Great Northern War Playtest

I finally got around to completing my playests for the Renaissance Pike & Shot
Rules. This time a venture into the icy north with a close encounter between the
aggressive Swedish Army of General Sverige and the Grand Duke Kasarov's Russian
contingent.

Both sides deployed in their regular formations. Specific rules impacting this
playtest were the Swedish Ga pa tactic and steadfast classification for firing
casualties. The Russians had more shot stands per unit but not the same
resilience to both shooting and close combat casualties.

The Swedes took the initiative and swept their Horse around the left flank,
surprising a cumbersome Russian Guard's unit trying to redeploy into the centre
and a lone Dragoon Grenadier unit. In the ensuing combats the Swedes prevailed
and managed to eliminate the Russian artillery, poorly sighted to the right of
the battle line.

Elsewhere the Russians were doing OK but the Swedish advance of four infantry
units (including Guards) looked thoroughly menacing. As the lines collided the
Ga pa rules kicked in giving the Swedes a first round edge or compensating for
Russian defensive deployments - in future I think I'll give them more redoubts
and linear obstacles. The higher proportion of pike stands also helped the
Swedes despite the heavier fire they had to endure in the approach.

There was a gradual run of outcomes to the Swedish side with some very bloody
fighting as represented by extremely high hit rolls - both for shooting and
melees.

The Russians reduced to two units conceded. The Swedes held the field with five
remaining units.

An excellent simulation - looked good - the units look nice with neat ranks of
shot and the occasional pike base. Lots of fir trees and some high dice rolls
made this an exciting and bloody encounter.