GNW/WSS, The Jyske Infantry Regiment 1710

Front view Jyske(Jutland) Infantry Regiment

It is time to expand the Great Northen War Project. Thus far a whole of Swedes and Russians have been painted. I am not quite finished with these two nations. However I do wish to expandera the scope a bit. During the Great Northen War Sweden fought a coallition consisting of Russia, Saxony/Poland and Denmark. The war started in 1700 and ended in 1721. The Danes fought in two phases in this war. The first phase ended rather quickly. With the support of Anglo-Dutch Naval force the Swedes invaded Denmark and in the peace of Traventhal in 1700 the first Danish phase ended. The second phase begun after the Swedes were defeated by the Russians at Poltava 1709 and ended in 1720. In the second phase of the war the Danes tried to recapture the former Danish province of Scania( today southern Sweden). The Main battle during this campaign was the battle of Helsingborg in 1710. This particular battle will be the main focal point for this part of the Great Northen War project. The battle itself was a Danish defeat and the Danes last serious attempt to recapture the lost provinces was a failure. The war dragged on for years and Danes eventually managed to end up on the winning side of this war. However that is a different story. 

The Jyske Infantry regiment took part in the battle of Helsingborg. However it did not sit idle during the peace period between the peace of Traventhal and the battle of Helsingborg. According to the peace terms of the Traventhal peace the Danes had to hire/ lend out a number of units to the Holy Roman Empire. Among these so called "Imperial Units" was the Jyske Infantry regiment. Thus 

this regiment took part in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Close up on the Grenadiers

The Ostrobothnian Regiment 1708 and a few things more

The Osthrobotnian Regiment(Österbottens Regemente) 1708

Time for some more units for the Great Northen War Project. We are about to embark on a Campaign using the Co-op Black Powder rules that we tried out a while ago.

 I have painted a Swedish Infantry unit, a Swedish artillery piece and a few Russian dragoons. There is also some civilans to be added to game board

The Swedish Infantry is actually Fenno-Swedish. It's a unit then known as the "Österbottens Infanteri regimente"( The Ostrobothnian Regiment). It was set up in western Finland and saw combat at Ljesna 1708. It later on took part in the campaigns in Norway. That battle was tactically inconclusive but led to number of strategical disasters for the Swedes.  The Regiment is clad in the so called "Unity Uniform"( all Swedish units with some exception wore the same uniform). There are some sources that claim they may have worn grey uniforms, but I it seems like the Unity Uniform seems to be the most likely one in 1708. 

Swedish Artillery 1708

The artillery piece and the crew was bought from Ebor. The uniforms were not Swedish( it's from their War of the Spanish Succession range), but some conversions with a scapel and some green stuff did the trick and suddenly I had some Swedish artillery.

Finally I had some Warfare minatures minatures left to which I added plastic figures from Wargames 

factory. I turned these into generic Russian dragoons. 

Russian Dragoons

Civilans are always useful when one wants bring a bit more life to the game table. They usually serve as a decoration, but can also mark an objective. 

Civilian bystanders......always useful

Co-op Blackpowder

The attack of the Västerbottnians - the Repnin Grenadiers are on the recieving  end...

I have a few pictures from our test game. The basic idea is to run a campaign where one side is represented by game master and the other side is a group where each player control one battalion each. There is also a CinC on that side. The CinC issues a number of orders to each battalion. If the unit manage to reach the objective, pointed out by the CinC,  they will be rewarded with a certain amount of points. The points can be used to buy abilities with later on in the campaign. In the intial fight the battalions only have one ability: First Fire.

The starting position of the Swedish Infantry. The main objective is the village at the further end of the gaming table. The Life. Guards and the Uppland Infantry are positioned on the left. The Västerbottnians and the Småland Infantry are on the right side.  The Russians are positioned behind defenses close to the village, with exeception of a lone Dragoon unit. The Dragoons are positioned opposite to the Swedish right, on the other side of the river.

In this game the Russians where controlled by the gamemaster. The Swedes where controlled by 5 players. Four players control one battalion each. One player control the CinC. 

The Russians had 7 battalions and one Dragoon unit. 

The Swedes where supposed to storm the village and grab the supply stores inside. The Russian were
supposed to defend the supplies.

The Uppland Infantry close to the camera. In the background the Småland Infantry engages the Russian Dragoons. The Dragoons were mauled in the intial Clash between the two units.

The Guard was really reluctant to advance and did not move until the CinC personally ordered them to do so( a follow me move)

The Initial Russian positions

The Småland Infantry slams into the Russian position on the right side of the village. The Småland Infantry was probably the most successful unit in this game session.

The Swedes attack the Russian center position.

The Västerbotten Regiment advances towards the Repnin Grenadiers. 

The Uppland Regiment pushes a Russian unit away from the defences.

The Upplandians perished, but the Västerbottnians were succesful and made a flank attack against the  unit that knocked out the Uppland Regiment. The Russian defense soon fell apart

The game is played on 120cmx180cm surface. A rather small game, but we do want to be able to stage sessions that can be concluded on an evening. 

We still have work on the system that will allow the individual battalions to uppgrade their abilities.