Map projekt

Here is version 1 of the new section of The Duchy of Mieczyslaw from my current Empires in Arms mappe edit project for Emperor vs. Elector.



Not all 'imagi'-nations have been added into the new mappe, as I progress slowly with a few minutes here and there into the mappe.

I am also planning to enter as much data as I can from the information about the other 'imagi'-nations flags for use as counters in a Cyberboard game box for future use by EvE narrators etc...

Bitva Wojslawice

Hitman Czcibor led his forces to the headwaters of the Brass River.

The Konrad Korpus was known to be advancing in this area, Ogólny Ludwik had dispatched his best troops to counter this advance, so as to gain time to finish training the new levvies.

The two forces met near the small town of Wojslawice along the broad road which is little more than a dry flat space along the swampy headwaters.



The Loyalist force centered their foot on the road while the horse was deployed to the right, ready to charge towards any guns deployed by the Absolutists, should they try to defend the road area.

The Absolutists chose to center their deployment on a hillock overlooking the marshy, swampy ground on the north side of the road.


Loyalists stand ready to slowly advance, permitting time for their horse to re-deploy to face the Absolutists forces and to have much needed re-enforcements arrive.


The Absolutists started with their grand ordinnance standing ready to fire, sweeping the area of the wet, marshy ground.
(the gun is from my own collection and matched up well with the troops from Jeff's collection, by Blood Axe minis painted by a gamer known to Jeff)



The early battle moves consisted of gaining position on one another as the two armies had not started 'lined-up'.


During these manuevers, the Absolutists were re-enforced by more foot and ordinnance.



The battle scene around turn 7 while the forces were still positioning...
(this image is a 'panoramic' view and could be rather large, so if you clik it allow a few seconds for the image to load; I also have this image as a self-extracting program that permits you to 'see it' as though you were standing on the table. If you want this image just send me an e-mail and I will forward it to you.)



There were a few more moves (including an amazing turn 5 where the 'turn' ended on the first card 'turned' over!), until the Loyalist horse were in re-deployment, when the two extra squadrons of lancers arrive to re-enforce the massive cavalry rush moving north to the Loyalist left wing...



Only a short while later the rest of the Absolutist forces had arrived, thier extra pistols horsemen. The entire Absolutist line then became more animated, with all three guns coming into action, raking great holes in the Loyalist lines, yet not destroying any units.

The Loyalists formed a pike square to defend their extreme right flank against the marauding Absolutist horse nearby...



Loyalist ordinnace finally started to have an effect when some Absolutist foot were sent running away due to losses to morale.



Then there followed two consecutive periods of extreme activity from both armies (we drew through ALL the cards of the entire deck - with the turn end card at the last for both turns 10 and 11)



Through this time, the Absolutists and Loyalists exchanged fire, though not always with fully loaded volleys.

Then a great rainstorm raged over the valley, cutting off all firelock and cannon fire...sadly the Absolutist commander took no heed of the weather and called for the cannon to fire many times!
(Jeff forgot the event card had been pulled and got very excited when the opportunity to fire artillery came up soon after!)



The Abolutists carried full fire from their three guns, though in the end it was the last shot for one of the guns, as the gun Captain collapsed due to inebriation from overindulgence the night before.
(we had Pete there drawing the cards by this point and he drew the second of three 'event' cards, this one came up "100 bottles of beer on the wall...")



The Loyalists had managed to come out better than their opponents in a couple of fire exchanges (we played using a 'house rule' for Victory Without Quarter that allowed any unit fired upon to return fire) then the Absolutist support cavalry charged into the weakened line. They loyalists fled from the horse, but the pike square held firm.



Then when the Absolutist cause seemed most dire, the entire line was rejuvinated by a series of successful rallies. Including a foot unit that was twice on the verge of collapse, which was now turned about and charging back into the swampy morass determined to break into at least the dry ground of the road.



Just before the Loyalist lines faltered the final re-enforcement arrived, a force of foot with cannon.




Jeff surveys the scene of battle, looking for that opening where victory could be found...

At this point the Loyalist horse on the far left of the line had finally deployed into battle formations. The massed charges had begun.



While in the center a desperate collection of badly wounded men had cobbled together to hold the line long enough for the arriving Loyalist foot to come up...



During the advance of the Absolutists their Ordinance had been left behind to continue to fire from a hillock. However the Loyalist horse was now too close to the Absolutist line to permit the safe firing of the guns.
(gun from the St Valentine's Seige Train by MurdocK, crew from Jeff's collection of Blood Axe minis)



The ragged lines were not restricted to the Loyalist side only, as this formation of Absolutist foot was also reduced and tired from many volleys fired and taken.



The massed charges of the Loyalist horse now took their toll. All of the Absolutist horse was either dead or routed from the field. The Absolutist one main battery was in danger of becoming surrounded by Loyalist horse, given the circumstances the Absolutist command was ordering a withdrawl even as the Loyalist horse were preparing to bear down on them again.




Hitman Czcibor was to be the victory this day, though not without casualties of his own...some that the Loyalist cause could ill afford.

The war was not won that day either, as "Duke" Konrad, enraged with the loss of the advance horse was not willing to surrender his crown so easily. He and the Kardynalny would take the main body of their Korpus via a more easterly pass, deeper into Owijać-Drewna territory and along more covered roads into the north lands above Mieczyslaw, where they would seek a way to strike at Duke Jerzy yet again...


A final 'panoramic' view of the battlefield from behind the Loyalist positions.
(again this view is available as a 'self-extracting' program with zoom and other functions which give a better view of the field in a 'stereoscopic' type of view, simply email me with your request and an email to send the image to and I will get you a copy)

Bitva Grozhof

Victory for the arms of Mieczyslaw!

Yet another victory was achieved for Mieczyslaw, this time along the Burtzenian frontier.

Skladowy Fabiszak, assigned the task of probing the Burtzenian mountain passes, discovered that a large Burtzenian force was maneuvering with a possible bid to force one pass before winter proper set in, so as to be able to command the action into next spring. Skladowy Fabiszak, had Pulkownik Koronowski and Ugodzic Wojskowski with him to command a small force of infantry and some cavalry.

Fabiszak, chose to hold the elite Trabki Huzarzy and a medium artillery battery into his personal command, and assigned Koronowski the infantry, consisting of Skrzypcowo Piechota, Flety Korpus and Korona Korpus along with a light gun and some mysliwi (skirmishers); Wojskowski was to command Wstrasowo Dragon.

The plan was to hold the town of Grozhof while at the same time driving off the Burtzenians, whom appeared ready to control the nearby bridge crossing of the Grozen river.

Fabiszak led into the area with his infantry, while the Burtzenians rode forward along the other main road at a trotting pace. At the last moments the Burtzenian Dragoons realized that they were in a race with the Flety Korpus! These raw recruits were dashing down the road and only just managed to reach the town before the somewhat overconfident dragoons. These elite horsemen calmly dismounted, and formed to deliver fire before advancing on the town. Meanwhile the second Burtzeniand dragoon force attempted a charge at a slow gallop, many troopers realizing that they were too far away to manage to hit the Skrzypcowo Piechota whom were rushing forward in a column.

The elite dragoons took fire from the town, then tried to return fire, though now their numbers were reduced by half! The other dragoons then completely baulked at charging into the now formed line of Skrzypcowo Piechota. The Skrzypcowo Piechota calmly marched forward then set bayonettes onto fully loaded muskets and waited.

Meanwhile the rest of the armies were arriving, all the Burtzenian infantry moved into a covering position in a massive brigade square in front of the bridge, with the river forming the 4th line of the massive box. Burtzenian high command was also now present and bringing artillery into position on the corners of the square.

Mieczyslaw high command had arrived and sent off artillery to the far left flank. The cavalry was still not arrived by the time the Burtzenian cavalry was spent.

The elite dragoons only fired one more time, as the Flety Korpus managed to scatter the remnants with another lethal series of volleys. At last the other dragoons had found their courage, only now so had Skrzypcowo Piechota; their charge only just reached the infantry lines having taken two-thirds casualties on the way in with a truly leathal first volley from the steady standing Skrzypcowo Piechota. The melee took down the remaining horsemen and sent the survivors scattering into the woods, twice the Burtzenian cavalry brigadier was exposed to fire during the engagement, but he managed to escape unscathed...

Once the Wstrasowo Dragon under Ugodzic Wojskowski had arrived they turned immediately to the right flank and began to climb the hill leading over towards the riverbank. Burtzenian forces were still assembling their great square and did little to counter the next Mieczyslaw moves.

These consisted of issuing new orders for the infantry, to wheel to the left in a great arc, with the right beyond the woods and the left to come about facing the grenadiers in the Burtzenian great square. Along the way also had come the medium battery, which was now swinging off the road and would form the right 'end' of this new line.



The line had just gotten into position when the Burtzenian re-enforcements had arrived, now with a fresh Uhlan force, these troopers were immediately seized upon by the same wild-eyed brigadier that had sent the dragoons to their doom earlier in the day. The Uhlans rode forward to be met by the Mieczyslaw light battery, now loaded with cannister, while running to form line behind them were the Flety Korpus, having evacuated the town and coming out to become the 'support' line behind Skrzypcowo Piechota and Korona Korpus.

These Uhlans fared no better than the dragoons before them, they ended up half their force before they could even complete forming a line to charge! In this shattered condition they refused to charge and permitted the Flety Korpus to form line behind the guns and so totally block any further advance on the Mieczyslaw left flank.

Meanwhile over on the right flank Skladowy Fabiszak was having his own command problems with Ugodzic Wojskowski. The Ugodzic was having trouble understanding the new HOLD orders he was being given, while this was being argued the troopers of Wstrasowo Dragon were creeping forward towards one side of the Burtzenian great square. At least the dragoons were doing a good job of probing the river banks for any potential fording spaces. While the Mysliwi nearby in the woods were performing absolute feats of marksmanship literally executing more than a quarter of the standing infantry force on that side of the great square. Finally Wojskowski halted the Dragon and waited for new orders. Once the fording space had been found the firing orders for the remaining infantry and all artillery batteries were set. That flank side facing the Wstrasowo Dragon was to be the target for all firing while the Wstrasowo Dragon made to cross the river at the ford at once and commence an attack from the other side of the river. Ugodzic Wojskowski miraculously managed to understand and ACT on these orders at once!

This development was too much for the Burtzenian commander, whom quit the field at that moment and ordered the brigadiers to take what action they saw fit.

With little or no cavalry left to command the Cavalry brigadier rode off at once, the Infantry commander did not choose to stay at the bridge and be surrounded and began an immediate withdrawl. The light battery was able to keep up with the infantry, though the battered troops near the flank facing the Wstrasowo Dragon chose to all flee shouting 'jeder Mann für sich selbst!', while the Burtzenian medium battery, having lost two-thirds of the crewers and the limber teams, simply put down their tools and surrendered.

Aftermath:
The mountain passes near Grozhof are now firmly in Mieczyslaw hands and the Burtzenians will make no progress this winter.
Koronowski has been promoted to Ugodzic and those Mysliwi under his command are considered the best quality in all the Duchy.
Skrzypcowo Piechota for their steady action under fire have been awarded veteran status and pay.

Notes:
This was a play-out of Table Top Teaser #3 (Advance-Guard Action) and I was using a mixture of figures, not the ones specific for The Duchy of Mieczyslaw.
We gamed on Bluebear Jeff's table, using his terrain and a mix of our minis, with a guest Burtzenian commander, whom had playtested Jeff's Tricorne Wars rules in their infancy a year or so ago.

Bitva u Barva

While the troops of the Duchy of the North were busy in Saxe-Bearstein holdings, Stinz and Polkfurt forces of the Duchy of Mieczyslaw had invested Norden fortress at Barva.

Reeling from their losses in the south, the Duchy of the North was determined to return Barva to their control.

They launched a seige lasting some 56 days, going as far as the second parallel, when news of a relief column and field forces arrived. Hurredly the North commander Gen. Otto Fasjovik determined to intercept the relief supplies and defend his seigeworks.

Sent by the szlachta was Wiekszy Przewodnik szlachta Wierzchowski, with the task of re-supplying the defences and protecting his convoy were the Wstras Wzgórzowo Huzarzy and Luski Dragon along with the elite Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie, and the veterans of the Owijac-Drewna Korpus and Wojskowo Piechota. Still invested and covering the postern gate of the fortress were the Wstrasowo Dragon and a raw untested Skrzypcowo Piechota. To command the cavalry was Kierownik szlachta Mosiadzowski and leading the foot and monitoring the waggon trains was Ugodzic Wstrasowski. Two field batteries were also included with a force of Mysliwi to ensure the safe arrival of these vital supplies.

These forces were deployed to the flanks, with the cavalry massed to the north east and lines of infantry near the town, the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie had their western flank refused to cover a possible arrival route of the Norden forces.

From the start Wiekszy Przewodnik szlachta Wierzchowski was determined to oversee the battle personally, to this end he also brought out the cavalry Wstrasowo Dragon and the medium field pieces were ordered to be manhandled in any way possible out to the west immediately.

By turn two the Norden forces started to arrive, it was a good thing that the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie had 'flank-refused' as it was in this sector that the first action of the Norden Cossacks was to fall...

The cossacks were at once commanded into a headlong charge into the steady ranks of the elite Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie. Not a single one was to reach them for hand-to-hand though as they were all shot dead --> to a man before the levelled muskets of this elite unit.

On turn 4 the veteran Norden Snow Rangers appeared to the north of the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie (location #2) along with their light artillery in train. Even before this gun could unlimber they had taken casualties from the battery attached to the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie. This battery was to miss only one time all day!

The following moments saw this arriving battery of Norden gunners try and unlimber and set-up, while doing this they were blasted to smithereens by the lively fire of the north flank battery attached to the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie.

Facing the Snow Rangers directly were the Luski Dragon, a new unit of veteran riders, they were to be sorely tested this day...

With only these small forces to call upon, Gen. Otto Fasjovik was saddend to see the Cossacks flee, then commanded that the Snow Rangers press on and force an issue with the Luski Dragon before the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie could be commanded to turn again to flank...unfortunately they were still in range of the north battery, which now turned its lethal firepower onto their ranks...raking them several times before they could reach effective musket range of the Luski Dragon.

Upon reaching range, though long, they then delivered a truly lethal blast that put the gunners heads down for a moment, while dropping many of the Luski Dragon horses, sending the unit into momentary confusion.

The Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie faced another rapid charge from a unit of dragoons called Krooks Crooks, these men did reach sword range as they were blasted by concentrated fire. Though badly mauled by the fire of Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie, Krooks Crooks did manage to push back the Duza Firma Mieczyslaw Muszkieterowie and followed them up with a continued charge. The second contact was the last for Krooks Crooks as only one small portion (single figure stand) was routed out from the fight.

It was now turn 7 of the battle and more Norden forces had arrived, a trotter force called Torkels Dilemma had appeared on the north ridge over looking the north road into the fort. To the south a raw force called the Tundra battalion had mustered and was slowly advancing on the medium battery that had been pushed out from the fort.

Wierzchowski was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time...at last the Mieczyslaw forces could start to dictate the direction of the battle! At once the Wstrasowo Dragon (from the fort) and Wstras Wzgórzowo Huzarzy were launched into headlong counter-charge of the advancing Torkels Dilemma, the Norden trotters were caught scattered and in single squadrons along the base and slope of the north hill! They were butchered.

Wstras Wzgórzowo Huzarzy tried to catch the last fleeing part of Torkels Dilemma only to come up short due to the blown horses and the slope of the hill...Wstrasowo Dragon was turned about with one last task to accomplish: attack the Tundra battalion from behind!

The final acts in the battle came in the south. While separated from their commanders on the north side of the convoy the elite Norden Snow Leopards were the last to arrive. They marched slowly while sending their attached artillery ahead to the crest of the ridge. This gun was (like its northern counterpart) blown to bits before it could fire off a shot while unlimbering. The rest of the Snow Leopards looked out on this vista ahead of them to the north.

The head of the convoy had reached the Y in the road and the heavy waggons had turned north with the first mule teams turning south.

At long last the Snow Rangers had shot to death and scattered the Luski Dragon, only now there was a Mieczyslaw Brigadier Ugodzic Wstrasowski on hand to command the artillery to swing around and fire in to the flank and rear of the Snow Rangers, who could at last see the convoy...moving steadily out of range!

The Luski Dragon paid the maximum price for their battle honors this day, sacrificing themselves so that the convoy could proceed unhindered and not fired upon by the Snow Rangers.

Final acts were done by Wstrasowo Dragon, racing south around the small wood, they came upon the Norden Tundra battalion, whom had faced withering fire from the fortress guns, then at nearly point blank range begun to fire back at the gunners with musketry...the gunners had died nearly to a man when the Wstrasowo Dragon had come upon them from behind and charged!

Seeing that the convoy would all arrive intact, Gen. Otto Fasjovik broke his seige and boarded ship for the north...leaving the Pomeranian lands to the tender mercies of The Duchy of Mieczyslaw