The Pikeman´s Lament AAR#1 - Raid in Örkened Socken 1678

Here are some pictures from my and Jonas first playtest game of My and Daniel Merseys new Pike and Shot themed wargaming rules "The Pikeman´s Lament" that are due to be published in the Ospreys Wargaming serie in January 2017....

We used my Scaninan War 1675-79 collection and the Scenario are a Raid mission on a small Scanian farm that havbe been toold to help the Danish Freeshoters so the Swedish authoraty have decided to burn it all to the ground as a punishment for them helping the rebelles, i.e.. "Snapphanarna".

OOB
The two companies used have a lot of different troop types in them as we wanted to test as many as possible in the same game;)

Danish
Officer - Second Lieutenant Niels Andersen, he are a Hothead and have a hard time with superiors - he have been demoted several times, but his freeshoter company loves that he cares for them and lead from the front.
1 unit of Shot with officer attached
2 units of Trotters
2 units of Dragoons
1 unit of Allmoge
1 unit of Detached shot

Swedish
Officer - Second Lieutenant Nils Skytte, he are an Officer and a Gentleman in fancy clothes that the ladies really love.
1 unit of Pike with officer attached
2 units of Shot
1 unit of Galoppers
1 unit of Veteran Dragoons
1 unit of Allmoge

Deployment, Danes to the left with a few units in the middle to defent the farm and Swedes to the right. The gaming area are about 120x120cm

Swedish Dragoons and Galoppers. As you see we have keept the unit sizes, 6 minis for Horse and 12 minis for most Foot, The Dragoons are some in between with a mix of Horse and Foot, but it have no effect on the game

Soldiers from the Swedish Dalregiment, one unit of Shot and a unit of Pike with the officer, Second Lieutenant Nils Skytte, mounted on his Horse so all enemy snipers can see him and his new hat in all his glory;)

Scaninan Allmoge that fights for the Swedes to hunt downt the marauders, the Snapphanar.

It was quite common during the Scanian war that the Scanian Allmoge fought for both the Swedes and the Danes.

Scanian Allmoge that under command of the village priest will try to defend their homes from the flames. Back in the small field you can see a group of Detached Shot, represented by the more potent shooter from the Scanina Allmoge.

Danish Freeshoters (Dragoons) advance to help out protect the farm.

Even more Danish freeshoters advance to protect the farm against the evil Swedes...

To the left a unit of Shot with the officer Second Lieutenant Niels Andersen on his horse that he stole from a Swedish general some time ago. To the right, on the road, two units of Trotters.

The Danish Trotters dashingly moves throught the farm eager to engage the Swedes, in the back some Danish Dragoons take cover behins a pile of timber.

The Scanian Allmoge hide out behind one of the houses hoping that the trotters will win the day for them.

At the same time the Swedish infantry have reached the stone wall and the Dragoons and Galoppers are on their way up to the farm.

Only the Scanian Allmoge that lagging behind in the general Swedish advance

The Scanian Allmoge that are defending the farm are still hiding behind a house while the Swedes advance...

The Swedish Galoppers ad Dragoons have taken some casulties due to shooting from the Danish Trotters and Dragoons...

The Scanian allmoge have at last advanced to a possition behind a hedge to start shooting on the advancing Swedes...

The advancing Swedes also recieve some flanking fire from the Danish Shot unit.

Just before the final Swedish assault...

Second Lieutenant Nils Skytte leads heroicly his Pike unit in a charge...

Fierce fighting...

The Pikeman´s from the Dalregiment manage to chase away the Scanian Allmoge...

Smells like a Swedish victory...

...but due to some shooting and a lucky blow Second Lieutenant Nils Skytte falls from his horse, wounded...but it seems like it was just a flesh wound and his Pikemen´s manage to bring him to saftey, but also stoping their offencive...

With just one Shot unit, a Pike unit and some no-god Scanian Allmoge left the Swedes decides to retreate in good order and launch a new attack another day...

To have been the first test game of The Pikeman´s Lament we both feelt most worked out good, we have some adjustment of troop stats, special rules etc to do, but we are on our way with the playtesting, expect more The Pikeman´s Lament playtesting AAR´s :)

Thanks for reading!