More To the Strongest! at Historicon: Grunwald and Kutna Hora

 For Historicon 2025, a group of  us (myself, Jim, Jeff, Milton, and Eric) worked together to present a total of 7 games with Simon Miller's To the Strongest! rules. All of us come from the Piquet/Field of Battle That makes sense because the rules share some common factors - high decision making density, significant chance impacts, no guaranteed sequence, s game ending mechanism based on tracking overfall losses, and high suitability for scenario specific rules. We have already covered my two chariot era games (Egypt vs Sea Peoples, Assyrians vs Hittites); this post will cover the games that Jim Mauro ran on Friday (Grunwald) and Saturday (Kutna Hora), using his 15 mm armies. 

The Battle of Grunwald (literally "green forest" in German, but, oddly,  known as Tannenberg, "pine hill" in Germany) was fought on July 15, 1410, so the game was played very close to the 615th anniversary. It pitted the forces of the Teutonic order against those of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There is a decent Wikipedia article on the battle and its background here. 

GM Jim is a blur while setting up the table!

The armies and the players: Poles and Lithuanians to the left (in the forest!), Teutonic Knights to the right. The army of the Teutonic Knights is outnumbered but their troops are far better trained and equipped. 

A mix of bew and experienced players required a brief introduction to the rules, after which the players got the hang of things pretty quickly with the help of the experienced playhers and GM. 

Close up of Teutonic Forces

Close up of the Poles and Lithuanians

The actual battle involved a fairly lengthy pasue while the Order waited for the enemy to attack them; when that didn't materialize, the Grand Master sent a message and 2 swords to the Polish and Lithuanian commanders to goad them into attacking. The Lithuanian light cavalry on the army's right did so, and were opposed by the best heavy cavalry of the Order. 

Battle develops on the Order's left, but the Poles on their right and the mercenary troops in the middle prove difficult to entice. 

"Come out and fight, ye craven cowards!"

Seeing that the Poles will not be obliging them, the Teutonic forces resign themselves to having to attack into the woods!

Many of the Lithuanian light troops are removed from the table. The Lithuanians seem somewhat oddly nonchalant about their losses. 

Polish Heavy Cavalry finally attacks on the right of the Order. 

The forces of the Teutonic Order have eliminated most of the Lithuanians on their left that they can find.

The Teutonic left, including the superb brother Knights, turns to their right to aid the other half of the army, against which the Polish heavy horse is making considerable inroads. 

Dust clouds then appear on the Teutonic left accompanied by the blaring of trumpets and the thundering of hooves.

"It's a trap!" The Lithuanians had feigned a retreat, and now, with the Teutonics distracted, they descend (top of picture) upon their flank and rear!

The dreaded "double aces" slow the Lithuanian maneuver  (Jim uses chits for activations rather than cards, and D10's for combat - heresy, get the stakes and bundles of sticks ready!).

The flubbed activation buys the Knights a bit of breathing space to react. "Who ARE those guys?!  Didn't we just beat them?!"

The game ended after about 3 hours of play (I needed to set up my game on the same table - this year the events all had the last 30 minutes chopped off to facilitate table turnover due to the huge number of games and the loss of some convention floor space this year - hopefully the space formerly used by Wally's Basement [Flea Market] will be available to us again next year).

Same story with Jim's pictures...

Deployment: Teutonics to the left, Polish-Lithuanian Union right. 

The Order taunts and insults the Poles, who refuse to advance!

Lithuanians charge the Order; the clash is heard throughout the battlefield. 

More Lithuanians pour out of the woods to assist their flanking comrades. 

The Order advances against and grinds down the Lithuanians.

Poles finally advance, but the Lithuanians are driven off. The Order begins its flanking move, turning to the right. 

Th Return of the ? Jedi... "These aren't the Lithuanians you thought they were. At the end of the day, the game was judged a defeat for the Order, but not nearly as decisive as in the actual battle. Darned Aces!

On Saturday morning, Jim ran the Battle of Kutna Hora, December 21-22, 1421. This battle represented the attack on the Hussite Wagenburg under Jan Zizka by the Catholioc "Crusaders" againsty the Hussite heresy, commanded by the Holy Roman Emperor,  Sigusmund. After this action, the Hussites would launch a night attack to break through the Imperial lines and escape, using their artillery and wagons to spread confusion during the dark winter night. 

Opening Deployment - Hussite Wagen burg on the hill, the Hungarians on the left and left center, Germans on the right and right center. The Hussites are significantly outnumbered. 

German foot and knight commence their advance upon the Wagenburg.

Overview of the battle early on; the HRE's losses  (lower left) are beginning to mount. 

German advance on the Hussite left is disjointed and stalls. 

Hungarian foot and knights press the attack on the Hussite right. 

Breach!  The Hungarian Knights finally get an opening. Hussite flailmen rush to meet them!

Both Hussite flanks under intense pressure. Despite horrific casualties, the German foot finally cause a beach in the center. Once again, the Hussite 's meet them head on with their fearsome 2 handed flails. 

Jim concluded by noting "The Hussites held out...barely.  HRE had under 5 VPs left, with Hussites holding 12 VP.  HRE players had an early chance at a breach on the Hussite left, but didn't press home the attack.  That very easily could have decided the day in favor of the HRE.  This game featured 5 HRE players and 3 Hussite players.  All 3 Hussite players have personally been to Kutna Hora!!  Needless to say, they were excited to play. 

I wanted to see this one (I ran a 28 mm Hussite game with TtS! at Historicon at Fredericksburg way back in 2016), but was otherwise engaged at the Battle of Pavia at the time of Jim's game. That's amazing that three of the players had been to Kutna Hora (notorious during the Hussite rebellion, a common method of execution being to throw the victims down the shafts of the silver mine there), and presumably then to Prague and Tabor as well. I am envious, definitely on my bucket list. 

Hussite Hymn, "Ye who are Warriors of God"

Polish Uhlan Facing tables, the 16th Uhlan regiment, and a very short but sweet Murawski sale!

First off, the sale notice as it runs out in a few days, From their FB page:

I'd just like to thank everyone for supporting us at Salute. We've never been before but we had a great show.

There were some great deals on our figures there and as a thank-you for all your support I am going to offer all my regular customers the same deals we had on offer for one week only!

The following deals are available until the 22nd April 2016. (Extended to April 24th)

20% off all Baden unit and battalion packs
10% off all Polish infantry and artillery unit packs
10% off all Polish infantry and artillery battalion deals
10% off all Polish cavalry and mounted command packs.
5% off all Polish cavalry unit deals

Free shipping on all orders anywhere in the world over £100 ( after discount ).

Again, thanks for all your support.

So, if you were thinking about ordering some of their excellent figures, especially those Badeners (and especially from outside the UK due the free shipping), do it TODAY!  :-)

I mean, I need them to make the Baden Light Dragoons and Artillery, right? So *I* need you guys to buy lots of Badeners to convince them to do the whole army!  The Baden Jagers are already in the planning stages, and they have a glorious and distinctive uniform. I already have that unit from the defunct Pontoonier figures myself, though (see the Baden label on the side bar).  

This is the 16th Uhlan regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw.

"Pretty in Pink", or rather Polish Crimson. This color is depicted anywhere from a dark, purplish red to the lighter shade I have chosen here. I used Delta CC Dusty Mauve darkened with a bit of Americana Deep Burgundy (which would itself work well for the darker interpretation of "Crimson". 

This unit had dark blue lapels piped white, collar, cuffs, and turnbacks crimson piped white, and crimson piping on the seams of the jacket and the trousers. Crimson piping on the sheepskins, and crimson over white lance pennons. The sheepskins should perhaps be the other way around, though - back for troopers, white for the trumpeters. I changed my mind on this unit half way through, changing from the 12th to the 16th. Regardless, I think their uniform is quite spectacular!

According to Rawkin's excellent "Uniforms of the Duchy of Warsaw", this regiment had white epaulets for the elite company instead f the usual red, and crimson plume an epauletes for the trumpeter as regimental idiosyncrasies. 

A (? white Polish) eagle's eye view of the 12th Uhlans from above!

Table of Uhlan regimental distinctions Per Rawkins:

Regt	Lapels	Collar	Cuffs	Turnbacks	Piping
2nd	Dark Blue piped yellow	Scarlet piped white	Scarlet piped white	Scarlet piped yellow	Yellow
3rd	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	White
6th	Crimson piped white	White piped crimson	Crimson piped white	Dark Blue piped crimson	Crimson
7th	Yellow piped scarlet	Yellow piped scarlet	Yellow piped scarlet	Yellow piped scarlet	Scarlet
8th	Dark blue piped scarlet	Scarlet	Yellow piped scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet
9th	Dark blue piped white	Scarlet piped dark blue	Dark blue piped white	Dark blue piped white	Scarlet
11th	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Dark blue piped white	Dark Blue piped white	White
12th	Dark blue piped white	White piped dark blue	Dark blue piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson
15th	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson
16th	Dark blue piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson
17th	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson
18th	Dark blue piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson piped white	Crimson
19th	Dark blue piped lemon yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow
20th	Lemon Yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow	Lemon yellow
21st	Deep Yellow	Deep yellow	Deep yellow	Deep yellow	Deep yellow

Note that the short lived 17th - 21st regiments were raised in Lithuania in 1812, and had pretty much ceased to exist by 1813. 

In 1812  the 6th Regiment is shown with dark blue lapels piped white and all other facings and piping white.  The 7th and 9th regiments are likewise with dark blue lapels and all facings yellow and scarlet respectively.   

With regard to breeches, Rawkins says: 

"From 1808 dark blue, tight fitting, overall trousers were issued for all regiments with a wide double stripe on the outer seam of the regimental piping colour.  The exceptions to this rule were the 2nd, 3rd and 7th Regiments who had yellow stripes.  For campaign wear and fatigue duties the tight fitting overalls were replaced with heavier loose fitting trousers of dark blue with black leather inserts and cuffs and a single narrow stripe on the outer seam with a row of small brass buttons on the stripe.   By 1812 most campaign wear overall trousers were dark grey with black or brown leather inserts but no stripe or buttons."  Rawkins also has extensive details on variations in lance pennon colors, epaulets, Elite company and trumpeter dress by regiment, even sometimes by year. If you are going to paint the Poles, BUY HIS BOOK!

On the other hand, Per Nafziger's "Poles and Saxons of the Napoleonic Wars, we have:

Regt	Collar	Piping	Turnbacks	Piping	Cuffs	Piping
2nd	Red	White	Dk Blue	Yellow	Red	White
3rd	Crimson	White	Dk Blue	White	Crimson	White
6th	White	Crimson	Dk Blue	Crimson	Dk Blue	Crimson
7th	Yellow	Red	Dk Blue	Red	Yellow	Red
8th	Red	Dk Blue	Dk Blue	red	Red	Dk Blue
9th	Red	Dk Blue	Dk Blue	White	Dk Blue	Red
11th	Crimson	Dk Blue	Crimson	White	Dk Blue	Crimson
12th	Crimson	White	Dk Blue	White	Dk Blue	White
15th	Crimson	White	Crimson	White	Crimson	White
16th	Crimson	White	Dk Blue	Crimson	Crimson	White
17th	Crimson	Dk Blue	Dk Blue	Crimson	Crimson	Dk Blue
18th	Crimson	Dk Blue	Crimson	White	Crimson	Dk Blue
19th	Yellow	Dk Blue	Dk Blue	Yellow	Yellow	Dk Blue
20th	Crimson	Dk Blue	Yellow	Dk Blue	Yellow	Dk Blue
21st	Orange		Orange		Orange

Regiment	Pants - Double stripe	Piping
2nd	Yellow	White
3rd	Yellow	White
6th	Crimson	White
7th	Yellow	Red
8th	Red	Red
9th	Red	White
11th	Crimson	White
12th	Crimson	White
15th	Crimson	White
16th	Crimson	White
17th	Crimson	White
18th	Crimson	White
19th	Yellow	Whte
20th	Yellow	White
21st	Orange ?

Exceptions: 6th regt wore it’s old uniform with white facings through 1810. 11th regiment white facings piped crimson, white side stripes on pants. 4 the regiment (converted from Chasseurs May 1813) Dark blue uniform with Crimson collar, cuffs, and turnbacks, The collar at least was piped yellow, Breeches Crimson with a double dark blue stripe.  Yellow epaulets, yellow aigrette on right shoulder. Czapska top crimson piped yellow, yellow cords and lace.

Nafziger also shows some trumpeters in reverse c0lors, probably incorrect, but I went with it on my earlier Minifigs Uhlan regiments of the Duchy of Warsaw.

Phew, that was a lot of material to cover! See my earlier post on the 6th regiment for additional details of the dress of the Uhlan regiments, or better yet, buy the Rawkins ebook for abut $6!