Finnish War 1808: Battle of Ruona 1.9.1808, Battlefield visit and refight

Next up on our series of Finnish War 1808 games is the Battle of Ruona. The summer attack of the Swedish army has lost its steam and now the Russians are advancing again. At Ruona, the Swedish army of 6400 faced a Russian force of approximately 9000 troops. I'm sure you can find better accounts of the battle elsewhere, but in a nutshell: The Swedish army had a good defensive position overlooking a bridge between Kuortane and Ruona. They had also built some defensive works along the line north of that position. The Russians attempted to outflank the Swedish army from the north but were repulsed. Parts of the Swedish army counterattacked and some fierce fighting took place at the Heroja farm. Night fell and both armies retreated from the field. The Russians pursued the Swedish army and fought another battle close by in Salmi the next day. After this battle the war started to seem lost for the kingdom of Sweden and the army began to lose heart.

 

For this game we went to the location of the battle itself. I visited there a year ago to explore the place myself and decided lure some friends to play a game there this year. The field at Ruona is remarkably well preserved and most of the surroundings are pretty much the way they were 200 years ago. For our game we rented a local closed down school building which also housed a museum room dedicated to the battle. There we could set up our table, have some barbeque and beer and warm up the sauna for post-game discussions of military wisdom.

First we went to tour the battlefield with maps in hand. I'll include some of the pictures here for you, as well as some drone photos I took last year. I had problems with my cell phone so I couldn't fly my drone this year but the aerial photos are fresh enough.

The Ruona bridge and Swedish gun positions

 

 

 

 

Takala farm and surrounding fields

 

 

The position of the Savolax Brigade on the northern flank

 

Heroja farm and the Russian side of the field

Walking the battlefield we made many observations on how the terrain had influenced the decisions made on the day. The Swedish army, for example, must have been stretched very, very thin because the line was about 3 kilometers long and was held with only 6000 men. The visibility over the fields was good and it was unlikely that any great manoeuvers could go unnoticed. The area around Ruona bridge was very marshy and crossing the 600 meter wooden bridge under artillery fire and musketry would have been suicide for either army.

The game

After the battlefield tour and a break, we played the game itself. I'll let the picture commentary do the talking, but the big picture was that the Russians attempted to break through the northern flank of the Swedish army with a much larger force than they did historically. For a moment it looked like they would indeed break the Savonians guarding the road to Salmi, but the attack faltered to musket and grapeshot. In General de Brigade (the rules we use) units suffering losses get pinned down pretty easily and have a hard time getting moving again, and this worked against the attackers. The Russians managed to turn the Savonian line on the northernmost end, but the day came to a close and the road to Salmi remained in Savonian hands, so we judged the Russians having failed. Whilst the main battle was underway in the north, the men of the Åbo regiment attempted to move on Heroja farm to cut off the attackers from the main army, but having ample reserves, the Russians could easily reinforce that section and the Åbo men called off the attack, turning north instead. The Russians withdrew to their side of the field and the battle ended.

In our games, we estimate that about a third of the losses in the miniature game represent actual dead and wounded men. In this game, the Russians lost 486 men, with Yankovich wounded. The Swedish army lost 136 men, four guns were destroyed and Cedergren wounded. With these numbers, the day had been less bloody than historically, but the end result would be the same. The Swedish position on the extended line would be untenable so they'd have to retreat to Salmi as they did historically. The Russians would no doubt remain on the field as they would be under no illusion of a Swedish counterattack.

All in all, the day was a great success and the battlefield visit enriched the game greatly. Now our campaign will move on to the Autumn of 1808 and towards the melancholy end of the war.

Game details:

Figures by Heroics and Ros 6mm

Rules: General de Brigade by David Brown

Scenario combined from GemiGaBok and Sword and Saber publishing's Finnish war scenarios.

Battle of Viirre 16.4.1808

Background

The Russians marched into Finland organized into three divisions on the 21st of February, 1808. There were three main lines of attack into Finland. The Russian 17th division would march along the coastline and secure Southern Finland, the 21st division would cut through Finland, securing the Häme (Tavastehus) province and the city of Tampere before heading north towards Vaasa and ultimately Oulu. The 5th division would march through the Savonian province, being thus able to threaten the rear of any Finnish forces in western Finland. I think a map would be in order at this point but I couldn't find one that I would be confident copying here. Google it ;)

The Finnish forces were too few and too scattered to oppose the Russians effectively so the plan was for the army to retreat north to Oulu to regroup and wait for reinforcements from Sweden. The army was organized into four brigades and it was to fight only delaying actions on the way north and this would be the case throughout the spring. The Russian fifth division fought skirmishes against the Savolax Brigade (we've already played the battle of Leppävirta) and there were several minor skirmishes in western Finland.

Battle

On the 16th of April, the Finns from Häme and Uusimaa (Nyland) regiments fought the Russians on two occasions about one hundred kilometers south of Oulu. First a fighting withdraval at Yppäri and then at Viirre. The second battle is the topic of our refight.

Battle of Viirre

Historically, the Russian vanguard, led by the very able Russian cavalry commander Jakov Kulnev,  was spread out pretty thin already and had already fought an engagement that day. The Häme and Uusimaa regiments took position on a ridge overlooking a frozen riverbank, determined to stop them. Another brigade would attempt to flank the Russian by marching south on the frozen sea. The Finns fought successfully and the battle could have become the first proper victory in the war for the Finns. Alas, the Swedish CinC, Klingspor was adamant on keeping to his plan and ordered the Finns commanded by Gripenberg to retreat.

Refight

The scenario is from the "1808 The Last Summer" scenario book by Sword and Sabre publishing, the rules are General De Brigade 2nd ed. and the figures are 6mm Heroics and Ros. Commentary in the pictures.

In the end, the Finns lost about 400 men with the Häme Rustholli battalion taking the worst beating. The Russians lost only 200 men but were forced back and counted general Kulnev among the dead. If we assume that maybe a third of GdB losses are actual killed an wounded men, the result was pretty close to history.

Conclusions

We gave large skirmishing units too good bonuses for their formation in this game, causing the Russians to be able to shoot at the Finns with impunity. The full skirmish modifiers should apply only to small, rather insubstantial skirmish units, not to whole battalions using jäger tactics. Skirmishing was widespread in the Finnish war and it was common for whole battles to take place between whole regiments in skirmish order. This is why we have to tone down the benefits a bit for the next game.

All in all, this was quite a straightforward game and took us maybe two hours to play.

Russo-Swedish War 1808: Battle of Leppävirta re-refight

The custom table I built for the Leppävirta game we played last summer was still intact in my workshop (check it out if you want to make any sense of this game) so we took it for another spin. We used General de Brigade rules again but changed the scenario a bit. Instead of the troops being deployed historically at the beginning of the scenario we recorded their marching order on paper and had them march on the table and essentially bump into each other. Having a meeting engagement this close to each other is a stretch of imagination as both sides have plenty of dragoons to give advance warning that the enemy is near, but it makes for a fun scenario.

The frozen lake near Leppävirta sees battle once more! Dragoons on both sides have deployed to screen the marching columns but it will be a hasty deployment for the rest.

The Savolax brigade has put it's artillery to the front of the column. It's risky but will prove important.

The Russians have an equivalent number of troops. Their artillery is at the back.

The Savonian artillery deploys quickly and opens fire on the Russian cavalry.

Savonian Jägers move to the right flank and skirmish with their Russian counterparts.

Cossacks more around the Savonian left. Any baggage in the rear is in serious trouble!

The Savonians have managed to deploy more quickly and achieve local superiority in firepower on their right. Artillery, infantry and jägers make it hard for the Russians to form up for their attack.

The Russians attempt an attack on the Savonian line but face too much fire so they retreat. The Savonians swing around the right, routing the Russian jägers in the forest and now threaten the Russian artillery which hasn't been able to deploy effectively. We call the game at this point as the Savonians have suffered only minor casualties.

The jägers push towards the Russian battery

The game was pretty much decided by the artillery. The Savonian artillery was on the front of the column and was able to deploy quickly and start firing right away. The infantry then moved to protect the battery while the dragoons screened the manoeuver. The Russian artillery was at the rear and wasn't able to deploy with a good line of fire during the whole game. The rest was simple math as the deployed battery gave the Savolax brigade more firepower. The Savonians could just wait and keep up their fire as the Russians were forced to charge as they couldn't match the Savonians at long range. It didn't end up well for the Russians.

I'm not sure if putting the artillery up front was gamey and unhistorical of me, but it proved decisive!

Battle of Leppävirta 11.march 1808

  The Russians crossed the eastern border of the Kingdom of Sweden on the 21st of February, 1808. The winter was harsh and attacking in the winter was quite unorthodox, but this gave the Russians two advantages. Firstly, the Swedes were denied quick reinforcements because the sea was frozen and any supporting troops would have to march into Finland by land. This would make it easier to capture the strategic fortress of Viapori. Secondly, the winter conditions would actually make it easier to move armies in eastern Finland (Savolax region). The road network there was really poor, but during the winter roads were maintained on the ice of the extensive network of lakes in the region, and these were much easier to march on.

Johan Adam Cronstedt

The Russians were in Savolax in no time, and threatened the base of the Savolax brigade stationed in Mikkeli. Johan Adam Cronstedt, the commander of the brigade had had sufficient time to muster his forces. He had about 3500 men at his disposal and faced Tutskov who had roughly twice as many. Cronstedt couldn't cover all the Russian roads leading to Savolax from Mikkeli and decided to retreat. Meanwhile the main army in western Finland was also retreating before the Russian army as there was a great danger of having their supply lines cut if Cronstedt couldn't hold back the Russians. It was decided that the whole army would retreat to Oulu and wait for reinforcements, leaving Finland in Russian hands in the meanwhile.

The map of the battle.

On March 11th, the Savolax Brigade was caught by the Russian vanguard at Leppävirta and the brigade was forced to deploy on the ice of the Unnukka bay close to Leppävirta. The Russians advanced boldly with 1600 men on the ice which lead them to a difficult situation as the Swedish jaegers held the shores of the bay, threatening Russian flanks. The Russian vanguard was outnumbered and the Swedish held a good position, but Cronstedt did not want to tie his brigade in a battle. The skirmish lasted for three hours with some artillery fire and some fighting between the jaegers. One of the infantry half-battalions was attempting a manoeuver into the Russian rear but Cronstedt recalled them. Cronstedt lost only 9 men while the Russian casualties are unknown but similarly minor.

Prior to the game in this article we visited the site of the battle as it's close to my home. It's July so there's no ice or snow even if it is the coldest summer in decades here. Still, viewing the battlefield gave us some insight into the scale of the battle and the position the troops were in:

The woods at the site of the jaeger skirmish

Can't draw a very effective LOS here :)

The pastor of the infantry regiment, Carl Johan Holm complains in his memoirs that the brigade was in a good position to whip the Russians and that Cronstedt had been too timid to take advantage of this situation. This leads to our refight as we're about to see if Holm was right!

The portion of the map our 6x4 table covers. One centimeter on the table equals about ten meters.

Using our freshly painted 6mm armies and General de Brigade for the rules, we refought Leppävirta. We started off from the positions in which the armies had stood in, and committed them into a battle. We used the scenario designed by GeMiGaBok as a basis. The Swedish side has two half-battalions of line infantry, two battalions of jaegers, two squadrons of dragoons and a battery of 6-pounder guns. The Russians have two battalions of line infantry, one battalion of jaegers, a battery of guns and two units of hussars and cossacks each. The Swedes have a slight advantage in numbers and a good position.

Commentary is embedded in the images: 

So the Savolax Brigade was victorious, inflicting three or four times as many casualties to their enemy than which they received! Our meticulously realistic military simulation clearly proves that had the Savonians attacked that day, they would have been victorious. There is just one big BUT. This was just the Russian VANGUARD. Cronstedt was facing an army twice as big as his brigade. Cronstedt was guarding the backdoor route into Oulu right behind the Swedish main army. If he would have defeated the Russians at Leppävirta there would have been more of them and the Savolax brigade did not have positions where they could stop the Russians entirely. If the brigade would become worn in battle or lose, they could not protect the Swedish rear effectively, simple as that. It shows us that people such as Holm are quick to complain about the tactical situation while ignoring the strategic situation. Cronstedt was right to play it safe in order to fulfill his strategic goals.

As for the the game, as you can see, jaegers are prominent and important in the Finnish War because the terrain is so congested and the forces small. The rules we use therefore need good skirmishing rules and General de Brigade seems to fit the bill, even if the system is showing it's age with all the charts and the modifiers. A lot of the Napoleonic rules out there are focused on a grander scale and leave skirmishing as a footnote. I also like the orders system in GdB.

I don't have closeups on the models I painted for you yet. I hoped to do this the other way around, presenting the game after showing off the new models, but I want to finish two more stands of Savonian infantry before photographing the brigade. As for gaming, I think we will play the battles of Siikajoki and Revolax next so that we have the winter of 1808 covered after that.

PS: When speaking about the Finnish war (or the Russo-Swedish war of 1808-1809) I will often refer to armies composed almost entirely of ethnic Finns as Swedish because for all intents and purposes, Finland was part of Sweden during that time and Finns fought in the Swedish army. Most of the units engaged during the war were Finns commanded by Swedish officers. The soldier would speak Finnish among themselves, but orders rang out in Swedish. I hope that helps any "outsiders" understand the nature of the army.