1600 – Something: Estonia

Next up in the 1600 – Something battles is a game which is a little different, in that it does not include the Ottomans. Believably, it is the Swedes against the Muscovites. Those of you who have kept up with the narrative so far will know that the Danes, Poles, Swedes, and Muscovites have been, so to speak, winding each other up all campaign so far. Northern Europe has the highest density of armed forces on the map. The Danes, as has been recounted, have invaded Poland, and now the Swedes have attacked Muscovite forces in Estonia.

The Swedes have support from their own fleet, while the Muscovites have back-up from their second army. The forces are therefore both of 18 bases. Examination of the ‘Early Vasa’ DBR army list suggested that, basically, the forces were all either shot or cavalry. A basic force would have 6 cuirassiers and 6 shot, so the augmented force has 9 bases of each. The Muscovites have a more mixed force, of cavalry, Cossacks, two varieties of shot (streltsi and Cossack), and some Cossack spearmen. I suspect that the term ‘Cossack’ for all but the light horse is a bit of a misnomer, as these were urban forces, rather than the free-ranging runaways of the south.

The terrain rolling was interesting a productive. I got quite a lot of terrain for Eastern Europe, but no hills. Plenty of rough going, marshes, and a stream. In fact, I rolled a river and two streams, but had to rationalise. The Muscovite position, in particular, was a bit cramped, and that did cause problems.

The battlefield is shown above. The Swedes are to the left, infantry to the front and centre, cavalry on the wings, and in reserve. The Swedish plan was to attack with the shot, while the cavalry held the wings and deterred the Cossacks. To the right, the Muscovites deployed their infantry in the centre, with much of the cavalry on their right, the only means by which I could see to get them into reasonably open terrain. The Cossack horse are to the left, right, and centre, aiming to evade the Swedes and get to their baggage. This was probably a mistake on my part, but I could not see much future for them harassing the shot. They would (and, in part, did) just get blown away.

I made a few errors in the game setup, which affected both sides equally. I did not put enough baggage out for 1.5 armies on either side, and both sides should have had a least a sub-general, if not an extra d3 tempo roll. But neither side got these, although their camps grew magically after a couple of moves. The only effect was to slow the start of the game, really, as both sides struggled for tempo and were slow to get going.

After a few moves, the Swedish foot has got going. The Cossacks covering the Muscovite foot have been shaken and recoiled, while the Swedish shot is opening up on the Muscovites. In the left foreground, the Cossack left has crossed the stream but is being blocked by some cuirassiers.

There really is not a lot you can do with an attack by musketeers except get going and keep going, and that is exactly what the Swedes did, perhaps half a century before Ga-Pa tactics were invented. All the general can do is concentrate the firepower as much as possible and keep going, hoping for a lucky break.

The Swedes did get at least a partial lucky break. The streltsi by the rough going in the centre were put to flight by the firepower of a couple of Swedish bases. The Muscovites got an influx of tempo, and have started to move their cavalry around on the far side, and have also sent forward some more shot to patch up the centre. The general has also moved from the head of the reserve to the front line, opposing the Swedish general.

The infantry battle was pretty desperate, I have to admit. Above, the Muscovites have broken into different sections, and the Swedes, too, are getting a bit scattered. The Cossack spearmen are holding out easily against the Swedes, but the general and his base are driving them back. On the other hand, more Swedish foot are arriving. On the Swedish left, a base of cuirassiers has taken the opportunity to charge some Muscovite cavalry. This should have been easy, but in fact, despite the damage they inflicted, they landed up bounced. But the Muscovites could not exploit this, for reasons which will become apparent in the next picture.

Above, you can see some more Muscovite foot fleeing in various directions. There is also a Swedish base routing top left. This was the base being driven back in the last photograph, but the Swedish general survived the rout. He was parked with the next Swedish foot and drove back into the fray, this time routing the forward Muscovite foot and attached general. The Muscovite general did not survive, and their morale went to ‘fall back’, which they have just done.

Flushed with success, the Swedes followed up, although without much initial success except for further firefights. On their left flank, the cavalry charged again against the shaken Muscovite horse. They were bounced again. However, their colleagues then charged through the shaken base and routed their counterparts, who swept away a stray base that was too close. This was too much for the Muscovites, whose morale hit withdraw.

Well, that was a bit different, cavalry-heavy armies relying on their infantry for success. Swedish firepower did make the difference in this terrain, but I would not be so sure if the field was a bit more open and the cavalry could get in. The essential separator between the sides, however, was that the Swedish general survived, but the Muscovite one did not. The difference between rolling a 3 and a 6 on a die. The contingencies of history….