With the start of the First World War a hundred years ago, we've played a battle of this era. The last battles we've played were with the Black Powder and Hail Caesar rules, for this period we've switched to Bolt Action. Since we had more players and a somewhat larger army we thought that the Bolt Action Rules as they were wouldn't work fast enough so we've made a mix between Bolt Action and Black Powder (and a little bit of WAB the great war). We had to get used to it for the first two turns but after that it played well. We wanted to do a “big push” with a wave of soldiers storming across a deadly battlefield and yes we know the uniforms and tanks are early war and late war and the amount of figures on the table is a bit silly….
Sander played the German field Marshall Paul Ludwig Hans von Beckendorf und von Hindenburg and his chief of staff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorf, Sander was supported by Alex and Latok.
Opposite the Germans was an Anglo-French alliance led by Joost as the French Marshall Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre Supported by Abe and the British Expeditionary Force under Justin's General Sir Douglas Haig supported by Erik.
The British (Justin and Erik)
The French (Joost and Abe)
The Germans (Sander Alex, and Latok)
The Generals (left to right: Sander, Alex, Abe, Justin, Joost, Erik, Latok)
Latok, scourge of the allies
For five days and five nights the allied artillery shelled the German lines, the Germans had to withstand an unending concert of explosions. After five days there finally was a silence, the French and British troops gathered in the trenches, nervous the officers checked their watches, The past 16 attacks ended in an allied massacre, now strengthened by tanks they shall one again hit the German lines in a frontal assault. The clock strikes 09:30. Across the entire line the whistles can be heard and thousands of soldiers climb up the ladders and enter no-man's-land. The Germans respond instantly as they open fire.
The setup
The Allies have the first turn and French and British troops move towards the Germans across the line (Joost and Erik), tanks roll slowly but steady towards the German lines while infantry try to hide behind the tanks. They must reach the other side as quickly as possible, there is no time to halt or shoot. On the right flank the Australian troops (Justin) move towards the councils house, the must take the right flank to put pressure on the Germans and with any luck, take the flank. On the other flank the French move through the woods (Abe), he too must try to take the flank, also by moving from every direction, the Germans will be forced to lengthen their lines so that they can't put as much concentrated fire on the centre.
The allies move forward
Hidden behind the tanks the troops move forward
British Mark V Tank
The French move forward
The Germans respond quickly with a deadly fire, from the trenches the soldiers and machineguns open a deadly fire towards the oncoming allies. Latok's Jaegers manage to destroy an Australian unit, Alex open's fire with his artillery and takes out two British tanks. Under a loud roar, "Big Bertha" lobs a shell across the trenches that manages to annihilate two units. At that point Hindenburg (Sander) decides to deploy a deadly weapon as he has the normal shells of the mortars replaced. The grenades land in the British lines (Erik), the officer screams in a panick "put on your gasmasks at once" but for many of his troops the order came too late, screaming in agony, many of his men fell to their knees and met the most horrible death imaginable, followed by many other units across the line, felled by musterdgas.
Big Bertha fires on the allies
German Mortars shoot poison gas
Casualties of the first turn were high but Joffre (Joost) and Haig (Justin) classified the casualties as "acceptable losses". Australian troops (Justin) now charged the counsil house, as a response Latok's Jaegers fired "closing shots" taking out a unit of "Aussies", another managed to destroy a unit of Jaegers and fierce hand to hand combat followed, the fight for the counsil house had begun. A British Whippet Tank (Justin) now moved at full speed forward paving a way through the barbed wire creating a hole that the British cavalry could charge through to attack a nearby German A7V Tank. The cavalry had other thoughts and refused
The French and British artillery now also managed to cause some German casualties and the French and British infantry ran forward towards the German trenches. The remaining French troops continued to try and outflank the Germans on the left flank.
The British move forward
The French move forward without stopping
The Germans kept up a continues and deadly fire, two more French and a British unit were whipped out. On the right Flank Latok's A7V opened fire on the British Whippet thank, the German shell breached the Whippets armour and the light tank went up in flames. A second A7V opened fire on a British Mark IV, despite the fact that it was more heavily armoured than the Whippet the German shell still managed to penetrate the armour and that tank was taken out as well. In the counsil house the fighting between the tough Australians (Justin) and the German Jaegers continued, casualty's mounted. Alex managed to take out two French Renault FT17 tanks.
Marshall Joffre (Joost) decided to move forward behind his troops, to his great frustration he saw a French captain cowering and frightfully looking towards the German lines. Furious about the cowardice he scolded the captain who gathered his courage, left the crater and now moved forward towards the enemy again. The captain turned around and saw the approving look of Joffre, satisfied he put his thumb into the air, at that moment one of Big Bertha's shells hit. Of the captain and his unit nothing remained with the exception of a large crated filled with human remains. Shocked Joffre witnessed the scene but he had no time to put his thoughts in order, a gas grenade landed near his position, Joffre realised that he hadn't brought his gasmask and with a whip from his cane he felled one of his adjudants and took his gasmask. shocked by what he had witnessed Joffre decide that it would be wiser to witness the battle from a saver distance.
Two more gas grenades killed several British and French soldiers in the most gruelling way. With a British Mark IV tank near the German trenches a unit of Jaegers decided to charge the Tank, the officer gave the order but the scared soldiers refused to charge the tank. In a panick the German Soldiers ran away leaving a hole in the German lines.
The Germans shoot with everything they have but the allies keep coming
In the counsil house the Jaegers and Australian troops fight a deadly battle
Australian troops move through the counsil house
The first British and French tanks managed to reach the trenches where they halted, machineguns and howitzers opened a deadly fire on the German troops that could no longer take cover from their trenches. No German units were broken but the casualties mounted. A British unit could now use the hole in the line that the fleeing German Jaegers had left and the first allies moved into the trenches.
Haig (Justin) decided that his cavalry had to be deployed and they charged towards a single A7V Tank (Latok), the German tank tried to defend itself by firing a hasty shot that missed. Armed with grenades the cavalry attacked the German tank but it sustained minimal damage. The Australian troops managed to take out the German Jaegers, the counsil house had been taken. French troops threw themselves into the barbed wire, the British cut wholes through them with iron cutters. A French unit got disorientated, from the surrounding gas and powder clouds they saw another unit approaching. The unit opened fire and managed to take out the other unit, as they went down the French realised they had taken out another French unit.
British cavalry vs A7V
The Germans realized that the pressure on the line kept mounting, Latok opened fire with his A7V en his Jaegers on the British cavalry, an appalled Haig (Justin) saw how his horsemen were taken out. The two remaining A7V's now moved towards the counsil house and brought themselves in a position to expel the Australians. Two French tanks were taken out and poisonous gas managed to kill more allied men. This time the Scottish brigade had to withstand the German fury as a unit of these brave men was wiped out from close range gun fire. At point-blank range the Germans fired on the oncoming British and French soldiers which suffered massive casualties. The Jaegers that had previously run were now ordered to turn around and charge the British troops in the trench, they had not yet come to terms with their panick and they refused.
The German General Hindenburg and his chief of staff Ludendorf (Sander)
With the A7V’s closely positioned the Australian troops left the hard fought over counsil house and took shelter on the other side behind its safe thick walls. In the meantime British and French tanks shelled the Germans from pointblank range taking out several German units. The British unit that was already in the trenches opened fire on the panicked Jaegers that were killed to the last men. The French had also reached the other side and a unit of French cavalry charged into the trenches slaughtering a German unit. Regardless of the massive amount of casualties the Allies had suffered the battle was turning in their favour.
The Germans now tried to save what could be saved and they decided to fire on the Allies from close range with everything they had. At short range they fired their gas grenades at the French, an unfavourable wind blew the gas towards the trenches where brutal hand to hand combat took place. To late the Germans realised the gas cloud had entered the trench and several German soldiers experienced the horror of their own gas as they slowly but painfully turned yellow, gasping for air as they fell to the ground. The French cavalry also wasn't spared, the poor animals had no idea what happened, the riders were thrown of but they had no time to take care of their companions. They struggled in the mud and blood of the trenches to put on their gasmasks, they were easy prey for a nearby German unit that shot them down as they laid on the floor gasping for air. A French Renault FT17 Tank also wasn't spared, the gas moved in through the holes and the driver lost its life. Further German fire managed to kill more allied troops but by now the allies were unstoppable.
British and French units had now reached the other side and several units entered the trenches where heavy fighting took place. A British Mark IV (Erik) opened fire to all sides taking out two German units and a machine gun. The German centre now laid open while the French (Abe) also poured into the trenches.
The allies poor into the trenches
Hindenburg realised that the allied wave could no longer be stopped and he pulled his troops out. The front line was lost and these troops were sacrificed to win time. The remaining troops pulled out, accompanied by the valuable A7V's, the Germans had lost no tanks. Beaten the Germans moved towards a save position two kilometres further where they dug in. Joffre and Haig had were satisfied, the casualties had been horrendous but a great victory was won, two kilometres of land were taken in exchange for half of their army.
Thanks for posting.
Who produce those miniatures?
