the Wurttemberg infantry.
Hence, the cotton puff-balls.

French Cavalry in the service of Wurttemberg square off against Swedish infantry.
The figures are 15mm and the small 10mm cannon indicate the presence of "battalion guns."

Cavalry forces tentatively approach.
I soon formed my heavy horse into single lines. Double lines don't help.

Heavy Horse of the North Scanian and South Scanian regiments lead the way.
They are backed by the green-coated Bohusläns Dragoons

Action front! Load and fire in best time!

More firing between the lines.
The house is not happy and I can't remember why.

The right centre of the Swedish line pushed forward to engage.
The smaller white die (behind the battalion gun) indicates casualties on that unit.

The firing continues.

The Swedish C-in-C was not happy,

Most of the figures were either Essex or Minifig Russians. The grenadiers were Old Glory 15s or Laming figures picked up at Bring-and-Buy/Flea Market. A large number were figures from TundraWorks, a Canadian company. I used the figures for Prussian garrison regiments. The figures are nicely molded with a lot of variation. They're not highly detailed but quite enough for the likes of me.

The cavalry were Old Glory 15s or Laming (I think).

    The game didn't go far because we began to discuss the reality of a cavalry regiment charging uphill at an artillery battery. The guns fired and the cavalry melted away. Realistic? I can't say. I haven't ridden a horse in years and I have worked a 3# cannon in reenacting recently, but I still can't say.

   The rules have their limits and I still like them. Just my opinion.

More to come shortly.