The Last Valley – map

After finding the nine squares that make up the generalised area of the campaign by using the Battle Finder from The Perfect Captain I had a coarse understanding of the terrain. I then redrew these into a consolidated picture, with each of the nine squares being roughly translatable onto my 4′ by 4′ wargame table. Some leeway has to be allowed when a battle occurs when adding the terrain models as I don’t exactly have specific models to match the maps. But close enough will do. Also, though I have drawn them all togetehr, technically there could be significant gaps bewteen the specific nine ‘arenas’.

I also have renamed the randomised terrain zones to better reflect a middle German location.

So in the north west we have Köninggarten, a hilly and deeply forested area. The main road runs through a section tailor made for ambushing, and narrow paths cross the forbidding woods.

North is Mickel Tal, an area dominated by two peaks. Only a narrow track passes through the ravine to Lansby Tal in the north east. Lansby Tal is itself a broad valley that has been lightly settled and cultivated. A main road runs north through the region, in clear sight of the heights to the north east.

Directly west is Kapelle Heilig Wald (Holy Wood Chapel). Here in the valley proper the Betrunken Kuh Fluss (Drunk Cow River) cuts the region in half. The southern bank is clothed in deep forests. A narrow path rises to the north into the hills and nestled at the base is a chapel.

In the centre of our region is Heilige Sergius, the village named after Saint Sergius, a martyred (is there any other kind of saint?) Roman soldier who refused to renounce his Christianity. This region has all terrain types, from crop lands, riverine, hills, forests, the main roadway and light urbanisation. This is the heart of it all, where most of the population are permanently based, and from where our protagonist company will set out from to meet threats.

East is Chertney Mühle, an extension of the fertile Betrunken Kuh Fluss valley, dominated by the hills that seperate it from Lansby Tal. The road branches north over this rise. To the south of the river lie extensive marshlands.

Lambient Hügel is a wild area in the south west, dominated by hills and enclosed by forests. A track leads out of the forests toward the village, making it a difficult piece of terrain to patrol and one most susceptable to a surprise attack.

Straight south from the village is Mawlder Heide (heath) a high alpine plain carrying the main south road. An old watchtower overlooks the road. An rough path leads east to Furt von alt Roderick (Old Roderick’s Ford). Here the river doglegs back, creating a large swampy zone that gives way to forest in the south. The ford crosses the river just at the transition zone from heath to swamp so it is not suitable for wheeled vehicles of any kind. After periods of heavy rain the whole area becomes a quagmire, but after a freeze it resembles a sheet of glass.

Completed painting: 30YW infantry

These chaps are Warlord Imperial infantry of the Thirty Years War. The sculpting is just wonderful. They are a good match for my existing Renegade (only slightly smaller, but unnoticeable on the table). Assembly was easy, with only a couple of the pikemen leaving gaps in their armpits. Oops, have to admit, assembling the arms of the shooting musketeers was a little ticklish: not too hard – not impossible – just requiring a little patience.

Since the idea of the uniform was in its infancy I decided to mix up the outfits for these guys. These are Western Europeans, not Swedes. Not later English. The Spanish specifically discouraged the idea of Captains dressing their men in uniforms as it was thought to reduce morale. Give a man his individuality, they thought. Let him wear what is comfortable and practical.

The painting technique was my now standard white spray undercoat, followed by block colours. Then painted with Army painter (Wattyl Stain and Varnish). Then I picked out the highlights in the original colours. And finally the simple basing.

Finding the protagonist company

The company invading and attempting the hold the last valley is commanded by Ernat Marulanda Gasco. With him are five lieutenants. Each of these men have a group they command. The following is a reprise of earlier information (2 years old), updated with new understandings and details of the groups they command.

Who are these people? They are Catholic soldiers, sometime during the Thirty Years War in Eastern Europe campaigning against the Protestant rebels. They are currently detatched in winter quarters and are only interested in feeding themselves and recuperating before the weather improves and the campaigning season starts.

Who is the leader? (one in four chance for the main characters) Ernat.

Who is Ernat Marulanda Gasco?

(Une characteristics) Established Tradesman [what trade? Don't know yet].

(Une motivations) Colaborate Vigilance [Ernat is a tactical genius, organising the other members of the party for their mutual defence. This is one of the reasons he is the leader]; Advocate Harmony [he is the peacemaker between the members of his foraging party. He can smooth over their differences. This is the other reason he is the leader]; Suppress the World [he is cynical about politics and morals. His actions are based on his own perceived need, or that of his party, rather than some abstract external force such as justice, national security, or religious conformity].

His command group is 5 shot: his bodyguard are all musketeers.

Who is Jurisco Suarez Cornejo?

(Une characteristics) Dependable Scrapper [Jurisco likes a fight and is not afraid of getting in one].

(Une motivations) Compose Pleasure [he writes music and/or composes poetry]; Defile Allies [he levies kontributions from friends and enemies alike. He cannot tell the difference between enemy combatants and civilians]; Seek Hate [he sees the war he is in as a just war of good against evil. He hates the Calvinists as devils on Earth].

Juarisco’s group are also all musketeers. There are 11 of them.

Who is Dide Rucina Covalan?

(Une characteristics) Defiant Politician [Dide likes the sound of his own voice. He also likes to take a contrary view].

(Une motivations) Communicate Gluttony [he is greedy, valuing foodstuffs above other goods. He torments the other party members by describing sumptuous dishes and recipes, especially when they are hungry]; Interact Industry [he is industrious for the party good. He does not shrink from helping out in any task for the party welfare. Despite his faults he is no slacker]; Refine Intelligence [he's a smart man, it cannot be denied. He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things. If anyone wants to know something, Dide is who they will ask].

Dide’s group are Cuirassiers. There are 5 heavy armoured horsemen in his group.

Who is Albergio Restrepo Mendiluce?

(Une characteristics) Careful Shopkeeper [Albergio is the party quartermaster. He keeps a careful watch on their provisions].

(Une motivations) Assist Criminals [Albergio goes along with the party. Let's face it: the party are foraging soldiers during some of the worst wars in history. They are bad, and Albergio just joins in]; Promote Advice [he is a supporter. If someone in the party suggests something that he likes he goes to the trouble to agree with them. He is prepared to pick a side]; Agonise Dreams [What dreams? Don't know yet - this is a good open thread ].

Albergio commands a group of mixed infantry: 4 pikemen and 6 musketeers.

Who is Eduare Amor Magallanes?

(Une characteristics) Nefarious Clairvoyant [Eduare claims to have holy visions but he is a liar. He makes up stuff to get what he wants].

(Une motivations) Associate Discrimination [he sticks to the 'birds of a feather flock together' principle. He is in a Calvinist land. Therefore all the people there are Calvinists (heretics)]; Encourage Stories [he likes a good story, either told by himself or someone else]; Promote Atrocities [this speaks for itself].

Eduare commands a group of 3 miscellaneous horsemen.

Who is Gari Cuervo Iguaren?

(Une characteristics) Dependable Labourer [Gari will do what he is told. He is not afraid of hard work].

(Une motivations) Agonize Nature [he is troubled by the religious war raging around him. While not smart enough to understand the arguments, he does understand the principles and what is at stake: the immortal soul of man]; Inform Opulence [he always has his eye out for lootable things and he tells the rest of the party about them] ; Advise Narcissism [he is a toady, reminding the others how clever, handsome, rich or witty they are].

Gari commands a group of pikemen, or general close brawlers, I reckon. There are 10 of them in his group.

There’s the party. As random as I could make it, justified into a logical framework. I don’t think I like any of them as humans, but they do seem real. They fit the genre. They should generate interesting stories. To generate the types of troop I drew cards against the chart listed in the earlier posting. To find the number of men in each group I rolled 2d4 for cavalry and 3d6 for infantry.

The chest at San Christobel

Had the first play of Savage Worlds/Showdown rules the either night . We used our familiar swashbuckling 30YW/ECW figures to test out how the system played. For both Greg and I this is a favoured period, so we felt pretty comfortable measuring the system against our expectations of how the genre should feel.

The scenario was ridiculously simple: two equally balanced groups meet in the isolated village of San Christobel in order to get the scroll from a certain chest in a certain house. All that was needed to secure victory was for a Wild Card character to succeed in a Smarts test when alone in the building.

Characters were straight out of the Fantasy Bestiary Toolkit: two squads each of standard Watchmen (three with muskets – blunderbuss, and two with pikes), and two wild card characters each who were Watch Captains.

Since this game was a learning exercise we spent less time trying to beat each other and more time trying different things such as exploring the movement/terrain rules, ganging up, shooting into crowds, and so on.

On the plus side I found I actually managed to get a firing line established, with pikes in support, and managed to attack with my pikemen and make a difference. This has to be the first time in any game where this has been possible. Every skirmish/squad game I have previously played has failed to allow me to feel the inherent usefulness of pike or to lay down that sickening volley of fire that I imagine. In terms of actual hand to hand fighting the results came quick enough once we became used to the funky dice system – I could imagine it becoming second nature very quickly. The game gave a concrete result easily enough. At no time did I feel I had no options or that the game was playing itself.

At the gear level, the muskets were suitably useless at long range, and tremendously lethal at close range, so I was as happy as a very happy thing.

On the downside, given that the card draw activation system allows/enforces that every ‘unit’ move in a turn, it did feel as though both sides moved to the middle and slugged it out. However, I did design the scenario to be absurdly simple, so it may be that this was a factor of the tactical scenario rather than the rules structure. On that score, I am sceptical of systems that allow me to move everything in a turn. I feel as though I am being let off the hook of making hard decisions. Similarly, the randomised turn sequence leads straight back to The Sword and The Flame (TSATF) and therefore has a rich pedigree, but maybe I don’t want to activate in that order. Maybe I would only activate a certain few in a certain order.  The retort to that is that SW gives you the option to Hold, so I still had that option. My reservations, then, are probably due to the system simply being ‘different’ rather than being inadequate.

My final thoughts are that the game played sufficiently well to want me to play again. No, even more:  I really enjoyed them. They are different from what I have been playing recently, but they are more like what I used to play way-back-when,- but with a face-lifted core.

Before I played I had already primed myself to like Savage Worlds/Showdown, so the test was biased from the start. So it is probably not too much of a surprise that my impressions are positive enough for me to dash out and buy Thrilling Tales and Slipstream. But the system is good enough to transcend even this bias as I recall being equally positively disposed towards Warhammer Ancients: but a read of those rules and the otherwise excellent supplement, The Art of War, soon turned me off again. The thought of playing that game fills me with dread.

Savage Worlds has managed to withstand the terrible trial of ‘high expectations’, in other words, and I am looking forward to playing again soon with a more interesting scenario. The generator in the back of Thrilling Tales looks just right for my Anubis Gates (formerly StarGate1900) campaign.

Short history of the Thirty Years War – Palatinate phase

The Palatinate phase. 1621 – 1624.

The story so far…

After the Bohemian Revolt had been crushed, attention shifted away from the (apparently) pacified Eastern states to the Palatinate in the West, a Protestant country that was also a member of the Electoral College. Furthermore it straddled the vital Val Telline. Its ruler, Frederick V, had unwisely accepted the Bohemian crown during the revolt. If the revolt had been successful he would have held two votes to the election of the Emperor, and personally have had a strangle hold on Spanish support.  He may even have been able to make a play for the Emperor’s position himself. Defeated, he was seen by the administration as a dangerous schemer. The Palatinate would need to be subdued.

1622. Spanish capture Jülich, a nation close to the French border along the vital supply line to Flanders. This country had suffered a minor war ten years earlier concerning succession. Both claimants were Protestant.

Attempting to prevent the link up of the coming Spanish Imperial army with the local Catholic League army, Mansfeld and George Friedrich of Baden-Durlach set up a block. They were attacked by Tilly’s Catholic League army in the Battle of Mingolsheim, but held firm. However Tilly then bypassed them and linked up anyway.

The combined Imperial and Catholic League army defeated the Protestant Union army at the Battle of Wimpfen, which was attempting to split the Catholic allies. Instead the Protestants were split.

At Höchst, the Catholics caught George Friedrich as he attempted to move his army over the Nidda river. The battle was a Catholic victory, but failed to prevent the Protestant allies from recombining.

Turning North, Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick attacked Spanish general Spinola in the disputed Dutch Provinces in the battle of Fleurus, and were soundly defeated.

Tilly and Cordoba turned their attention to the now isolated English Protestant forces (allies of Frederick V – in fact James I was his cousin) strung out along the Rhine in the Palatinate, and defeated Sir Gerard Herbert in the Siege of Heidelburg.

1623.  Frankenthal, another Protestant city held by the English, surrendered after a short siege.

Using Dutch troops, Christian of Brunswick marched South, but no Protestant forces joined him. Outnumbered and isolated, he was defeated by the Catholic League army of Tilly at the battle of Stadlohn.

[Treaty of Paris signed between France, Savoy and Venice with the agreement to kick Spanish forces out of the Val Telline. 1623 Papal conlave called on the death of Pope Gregory XV. Pope Urban VIII elected.]

1624. Mansfeld disbanded what was left of his shattered army and sailed to England to ask for money to raise new troops. The English were supportive of recovering the Palatinate, but delayed payment.

And so the Palatinate Phase ended with no Protestant army left in the field. The Imperials must have felt as if they had now snuffed out the root cause of the disease, and had secured the Spanish Road along the Val Telline.

It appeared that all internal opposition within the Empire had been stamped out, and that may have been the end of the matter. All that remained, it seemed, was to crush the Dutch. However, those outside the Empire were not comfortable with the idea of Spain’s consolidation and dominance in middle Europe.

[Treaty of Compiègne signed between France and Dutch United Provinces, allowing France to fund the Dutch war of independence from Spain.]

Scoreboard: Catholics and Imperials 7, Protestants 1.

Short history of the Thirty Years War – Bohemian Revolt

The Bohemian Revolt: 1618 – 1620.
The Palatinate phase. 1621 – 1624.
The Danish intervention. 1625 – 1629.
The Swedish intervention. 1630 – 1635.
The French intervention. 1636 – 1648.

Background. The Roman Catholic Habsburg family had a dual holding: the Spanish and Austrian crowns. The Austrian holding had control of the non-hereditary office of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the confederation of hundreds of German states. The rise of the Lutheran heresy, called Protestantism because of the protest against the authority of the Pope, had flared into war all over Europe. The rich, trading, Dutch (in a land previously called Flanders) had gone over to the heretics and are in revolt against Spain.

The straight roads between the two halves of the Habsburg holdings were blocked by France. The seas were controlled by England, and Spain signally failed to subdue that Protestant nation in the abortive Armada. Only one road between Spain and Empire remained, and this was under France and Switzerland, up the Val Telline valley. Should this road fall to the Protestants, the Habsburgs would be crippled, bankrupted, and the isolated holdings destroyed piecemeal.

Successive Emperors had tried to maintain a settled peace with the countries under their charge that had gone Protestant, but the radicals just increased their demands, and the Emperor lacked the force to simply crush them – the rot had spread too far.

1555. Following a long period of religious and political unrest in the Holy Roman Empire, the Peace of Augsburg signed by Emperor Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League granted the ruler of each country the right to decide what faith the country follows (Cuius regio, eius religio). However, only Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism were recognised as valid choices. This left out the growing radical protestant faiths.

During the years up to 1618 there were numerous mass expulsions of populations from their countries following conversations one way or the other. Protestants pushed to extend their political influence. Calvinists agitated because they had been excluded from the treaty.

The radicals formed the (Calvinist dominated) Protestant Union in 1608 as a mutual support organisation, willing to raise an army if any member was attacked. In response, the loyal Roman Catholic German states founded the German Catholic League in 1609 in order to support the Imperial, Spanish backed army if needed.

1618. Defenestration of Prague. When the Bohemian crown became available (it was an elective post, not hereditary), Protestant agitators saw it as an ideal opportunity to extend their power. A Protestant on the throne of Bohemia would alter the power balance in the Empire as Bohemia was one of the Electoral powers, significant in choosing the Future Emperor (itself an elective rather than hereditary role). In an action designed to inflame passions, the Roman Catholic government representatives were hurled out of the government house windows. They miraculously survived, but this almost farcical event was the trigger for the Thirty Years War.

The Protestant nobles raised an army and put Count Ernst von Mansfeld, a mercenary (and, oddly enough, a Roman Catholic who supported the Protestant cause, though probably because of personal vendetta) in charge. Mansfeld successfully besieged the city of Pilsen, where many Catholics had taken refuge.

An Imperial army under Bucquoy approached Prague but was held up, and then pursued and destroyed by a Protestant force under Heinrich Matthias at Lomnice.

[In other news, a Spanish fleet defeated a Dutch fleet flying Venetian colours trying to run the Gibralter blockade.  The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth signed a truce with the Tsardom of Russia.]

1619. Bucquoy intercepted and defeated Mansfeld on the way to assist Hohenloe who was besieging Budějovice, at Sablat.

Frederick V (Calvinist ruler of the Palatinate and leader of the radical Protestant Union) was invited to be king of Bohemia by the extremist Protestant rebels now controlling government.

Ferdinand II was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the still majority Roman Catholic Electoral College. It was traditional that the Emperor also be crowned king of Bohemia, so Frederick’s installation made him in direct violation of the Imperial prerogatives. Protestant moderates were dismayed, but it was too late to stop the coming catastrophe.

Imperial army under Dampierre was sent to neighbouring Moravia which was supporting the rebels. It was defeated by a Moravian army under von Tiefenbach and ze Zerotina at Wisternitz. It was here that an officer of the Imperial army called Wallenstein with active service experience against the Turks came to the attention of history. He seized the Moravian treasury, carried it to Vienna and presented it to the Emperor. Later he raised a regiment using his own money to serve with the Imperial forces.

Meanwhile, Hungary (and specifically Transylvania) under Bethlen Gabor decided that this was a good time to try a breakaway from Habsburg control, and allied itself with the Protestant rebels in Bohemia. Bratislava fell to the Transylvanians and a siege of Vienna was attempted. Though nominally neutral, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was supportive of the Roman Catholic Austrians and sent a force which defeated the Transylvanians at Humenné.

[At the Treaty of Munich, Maximillian of Bavaria (leader of the Catholic League) agreed to supply the Emperor with an army in exchange for ‘any part of the Palatinate he could occupy’, together with  Frederick’s title as Elector. This made available the forces to crush the rebellion, but the change in the electoral balance to stack it in Ferdinand’s favour was illegal.]

1620. Bohemia was invaded under combined Imperial army under Bucquoy and Catholic League army under Tilly.

At the battle of White Mountain, Christian of Anhalt (Protestant) was comprehensively defeated by the allied Imperial and Catholic League army. Lower Palatinate (Protestant) invaded by Spanish forces. Upper Austria (Protestant) invaded by Bavaria (Catholic).

[The Treaty of Ulm was signed between the Catholic League and the Protestant Union with the latter agreeing to quit their support for Frederick V as king of Bohemia. They also agreed to disband, which they did the following year.]

1621. Johann Georg Jägerndorf from nearby Silesia decided to have a go at restoring Protestant power in Bohemia. His first stop was mutually neighbouring Moravia, where he was met by what sounds like a scratch Catholic force under Jean de Gauchier at the town of Neutitschein. Despite getting the best of the Catholics, Jägerndorf made no further progress in Moravia and instead turned east to join the Transylvanians.

End of the Twelve Year’s Truce between Spain and the United Dutch Provinces/Dutch Republic. In the north, The United Dutch Provinces (Flanders) were in rebellion against their Spanish masters. The south (modern Belgium) remained Roman Catholic and loyal. This conflict, known as the Eighty Years War, was an enormous drain on Spanish resources, and was characterised by what would now be labelled war crimes. The Alatriste series of books is set against this backdrop. Spanish forces now converged to renew the conflict.

And with the crushing of the rebellion at its source, it was thought that the matter was finished. However, this was just the end of the Bohemian Phase, as the Protestants renewed the conflict elsewhere, inflamed by the Spanish Catholic forces increasing pressure on the Dutch and the Imperial forces stepwise reduction of now isolated Protestant holdings.

[In other news, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Ottoman Empire at the battle of Khotyn. A Dutch East India Company naval convoy was attacked and defeated by Spain while crossing the Strait of Gibralter. Pope Gregory XV elected at the 1621 Papal conclave. In France, Louis XIII failed to capture the Huguenot (Calvinist inspired French Protestants) after a two month siege.]

Scoreboard: Catholics and Imperials 4, Protestants 2.