Battle of Axtorna 1565 AAR

[Bushbaby]

So, finally I have converted enough GW Empire soldiers to field my first historical 16:th century battle. Using readily available GW figures gives me the opportunity to deploy a massive number of figures.

This is the battle of Axtorna, fought between Sweden and Denmark 1565 during the Nordic Seven Years War. The battle was one of the biggest ever fought in Sweden and the war was mainly about trade and dominance of the Baltic Sea. The danish army was retreating and caught up by a stronger, swedish force in the County of Halland.

The rules are my own.

(Credit: Several units are beautifully painted by Henerius from whom I bought about half of my force.)



The swedish army commanded by Bielke marching forward. It consisted mostly of swedes with some elements of german mercenary horse. Swedish king Erik XIV wanted to build a strong native army to avoid the devastating expences brought by mercenaries. The swedish peasantry often were experienced soldiers and Sweden was the first country in the world to use a draft system.

Note the NCO:s flanking almost every unit on the field. They were called "profosser" and where charged with keeping the unit cohesion and preventing panic.



The danish army under Rantzau. The danish king Fredrik II was more dependent on noble cavalry and mercenaries than his swedish counterpart. The infantry consisted of roughly 2/3 german landsknechts while 1/2 of the cavalry were germans.



"Gårdsfänikan" under colonel Månsson, a swedish elite formation, raised and equipped by the king himself. Said to be the king's jewel.



"Hovfanan" under Tornow advances towards the swedes. The danish noblemen were so called "heavy horse" with full armor and horse barding. In the foreground are mercenary arquebusiers belonging to Lazarus Streckfuss' regiment.



Swedish Hakebössor (Arquebuses) and cannons from The King's own Regiment.



Landsknecht pikemen in danish service commanded by Platow. NCO walking behind.



The swedes make the first move and the battle begins.

To be continued..

[jambo1]

Super stuff, lovely looking units. Not a war I am familiar with so good to see!!

[Sunjester]

Looks good and nice to see Northern wars being featured as a change from Italy.

[pocoloco]

Looks great, all that mass of troops 

[Dr. Zombie]

Great stuff!

I have actually fought in a reenactment af that battle on the actual battlefield but it is manny years ago now. I don't know if it is still being done.

[joroas]

Great repurposing of those GW Figures.

[Romark]

Yep,very good conversions,nice collection.

[Bushbaby]

The danes reply.



The Black Riders under Törilsson advance on the swedish left flank, rounding a small forest.



While the danish heavy horse advance in the center.



Gårdsfänikan marches forward to fife and drum.



The Black Riders round the forest and are met with a first volley of arquebus fire causing some casualties. Despite the number of barrels pointing their way, they charge!



Straight into a hailstorm of lead.



The landsknechts brace for impact.



The surviving swedes reach the arquebuiers.




But courage alone is not enough against overwhelming numbers and without support they are outflanked and break.



Swedish rondellknektar (rondassiers) take position in the center, realising too late that the pond in front of them makes the range to their opponents to great for their pistols.



At the same time the water protects the danish shot, letting them cut down the swedes from a safe distance.



A pike block approaching, seen from a unit of swedish foot lancers (spearmen).



Smelling defeat, the swedes throw in their remaining horse unit, Duke Magnus Horsemen under Olsson against the danish heavy horse in the center. The forces collide whith a clash of steel and thundering hooves.



At the same time blocking all their crossbowmen who are left without targets!



The charge in the center meets some initial success, but the danish noble cavalry is heavier armed and this, paired with accurate fire from the sides, causes the Duke Magnus Horsemen to withdraw. And so the battle ends.

[Marine0846]

Excellent battle report.
Love the look of the battle.
Well done.

[Dr. Zombie]

Great pictures. And Denmark won just like in real life.

[von Lucky]

Lovely photos. This is a great battle to refight, there's a useful link here that I've used in the past (including flags):
http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/nordicfury.html
http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/axtorna.html

[Bushbaby]

Lovely photos. This is a great battle to refight, there's a useful link here that I've used in the past (including flags):
http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/nordicfury.html
http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/axtorna.html

Wonderful link. I have been looking for those flags for ages!

I have ordered another 200 infantry for my next battle, so stay tuned.

[von Lucky]

There was some Word document I found (but can't find in my files now) that had more, but I couldn't find the wargaming blog yesterday. In a way it's more fun to fight these battles than the mush of American/English centricness we get in the hobby. Not saying they're bad, but there are battles where the English or Americans weren't involved that changed the course of history significantly.

[Vagabond]

Bushbaby - Really enjoyed reading your game report, it took a couple of reads to finally understand the battle as played. Maybe a few more overall pics to show how things are developing, but that's maybe just me being slow.
 Seems the Swedes relied entirely on cavalry and were beaten because of it. Your rules seem to have given a good result.

You got me interested in the history of the battle, which led me to Wikipedia for more information, there isn't much there but Von Lucky's links were brilliant, sounds like it was a very historical outcome.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

[von Lucky]

For those who want to fight this battle in 15mm, Grumpy's late 1550-1590 Landsknechts (available from Eureka), Khurasan's Swedes and of course the Fire & Sword range are perfect, along with flags and terrain, to help add a little Scandinavian flavour to the battlefield.