Lion of the North: The Dawn of Modern Warfare, 1631-1632

About this board game

Lion of the North: The Dawn of Modern Warfare, 1631-1632 is a two-to-four-player historical wargame with an approximately 180-minute playing time, covering two famous battles of the Thirty Years’ War: Breitenfeld in 1631 and Lützen in 1632.

As the war entered its second decade, Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden, emerged as the Lion of the North. The game presents the period as a turning point in military history, marked by the return of linear tactics, drill, discipline, and what some historians call “the return of the legion.”

Breitenfeld’s dramatic clash saw Tilly’s Catholic army suffer a devastating defeat, with rapid-firing artillery, fast-moving infantry, and hard-charging cavalry signaling the ascendancy of Gustavus Adolphus. Lion of the North brings these battles into GMT’s Great Battles of History series.

• Scale: each turn represents 30 minutes, each hex represents 100 yards, and each strength point represents 100 men.
• Maps: one full-color 22×34-inch mapsheet and one full-color 17×22-inch mapsheet.
• Counters: 480 full-color, two-sided counters, including heavy infantry pikemen and tercios.
• Rules and aids: a 32-page rule book, 16-page scenario book, optional rules, and three player aid cards.

Optional rules include Frenzied Units, Exploding Guns, and the Death of Gustavus, offering additional ways to represent the period’s battlefield events. The game also includes six-sided and ten-sided dice for play.

Released in 1993, Lion of the North won Best Wargame Graphics that year. It is the third volume in the Great Battles of History series, alongside Alexander, SPQR, Caesar: The Civil Wars, Caesar: Conquest of Gaul, and Cataphract.