A Thirty Years War skirmish...

[Patrice]

"Terminus Ludi" game festival happens every year in Rennes (Brittany). This year it was on 22nd and 23rd February. On Saturday we had planned some pirate demo and initiation, but 2 weeks before we realized that we had no idea on what to play on Sunday. One of our friends hastily wrote an excellent little scenario about the Thirty Years War in Germany – which is one of his favourite periods but the other players (including myself) didn't know anything about this context!

1630, in Germany. The town of Demmin is occupied by Imperial troops, who have built an earthen fort on the other side of the river Peene.



The game table roughly represents the red square on the right of the above map (where the orange spot is the earthen fort, and blue arrows the Swedes arrival). On the table can be seen some farms and a Lutheran chapel (which appears behind the fort on the map), the fort, and a town suburb (far right on the map). The town itself is off table, on the right bank of the river Peene.



(In our scenario) the governor has gone away to attend a wedding with most of the garrison, this leaves only a young lieutenant, "Johann Flammekueche", in charge with about 30 men.

In the fort some pikemen are training:





…while other soldiers spend their spare time in the suburbs or in the countryside:







Alarm! The enemy appears from a wood at some distance of the suburbs: a group of Scottish mercenaries led by "Angus Mc Laren" and a handful of Swedish cavalry:



The Swedes gallop to the suburbs where the militia tries to gather; an Imperial soldier shoots his musket without success.



The militia men shoot their arquebus at the Swedes… and then not willing to die for the Holy Empire,  they shout "Lutheranisch!" (or whatever you should spell that in local German) and they accept to change side!



…this allows the Swedes to easily capture or kill a few isolated Imperial soldiers.

[Patrice]

At the other end of the table, a group of dismounted Finn dragoons comes out of a wood and marches towards the farmhouses, followed by their captain called "Alvar Marimekko" …who makes the mistake of riding mounted in the woods and loses a lot of time delayed by terrain (perhaps he is more accustomed to reindeer riding?) The peasants run away with their belongings.





The Imperial pikemen walk out of the fort:



A few Scots have crossed a stream to intercept a group of monks. But these monks are French and sent by Cardinal de Richelieu, who although of an opposite religion, supports the Swedes against the Holy Empire. The Scots let them go:



The militia, now allied with the Swedes, controls passage on a bridge:



Swedes and Scots come out of the suburbs, near the fort:



The Scots try to attack the bastion, but have only one ladder that they found near a house. They can climb one by one, and in the bastion an Imperial sergeant greets them with pistol shot:





Angus Mc Laren thinks that things are too slow and he decides to climb the ladder himself! The Imperial sergeant is reloading is pistol, another soldier tries to block the Scot chief but Mc Laren kills him with a pistol shot and can set foot in the bastion:

[Patrice]

This allows other Scots to enter the bastion. The Imperial gunners are no good in melee; the Catholic sergeant soon finds himself alone, and meets his end.





The Scots have conquered the bastion!



Just outside the fort, the Imperial pikemen have been surrounded and are killed by arquebus and musket fire (right of pic) or in melee (left of pic):



The skirmish also took a long time near the farmhouses, where the Finns also had to fight a group of NPC thieves. After many shots and moves, a last Catholic soldier still resists under the porch of the chapel. The Lutheran minister's wife encourages the Finns and Swedes to get rid of him:



Alvar Marimekko and a Swedish cavalryman enter the fort and fight lieutenant Flammekueche; the Catholic officer is wounded twice and falls on the ground; the remaining Imperial soldiers then surrender:



Later, healed from his wounds, Johann Flammekueche understands that the Holy Empire will never forgive him his defeat: he must change side. The Scots are very happy to teach him friendly the true faith:



The players:



(left to right): "Angus mac Laren", " Johann Flammekueche", Game Master, "Alvar Marimekko".
(pictures: M.B.)

[Galloping Major]

Very nice - looks like an enjoyable game 




www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[von Lucky]

Very cute game - so multi-cultural! Loved the fact that chaos reigned.