"The Via Regia – Lutzen 1632 Blog – Salute 2019" Topic

I have just posted the first couple of entries for a new blog I have started, with some gaming chums, describing our preparations for a demo games at Salute in April.

We are going to be refighting Lutzen, 1632, with Pike and Shotte (of course!).

Lots of work underway, as you'd expect, so more entries to follow soon :-)

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Good luck

Thanks KYPD38 :-)

An update on general progress on the blog here: link

Picture missing from earlier post

Another update on the blog as the armies continue to muster. This week looking at Flags, Fur and Formations!

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Just re-posting link contained in one of the comments …

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Not often you get 350+ pages in English on a single Thirty Years War battle !

Hi Piccolomini – it's a great, detailed account, and a very interesting study of the battlefield archeology. I wish someone would publish it. I'd happily buy a hardcopy. I was stunned when google came up with it.

Dr. Schürger's thesis is a superb example of how valuable battlefield archaeology can be, from disproving the existence of ditches/trenches along the Via Regia to the reconstruction of the infantry battle based on the musket shot. Really makes me lament that some battlefields such as Breitenfeld have be badly damaged by urban expansion.

The weakest part of the thesis for me was the reconstruction of the cavalry battle, in particular Pappenheim's counterattack, Dr. Schürger seems to follow Brzezinski's idea from the various Ospreys that Swedish cavalry was rather inferior with limited chance in a stand-up fight and tries to reconstruct Pappenheim's attack as a significant success.
Which is odd given that the post-battle court martial has witness describing Pappenheim's most important cavalry units routing left and right together with some of the regiments already on the field while Pappenheim himself was mortally wounded and almost captured as none of the Imperial troops wanted to come to his assistance. Combined with a lack of trophies from the Swedish units in the area I find it hard to buy that Pappenheim's attack was successful.

I actually do think that Stålhandske and the Swedish right wing had to withdraw back behind the Via Regia as described but not because of Pappenheim's attack but rather because of the great damage that Piccolomini did to the various Swedish units which left Stålhandske's troops unsupported and in danger of being cut off.

This week's update on the preparations for Lutzen at Salute 2019.
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Some foot Command groups.

A further update to my Lutzen blog. This time some more building work.

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Great progress.

Thanks, Codsticker!

A quick update on the blog with a mini tutorial on platformed artillery bases.

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The finished product.

A big entry for the blog this time. Building the battlefield! An adventure in faux-fur.

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Let me know what you think.

With the miniature battlefield complete (see previous post on Fun With Fur) we had the opportunity to get the toy soldiers out and check how the different formations fitted with the terrain. A wargame ‘dress rehearsal' was therefore arranged.

We gathered at one of our regular club Saturday meets and started the set up. The foundations of the battlefield are a set of 600mm x 600mm foam modules, 5 modules by 3. Over the top of the modules the teddy bear fur surface was unrolled. All good so far!

First of all we added the 3 windmills. One still to be painted! Now, this is where figure / terrain scale and ground scale clash badly. The model windmills will take up far more room that the actual windmills did. I think we can live with this, and we may need to shuffle them around during the game as they shouldn't interrupt troop movement unduly. With the windmills down we could now add the windmill artillery battery, and also the miller's house.

We then got down to discussing the town of Lutzen. Only the gardens surrounding the town walls were part of the battlefield as the Imperial forces set fire to the town itself so they didn't need to defend all of it. We therefore planned to only represent a small part of the town and the surrounding garden. Bruce, who was building the town and garden bits, was keen try out his measurements on the final battle-rug. After detailed pictures and measurements we're taken we used some of my fields to stand in for gardens during the dress rehearsal.

Next we needed the smaller Imperial battery, on the Imperial left flank. We used some resin fortifications to represent this. (I have subsequently built something custom for this!). Finally there is a pond and small wood on the Imperial extreme left flank. I have built a Charlie Foxtrot pond and already have some suitable winter trees (ie no foliage).

More pictures and details on the blog here:

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Excitement mounts as we get closer to the 6th April, the day of Salute 2019. The wrist bands and set up instructions are through from the organisers, and our own travel plans are all in place. I think we have planes, trains and automobiles covered in terms of how all of us are getting there. I have tried to persuade someone to come by canal barge, but everyone else thought just three modes of transport was fine!

Check out the South London Warlords site for details, including a map of order stands and games, here.

The FOGH game will be at GK13. I hope you will stop by to look at the game and chat.

You should also be able to find us as we will have the following banner next to the table.

More details of preparations on the blog here

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I have just posted a blog entry on the orders of battle we will use for the game on Saturday.

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It is also almost time to leave for the ExCel centre. Boxes are packed. A last blog post before London here.

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Wild Cuirassiers couldn't keep me away!

Looks superb! I look forward to seeing it on Saturday.

Thanks, Simon!

Arrived at Salute and mostly set up! Blogging from the phone is fiddly but a couple of pictures here.

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Still catching my breath after returning home from Salute 2019. It was only my second ever Salute (so what do I know?) but I thought it was the best yet ;-)

The Friends of General Haig all had a very entertaining day demo'ing Lutzen 1632.

The game came together pretty much as planned, even if Bruce was up flocking bases until 4.30am on Saturday morning – well done Bruce!

We met lots of people, so thanks if you are one of the many who came and said hello. It was a universally positive experience engaging with the wider wargames community, and a real shot in the arm to see so many like minded people all together under one roof, and to look over the amazing range of shiny toys on offer. We truly live in the wargaming golden age IMHO.

Some of my further thoughts on the day at Salute are on the Via Regia blog.

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I am writing a report on the actual game, and will also post our troop rosters, in later posts.

Completed the battle report of the refight at Salute and it is up on my blog today.

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It was a hard and closely fought game. A bit of a meat grinder, but then so was the actual battle. The rules and the troops stats we had devised also worked out ok. There are downloads for these linked to on the blog.

The Imperial batteries stayed in Imperial hands all day.

The Swedes failed to break through on the Imperial right flank as they didn't focus any of their own infantry to try and take the strong points in the town gardens, or around the Miller's house.

Pappenheim's arrival saved the Imperial left flank but he couldn't make any headway against the Swedish supporting troops on this flank.

Honours were fairly even in the centre and so we gave the Imperial army a minor victory as they held their position. However, Gustav survived, as did Pappenheim. Perhaps a second day's battle would have been fought? Something for the future.

More pictures and commentary on the blog.