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 Historical Background

The Scanian War was prompted by the Franco-Dutch War of 1672-1678. Sweden had allied with France against several European countries, and was eventually forced to fulfill her treaty obligations to France by invading Brandenburg. This invasion was an attempt to force Brandenburg to withdraw from the fighting against France, but the invasion was conducted without the usual energy and force of previous Swedish offensives. When the Brandenburg Army returned home much faster than anticipated the Swedes started to withdraw, but were caught by the Brandenburgers and defeated at the battle of Fehrbellin on June 28th 1675. The previously "unbeatable" Swedish Army had lost a battle, and this key event soon persuaded others to join the war.

Most notable of these was Denmark, which saw its chance to regain the Scanian lands lost in the Northern Wars. (Scania is the southern tip of Sweden, just across the Oeresund, the Sound, from Denmark.) After mopping up the Swedish possessions of Wismar and Bremen, the Danish Army landed in Scania on June 29, 1676. Danish King Christian V led 15,000 troops against a defending Swedish Army of 5,000 men that were spread out over the province. Initially the operation was a great success. Large parts of the local peasantry sided with Denmark and the outnumbered Swedish troops were in bad shape. Town after town fell into the hands of the Danes and the Swedes had to retreat north to Sweden proper. After a month only the fortified town of Malmö remained under Swedish control. At sea the situation wasn´t any better for the Swedes, as their navy lost several battles against the combined Danish- Dutch Navy, and left the command of the sea in the hands of the allies.