An episode from the Great Northern War

This scenario was set somewhere in what is now western Russia close to the Baltic states.  A Swedish force is heading eastwards hoping to defeat the nearest Russian force and then advance on Narva.  The Russians are aware of the Swedish advance and have told their army commander to slow the Swedish advance, avoid a major action and wait for a second army to join him from the south.  This will give the Russians an overwhelming advantage and ensure the destruction of the invading army.  Unfortunately for the strategists at army headquarters, the commander of the northern Russian army, having seen the size of the Swedish force, has decided he has sufficient strength to beat the Swedes on his own (and of course not have to share the glory).  We used our own version of the Pike and Shotte rules, together with the factors from the Last Argument of Kings Black Powder supplement.  The figures are 40mm home casts from the Prince August moulds which were passed on to me by Alasdair a good number of years ago.

The battlefield

The constricted nature of the battlefield did not allow the Russian commander sufficient space to make full use of his superior numbers.  In the event, his superiority was not as great as he thought as a third brigade of Swedish infantry was on its way.  The total force available to the Russians were 15 battalions of infantry and 7 units of cavalry with two medium guns.  For the Swedes, they started with 8 battalions of infantry, (soon raised to 12), 6 units of cavalry, (all small, whereas the Russian ones were standard) and 2 light guns.  The Swedish leaders and army were generally of a better quality and the units hit harder in the melee, but were weaker in terms of musketry.

The battle began with the Swedes advancing their cavalry, with the intention of driving off the opposing horse and threatening the flank of the Russian infantry line.  They were helped by some rather feeble attempts to advance by the Russian cavalry (they failed nearly all their command rolls), though the infantry on the Russian left did manoeuvre into a position to fire in support of their cavalry if they were charged.  Disdaining the infantry support, the Russian right wing cavalry commander led forward his leading cavalry unit against the Swedes.  He was soundly beaten and as his men routed from the field, he was carried away with them.  Disaster was averted only by the infantry which fired a volley at the leading Swedish cavalry regiment, inflicted such damage that they fell back through their supports, disordering them.  This second unit was also swept by musketry fire and routed, allowing the victorious infantry to advance into the clearing and block any further Swedish cavalry attacks.

The left wing Swedish cavalry ready to charge

Seeing that the Russian infantry had advanced in support of their cavalry, the Swedish right wing cavalry commander decided to save the unit charging the Russian cavalry by ordering a spoiling attack against the infantry.  The cavalry involved were not impressed by this order, especially as the Russian infantry proceeded to fire a very effective volley which inflicted heavy casualties.  They were even less impressed when the cavalry they were protecting failed to drive off their opponents and were held in the melee.  The Russians then managed to get another regiment of horse up in support and this help swung the second round of melee in the Russians favour, pushing the Swedish cavalry back.

Contact on the Swedish right

The Swedish cavalry take heavy casualties as they charge home

The Russian cavalry push forward

It was at this point that the third brigade of Swedish infantry arrived and the Swedish commander decided to reinforce his left and directed them to advance down the clearing and drive back the Russian infantry which had inflicting casualties on the Swedish left wing cavalry.

Led by the Guard battalion the infantry move forward

Meanwhile, in the centre, the Swedish infantry brigades were advancing.  Ignoring the fire from the Russian artillery, they were halted by some very effective musketry by the Russian infantry.   Indeed, some of the Russian infantry became a little over-enthusiastic and advanced on the enemy.  This proved their undoing as a Swedish volley, followed by a charge sent the Russians back in rout.

The Russian infantry has advanced a little too far and is about to be charged by the Swedish infantry

On their right, the Russian infantry were making use of the wooded knoll to position themselves to give converging fire on any Swedish units advancing on the main line.

The main Swedish advance

On the Swedish left, the Guard had driven back the leading Russian infantry unit, but another had stepped forward to take it's place.  A couple of volleys from this fresh unit caused the Guards to afll back to rally, but fresh Swedish units were available to push forward.

The Swedish advance continues on the left

Elsewhere, Swedish fortunes had ebbed.  The right wing cavalry needed infantry support to advance, but the infantry centre was beginning to falter under the continuing effectiveness of the Russian musketry.  They found it difficult to advance quickly enough to close rapidly with the enemy and use their melee superiority.  

Although they had taken heavy punishment, the Russians had inflicted some loss on the Swedish force.  If nothing else the Swede's confidence would have been lowered by their failure to drive off the Russians.  So a Russian victory, they had slowed the Swedish advance and given time for the southern force to march to the area.  The level of losses may take some explaining, but the Russian commander had already identified a couple of brigadiers who would provide convenient scapegoats.

Final position in the centre