Tuesday 9 December 2014

The Royal Swedish Household Cavalry & The Great Northern War 1700-1721

The Swedish Household Cavalry charging home in "V" formation.

2015 is fast approaching and the project list for the year to come is filling up quickly.
I’ll return to this matter of joyful planning in a later post, but for now reveal one coming project. Inspired by the announcement of the release of Warfare Miniatures Great Northern War range, it was decided at our local wargaming club in Stockholm Sweden, that we would put together a battalion based collection in 28mm for the Battle of Holowczyn 1708. 

A strict protestant discipline was attended in the Swedish Army,
and field priests was a core ingredient of the traveling Swedish war-machine.
Painting: Gustaf Cederström.

The Great Northern War is arguably one of the most important conflicts fought in Scandinavian and Russian history. In 1700 Sweden was one of Europe’s top three military powers, with perhaps the most well drilled and professional army of all. Sweden was at its pinnacle of power, with all of Finland, Estonia, most of Latvia plus possessions in Poland and Germany under its direct rule. At the same time, a sleeping bear to the east was starting to wake up, gathering power under the guidance of Tsar Peter the Great. 

Swedish possessions were widely spread over the Baltic region 
and in Northern Germany.

Peter the Great had one goal in mind, to pool all Russia’s military resources, and establish an empire with a capital modelled on a Western grandeur situated with waterway access to the Baltic Sea. Only problem was – this was a Swedish dominated area. Forging an alliance with Saxony, and the ever Swede-bashing Danes, Peter’s coalition declared war in 1700 on Sweden, ruled by the only 18 years old Charles XII.

Detail: The shabraque is marked with three crowns,
signaling the unit's position as Royal Household Cavalry.

Charles would prove to be nothing less than a brilliant military commander, later receiving praise and alliance-proposals from all of Europe’s courts, and he even had an ode written in his honour by Voltaire, but… After knocking out the Danes and successively the Saxons, Charles turned on Peter and the vast domains of Russia. 

Charles XII, the toast of Europe after he successfully wiped away the Saxon army.
It was all to change after the failed Russian campaign and Poltava 1709.
Painting: Gustaf Cederström.

Peter’s pledges for peace were scrapped by the vindictive Swedish king, and he set out to do what Napoleon and later Hitler would both try to – conquer Mother Russian. Needless to say, he got the same result as his historic counterparts, and it all ended with the destruction of the Swedish army at Poltava.

Holowczyn 1708.

Holowczyn is a battle fought as part of this Russian Campaign in 1708. It poses the Swedish army, carrying out a sneak-attack led personally by the King, against the entrenched Russians forces in camp under Prince Menshikov. It’s a highly playable battle in wargaming terms, and we’re very excited to get started with this core subject in Swedish history.

Gå På! The unit is based on 2 pcs of 60x60mm bases from Warbases.
I love that you can get these with the little rounded corner, which adds some finish to the base.

As my first unit for this collection, I chose the Royal Swedish Household Cavalry – not to be confused with “Drabanterna” which was a much smaller unit acting as the King’s personal bodyguard.

The Household Cavalry traces its roots back to 1536, first formed as regional cavalry units. These regional units would later be merged into the “Livregementet till Häst” = Household Cavalry, and in 1687 formed into 12 Companies totalling about 1.500 elite horsemen. They took part in mayor battles of the war such as; Klissow, Holowczyn, Poltava and the later battle of Helsingborg.

The uniform of the Household Cavalry.
Source: Tacitus

Their uniform diverted significantly from the standard dark blue “unity uniform” introduced in the Swedish army both in the cavalry and infantry. Their jackets were sky-blue, and their standard was all white with gold embroideries and their regional heraldry in the top inner corner. 
They were, like many Swedish units, completely wiped out with any surviving troopers caught after Poltava, and had to be re-raised from scratch in 1710 back in Sweden. 

Swedish cavalry charging forward 
in their preferred knee-to-knee "V" formation. 

They are based in a forward going “V” formation, which was according to the Swedish shock attack doctrine of the time. Its said that each trooper had his knee touching the knee of the horseman next to him, but that might be more of a theoretical doctrine as the unit will no doubt loose cohesion as the horses build momentum. Safe to say, they tried to stick with this “plough” tactic, and they were compact units charging forward sword in hand on their small but sturdy Swedish horses, acting as a wall of flesh and steel coming at the enemy’s ranks.

Thank you very much for reading!

28 comments:

  1. Stunning cav, Soren. The coats are especially vivid. Cool view of the V formation charge too.

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    1. Thanks Dean! Yeah that cavalry formation had to hurt when clashing into enemy infantry right? The Swedes had a special phrase for this shock tactic: "Gå På" - which roughly translates to either "At them boys" or "Keep moving forward".

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  2. Now those look very nice indeed!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher! They will be followed up by more Swedes shortly, as we're hoping to finish this collection already by March.

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  3. Exciting! I'm myself is waiting for the Ebor miniatures swedes but Warfares mini's are impressive though :)

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    1. They paint up really nicely, and the coming infantry.. need I say anything else? If you haven't seen the infantry pics yet, write me on sorenralph@gmail.com, and I'll send you some links. They are amazing!

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  4. A beautiful unit Sören, and a fantastic post once again, with a great historical background, love the choosen illustrations...

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    1. Appreciate it Phil - the painter behind these motifs is Gustaf Cederström. Sweden after the Great Northern War in many ways went through the same as France did after 1870-71, and Cederström became Sweden's "Edouard Detaille". Give his name a google-search, its wonderful images.

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    2. Done! And you were right, love these images!

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  5. A fine description and pictures of Swedish cavalry

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    1. Thank you Max, appreciate it. Now, soon its time to paint up Nylands Cavalry Regiment :0) looking forward to painting this unit, which saved many Swedish infantrymen at Poltava by their heroic and suicidal charge.

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  6. Splendid painting on the Cavalry figures Soren, and great read. I new Hitler and Napoleon tried to topple Russia, but I was not aware Sweden tried it to! Great lesson from history there, don't invade Russia!!!

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    1. Thanks Chris, yep - the Swedes tried it first and fail miserably. But, Boney didn't bother to read his Voltaire apparently :0)

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  7. They look stunning, that blue is amazing!

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    1. Thanks Michael, it was a bit of a gamble, so happy you liked the result!

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  8. Sensational painting, Soren! Your brush makes these figures come to life. The blue on the coats really pops off my screen. Your horses are unbelievably well executed.

    Interesting history too!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, really appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed the history on the GNW as well. More to come on this subject in 2015!

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  9. suburb paint brush work on the figures also great basing...well done Soren!

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    1. Phil, your words are much appreciated! Thanks - and, the summer basing with greener grass and flowers is something new, happy you liked the outcome :0)

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  10. Fantastic painting Søren, you keep on churning out great miniatures at an impressive rate.

    I'd really like to join you guys on this project but unfortunately I'm not sure I have the time right now.

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    1. Well, the painting table is clearing up actually, which is nice as I'm planning ahead for new projects in 2015. Thanks for the support, and I hope you'll get a chance to join in for a GNW game at some point!

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  11. Replies
    1. Thanks Stephen - Can't live in Stockholm, be a wargamer, and NOT do the GNW, right?

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    2. Too true - and not only Stockholm, he says looking across at the pile of Ebor Kickstarter lead ;-)

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  12. Fabulous! The blue is striking if a bit unfamiliar to someone like me knowing little to nothing about swedish or even northern military gear at this time. I always imagined the swedish all wearing blue and yellow. Thank you also for a little insight into a part of history I don't know much about yet. Before I forget: those horses are splendid. I always struggle with painting them for a bit. So I'd definitely enjoy a little tutorial if you'd like.

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    1. Thanks M, and you're right! Most Swedish units had a dark blue coat with yellow facings and socks. But, there were a few units sticking out, and this blue certainly helps these chaps to stick out. It should probably be a bit more dull, due to campaigning and weather, but then again, I wanted to really make them pop on the table against the rest of the dark blue lot. Horse-tutorial; you got. Will do something after Christmas :0) Thanks for your support!

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  13. Very impressive work Sören !!!

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  14. I've just painted my first Warfare Miniatures Swedes and your blog inspires me to elevate the GNW to a go project in 2015.

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