We gave the GNW rules another try out - this time the Russians definitely had superior numbers - 3 cavalry to 1, 2 guns in a redoubt to 1 Swedish battery and 10 battalions against 5 of the Swedes. It didn't seem to help - the game was over in 90 minutes tops! So, we had dinner!
Russians on the left - I think the disparity in numbers is pretty obvious!
I used the contents of a different box of Swedes this time!
The Russians opposite
Swedish cavalry pile into the Russians, driving them back. A rule adjustment we have made is that rather than passing through a unit a retire force comes into contact with, it pushes them back. They both take a "hit" marker too
Swedes on the rampage as they move rapidly towards the Russian lines
The Swedes had the bulk of their force on teh right, heading for Julians command
One plucky unit heads straight at the guns in the redoubt - gå på!
The Livgadet til Fods drive back the Russians single handed!
Despite a flank attack (which they shrugged off, repelling teh enemy with loss!)
The Russian commanders had decided attack was the most effective form of defence, and came at the Swedes for all they were worth
Both Russian guns had suffered a hit from the lone supporting Swedish battery, as the infantry charged up hill
A view of the table from the Swedish left - most of the Russian force has been driven from the field!
Note in the centre, the redoubt is now occupied by the Swedish infantry!
On the Swedish right flank, the Russians were still putting up some resistance.....
"HURRA" (that's the Swedish way to spell it, I checked!)
Swedish cavalry (nearest the camera) and infantry versus one Russian dragoon unit
The other Russians on a sneaky flank march that ended up with the destruction of the isolated Swedish gun crew.
On the Swedish right, repeated violent charges have driven the Russians into an ever-shrinking pocket.
The situation on the right, with the Russian dragoons about to wipe out the gunners - the only loss the Swedes suffered
And on the right flank, the end is nigh for Russian hopes!
As it was 7pm, we had a break, ate dinner and then reset the game for a second try!
We decided to drop the bonus for Swedes Attacking to +1 because the +2 seemed to have been too much in game 1
Another adjustment was to give each Russian commander a guard unit that added 1 to all roles including combat
Forces were exactly the same as game 1 - or, maybe I reduced the Swedes to 4 infantry units, I can't remember
Again, the Russian commanders advanced to confront the smaller Swedish force, The Swedes only get a close combat bonus if they are attacking, so the Russians can even things out if they go in first...
The Swedish cavalry charged again...
... and drove the Russians back again!
On the other flank, Russian dragoons charge an infantry unit
They pushed the infantry back with loss
The Swedes moving forwards rapidly (as a reminder, Swedish infantry role 3 D6 for movement, Russians only 2 D6)
Fighting erupts all along the line
This time, the Russians had more success in blunting the initial Swedish attack - probably due to the +1 rather than +2!
This skirmish between the dragoons and Swedes lasted the entire game, with one side pushing the other back, then the roles reversing in teh next combat!
A bit of pressure on the Swedes - they lost an entire infantry unit in this game!
But they managed to hold their own in the critical close combats
Combined cavalry and infantry assault on the Swedish left flank
A view from the Russian redoubt
And for some reason, I did not take any more photos - but despite it being a somewhat harder slog, the Swedes once again prevailed and drove all of Julians infantry from the field - I think the last action involved the Swedes smashing into the flank of Chris's grenadiers, they had to retire, Chris rolled high, and two or even three of Julians units behind the grenadiers were pushed off the edge of the world!
Now, I had a try creating an AI video - this is one of my Warlord T34/85's in Berlin - I am not sure why the AI added huge red stars and the white stripes on the lower body - I tried to edit it, but nothing had happened after 10 minutes so I cancelled it.
I tried to do exactly the same with the Tiger - and it came up with a message saying "something in your request contravenes our safety policy" - and I am pretty sure all I changed from the first instruction was the nationality of the tank! So - its ok for a 28mm Russian tank to drive around the ruins of Berlin circa April 1945 - but not a German one - LOL!
We are thinking of giving our home brew horse and musket rules a try with AWI figures next time - I will have to make a few adjustments - definitely no pike armed infantry there - well, there might have been some early militia, perhaps?? Till then, thanks for your visit.
Great Northern War figures, such a glorious sight. So good to see your Swedes again and those Russians look superb too. It's a bit mean using equal numbers and the Russians probably should have some more defences and/or terrain to break up the Swedish attack and to try some outflanking, or mobs of Cossacks and Kamlucks threatening to attack flank or rear!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
No not equal numbers - Keith said the Russians had about 2 to 1 in the first game & then dropped a few Swedish units in the second...
DeleteAnyway that looked good Keith, did you use the -2 for fire vs the redoubts?
Hi James, the Russians had basically double the numbers and still found the Swedes too tough!
DeleteHi Andrew..
Delete.yes, the redout gave plus two cover, but it didn't help them when my gun rolled one 11 and two double 6!
Fantastic GNW fight! One of my favourite periods.....and the Russians always have a tough time! Ga pa!
ReplyDeleteThanks John, I know you like this period too! It's been great to finally get these figures on the table a couple of times....now, I am considering another batch of Ebor infantry....!
DeleteLove to see GNW on the table. It does take a lot of effort to get balanced games with the Swedes, especially early in the war. The Danes or Saxons normally put up a better fight
ReplyDeleteCheers Scotty - in all honesty - I don't want it TOO balanced - the Swedes are supposed to win most of the battles! 😉😂
DeleteMore lovely GNW photos, a really nice collection Keith, always hard to get the balance right when the Swedes are on the table, second game was a bit more level, looking forward to seeing how the rules go with the AWI.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie - as mentioned above, "my" army is the Swedes - I only got some Russians because my intended opponent painted all his cavalry - and them a butterfly took him off somewhere else!
DeleteTwo lovely games there Keith and certainly not a good day to be the Russians! That AI video is pretty cool, but why it blocked the Germans and not the Soviets, is a bit of a mystery, but I think your thoughts might be correct.
ReplyDeleteThank you Steve - I certainly had fun! Yeah, maybe if I had just said "the 28mm model tank in the uploaded image" it might have worked....
DeleteI don’t mind unbalanced games, but I think the more unbalanced they are, the more those situations are suited to solo play rather than opposed play. Unfortunately in wargame design, showing the superiority of Swedish units has the effect of turning them into super troops. I’m not sure of what way there is to soften that for good gameplay that would still give realistic outcomes ….. if that is what is wanted!
ReplyDeleteYes I get your point on that Norm - the guys will soon get fed up of playing second fiddle to the Swedes smashing all comers - I did offer to play the Russians in the second game and to be honest, I think the second win was more about the dice Gods, as the Russians had two elite units to the Swedes one and the Swedes also only got +1 when they attacked, rather than +2.
DeleteUnbalanced games are fine with me too especially when fighting historical battles. The trick is to adjust the victory conditions such that even an underdog has a chance to attain victory at some level. In repeated playings of this scenario, you would quickly see which adjustments are needed to give the Russian player something to play for.
DeleteThe reduced Swedish bonus in the second game seemed to be enough of an advantage while producing a much closer outcome. Perhaps the Russians could have sat back and used their superiority in musket numbers to reduce the Swedes as they came up? Great figures.
ReplyDeleteI am glad AI is on the case as seeing a German tank driving around the Berlin rubble would have made me feel unsafe.
Thanks Lawrence - that's the challenge for the Russian players - but that tactic could well work. One of the changes we made for this era is, the unit fired upon can only return fire once - so if three Russians fire at one Swedish unit, two do so with impunity.
DeleteI find the inconsistency of AI quite amusing - one day, it has no issues adding a swastika I had not requested to an image - the next, it won't make a video of a toy tank... in some ways, given the world we are living in, I am surprised it does not think Soviet themes are "unsafe" too!
Great that you got two games in Keith. Difficult to model different nations' relative abilities and still come up with a fun game for both sides.
ReplyDeleteThe video is fun, now do one with your tank riders 😁
Thanks Ben. You're right about the challenge of "national characteristics "...our friend Mark's Napoleonic rules make it very hard to ever win with the Austrians, for example....
DeleteI like your idea of a video of the tank riders!
Good to see the GNW stuff on the table again. Game 1 was incredibly one sided. Was game 2 much closer? I wouldn't want to play the Russians.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard....game 2 was closer and lasted longer but with a similar outcome. I may have just rolled better though...the Swedes had less than half the Russians total and only got their plus one when they attacked. They did get to move 3 D6 instead of 2, so possibly had more opportunities to initiate close combat....but that's realistic for most of the war and I want to retain that element.
DeleteIt would be an interesting exercise to record the dice throws, then reset the game & play it out with every close combat throw being reversed - probably only feasible in a solo session.
DeleteThat is, if the Russians had won every CC that they lost, the battle would have been totally different, yes?
So basically the game was probably balanced then.......
And probably have to take into account Rally passes & fails too:)
DeleteThanks for the reply, Keith. Sounds like you know your period. It's always tricky to produce games that give a flavour of the period, provide plausible outcomes, and allows both sides to feel that they have a chance of winning. I look forward to seeing more GNW battle reports.
DeleteInteresting idea Andrew. Maybe I will give that a try as a solo project at some point.....
DeleteThank you Richard, I certainly would not claim to be an expert...but even a cursory glance at the literature indicates the Swedes generally prevailed against significantly larger Russian or Saxon or Polish forces, until they made Napoleon and Hitler's mistake, and tried to invade Russia itself and came a croper at Poltava.
DeleteAndrew, in the "old" days of playing wargames of the hex-and-counter type (especially Avalon Hill games), players often tracked each die roll and then post-game, adjusted the results due to luck of the dice.
DeleteAs an ASL player, I'm familiar with such things as the session reports in the Avalon Hill magazines but don't recall them adjusting things post-game. But of course, that would be too hard to do for more dice-heavy games such as ASL, where you could get maybe 20-30 dice rolls per PLAYER turn, scenarios ran anywhere from 6 to 12 Game Turns, so that's 240-720 rolls per game!!
DeleteAs a general rule, I would never want to change a game result post-game - once it's done, it's done - live with it!!
A lot of the Avalon Hill games were played competitively at large conventions (and some still are e.g. ASL including online internationally) so that wouldn't have happened there:)
Oh, results were never changed. The distribution of cumulative dice rolls was tracked to see what role “luck” entered into the final result.
DeleteOk then ... "adjusted the results" implies change but whatever ... :)
DeleteThe GNW: one of those "other" periods, but a good one, indeed! Always a treat to see on the table. Sounds like your system is coming along nicely.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed! I am happy to get these figures on the table although it's proving hard to give half the number of Swedes a chance at winning, without making it very difficult for the Russians to also have a chance!
DeleteWoooa! Great looking game, sir!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michal 😊
DeleteThose Swedes are some tough sonnuvaguns!
ReplyDeleteFun to see so many minis laid out for a game though.
Thanks Dai! Slightly frustratingly, although not really, I have about 10 to 12 regiments of Swedes...so to get them all on the table, we would need circa 30 Russians to oppose them!!
DeleteGreat lookmng game, sounds like a tough night to be Russian!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
We all had a bit of a laugh about it Iain but it was a bit of one way traffic....I certainly had fun though 😉
DeleteGreat looking figures Keith with lovely paint jobs. Almost makes me want to disappear down a Baltic sized rabbit hole. The gun team in photo 19 are lovely sculpts.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought of giving your Swedes the AI video treatment?
Thanks Chris, the Ebor figures are great and fantastic value for money, too!
DeleteI have thought about the AI video but I will have to find another free site to use!