The Battle of Golab (Golomb) 1656. An Eastern Renaissance scenario for Pike and Shotte

 This week's game is a scenario set in the 'Deluge' when Poland/Lithuania was beset by enemies on all fronts.  The basic details come from Michael Fredholm von Essen's book "Charles X's Wars, Volume 2 The Wars in the East, 1655-57 which is publish by Helion in their Century of the Soldier series.

In early February 1656, King Charles X of Sweden moved south with an all cavalry force, hearing that a Polish force under Czarnieecki was close he set out to attack it.  On the 18th February he crossed the Vistula (which was frozen) and surprised and defeated a Commonwealth unit.  This retreated north, pursued by the Swedish vanguard commanded by General Henrik Horn.  At the village of Golab (or Golomb as it was known to the Swedes) they met the remainder of Czarniecki's force.  A general battle developed, with both sides receiving reinforcements.  Eventually superior numbers allowed the Swedes to outflank the Commonwealth troops and threaten their line of retreat.  When Czarniecki ordered a retreat it became more of a rout, as the Commonwealth troops were vigorously pursued by the  Lithuanian and Tartar units in the Swedish force.

The view from behind the Swedish vanguard

It is difficult to determine exact numbers involved in the action.  Charles had approximately 11000 men in his force when he set out, (8000 Swedes/Germans and 3000 Polish, Lithuanian, Tartar and Ruthenian  allies).  This will have dwindled during the campaign and not all the force was present at the battle.  What can be said is that the Swedish force was certainly more numerous than the c2500 Commonwealth troops under Czarniecki's command.

For the scenario I decided on the following forces

Swedish vanguard

2 standard units of Swedish Horse                 2 standard units of 'Cossack' cavalry

Swedish reinforcements

2 veteran units of  Swedish Horse (1 standard, 1 small)        1 standard unit of Lithuanian pancerni

2 standard units of Polish noble levy cavalry 

Commonwealth vanguard

2 standard units of Pancerni                       1 standard unit of Transylvanian light cavalry

1 very small unit of veteran Hussars

Commonwealth reinforcements

2 standard units of veteran pancerni                 1 small unit of veteran Hussars

Notes

Veteran Swedish and Commonwealth pancerni units were  rated 'Stubborn'

Hussars and the Lithuanian pancerni were given 'lance', but this was only available for their first charge.

Polish Noble Levy and Transylvanian cavalry started as trained but dropped to raw after they became 'Shaken'

Overall, the Swedes had a 3:2 advantage in numbers, but the Commonwealth had more veteran troops. 

The Commonwealth vanguard at Golab

Our battle began with a rather uncoordinated advance by the Swedish force, which was met by a determined move forward by the Poles and their allies.  The first clashes took place between the pancerni and the Swedish horse and each side had a unit routed.

First round to the pancerni

With Cossack support, the Swedes prevail

The Cossack units continued forward, and into the Transylvanian light cavalry.  Perhaps the Transylvanians were rather unwilling allies, because they were driven off in no time at all with one unit of Cossacks hot on their heels.

The Cossacks gang up on the Transylvanians

Meanwhile the Polish Hussars now entered the fray  They were too late to save their allies, but they made short work of the unfortunate Cossack unit that was in their way.  Continuing forward, the Hussars now made a nuisance of themselves disrupting the advance of the main Swedish force which was now reaching the battlefield.

The Polish Hussars in action

At the opposite end of the battlefield a unit of Cossacks could also see the main enemy body approaching.  However, there was little they could do to delay them and so they fell back towards their supports.

A second wave of encounters now took place with units charging and counter-charging across the field.  Units became shaken and or disordered and by the time we had to call a halt it was the Poles who had the advantage.  

The Lithuanian Noble Levy attack the Pancerni

Looking back, I perhaps made the Poles too strong in proportion to the Swedes, another two units of Swedish horse would have made a significant difference.  The use of 'stubborn' for the veteran units seemed to work well as did the amendment to the morale state of the Lithuanian Noble Levy and Transylvanian units. Definitely food for thought for future scenarios for this period.

Kenilworth Castle

 Last weekend, we were visiting the Midlands.  One of the places we visited was Kenilworth Castle.  I had been before, almost 40 years ago and not surprisingly I  didn't remember much apart from the very imposing keep.

The walls of the keep are up to 14ft thick as can be seen on the North Wall which was demolished when the building was 'slighted' after the Civil War.

The castle was first established by the Royal Chamberlain, Geoffrey de Clinton in the early part of the 12th century.  It was considerably strengthened by King John, who built a stone curtain wall, an outwork to protect the main castle gate and raised the level of the keep.  He also raised the level of the causeway leading to the main gate which increased the extent of the water defences.  These were tested to the limit in 1266 when Simon de Montfort's son, also called Simon, was besieged by the Royal army after the rebel defeat at Evesham.  For six months the garrison held out.  The Royal stone throwers did not have the range to fire over the water defences and a larger machines had to be sent from London.  Stones from a trebuchet have been found within the castle grounds and are on display in the Stables exhibition.

The water defences meant that undermining the walls was impossible and an assault using barges was repulsed.   In the end disease and starvation forced the garrison to surrender. 

Further building was carried on by John of Gaunt.  He created a great hall with additional private apartments and the castle was often visited by the Lancastrian kings in the 15th century.  Below is a photograph of a model of the castle at the time of Elizabeth I when additional buildings had been added by Robert Dudley.  He also created a garden using French and Italian designs.  In 2005-6 an archaeological survey established the layout of the 16th century design and the garden has been recreated, complete with fountain and avairy.

 

Back to the AWI

For our game last week Steve organised an AWI game based on this post (https://paintingshed.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-battle-of-fonteytown-1777.html) from the Painting Shed blog.

Looking up the battlefield from the Crown right wing

The photograph shows the battlefield before the Crown forces deploy.  On their right and centre the Crown have two brigades (each of 4 units) of British troops; on their left a third brigade which are all Hessians, consisting of 5 units: 3 battalions of line infantry, one unit of jaeger and one light gun.  Their task is to drive off the rebel forces and allow the road to be used by supply wagons.

Opposing them are two rebel/revolutionary brigades, each of five units.  They have formed quite a strong defensive line, but have few reserves.   A roll of the dice allocated me command of the Crown forces and Bob took command of the opposition.

My intention was to get forward as quickly as possible, ie advance in column and then deploy into line once I was in musketry range.  This plan was in the wastepaper basket by the end of the first move as my best unit, the British grenadiers were targeted by the opposition artillery and having failed a morale test routed back to the baseline.

The grenadiers rout

Other British units made slow and stately progress, suffering the odd casualty on the way.  On the left flank the Hessians also had problems.  After a reasonable start, they seemed to be unable to coordinate their advance, allowing the defenders to concentrate their fire on first one unit and then another.  The brigade commander was soon scurrying around the battlefield rallying his men. 

It all started so well

Then this happened

On the flanks the light infantry were trying to push back the enemy riflemen from the woods.  The British light infantry were making heavy weather of the operation; their fire seemed to be having little effect and when they advanced they began to suffer casualties.  A bayonet charge managed to force the enemy to fall back but it was all too late.  One line unit had been advancing and also covering the artillery which was moving forward into effective range.  However, the line infantry had taken quite a few casualties from the riflemen and when targeted by the enemy artillery their nerve broke and they routed.  This left the British artillery exposed to a volley from a unit of Continental infantry and as men fell the remainder left their guns and ran for cover.  They were rallied but the British artillery was fated to play little active part in the action.

For all their problems, the Hessians were the first to break through the enemy lines.  The jaegers charged their opponents, who instead of falling back, stood their ground.  In an unequal melee, where the jaegers had bayonets and they did not, the riflemen inflicted severe casualties before they routed.

Success for the jaegers

Once the riflemen had been driven off, the jaegers could move onto the flank of the line infantry holding the defences.  Their harassing fire, combined with volleys from the weary Hessian line troops eventually forced one of the defending units to rout.  

Success at last

The opportunity was there for the Hessian brigade to move forward, but they were just too weak.  The jaegers were at half strength, the artillery had expended all of its ammunition and one of the musketeer regiments had routed from the field.  The two remaining Hessian infantry units were on the brink of following them, each having only one strength point remaining.

For their part the British had neared the defences, but had not yet tested them and we had run out of time.  The rebels/revolutionaries were adjudged the winners, but later, Steve played a few more moves and the British actually managed to break through the defences and open up the road.