Nothing Gained But Glory

Nothing Gained But Glory will be the fifth volume from the award winning Musket & Pike Battles Series. It features several pivotal battles in Baltic region of the late 17th century - a period where rulers struggled to centralize power in their realms and to introduce permanent standing armies instead of expensive mercenary forces. It shows the highly trained and well led army of Sweden struggling to defend its massive gains from the Thirty Years War and the Northern Wars of 1655-1661 against the forces of Denmark and Brandenburg, reinforced by contingents from Austria, the United Provinces, Münster, Hesse-Kassel and Poland.

The personalities in the game include the great Swedish warrior king Carl XI, Brandenburg´s Frederick William (the Great Elector), and King Christian V of Denmark-Norway. Never before have so many monarchs been in one M&P box!

Nearly all the scenarios in this module are smaller than the typical Musket & Pike scenarios, and thus take less time and space to play. For the same reasons it is a great introductory game to the series.

The 7 battles included in Nothing Gained but Glory are:

Nyborg, November 14, 1659 - (While not part of the Scanian War, this bonus battle from the Northern War of 1655-1660 features many of the same participants.) The Swedes had occupied the Danish island of Fünen, but following the landings of two Allied forces and their subsequent combination the Swedes had to fight to win time for an evacuation from the island. With no more room to retreat and the port town of Nyborg´s fortifications in a sorry state, the 7,000 strong Swedish Army positioned itself in good defensive terrain between a lake and a forest. While command difficulties in the 11,000 strong Allied Army almost cost them the battle, the Allies eventually prevailed, forcing the Swedish Army to flee to Nyborg, where it surrendered the next day.

Fehrbellin, June 28, 1675 - Returning from fighting against France to face the Swedish invasion, the highly mobile Brandenburg Army of 5,600 cavalry and 13 guns faced a retreating Swedish Army of 7,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 7 guns outside the town of Fehrbellin. A poor deployment of the Swedish Army combined with aggressive handling of the Brandenburg cavalry forced the Swedes from the field. Although the losses in the battle were about equal, the Swedish Army was severely reduced by the subsequent pursuit, raiding peasant guerilla, desertion, and starvation. While only of minor importance militarily, the victory had an enormous psychological impact: the Swedes, long considered "unbeatable", had been bested. With the myth of Swedish invincibility broken, Denmark decided the time was right to settle its scores with Sweden and entered the war. Frederick William henceforth was known as the "Great Elector" and the army that he and Derfflinger had led to victory became the core of the future famous Prussian Army.

Halmstad, August 17, 1676 - After the initial great successes for the Danish forces following the landings in Scania in late June 1676, a small Danish force of 3,500 men under Jacob Duncan was detached from the main army and ordered to advance north to take the town of Halmstad and if possible link up with the Norwegian forces under General Gyldenløve. Sensing the possibility of destroying the unsupported Danish detachment, the Swedish king reacted and by heavy force marching succeeded in cutting off Duncan from his line of communications, forcing him to fight his way back. Duncan moved against the Swedes, but then went on the defensive. The Swedes took the initiative, collapsed both of the Danish flanks, and then overwhelmed the center, forcing the army to surrender. This battle ended the Danish plans of linking up with the Norwegians, and provided a much-needed boost to Swedish morale.

Lund, December 4, 1676 - This was the bloodiest battle in the history of Scandinavia, with almost 9,000 killed (out of 12,000 Danes and 8,000 Swedes) after an intense d