"Fire and Sword, Polish Army" Topic

Wow, just saw a post that lead me to look at some renaissance Polish stuff and it got me hooked! Winged Hussars and Pancerny are so incredibly cool looking to fight against the Ottomans and Tatars.

I really have no clue about that period and location in history but I sure would like to know more….and I will. For now, could anyone point me in the right direction to get started on a Polish army? I want as much of that cool cavalry as possible!!

It is a fascinating period to game! What scale do you wish to play? The folks who publish the By Fire and Sword rules also manufacture most of the nationalities for the period in 15mm. If you want 28mm the selection from The Assault Group is excellent, and Warlord has a fair number of boxes available too, including Winged Hussars. The Pancerni are also great fun to paint.

If looking for a book on the period, check out the novel With Fire and Sword. You can purchase it through Amazon, or download the ebook for free. I think one of the older translations is available on Gutenberg press.

The By Fire and Sword rules are also a nice resource for the period, providing a brief overview of the nationalities and many color illustrations.

thanks. Do you recommend Fire and Sword rules? It seems like it is a period set and should work well.

I will probably go 28mm so the wings look better.

We had been looking for a set of rules for this period on and off for perhaps the last…15+ years. When By Fire and Sword came out, we grabbed a copy and have been playing the heck out of them. I think 9 of us in the group have now purchased the rules, whch is a great set. Interesting mechanics, and fun, too. The rules specific to each army really do make the forces feel different when playing them.

Yes, I definitely recommend the rules.

There is some old, basic information in Renaissance Warfare, Part 13: the Polish Army by George Gush and Roman Olejniczak
Its accuracy has been questioned.

MIRROR SITE
Renaissance Warfare, Part 13: the Polish Army by George Gush and Roman Olejniczak

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

lol, Druzhina….I play SAGA and the Rus Princes have them, I know about them.

Thanks for all the info, looking forward to reading it.

I'm with WargaminginMaine. BFAS is a great set of rules that really captures the flavour of the period. I'm not sure a more generic set of rules would work anywhere nearly as well. However, if you are going to fight at a level higher than Skirmish (BFAS has different rules depending on the size of engagement which can be skirmish, division or army), be warned that a fair amount of figures are required. My Polish cavalry regiments, fielded at full strength, have 90 figures, and there are three of them in the Division. Doable in 15s but would be very expensive in 25/28s though it would look great, assuming you have the space to field them all.

In 15s you have a large selection of very nice figures to chose from; Wargamer Pl, Essex and Legio Heroica to name a few.

oh my, that was an important piece of information….then 15mm it is. I want to do large battles but I can do the skirmish stuff with 28mm…thanks again, that was very important.

Arch Duke- there are four scales of game represented in the rules, ranging from Skirmish to Great Army. For our big cub game at Huzzah! we will be fielding player commands that look something like this…

Infantry Detachment:
Mounted Colonel 1 Stand
First Musket Company 4 Stands
Second Musket Company 4 Stands
Third Musket Company 4 Stands
First Pike Company 4 Stands
Attached Artillery 2 Stands

Cavalry Detachment:
First Reiter Squadron 3 Stands
Second Reiter Squadron 3 Stands
Third Reiter Squadron 3 Stands
Our cavalry stands have 3 figures each.

Mixed:
Mounted Colonel 1 Stand
First Reiter Squadron 4 Stands
Second Reiter Squadron 4 Stands
First Dragoon Squadron 4 Stands
First Musket Company 4 Stands
Regimental Guns 2 Stands

BFaS is a great set of rules. The price of the book is worth it if you never play a game. It is full of extra info on the period and armys that make it a good buy just for that part.

I had never heard of the Polish-Lithuanina commonweath before this, now it is one of my favorite periods. And the winged Hussars look just fine in 15mm. Looking to do my first division battle soon.

owen