GNW relief column

On Thursday night I put on a small club game for the GNW. It was time the Swedes got an outing. The game pitted a Swedish relief column trying to fight its way through encircling Russian forces to link up with Charles XII.

The Swedish force commanded by John was made up of  9 battalions of infantry in 3 brigades. They were supported by 6 squadrons of dragoons and  8 squadrons of horse.

The Russians commanded by Tom were hidden from view. There place on the table marked by a mounted brigadiers. 2 were dummy markers. The Russians had 16 battalions of infantry in 4 brigades. 1 was veteran, the rest were raw. They were supported by 6 squadrons of Horse Grenadiers and 15 squadrons of Dragoons of rather dubious quality.

The field of battle

The Swedes advance

The game began with the Swedish horse advancing along the road where they became threatened by a brigade of Russian infantry. They cautiously awaited their own infantry before advancing further.

It took the Swedes some time to get themselves in order. John pushed one infantry brigade out to his right flank where they were blocked by another Russian infantry battalion. On the Swedish left flank the Russian infantry began to fall back as Swedish Dragoons threatened their flanks.

As the Swedes advanced the crashed into the Russian infantry, throwing them back in disorder. They pushed on towards the village and crashed into the Russian veterans. They promptly routed 1 battalion before Russian Dragoons forced them back

Tom then committed his Horse grenadiers against the Swedish Dragoons. After a few turns of melee they were beaten back. On the Swedish right flank the two infantry lines engaged. After a brief struggle the Russian brigade collapsed.

In the Centre the Swedish infantry renewed the assault. After some early success they began to hold off as Russian Dragoons once again threatened their flanks.

Unfortunately we ran out of time. The Russians still held the village and had more troops on their way. However the Swedes were still a threat with plenty of fresh infantry.