DBMM Forum

Armies => Book 4 => Topic started by: Orcoteuthis on November 29, 2020, 10:40:49 AM

Title: Teutonic Order in the Thirteen Years War
Post by: Orcoteuthis on November 29, 2020, 10:40:49 AM

I posted this to the DBMM groups.io list, and it was suggested there may be some utility in posting it here too, so it might be easier to find to find in the future. So with no further ado:



I'm reading a book about the Teutonic order in the Thirteen Years' War (the aptly titled Der Deutsche Orden im Dreizehnjährigen Krieg 1454-1466), and reflected, not for the first time, that the current list doesn't reflect this period well. Feeling like screaming into the wind, I put together a version that's more like I feel it should be:

TEUTONIC ORDER 1454-1466
Cold. Ag 1. FS, Rv, Wd, BF, M, F, Rd, BUAf.
E: 4/66, whatever list covers the Prussian League
C-in-C Reg Kn (S) @ 35AP	1
Sub-general - Reg Kn (S) @ 35AP	0-2
Ally-general - Reg Kn (O) @ 22AP or Reg Cv (O) @ 18AP	0-2
Men-at-arms - Reg Kn (O) @ 12AP	6-14
Mounted crossbowmen - Reg Cv (O) @ 8AP	9-18
Prussian vassals - Irr Kn (O) @ 10AP	0-4
Halberdiers and similar - Reg Bd (O) @ 7AP	0-6
Foot crossbowmen - up to ½ with pavise, Reg Bw (X) @ 7AP, remainder Reg Bw (O) @ 3AP if double-based behind (X), otherwise @ 5AP	0-12
Handgunners - Reg Ps (S) @ 3AP or Reg Sh (I) @ 5AP	0-4
Light guns - Reg Art (I) @ 4AP	0-2
Heavy guns - Reg Art (S) @ 10AP	0-2
Wagenburg - TF @ 2AP	0-12
Reclassify Wagenburg and Reg foot as - Reg WWg (O) @ 10AP	0-12
Camp - Irr Bge (O) @ 2AP, or laden wagons - Irr Bge (I) @ 1AP	0-2 per general
Warships - Irr Shp (O) @ 3AP [Bw]	0-2
Rivercraft - Irr Bts (O) @ 2AP [any foot]	0-3
Only from 1461:
Peasant and urban levies - Irr Sp (I) @ 3AP, Irr Bw (I) @ 3AP, or Irr Hd (O) @ 1AP	0-18

The army was overwhelmingly composed of mercenaries, largely Germans and Bohemians; any actual knights of the order are assumed to be included in the C-in-C and sub-generals' elements. Ally-generals represent ill-paid mercenary leaders who might need convincing to fight. They count as of a different nationality even if German as they had no particular loyalty to the Ordensstaat. In the later years of the war increased reliance was put on peasant and urban levies, more because they were cheaper than mercenaries than because they were any good. Most of the secular nobility of Prussia went over to the Prussian League, but I've allowed for the possibility of enough of those who remained loyal to the order turning up with their followers to amount to a few elements and being sufficiently less professional than the mercenaries to count as irregular. If you feel they should be regular (as in the existing list) the list has no shortage of Reg Kn.

I'm not sure if the crossbowmen with pavises really deserve being classed as Bw (X), but the same sort of men are so classed in the Medieval German and Hussite lists. You're anyway free to take all as Bw (O) if you prefer.

The book has a reconstruction of a handgunner with a pavise, who presumably wasn't intending to skirmish; hence the Shot option.

Each element of WWg replaces one element of Reg foot and one section of TF. I'm not aware of any evidence of them being moved during battle, but as they're dedicated fighting wagons crewed in cases by actual Taborites, I've allowed the option.

The list looks rather like a regular version of Later Polish, which may not be inappropriate. While based on the Thirteen Years' War it's probably nearer the mark than the existing list for the entire post-Tannenberg period. Aggression is low because the war was largely fought in Prussia, but not zero because some incursions into Polish territory did occur. BUAf added because the absence in the current list is silly.