Polska Power

While I've been working on my 10mm Spanish Civil War, there has been quiet progress on other projects. After completing my 6mm Russians for the 17th century, I began work on some Polish forces to oppose them (and the Swedes). I had painted some pancerni cavalry but languished on the command. My attentions took me elsewhere and they were neglected. 

Here are the completed pancerni. I am pleased with the result. Red is the dominant color but there is also some blue and green pops of color. The banners also reinforce that red theme. 

The fortification in the background is a resin model of  Krzyztopr Castle from Brigade Models. I painted it like the example on their website and am pleased with it. The castle is located in southern Poland and was constructed in the first half of the 17th century The fortification can play a factor in various scenarios of Tercios taking place in the late 17th century. 

Next up for this project will be some more pancerni, a unit of winged hussars and some infantry to support them. I think this project will be something I work on in between other projects like the SCW Moroccans and the Wargames Atlantic Azincourt plastics. 

Progress: Paint on Lead (and Plastic)

I've been trying to stay productive with my hobby, starting to tackle a 6mm Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth army to fight my Swedes and Russians. First up are enough pancerni for two regiments of cavalry. 

Only ones left to paint are the command. I will probably add a third pancerni unit and one or two winged hussars and some light horse detachments. 

There's nothing that I love more than a diversion to keep me motivated (and distract me from the primary task).  When I was over at my local hobby shop, I noticed they had some of Wargames Atlantic's 10mm plastic orcs in stock. I had planned to order some of these whenever Wargames Atlantic decides to release their 10mm plastic Azincourt armies. Yesterday I decided to take the plunge and support my local hobby shop. 

The box set includes three sprues of figures and 40x20mm bases. I plan to base mine on 40mm bases for either Chipco's Fantasy Rules! or Nic Wright's Fantastic Battles. I rinsed the sprues in soapy water and primed them black the following day. The image above shows my first go at these figures. Overall I am pretty pleased. The faces were les successful nut I am hoping to go back in and paint tusks, and perhaps a light ink wash will help with some facial details. These fellas will definitely be a speed-paint project so I'm not too concerned.

Game On....

Today, Alex and I got together for our game. It had been a while since I had seen my old friend and it was really good to catch up, share a few jokes, roll some dice and push some lead. 

Alex opted to take control of the Russian horde as they marched on towards Narva. His force was tasked with securing a village near a stream and driving the Swedes from their defensive positions. 

As the Swedes, I started with only half my force under Governor-General De la Gardie. A relief force commanded by Colonel Burmeister would arrive on Turn 3. The village was capable of holding one battalion in a fortified position. I opted to place the blue coated infantry battalion in the village with a green-coated dragoon regiment to their left and a yellow-coated infantry battalion and an artillery battery to the right of the village. 

I accidentally deleted the initial setup pictures so here we are after Turn 1(above). A unit of Streltsy on the right advanced too close to the village and received a volley from the blue coats for their trouble, inflicting a wear point. The Russian artillery bombarded the yellow coats from a distance, inflicting a wear and disordering the infantry regiment. Alex brought the rest of the Russians into position with some detachments of dragoons and Cossacks managing to cross the stream on the far flanks. 

At the end of Turn 2 (above), things looked good for the Swedes. Their dragoons chased off a Russian dragoon detachment on their far left ((top center of the photo barely in view). In the center, a streltsy battalion attempted an assault on the village and was repulsed with heavy loss. Another streltsy unit was unsuccessful in reaching the yellow-coat Swedish infantry and received a cannon blast into them causing some wear and disorder. The yellow-coats unloaded a volley into some roaming cossacks on their far right causing wear and disorder. The Swedes also saw their reserves arrive at the table edge.

The end of end of Turn 3 and beginning of Turn 4 (above) was probably the high-mark for the Swedes. In the third, the Russian reiters attempted an assault on the village and were repulsed with two wear inflicted for their troubles. The Russian westernized infantry filled gaps between the center and both flanks but had yet to make any meaningful action. The Swedish reserves were approaching the lines and their horse were primed to make a counter attack on a damaged streltsy battalion on the center left. Things went bad for the Swedes from here out.

At the end of Turn 4 (above), and the Swedish cavalry comprising their left flank is in trouble. The Swedish horse charged the injured streltsy and lost badly. Despite rolling 7 melee dice to the Russians 4 (their bardische allowing them to ignore wear markers in melee), the Swedes were repulsed after inflicting only one wear and suffering three. The green-coated dragoons were charged by a Russian westernized battalion and suffered two wear. The Swedish infantry failed to attrite the Russian units facing them.

Close-up of the situation at the end of Turn 4 (above).

The situation after Turn 5 (above). The Swedish lost their dragoon regiment on their left and the thier horse regiment were at their breaking point. The Russians lost one of their streltsy battalions and another was heavily damaged with three wear and also disordered. On the far right, the grey-coated Swedish infantry were disordered and suffering two wear after being shot up by cossacks and charged by streltsy.

In turn 6, the Russian reiters slammed into the injured Swedish horse destroying them and killing Colonel Burmeister in the process. A second streltsy battalion was destroyed on the Russian side. At the end of the turn the Russians led in victory points 9-8 but would need an advantage of 3 points for a clear victory at this point. Alex and I decided to play one more turn to decide things.

The end of Turn 7 (above). The Russians managed inflict wear and cause disorder by bombarding the yellow-coat Swedish infantry. In a desperate gamble, the yellow-coats attempted to charge and kill a vulnerable Potyomkin but failed their order check. Both the grey and yellow coat Swedish infantry were destroyed including Governor-General De la Gardie. The Swedes were left with a lone artillery battery and the blue-coated Swedish infantry entrenched in the village. 

It was a bloody affair that went very bad for the Swedes late in the game. Both Alex and I had a blast. I really can't say enough positive about Tercios. We finished 7 turns in about two and a half hours and I also managed to remember to do the various things I typically forget: orders checks for weary units, adjusting dice for weary and disorganized units, etc.

I may have to adjust some ratings for detachments. I lowered their melee and stamina but often kept their shooting value the same. We agreed to play again in the future. I really need to paint up my Poles and Ottomans now!

Nevermind the Bardiche...

Just a quick post because I ran through a few turns of Liber Militum Tercios the other night and followed that up with a reading of the reviews this evening. Perhaps I should have done those in the reverse order but no matter. 

For my practice solo game, I placed a small Swedish force on the table consisting of a commander, infantry battalion, dragoon regiment and light artillery battery. The Swedes were tasked with defending a stream edge. 

Opposing them was a slightly larger Russian force with a westernized infantry battalion, a streltsy battalion and dragoon detachment. 

To start the game, the Russians advanced. Streltsy are given slightly faster movement so they are a bit further out. The dragoon detachment hadn't moved yet at the time of this picture. The Swedes moved forward to the stream edge and their artillery bombarded ineffectively. 

The Russian infantry are given assault orders while the the Swedish loose off a volley. The Swedish infantry manage to inflict some wear on the streltsy but the 

Russians slammed into the Swedish pike and shot. The bardishe axes allow the streltsy to ignore the wear marker in melee, they roll 6 dice and inflict 3 wear markers on the Swedes. 

The Swedish dragoon regiment probably should have charged the Russian dragoon detachment but they opted to engage in a firefight instead. Soon the Russian pike and shot battalion started pouring fire into the dragoons as well and they were on the brink of breaking. 

At this point, after 3 quick turns, I opted to conclude the practice run. I keep forgetting to conduct orders check rolls for reactions and when worn units are tying to act on orders. I learned that those streltsy are pretty nasty in melee against other infantry. Tercios is a great ruleset. I really need to play it more. 

On a side note, I really like using the plastic bushes from Monster Fight Club as clumps of trees for my 6mm and 10mm games. They don't take up much storage space because they are stackable, they are pretty much impervious to damage in storage and I think they look really nice on the tabletop. They aren't cheap but I think I may have to get a bunch more. I think they used to have a convention sale when I would see them at various HMGS shows.

The Road to Narva 1656

So it appears that I will be getting together with my friend Alex to roll some dice and push some (tiny) lead soldiers. Next week we will play a hypothetical battle from the Russo-Swedish War during the Deluge. The rules will be Liber Militum: Tercios and the figures will be from my freshly painted 6mm Baccus collection. 

I generated the scenario using ChatGPT and tweaked the OOBs to what I had and wanted to use. ChatGPT provided the following scenario background (I designed the crude map in MS Paint):

"In late 1656, the Tsardom of Russia launched an offensive into Swedish Livonia. After the capture of Dorpat, a Russian detachment under Prince Ivan Khovansky advanced towards Narva to secure the approaches to Ingria. A Swedish relief force under Governor-General Magnus De la Gardie marched south to cut off the Russian column before it could consolidate its gains.

The battle takes place on open ground near a small Livonian village, where the Swedes attempt to block the Russian advance while the Russians push aggressively to drive them back."

I swapped out Prince Ivan Khovansky for my Pyotr Potyomkin which is historically plausible. I gave De la Gardie and Potyomkin Colonel Burmeister and Ivan Poltev (respectively) as their assistant commanders and I will provide all of them with some traits for added flavor. Poltev was, in fact, Pyotr's assistant commander. Burmeister was a cavalry colonel who was involved in the Livonian campaign and seems to have been fairly aggressive and fairly successful.

The Russian forces have Potyomkin (on the left) commanding two streltsy battalions, a detachments of dragoon, one detachment of cossacks and both artillery batteries. Ivan Poltev has command of two westernized battalions and a reiter regiment. I bungled the picture and left both dragoon detachments with ol' Pyotr. 

The Swedes will begin the game with two pike and shot units, a green coated dragoon regiment, an artillery battery all commander by De la Gardie (on the right). On turn 3, a Swedish relief force will arrive commanded by Colonel Christopher Burmeister which is comprised of a pike and shot unit and a cavalry regiment. If you look closely, the dragoons and horse are in the wrong positions and I have yet to add static grass to Colonel Burmeister's base. I should have this rectified by game time. 

The scenario will task the Russians with seizing a small village and attempting to drive the Swedes from the table. They will have a slight points advantage and the benefit of having all their units on the table to begin the battle. 

Muscovite Mission Accomplished!

Making progress with the painting queue has been a challenge for most of 2025, but especially so this last month or so. I finally managed to finish up my 17th century Russian army in 6mm. 

The army is comprised of three "western" pike and shot units, two streltsy units, one "western" reiter unit, two dragoon detachments, a Cossack detachment, two artillery pieces and two commanders. 

Here is the third and final pike and shot unit showing off their red and blue uniforms. I found the red company flag online and the regimental flag is courtesy of Baccus. 

And here are the western reiters, the only full sized cavalry unit in the Russian army. They are loosely based on a color plate I can across showing a green-clad member Colonel Wormser's reiter formation. 

And lastly a closeup look at the detachment of cossacks. They will probably be of dubious battlefield effectiveness but they might be able to secure an objective or something where mobility is needed. 

I will be using the army with the Liner Militum: Tercios rules and the Kingdoms expansion (which covers the ECW and Deluge armies). Here's a look at the points breakdown:

• 2 Streltsy bases (large sotnia): 100 points each (200 points total)
• 3 Pike & Shot bases ("modernized" streltsy, large sotnia, muskets, pikes): 115 points each (345 points total)
• 1 Reiter base (large unit, arquebus): 100 points each (100 points total)
• 2 Light Artillery bases: 70 points each (140 points total)
• 2 Dragoon detachments (small unit): 60 points each (120 points total)
• 1 Cossack detachment (harasser rule)" 65 points 
• Potyomkin (Passionate trait)
• Pushkin (Will trait)

970 total army points (if my fuzzy math is accurate).

I will tackle some Ottoman and Polish armies to.do battle with the Russian host, however in the interim they will be facing off with my 17th century Swedes in a few hypothetical battles.

Armies of the Two Peters...

I haven't been quite as productive at the paint desk as I would like. There have been some logistical and work hurdles I've been trying to overcome with mixed success. 

I wanted to post some pictures of painted figures to reflect what modest accomplishments I've achieved regarding the 17th century Russian army I've been working on. 

Here is the Russian army this far: two streltsy units, two "western" pike and shot units, two dragoon detachments, two artillery bases and two Peters, or should I say "Pyotrs", but more on that later...the plan is to add a "western" reiter unit and a third "western" pike and shot units, a base of armored boyars and a few cossack detachments. Almost there.

Here are the two streltsy units, one which was shows previously. I found the flags online and edited the colors to reflect specific streltsy regiments. 

The two western units. The flags were found online, they apparently did use those digital looking designs on their standards. I read that the officers were often wearing reverse colored uniforms as the rank and file. I will add a third regiment in red uniforms later.

Here are the dragoon detachments. I have them a ragged uniform with a red/grey/tan palette theme. 

The artillery, my sources indicate that red was a popular color for the crews so I went with that. Online images showed alot of red/black cannon schemes. 

And lastly the command bases, a pair of Pyotrs. My armies are loosely based on the Russian forces that invaded Swedish held territory during the Deluge. These armies were led by Pyotr Potyomkin and Pyotr Pushkin. I was able to find several images on the colorful Potyomkin, one in a white and yellow ensemble and another in a dark red outfit (shown above). I had less success finding images of Pushkin. I decided to base my two command bases off the two separate images of Potyomkin. The bases may represent Potyomkin and Pushkin but really they based off the one Peter...or Pyotr. 

You can see the commanders in the respective costumes based on the paintings, you can also see the grey beards. The banner with the religious iconography was found online and edited. I had another photo of the command bases from a better angle that showed off the banner but I accidentally deleted it. These command bases were a bit of a stumble for me. Actually a series of stumbles. I had to pry one of the Pyotrs off the base after gluimg and reposition him because he was too forward and close to the edge. I also applied too much matte varnish on them in humid conditions and completely frosted the figures over. I recovered some of the original color with gloss varnish but had to repaint a good portion of the figures. The paint jobs aren't quite as crisp as they once were but they are good enough for 6mm. 

I look forward to getting these on the gaming table and slug it out with Swedes, Poles and Ottomans. 

Cossack Conundrum and a question of Boyars...

As I assemble a small army for my 17th century Muscovite army, I'm running into some challenges. The Baccus Great Northern War Russians offer early "modern" pike and shot and streltsy infantry. For Commanders, cavalry and artillery, I have to borrow from other Baccus ranges for proxies. 

For the reiters, I plan to use WEC16 (horse in continental pot, as seen abve) and I think that's a good match despite that they aren't in kaftans (in 6mm, you can fudge things a bit). 

I had planned to use GNC01 (cossack cavalry) as boyars but I think they are better served to represent dragoons. These sculpts have muskets (or arquebus) and just don't look boyar to me. It seems that dragoons would probably be the most common mounted unit present for the Swedish deluge. Originally the dragoons were really just mounted infantry but as they received carbines, they operated more from horseback. I'm thinking that the dragoons should probably be based as small units, while they seemed prolific, they weren't really battlefield cavalry and shouldn't be based as full units. 

Another potentially useful code for Muscovite horse would be some of the poses from the Polish black light cavalry pack (GNP05), I'm just not sure what I will use them for. 

I still don't know what to use for boyars and I'm not sure if it's even worth it since I will have reiters and dragoons present. OTT17 (Ottoman armored cavalry) could be used to portray Moscow dvorians since they have armor and lances. Polish Pancerni GNP7) are another option...perhaps a mix of both?

Artillery and Commanders will be addressed by using Cossack artillery (GNC03) and Polish generals (GNP09) respectively. 

Killiecrankie (sort of)

I have been working on the Killiecrankie project since my trip to Scotland in late July and I was able to get enough figures done for a gameable matchup with Rob during Fall In. The Williamites had 5 pike and shot battalions to the Jacobites 6 highlander units and one pike and shot unit (Purcell's Irish). Despite being outnumbered in the scenario (which they were not in the actual battle), they had more army points than the Jacobites. I downgraded Kenmure's two battalions to "raw" and made every Williamite unit roll before the start of the game. On a 5 or 6 they would start off disordered and require an orders check roll to remove the disorder. Rob rolled poorly and every infantry unit except one of Kenmure's battalions was disordered. Luckily for Rob, he was able to shake all of the disorder in the first two turns prior to any action.

A map of the deployment (above) and the actual tabletop deployment from the Jacobite side below.

I made the large hill and small knoll myself in the weeks leading up to Fall In, I'm pleased with the results, it didn't stick out as a different colored terrain piece.

Order cards being assigned to the units (above), the opening turns saw each side advance towards their enemy. A few units were outside command range and require orders check (below), the results were unsuccessful as they became less than willing to move. The Jacobite cavalry raced toward the center of the Williamite line to face their mounted couunterparts. Meanwhile the Scottish leather gun fired without any results.

The Jacobites enjoyed some initial success as the Jacobite cavalry drove off the Williamite horse with heavy casualties and rode down the crews of the leather gun battery (above), knocking the artillery out of action. On the Jacobite left, clan Macdonald faced off against Weem's government highland company (below). The Williamite highlanders suffered badly but managed to stay on the battlefield despite reach the breaking point of their stamina.

Clan MacLean getting charged by one of Kenmure's battalions (above) after being savaged by musket fire during a failed charge. Things went poorly on the Jacobite left flank. Ewan Cameron and his Cameronians shrugged off volleys and had several successful charges, ultimately breaking a unit of Kenmure's Regiment and then successfully removing a wear point but couldn't push any other Williamite infantry past their breaking points. Their other clans on the left had much less success and soon it was only the Cameronians holding their side of the battlefield.

In the center, the Jacobite cavalry was having more success, driving off their mounted opponents and causing some havoc with flank charges on pike and shot units in the Williamite center. Ultimately the Gentleman Highlanders were overly aggressive and got ridden down by Annandale's horse after the latter rallied and charged back into the mix. 

On the Jacobite right, things were a slow grind. They were piling up wear points on Balfour and Ramsay's Regiments but not able to break them. MacLean was driven after an unsuccessful charge against Lauder's grenadier detachment on the knoll. Finally, the Highlanders began to waver after Purcell's Irish were driven off the field by Balfour's Redcoats. By turn 7, the Williamites were able to claim a "fair" victory. 

Both Rob and I really liked the game and how the rules played. This was my third game of Tercios! but my first attempt with Highlanders. I like how the rules treated them, you don't want to get in a firefight using them, their only choice is to get stuck in but if they don't break their opponent quickly, a grinding melee will most likely be a failing endeavor. I think that is consistent with historical accounts. 

I played this scenario without the full Williamite force since I hadn't painted up Mackay's and Leven's regiments, which would give the government army 9 total infantry units to the Jacobites 6 infantry units. If I replay the scenario with the full forces, I will probably make the initial die-roll for disorder among the Williamite forces a permanent status. 

This was also my first use of commanders leadership traits and virtues. I limited each commander to one of these traits (Dundee had two) and they could only use them when attached to a unit. I think I will continue to apply them in this limited manner because it didn't make their presence too fiddly. 

I can't wait to play more Tercios. It's a fun game and I look forward to getting exotic armies like Muscovites and Ottomans on the tabletop. 

 

Ferdinando Hastings' Regiment and Fall In games...

 

I just finished Hastings' Regiment and it will prob be the last I complete prior to the Fall In convention. I wouldn't have made a post for just one completed unit but I like this particular unit because it was the only English unit at Killiecrankie, the only one with yellow trim (the Scots units either had red or white facings) and their Colonel was an interesting character. My wargaming friend "One Lover" Ray (who frequently posts comments of encouragement below) explained the "colorful" background of Hastings here. 

I will be hosting two games for my friend Rob at Fall In. One will be a refight of my Anglo Zulu War game of The Men Who Would be Kings. The other will be a Killiecrankie-inspired scenario. I say inspired because the government force will be short a few units (I ran out of time to paint them). 

The Williamite force will consist of the following, with their classification according to Tercios:

1 x Hastings' Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)

2 x Kenmure's Regiment - Pike & Shot, Raw (270 250 points)

1 x Ramsay's Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)

1 x Balfour's Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)

Lauder's Grenadiers - Musketeer Company (55 points)

Weem's Highlanders - Melee Company, Mercenaries (50 points)

Aberdeen's Horse - Cavalry Company (? points)

Belhaven's Horse - Cavalry Company (? points)

Leather Guns - Light Artillery (60 points)

Commanders: Mackay (Zeal) , Balfour (Discipline)

Total: 615 820 Points (apparently my math skills left slot to be desired when I made my initial "fuzzy math" computations. 

The Jacobite force is this:

1 x Cameronians - Clubmen, Well Equipped, Enraged (90 points)

5 x Highlanders - Clubmen, Equipped, Enraged (400 points)

Purcell's Irish - Pike & Shot (135 points)

Dundee's Bodyguard - Cavalry Company (? points)

Gentleman Highlanders - Cavalry Company (? points)

Commanders: Dundee (Dexterity), Cameron (Sacrifice)

Total: 625 Points  

The battle map will look something like this...

To balance the game out a bit, I may have the Williamite infantry roll at the beginning of the game to see if they are "disordered" which would reflect the lackluster results some of the veteran units displayed in the historical battle. 

Government Army for Killiecrankie

I've had some travel these past few weekends which has impacted my productivity. I know that these armies won't be complete for the Fall In convention, I'm hoping I to get gameable forces to get in a game with my good friend Rob. Mackay's army isn't complete just yet but I figured I would give a progress report.

First up is Kenmure's regiment. I have two battalions of this regiment. These were one of the units raised prior to the battle. The other regiment was Leven's, which I plan to field on the tabletop with bonnet conversions (if I am pleased with the green stuff  attempts at bonnets)..

Next up is Ramsay's regiment, one of the units of the Scots Brigade. I should mention that the government flags are from Barry Hilton's League of Augsburg range. Beautiful flags, Ramsay's has an interesting design with the chevron and creature (seal?) on the chevron.

Balfour's regiment, all of these fellows are in red coats faced white.

Bellhaven's and Annandale's horse. I decided to paint one of the units in blue (a common color for militia).

Both Bellhaven's and Annandale's horse are small units, just detachments.

Next up are Lauder's grenadiers. These were a converged group of grenadiers from the various units who operated as the vanguard of Mackay's army.

The Scottish grenadiers at the time wore a stocking cap with brown fur upturned liner. In order to replicate this look, I used Baccus' French dismounted dragoons from their WSS range. 

At Killiecrankie, the Scots government army likely had some "leather guns", for my army I opted to use a small gun from their Sun King range. I painted the barrel a black so that one mistake it as a leather gun. 

Scottish gunners wore a similar headgear as the grenadiers. Again, I opted to use converted French WSS dragoons. I should point out that the gun's apparently weren't very effective in the battle. There is an account of one of their shot becoming lodged (and stopped) by a highlander's targe. 

Here re see the command bases, Mackay is on the right and Balfour is in the buff coat on the left.

The full Scottish government army thus far. I still need to paint up five more infantry brigades.