Faction Thread - Kingdom of Sweden

[thrashing_mad]

Brief history:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Gustav I

Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson (Colloquial 15th century Upplandic, Gösta Jerksson) and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Vasa, an influential noble family which came to be the royal house of Sweden for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. Gustav I was elected regent in 1521 after leading a rebellion against Christian II of Denmark, the leader of the Kalmar Union who controlled most of Sweden at the time.

Gustav was an enigmatic person who has been referred to as both a liberator of the country and as a tyrannical ruler, which has made him the subject of many books. When he came to power in 1523, he was largely unknown, and he became the ruler of a still divided country without a central government. Though not as famous as most of his continental contemporaries, he became the first truly autocratic native Swedish sovereign and was a skilled propagandist and bureaucrat who laid the foundations for a more efficient centralized government. During his reign Protestantism was introduced in the country.

Erik XIV

Eric's foreign policy was dominated by his efforts to make Sweden a great power. Unlike his father, who had in general been satisfied with ruling an independent state, Eric tried to expand his influence in the Baltic and in Estonia. This expansionism made him clash with his cousin, Frederick II of Denmark (1534–88). Striving for useful political alliances, Eric also made unsuccessful marriage proposals to, among others, Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) and Mary I of Scotland (1542–87), as well as Renata of Lorraine (1544–1602), Anna of Saxony (1544–77) and Christine of Hesse (1543–1604).

In domestic politics Eric's ambitions were strongly opposed by the Swedish nobility, including his half-brother, the later John III of Sweden (1537–92). John rebelled, but was captured and tried for high treason in 1563. Most of Eric XIV's reign was then dominated by the Scandinavian Seven Years' War against Denmark (1563-70), during which he successfully repelled most Danish attempts of conquest, but was not able to keep his own conquests. During these years, from 1563 onwards, his insanity worsened; his reign became even more high-handed and marked by assaults, among them the killing of several members of the Sture family in 1566. In 1568 he was deposed and imprisoned by John who took over power. Eric's most trusted counsellor, Jöran Persson (1530–68), took much of the blame for the actions taken against the nobility during Eric XIV's reign and was executed shortly after John III ascended to the throne.

Unit Roster Project:

Early (1570-1600)

Infantry:

- Mercenary Musketeers
- Mercenary Pikemen
- Scottish Pikemen
- Scottish Musketeers
- Town Militia
- Arquebus Militia
- Pike Militia
- Kungliga Majestäts Drabanter - elite royal halberdiers guards

Cavalry:

- Lands Ryttare - pistol, light armour
- Svarta Ryttarna - blackened 3/4 armour, pistols, good morale
- Blanka Ryttarna - 3/4 armour, lance
- Mercenary Cuirassiers
- Mercenary Mounted Arquebusiers


High (1600-1640)

Infantry

- Pikenerare - Gustavus Adolphus era pikemen, known from 30-years war - a little bit lightly armoured than imperial pikemen of this period
- Musketerare - Musket, unarmoured
- Kommanderade musketörer - Commanded Musketeers, much smaller units (20-30 men each), they`re better trained than ordinary Musketeers (rate of fire, morale)
- Jägare - sharpshooters recruited from foresters and hunters, very small units (10-15 men each), very good range and accuracy, good at hiding in forests

Cavalry

- Latta Ryttare - lightly armoured cavalry, that provided bulk of Swedish cavalry after G-A reforms, pistols, sword, breastplate, shoots only when charging
- Courland Reiters (or Livonian Reiters) - recruitable only in German speaking parts of Livonia and Estonia, heavy armour, pistols, sword, shooting only during charge, good morale
- Dragoner - dragoons
- Hakkapeliitta - famous Finnish cavalry, known for their bravery, pistols, light armour, sword, fast, good morale

Late (1640-1700)

Infatry:

Basicaly, army after reforms of Karl XIth

- Karolinskt Infanteri - musket
- Karolinskt Infanteri - pike
- Karolinska Livgardet

Cavalry:

- Karolinska Ryttare

[Göteborgare]

Heya.

Do you have all the units for Sweden set?
If not, I can give you some tips on units that you can add.

I also looked trough some pages of the huge thread and noticed that there are mistakes in the spelling of units, but dont know if they became the final names for them, so please, give me something to do.

Will gladly help you with anything concerning Sweden.


Hi de hoo from Sweden

Pether

Amateur Historican / Teacher in Training(SO(Social Orientation) History, Religion, Geography, Social Ed.)

[thrashing_mad]

Heya.

Do you have all the units for Sweden set?
If not, I can give you some tips on units that you can add.

I also looked trough some pages of the huge thread and noticed that there are mistakes in the spelling of units, but dont know if they became the final names for them, so please, give me something to do.

Will gladly help you with anything concerning Sweden.


Hi de hoo from Sweden

Pether

Amateur Historican / Teacher in Training(SO(Social Orientation) History, Religion, Geography, Social Ed.)

Hello Pether. Unit list isn`t final yet (as well as those misspelled names), so I would gladly welcome your advice. In first version there will be only units from 1570-1600 period, and my limited knowledge on Swedish army of that period comes from few internet materials about Northern Seven Years War (1563-1570). It`s really hard to find something on this subject in english.

Here`s roster project for Sweden (years 1570-1600):

Infantry:

Mercenary Pikemen
Mercenary Musketeers
Mercenary Arquebusiers
Scottish Mercenary Musketeers
Scottish Mercenary Pikemen

Town Militia
Arquebus Militia
Pike Militia
Kunglinga Majestas Drabanter

Cavalry:

Mercenary Mounted Arquebusiers
Mercenary Cuirassiers

Landsryttare
Svarta Ryttarna
? Blanka Ryttarna (kings` lancers - not sure whether they still existed after 1570)

[Göteborgare]

Blarf.
I decided to scrap what i had been writing for over an hour or so(while researching at the same time.)

So, lets see again.

1522(?) - We send the danishockupants out of Sweden and gain Independence.
1543 - Vasa orders the Swedish Army, and German Landsknecht Mercenaries to go kick some revolting farmer butt.


Mercenaries were popular in the Swedish army. And till the middle 1500's the Crossbow was in majority use due to the musket at that time being cumbersome. But this changed with newer lighter muskets.

At the end of the 1500 the Swedish Soldier had 3 Weapons. A Pike, a Sword and a Musket.
Due to the fact that this combo would be overpowered, i suggest splitting them into 2 different units. Svensk Pikenare(Swedish Pikeman) armed with a Pike and a Sword, and Svensk Musketör(Swedish Musketeer) with a Matchlock Musket and a Sword.

The soldier didnt have any uniform clothing at this time, in his payment he got some Cloth and was expected to make something himself. For identification within the unit they had markings, maybe some cloth tied to their arm.

A Harness and helmet was used for protection. Mooseleather could have been used, which offers better protection. This leather was used in the later uniforms.

http://widforss.chiaro.mrfriday.com/...2/H03M_121.jpg

There you have a late 16th century northern european Harness used by Pikemen.


Gustaf II Adolf reformed the army, got some new muskets etc which increased the number of musketeers, 1/3 still had to use pikes though. The artillery were at this time put into their own regiment. A Swedish artillery tactic was to use smaller lighter pieces for greater mobility, they also fired faster. I believe, from my memory, that they fired 3 shots in the time it took for the opposing side to fire one.

So we have a unique Swedish Artillery in the making!

Mercenaries were still the main way of slaughtering people with during all this period the game covers. So the mercs will need some continious updating.

Example: 1657, a 17000 strong army of Sweden marches over to Denmark, only 4000 are Swedes, the rest mercenaries.

Also, These mercenaries didnt fight to the death, atleast not against other mercenaries. When a mercenarytroop was defeated, they were added to the winning side's army. They were also very hard to command in battle, as they were most of the time under the command of their own leader.



Well, i will post this so you can read.
Will read up more on Cavalry and the Artillery, maybe find out what more types of mercenaries that were in use by the Swedish crown.


Early Pediod:
Bondesoldat - Pik: Armed with Pike/Sword and wearing a Harness.
Bondesoldat - Armborst: Armed with crossbow + Harness. Armborst is Swedish for Crossbow.

Bondesoldat means Farmersoldier. Can be the militia type for the Swedish nation. Can start with some leather armor, then upgrade to harness, maybe a helmet at third level.

Svensk Pikenare: Armed with a Pike and a Sword. Using a Harness with Moosleather and a helmet.
Svensk Musketör: Armed with a Musket and a Sword. Harness and leather for this dude too.




Landsknecht Mercenary: A German Landsknecht mercenary, not hard to find info on them.
The Swedish word for Landsknecht is Landsknekt. Knekt/Knecht is where the word Knight comes from. And the Swedish word for Mercenary is Legosoldat. Naming this unit Landsknekt Legosoldat sounds really wierd, so better stay with English.


Plus some Horsemen and Light Artillery.

Also, for and giggles you can name the Swedish Peasant unit Klubbekrigare. The word comes from a Farmer revolt in Finland after a war that ended 1595 something. The farmers got tired of having the swedish army tenting in their backyards and some other stuff.

Klubbekrigare translates to Clubiewarrior or whatever, it sounds funny.

[Göteborgare]

Oh yeah, one more thing of importance, what cities/castles are you going to put in for Sweden?

[Göteborgare]

Here comes some pictures.

A Pikeman and a Musketeer anno 1565.
(Seems like my earlier source wasnt credible enough)



A Swedish Horseman anno 1565 also?
Lance/Pike + Pistol






The Swedish Cavalry consisted of Hussars and Dragoons, Light and Heavy.
I registered on a Swedish history forum that i thought was long dead, found a discussion about Swedish Cavalry 1570-1595.

I also started my own discussion.


Gah, getting a overload of information here, i love history.

[thrashing_mad]

Thanks for info - I`ll definitely use some of your ideas. As for Landsknechts - they`re basicly covered by already made mercenary units. I`ll probably wait with adding national regular infantry to Sweden for Gustav Adolph period. As for cities - map wasn`t finally decided yet.

[Göteborgare]

I will send you a link to a worddokument that I wrote.

[Göteborgare]

Some pictures i scanned from books i found at the library, sadly my scanner decided he didnt want to scan anymore so i didnt get to scan any weapons or much armor. Also got some other pics i found on the interweb.

The first pictures are of Swords.


http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0000.jpg
Sabre, End of 1500.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0001.jpg
Cavalry Rapier 1630 + Rapier 1640.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0002.jpg
Rapier 1640 + Rapier 1640.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0003.jpg
Rapier 1660 + Sabre 1660.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0004.jpg
Drabant Rapier 1675.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0005.jpg
Halberd 1697 + Pike 1697.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0006.jpg
Cavalry Warhammer 16th century.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0007.jpg
Halberds and Bardisans(Pikes).
First 3 are early 1500, the next 4 are late 1500.
The last one is the same as on the other pic, late 1600.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0008.jpg
Helmets. Morionhjälm, Päronhjälm, Stormhuva. The next 2 are Hungarian helmets, dont know if you want to put Swedes in those?

The last one is a Skyttehuva, used by Musketeers, Morion and Päron(pear) was used by Pikemen/Halberds. Stormhuva(Burgonet) by cavalry and pikemen.


http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0009.jpg
1695 Drabant uniform, the dragoons used almost the same.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0010.jpg
Armor used by pikemen.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0011.jpg
Shields used by the infantry with the name that i never seem to remember.

http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0012.jpg
Armor used by Heavy Landsryttare and Curassiers


http://hem.bredband.net/petterssonpether/skanna0013.jpg
Armor early 1600.


Picture of another Stormhyva.
http://www.primusweb.se/search.do?cr...yWithPictures=

And of the pear helmet.
http://www.primusweb.se/search.do?cr...hPictures=true

And the Morionhelmet.
http://www.primusweb.se/search.do?cr...yWithPictures=

Here you have a nice pic of a Pikeman, the Swedish ones used the same armor, just different underclothing.

http://public.carnet.hr/husar/nco.htm


In my other book that i didnt get to scan i had a nice picture of the armor that Musketeers used.

[thrashing_mad]

Main thread updated.

[Carl von Döbeln]

Kungliga Majestäts Drabanter - elite royal halberdiers guards (pics needed)

I have a great pic of their early uniform:
The two ones on the left

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[thrashing_mad]

I have a great pic of their early uniform:
The two ones on the left

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Uhh. I`ve fogot to delete ('pic needed'). I`ve already made their models.

[Carl von Döbeln]

Ah you have

Great

[Göteborgare]

Look ok.

But:
Latta Ryttare > Lätta Ryttare
And Kommenderade Musköter means Commandeered Musketeers.

I can try to make battlemaps for Sweden if you want?
I am currently learning how to mod a bit myself.
But as i suck at texturing and modeling, there is only few things i can do.
Maps and Flags.

*edit*

I still think you should put in the yellow brigade and some grandiers.

[thrashing_mad]

Look ok.

But:
Latta Ryttare > Lätta Ryttare
And Kommenderade Musköter means Commandeered Musketeers.

Ok, I`ll fix Lätta Ryttare. As for 'Kommenderade Musköter' - if it means 'Commanded Musketeers' in english then it`s ok.

I can try to make battlemaps for Sweden if you want?
I am currently learning how to mod a bit myself.
But as i suck at texturing and modeling, there is only few things i can do.
Maps and Flags.

Actually, Pinotchet is already working on battle maps, while qwert is working on banners.

*edit*

I still think you should put in the yellow brigade and some grandiers.

If you mean late period, than yes -why not.

[Göteborgare]

Actually, Pinotchet is already working on battle maps, while qwert is working on banners.

Ok.

But i wanna learn how to do that anyway, but i am getting furious here trying to find a guide and tools that work. There is no way to convert dds into texture for me.

If you mean late period, than yes -why not.

Grandiers will be easy to make i think, just remodel the Neffatuns or whatever they are called.

[Carl von Döbeln]

Why don't you add the blue, yellow, and green brigades?

[Göteborgare]

Why don't you add the blue, yellow, and green brigades?

I believe the Yellow Brigade should be in too.
The yellow brigade were supposed to be an all swede thing, but in reality it was 9/10 german mercenaries.

The Green Brigade were the name of the Scottish Mercenary regiment, no?
So yea, they should be in too, the Early Scotts wont do in late period, need to add a few tiers too them.


But i dont know anything about the Red Bridage. :/

[Captain Gars]

The Yellow, Blue, Red and Green regiments (The "brigade" name is mostly a 19th century invention) were all German mercenary formations. The Yellow regiments actual name was the "Hovregementet" or Court Regiment and together with the Lifegaurdcompany it formed the Royal Household troops of Gustavus Adolphus.

The notion that the Green regiment was made up Scots is a myth created by Victorian historians. The confusion was caused by the fact that for a time the regiment was commanded by John Hepburne, a scot and the fact that the Green regiment had been temporarily been brigaded with some Scottish regiments at Breitenfeld. However even the most basic research into the sources reveals that the Green regiment was actually made up of protestant Brandenburgers and East Prussians who had defected into Swedish service after Gustavus Adolphus cornered them with superior forces at Mohrungen in 1627.

[Göteborgare]

Good to know.

Dont know how to give rep, but its the tought that counts.