So after a few month without, back to testing Renatio Et Gloriam. We tested Gustavian Swedish 1632 and a 1630 Dutch Republic army.
So the dutch infantry is drilled which is unusual for that period , they are HFP which is their strong point as they will shoot on yellow when in deadly range . The swedish infantry is formed and have SFP + shoot and charge which means that when in charge range they can shoot on yellow and charge . If they do not charge they would shoot on green which is slightly less efficient than yellow . The swedish army has a better cavalry but the dutch have shore bombardement . So if the dutch has initiative, has some deep water, he will put his heavy ART on ships and shoot up to 24 BW far away from the flank table edge, which means 96 cm far away on 180 cm and possibly shooting in the flank of the swedish army on a green dice not white. So Gustavus winning the initiative did choose to defend and avoid coastal terrain.
The swedes also outscouted the dutch by 30 %
The game was over in 3 turns so let me explain it
Outscouting
Both Huub and I made a mistake. We had not integrated the fact that a chequerboard formation was "self-healing" as the rear ranks may heal the front rank so both deployed part of the army in a rear position so has to support the front formations. But it will help the swedes.
The small ART to the front are the regimental guns
The swedish army , the yellow and blue SUP regiments
4 swedish TUGs of superior cavalry one being exceptional. Gustavus will lead from the front.
The dutch do advance but the general is poor as the legendary CIC is floating and gives cards. I wonder if next game he will still be floating.
Here is the crucial manoeuvrer . By trying to counter the swedish cavalry, the dutch will forget the sneaking 4th mounted TUG .
Steady
ready
GO
The leftmost swedish unit is a musketeer unit that could not resist the dutch firing power but it is in position to shoot on green ( 3 MU ) and the dutch cannot shoot back . Both chequerboard are at 4 MU so shooting on white we did not expect much results. We were wrong.
The dutch are hurt but not deadly
He shot at me with black dice ..
ready to fire
Remember that sneaky 4th unit ..it went behind the flank of the big charge ( turn of the charge) and at next charge phase went in with very deadly results ..It first broke the leftmost Dutch TUG, continued it's charge and broke a second dutch TUG,
and so continued and broke a third dutch TUG and pursued a last time ...The swedish did roll a lot of skulls .
After firing on white dice, the swedes are disorganised even with a pushback effect reduced mostly by 2 MU ( 1 for the SUP TUGs , and 1 for all in chequerboard) Most TUGS were pushed back by 2 MU . Honestly I am not convinced by that effect but so it is .
But the dutch had suffered even more all being average and their line was completely disorganised and the swedish cavalry was behind their flank and rear .The had no good cards/tokens so decided to call it a day. Pushed back can be deadly and disorganise an formation quite easely . Beware and husband your cards.
To be honest, I think the swedes are one of the difficult western armies to face for the dutch so next time we will change the matching armies .