- What kind of a country is this anyway? – sergeant Hans Kurtnitz thought while trying to make

himself more comfortable on the saddle. His horse had difficulties in moving along the muddy road,

behind him two dozen of his soldiers rocked drowsily on their mounts. – Only mud, rain and small, dirty

villages – the reiter spat on the ground – why in the world did Herr Douglas bring us here? Oh, it’s a tough

duty and what’s worse the wineskin is empty…

A group of mercenary reiters from the regiment of field marshal Douglas slowly struggled

down the road in the midst of Courland forests. The bored soldiers thought only of returning to the warm

and cozy quarters in Mitau. For a week now the patrols from their regiment were ventured around the

city looking in vain for the traces of Courland soldiers that were not captured along with duke Kettler.

The duty was dull and safe, no resistance was met so far. However the group under the command of

sergeant Kurtnitz was not as lucky. For some time now they were watched from among the trees by

enemies invisible to the Swedish reiters. The long barrels of their muskets were turning towards the

raiders. Suddenly one of the reiters raised his eyes that up to now were vacantly staring into the muddy

road. He shouted:

- Achtu… - the warning was cut short by the salvo from among the trees that felled him and several of

his companions from the saddles. Before the Swedes were able to work out what was going on a group

of raiders charged them from a forest path. At first glance they looked exactly like the mercenaries of

sergeant Kurtnitz – mostly dressed in justacorpses and hats, several had leather buff-coats and even

breastplates. The attackers burst between the the reiters shooting their pistols and thrusting their swords.

The combat was over in a matter of minutes – only the last two Swedes, at the end of the column, managed

to turn their horses and tried to run. However several musketeers went out from among the trees and

forced the reiters to stop the horses and lay down their arms.

- Captain? – one of the Courland nobles, holding a still smoking pistol, approached the commanding

officer wearing a cuirass. He took his eyes up from the battlefield and looked at his companion:

- Yes, Georg?

- They are all dead, apart from two. We have only two lightly wounded, Erdman and Johann, but they

will be all right. We have 19 horses, weapons, ammunition and powder from the dead Swedes.

- Sehr Gut! Gather the loot and let’s move, we are to join up with the colonel’s company.

- What about the prisoners? - Georg pointed to the two disarmed reiters.

- If we let them go the peasants will get them… this will not be a merciful death – the captain nodded

his head – You know what to do.

The noble turned his horse and rode towards the musketeers guarding the prisoners. Moments later

the silence was broken by two shots…

Near Mitau,1658

Published by:WARGAMER, ul. Mehoffera 26, lok. 10, 01-131 Warszawa,

kontakt@wargamer.pl, 48 22 675 90 86

www.wargamer.pl

www.wargamer.plwww.ogniemimieczem.wargamer.pl

www.fireandsword.wargamer.plWarsaw 2012

Authors of the game: Michał Paradowski, Rafał SzwelickiHistorical descriptions: Michał ParadowskiUnit characteristics and modeling advice: Rafał SzwelickiProofreading of Polish version: Dariusz Kłonowski , Piotr PodczaskiHelp: Dorian Kulesza, Artur Świetlik

Photographs and arts: Rafał Bagiński/bigdesign.plTranslation: Maciej KapałczyńskiProofreading of English version: Michał ParadowskiIllustrations used: Europa, University of Augsburg, Theatrum Europaeum, Bd.

01 (1662), Taffel vor S 1.I

Authors

5

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia

Secularization of the Livonian Order took place according to the Treaty of Vilnius of 28 No-vember 1561. Part of their state was transformed into a Polish-Lithuanian condominium (known as Livonia), Duchies of Courland and Semigallia were created from the rest of

the land. The newly created duchy, ruled by the last Livonian Grand Master Gotthard Kettler, became the vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. On the 5th of March 1562 duke Gotthard paid homage to Zygmunt August, the king of Poland and the grand duke of Lithu-ania. King Zygmunt August made an obligation to defend Livonia (including Courland and Semigallia) from external enemies, confirmed the privileges and rights of the local nobility (mostly German-speaking), as well as ensured religious freedom. If the male line of the Ket-tler family came to an end the duchy would be included directly into the Polish Kingdom. In-itially Muscovy seemed to be the greatest threat, however since early 17th century the expan-sive policy of the Kingdom of Sweden became the largest source threats in the region. The military weakness of the Duchy, well known by the rulers of Courland, resulted in attempts to stay neutral during the wars conducted by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Often while Poland was at war with Sweden and military operations were conducted in Livonia the nearby Courland, theoretically the ally of Poland, did its best not to not to cross any of the warring parties. Despite this the forces of Courland were able to make their mark in history at the battle of Kircholm in 1605 when Courland cavalry fought in the centre of the lines of hetman Chodkiewicz. Paradoxically the nobility of Courland preferred to serve in the armies of their neighbors – mostly Swedish and Lithuanian – than in the armed forces of their own Duchy. In the years 1630-1648 a regiment of Courland cuirassiers fought with distinction in the ranks of the Swedish army, for some time it was even led by Charles X Gustav before he be-came the king. In Lithuanian army on the other hand Courland officers were usually serving in the foreign contingent formations, especially reiters.

The Duchy developed rapidly during the first half of the 17th century, mostly thanks to sea trade and boatbuilding. Courland even had its own oversea colonies: New Courland (Tobago) and three forts by the Gambia River in Africa. In 1658 the Swedish army led

by field-marshal Robert Douglas, took Courland and insidiously imprisoned the ruling duke Jakub Kettler. The Swedish occupation caused great impoverishment to the Duchy mainly due to pillaging. Further damages were added when in 1659 the Lithuanian army pushed the Swedes out of Courland in the course of siege operations and several pitched battles.

6

Army of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia 1654-1658

The levy of nobility, so called Rossdienst (German for: Mounted Service) was the main mi-litary force of the Duchy. Every landowner was obliged to answer the duke’s call to arms. In addition the ruler of the Duchy was able to call the so called Hofesfahne (German for:

Ducal Banner) that is Mounted Service from his own lands. However the levy of nobility could only be used for the defense of the Duchy and in addition the nobles were very reluctant to answer the call to arms, on top of that its combat value was very low.

As a vassal obligation to the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was to raise 300 cavalrymen. They were usually organized as a mer-cenary formation, normally 100 were raised by the duke, and the nobility of Courland and Semigallia raised 100 horsemen per every part of the Duchy.

The cavalry was of Western European pattern and were generally called “reiters”.Mercenary infantry companies were also raised for the defense of the Duchy – mainly in order to man fortresses and for service in the colonies. The duke also paid for his guards with his own money, in peacetime those forces consisted of a company of cavalry and a company of infantry. In our period of interest Jakub Kettler was the ruling duke and he saw the need to reform the military forces of the Duchy. Most of all he tried to replace the troublesome levy of nobility with mercenary infantry (paid for by the nobility), which was much more useful in defense of the Courland fortresses. The following army list includes all the units that existed in Courland in this period, we must remember however that this army did not put up a fight

8

Landhofmeister was the commander in chief of the ducal army who answered only to the duke himself. Larger contingents could also be led by a colonel (oberst) or lieutenant colonel of the dukes own gu-ard. Mercenary units were commanded by capta-

ins or rotamasters, usually men of Courland who previously served in other armies (e.g. Swedish or Lithuanian). After 1655 many officers who served in foreign contingent units of the Lithuanian army went into the service of the Duchy.

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

LANDHOFMEISTER [ ]Commander

Landhofmeister 20/+20 4 7 5 1 1 Hand weapon 0 CC Commander

Pistols 0 5 Scarce ammunition

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

MOUNTED CAPTAIN/ROTAMASTER [ ]Commander

Colonel 20/+20 4 7 5 1 1 Hand weapon 0 CC Commander

Pistols 0 5 Scarce ammunition

Commanders

1. You may use any commander from the Swedish reiters set as a captain/rotamaster. You may use a Swedish colonel from the SWE-8 or SWE-10 sets as a landhofmeister or a colonel.

Officers of the ducal guard during the ‘Deluge’:

Johann Lübeck

– rotamaster from 1658 to 1660, colonel from 1660

Jacob Jasper

– lieutenant colonel in 1659

von Nettelhorst – colonel in 1659

9

History of the formation

Courland dukes had a house guard reiter company paid for from their own purse. In case of war the unit could have been enlarged with new recruits. As a part of the vassal obligation towards the Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth reiters paid for by the Courland nobility were recruited. Two reiter ban-ners (companies) were created during the Deluge. This type of cavalry made its mark at the battle of Kircholm in1605 where it was fighting in the centre of the army of hetman Chodkiewicz, supporting the winged hussars of Wincent Wojna. Courland reiters fought bravely also at the battle of Dyament in 1609 when the army led by Chodkiewicz defeated the Swedes under general Mansfeld.

Equipment and tactics

In the second half of the 17th century mercenary reiters were probably equipped in a similar way to their Swedish, Polish and Lithuanian counterparts. Being well equipped in firearms they were able both to shoot and fight in close combat. In order to emphasize the elite nature of the ducal company we decided to grant them armor. The mercenary re-iters on the other hand had some of their characte-ristics decreased as they were mostly new recruits.

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

REITER COMPANYCavalry

Mercenary 20/+10 4 4 4 2 1 Hand weapon 0 CC Shooting while charging

Ducal 20/+10 6 5 4 2 2 Pistols 0 5 Caracole

Musketoon 1/0 10/20 reiters

reiters - pistols

Reiters

1. Use SWE:3 Armored reiters with arquebuses as the ducal re-iters. Use set SWE-4 or SWE-1 as mercenary reiters.

10

History of the formation

Military duties of the Courland nobility were regu-lated by the first legal acts of the newly established Duchy of 1561, however they took their final form in 1617 with the Formula Regiminis Act. Every lan-downer was obliged to appear at musters at the or-der of the duke. Every area of about 230 hectares was to equip one cavalryman. In case of a military threat to the state the duke had the right to call double Mounted Service to arms, so about one ca-valryman per 115 hectares. Sometimes the retinues included also infantrymen but their number was so insignificant that we decided not to include them in the rules. Mounted Service included two types of units: Lehnsfahne (German for: Vassal Banner) and Hofesfahne (Ducal Banner). The first type included levy of no-bility banners created in various districts of the Du-chy, Hofesfahne on the other hand was created in the ducal lands. The nobility was reluctant to serve and replacements were often called for, every call to arms made by the duke was challenged. When in 1654 duke Jakub proposed to recruit mercenary infantry instead of Mounted Service the idea was enthusiastically welcomed by the nobility. On the other hand the Courland nobles were also reluc-tant to pay the tax for this infantry and as a result

the duke had to finance the project from his own purse. In 1658 the Dyneburg (today Daugavpils  in Latvia)  district mustered a dragoon company in-stead of the levy of nobility with 2 dragoons per 230 hectares instead of one mounted noble.

Equipment and tactics

There is no precise information on the equipment or tactics of the Mounted Service. We can assume that that the nobility was equipped similarly to We-stern European reiters and used mostly firearms. These included pistols and long firearms (musketo-ons etc.). There was no standardization of types or even number of weapons to speak of. The wealthier nobles probably had a pair of pistols and a long fi-rearm, the poorer (including replacements) might serve only with hand weapons.

Rossdienst – levy of nobility

11

Armor was seldom used, maybe some breastpla-tes, helmets or buff coats, however most of the Rossdienst wore their everyday clothes. The hand weapons of reiters was also varied, types inclu-ded civilian rapiers, sometimes military swords or backswords or even sabers. Not much is known about the Dyneburg’s dragoons. As other dragoons of the period they were armed with long firearms (half-muskets) and served as mounted infantry.

They did not use any armor. They probably had lit-tle or no military training and their morale was also very poor, hence the low characteristics. We have no information about any uniforms being issued to them – they most probably had their own civilian clothes.

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

ROSSDIENST BANNERCavalry

Lehnsfahne 20/+10 3 4 3 2 1 Hand weapon 0 CC Insubordinate

Hofesfahne 20/+10 4 4 4 2 1 Pistols 0 5 Poor Tactical

Musketoon 1/0 10/20 Scarce ammunition

Discipline3

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

DRAGOON COMPANYDragoons

Miunted 20/+10 2 4 3 1 - Hand weapon 0 CC Dragoons

Dismounted 10 2 4 3 1 2 Hand weapon 0 CC Poor Tactical

Half-musket 3/1 10/25

dragoons

dragoons Discipline

1. Courland nobility wore Western European clothes. Use SWE-4 set for Rossdienst. For a better effect you may use some of the modeling advices described later in the text.

2. You may combine Lehnsfahne and Hofesfahne in one Squ-adron. In such case treat the whole Squadron as Lehnsfahne.

3. Only Lehnsfahne units have the Poor Tactical Discipline Spe-cial Rule.

1. Use the SWE-9 set as dragoons. For a better effect you may use some of the modeling advices described later in the text.

12

History of the formation

In early 17th century the Courland army included mainly the levy of nobility (Rossdienst). Seeing the decline off this formation duke Jakub Kettler tried to introduce reforms. In peacetime Courland had 2 or 3 companies as garrisons in fortresses, inclu-ding the duke’s foot guards company. In the face of Swedish invasion in 1654 the duke decided to re-cruit 4 mercenary infantry companies paid for by the nobility, instead of calling the levy to arms. 4 units were raised but their numerical strength was so low that they were combined into 2 full strength companies. In addition the duke enlisted several hundred infantrymen from his own purse and used them to garrison Courland fortresses. The attempt at enlisting 3000 soldiers negotiated with by duke Jakub with Danzig failed.

Equipment and tactics

The mercenary infantry enlisted by Courland was not much different from Swedish units, most pro-bably it consisted of soldiers from various Ger-man lands. What was unique in its case was that it had no pikemen – it included only musketeers. Not much is known about its level of training. It was probably standard for this type of formation, especially that it included some Thirty Years’ War veterans. We do not know if the musketeers used any obstacles but considering the availability of material and the defensive nature of the army we allowed them to have kobylice.

Formation Move Armor Morale Skill Close Combat Shooting Weapons E�ectiveness Range Special rules

INFANTRY COMPANYInfantry

Musketeers 10 2 5 4 1 2 Hand weapon 0 CC Countermarch

Musket 3/1 10/30 Salvo

Infantry

1. Use the SWE-6 set as mercenary musketeers. 2. Infantry can be equipped with kobylice (see page 181 in Ru-

lebook)

13

Special Rules

On Their Own Land:The army of Courland and Semigallia was a defensive force. Its objective was to defend the lands of the Duchy and not to venture beyond its borders. As a result all the possible battles of this army would take place in areas well known to its commanders. As a result we decided to grant it the same rule as to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces.

The Courland army has +2 additional Reconnaissance Points.

Courland Marshes and Forests:The Duchy was crisscrossed with rivers, full of pits, flooded areas and dense forests. Such terrain made it difficult to conduct offensive operations and reconnaissance.

When comparing Reconnaissance Points (see the Rulebook: page 131 point H.) roll a D10. De-duct the rolled value from enemy’s Reconnaissance Points.

Modus Defensionis:The Courland army was used to defend the Duchy from an attack and did not conduct any offensive actions, apart from attempts to regain control of lost territories.The Courland army always defends and will attack only as a last resort:

• If the Courland player is the Weaker Player then roll two dice instead of a normal roll: 1-4 Attack on a village 5-8 Capture the crossing 9 Forage 0 Ambush• If the Courland player is the Stronger Player then roll two dice instead of a normal roll: 1-6 Attack on a village 7-8 Forage 9-0 Ambush

In case of a draw or none of the scenarios can be chosen play the Attack on a village scenario (instead of Patrol). The village is defended by the Weaker Player and in case of a draw by the Courland player. In such case he may deploy 1 free infantry company in the village.

In addition if you play the army as a Skirmish Force you may equip up to half of your infantry companies with kobylice (it is an exception of rules that do not allow to take kobylice at this level of the game).

PLAYING WITH THE COURLAND ARMY

The army of Courland can be used in two ways. You can field it as a Skirmish Force for the period 1654-60 at the Skirmish Level. If so do not use the Motivation level and use all the Special Rules. You may also use the Courland forces as an ally regiment in theoretical struggle between Lithu-ania and Sweden during the Deluge. In such situation do not use the army Special Rules. You may use the force as one of the additional regiments in the Lithuanian Division for the period 1658-60. Treat the regiment as Allies.

14

ARMY OF COURLAND 1654-58

+1 FSP for a Landhofmeister instead of +1 FSP for a Captain #

NO

TE

S:

40%

Special rules: On Their Own Land, Courland Marshes and Forests,

Modus Defensionis

15

Courlanders, or at least noblemen and town-smen, dressed in Western (German) style so it’s very easy to field this army using Swedish miniatures: reiters, musketeers and drago-ons. We prepared this short guide for those of you that are looking for some additional information or would like to have their army to stand out on the battlefield.

InfantryThe easiest way is to use ‘new type’ infan-try from SWE-6 set. As with reiters, colors of their clothes should be mixed. One or two companies were in the service of Courland for a longer time, so you can try to paint them in a more uniformed way, while sol-diers of the two newly enlisted companies were probably still using their civilian clo-thes. Because of the harsh climate some of the soldiers might have had fur hats – see conversions guide below.

DragoonsEasy choice, just use SWE-9 set. As they’re levied from peasants you should use clothes of various colors.

RossdienstCourland levy of nobility is much more chal-lenging and interesting. Of course we used reiters (SWE-4 or SWE-1) as the basic choice. To show their irregular appearance it’s good to make some modifications though. First of all we mixed the figures from both sets – as some nobles used long firearms and while others didn’t. Then you can add one or two Cossack style cavalry (POL-6) or Polish levy of nobility (POL-5) figures – as some nobles sent replacements instead of serving in per-son. Majority of nobles didn’t use any armor, so it’s a good idea to remove the buff coats from models – see the additional guide. You can also give fur hats to some of your nobles.

The army of Courland step by step…

Fur hatSoldiers from regiments enlisted in Courland to serve in Netherlands in 1670’s were depicted with fur hats. We do-n’t know if soldiers used them during ‘the Deluge’ but such hats were quite popular in area throughout the whole 17th century. So if you want to make a conversion of one or two figures per company to wear a fur hat it should be fairly accurate historically. Below you can see an easy way to make such a fur hat.

Step 1.Cut off the brim of the hat.

Step 2.Roll some modelling putty and place it around miniature’s head. You can also put some green stuff on top of the head.

Step 3.Use a sharp tool (for example a needle) to genty form furr-like te-xture around the head (not on the top).

Step 4.And here’s final result!

In 1655, after the Lithuanian-Swedish treaty at Kiejdany, at least three Courland officers from the Lithuanian army resigned their commissions and enlist with duke Kettler’s forces. These officers were: Christoph von Grotthuss (former lieutenant colo-nel of field hetman Wincenty Gosiewski’s reiter regiment), Johann von Manteuffel--Szoege (former captain in Maciej Gosiewski’s dragoon regiment) and Lorenz von Vietinghoff (former major in the foot regiment of Wilhelm Ernest Korff)

16

The commandersThere shouldn’t be any problems here. You can use the officer from SWE-4 set as the captain. A Swedish general in full armor is a perfect miniatures for the landhofmeister.

Ducal reitersOnce again a very simple choice. Just take two bases of armored reiters (SWE-3 set) and that’s it. We don’t know what the color of the ‘uniforms’ of this unit during was ‘the Deluge’, so there are plenty of options. This unit seems to have been well equipped so it may be good to use similar colors for whole company.

Mercenary reitersIn this case the miniatures from SWE-4 set will work just fine. You can also mix them with SWE-1 set because we don’t know if all the reiters were equipped with arquebuses. As mercenaries they didn’t have uniformed clothes, so there should be mix of different colors in each company.

The army of Courland step by step…

How to remove a buff coatBelow you will find the easiest way to remove buff coats from reiter miniatures

Step 1.Remove the edge of buff coat, so clothes look like a coat (wams/justa-corps). In order to achieve this effect use a modeling file on the miniatu-re’s shoulders.

Step 2.Here you can see that the buff coat disappeared. Additionally you can use some modeling putty, but only if necessary.

Step 3.Time to paint our miniature. We decided to paint the justacorps red. Both trousers and hats are red as well, as in 17th century they were very fashionable. Gloves and shoes are painted to looks like bright le-ather. The Courland noble from Lehnsfane is ready!