White Mountain and Wimpfen with Dominion of Pike and Shot

 As I'm on a bit of a "Dominion of..." spree, I spent some time looking at various historical ECW and TYW scenarios to try with Domination of Pike and Shot, and I realised that it would be easier to just buy the Dominion of Pike and Shot scenario pack (it is only a couple of quid) as someone else has already done the hard work!

After my previous brief foray with DoPS I wanted to play some more games to see if my initial impressions were correct, and I just really enjoy fighting historical battles instead of hypothetical DBA style army list matchups. There is lengthy correspondance in the comments on the previous games  about some of the matchups, but I'd only played a couple of games at that point. https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2025/04/dominion-of-pike-and-shot.html

The Thirty Years War is something I've been interested in for a long time, since studying it at school for A Level and at University in the context of military science. I've struggled to game it satisfactorily though, it is just so complicated with a bewildering variety of unit types and interactions which change over the decades, a prime example of Micheal Howards 'Revolution in military affairs'.

To get going I picked the two earliest TYW scenarios.

First up was White Mountain in 1620, the culminating action of the Bohemian Revolt, which kicked the whole sorry war off. The battle was fought outside Prague between the Hapsburgs and Catholic League against the Bohemian Confederation.

Both sides have a fair number of units with the Holy Roman Empire having a couple of better units. Empire at the top, L-R they have armoured cuirassiers for which I used Gendarmes, armoured musketeers (w. pikes) which I modelled as a Tercio and Reiters (caracole pistol cavalry) for which I just used my WSS British heavy cavalry (!). In reserve are some normal musketeers (a couple of bases of pike/shot) and another unit of Reiters. These guys are all Irregular 2mm.

The Protestants have got two units of Reiters in the front line (more WSS cavalry) and a unit of musketeers (w. pikes).  In reserve they have got mounted arquebusiers (I used WSS mounted dragoons) and two pike armed militia for which I used a couple of pike stands. These are classed as melee infantry.

Both sides get a preliminary bombardment, which prompted the left flank Reiters to charge the Imperial Cuirassiers. This is a rather uneven matchup, the Reiters need 6 to hit and duly miss, and then the Cuirassiers wipe them out in melee.

The Protestant barrage misses.

The best unit for the Protestants to put against the Cuirassiers is... their lousy militia armed with pikes. Melee foot get a +1 vs melee mounted, which cancels out the Cuirassiers armour and means they fight on an equal footing. I'm really not sure about this at all, but we will go with it.

The default activation system is that each side picks one sector fight, so we will go with that. It feels suitably clumsy with bits of the the front rolling into action, as suits the period.

Despite my misgivings, the Cuirassiers do actually managed to ride down the militia pikemen, and the militia fluff their roll. So naturally the Protestants put their other pike unit into the fray. 

The Protestants choose to attack with their Reiters, it has a better chance of success than the musketeers attacking the Tercio, but both sides miss.

The following round the fresh militia duly rout the Imperial cuirassiers, so the Catholics put their reserve Reiters in against them. Mounted missile troops get a bonus against melee infantry (like the Ancient set) . The other cavalry battle is indecisive. 

The following round, both Imperial Reiters win - defeating the militia and the Protestant Reiters. The last reserve are the carbineers, who face off one unit of Reiters.

The Protestants rally one of the militia units (only allowed once per game) and put it in the gap. I like the rally option, and it is a good alternative to the 're roll' I introduced for Alexander the Brief. 

The Tercio rolls forward and defeats the Protestant musketeers. The Protestants don't have any reserves and have used up their rallies. In a shock development, the militia pikemen defeat the Imperial Reiters, so the reserve musketeers are committed. The Imperial Army is suddenly looking a bit thin on the ground, and they fail to rally one of their Reiters.

But the Tercio has opened up the centre, and uses its outflanking bonus to wipe out the militia pikes. The carbineers miss and the Bohemians are defeated, as in real life.

That was very entertaining, and felt quite 'Thirty Years War'. The only jarring bit for me was the pikemen being quite so good against cavalry, perhaps if they hadn't been described as 'militia'. I understand the design intent of making all the units relatively equal in combat power in the standard game, so perhaps I should adopt Phil Sabins trick of giving poor quality units more bases - it is what I did for the Persians in Alexander the Brief. It makes more sense in my head then. 

However, riding to the rescue comes 'Dominion of Frederick the Great', which introduces the "unreliable" attribute, to be applied to Hussars, Grenzers etc but would be perfect for those pesky protestant pike militia. Having some 'unreliable' pike bases would be an obvious excellent solution to my conundrum. 

Alan over on 'The Stronghold Revisited' had made a couple of suggestions for this period, and I thought I'd try the battle again using those.

Same setup as before, but using Alans modifications. These are mainly that mixed units of Pike and Shot are still classed as Missile or Melee depending on the preponderance of weapons, BUT have enough muskets or pikes to negate the troop type specific bonuses. This is similar to PH, SH and MX units in Twilight of Divine Right.

This effectively means that missile infantry lose their bonus vs missile mounted, missile mounted lose it vs melee infantry, melee infantry lose it vs melee mounted and melee mounted lose it vs missile infantry. The bonuses still apply if the units are 'pure' eg all Pike/sword, all musket or whatever. The unit quality mods still apply.

This changes the Imperial forces to two MH missile units, one armoured and the Bohemians to one MH missile and two PH melee units. I guess there is a case for doing the militia as pure pike, PP, but I didn't.

Righto, to arms! Both sides barrages missed, but the first round of combat was bloody. The Imperial Cuirassiers defeated the opposing Reiters, but on the other flank the Bohemian Reiters defeated the Imperials.

The Imperials committed another wave of Reiters, while the Bohemians put their militia pikes in against the Cuirassiers. They don't get their +1 any more, but they still hit on 4+ in melee (-1 for the Cuirassiers armour). The Imperial Reiters were defeated again so in went the reserve musketeers. The Bohemians are doing quite well this time.

This turn is a bloodbath, the Imperials rout both the Bohemian Reiters and one of the Pike units, but the Reiters mutually annihilate the Imperial musketeers.  The Bohemians commit their last reserves, but the Imperials have nothing left.

Fortunately the Imperials rally one of their Reiters (I need a missile unit against the Pikes - at least it fires first).

The militia send the rallied Reiters packing however, but not before the Tercio routs the Bohemian centre.

The Bohemians fail to rally a unit, and with their centre wide open, it is rapidly game over due to out flanking. 

That game was fine too, the modifications to the unit advantages worked OK, but I struggled to keep remembering them. If I was going to use them permanently, I'd have to do a new QRS. The main issue is that it makes most of the units very 'vanilla', as most infantry from 1600 onwards are going to be mixed pike and shot, apart from commanded shot, dragoons, clubmen and the like. 

I thought I'd try another battle and see how I got on with that. The next one chronologically in the scenario book is Wimpfen in 1622. Tillys Catholic League army was reinforced with some Spanish troops and attacked a Protestant army under the Prince (?) of Baden.

This one is interesting as the Protestants are in a fortified position. Their left flank has units dug into woods, while the centre is protected by war wagons! This gives Baden, L-R, armoured musketeers, armoured elite musketeers (!) and then armoured cuirassiers on the right with some Reiters in reserve. I  put the musketeers figures on the left behind some revetments and the ones in the centre behind some wagons as a reminder of their status, and added a light artillery stand to remind me they were elite.

Tilly had armoured cuirassiers (opposite the redoubt), armoured musketeers (the Tercio opposite the wagons) with musketeers and artillery in reserve.

The bombardment was ineffective. I completely forgot Alans suggestion about allowing a +1 if the firing side had an artillery unit, although it wouldn't have made any difference.

In a bit of a catastrophe, Tilly ordered the cuirassiers to charge the redoubts and the musketeers duly rolled a '6' and gunned them down (the only score which would have worked). That is the outcome I would have expected, but actually the odds are with the cuirassier who win the melee on a 4+ if they weather the defensive fire. Tilly moves up his reserve artillery who get a bonus vs armoured infantry. 

Next round the Imperial artillery routs the dug in infantry, and Baden commits his reserve Reiters. In the centre the dug in musketeers rout the Tercio - they have the advantage here as both sides are armoured but the entrenched musketeers are elite as well. War wagons, the weapon of the future! The reserve musketeers fill the gap.

Next round the Baden Reiters manage to overrun the Imperial artillery, but Tilly manages to rally the cuirassiers (needing 5+) to plug the gap.

In the next round, the revived Cuirassier easily rout the Baden Reiters. Once again the strong Baden centre routs the Imperial infantry. Tilly hasn't got any reserves left. Baden fails to rally a unit so now his left flank is turned.

With predictable results as the Imperial Cuirassier ride down the Baden line and finally overrun the war wagons. That was good fun, the entrenched units presented a real challenge for the Imperials and outrageous fortune played her hand a number of times. I really like the rally rule, it adds another element of tension to the game and I'm beginning to appreciate the 'each side activates one sector' command mechanism more for this period. 

OK, time to go again, this time with Alans modifications, so all the infantry will be treated as MH musket heavy mixed.

Same setup as before, but with Alans mods. I completely forgot about +1 to the barrage for the side with artillery again, but it didn't matter as Tilly rolled a 6! The Imperials had targetted the War Wagons, and just like real life, scored a critical hit, forcing the infantry back. They took their fortifications with them, but hey, that is just one of those things. The gap was filled with the Baden Reiters. Imagine it being some sort of disorder caused by the barrage and then cavalry ride out to screen the defences. 

The Baden barrage missed.

After all that excitement, Tillys Tercio just blew away the Baden Reiters and the Protestants restored their position by moving the War Wagons back. I really like the bombardment mechanism, particularly the way horse and foot respond differently to adverse results. 

Inevitably the entrenched infantry routed the tercio, which then let Tilly wheel up his Grand Battery to face the War Wagons in the centre.

The Imperial gunners made no mistakes and blew the wagons to pieces, but Baden rallied his Reiters and plugged the gap. Over on the right, the Cuirassier (finally) managed to rout the Imperial Reiters. Tilly put his reserve musketeers into line.

In a brilliant display of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, firstly the Imperial Cuirassiers overran the entrenched Baden musketeers, and then the Baden Cuirassier were shot down by the Imperial musketeers. Baden failed to rally anyone, so a decisive victory to Tilly!

Again, that was a really good game. Hilariously the outcomes were exactly the same as if I hadn't bothered with the 'mixed' unit statuses at all, although it did make the Cuirassier attack on the fortified woods a slightly less winning proposition as without the melee cav vs missile infantry bonus, they are only hitting on 5+, and no effect becomes the most likely outcome. 

As I said in the commentary, I really like the preliminary bombardment and rally rules, and I've grown to appreciate the recommended activation system. I'm very grateful for the canned battle scenarios too, I've spent years trying to figure out a workable OB for 'White Mountain' as the mish mash of units, unit types and their actual deployment are very complex. It is a such a crucial engagement in the entire conflict, as a Protestant victory would have changed everything. The 'Twilight of Divine Right' scenario for the same battle just reads like a long list of gobbledygook.

I'm  very much in two minds about whether to stick with Alans modifications for TYW battles. I'm still unhappy with the bonus in the RAW that melee cavalry get vs 'missile' infantry ie musket armed infantry supported by pikes, but given the transitional nature of the conflict, it may be better to go with the rules as written and reflect advances in firepower with individual unit ratings eg Swedish infantry are generally shown as 'Elite' in the scenarios. 

Within the 'Pike and Shot' period, there are many sub periods, and I suspect the relative unit ratings change between those. Fully armoured knights are a good idea in 1500, but against a bunch of guys with muskets in 1640, completely pointless. I'm also thinking that the English Civil War is a very different war, militarily speaking, than the Thirty Years War. Given the dice dependence of the results, it probably doesn't make much difference in the end, but I suspect I need to try some more battles.  Isn't life a chore?