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| A late 'battle shot' with the Swedes through the redoubt line |
Jon is very experienced at running large games as he owned and managed a wargaming centre on Crete for several years.
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| The Swedes columns lined up to storm the redoubt line before the battle commenced |
The plan for the one day show in Antwerp was to steer the Battle of Poltava 1709 through its various distinct phases in order to get to the climactic attack by the depleted Swedish Army on the fortified Russian camp.
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| Bristling with intent, the redoubts didn't hold out too long |
Jon and Diane managed four or five players who had come along to help. I believe a set of house rules were used but I never actually got to ask any of those kind of questions as we were all very busy on the day.
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| Impressive - the Blue machine about to seep through the redoubts |
The game seemed to crack along with the Swedes getting through the redoubts by lunchtime(show time not real time) and lining up for the final charge about 3.15pm.
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| Might mobilized - the Russian army has 52 battalions to the Swedish 22 |
I managed to get some shots throughout the day and visually document the progress of the game.
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| Streltsi battalions attractive but I am not sure how effective they were |
The proud owner of the entire table turned up to collect it just before the show finished which was a bit of a relief as I think the Sutherland's wanted some space in the vehicle on the inbound trip.
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| Hard core centre - the Swedes did not break it |
We were super impressed by the grandeur of the whole thing and will undoubtedly attempt our own Wargaming Weekender version of this hugely significant battle at some point.
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| A wonderful shot of the final charge - expertly organized |
Its impact on world history is very poorly understood in western countries who have been slow to shake of their preoccupation with the pedestrian paced War of the Spanish Succession.
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| Continuous stream of reinforcements - irresistible |
These kind of games representing such spectacular battles are what makes our hobby so compelling. I was glad to have been at Crisis to see this 'one off' - Well done Jon and Diane - and outstanding effort!