Brietenfeld 1632 Scenario refight

[Erik E]

Great to see the Forum back!

This weekend I will be replaying the Brietenfeld scenario from the “The Devil’s Playground” booklet. It has played tensely in the four solo games I have done this year and a couple of items have come up and wonder if anyone else has played.

For Tilly’s army, would you have all of the Pike and Shot units as mercenary with the exception of Pappenheim’s? When using the Catholic League template, I was not certain if Tilly’s two large pike units with shot sleeves would be the elite or not? I have played it both ways, but I was not certain if the scenario writer had intended for those units to be elite and mercenary at the same time.

I normally play on a 6′ x 12′ table with both armies arrayed largely at the edges. I have discovered that the scenario work for me better with an 8′ x 6′ and starting the distance apart from the center line. If playing with the larger table, the heavy and medium guns cause havoc a bit too easily considering how many moves I was typically taking to reach the enemy.

On the Swedish/Saxon left, I have been making the pike and shot unit Swedes and the commanded shot the Scots. With different rules, was not certain if this seemed about right or have others decided that the Swedes should only be the two cavalry units.

Thanks again for coming back and hope everyone has had many games. Happy gaming!

Erik

[Charge The Guns]

Sounds like it will bet a great game, Erik! That is one of the things I really like about the Pike and Shotte rules; trying out the different special rules etc. to give the game the right feel. Hopefully you’ll post the results and let us know how it played out?

I’m just getting more in to the TYW and collecting armies for the Lutzen campaign. It will be interesting how much impact you find the Mercenary special rules has on the game.

[Corso]

Hi Erik

I would make the catholic large pike blocks+muskets elite, the remainder all mercenary.

To reflect historical accuracy, as far as possible, I would make all infantry on the swedish side left saxons.

However, feel free to make a run-through demo turn to see how it goes.

About table size, cannot be much helpful since I have never played a historical wargame on a 6×12 table – yet!

@Charge the Guns – are you collecting both forces for the Lutzen campaign? Sounds cool…..

[Charge The Guns]

Hi Corso,

It’s a groups effort. We’re each collecting some troops for both sides. I’d love to have the whole thing one day, but I’ll be quite happy with a couple of brigades of Swedes and Imperials.

I’m starting with the Blue Brigade for the Swedes. I’m going to reuse some of my ECW foot for Imperials by replacing the command and colours. Our plan is to put what we’ve got on to a big table at the start of December. We’ll probably focus on the fighting around the Windmill battery.

[Corso]

That’s a very good idea – you’ll have two armies in no time!

[Erik E]

As a solo gamer, sometimes these battles do take some time to complete, but wanted to update the action (thank you for the very helpful ideas which I incorporated).

The game started off with a die roll to determine the opening side. For the first time, the Swedes/Saxons had the first turn.

The king advanced the entire force of the right wing (Baner’s) including the three units of commanded shot and was able to get the Finnish cavalry along with the two Swedish cav behind the shot. Shooting was pretty ineffective, but both of Pappenheim’s Cuirassiers were disorderd.

In the center, the right hand Swedish unit (I used the Blue Regiment) advanced with its attached guns and proceeded to pound Tilly’s commanded shot with multiple casualties and disorders. The left hand Swedish unit did not move.

Horn’s force on the far left moved around a bit to get the commanded shot into the front line of the hill, but moving the two cavalry units was beyond his ability.

And…George’s Saxons only had one move of his foot before a command roll of 11 put an end to that.

The Imperials turn next.

[Author]

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