FoGR Thirty Years War at Warfare 2013
Swedish vs Later Imperial Spanish
Game 1 Swedish vs Early Swedish
Game 2 Swedish vs ECW Royalist
Game 3 Swedish vs Later Imperial Spanish
Game 4 Swedish vs Later Imperial Spanish
The final game, and an unfeasible podium place was in my grasp if only I could comprehensively beat Don, not the Don, but in the context of this game, certainly "Don" Avis and yet another Imperial Spanish army. The match had been fought before at a prior year's Warfare, and so a rematch, having incorporated the lessons of that game into my army selection was a proper test …
The lists for the Swedish and Later Imperial Spanish from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Warfare can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
A typically cluttered table had a large Don-imposed patch of rough going right in the middle, and my own Manor House had again made it onto the playing surface too. The avenue of attack for the Swedish foote was clear, and this time I undertook to attack with vigour from the off..
What's Going on Here Then?
The Spanish have set up with a strong and numerous force of foote between terrain, with their small force of Horse held in reserve. Like th eprevious game, commanded out Shotte allow the Spanish to dominate the rough terrain in the centre. The Swedes are well set up for an aggressive push with infantry across the open ground, and their artillery park yet again outguns the Spanish and is trained on the end of their line.
Having said that, the initial part of the game saw a repeat of the previous one, with massed Swedish gunners shooting at the advancing Spanish commanded out shotte in terrain
These Spaniards also had a unit of light horse, who undertook a rather cautious LH dance, advancing swiftly and then retiring equally quickly as they suddenly realised that my carbine and musket and little gunne armed mounted formation could shred them from some considerable distance
Uniquely, my Dragoons appeared to have found a target which they could attempt to take on with some degree of confidence - 4 enemy Dragoons hiding in a village, against my 6. Decent odds, even allowing for the benefit of cover the enemy would have. With little else to do, my Average Pi/Pi House also advanced forwards, mainly to ensure the Shotte-only Spanish units stayed bottled up in the terrain.
This time a proper advance had been planned, and was also being executed. The enemy also had a significant artillery park, but whilst my gunnes pounded relentlessly at a single target, the Spaniards were choosing to spread their firepower around - which was good news for my main advance, but not so good for a unit of commanded shotte who had gotten temporarily left behind by my faster-moving Carbine armed horse.
In this game it was the turn of my army to suffer badly from artillery, as the Spaniards ranged in on yet more Horse - leaving DISR markers and removing bases along the way. A couple of my units were now at risk, however the up side was that my main strike force of infantry had yet to be targeted..
What's Going on Here Then?
The Swedish plan is a fast attack, and the Spanish respond by formiing a coherent formation with which to absorb the coming charge, whilst also pushing up to the ends of the terrain with their musketeer units. The Swedes are carefully staying out of range of the Musketeers, tempting them to emerge from the terrain into the open if they wish to shart shooting. The Swedish artillery is causing huge damage to the morale of the Spanish infantry. Both sides are using their mounted in supporting roles, partly due to lack of space and partly - in the case of the Swedes - to get out of the arc of fire of the Spanish gunnes.
And what a sight they were to behold - a coherent line of infantry formed up on both sides, ready to test the "Superior and Elite foote standing against Salvo foote" matchup from the previous game.
All about Sweden
Emboldened by the competence of the advance so far, the Swedish Dragoons moved up into shooting range themselves, and supported by an infantry unit proceeded to snipe at the skulking Spaniards in the village
The two lines were getting closer and closer, apparently evenly matched… however the Spanish unit closest to the camera was now receiving 4 artillery dice, 2 muskets and 1 little gunne every turn. 7 dice battering away at their morale…
And their morale crumpled like a Spanish lottery ticket with the wrong numbers … having endured successive round of shooting they simply broke and fled!
Following up on this opportunity with alacrity, the rest of the Swedish army charged home..
What's Going on Here Then?
As the Swedes continue to refuse to engage in a firefight on the left, the two lines clash in the open, and the Swedes come out as clear winners. The end of the Spanish line has already been broken by a combination of concentrated artillery and close ranks salvo shooting, and the rest of the line is reeling under the impact of the Salvo charge
The result was carnage for the Spaniards, who as a meat-eating nation were already generally familiar with the latin root of the term. One Spanish unit evaporated, and the other reeled under the impact - losing cohesion as an Elite formation because they were only supported by Average horse!
FoGR hint - you can only provide rear support for you troops with units that are no worse than one morale grade less than those being supported. THis usually means Average troops are good enough to support Superiors... but Elite troops need Superior rear support.
The Yellow Brigade ripped onwards, clattering into the second line of Spanish resistance, with the Swedish General coming along for the ride - the Swedes were 110% committed to achieving victory and capitalizing on every opportunity that came their way - even to the extent of not really caring too much about a possible flank attack from the Spanish Horse, as surely the Yellow Brigade would have damaged the enemy they were fighting beyond repair before the charge hit home? Everywhere the Spaniards were in a state of shock at the ferocity of the attack!
The inevitable charge hit home, and the Yellow Brigade took it at the halt…
Fighting in all directions, their morale wavered dangerously as the supporting Swedish infantry looked on
World Leaders Sing Abba
Just as the Spaniards thought they were about to start regaining the initiative against the crème of the Swedish army, the Yellows yet again pulled it out of the bag, with a rather remarkable morale saving throw. Losing a base on the blue dice was a small price to pay for remaining in the game a little longer!
But the brave Swedes could not last forever against such odds, and inevitably broke and fled - opening up an opportunity for the Spanish Cuirassiers to follow up into a DISR Swedish second line brigade, already reeling from the passage of routing friends through their formation
Bravely led by their leader, the 2nd Line unit stood firm against the Cuirassiers, and bit by bit started to gain the upper hand, chewing up some enemy bases - a trend which was only accelerated by the arrival of some spare Commanded Shotte to make up an overlapping file
Over on the other side of the board, and having already won the infantry battle in the centre the Swedish forces - and gunnes - shifted their attention to the infantry in the rough terrain. One unit was blown away by firepower, and the second shifted nervously as Swedish forces converged rapidly from all sides. In the distance the Dragoon battle where in theory I held advantages of numbers had of course gone badly wrong, and 2 of my dragoons were locked in a never-ending close quarters fight against 3 enemy dragoons (counting as 2 dice due to the terrain)
The 2nd line infantry had now despatched the Cuirassiers, and things were starting to look more than tragic for the remnants of the Spanish army as blonde Scandinavians converged on them from all angles.
The combined long range firepower of the massed Swedish units was something the handful of outnumbered Spaniards had no answer to - it looked like they might struggle to even stay around long enough to be beaten in hand to hand combat!
But they did, and the 2nd Line Swedish unit got to unleash its awesome impact power yet again..
On the other flank, the advantage of numbers enjoyed by the Swedes was so comprehensive that they ignored the effects of the terrain and just charged wildly at whatever they could find to hit - the Swedish infantry and horse were clearly keen to make sure that I had time to do a little more shopping at the trade show before it closed!
What's Going on Here Then?
The Spanish centre has been swept away, and although the Spanish horse are gamely trying to pick on the end of the Swedish line, more Swedish units are wheeling outwards from the collapsed Spanish centre and rolling up both Spanish flanks from the inside out. The game is up for the Catholics...
Finally the shattered Spanish army hoisted the white flag and surrendered. Their defeat had been total and comprehensive, a massive win for Sweden on a scale not seen since the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest! The Winner most certainly Takes it all!
The Result is a joint 3rd place for Sweden!
Read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Swedish Commander
Well, I thought that was really, really exciting and fun. Sort of like the opposite of yoga really - yoga’s boring, unless it’s done in a swinging hammock of course.
Now we've picked up the jewellery - what a lovely medal I say, Im just like all over it in the celebration stakes - Ready to pardy? Lets go for it and go wild, like really Swedishly wild. I'm just so happy that the plan finally worked for us, and that the silly unit that refused to die in the last game, welll, just ran away in this one and like totally transformed the game so we like totally won, totally. I'm such a wonderful general now, go on, just growl at me. Growl at me like a grizzly bear!
To see my brave boys attack was super, like really bitching super - those Spaniards are off home to Ibeza now I'm sure.
I just think this proved what a difference having modern armies makes - I mean, like, the Spanish fought like the way people talked in the 80s – like, the phrases they used were just totallyt out of time, and they had no chance at all. I'm off to celebrate - don't wait up!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Forsooth - thou art a cockered fly-bitten flap-dragon riddled with incompetence, but even for someone as systemically catastrophic as you, it seems that the pain of repetition can finally deliver learning to that addled block-like skull.
You lisp and wear strange suits, and all around you even wargamers recoil in revulsion at your poor personal hygenie and lack of social skills, yet here appear to be the merest glimmerings of progress and developmment. How astonishing is it that an army who's strength is in the attack, commanded by an errant fool who is so want to throw things away with rashness can sometimes deliver the desired result when those two are in perfect alignment on a field of battle where there is only one avenue of combat to pursue?
Thou art a droning evil-eyed pignut to see this for anything heroic - your opponent did much to contribute, and so did the dice, but this is of course a game involving both opponents and dice, and we have seen earlier this weekend that against an opponent committed to avoiding mistakes at all costs that the pace of play can sometimes falter to the extent that neither side can claim a victory, yet here you did manage to unnerve the opposition with the ferocity of your play, and the wanton abandon with which the Yellow Brigade in particular were committed to the fray - and it worked, by Harry, it worked!!
When it comes to ranking the greatest Captains of the age, surely you are nowt but the must chaff, and in so doing your foul deeds are often smelt above the moon, but here I spy progress, and even someone as churlish as myself has to offer praise where it is due. Now, let's hope you continue to develop this theme by recycling a similar army next time, and do not throw it all away bby picking something insane and totally different. Begone!
That's the end - so why not go back to the Match Reports Index and read some more reports?
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Game 1 Swedish vs Early Swedish
Game 2 Swedish vs ECW Royalist
Game 3 Swedish vs Later Imperial Spanish
Game 4 Swedish vs Later Imperial Spanish
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