Playtesting – Fall 2025

As I am taking a short break from the Fort Carillon project before what I really hope is the final stretch, I have been testing a few game projects amongst other things.

GNWB: Napue 1714

Great Northern War Battles is a system under development. I have talked about this previously (Helsingborg 1710) – the system is quite detailed. Based on that test last February, I got interested in taking a look at using the system to model some of the battles that took place in Finland during the Great Northern War. The Battle of Napue (or Storkyro) was final deciding battle before Sweden pulled out of Finland and the time of terror known as the Great Wrath started. This battle was smaller than the other two scenarios in the system, Poltava and Helsingborg.

Roger, the developer of the system, took an interest as not only this would the first scenario not designed by him but also one that had a lot less moving parts and could serve as an introductory battle to learn the system. I have an interest, because it’s my country’s history and something that I have previously overlooked due to WW2 and other topics.

The opening moves. The historical scenario begins as the Russian commander, Golitsyn, wanted to take the initiative in the battle field chosen by the defending general, Armfelt.

We set up the game for the first time – I had only done some very basic testing so far. We had to iron out a handful of small issues and wrote out the first orders. The Russians tried to outflank the Swedish army which had to turn to face the threat against their left flank.

The Russians are approaching. White-blue-green small counters denote the target hexes where troops are heading.

With the designer next to me, the game progressed smoothly. We tried to replay the historical outcome by timing the actions as we had understood from the sources available. The Swedes (or really Finns) hit the Russian left hard and broke through. Having taken heavy casualties, some Russians started to flee. Next, the Swedish army engaged the whole Russian line while trying to capitalize on the stated breakthrough. It almost worked, just like in the real life. The Swedish army simply ran out of men.

The center of both armies have engaged each other.

As the cossacks ravaged the Swedish baggage train, a bloody fight took place on the fields of Napue.

Casualties are tracked in 33 man increments.

Kursk in Finland 1944 – Operation Tali-Ihantala

This is another project I have been testing recently. The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was the deciding engagement that finally convinced Stalin that the cost of beating Finland is not worth the effort. Tali and Ihantala were two towns in Karelia, now part of Russia, and the Red Army continued its offensive after capturing Vyborg/Viipuri, the second largest city in Finland.

Eventually this will be available via Wargame Vault and published by Firefight Games.