Battle of Revonlahti 27.4.1808 - Report ready

Finnish attack continues

First, of course, in the words of Johan Ludvig Runeberg:

(for Gregori Tigerstedtille on the 50th anniversary of the Revonlahti  battle )

"Tunsitko joskus, joukoss' ihmisten

kulkeissas täällä elon tanterella,

kuink' outo voima, pakko sisäinen

toist' ihmistä voi toiseen taivutella?

Näet muodon, äänen kuulet, riemastut,

vaan et voit virkkaa, miks niin ihastut.

Mies oli Cronstedtilla väessään,

ilolla häntä vielä muistelenki;

ma vanhus olin, nuorukainen hän,

mut kummassakin meiss' ol' yksi henki.

Ma helposti ja paljon unhoitan,

mut Tigerstedtin muistan ainian.

Four warriors gathered again to pay our respects for the old glory of those soldiers and heroes, who fought to keep the archenemy at bay... Some of the pics are courtesy from Juha, thanks!

REPORT IS COMPLETED

Pikeman's Lament @ Little Wars Club in Stockholm

Business and Pleasure

I had a business trip to Stockholm and used the opportunity to visit my gaming pals at Little Wars -club in Stockholm.

As Pikeman's Lament had just been published by Osprey, we played a Great Northern War battle. You can find battle report by the rules co-author Micke here. Once again I enjoyed a great game in a beautiful terrain!

Some further pics and some story telling below.

Eagle Rampant: Battle of Virta bridges 27.10.1808

Babtism of fire for my Finns

Battle of Koljonvirta

For the last 6 weeks I've mainly been painting miniatures for the Russo-Swedish war 1808-1809 (after it Finland was ceded to Russia). So it was high time to get them onto battlefield, even if their painting is still mostly WIP. We played the so called "Koljonvirta battle", which is epitomized in Finnish national history as part of Ensign Ståls (Steel) poems by our national poet  Johan Ludvig Runeberg. 

Some info in English on the battle here

Warning: this AAR includes poetry in Finnish. You have been warned!

Mut toista tuli, törmältä kun täyttä vauhtia

riens' adjutantti Sandelsin, hevonen vaahdossa:

"Jumalan tähden, portaallen, aseihin", huusi hän,

"vihollisjoukon tiedetään täst' yli pyrkivän."

Päämiehelle hän lisäsi: "Te silta purkakaa,

jos voitte, muuten viimeiseen verehen taistelkaa!

Hukassa kaikk' on, taaksemme jo ryssät ennättää;

apua saatte, kenraali jo tulla lennättää."

Sven Tuuva

Rearguard action 1812 - Eagle Rampant demo

After our visit to Little Wars in Stockholm, we set to work on creating our own resources for the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809 or "Suomen Sota" (War for Finland). As it takes time to convert and paint the Finnish / Swedish troops we started playing Eagle Rampant (see WI April 2016) or "Pikeman's Lament" with Russians chasing after the retreating French in the cold winter of 1812...

This was a team game for 4 players, 2 of whom had never played any Rampant variant before.

Visiting Stockholm's Historical Wargaming Club Little Wars - DAY 1 THE GAMES

The Long planned visit

Here are the 3 brave Finns (Marko, Ludde and myself), that eventually made it all the way to this far western country of Sweden and two of our most generous host: Jesper and Micke

During the day we managed 3 excellent games... see how they went and how we felt about it all...