Great War Battle Report – 1914 French vs Germans

Six months ago I saw a copy of the new Great War rules on a shelf in Nick’s shop, (shop is a strong word here, North Star Games is a distribution point for 100′s of stockists and is run out of a couple of workshops in the same business centre as me).  As is the want of a company the size of Games Workshop, the book grabs you straight away with its immaculate artwork and photos, pages of well layed out rules, interspersed with very clear diagrams. I suppose if anything was going to draw me away from the constant Warhammer games we play it would be something like this. I bought the book there and then, read it that night cover to cover and went back to Nick for figures the next day. And they say this hobby should be down graded from Class B……

Knowing the people I game with I opted to go for a French force to start. The British and Germans were bound to appeal more to everyone else, and besides I do have a soft spot for all things “Je ne sais pas”.

My forces comprised of four, ten man infantry platoons and two command platoons. Dave had three 12 man infantry platoons, a command platoon and a machine gun. Points wise I had about 280 and his was 245, nearly equal. I’m sure his lone machine gun makes up for it!

We rolled for mission and got the Take and Hold with Corner deployments. We choose the rocky outcrop, the central wood and the lane between fences and walls as the three objectives. Our deployment is also shown in the first photo.

A closer look at our lines can be seen here.

 

TURN 1

The fog cleared and we began the battle. The French won the roll for the first turn and ran as fast as they could towards the enemy; shouting insults as they went. The “Elan” special rule was too tempting not to use, so all bar one platoon threw their rifles over their shoulder and sprinted!

The Germans responded by heading for the closest two objectives and benefitting from the protection it gave. The central platoon stood still and fired a salvo into the French in front of them, killing two.

TURN 2

The French continued to try and outflank the enemy taking positions in both woods. The central unit returned fire, hitting four times and caused four wounds! The German unit thought this was a bit too much and turned tail and fled!

The German right held steady and shot whilst the left flank charged headlong into the French platoon to try and stop the outflanking manouvre before it struck. They inflicted four casualties to the French’s two, a good win but the French courage held fast – well what did you expect from the best army on the planet…?

TURNS 3 & 4

The French command platoon joined in the combat on the right flank whilst the left unloaded into the Germans in and around the rocky outcrop. The combat was brutal and the Germans fled, only to be shepherded off the battlefield the next turn. The shooting went just as well with three German casualties and a failed morale test!

TURNS 5 & 6

With so few figures on the table the turns were going by very quickly. Too quick to get all the photos in anyway! The German left opened fire and obliterated the flank force and panicked the unit in the wood who turned tail and fled for two turns! On the French left the platoon pushed forward onto the objective, perhaps too soon as they were quickly gunned down and forced to flee, again for two turns.. At this point I’m sure I heard Dave say something about “cheese eating surrender monkeys” but that could’ve been the wind!

TURN 7

Being possibly the last turn the Germans had it in the bag. They held the rocky outcrop and contested the woods.  The two fleeing French units rallied, if it went another turn this could swing again.

TURN 8

Yes you guessed it, Dave rolled a 6 and we continued to fight to the death! The French and Germans in the wood engaged each other in combat and caused indenticle wounds on each other, basically taking both units below scoring status. The French rear guard (it was planned, honest!) stepped into the breach claiming one objective whilst shooting the few Germans that were left in the outcrop, killing two and sending them scurrying. The day belonged to Les Bleus, a victory at a huge cost though. Only ten models were left on my side and six on the enemies!

Ahhh! The sweet smell of victory.

I thought the game played through very well with only a minimal need to refer back to the rulebook. I can see this being a lot of fun with a few hundred figures a side. Time to go back to Nick I think…..

See you all again soon.

Andrew