Wednesday 24 July 2019

GNW Rampant

In my last post I said I'd pit my 'Dragon Rampant' Great Northern War forces against each other in a straight head-to-head fight. So last night I did just that. I played the Gory Bloodbath scenario, using two 30pt forces and with randomised terrain.

The terrain ended up pretty dense, with a village, a walled monastery, and impassable crag and some woods dominating the centre. A fordable river ran between the two opposing baselines, and beyond that were more woods.


I started both forces off-table. Here's the bulk of the Swedes. Their warband consisted of:

2 x Heavy Missiles (Weighty Projectiles, Enchanted Shooting Weapons) @ 4pts each
2 x Heavy Foot (Offensive) @ 6pts each. The leader was with one unit.
2 x Heavy Riders (Enchanted Melee Weapons) @ 5pts each

The Swedish leader could order one automatic attack per turn for a unit within 12".

The infantry went straight for the gap between the crag and the woods; it was obvious that the monastery, which offered cover whilst not being rough going, would be the key to the battle. The Swedish horse are out of shot to the right; their task was to ride as fast as possible to the two small hills in the background, between which was a proper ford across the river.


The Russian's advance was more piecemeal. They also made a concerted effort to reach the monastery, and had the advantage that it was closer to their board edge. Their force consisted of:

1 x Heavy Missiles (Weighty Projectiles, Enchanted Shooting Weapons, Mystical Armour) @ 6pts. The leader was with this unit.
3 x Heavy Missiles (Weighty Projectiles, Enchanted Shooting Weapons) @ 4pts each.
1 x Heavy Foot @ 4pts
1 x Heavy Riders @ 4pts
1 x Light Rider @ 4pts

The Russian leader's ability related to units with the Wild Charge ability, of which there were none.


The first attack went in as the Swedish cavalry met their Russian counterparts. The fierce Swedish attack (the Enchanted Weapons) drove the Russians back.

I gave each side three quests, one each from the 3 Glory, 2 Glory and 1 Glory sections. The Swedes gained Glory for initiating the first attack of the game.


Russian musketeers reached the monastery, as the Swedes rushed towards it as well.


However the tardy Russian advance meant that they failed to make the wall facing the Swedes in time, so didn't benefit from cover when the rapid Swedish attack went in.


The Russians were driven out, and the Swedes took possession of the monastery.


Swedish cavalry crossed the ford and drove back some more Russian musketeers.


It wasn't looking good for the Russians, who were wavering in a number of places from the rapid Swedish attack. Their leader directed his musketeers to fire a volley at the Swedish cavalry, which halted their attack.


Around the monastery the Russian's Cossack allies were peppering the Swedish leader's foot unit with fire.



With the Russians having a firepower advantage, there was no point in the Swedes remaining in the monastery, so they attacked out of it, driving towards the Russian infantry. Their quests relied on defeating a number of Russian units in the same turn, so an aggressive approach was called for at this stage.


The second Swedish cavalry unit tried to cross at the ford, but was caught doing so by Russian pikemen who caught them at the halt and inflicted more casualties.


The Swedes continued to drive forward, but the momentum was going out of their attack and their units were becoming dangerously isolated. The Swedish pikemen failed to break some Russian musketeers, who responded with a volley which routed them.


More musketry destroyed the Swedish cavalry.


The Swedish leader's unit was now the only one at the forefront of the fight, and was taking a dangerous number of hits. With no support, he ran.


The Swedish musketeers were still a long way back. I considered calling the game at this point - the Russians still had six of their seven units, whilst the Swedes were leaderless and down to their last two. But I decided to keep going.


By dint of fortunate activations on their part, and some terrible moves by the Russians, the two Swedish musketeer units gained the cover of the monastery. Now the fight would be more interesting. Could they hold out against a massed Russian assault?


The Russians formed up as the two sides traded fire. The Cossacks were the first to suffer a deadly Swedish volley, which saw them flee.


Swedish morale held, and the drove off two more Russian musketeer units by concentrating on those that had already taken casualties in the initial attacks. The Russian force was now looking very shaky, as morale tests shook some of the already damaged units. Only the Russian leader and his stoic grenadiers stood firm (the Mystical Armour represented their stoicism, and worked to great effect).


Exploiting the fact that the Swedes had taken some hits, the Russian pikemen went into the assault, but were driven off.


The pikemen wavered and reformed, but another Swedish volley saw them off.


The Russians were now reduced to just their leader's unit, as the battle drew to a close.


Due to their seizing of the monastery, and their epic defence of it, the Swedes clinched a decisive win. They achieved two of their three quests, plus got the Glory for the victory, whilst the Russians achieved one quest, but lost the points for it because they failed two others.

This was a tremendous game, which really switched from one side to the other due to failed activation rolls. Heavy Missiles are quite dangerous, but are harder to move than other foot, and not always easy to shoot with. With good activations the Russian's firing line can be deadly, especially with the Enchanted Weapons initial volley, but the units proved hard to get into place. The Swedish force was better equipped for an attack, but suffered when it got over-extended. It would be interesting to run their two pike units as Bellicose Foot with Terrifically Shiny armour; they would defend the same against musketry as the Heavy Foot, with the downside of having the Wild Charge and a vulnerability  to being charged by horse.

Of course a future game could be the same forces (or, at least, similar) set up using 'The Pikeman's Lament'. Do it properly.

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