Last Stand at L'Armee Farm: WWI Battle Report
Hello everyone, and welcome to a new battle report in our latest Supercampaign: Storm of Steel. After the exertions of our recent games, this is a nice simple side campaign we're running to relax before the big games we have planned for next year.
This is the situation on the afternoon of the first day, April 7th:
As you can see, the Germans are starting to take ground at a considerable pace. We don't know what their casualties are like, but they suffered very heavily in the opening assaults so we hope to be able to trade ground (and lives) for time for their offensive to burn out.
I'm still experimenting with the format for the 'perfect' battle report format - I like to keep them simple overviews, rather than blow-by-blow accounts. Here are three pictures illustrating the early, middle and late game of a German assault on a farmhouse where a British battalion HQ was located.
The Germans basically turfed the Brits out and won the ground, although at a heavy cost, and didn't manage to capture very much (although they did bag a company commander). The Brits took an absolute pasting but managed to come off in reasonably good order.
That's the beauty of s supercampaign game. If this was a one-off, it would have been an open and shut victory for the Germans. But because there are other factors at play - the limited reserves, the tight German timeline, the British supply lines shortening as they get driven back, it's actually hard to say whether the victory was 'worth it' for the Germans, based on how many men it cost them.
This is the situation on the afternoon of the first day, April 7th:
As you can see, the Germans are starting to take ground at a considerable pace. We don't know what their casualties are like, but they suffered very heavily in the opening assaults so we hope to be able to trade ground (and lives) for time for their offensive to burn out.
I'm still experimenting with the format for the 'perfect' battle report format - I like to keep them simple overviews, rather than blow-by-blow accounts. Here are three pictures illustrating the early, middle and late game of a German assault on a farmhouse where a British battalion HQ was located.
The Germans basically turfed the Brits out and won the ground, although at a heavy cost, and didn't manage to capture very much (although they did bag a company commander). The Brits took an absolute pasting but managed to come off in reasonably good order.
That's the beauty of s supercampaign game. If this was a one-off, it would have been an open and shut victory for the Germans. But because there are other factors at play - the limited reserves, the tight German timeline, the British supply lines shortening as they get driven back, it's actually hard to say whether the victory was 'worth it' for the Germans, based on how many men it cost them.
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| Lovely, lovely Baccus Germans |
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| The Germans managed to silence the British machine guns in a single turn with this incredible round of shooting. |
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| Always keeping an eye on things... |
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| Ollie played a blinder, keeping up the relentless pace of the attack. |
It was a really fun game, and perhaps the bloodiest of all the WWI games we've played so far. Who knows how the rest of the day will play out... will the Germans be able to sustain this incredible pace? Will the British be able to stop them before they come crashing over the River Lys into the army's rear areas?
Tune in to the next report to find out....
Ed
Looks great- I'll enjoy seeing this one play out.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Thanks Pete, our next game should be in a few weeks.
DeleteI'll call you out on a 'morernish' No2 jacket and only crossed batons on your epilettes. What on earth possessed you ?!?!
ReplyDeleteI love the super campaign aspect. Hopefully this is what people get when they wade through the Devos IV drivel...
It would have been nice to have been a field marshal, but as a brigade commander crossed batons is all I could muster. And yes, it is alas a modern jacket (not to mention anachronistic medals), it's all part of the fun.
DeleteThey do get it when they go into it, I assure you. Now it just needs to be collected in book form...
Loved the report!
ReplyDeleteThose dice - far out!
The dice gods are indeed fickle - for the next few turns the Germans failed to kill anything with their MGs. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Colonel!
Delete