The Great War

Last Saturday, my friend Sean--of Sean's Wargame Corner fame--came over for a game of The Great War by Warhammer Historicals. If you haven't played these rules, they really are a blast. (But I need to modify the firing and casualty dice to tone down lethality a little bit. Maybe I will go with a D10 system.) All figures are from Great War Miniatures, which is the best 28mm WW1 line in my not-so-humble opinion.

We played a meeting engagement scenario set in 1914 somewhere in Belgium. A company of British infantry with attached machine gun were defending a hill against a German infantry company reinforced with an understrength company of Jägers and a machine gun. The British started the game deployed, whereas the German player started with his Jägers deployed on the table and the infantry coming on as reserves in subsequent turns.

Initial moves saw the Jägers move up on the German right/British left to pin down the British left, while the British line moved up to engage. Steady British marksmanship saw the better of the German Jägers, sending one platoon packing. The other Jäger platoon kept in the fight despite heavy casualties and, with the help of an infantry platoon moving up in the German center, sent the British left platoon packing. Things evened out once the British machine gun opened up on the German center, decimating it.

As the German infantry company began to advance on its left, the rightmost British platoon moved to try to outflank the German left or at least pin it down. This devolved into both platoons going to ground to seek what little cover they could. After heavy casualties, the British were forced to retreat on the right before rallying after the machine gun snapped at the pursuing German infantry.

At the end of the day, the British forced a draw, but with heavy casualties for both sides. Rather a historical result.

On to the pictures: