Czarniecki's Chosen Men. 15mm

Summer holiday is over, and it’s time to return to my usual routine. Before getting back to regular gaming, I made the most of a few extra days off by painting a small unit for By Fire and Sword: Czarniecki’s Chosen Men, size S.

The unit consists of a Czarniecki command base and a three-base Cossack-style Cavalry with Spears banner that I bought a long time ago. All the miniatures, flags, and bases are from Wargamer, except for Czarniecki’s base, which comes from Warbases. The Polish Army Rebellion set was missing the Czarniecki base.

I also replaced the Cossack-style Cavalry standard-bearer previously used for Wiśniowiecki with a hussar officer from the Kickstarter rewards.

CZARNIECKI:

COSSACK-STYLE CAVALRY WITH SPEARS:

1

For the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, I have only one large unit left to paint: the Foot Guard, which I’ll start on now. After that, I’ll decide what to tackle next, as I still have Tatars, Zaporozhian Cossacks, and Muscovy waiting to be painted.

Polish-Lithuanian Guns 15mm.

Another addition to the new supplement for the second edition of By Fire and Sword: the Khmelnytsky Uprising and a few extras. They were supposed to be Czarniecki's Chosen Men, but I decided otherwise and painted the cannons this time. All the figures and models, except a few, are Wargamer-made.

Polish Mixed Small Guns.

First up are the small mixed Polish guns from the Rebellion: Polish Army set, shown here on a size S tray.

Mercenary Light Guns.

The next painted set is the Holy Roman Empire’s light cannons. I picked up this set years ago, back during the first edition, and it has been sitting on the shelf ever since. Now, I’ve finally painted it. These cannons will work well with both my Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Swedish forces, depending on what I need for a given game.

Polish cannon "Organki"

This is my own conversion. I used two extra miniatures. I had leftover barrels from a cannon set from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. I decided to make an additional cannon. I found some wheels, made a trailer, and mounted everything on a Warbases base, creating an additional cannon.

Additional bases for artillery.

The second edition changed the base sizes slightly. In the first edition, all light cannons were 4cm x 4cm. Now, when two cannons were placed on the S-size tray, a gap appeared, which didn't look good. I decided to remedy this and created additional bases to place behind the cannons. I used bases from Warbases and figures from the second edition Kickstarter. This way, the cannons will look much better during games.

I’m taking a short break from By Fire and Sword and 15mm minis for now. Next up: painting a few ships for the Americans and the Spanish.

By Fire and Sword: Potocki & Wiśniowiecki

Some time ago, Wargamer released the first supplement for the second edition of its rules, By Fire and Sword, covering the Khmelnytsky Uprising and its first phase (spring–summer 1648). This coincided with the closure of Wargamer UK, so to avoid future customs issues, I bought a large number of sets and have only now slowly started painting them. The first on the painting table are the new sets for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. To keep things manageable, I’ve decided to break the project down into even smaller steps. The first two commanders to be painted are Hetman Potocki and Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. All the components are from Wargamer.

Hetman Mikołaj Potocki

First up, I’m showcasing Hetman Mikołaj Potocki’s base and a scene from his final defence at the Battle of Korsun (May 26, 1648), where he was captured by the Tatars. I originally planned to build it on a 4 x 4 cm base, but a carriage model and four infantry figures would have made it look too crowded, so I decided to combine the base with a G2 tray, which increased the total surface area and gave the figures more room. I’m very pleased with the result.

Jeremi Wiśniowiecki.

The second base I painted was the Jeremi Wiśniowiecki set. That’s where the first problem arose: I got two Jeremi miniatures in the set, but no standard-bearer! Luckily, I’d bought a cossack-style cavalry set with spears, so I took one miniature from it and converted it into a standard-bearer. Then I randomly checked a few more sets, and it looks like I’ll have to make a list of issues and send it to Wargamer headquarters, as I can’t replace a few missing pieces. But that’s not the main point here. I decided to paint the standard-bearer’s horse in the colours of the horse from the Stockholm Roll, where it’s actually white and red. It looks great. The standard itself is from the set.

The painting process didn’t go entirely smoothly—there was one major mishap. Normally, I start by priming the figures with a spray can, then bathe them in a wash, dry-brush them with white paint, and only then begin applying the remaining colours. This time, there was no wash bath and no drybrushing. I’m not sure why—probably because I was in a hurry. As a result, painting was much more difficult, and the final effect wasn’t quite what I was aiming for. I think I should take a step back, relax a bit, and then slowly move on to my next project. That will be Czarnecki’s soldiers, where I’ll combine Czarnecki’s base with cossack-style cavalry armed with spears.

By Fire and Sword: Kircholm 1605.

Sometimes, we come up with ideas that seem fundamentally impossible to achieve. However, with a bit of perseverance and some outside help, these ideas can become a reality. That's exactly what happened with this game. Initially, I announced that I would organise a game of By Fire and Sword, originally intended to be a Task Force-level game. Over time, the concept evolved into an attempt to recreate a historical battle. Given that we recently celebrated the anniversary of one of our greatest military victories—a significant milestone—it was only fitting to focus on the Battle of Kircholm (17.09.1605)!

SCENARIO: Bartek Żynda
UMPIRING: Bartek Żynda

SCENERY: Michael Schneider, Bartek Żynda, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Neil Danskin, Bartek Żynda

1. Forces.

KINGDOM OF SWEDEN

(Bartek)

King Charles IX (###)

First Line, Infantry

Lennartsson (##)

2 x Swedish National Infantry (M, Regimental Cannons)

2 x Swedish National Infantry (M)

2 x Mercenary Infantry (M)

Second Line, Cavalry

Right Flank

Mansfield (##)

2 x Swedish National Cavalry (M)

1 x Mercenary Reiters (S)

Left Flank

Brandt (##)

2 x Swedish National Cavalry (M)

1 x Mercenary Reiters (S)

Third Line, Infantry

Prince of Luneburg (##)

2 x Swedish National Infantry (M)

2 x Muskeeter Squadron (S, Regimental Cannon)

2 x Muskeeter Squadron (S)

Fourth Line, Cavalry

1 x Swedish National Cavalry (M)

4 x Mercenary Reiters (S)

POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH, DUCHY OF COURLAND

(David, Neil, Michael)

Left Flank

Tomasz Dąbrowa (##)

2 x Husaria (S)

1 x Mercenary Reiters (S)

1 x Cossack Style Cavalry

Centre

Prince Friderick

1 x Husaria (M)

1 x Husaria (S)

1 x Armoured Mercenary Reiters (S)

1 x Haiduks (M, Regimental Cannon)

2 x Haiduks (S)

Right Flank

Jan Sapieha (##)

1 x Husaria (M)

1 x Petyhorcy with Lances (S)

1 x Cossack Style Cavalry (S)

Second Line

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (####)

1 x Volunteers (S)

1 x Tatar Cavalry (S)

Camp

2. The Game.

The game started with a preliminary round. First, the Swedish player tested his frontline infantry's reaction to Chodkiewicz's feigned retreat. Each unit was required to take a skill test. If a unit failed the test, the soldiers were ordered to manoeuvre and move towards the camp in a double movement. Commanders had the option to intervene and override this order. Ultimately, I only failed one order, so the entire line moved forward together with the second line cavalry. Ouch!

Now the Polish-Lithuanian-Curland forces could issue orders to their troops. David commanded the right wing, Michael led the left, and Neil held the centre, also taking on the role of Hetman Chodkiewicz. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces charged at the unprepared Swedish troops.

The Husaria initiated the charge, inflicting significant damage that resulted in the loss of four Swedish infantry units within the first two turns. Soon after, the Lithuanians engaged with the Swedish cavalry. Although the cavalry attempted to counter the charge, they were ultimately forced to retreat under the relentless assault. The charge persisted without interruption.

During the heat of battle, remnants of the Swedish infantry attempted to assassinate Jan Sapieha but were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Lithuanians began to ascend the hill occupied by the third and fourth lines of Swedish positions. The Swedish infantry's cannons and muskets made their presence known, decimating two large units of Husaria. However, as the battle progressed, additional lines of Lithuanians managed to reach the Swedish positions. In the chaos, the Earl of Mansfield was killed, causing Swedish morale to collapse. This marked the beginning of the retreat for the Swedish forces.

The Lithuanians required five turns to secure victory in the battle, mirroring the timeline of the historical event. However, their losses were significantly higher than those recorded in reality, with a substantial number of Husaria being defeated. During the game, the Polish-Lithuanian side had the option to utilise their camp. By issuing a Rally order, if their units were within a double march of the camp and no enemy units stood between them and the camp, these units could replenish their lances, particularly for the Husaria and Petyhorcy. Nonetheless, they didn't need to do so.

I created the game unit setup based on the work of Mariusz Balcerek: "Armie walczące pod Kircholmem w 1605 roku", published on Academia.edu, sent to me by Michał Paradowski. Thank you very much!

3. Links.

ORIGINAL BATTLE ON WIKIPEDIA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kircholm

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/Seswc.co.uk/posts/1102295478594449

FLICKR: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720330306248