Poltava 1709 at Joy of Six 2019 – the Grand Finale of the Towards Moscow Trilogy (TMT)

On By The OneIn 6mm, Terrain, Towards Moscow Triology, Twilight of the Sun King Rules

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This is a quick report back from Joy of Six focusing on the table Nick, Andrew, Neil (from the Wyre Foresters, thanks to all of you!) and I put up on the day. there are some additional reflections and pictures of the show overall that I will issue sometime this coming weekend. Thanks to everyone who came by we really enjoyed the feedback!

The Towards Moscow Trilogy

More than three years ago I decided to have a go at doing a few battles of the ill-fated Russian campaign (1707-1709) of the Great Northern War 1700-1721.  I set out the plan in a blog post (link here) and the three battles we would cover were:

Lesnaya 1708 – link to more pictures here in the blogpost from Joy of Six 2017:

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Battle of Lesnaya 1708 (8 foot table)

Horka 1708 (a what-if battle that would allow us to field a more balance army composition and linear battle that would be the case for the battles of the Campaign) – link to more pictures here in the blogpost from Joy of Six 2018:

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Battle of Horka 1708 (12 foot table)

This year it was a 16 foot table and the disastrous (from a Swedish perspective) Battle of Poltava. Here are a number of pictures from the day with the occasional comments and some link on how some elements of the tables was being made – we were far to busy talking to people to even have a go at actually trying to play it! I think the vision of a grand spectacle was achieved, hope you enjoy  (if you have any comments do get it touch through the blog and ask away):

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Initial disposition the Russian Infantry in the Camp on the left, the redoubts filled with Russian Infantry and the line of Dragoons behind the redoubts.
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Close up of the Redoubts, we can see the Swedes in the far right corner starting their march. More about the redoubts here and he colourful fields here.

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More detail of the Yakovetski forest, the Monastery, Poltava itself and the Swedish Camp.

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The Swedes quickly overrun the first redoubt and set about taking care of the other one.

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Poltava with the Siege Lines in the upper left corner. Buildings mainly from Total Battle miniatures with a Scratch built Fortress (walls and towers).  More on the Poltava here, the ruined villages here and the Siege Lines here.

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The Swedes are through
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Some battalions being lost in the forest

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The Swedes organising themselves for the main battle

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Some immense firing

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Swedish Artillery being left behind!

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Detail of the Swedish Camp, more about the camp here.

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Siege works

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/ Hope that was of some interest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 thoughts on “Poltava 1709 at Joy of Six 2019 – the Grand Finale of the Towards Moscow Trilogy (TMT)”

  1. Absolutely amazing work! I love the visual spectacle of well done 6mm games. A very different perspective from 28mm, but I think it really works for big battle games. How many players per side for the game?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Nick Dorrell

      Ed Leland: We were short staffed and had so much interested so we didn’t play the game. It would have been 1 player a side using the Twilight of the Sun King rules.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  3. Phil Carrington

    A wonderful example of what is possible in 6mm. I really hope this gets picked up by one of the wargames magazine so that it is brought to a wider audience.

    I think it illustrates the increasing importance of basing and terrain the smaller the figures becomes.

    Well done ! Phil

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Excellent work Per. Gå På!
    I am so sorry that this year I could not attend Jo6 this year. i would have loved to seen your Poltava game, particularly because I also was not able to attend Poltava as a re-enactor.
    I will continue to follow your blog.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. I saw the table myself at the show- the standout display, it had the feel of the best sort of military art, the sort that shows the full sweep of a battle, but in £D, I loved seeing all of the terrain bits that you have featured on your blog too in person.

    I popped by your table a couple of times in the day to say hello in person but you weren’t there.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  9. iainfuller69

    Cracking stuff as usual Per. It really was an absolute pleasure seeing this in the flesh, a right belter of a game and as everyone else said it really shows how 6mm can make a great impact with the scale of battles that can be put on.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

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