A skirmish in Scania

[JohanTh]

Hello! 
I´m planning a small-scale skirmish-campaign set during “Horns War” in Scania in 1644-45. The plan is to build both a Danish force and a Swedish one. This page will function as a project-log of sorts.

On the 14th of February 1644 Gustav Horn marched into Scania with an army of about 11.000 men. the plan was for Horn to seize Scania while Lennart Torstensson and his army attacked Denmark from Germany.
The campaign in Scania lasted until the peace with Denmark in 1645 and consisted mostly of sieges, burning of castles and skirmishes with the local population, loosely organised by Danish officers.
The Swedish forces consisted of mostly fresh recruits, the plan was to have a few veteran regiments sent over from Torstenssons army to mix with the newly conscripted soldiers but this did not happen.
The Danish forces in Scania consisted of a few poorly equipped regiments of soldiers who waged a guerrilla war against the Swedish occupiers with help from the local population. 

First up is some Danish musketeers with mixed equipment, some with heavy muskets and rests and some with hunting-pieces, led by a young officer. 
Figures are all bloody miniatures with a few headswappes to de-anglify them 😉
Based 1-2-3 for that feeling of loosely organized skirmishing infantry.

[traveller]

Great work! Look forward to your next posting. Horns War is one of my favourite conflicts. Lots of desperate skirmishes, perfect for wargaming 

[v_lazy_dragon]

A great start! A conflict I know nothing about, but with modelling like that I'll follow with interest

[mikedemana]

They look great! What rules set do you plan to use? I also had never heard of this conflict - very interesting!

Mike Demana

[Malamute]

They look terrific

[discok3]

A fine body of soldiers

[Calvin59]

Well done on painting the figurines, and I look forward to following your project as it progresses. Good luck! 

[JohanTh]

Thank you so much for all the feedback!

Horns war is quite poorly researched, the most comprehensive work I know of is Vessbergs Bidrag till historien om Sveriges krig med Danmark 1643-1645 (contributions to the history of Swedens war with Denmark in 1643-1645) which was published in 1895 and suffers from its share of problems.

Regarding rules I am leaning towards The Pikemans Lament as it seems to give me scale I’m after. I´m however unsure how it handles pitching only cavalry against only infantry… perhaps one of you knows? Is there maybe another ruleset that will work better?

[traveller]

Thank you so much for all the feedback!

Horns war is quite poorly researched, the most comprehensive work I know of is Vessbergs Bidrag till historien om Sveriges krig med Danmark 1643-1645 (contributions to the history of Swedens war with Denmark in 1643-1645) which was published in 1895 and suffers from its share of problems.

Beside Vessbergs account, there are some interesting articles in the publication Ale:

https://tidskriftenale.se/

1990:3, 1990:4 and 2007:2 are worth to read. They have details on the battle/skirmish at Borst in March 1644. Riksantikvariatämbetet also have an article called "Åter till Borst". The regimental history of the Life Guard by Barkman also have interesting material.

[Count Belisarius]

Nice looking figures and idea. What rules are you planning on using?

[JohanTh]

Beside Vessbergs account, there are some interesting articles in the publication Ale:

https://tidskriftenale.se/

1990:3, 1990:4 and 2007:2 are worth to read. They have details on the battle/skirmish at Borst in March 1644. Riksantikvariatämbetet also have an article called "Åter till Borst". The regimental history of the Life Guard by Barkman also have interesting material.

Thank you!

I have the articles from Riksantikvarieämbetet about Borst and have read the Ale articles in the 2007 issue but have missed the ones from 1990. Ale is such a rich source indeed!
I have also never read the Barkman book and will look it up.

Thank you again!

[traveller]

Thank you!

I have the articles from Riksantikvarieämbetet about Borst and have read the Ale articles in the 2007 issue but have missed the ones from 1990. Ale is such a rich source indeed!
I have also never read the Barkman book and will look it up.

Thank you again!

You are welcome!

There is more to be found in the regional history literature, Gert Jepssons book "Vintern när svenskarna eldade upp Ystad" and Karlssons book about Halland "Bland Spioner och Snapphanar" are some examples. Several regimental histories, of which the history of the Life Guard is the most extensive, also have details of the campaign 1644-1645. It is also worth to study the other theaters of war against Denmark, in Norway and Jylland. The latter, "Torstensson´s Invasion" has even more to offer the wargamer than the war in Scania. Olli Bäckström has written an excellent book called "SNAPPHANAR AND POWER STATES
INSURGENCY AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF WAR IN SWEDEN AND DENMARK 1643–1645". There is so much inspiration and fun out there 

[JohanTh]

Here is a small update, progress is slow due to limited hobby-time…
Thank you all for your kind words and for suggestions on reading material!

Next up is some locals ready to ambush the Swedish supply-line or defend their villages. some sources mentions the Scanian peasants as poorly armed with sticks and farming-tools and close to no firearms at all, but other sources mentions the high number of guns amongst the peasantry at the time. So I gave them both. the inclusion of both ranged and melee type weapons in the unit also amplifies the feeling of armed peasants on the tabletop I think.
I included some women for the same reason.
Figures are a mix of redoubt and bloody miniatures. Most of the redoubt figures have new heads as the casting overall is quite rough and the heads especially so.
There is of course also a Danish officer leading them.


Ps,
Their faces looks a lot less pale in real life. Good lighting (or any light) this time of year is hard to come by in the north of Europe and what little light I hade reflected in some of their faces making them look like they’ve seen a ghost.

[traveller]

Great work! Keep em coming!

[v_lazy_dragon]

Lovely work on those figures, and they definitely benefitted from the headswops on the Redoubt models. Looking forward to seeing more!