A Thirty Years War Game

The Battle of White Mountain, 1620

Dick explains the period and the game at the beginning while Bill Motley and Bruce Fischer look on.

Recently, Architects of War World Headquarters was the location of a Thirty Years War game play testing a set of rules for a well known manufacturer. The game was organised and run by two veteran games, Dick and Les. I thought some of you might be interested in it. The battle chosen was the Battle of White Mountain. A sullen affair with lots of troops on a wide sloping and open battlefield. I squeezed an inn and some trees into one end because it is hard for me to have a game with no real terrain. I don't know anything about the Thirty Years War actually ( I don't even know how long it lasted) but I thought Dick did a great intro. Here it is:

"Gentleman, warfare in the 17th century was a ponderous affair with slow moving blocks of men making their way across battlefields. There was little room for maneuvering finesse since battlefield communications were very primitive and any form of signaling severely hampered by the billowing clouds of white gunpowder smoke once battle was joined. Units basically marched towards the enemy and attacked them frontally.

The order of march was directly related to the battlefield or order of battle in the field. The army order of march was arranged as the Van consisting of the elite units, the main body, and the rear guard. When they would arrive on the battlefield they would deploy from right to left or left to right in accordance with the field commander's needs. Thus, if an army arrived on a battlefield from left to right, the van would form on the right wing and the rear guard the left wing. Units would turn to one or other flank and they would be in line of battle. This process greatly simplified command and control since battalia or regimental commanders would know who was on either flank. If they were in the thick of battle, they would only need look left or right to reassure themselves that they were correctly positioned-or so was the theory.

The line of march was often decided at the outset of a campaign when the field commander conducted a parade of the troops under his command. The field commander made his choices as to who went where based on the combat reputation of the regiment, its fighting condition, its commander, and its overall strength in numbers. This parade is the origin of the current parade ground activities of most of the armed forces of today.

Tonight's battle is replicating the combat of the Battle Of White Mountain. It was fought on November 8th, 1620. Thirty thousand Bohemians were routed by a force of 27,000 combined men of the forces of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Catholic League under Count Tilly."

A nice preamble indeed, and all too often skipped over when introducing players to a particular game, battle , or period.

The table was reduced to 5 x 10 feet. It was essentially one long shallow slop from one side to the other and quite open. Three small earthwork redoubts were in place as in the actual battle.

Joe Pavana sets up his tercios of Warlord games figures during deployment

Just prior to the battle, a group of men gather to prepare near an inn (Warlord and Redoubt figures)

A Thirty Years War regiment of Pike and Shot- Gledes Garde Swedish Regiment (Redoubt Figures)

A Grand Battery of Warlord figures with a couple of Redoubt figures for flavor

A Swedish Brigade of primarily Redoubt figures. This was a typical "command' for one of the players.

The Battle commences as Joe moves forward. Gary Hoover is guarding his flank while Bill watches carefully.

The Bohemian Forces prepared for battle. (Warlord and Perry Miniatures)

Warlord Imperial Forces advance!

The view from the Imperial Lines behind the center Redoubt.

On the left flank, cunningly deployed Warlord Imperial Cavalry prepare to exploit a break in the lines.

Other players not pictured included Bob "the big G", Mike Marchant and the ever busy other umpire, Les.

In all, at best guess, about 400 to 500 figures of infantry and cavalry were used with a dozen guns. Most of the miniatures were Warlord with additional figures from Perry Miniatures, Old Glory and Redoubt. It was a colorful and specatcular sight.

So how did it go? Well, Dick wrote up the results this way:

"The mist on the lower slopes of White Mountain began to disperse. The glint of pike points in the early morning sun sparkled like a thousand diamonds. The Imperial army had arisen early and each Battalia had taken up their respective positions on the battle line. Father Tilly, as he was affectionately known to his troops, placed himself in the center of the line and peered through the mist down below looking for signs of his Swedish adversaries and his nemesis, Gustavus Adolphus. Cocks crowed and cattle were lowing as they moved away from the rumble of guns and the tramp of soldiers on the march. The Swedish Van had formed on the right and Adolphus had taken up his customary position with them. To his right, the local inn was serving breakfast to some local nobility who had turned out early to watch the coming fray.

Once Adolphus was satisfied with the battle line, he ordered a single cannon shot to signal a general advance. The Swedes had been ordered to take the redoubts in front of the Imperial positions. Brigade upon Brigade moved forward while some supporting units seemed a little hesitant to move. Imperial forces came down the slope to reform their battle line and to redeploy their cavalary to match the Swedes on the Swedish right flank. The heavy guns of the redoubts opened fire with thick white smoke quickly fouling the air and sharply reducing the visibility. The Swedes advanced trying to keep order in their lines as they did so closing up the terrible gaps caused by the guns of the Imperial redoubts.

Off to the left, couriers reported a dust cloud but neither Tilly nor Adolphus were too concerned. They pressed home the attack and pushed back as hard as they could. The Swedes captured the redoubt on the left of their front and drove off the gunners but the battalia was in bad shape after the assault. The pressure of the Swedes all along the line forced back the gllant Imperialists and caused several battalias to break in successsion. The Swedes carried the day but at some considerable cost. Tilly ordered a general withdrawal leaving the Swedes with the blood-soaked battleground this time. But he would be back...

In the real battle, the Catholic Imperial Cavalry kept the pressure on the Bohemians, and one by one each company broke. It was a decisive Imperial victory. For Ferdinand, it was a key turning point in the early years of the war.