A First Time at Salute and the Battle of Dänholm 1807

Salute 2019

Northern Wargaming - in the shape of Andreas, Joakim, Robert and Mattias - all visited Salute (an epic wargaming event, hosted by the South London Warlords) for the first time this year. And what an experience it was! To meet some of our heroes of the wargaming community - like the Perry brothers and Rich of TooFatLardies - was simply fantastic. Also, to have the opportunity to say thank you in person to traders like Empress Miniatures, Warbases and Bad Squiddo Games for putting such great products on the market for us all to buy. :-)

Also, Andreas and Mattias - together with Michael from the Dalauppror blog and many other great guys - put on a display game of the French making a surprise attack on the Swedish held islet of Danholm outside Stralsund, in 1807. Its in Swedish Pomerania, present day Germany, with Prussia and Russia knocked out of the war. With the British leaving to attack Copenhagen Sweden was alone againt the French in northern mainland Europe. The French laid siege to the Swedish fortress city of Strasund. In August the Swedes had to abandon the city itself and move to the islet of Danholm in the Waters outside of Stralsund. The scenario portrays the French surprise landing on Danholm, with the 3rd French light infantry regiment and Sailors of the Guard leading the attack. 


It was a true joint effort with contributors from Sweden, Finland and England. For the game we used the newly released Rebels and Patriots rules written by Michael together with Dan Mersey and published by Osprey Publishing.

Between the two of us our contribution was to paint - and convert - just shy of onehundred French miniatures as a part of the assault force. Chasseurs and Voltiguers of the 3rd Light infantry regiment, Sailors of the Imperial Guard, Sappeurs and Mineurs. We also brought some add on terrain for the table. It was a true pleasure to see it all finally come together on location Saturday morning - a beautifully made table with so many skilled contributors adding trees, buildings, a fort, boats, pontoons, civilians, prisoners, casualties, soldiers, a destroyed bridge, it just goes on... A true testament to what a combined effort can achieve.

 

 

Andreas with our heroes.

Mattias summarizing the day.

The Roberth Bothwell Memorial Award for Best Historical Game

Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars (Part V) - The Infantry Battalion and the use of Jaegers

The Swedish Napoleonic Army organisation in short (very short!)

The core of the Swedish army of the Napoleonic Wars was a standing army that during peace time saw only limited time of drill and other actual time serving in the army. These are the alloted (indelta) units. What they lacked in training were to some extent made up with experience as many had served for 10+ years and loyalty to the unit as they served together with men from their own neighbourhood. The rest of the army was made up from enlisted (värvade) units. During the war there were also some militia being used from the vargering and the lantvärn. For a more in-depth look you might want to read this article by Magnus Olofsson.

Regimental Jaegers of the Upland Regiment
(note the black belts and green plume denoting their jaeger capacity).
Picture from the Anno 1808 - Uplands Regemente
re-enactment group, please see more of them HERE

The Battalion and the use of Jaegers 

The battalion, usually some 500-600 men strong, was the basic tactical infantry unit in the Swedish army. Most battalions had four companies with two platoons per company. Some of the enlisted units were organized differently. From 1806 the infantry was to be deployed in two ranks but this was supposedly changed back to three ranks in 1813.

For skirmishing action the Swedish army had some, often enlisted, units of "pure" jaeger like the Wermlands Fältjägare. However, from 1805, what was more prominent was the use of Line Infantry Jaegers or regementsjägare ("regimental jaeger"). The term regimental jaeger is a bit confusing as they were formed from their parent battalions but as mentioned below they were sometimes merged into bigger units and used at a higher organisational level.

Perry Miniatures Swedish infantry in 28mm (SWED 4).
Various regiments. Note the green plumes on the regimental jaegers.
Also, their (partly) blacked belts. I would
paint all belts of the jaegers black however.

Perry Miniatures Wermland Jaegers (SWED 12), an enlisted unit.

The introduction of regimental jaegers followed Sweden’s war against Russia 1788-1790. The efficiency of light troops in broken terrain resulted in an increased Swedish focus on light infantry action. Not only were all line infantry to be trained in fighting in dispersed order but also every Swedish battalion was to have a platoon of jaegers selected from suitable men of the battalion. Originally, each infantry battalion was to form a 53 men strong jaeger platoon (one officer, two NCO’s, two corporals and 48 privates) but in 1806 this was doubled to a 106 men strong jaeger company per battalion. In the 1813, the number of jaeger per battalion was again lowered to 58 officers and men (one officer, two NCO’s, four corporals, one bugler and 50 privates).

The employment of these Line Infantry Regimental Jaegers varied; sometimes they were used as skirmishers for their parent battalion, sometimes merged to a regimental jaeger company or battalion, but most often they were removed from their parent battalions and formed into a light infantry battalion held at brigade level.

The Regimental Jaeger Uniform 

As noted above the Swedish Line Infantry Jaegers ("regementsjägare") wore the same uniform as their parent unit. However, their leather belts were often black instead of white and they wore a green plume. Jaegers of non Line Infantry units often had a similar change compared to their parent regiment uniform aswell.

Earlier posts on Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars

Part I - Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars - an Overview
Part II - Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars - a Modeling Tutorial for 1806-1809
Part III - Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars - Uniform Colours and a Painted Example
Part IV - The Swedish Soldier's Greatcoat - a Tutorial

AAR: It's a trap! A Star Wars Skirmish in 28mm

Legends of the Outer Rim - using GW's Legends of the Old West for Star Wars Skirmish Gaming

Introduction 

We've started using the out of print 'Legends of the Old West' from Games Workshop Historical for some Star Wars skirmish gaming. Its a fast and fun ruleset, akin to GW's Lord of the Rings engine, that provides great games.

We have set our scene to rebels operating on the remote planet Akiva, where a rebel group run sabotage missions, a few years before the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first deathstar.

In our previous game our rebels managed to get their hands on hands on plans to a powerstation. Please see HERE.

With no time to spare and having had their ship under guard by the Imperium, the rebels had to pay a henchman of  Surat Nuat - the local crime lord - to airlift them and their equipment to the area where the power station was located.

Almost immediately after their transport took of they saw stormtroopers closing in on their position. It was a trap! They had beed betrayed and now had to try and blast a way out, trying to get their gear with them.

We used the Bank Robbery scenario from the Legends of the Old West rulebook, originally where a surrounded group of robbers have to shoot themselves out and try and leave the table with their loot.

The opposing forces

The Rebels

The Imperial Stormtroopers

The table

A 4x4' table with lots of buildings.
And the rebels at the landing platform.

The Game

The scenario kicked off with the Rebels being deployed on the landing platform. As their transport took off they picked up their gear and got ready to move. It was quiet. Too quiet...

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Stormtroopers waiting to close the trap.

Almost immediately the Rebels saw stormtroopers closing on their position. "It's a trap!"
Qickly coming up with a plan they thought it best to blast their way out at a single exit point, trying to get local supperioriy in numbers at that spot. So a pair of Rebels opened up with covering fire as the others moved as quickly as they could with their heavy equipment to the ladder at the end of the platform. With laser blasts flying through the air the Rebels scrambled down the ladder, only for their Leader to lose his footing and tumble head first into the pavement below. Not a great start to their escape.

"The Empire is here, we got to move!"

Their escape starts badly as the rebel leader takes a bad step
climbing down the ladder and falls, hurting himself badly.

More stormtroopers appears.

As the Rebels were moving towards their chosen exit the brave few holding their ground and proving covering fire was under immense preasure. Not before long the stomtroopers were simply too many and the Rebel's rearguard were hit and and fell.

The rebel's rearguard takes incoming fire...

...and falls.

On the other side the Rebels, including their wounded leader, stumbled towards the exit point. With yet more stormtroopers blocking their way it turned into a fierce close range firefight with casualties on both sides. As the Rebels pushed further they ended up in close combat with the ever increasing number of stormtroopers. 

With the Rebel leader being shot, falling to the ground and this time staying down, and others going down aswell, the rebels simply could not break out from the Empire's trap. The Rebels not shot were captured, facing an uncertain fate.

The Empire had won!

The desperate rebels try to shoot their way out...

...but even as some stormtroopers go down the rebels
loose speed and get bogged down in fierce combat.

The rebels are surrounded on all sides...

...and in the end the rebel leader goes down.
The rebels are caught!

Conclusion

Another quick and fun game using our Star Wars "Wild West" theme. The Rebels plan to go strong towards a specific exit point, only leaving a few Rebels as rearguard was probably a good one. But with their heavy equipment they couldn't move quick enough and with their leader wounded early on they were in deep trouble. Some good manouvering from the Empire also made sure to slow the Rebels down until more stormtroopers arrived to close the trap. A great game!

AAR: Legends of the Outer Rim - a Star Wars Skirmish

Using GW's Legend of the Old West for Star Wars skirmish gaming

Introduction

With the release of Star Wars Legion nice stormtroopers in 28(+)mm has become readily available. Not really keen on the full scale battle format of SW:Legion the stormtroopers gave birth to the idea of some Star Wars skirmish gaming.

Finding varied rebel miniatures were more of a challenge but came from alot of places, and took some converting to get right.

For along time we have thought that the the now out of print Games Workshop Historical publication of Legends of the Old West (LotOW) would be great for Star Wars. After all, many locations and scenes from the movies look like something out of a Western movie, if with a twist.

In most cases we simply use stats from LotOW and call it something else. So instead of for instance a cowboy with sixshooter there will be a rebel with a blaster. Simple.

For our game we set the scene to the planet Akiva in the Outer Rim, a couple of years before the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first Deathstar. A rebel cell is trying to make life misserable for the Imperial forces garrisoned on the planet.

We used the Prison Break scenario from the LotOW rulebook but made it into that the rebel spies had to break into a vault and steal plans to a power station. To win they had to get to the guarded vault, get the plans and get them off the table. All as Imperial patrols might arrive on the scene.

The opposing forces

The Imperial Stormtroopers

The Rebels

The Table

 


The Game

The rebels went for a quick attack and managed to get rid of the guards at the vault without too many losses, although losing their heavy fire support early on was a tought blow. With the rebel leader climbing up to the vault and having trouble with the lock the situation got worse as more stormtroopers arrived. In the end it was a desperate struggle for the rebels to get away with the plans and several fell into the hands of the Imperium.

It was a very fun and quick game that still required some tactical thinking. There will be more of this eventually I'm sure. 

The stormtroopers guarding the vault.

The rebels prepare themselves.

The rebels' heavy firesupport get into position.

The rebels open fire...

...and rush across the street.

"Never tell me the odds!"
The rebel leader takes his group across the open street.

The stormtroopers fires on the charging
rebels but with limited effect.

Meanwhile the Chiss rebel brave the stormtroopers...

...and manages to outflank them.

Firefight in the cramped alleys.

Having cleared the vault of stormtroopers the rebel leader manages to break
in and take the plans, while dodging shots from the Imperial reinforcements.

The rebels try to hold off the stromtroopers.

With the plans the rebel leader tries to escape,
as his companions get killed or captured.

Two out of six rebels escape.
But the planes are secured for the Rebellion.