Great Northen War, The Trondheim Campaign 1718, Abduction and Arson

Reverend Bödvar Pastorius and his wife Else-Trine- son to be kidnapped by the wicked Swedes

Abduction and Arson- is that really legal?

-Yes, if it is done in 28mm and with slight Christmas feel to it...

We have now been able to run a few games all set in our wintery scenery. It all has indeed a certain Christmas feel to it.  The Trondheim campaign 1718 has been quite useful to flesh out our rules and do the minute adjustments here and there in the game mechanics. 

Recently we have tried out two different scenarios. First we have the abduction. The Swedes trying to seize control over the hearths and minds of the locals knows that control of information and propaganda is best done within the local churches. This leads them into the idea to kidnap the local Lutheran priest, Reverend Bödvar Pastorius. The Swedish army attacks the farmstead of the Reverend in order to aduct the man of the cloth. As always the Danish/Norwegian army is nearby and they intend to stop this. A battle is soon to be talking place around the farmstead. 

The game board in our first game in this report - the abduction of the local Priest. To the right help is on it´s way. The forces of the mighty Colonel Castrullenfjord is here to stop the wicked Swedes from kidnapping the Reverend. The Swedes are deploying to the left in this picture...

Danish/Norwegian foces...Infantry, Grenadiers and dragoons...and most useful piece of ordonnance

Fenno-Swedish forces(Åbo-län Infantry) are bothering the local peasantry....

More Swedes...Jamtlanders on the move towards the farmstead of the Reverend....

Both sides advance towards the main building of the farmstead...the Reverend is not amused....

The forces used are as follows

The Swedes

4 units of musketeers

1 unit of pikes

1 unit of Heavy cavalry

The Norweigans

3 units of Musketeers

1 unit of Grenadiers

1 unit of Dragoons

1 unit of artillery

Both sides have divides their units in three commands, with sub commanders, and each side have a commanding officer. 

The main battle took place around the main building of the farmstead. The Swedes had troubles intially to get their units going and the Norwegians were quick to form a line. When the Swedes closer in a volley of lead was released upon them. The Norwegians then managed to seize the two minor objectives nearby and it looked as if the Swedes were about to fail. In the final staged of the game the Swedes managed to capture the holy man, but at a price that was quite steep. The fight was a draw.

 The Norwegians manged for once to coordinate their forces and actually get things moving from the start....for the first time in this campaign...usually their commander(your truly) manage to stack troops together and make things look like a major highway traffic jam....

A new feature on the gaming table... hard hitting Swedish cavalry(Nyland Cavalry Regiment)...

Norwegian Grenadiers ready to face the Swedish Cavalry....

Colonel Castrullenfjord directs the troops....towards the Swedish main thrust...

The gun is deployed ...ready to fire canister towards the Swedes...but shouldn't the Norwegians try to take the Reverend to safety rather than to blow his cottage in to smithereens?!... 

...and why do the infantry form a line in front of the cannon?

The Swedes are closing in on the Reverend...

The Swedish Cavalry smashes into the first line of Norwegian defense...it went actually quite well for the defenders...the cavalry was out of the game ...

The lack of right focus from the side of the Norwegian commander led to the first Swedish attempt  to abduct the poor Reverend Pastorius...

A rather reckless canister bombardment stopped the first attempt to kidnap the Reverend....by grace of  the All Mighty the Reverend survived the Norwegian Canister blast....but then the Jamtlanders moved in....   This was the end of the game...a draw actually...much due to the losses on the Swedish side...

In the second game the forces on each side was identical. The main Norweigan objective this time was the Bell tower. The Norweigans sees the enemy approaching. Thus they want to sound the Bell in order to call out a warning, and perhaps get some reenforcements. The Norweigans wins this game if they reach the Bell tower and manage to stay put for three consecutive turns. Then the bell sounds and they have accomplished theirs objective. The Swedes on the other hand are intent on doing some arson. If they spend one turn by a house the house will go up in flames if the Swedish player rolls 4-6 on a d6.  The hintermost house is the main objective for the Swedes. Burning the other houses are minor objectives.

This time we did implement the rules for army breakdown that will end the game before any objectives are captured. In short you loose the game if two thirds of your army is gone.

The Swedes managed to torch at least one building. The Norweigans managed to reach the bell tower quite fast. Then the fighting got serious. The Swedes staged a number of close quarter assaults. Bothe sides to quite a lot of casualties. In the end the Norweigan army broke first.

From our second game...Fenno-Swedes(Osthrobothians) playing with matches...the result is a torched building...a mighty Christmas Candle..

Also from our second game...the Norwegians trying to reach their objective....the Bell Tower..

The last attempt by the Norwegians to storm the Bell Tower...the Grenadiers are moving in...this failed and thus the Norwegians lost the second game..

We are still in the process of testing these rules. We have given the name Musket Mayhem. There are still few things that needs to be adjusted. Hopefully we will have a complete set within a few months. In the meantime we keep running test games.