Tuesday, August 01, 2023

30 Years War

Empire: Mike & Jim: 4 tercios, 2 Landschneck swordsen, 3 Polish Hussars, 3 extra heavy cavalry, 4 medium cavalry, 2 guns.
Swedes: Mark & Mitch: 5 pike & shot, 4 musketeers, 8 extra heavy cavalry, 4 medium cavalry, 2 guns. 
Pics from behind the Empire's right flank.

The Empires deployed their tercios on the ridge on their left, swordsmen on their left flank, artillery in the centre with their medium cavalry behind in reserve, & their heavy cavalry on their right.
The Swedes put all their cavalry on their right, pike & shot plus artillery in the centre & musketeers in the woods on their left. 
The Empire immediately threw their heavy cavalry at the left end of the line of Swedish pike & shot, while their tercios advanced steadily on their left.
The Swedes began moving cavalry from their right to the centre.
The massed cavalry charge eventually broke a pike & shot unit, but was spent in the process & rallied back from the Swedish second line.  While that fight went on, the Poles held off the musketeers on their right but not without loss & the reserve cavalry came forward to cover the left.  The massed cavalry charge eventually broke the pike & shot unit, but were so badly mauled they had to fall back from teh Swedish second line.
The Swedish right is falling back slowly in the face of the advancing tercios.
The Empire cavalry on their right flank have fallen back with high casualties.
The medium cavalry in the centre won their fight & the other Swedish cavalry in the center fell back as the tercios advanced on their flank.  The victorious cavalry then charged the Swedish guns on the ridge.  they rode over the guns but recoiled with high casualties losses from the pike & shot behind.
Three tercios have finally closed on the Swedish pike & shot.
On the far flank the Swedish cavalry is neutralised by the 4th tercio.
Most of the Empire cavalry has fallen back where their general is trying to rally them.
The medium cavalry still fit to fight are covering the tercio's right.
Swedish cavalry from their right flank is redeploying on their left.
While the infantry slug it out in the cente, the remaining unshaken Empire cavalry are desperately holding off a Swedish counterattack.
The Empire's cavalry line has broken, but they held on long enough for the tercios to win the battle as 3 more Swedish pike & shot break causing them to fail an army morale test. 

Even though the butcher's bill was heavily in the Empire's favour, with them losing just 5 cavalry units broken while the Swedes lost 4 P&S, 2 musketeers, 2 cavalry. & 2 guns, the battle was in the balance to the last turn when the Swedish infantry line suddenly collapsed before the Swedes could exploit the fact they had cavalry dominance on the near flank. 

  
  

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