I ran one MW and one RW game at Historicon. I wanted to thank Richard Jarosz for his help with the MW game, which pitted Late Medieval Poles/Lithuanian/Tartars against Teutonic Knight with their Prussian and German lackeys. The Polish side was completely cavalry, while the TK's were a mix of cavalry and infantry. In particular the TK had a unit of crossbowmen, a unit of handgunners and two small cannon.

This game posed a real problem for me as GM, in that although I tried to balance players on each side, the TK side was entirely composed of inexperienced players and they choose as their CiC probably their most inexperienced. On the good side, he was very aggressive, much like his TK counterparts, but by the same token, he and his partners gave very little thought to their overall strategy. I did suggest to them that given their advantage in firepower and the fact they were clearly the defensive side, they should set up on some advantageous terrain and let the Poles attack them.

Unfortunately, while they did pick a good defensive position for their infantry, their cavalry immediately took the battle to the Poles who were moving onto the table in a rather narrow defile. The TK's had two commands of cavalry, but only one was immediately available to challenge the Polish deployment. The strategy of bottling up the Poles in the defile might have worked if the TK had committed both cavalry commands. In any case, despite some initial success the TK cavalry was slowly worn down by the Polish cavalry, while the TK infantry and firepower was too far away to make a difference. The Poles/Lithuanians tried the fire and flee tactic several times and I think the only time they were successful in drawing out a unit of German cavalry the Polish unit got caught from behind and destroyed. The battle ended when the TK leader was killed but by that time, the TK's had already lost the battle.

I ran a RW game and wanted to thank Peter Hume for providing the bulk of the Turks and helping with the game. The scenario was based on a real battle in 1676 in which the Turks had besieged Jan Sobieski and a smaller force of Poles in the Ukraine. The Poles sally out from behind their entrenchments to attack a large force of Turks, composed of cavalry and infantry, who were moving to assault the trenches.

Peter, who commanded the Turks, deployed them in a historical manner, with cavalry on the flanks and infantry in the middle. The Poles had 3 command composed of winged hussar, pancerni and light cavalry. Despite some early tactical miscues, the Poles pushed the Turkish line back, and penetrating deeply in the middle, routing or destroying the Turkish light cavalry and infantry. The Polish pancerni and hussars did engage the Turkish sipahis on the flanks and both sides had some success.

With the collapse of the Turkish center, we called the game a Polish victory, although Peter noted that the Janissaries or Sipahis of the Porte had not been engaged. While that was true, the Poles still had four fresh hussar units available and the Turkish objective was to fight their way through the Poles to assault the trenches, which they clearly would have been unable to do even though they might have been able to defend themselves from the Polish cavalry. I think everyone had a good time, although Peter was wringing his hands over the seemingly endless weaponry of the Polish pancerni and hussars.

On Saturday I had the privilege of talking at length with the Polish Renaissance reenactor outside the registration area. Did anyone else see him? Anyways, I asked him to describe the weapons available to a typical Polish hussar... Lance, 4 pistols, two large swords, one under each knee, sabre attached to his body, carbine, warhammer and bow (sometimes).

I will be running the Relief of Vienna at Fall In, using Peter's wonderful figures, which by the way won a silver medal in the painting competition and best theme entry. Also, for those interested the Polish reenactor will be at Fall In, with 5-7 fellow hussars, pancerni, dragoons and they plan on bringing two horses, which they will ride in full hussar outfit. Should be good.