Friday 12 September 2014

Refighting Lund 1676

Latest addition to my collection. The 2nd Jutland Cavalry Regiment. 
Figures are from Warfare, the flag made by Peter Smith.

After a summer of diversions to Napoleonic treats and Franco-Prussian joys, I have now returned to my Scandinavian call of duty – Lund 1676.

October approaches, and on the weekend of the 25th and 26th, a handful of Danish and Swedish wargamers with myself at the rudder have agreed to host a table at this years Danish wargaming convention “DFFcon” in Copenhagen. 

A historic venue for a Wargaming show.
The Royal Danish Armory.

DFFcon is one of the best shows in Scandinavia, with a great diversity of games open to participation over a two day period, while the backdrop for the whole event is the beautiful and historic 16th century Royal Danish Armoury building, today home to the Royal Danish Army Museum. Gamers are literally throwing dice and refighting history, between muskets, armours and displays containing Scandinavian military history relics.

Jacob Bülow leading his 2nd Jutland Cavalry forward
with unmistakable enthusiasm.

It goes without saying that the theme for our table is of course going to be the cataclysmic Battle of Lund. Fought on a frostbitten 4th of December 1676 outside Lund in central southwest Scania, it is the single bloodiest battle ever fought between two Scandinavian states (54% total casualties on both sides). As Sweden ascended into Empire, a series of bitter wars were fought between Denmark and Sweden over Scandinavian political and military supremacy in the 17th century, and it saw its pinnacle at Lund, where national conscript units preferred standing and dying rather than give ground to their hated adversaries.

The Royal Danish Armory as it would have looked ca. 1700.
From here the troops were equipped and could be marched directly on to troop transports.

Today, some 340 years later, and with things considerably more amicable in Scandinavia, Swedish and Danish Wargamers will come together to refight this most grand and iconic of all our battles.

From DFFcon 2013.

Over the course of the two DFFcon days, we plan to host a series of different scenarios, offering gamers a chance to refight to most important sequences from the battle of Lund. This of course also means that we need to be able to represent a diversity of the units actually present at the battle. To reach this goal we are 4 painters (2 Danes and 2 Swedes) working on the project, and results so far have been fantastic.

Weyher’s Regiment painted by Fellow Dane,
 Tomas Guntzelnick Poulsen. Figures Warfare, flags Peter Smith.

I will over the next weeks leading up to DFFcon post more from this “arms race”, but before returning to the painting table I want to send out a short message to a man, without whom, it would have been hard to recreate many of the units. 

When we started building the armies different choices were made in terms of miniatures. Warfare Miniatures, NorthStar, Wargames Factory and others were mixed with careful consideration, but flags were hard to find.

A view of the amazing flag Peter Smith created for us.

Luckily fellow blogger and graphic artist, Peter Smith, agreed to help us with a sheet for the Danes. After gathering source information from historic archives and the Danish Army compendium made by Hasselager, Snorrason, Henriksen and Schorr, I was able to give Pete the necessary details. His work resulted in some first class, richly colourful and wonderfully detailed flags.

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Pete from all of us – you’ve helped us make this part of history come alive again!

Thank you very much for reading!

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Stephen - I'm still hoping to see you in Copenhagen in October. It would be a great opportunity for you, me and Michael to meet up - this time over a gaming table!

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  2. Wonderfully painted figures Soren, particularly like the blue and buff colouring of Weyher's regiment.
    Regards Chris

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    1. Thanks Chris, appreciate it! Thomas did a wonderful job on these - and Pete's flags suit them well I think.

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  3. Great painting! Your colours look so vibrant. Great place for a wargaming convention also. Gaming history at its best.

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    1. Cheers Moiterei - we're all looking very much forward to the venue! It's really a fantastic way to use the museum. We'll be refighting the Battle of Lund literally a few meters from a exhibited Swedish uniform from the battle.

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  4. Great work on the 'blue and yellow' mix of colors, and great post once again!

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    1. Thanks Phil, really appreciate your loyalty to the blog. Thomas is doing a great effort finishing the Danish infantry, and he has got more coming up shortly.

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  5. Very handsome brush work and the flags are stunning. What better place for a wargame convention than the Royal Danish Armory? I can't think of more suitable venue!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan - indeed we're lucky to have the Museum board offer this opportunity. I think we'll have some really special images to show once we return from Copenhagen.

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  6. Wonderfully beautiful painted miniatures! The colours are leaping off the figures.

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher - these will be accompanied by more Danes shortly, and hopefully more of the fantastic flags from Peter Smith!

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  7. Great figures and what an amazing venue to game at.
    what rules are you using?
    Alan

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    1. Cheers Alan, We'll be using the Last Argument of Kings extension to Black Powder. It offers a good integration of pike into the infantry, plus it has some suggestions on how to represent the Swedes and their special offensive "Gå På" shock tactics notable at Lund in the Swedish cavalry, while also imbedding the Caracole doctrine for the Danish Horse. We'll be play testing very soon, so I'll probably throw up a post once we've got an AAR on this.

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  8. Things are looking good with your force for the convention. Please remember to take pictures of the game when you are at the convention. Sorry I will not be able to make it this year.
    See you tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks Mark - sorry you couldn't make it! But I will of course document our gaming and subsequent lively consumption of Danish "smørrebrød" sandwiches and Tuborg to your eternal envy ;0) See you tomorrow!

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  9. Beautifully painted figures as always. And quite a historic venue to be sure. Best, Dean

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    1. Thank you very much Dean! Since this is really a group effort, with some 600 miles between Thomas, who did the Weyher regiment, and our group of painters here in Stockholm, it's going to be very exciting to finally see the complete collection come together on the table in Copenhagen - and yes, one couldn't ask for a more suitable backdrop for gaming with historical miniatures. Really looking forward as you can hear:0)

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  10. Greate looking unit Sören !

    Good to see that you have started to paint for our joint venture, it will be realy nice to go to Copenhagen and run the game !

    Best regards Michael

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    1. Thanks Michael - more Lund to come, and I'm also very much looking forward to our little field trip south :0)

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  11. Great presentation and wonderful figures! I like very much the grey coats, that looks good.
    Bravo!
    Peter

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    1. Thanks Peter, coloring textile was an expensive thing in those days, so the Danish army, perhaps precipitated by a glance at their empty coffers, opted for a very economical solution. Gray coats, but with brightly colors cuffs. Glad you liked the result!

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  12. Wow, this will be a spectacular game for sure. I'm a bit envious I can't join you guys in Copenhagen, but I think I have a pretty valid excuse ... Next year though!

    I can't wait to see your finished armies. Be sure to take lots and lots of pictures at the convention!

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    1. Cheers Jonas, yes indeed it shall be very cool to see that table set with the two armies and all the extras we're now working on in terms of terrain and battle field debris. I promise to be vigilant on the old Canon Eos while in Copenhagen, and post pics accordingly!

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