1814 | Panterogames

1814: The Norwegian War of Independence

During the Napoleonic wars, the Kingdoms of Denmark-Norway and Sweden found themselves on opposite sides, and fought several skirmishes in the border areas between the countries. In 1808, Sweden invaded Norway with the aim of capturing what was then a province in Denmark. The fighting was largely inconclusive, after some surprising Norwegian victories at Trangen and Lier.

In 1814, Sweden invaded again, this time encouraged by the Treaty of Kiel, which had given them control of Norway on account of Denmark being on the losing side of the war. Sweden had the backing of the great powers (UK, Russia), and the UK even actively supported Sweden by blockading the Norwegian coastline to prevent food and other supplies being shipped from Denmark.

Norway, in the meantime, had declared independence and written their own constitution, which was declared on May 17th 1814. The Swedish invasion hit the desperate Norwegian forces hard. The Norwegian army some 35,000 strong, although fairly large for a country of only 900,000 inhabitants, was suffering the consequences of the British blockade, and could not maintain a full field army for long. National morale was low in the Eastern parts where the war would actually be fought, whereas in the other parts of the country,morale was high, and the willingness to fight a war was considerably higher in these areas.

The Swedish forces of some 45,000 men were composed of both excellent, battle hardened troops in the Field Army, recently returned from Germany where it had fought against Napoleon and participated in large battles, and more questionable units in the Reserve army which had stayed at home and generally lacked supplies, training and equipment.

Sweden planned to force Norway to surrender by capturing the border fortresses,and take the capital Christiania in a quick campaign,using their best troops with a couple of diversionary attacks to prevent the Norwegians from concentrating their forces.

The Norwegian defence plan relied on the use of prepared positions and natural obstacles like the Glomma river and Lake Oyeren. There were also field works built at strategic places that controlled the roads that the Swedes would have to use. Many Norwegian officers felt that a big opportunity was lost when the Norwegian command decided against invading Sweden in early 1814, when the Swedish field army was still in Germany. Would the Swedish home army have been able to stop a Norwegian invasion at the time?

In late July, the Swedes were ready and started the invasion, and all Norwegian thoughts of taking the fight to Sweden were gone. The result of the initial battles was once again an uneasy stalemate after initial Swedish success, but both sides knew it was just a matter of time before the superior Swedish forces would prevail. Norway, exhausted by warfare, low on supplies and close to starvation, had to accept a peace that placed it in a personal union with the King of Sweden as the Head of State, but kept its own parliament and constitution. There were strong voices though,that wanted to fight till the end, and resort to guerrilla warfare when the field army was destroyed,

This remained the situation until 1905, when the union was finally dissolved and Norway became fully independent,once again under threat of a Swedish invasion (a theme explored in our projected game "1905: Days of Decision".)

1814: The Norwegian War of Independence allows you to see what could have happened, had the cooler heads not prevailed and Norway had decided to fight till the bitter end...

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Rules

All three games in the Scandinavian Wars Trilogy will use the same set of basic rules, the same basic map board and the counters and markers will be similar in design, although with certain period specific features. The game is of low-to medium complexity, and is for two players, as well as being solitaire playable.

There will be a set of additional rules for each game to account for historical differences, for instance the use of siege artillery in 1718 and machine guns in 1905.

There will be a few optional rules to add more realism in areas of supply, naval movement/combat etc.

Scenarios

There are two main scenarios in the 1814 game.

1. The Historical Scenario, where both armies start with their historical set up and the game lasts 10 turns, each representing 2 days of real time.

2. A What If scenario, exploring what might have happened if the Norwegians had decided to attack Sweden in the Spring of 1814, before the main Swedish army had returned from Germany. This is a race against time, where the Norwegians try to mobilise, supply and move their forces before the Swedes can bring their main army home.

Time scale

Each Turn represents two days of actual time, and the game runs for a maximum of 10 Turns - roughly three weeks of fighting. Both armies would have struggled to maintain fighting much beyond this time, especially the Norwegians, given the supply situation.

The Map

The map is based on a point-to-point movement system that we feel better captures the nature of the campaigns in this area, than did the hexagon based system we used for the 2018 release. This will be on a mounted map board (in two sections) covering the border areas between Norway and Sweden, from Strömstad to Verdal. Each area has a primary terrain, which represents the dominant terrain in the region, and this influences the combat and movement of units. There are also secondary terrain features that influence movement and combat, including towns, villages, roads, bridges etc.

The Units/counters

The military units that fought, or could have fought, in this war, are represented by ca 300 cardboard counters. The counters are relatively large at 1" with some markers in 3/4" size. Each unit is given a combat strength which influences how strong it is in combat before any modifiers are implemented.

The military units are Cavalry, Dragoons, Infantry (Guard and Line), Jaegers/Sharpshooters, Ski Jaegers, Artillery, Engineers and Pontoons.

In addition there are separate counters for a number of named officers, as well as a few generic officers that are used for moving forces around the map and influencing battle outcomes. Officers can be killed or captured in battles.

There are also some other units/markers that are used to mark certain locations and events on the map, as well as a few counters used for optional rules for supply, naval combat/movement etc.

Supply

Supply plays a major part in the game for the Swedish player.

At the start of each game turn, the Swedish player must activate (rally) his disorganised/spent units before they can move or fight. This is done by using supply points.

Supply points come from two sources:

1. Each area has a Supply Value which represents the number of units that may rally there each game turn regardless of supply lines.

2. In addition the Swedish player may transport Supply points from his depots in Sweden to set up field depots inside Norway which in turn can be used to activate units.

For the Norwegian player the destruction of supply points becomes almost as important as stopping the Swedish units directly.

The game includes both a simplified supply system, where the Swedish player simply needs to trace a supply line back home, and an optional system where he must physically transport supply points along the roads using counters representing supply carts.

The Swedish player will find that he never has enough supply points to activate and move his entire superior army, so needs to focus on a few points where he can make an impact.

Movement

Units move across the map from area to area via a road (main, secondary or path). Road type influences how many units can move along it every turn, as well as disruption to units.

Some terrain features block movement for certain units, for instance only ski-units can cross mountains and jaegers can use paths.

Mounted units have an intrinsic movement allowance, whereas foot units must be accompanied by an officer to move, using the allowance of the officer. Units can move a maximum of three areas each turn, but must stop immediately if they come into contact with enemy forces.

Jaeger units can also move independently and can conduct special types of hit and run attacks.

Although the Swedish field army did have more experience in operating in larger formations, the terrain in Norway prevented coordinated operations of forces much larger than brigades, in many cases coordinating a few battalions would be challenging enough.

Also, Norwegian officers were generally afforded more flexibility, whereas the Swedish command system was more rigid, and designed for coordinating large armies on the battlefields of Europe. This is represented in the game by the (limited) selection of officer SPs available.

Combat

Units that move into an area occupied by opposing units must stop their movement and decide whether to attack or besiege the defending units (fortresses).

The attacker may attack with all, some or none of his units, and he must designate the units participating in the attack before the first round. He may also designate cavalry units as a follow up force, that will come into play if the defenders are forced to retreat, but will not influence the main battle. All defending units participate in the combat.

Combat is conducted as a series of battalion-sized combats where one unit from the attacker and one unit from the defender simultaneously fire upon each other.

Both sides throw one d6.

The attacker's die roll (only) is modified with a combat modifier which is determined before the battle starts. This combat modifier is influenced by factors such as leadership values of the commanding officers, terrain, fortifications and any special abilities of the units involved. The adjusted combat modifier is applied to the die roll of the attacker (only).

The combat die rolls (the unmodified roll for the defender and the modified roll for the attacker) are added to the combat strength of the units. This gives the combat value of both units.

If the combat value of the attacker is greater than the combat value of the defender, the defending unit is flipped to its disorganised (spent) side and can no longer take part in the battle. The attacking unit is ALWAYS flipped over (this unit is spent as a result of the disorganisation suffered by attacking).

There is one exception to this rule : Swedish Guard units roll a second d6 after the combat. On a roll of 6, they are not spent and may attack again. On a roll of 1-5 they are spent and flipped over. This also applies when defending..

Units of battalion size and larger can never be completely destroyed (representing the relatively small nature of the battles in this area and the short time scale) but can be disorganised (first) and/or routed (which means driven off the field by pursuing cavalry). Disorganised (spent) units remain in place or retreat with the rest of the force after the battle. Routed units return to the force pool and may be rallied back onto the map in the next unit rally phase.

Smaller units (militia, jaeger) can be destroyed in combat, meaning that they have stopped functioning as a unit, not that everyone in the unit have been killed. However, they can be rebuilt, and militia units that are rebuilt every turn represent a powerful tool for the Norwegian player.

Officers can be captured or killed in combat which means players need to balance the advantage of having a high ranking officer present vs. the risk of losing him in battle..

Generally the Swedes enjoy better training, better morale and more fire power, the Norwegians have advantages in mobility and skirmish ability, employing ski troops and light infantry (jaegers/sharpshooters) to harass and identify Swedish units and supply lines. Supply remains an issue for both sides - for the Norwegians especially towards the end of the game when they run out completely.

Victory

Victory is determined by the Norwegian National Morale Index. If this reaches 0 (or in the worst case automatically after 10 rounds) the game ends in a strategic Swedish victory. All other final NMI scores represent some level of conditional result and is explained on the NMI printed on the map. The players keep score of the NMI by placing a marker in the appropriate box on the NMI track. NMI influenced by Victory Points, which are awarded for achieving the objectives of either side.

For the Swedish side, the objective is in general to gain control of Norwegian key Victory areas and lowering the Norwegian National Morale Index.

For the Norwegians the objective is simply to prevent the Swedes from gaining a strategic or tactical victory (a stalemate is, by definition, a Norwegian win).

The Norwegian side also scores victory points for routing Swedish units, and for keeping the National Morale Index above the threshold each turn.

Random Events

Random events will influence the war. These include adverse weather conditions, illness and/or death of key officers, political events in Europe and elsewhere etc.

The Swedish forces 1814

The Swedish invasion army of 1814 consisted of a total of eleven infantry brigades, organised into five infantry divisions in two corps.

The Swedish forces in the game are represented by a total of 138 counters (size 1" square).

The First Corps was essentially the Field Army that had just returned from Europe, commanded by Crown Prince Carl Johan (Bernadotte) who was also the Supreme Commander on the Swedish side. This consisted of a total of 4 infantry brigades (1-2-5-6) in two divisions (1-3) as well as a cavalry division and an artillery reserve.

The Second Corps was the home army, commanded by Field Marshal von Essen, composed of 7 infantry brigades (3-4-7-8-9-10-11) in three divisions (2-4-5) and a separate cavalry brigade and artillery reserves.

In addition, there were 3 infantry battalions embarked on the Swedish fleet, ready to land on the Norwegian coast.

All in all, the Swedish invading army consisted of some 45 000 soldiers, where the 1st corps was generally of excellent quality, having fought in major battles in Europe, and the 2nd corps being more variable in terms of quality and equipment.

Swedish Officers*

The Swedish officers that are represented in the game are generally of good quality and experience- In addition to named individual officers, there are a few generic officers that are mainly used to ferry battalions between field forces (since infantry battalions do not have a movement allowance of themselves).

*Note that all counters in the game are 1" square even if shown in different sizes in this overview.

Swedish Cavalry

The Swedish Cavalry was an important element of the invading army, and consisted of high quality Guard cavalry, Hussars and Dragoons.

Swedish Artillery

The Swedish Artillery is represented by counters with 2 batteries and 1 battery respectively. And optional rule also allwos the Swedish player access to siege artillery, if he can transport it successfully to the battlefields..

Swedish Infantry

The Swedish Infantry units generally operated in battalions (each Swedish region raised battalions through a county regiment), and despite being formally organised into brigades and divisions, the Norwegian terrain rarely allowed for forces of these sizes to be deployed. Most battles were therefore fought between forces of a few battalions on either side, often organised into ad hoc formations. The Swedish player is generally free to reorganise his battalions as he finds most opportune, and there is no penalty as such for using battalions from different regiments together. The Swedish infantry battalion types are Guard, Line and Jaeger - each with its own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the Guard units may re-roll a result where they are disrupted, essentially accounting for the generally higher morale in these units. The downside is that they cost 2 supply points to activate, rather than one for most other units.

Shown here are one battalion from each regiment, in the game each regiment has 2-4 battalions represented by counters.

Swedish Support Units

The Swedish army historically struggled with maintaining adequate supply lines, and the game allows two different ways to simulate this: In the Basic version, the Swedish player must maintain a line of supply back to one of his supply hubs in Sweden at all times. Any units failing this will not be able to move and fight in the current turn, and defend at half strength if attacked.

In the Advanced game, the Swedish player must physically set up supply lines by creating field supply depots, transport supply points physically from his home hubs to these field depots by using supply wagons, and use these field depots to activate units before each game turn. Only activated units (i.e. units that have been supplied) may move and attack. For many players this will probably be quite a tedious process, but for historical accuracy, we do recommend trying these supply rules. They also allow the Norwegian player to directly attack the Swedish supply columns, using his militia units, rather than just block supply lines as in the Basic game.

The Swedish player also has support units in the form of Engineer companies and Pontoon companies. The Engineers build field fortifications, and help besiege Norwegian fortresses, the Pontoon unit may build one bridge across the Glomma river during the game (which can be of critical importance if the Norwegians destroy the available bridges).

Swedish Naval Units

The game includes an option to play with naval units. Historically, the navies played only a minor role in the conflict, and after the initial Swedish landings at Hvaler islands, the naval forces of both sides generally did not take part. However, the Swedish player did have a certain transport and landing capacity and could have used this to place forces and supply behind Norwegian lines. The Norwegian navy was smaller, but would have been fighting on home turf and could have contested Swedish control of the Oslo fjord and Skagerrak.

The Norwegian forces 1814

Facing the Swedish invasion in 1814, was a smaller Norwegian army of some 30 000 men in total, led by the newly crowned King Christian Frederik (who would later become King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1839).

The Norwegian forces in the game are represented by a total of 124 counters (size 1" square).

The Norwegian army consisted of 3 mounted regiments (Dragoons/Mounted Jaegers) which would normally dismount to fight. The Norwegian army did not have regular cavalry units like the Swedish army did, but the Dragoons did fight as cavalry in pursuit etc if necessary. Furthermore, there were 9 infantry regiments, a jaeger regiment, a mountain regiment, two sharpshooter battalions plus a number of irregular militia, border guards and garrison units. In total the Norwegian forces counted some 30 000 soldiers, but only 15-20 000 of these were in reality available for the field army, as the rest were on garrison duties or of lower quality.

The Norwegian army was initially organised into a handful of ad hoc field brigades with battalions from different regiments together. Same as the Swedish player, the Norwegian player does not suffer penalties for mixing battalions from different regiments.

Whereas the Swedish army was organised along continental terms with Guard, Line, Hussar etc. type units, the Norwegian army had a number of units that give them an advantage in the game - to offset the numerical and qualitative superiority of the Swedish army. Some examples include Sharpshooters, that are allowed to function as a skirmish line, taking a shot at the Swedes before the main battle starts, Jaeger and ski units that can scout, ambush and move along paths. There are Militia units that represent irregular guerilla forces that can be rebuilt and placed on the map every turn, and that can cause great havoc with Swedish supply lines, since they are placed on the map after the Swedes have completed their turn, forcing the Swedish player to deal with them the next game turn - possibly disrupting both supply lines and attack plans the Swedish player may have laid.

Norwegian Officers

The Norwegian officers that are represented in the game are generally also of good quality and experience, but are generally rated slightly lower than the Swedish officers, due to less experience in actual field combat.

Supreme Commander was King Christian Frederik, but field command was nominally given to Generals Schmettow (Northern army) and Haxthausen (Southern army). As it was, in 1814 the Norwegian northern army, stationed around Trondheim, did not engage in any fighting since the Swedish attack was concentrated in the south. We chose to include the opportunity for the Swedish player to explore an attack towards Trondheim as well in the game, since this happened several times throughout history (for instance in 1718 and 1658).

Norwegian Cavalry

The Norwegian cavalry was primarily made up of dragoons and mounted jaegers, that would mostly dismount to fight as infantry, but the dragoons were trained to act as cavalry in pursuit. In general the Norwegian cavalry avoided facing the Swedish cavalry on the battlefield, due to the far greater experience of the Swedes.

Norwegian Artillery

The Norwegian Artillery is represented by counters with 2 batteries and 1 battery respectively. The Norwegian artillery was about on the same level as the Swedish artillery and played a critical role in some of the battles.

Norwegian Infantry

The Norwegian infantry units also generally operated in battalions (raised through regional regiments). These were organised into ad hoc field brigades, named after the commanding officer, and with battalions moving between the brigades and task forces as appropriate. The Norwegian player is generally free to reorganise his battalions as he finds most opportune, and there is no penalty as such for using battalions from different regiments together. The Norwegian player does not have any Guard battalions, but benefits from units that are well suited to the terrain and circumstances; Line battalions form the bulk of the main army, with Jaeger units and Sharpshooter units adding important extra capabilities. The Jaegers can move independently of officers, conduct recon of enemy stacks, and perform ambush attacks on single units in enemy stacks, possibly disrupting them. The Sharpshooters form a skirmish line in battle and may conduct a free attack on the enemy line before the main battle commences. Norwegian Line infantry regiments had 4 battalions; 2 Line battalions, one Depot battalion (recruits and soldiers being trained) and one Landvern battalion which consisted of older soldiers towards the end of their service period.

The Norwegian also field Militia units that can be rebuilt every turn and form road blocks that disrupt Swedish supply lines.

We have included two Norwegian ski units, primarily for historical flair. Since the war was fought during the summer months, the ski units function like regular Jaeger units in the 1814 game.

Norwegian Support Units

The Norwegian units fought on home turf and enjoyed the advantage of being able to use prepared positions. The Norwegian player does have two Engineer units that can be used to make field fortifications and repair damage to fortresses during sieges.

Border guards are used to slow down and detect Swedish axis of advance, and Garrisons represent the garrison forces of the Norwegian fortresses.

The Norwegians also have a pontoon bridge already deployed at the start of the game, and can choose to destroy this bridge during the game to prevent capture by the Swedes. Historically, King Christian Frederik lost his nerve after the battle of Langnes (which was a Norwegian victory), and ordered the Norwegian army to withdraw across the river Glomma, and destroy the bridge. This essentially settled the outcome, as the Swedes would face a bloody crossing of the river, and the Norwegians did not have any forces positioned to take the fight to the Swedish army after the bridge was destroyed.

Norwegian Naval Units

Markers and Tokens

The game includes a number of different markers and tokens that are used to record information or simplify play. Some markers are used only in the Advanced/Optional game, whereas some are always used. Markers and Tokens are size 3/4" square.

Brigade tokens allow players to keep counters that are located together off the board, in the brigade holding box, helping to declutter the board as well as improving Fog of War. Counters may move freely in and out of brigades and there is no bonus or disadvantage in reorganising brigades.

Supply tokens represent Swedish field depots if the advanced supply rules are used. Each level represents one supply point which may be used to activate one Swedish battalion each turn. Supply tokens can be seen as currency, in that they are exchanged for supply points which in turn is used to activate units each turn. Supply tokens are built, or increased in level, by delivering supply by supply wagon trains.

Field works markers represent various defensive installations built by Engineer units. Trenches give a -1 die roll modifier for the Attacker in combat, a bulwark gives a -2 modifier. Pontoon bridges may be built across the river Glomma in certain places (marked as bridge crossings on the map).

Some markers are used to record information that is important to the progress of the game. The Game Turn marker is advanced at the end of every Game Turn to signify the passing of two days of real time. The National Morale marker shows the current level of Norwegian National Morale, i.e. the will to keep fighting. The Siege markers show which fortresses are under siege (placed on the map, when forces involved in the siege are moved to the fortress siege card). The Fortress Value shows the current level of the fortress under siege, when it reaches zero, the fortress is captured. The Swedish control marker shows which fortresses have been captured by Sweden.

Road blocks may be placed on the map every turn, manned by Militia units. The purpose of road blocks is to disrupt Swedish supply lines