The war beginnings
In 1586, the king of Poland, Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory has died – in the spirit of the Polish-Lithuanian state, all nobility regardless of status and wealth, should now elect a new king in the fields near Warsaw. During the election of 1587, there were four rival parties, each having their own candidate: Archduke Maximilian III of Habsburg, Ivan IV the Terrible's son, Fyodor, and Prince Sigismund Vasa of Sweden (son of the Swedish king). There was also a fourth party demanding „King Piast” from among many „noble brothers”, but the nobility, remembering the previous civil war, decided to choose Sigismund (who also had Jagiellonian ancestry on his mothers side). When ascending the throne, every king had to sign the Henryk Articles (confirming permanent noble privileges and rights) and the pacta conventa (the monarch's personal election promises). First of all, Sigismund III promised to form a Swedish-Polish alliance, cancel debts, build a Baltic fleet and join Estonia into the Commonwealth. This last promise, combined with Sigismund's domestic policy and the fact that he was a devout Catholic, would not appeal to the Protestant estates of Sweden. The opposition in Sweden (when he also became the Swedish king in 1592) quickly gathered around his opponent, Prince Charles of Södermanland, who provoked an open rebellion against his nephew (Sigismund). The armed expedition of Sigismund III in 1598 to defeat the rebels failed, and a year later the Swedish Riksdag dethroned the rightful king and proclaimed Charles IX as king. This gave rise to long-term dynastic wars between Poland and Sweden, which ultimately were one of the many reasons for the decline of the power of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
Gustav II Adolf Zygmunt III Vasa
Initially, the main theater of war was Livonia - today's territory of Latvia and Estonia, along with the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and northern Lithuania. The Swedes invaded the coast and quickly overtook many castles and towns. However, Charles IX was defeated at the Battle of Kircholm in 1605, thanks to which Poland managed to push back the Swedish invaders. Military operations became more defensive in nature, mainly due to other wars being waged by Poland and Sweden at the time. Until the time when Charles's son, Gustav II Adolf, took power in Sweden and reformed the Swedish state and more importantly, the army. Over time, he occupied Livonia with Riga and strongly fortified the towns that the Polish-Lithuanian army, deprived of good infantry and artillery, could not retake. Encouraged by Poland's ongoing war with the Ottoman Empire and numerous Tatar invasions, which tied up the professional crown army in the south, he decided to create a second front - in Royal Prussia and force Poland to accept peace by occupying the largest city of the Commonwealth - Gdańsk. It was Poland's gateway to the west - all towns, villages and granges floated grain, wood and other goods down the rivers, which then was shipped to the Netherlands, England, Holy Roman Empire or France. In 1626, the Swedish army of over 12,000 soldiers led by Gustav II Adolf landed in Prussia, taking over the ports and the seafront. The Sejm quickly passed taxes, thanks to which the king could gather an army of over 14,000 men and march to Gdańsk, not wanting to allow the city to be besieged. Both armies met opposite each other - near the small town of Gniew, located several kilometers from Gdańsk. The winner of this battle, the battle of the two Vasas, could decide on a quick end to the exhausting war that has been going on for over 20 years...
Battle
Phase I
The Poles took up positions in Ciepłe and formed a battle line, awaiting the enemy. The Swedes, trying to bypass the Polish army, tried to cross the flood embankment on the right flank of the crown troops, but were stopped by a charge of Polish cavalry. Gustav II Adolf, tried to give the infantry time to form an array, by sacrifice of his cavalry, thanks to which the Polish cavalry could be repelled. However, the Swedish infantry moving forward, was unable to capture fortifications built by the Poles next to the river. Moreover they have suffered losses from flanking fire of the Polish infantry on the nearby hill, which forced the Swdes to retreat to their original positions.
Phase II
Now the battle took on a more defensive character - after unsuccessful charges by the Polish cavalry, which was unable to form up properly due to difficoult terrain, the morale of the Commonwealth army was weakening. Both sides dug in and strengthened their positions - the Swedes in Gronowo and the Poles on three hills between the village and the Polish camp. Preparations lasted a whole week, with no major actions except a few skirmishes. The Poles brought artillery into the hills and dug fortifications to protect them. The Swedes decided to attack the largest, middle hill, which was not properly prepared from the northern side due to its steepness. The Protestant infantry took advantage of this and, under the cover of bushes, thickets and tall grass, approached the hill unnoticed. A fight broke out between them and the Polish foreign-style infantry was pushed back. However, a bold charge of the Winged Hussars tried to save the situation, which defeated the first line of the Swedes, but was stopped by the fire of the second line. The Polish-Hungarian infantry sent did not regain the hill, where the Swedes now began to dig in and fortify themselves, under constant fire from Polish artillery and light infantry.
Phase III
The Swedes send more troops to the middle hill, building ramparts, palisades and Cheval de frise. Now the Swedes aimed the captured Polish cannons at their previous owners and send the infantry to capture neighbouring hills. All this time, Polish infantry and artillery were shelling the Swedes which staunchly held their ground and launched several attacks on their positions. Unfortunately, none of the attacks succeeded and Sigismund III, seeing that the Swedes did not want to stand in the open, retreated to the neighboring Czarlin, which stands on the road to Gdańsk.
Sign ups
Polish-lithuan Commonwealth:
[Taken] Kings unit - (1 Commander, 1 bannerman, 3 cossack guards)
[Taken] Banner of crown hussars (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 hussars)
[Taken] Banner of private hussars (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 hussars)
[Taken] Lisowczycy band (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 Light Cavalryman)
[Taken] Kings company of polsih - hungarian infantry (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 13 Hajduks)
[Taken] Private company of polsih - hungarian infantry (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 13 Hajduks)
[Taken] Regiment of foreign infantry model (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 10 foreign musketeers, 8 foreign pikemen)
[Taken] Company of Lithuanian dragoons (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 dragoons)
[Free] Polish artillery (5 engenieers) – you must do singular free agent sign ups that have to be accepted by organisation.
Kingdom of Sweden:
[Taken] Kings unit (1 Commander, 1 bannerman, 3 leib-guard)
[Taken] Squadron of mercernary cuirassiers (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 13 mercernary reiters)
[Taken] Squadron of finnish Hakkapelitia (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 13 national reiters)
[Taken] Regiment of swedish infantry (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 musketeers, 5 pikemen)
[Taken] Regiment of scottish infantry (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 10 mercernary muskeeters, 8 mercernary pikemen)
[Taken] Regiment of german infantry (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 mercernary musketeers, 5 mercernary pikemen)
[Taken] Company of kings dragoons (1 officer, 1 bannerman, 8 dragoons)
[Free] Swedish artillery (2 engenieers) – you must do singular free agent sign ups that have to be accepted by organisation.
Reserve (in case one clan couldnt make it/ to fill lacking numbers)
[Free] Infantry regiment (15-20 pike and shot infantry) - leader will get password 5 minutes after estimated hour to fill empty slots
Sign ups template:
Clans:
1. Name of the regiment
2. What unit you want to take in the event
3. Leader’s contact (steam)
4. Banner in game
ARTILLERISTS:
1. Name
2. Contact (Steam)
Regulations:
Basic Info
- You cannot commune or attack by yourself (so called "rambo")
- Trolling (for example whole regiment taking engineer classes), teamkilling, glitching or griefing is not allowed
Admin's commands:
- “All rush"- everyone have to left their positions (in line or freely) and have to rush enemies. This time you can't reload your firearms, but if you have reloaded you can shoot in line (if you shoot in charge in open field from muskets it will be treat as a "Fire in charge"). If you don't charge after this command admin will slay you.
- "Rambo" - a simply person who moving without any line or regiment (forbidden and punished with slay)
- "Fic" - (fire in charge), shooting without formation in open field is forbidden (punished with slay)
Moving:
Infantry:
- on an open field, move and shoot in formation (such as line, double line etc.)
- in a forest, hill or camp environment, you can use barricades and run freely
- do not Fire in Charge while being at open field (exception: officers and standard bearers)
- if you are 2-3 guy left from regiment you have to join another line or it will be treated like a RAMBO
- dragoons clans can take horses and use the ONLY as transport – after getting close to enemy they must dismount and fight as infantry
Cavalry:
- travel in formation if the following troop is: reiter, hussar, cossack style cavalrymen)
- travel without a strict formation if the following troop is: light Polish cavalry
- dismounted cavalry can use firearms
- if a horseman loses a horse and is unable to find another one, is obliged to join any infantry regiment
- dragoons are DISALLOWED to charge while being on horseback. They still apply as an infantry.
Artillery:
- Is not obliged to travel in formation
- Can Fire in Charge
- Uses artillery pieces and can act behind own lines freely (but if moving to battlefield have to “find” ally unit)
- AT FIRST PHASE OF BATTLE ARTILLERY COULD START SHOOTING ONLY AFTER ADMIN ALLOW IT
Informations
Date: 03.12.2023 (Sunday)
Start of the event: 19.00 (central european time CET)
Event estimated lenght: 1,5 hour - 2 hours
Arrival of the officers and disscusion of battle plans - 40 mins before the event
At the time of the event all commanders are obligated to stay muted on one team speak channel, where one of the commanders will tell orders.
If you have any questions, please contact me:
Steam Community :: Adamek321
ːmhpatchieː Kiedyś coś tutaj było, ale to usunąłem. ːmhpatchieː Teraz jest to - its all i want https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7-rKEoeRuc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN1KX6vSKM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_utLtIF5R0
Last edited:
