Over the weekend of 29th/30th March I attended The Second Wilanów Tournament for the Baton of John III with my wife who decided that a weekend in Warsaw would be nice at this time of year!
We flew from Stanstead with Ryanair (Ł35.00 return) and despite reservations about my FoW carry case being too big it wasn't even checked for weight or size and went straight through security without any problem.
On arrival at Warsaw Modlin airport we were met by Zarek who took us to our hotel in Warsaw giving us a running commentary on the way.
We were booked into the Hotel Atos which is a two star hotel and while the fixtures and fittings were a little dated it was very clean and comfortable and at £22.00 GBP per night for a twin room we couldn't complain.
After a quick wash and brush up we were taken to the Wargamer shop in Warsaw where we met and had a chat to some of the BF&S team before meeting up with Alexander (Anatoli) and Andreas (Deathbuller) from Sweden.
The staff at the Wargamer shop kindly stayed open late so we could get in a practise game and ask all sorts of rules questions.
I played Alex and his 15pts of Lithuanians with my Cossacks using the same 15pts list that I used all weekend, my army consisted of the following:-
1 x Colonel – 4 Command Points
1 x Ysaul – 1 Command Points
4 Bases Registered Moloitsy
3 Bases Registered Moloitsy
3 Bases Elite Mounted Cossacks
3 Bases Mounted Cossacks
8 x Bases Moloitsy
8 x Bases Moloitsy
4 x War Wagons
4 x War Wagons
This, apparently, is considered a large skirmish force in Poland where they seem to like smaller forces and hopefully get to choose the right scenariofor their army.
We played the Patrol scenario and we both managed to take all three objectives and both killed about the same number of bases so it ended in a draw but was very useful in calming my nerves a little and ironing out the rules a little.
After the game we all retired to a local Pizza restaurant and ate and drank well for about £8.00 GBP, everything is very reasonably priced in Poland!
The tournament itself was held in the Orangery of Jan Sobieski's Palace on the outskirts of Warsaw. The palace and grounds are beautiful and due to the sunny weather there were a lot of people enjoying a walk in the park and having a look at the games.
My first game on Saturday was against Pug who fielded 11pts of Poles and chose the Attack the Village scenario.
He didn't have any infantry so couldn't put a unit in the village at the beginning of the game so it was a rush to see who got there first, one of my Moloitsy units won the race and managed set up a defensive position in the middle of the village.
Pug repeatedly threw one unit of Pancerni and two units of Cossack Style cavalry against them but due to some good shooting, fierce fighting and help from my Colonel the Moloitsy held firm.
On the last turn only two Cossack Style cavalry charged and the Pancerni were given a Defend order just inside the village, I had two chances to get them to run due to the cannons on my wagons but he passed both morale tests.
The result was a draw for the scenario but due to the amount of casualties I caused I won a Tactical Victory.
During the lunch break we were given a guided tour of the palace itself which was very interesting but we didn't get enough time to look around properly.
Game two was against Zyga and his Poles, he rolled for scenario and chose Ambush.
I had to deploy in the middle of the table and he could then deploy anywhere around me.
I deployed in a defensive square with my Moloitsy plugging the gap between the wagons, he deployed most of his cavalry against one of my Moloitsy units with a couple of units pinning the rest of my army.
He threw everything he had got against one of my Moloitsy units and forced them to withdraw but they held on in the second round of combat and managed to re-establish the defensive perimeter, it was very close!
By the end of turn four Zyga had lost so many troops that he conceded so a Strategic Victory for me.
At the end of day one I had 9 points and was doing really well.
First game on Sunday (game three) was against P. and his Tatars with Ottoman allies, not a combination I had come across before!
He chose the Defend the Crossing scenario and tried his best to stop my war wagons from inching towards the bridge.
A couple of charges against the wagons were repulsed but it was slowing the wagons down so much that they wouldn't make it to the bridge on time so I had to go on the offensive and decided to launch a unit of Moloitsy and a unit of Registered Moloitsy into the attack from behind the war wagons where they had been sheltering.
Imagine my horror when I discovered that I had given the Registered Moloitsy the wrong order and they were left to defend the wagons while the Moloitsy went charging off into no-mans land on their own!
Luckily my wagons managed to cause enough casualties to stop any enemy cavalry from charging my Moloitsy in the last turn so at the end of the game we were both contesting the bridge so again a draw for the scenario but due to casualties I won a Tactical Victory.
So going into the last game and I was in 4th place with 13pts which I was very pleased with.
The fourth and final game of the weekend was against Von Berthold with his 7pts of Tatars!
The scenario chosen was Patrol and because of the large difference in points I had four units delayed, one unit panicked at the start of the game, lost one command point and he had two units of Unexpected Reinforcements.
My plan was to send a unit of war wagons in column to take the furthest objective supported by a unit of Moloitsy, the central objective was to be taken by the second unit of war wagons supported by my second unit of Moloitsy and the third and nearest objective was to be taken by my delayed units when they arrived.
Everything was going well and on turn two my first unit of cavalry appeared and I made the mistake of sending them to help the war wagons take the furthest objective thinking the rest of my cavalry would arrive soon!
Turn three came and no more units appeared, turn four and a unit of Registered Moloitsy arrived on the battlefield.
I now did some quick calculations and realised that if the cavalry didn't arrive on turn 5 I wouldn't be able to take the objective.
Turn 5 and still no sign of my cavalry and by this time the Tatars had taken all three objectives and I had only taken two!
The Tartars backed off so I couldn't kill any and by the end of the game my cavalry still hadn't arrived so a Tactical Victory to the Tartars!
So as the final scores were being calculated we all nervously waited for our final positions, the results were announced in reverse order with everyone winning something so with fifty players the award ceremony took a long time and we all had sore hands from all the clapping!
In the end I came 8th out of 50 with 15pts which I was very pleased with although I lay awake most of the night thinking about what I should have done in that final game!
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, I can highly recommend this event to everyone next year.
I would like to thank all of my opponents for four enjoyable games, the Wargamer team for doing a fantastic job in arranging and organising the tournament and Konrad for his generosity in providing all of the prizes.
By Fire and Sword is a great game covering a period and conflict little known in the UK , have a look you might just be on the plane with me next year!
Roland
