Project F...

We thougth it is time to reveal Project F, as my matey Jonas decide to call it. Project F stands for "Battle at Foteviken 1134" that will be our joint Viking/Medieval demonstartion game at Salute 2016.

As last year the ideea for setting was thought of by my matey Jan that are a fellow Sweden that live in exile in the UK. Without Jan and his exellent skill in terrain building there would be no Salute project so all praise for him and his stoic terrain building, and a big thanks to Mrs Jan that allow him to spend a lot of time in his workshop;)

This year my mateys Jonas and Jesper will help out with the painting of the mins, we need much more than last year... so be sure to look for project updates at their blogs to.

You can find us at GA15 just to the right when you enter Salute on saturday the 16th April 2016 at ExCel arena in London. We hope to see you there.

Needs just a few more... Ledung soldiers...

For my baltic Crusade and Project F, that by the way will be reveale in a day or so, I built me two more ledung units, can never have to few of them...

The minis are a mix of FireForge foot Serjants and Gripping Beast Viking/Dark Age warriors, they are based in the 1,2,3 basing system.

Whiskey on the Rocks - Wargames Soldiers and Strategy issue 83

"Whiskey on the Rocks" incident.

This time I have been outside my ordinary comfortbox and gone modern...at least 1980´s... In Wargames Soldiers and Strategu Issu 83 you can find my article about the the ‘Whiskey on the Rocks’ incident.

On 27 October 1981, submarine S-363, a ‘whiskey-class’ submarine of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, ran aground on the Torhamnaskär reef on the south coast of Sweden, approximately 10km from Karlskrona, the largest of the Swedish naval bases. The ensuing international incident is often referred to as the ‘Whiskey on the Rocks’ incident.

I have created a series of linked ‘what-if’ scenarios for WSS which operate under the premise that the Russians and Swedes did not (or were not able) to resolve their differences peacefully. Most of the scenarios was fit into the magazine, but due to space concerns mission 3 was left out of the magazine but have been published at the WSS website, complete with the relevant map. You find it here: Mission 3 – Little Red House

"How a game was planned and built for Salute"

In this issue I actually are involwed in two articles the second one with my matey Jan Kärrman that I run the "Stockholm 1392" game at Salute 2015 with.

Putting on a game at a wargaming show is stressful but surprisingly addictive. As soon as you’ve done one, you inevitably start to think about how to do it better and (often) bigger next time. We put on a medieval participation game at Salute 2015, and while the experience may have left us exhausted, it also inspired us to have another go. But before rushing headlong into another project, we thought it would be good to take stock and remind ourselves what went well and what could be improved. (There might also be a number of readers thinking about putting on a game for the first time. We hope that you’ll be inspired by reading this article to do just that.)

If you want to read the articles you will find it in WSS Issue 83 that you can ordere here.

Medieval Bishop

For my baltic Crusade and Project F I built me one more Bishop, can never have to few of them...

The Bishops hird are minis i painted last year but some of them have got new bases in the 1,2,3 basing system.

Polish War 1625-1629 - AAR #4 and #5

Two more games have been played out in my Polish–Swedish War 1625–1629 campaign at the club to get further playtest games of the Pikeman´s Lament rules that I and Dan Mersey are working on.

The Campaign revolves around the war between the Swedes and the Poles in 1625-1629 and we have started of during the autum of 1625.

The Polish–Swedish Wars were a series of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. Broadly construed, the term refers to a series of wars between 1563 and 1721. More narrowly, it refers to particular wars between 1600 and 1629.

The Polish–Swedish War of 1625–1629 was the fourth stage (after 1600–1611, 1617–1618, and 1620–1625) in a series of conflicts between Sweden and Poland fought in the 17th century. It began in June 1625 and ended four years later with the Truce of Altmark and later at Stuhmsdorf with the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf.

In 1621, the Swedes besiege and conquered Riga, which attracted attention, as it was the first time a Protestant leaders defeated a Catholic power. The Swedish army was worn and the Poles could regain the initiative at Dorpat. Truce was signed in November 1622 and was extended until March 1625. Any acceptable terms for peace with Poland, could not be reached, so Gustav II Adolf planned a new campaign against Poland, which began in June 1625. Kokenhusen, Birze and Mitau was captured and Dorpat was taken after six days of siege. During the autumn of 1625 two Polish armies appeared against the Swedish forces and Gustav II Adolf decided to get into a clash before the Polish forces managed to unite.

So this is the starting point for my Polish War club campaign.

Below are a map of the area around the Town of Kokenhusen where the campaign are set during the Autum of 1625. The Red and blue sabers mark the point of each game and the winner...

This time we run two games during the evening with 24 point standard Companies. As Rotamaster Janosz Kowalski could not brin his troops to battle this day, he managed to hire the Flemish mercenarys to fight for the Poles this day...after all the Polish trechery was filled with swedish goild sins the last game...

OOB Polish

1st Company 
Officer Ensigne Tzerclaes Van Kökkenpanne a.k.a. “The Turncoat from Temse”, are a Flemish mercenary officer, the bastard son of a priest. He have turned colours several timer and are now in service of the Polish Swedes Polish...

1x6 Elite Trotters
1x6 Forlorn Hope
1x12 Pike
2x12 shot

OOB Swedish
Officer Lieutenant Henrik av Hunneberg "Hammar-Henrik". Hammar-Henrik are a mighty fine Swedish officer that command the forces of the region Västergötaland, he have a fine moustache and pointed berd as the young king. He are also a early user of the Swedish GÅ PÅ! tactic...

1x6 Elite Gallopers
2x6 Forlorn Hope
1x12 Pike
1x6 Commanded Shot

Notes on unit types used in these games of Pikeman's Lament:

Gallopers are cavalry relying on rapid charges into close combat in the style of 30 Years War Swedish and French cavalry, when used we also put the Polish Winged Hussare in this unit type.

Trotters are cavalry relying more on pistol/carbine fire at some distance and are often in our games heavily armoured curassiers that may use caracolle tactics.

Forlorn Hope are small elite infantry units that usually are good at both melee and long range fire.

Pike and Shot are the iconic massed pikemen and musketeers of the pike and shot period. 

Commanded shot are small units of skirmishing musketeers.

My matey Ulf a.k.a. Hammar-Henrik have posted full AAR´s on his blog and I only posted the OOB and my pictures here, so please take a visit to Ulf´s blog to read more about the battle after you had a look at my pictures:)

Polish cavalry

Due to my Polish War campaing I have built me some Cavalry, Light and Armoured, the last 12 Armoured ones have just been finished and I also found some nice banners to use to:)