In summary, not done too much in the last three weeks, some “diversionary-but-I-hope-of-some-interest-blur” to fill out the blog and then some pictures of new stuff at the end.

This is my 8th consecutive year of putting on a table at Joy of Six. With the exception of 2016 when Neil Shuck and I ran Saga in 6mm, Nick Dorrell and I have staged a range of Battles from the Great Northern War (GNW), including Fraustadt 1706, Klissow 1702, Kalisz 1706, Gadebusch 1712, Lesnaya 1708 and Horka 1708.  I think it has been an fair run and I am currently debating with myself whether the table this year, Poltava 1709, will be the last GNW table I do.  I feel like it has been a good run and looking at all these tables in the pictures below I enjoyed all the effort I put in and when we presented them, I have been told, others enjoyed them too.

There are a few more battles of the war that I think would be interesting to put on the table, including:

• Narva 1700. Swedish attack on fortified Russians with a snow blizzard during the battle.  A few Swedes against many, many Russians.
• The Duna Crossing 1701. Swedish river assault supported by floating Gun Platforms, etc. Against the Saxons.
• Battle of Helsingborg 1710. Fighting on Swedish soil with the Danes last attempt at getting the Scanian lands.

Actually there are many more and if you go to the eminent webpage Tacitus.nu there is a nice table showing all the bigger engagements of the War, when they occurred, who the Swedes fought and who was the main Swedish Commander (link here, and while you are there you will find detailed uniform information for some of the largest battles, based on some of the best resources available).

It is strange, having read so many GNW books and painted so many 6mm miniatures from the Baccus GNW range, that I still have this fascination for the period.  I still remember my Father’s retelling of the bravery of the soldiers in the Dal Regiment, when its Battalions breached the defences at the Battle of Narva in 1700 under the leadership of Magnus Stenbock, then a Colonel, who later (I suppose subject to some argument) became one of the Greatest Generals of the era. Another story was the one about the Duna crossing and I remember I closed my eyes and felt the splashes of water from the cannon balls landing next to the rowing boats as the Swedish advance force pressed on toward the river bank on the other side.  There is no historical era that is even close with regards to the level of satisfaction and sense of adventure in my opinion – but then I am unashamedly biased.  All the other stuff I do are also very interesting but are truly just diversions, I suppose the Great Northern War is what they call “a first love”.

I seem to have convinced myself to keep on going but we will see how this year goes.  There is a small benefit in that apart from making the mat/terrain there is limited work in setting up most of the tables after I have finished the Poltava Battle this year, as any painting required will be limited (I have extensive Saxon, Swedish, Russian and Danish armies, so I am reasonably well covered. Some of them I have based for Summer and Winter).

So.., how is Poltava going?

In an earlier posting about a year ago, I was stressing about Poltava (that Posting was actually reasonably interesting, with a link here). I want “my” Poltava to tell the story about the battle not just as a line of Soldiers facing each other at the final attack of the decimated Swedish force against the overwhelming Russian packed lines.

Given this, the following needs to be done (with level of completeness given as a percentage, where 0% means done shit all and 100% all done and dusted):

1. Finish all the Swedish and Russian miniatures (for the main action, but also for detachment around the battlefield) – 95%
2. Swedish Camp – 50% (have a lot of Swedish supply wagons, just need to do some camp bases)
3. Swedish Siege Lines around Poltava – 0%
4. The Poltava Fortress and Town – 25% (have some houses I can reuse, but will need to do the wooden walls and towers)
5. Russian Redoubts – 0%
6. Cossacks / Kalmyck irregular cavalry – 100%
7. Monastery on the Hill – 0% (but have bought the models)
8. Surrounding Villages – 50% (I will use some existing ones but need to buy some more)
9. Russian Camp – 0%
10. The Battle Mat – 0% (I think a 12 by 4 sheet will do).

The fact that almost all the miniatures are painted is a very good place to be, but I learned not to underestimate the time it will take to do the other stuff – especially the battle mat.  The above is the tracker I am using for the Project.

Just before Christmas I did some bases of town folks I will use as Poltava Militia – now do they really look like we would imagine a militia unit of the region?  Maybe not but I felt that the Streltzy code would make them look too uniformed, too organised – so I did them like this.  The idea was that each miniatures was painted differently, I think I achieved the look I wanted.  Note that I have not yet based them as I want to do this when I know how I make the Poltava town/fortress section of the battlefield – so the bases can blend in nicely.

This week I also did some more Dragoons, it seems like there is always more Russian Dragoons to be made – I think that may be it for this time. However,  I will do another review just to make sure. I have run out 60 by 30mm bases at this time, so I will have to base them later.

/ Hope that was of some interest, all the best to you.