Pikeman's Lament

The snazzy new skirmish ruleset, from Osprey and one of my favorite bloggers, just arrived yesterday. It's a super quick read, and should be a lot of fun to play. Michael Leck has published dozens of sample companies on his blog, but I decided to throw a few together based on my own mid-17th-century collection and needs. I don't actually have the models to field all these, except the first two, but it'll be easier to attain these goals than full P&S armies...

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
1 Aggressive Elite Gallopers @ 6 points each (Hussars)
2 Gallopers @ 4 points each (Pancerni or Cossack-Style Cavalry)
1 Trotters @ 4 points (German Mercenary Rajtar)
1 Dragoons @ 4 points (German Mercenary Dragoons or Tatars)
1 Commanded Shot @ 2 points (Haiduks)

Cossacks
1 Aggressive Forlorn Hope @ 6 points (Swashbuckling Cossacks)
1 Veteran Shot @ 6 points (Registered Cossacks)
2 Shot @ 4 points each (Moloitsy) (may trade one out for Dragoons)
2 Clubmen @ 1 point each (Peasant Rebels)
2 Priests @ 1 point each (attached to clubmen)

Muscovites
1 Forlorn Hope @ 6 points (Streltsy)
1 Elite Trotters @ 6 points (Dvor or New Order Reiters)
2 Trotters @ 4 points each (Boyar's Sons)
2 Commanded Shot @ 2 points (Border Guards) OR 1 Shot @ 4 points (New Order Musketeers)

Tatars
3 Veteran Dragoons @ 6 points each (Tatar Warriors)
2 Raw Gallopers @ 3 points each (Kazindji)

Ottomans
1 Veteran Shot @ 6 points (Janissaries)
2 Raw Shot @ 3 points each (Azabs)
2 Trotters @ 4 points each (Sipahis)
1 Dragoons @ 4 points (Tatars, Besli or Akinci)

Playtesting my rules

Hey, remember that Pike & Shotte supplement I wrote, with lists for Cossacks, Tatars and Muscovites? The fine folks over at Wargame Amateur decided to give them a test run. And even though they only played a couple games so far, they answered one of the biggest questions I had: I was worried that the Gun Shy rule might be too debilitating for Tatars, but apparently that is not the case.

Thanks guys!

By Fire and Sword - Cossack skirmish force

Here is a look at the largest Cossack force I can make so far. In BF&S it works out to 11 FSP (Force Strength Points), assuming I upgrade my Colonel as much as possible. The smallest possible Cossack skirmish force is 4 FSP, the largest possible is 19, so this is a good medium-sized force.

I'll note that this force isn't "technically" complete, I need to paint four more banners, one for each commander and one for each moloitsy rota. Also, one of the moloitsy spearmen is missing a head (I dropped him and the head popped off and I can't find it.)

The pictures are terrible, I'll try again in sunlight when I get a chance.

The colonel is worth pointing out. One of the quirks of BF&S is that every cavalry and infantry element has the same frontage and model count: 3 models and 4 cm. That's for 15mm miniatures, but for 28mm it looks like 6 cm will be a typical frontage. Since I tend to base cavalry at 25x50mm per mini, I based the third member of this command element on a piece of popsicle stick, only 10mm wide.

Since Cossacks are an infantry force, I can just make this one mounted trumpeter and call it a day. But if I wanted to convert my Poles to BF&S use, I'd probably have to convert 1/3rd of them to these "skinny" cavalry bases, and then maybe make "sabot" bases for when I want to use them for other games.

P&S supplement download

Ok, I think I figured out how to host a PDF here. Download or view Pike & Shotte Eastern Europe!

Storming Party finished

Well, except that I forgot the grass. But otherwise, they're done, and I think they turned out pretty well.