By Fire and Sword Battle Report - Muscovy vs Ottoman Empire.

 Hi again,

Apologies for the lack of posts on the blog lately, it's been a busy time. Indeed, this game was actually played over a week ago so the details are fairly hazy. That said, it was actually one of the better games of By Fire and Sword that I've played. I used the new Prince Boriatinski's Pomiestna Cavalry Regiment skirmish list while Nathan used the European Skirmish Force - our first time with both lists. I think Boriatinski's regiment is interesting, allowing more elite and Dvorian troops than the regular Muscovite skirmish list. Losing poor tactical discipline is also worth the extra cost of the list in my opinion. I was two FSP above Nathan's list (9 to 7, from memory) and suffered a cowardly commander (two command points for my commander to order a charge, amongst other things) and I believe fatigue (three markers placed by commander that once removed due to failed morale tests, results in -1 morale across the board). My reconnaissance advantage got me a decisive moment that I never ended up using!

Deployment. Russian troops focus on their right while the Ottomans stick to the centre.

The Russian right. Elite Dvorians, Skirmish Boyars and regular boyars here.

In the early turns the Muscovites make it to the central objective first. The lone boyar squadron on the left punched above its weight, breaking a unit of Sipahi. With the lance sipahi in the Ottoman Empire centre at risk of total encirclement should the gonullu on their left falter, we thought we were in for a quick game!

The Muscovite encirclement was looking good...

...however around turn 4 the Ottoman's get their act together. The formerly broken Sipahi had rallied and managed to drive off the dangerously exposed boyars of the Muscovite left. The lance sipahi weren't even needed and the gonullu held, saved by the inability of the Muscovites to muster enough troops to charge.

Here's where it turned. Over turn five and six the lance sipahi, unengaged up to that point, turned 180 degrees in turn five and charged in turn 6 along with the gonullu. The muscovite centre shattered.

Turn 6 was decisive. The Muscovites had held onto the approaches but the lances of the sipahi and taken back the central hill and the Ottoman's won by 2 points. Victory snatched at the last moment! By chance or by design, Nathan keeping his lances until the last moment proved decisive. I simply had no unit that could fight those guys toe to toe, and my command difficulties due to my cowardly commander meant I couldn't get enough squadrons to mass attack them. A great game that really demonstrated that you lose nothing by playing By Fire and Sword at the smaller skirmish level.

By Fire and Sword - Muscovite Army

Hi again!

Finally, after about 4 months since starting, I've finally finished my Muscovite army for By Fire and Sword. This has been my major project since the end of last year so it's a huge relief to finally finish it.

Kind of. As with all things wargaming, a project is never really finished. In the future I want to add small Soldat and Field Dragoon regiments along with a hefty artillery contingent. I also intend on buying two of the Cossack Skirmish Set boxes to field them as either a large standalone skirmish force or as an allied regiment for the Muscovites. But, these are future plans and I have some smaller projects upcoming before I start buying more BFaS.

Upcoming on the blog expect to see Firestorm Planetfall and some 10mm ancients. I've grabbed some Gauls from Pendraken which I can't wait to paint and I'm really excited that I managed to get my hand on the two player starter for the long out of print Planetfall. Onto the pictures!

Editors Note: Pictures had to be re-uploaded as somehow they broke. How annoying!

Glory to Russia

The army from another angle

The first border dragoon regiment

The second border dragoon regiment

The streltsy. Not many photos of these guys around for whatever reason

I love the Streltsy models - full of character!

Pomiestna cavalry regiment.

Dvorians - perhaps my favourite models in the army

Boyar sons with spears

My general.

Zavoivodchicy

Bonus pic! My Holy Roman Empire army occupies the left tray. Plenty of room to expand the Muscovites then...

Thanks again for looking, I hope this post can serve as an inspiration for finishing your own army. I also know there's not a lot of pictures of painted Muscovite armies on the internet and in particular very few photos of Streltsy so hopefully it's also a good resource for those considering starting the Muscovites.

Bye / До свидания!

By Fire and Sword Battle Report - Muscovy vs Ottoman Empire, Task Force.

Welcome again!

Today is the blog's first battle report! This was a task force level game of By Fire and Sword on the  Capture the Crossing scenario. This scenario is slightly different to the skirmish scenario in that it features a farm on each side of the table as capture points in addition to the main crossing. The stream is fordable along the entire length for half movement. My opponent Nathan and I both took nearly full task forces which are listed below. Please note I made a massive error when deploying and put down 8 bases in the border dragoon pike squadron instead of four (I'd been eyeing off division construction during the day...). This definitely had a significant effect on the game as the pike block was involved in two combats that were drew only due to their outnumbering their opponents... Sorry Nathan!

Muscovy - Border Defence Task Force - 22FSP

Voivode (2 command points)

Vanguard

6 Field Dragoons (musketeers)

Base

8 Border Dragoon Musketeers

4 Border Dragoon Pikes (ooops...)

6 Elite Dvorians

8 Boyar Sons

Captain (1 command point)

Falconet 1.5pdr

Transport Wagon (not present on the table by mutual agreement)

Level 1

8 Town Streltsy

Level 2

8 Boyar Sons w/spears

Falconet 1.5pdr

Level 3

8 Border Dragoon Musketeers

Golova (2 command points)

4 Skirmish Boyar Sons

Quarta Colubrine 5f

Level 4

6 Reiters

Ottoman Empire - Task Force from the European Provinces - 20FSP

Beylerbey (3 Command Points)

Vanguard

5 Besli (proxied with Tatar Warriors)

Base

6 Sipahi w/Lances

6 Sipahi

6 Gonullu

Aga (1 command point)

Transport Wagon (not present on table by mutual agreement)

Darbzen 300 Dirhem

Level 1

6 Janissaries

Level 2

4 Besli (proxied with Tatar Warriors)

Sanjakbey (2 command points)

Darbzen 1 Oka

Level 3

4 Tufecki

Darbzen 2 Oka

The table setup. The farms near the river are objectives alongside the bridge.

Deployment after Turn 0. Turn 0 was quite eventful as the besli charged accross the stream into the field dragoons who were on defence orders. I expected the dragoons to shoot them off but alas the besli made it in and drew combat, nullifying my recon advantage.

Border Dragoons en masse. Including my cheating pike block... still feel bad about that.

In all our games Nathan makes extensive use of march columns early in the game to move up his units. Not many units left to base for him!

The centre of the Muscovite line. Town Streltsy in the wood and the field dragoons up front from their recon. I had run out of room to get the spear boyars in a good position.

The Muscovite right. The elite sotnia in the woods, reiters centre, skirmish sotnia (in disgusting grey) on the right backed up by the boyars.

The Ottoman right. Tufecki are off screen further right. Nathan made a decision to not really contest the bridge and instead focus on the farms.

The post Turn 0 situation in the centre. These two units would proceed to duel for FIVE turns without either fleeing. The besli would spend most of the game disorganised and were totally annihilated in the end.

Turn 1 saw Ottoman artillery disorganise the streltsy, who promptly withdrew into the boyars. Thankfully the boyars didn't disorganise as well.

The Muscovites advance on the right. I made the decision to attack two units at a time and relocate two units to a more central position. I only had five command for the entire force so I had to be careful.

The left advances to the farm. The right hand musket block would move onto defence orders in turn two as the border dragoons went onto defence turn by turn. This commander only had one command point so going to defence early was key.

The Ottoman right advances. Sorry for the blurry photo.

Tufecki anchored the Ottoman left.

Glorious cavalry line. За родину!

Reiters (proxied from my HRE army) engage Ottoman besli. They won without issue.

The second wave continues their move to the centre.

Ottoman Sipahi shake out into attack formations.

The initial Muscovite attacks were successful on the right but this would soon change. The besli are fleeing while the Tufecki are disorganised.

The situation at the end of turn 3. The skirmish sotnia are out of command range and the reiters are dangerously exposed to case shot. Meanwhile the elite sotnia has shaken out into line.

Somehow the border dragoons kept holding on... Not seen is a falconet on the far left which used case shot again and again to help repel the Sipahi and Janissaries. Oh and something something cheating pikes...

Case shot and bow fire from the gonullu (that damn shooting left...) routs the reiters. From success to disaster on the right.

Allah Allah! The Sipahi try once more but to no avail, their morale failing them after more case shot. The block in the background had suffered casualties from musketry before being fought off by the boyar sons.

At the end of the game my wonderful, freshly painted streltsy had done... uh, nothing. Secured the bridge, I guess.

We ended up calling the game at the end of turn 5, with the Ottomans having too many units in disarray and the Muscovites firmly in control of two objectives. This was a really fun game (marred by my realisation this morning of the too large pike unit...). This is the biggest game either of us have played so far. Task Force is a fun level, it doesn't take much longer than skirmish games but is visually much more spectacular. Turn 0 is a fun concept as well. I think if we could play this again I would use the vanguard to occupy the farm on my side of the river so they can be left on defence orders without a worry and use the streltsy and artillery to support them. This would leave the border dragoons to hold the centre, but with much more command from the general could do it. The right I think was managed fairly well but suffered from Ottoman case shot in the end. If I were Nathan I would have garrisoned his farm with infantry early in the game and used it to anchor his flank while pushing for the crossing or my farm with the strong force of Sipahi.

In the end, a Muscovite tactical victory. Bring on division level!

By Fire and Sword - Muscovite Pomiestna Cavalry Regiment

Hi again!

Today I managed to finish my Muscovite Dvorians for By Fire and Sword. These guys are essentially better armoured Boyar Sons, representing wealthier boyars who could afford better equipment. Given their wealth I decided to paint all the cloth on the figures in colours, whereas many of my regular boyars are adorned in browns or grey. In game terms though they have better armour, they fight no better than regular boyar sons.

This unit completes my pomiestna cavalry regiment. Technically I actually have enough to play a very small division game now if I proxy a general and an extra colonel in! I'm receiving my zavoivodchicy, high command and streltsy on Friday to expand to a properly sized division.

Coming up soon will be a battle report of a game I'm playing on Friday (skirmish BFaS). I also intend on writing some tactics articles for By Fire and Sword. Thanks for reading!

The Regiment in all it's colourful glory.

The Dvorians, finished today.

Boyar Sons with Spears

The force as it stands.

By Fire and Sword - Muscovite Border Dragoon Regiment

Hello again for my first proper post of 2020!

Today I finished the commander for my Muscovite border dragoon regiment for By Fire and Sword. This is a full sized regiment though it does lack any artillery. The border dragoons come in a box of 12 bases, so this here is two boxes worth. I actually have a third box coming which will complete the border dragoon contingent of my division with my intent to field two midsize regiments of 18 bases each.

These dragoons were painted using a new technique for me - using artists' or drawing inks (over a grey primer with a white drybrush) to provide the base coat and shade in one. If this sounds similar to the idea of Games Workshop's new line of contrast paints then you're not wrong. These inks are not at all like a shade or wash typically used as a second step after base coating - they're much more heavily pigmented. After being painted with the inks the models were given a quick highlight with regular paints. The result is bright models painted quickly to a standard I'm happy with. Worth noting is much like any paint line the inks vary in their properties, even within a single line. I'm using Liquitex and Vallejo products. Liquitex state on the bottle whether the ink is opaque, semi-opaque or transparent. Transparent ones typically need two coats for a good effect while the opaque cover very, very well. Vallejo doesn't label as well in terms of opacity but is generally more consistent accross the line. Well worth a try if you haven't used these products before!

The regiment!

The Golova (commander of the regiment)