Thursday, September 29, 2011

Scheremetjev Command and more on the scenario


The last group of Russian to apper on the battlefield was formed by two "divisions" from the Scheremetiev command: the Renne division comprised of:



the Vladimirski dragoon regiment, raised in Moscow 1706 as Zhdanov's. At Holowczi was under the command of prince P. Meschervsky; 


the Ingermalandski regiment in its yellow coat, raised in St. Petersburg 1703 from selected men of various regiments as Field Marshal Menshikov's: it had the same salary and privileges of Guard Regiments.

The second group was under the command of Maj. Gen. D'Albion:




Pskovski regiment, raised in Moscow 1700 through conscription as Col. Gulitz's regiment. Changed its name in 1708;



Astrakhanski regiment, raised in Moscow 1700 as Col. Gordon's.

Going back to the scenario, it needs a map (click to enlarge):


where the square are one foot wide, and deployment, special rules and victory conditions stuff:

Initial Russian Deployment:
Scheremetjev's Wing: Schere's Battery: Unlimbered in the defences at the point S.
Repnin's Wing: All units are disordered at the start of the game: the infantry is deployed behind the entrenchements. Repnin's Artilley is deployed, unlimbered, in the small village in front of the Russian line.
Goltz's Wing: Ifland's Command is deployed, dismounted at the point IF.

Initial Swedish Deployment:
Initial Attack Force: Anywhere in the square containing Staroje Selo.

Russian Reinforcements:
Russian reinforcements do not arrive automatically. Starting from the second turn the Russian player rolls a D6 in the Command phase: on a modified score of 8 the reinforcements enter at the prescribed point:
Dice Modifiers:
+1 for each turn after the second turn;
-2 if rolling for Goltz's Wing;
-3 if rolling for Scheremetev Wing.
Goltz's Wing:  Goltz DC and Heinske's Command enter on a modified die-roll of 8 at the point RR; Von Hessen Darmstadt's Command enters the following turn at the point RR.
Scheremetjev's Wing: Vladimirski Dragoon Regiment enters on a modified die-roll of 8 anywhere between the redoubt at the point S and the wood at its right. Renne command enters the following turn from the same point. Scheremetev AC and D’Albion command enters the turn following the Renne enter from the same point.

Swedish Reinforcements:
Each turn starting with the first turn a reinforcement group arrives on table at point SR in the following order:
First turn: Sparre DC and his command enter at the point SR;
Second turn: Renskiold CC, Guard Dragoon, Guard Horse/I and Drabants &Guard Horse/II enter at the point SR;
Third turn: Creutz DC with the remaining cavalry enter at the point SR.

Victory Conditions
Basically the Swedish must rout the Russians out of their position. Thus, each player earns 1 victory point for command exhausted and 2 victory point for command routed.  If the Swedish total minus the Russian total is:
-lesser than 2 – Swedish defeats
-between 2 and 4 – Drawn
-between 5 and 7 -  Swedish minor victory
-bigger than 7 – Swedish major victory.
The conditions are indeed a bit hard for the Swedish player, which is clearly commited to an all-out attack.


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Swedish Flags, GNW (updated)



Some swedish flags I drawn for my troops. They do not pretend to be commercial masterpieces, but only "wargame-quality" items. They must be reduced about 40% to match with Zvedza and Strelets 20 mm.


Dalcarian Regiment


Vastermalands Regiment


Narke-Varmalands Regiment (not present at Holowczin)


By the way, this a picture of my Narke-Varmalands: it is interesting because is a mix of Strelets (right) and Mars (left). The flag is a previous more "flat" version.




Vastgota Regiment (not present at Holowczin)




Uppland Regiment 




Livgardet 

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

More Russian, albeit in different era and scale...



This is the beginning of the "Zorndorf Project", the SYW Russian Army in 6mm for Volley and Bayonet. The IR 39 Nevskii, from the Prince Galitzin division:


More to follow....

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Russian Cavalry


Long time absent but still fighting! It was a very busy summer, with a lot of unforecasted  events: both my research interests, my job as consultant, the broken wrist of my son (at a boy-scout summer camp, of course) and the extended family troubles all requested my full attention.

Now that the holidays are finally finished, we can go back to the relative safety of the ordinary life. Back to the “Project Holowczin”, it is the time of the Russian cavalry corps under Von Der Goltz which was divided into three groups: the first group under the command of Von Ifland, was comprised of the Pskovsky, Tverskoy and Belozersky Dragoon:


Pskovsky: raised in Moscow 1701 as Novikov’s.


Tverskoy: raised in Moscow 1702, from conscript and volunteers.


Belozersky: raised in Moscow, 1703 as Prince Schakovski’s, disbanded 1711.



All these regiments were dismounted when the swedish attack erupted: I painted a group of  generic dismounted dragoons to represent them as well as any other russian dismounted dragoon I need for the game:



The second group under the command of  Heinske was comprised of the Sankt Peterburgski, Azovski and Ryazanski regiments:


St. Peterburgski: raised in Moscow 1701 as Poluektov’s.


Azovski: raised in Moscow, 1706 from conscripts and disbanded units as Ivanov’s.


Ryazanski: raised in Smolensk 1705 as Goring from lesser nobility and men from three other regiments.


The last group was under the command of the Prince Von Hessen-Darmstatd and was formed by the Astrakhanski, Troitski, Novgorodski and Nishegorodski Dragoon regiments:

  
Astrakhanski: raised in Moscow, 1701 as Prince Lvov’s.


Troitski: raised in Moscow, 1701 as Kropotov’s. The grenadier caps are an artistic license. Indeed, since no informations are recorded if they were supplied with tricorne/karpus/grenadier cap, I choose to represent the outfit with the grenadier caps for "fun".

Novgorodski : raised in Moscow, 1701 as Prince Meschersky’s.


Nishegorodski: there were no informations at all on the uniforms , hence I replaced this regiment with the Jarovslavski dragoon (raised 1706 as Prince Volkonski’s from men of lower Volga and ukrainian cities) which, in 1706/09 were credited with a “blue grenadier cap with red lining”.



I searched for more informations or portraits of the Russian commanders. The only reference I was able to find (with no portrait) was to a Prince Friederich von Hessen-Darmstadt, son of the Landgrave Louis VI, born 1677, killed in battle 1708. There is a portrait of his older brother Philip, Imperial Field-Marshal (1671-1736) which ended his career as Governor of Mantua: