Modifying Trench Hammer to Better Reflect Assault Troop Tactics

Trench Hammer does an admirable job of feeling WWI-like and not WWII-with-older-gear. Of course, we all come to our games with certain expectations and no rules can cover everything after all

Since I enjoy them enough to consider them my main WWI  rules (for now, we all know how that goes), I figure I ought to consider ways to make them more relevant to my purposes: to play toy soldiers on the Southern Front, inspired in particular in replicating the kinds of scenarios described in Hell in the Trenches (Morisi).

Yes, this was only recently posted, but I don't have any more recent pics to use here and a wall of text without some kind of picture is too scary to contemplate.

In playing Trench Hammer (see this post),  for the Italians, getting a coordinated action from all of the units (rolling high enough command points) wasn't a given, just as it shouldn't have been.  They were far less independent than the Arditi of their own army. However, the Austrian stormtroops felt only fractionally more agile than their opponent, which is a significant contrast to the history I've read.

The rules suggest that stormtroops add 1 to their command role. In my game, they had two leaders (another suggestion from the rules), but they still only roll for command points once (if I understood the rules). On average they can activate 4-5 units per turn (3-4 +1), just like the Italians. Leader figures give various advantages but not enough to make them notably more independent and flexible in response to local situations the way stormtroops are often described.

I think the way to handle that is to give each leader figure its own die for command so that, yes, sometimes not all stormtroops will act, most times they all will.

The other major missing piece, for me, was the creeping barrage. 

This was key to for the use of stormtroops, if my books are accurate at least. Following close behind the dropping shells, as soon as the barrage would lift they would be right on top of the defenders, before the latter had even even made it out of the dugouts. 

Compare that to the barrages that would lift well in advance of the troops entering the area. The Italians repeatedly did this, and the Austrian machine gunners would return to their positions and open fire on the sea of men advancing towards them.

You might argue that I am venturing away from toy soldiers into simulation. However, I believe one can still include such things and maintain an enjoyable fun game with more period flavor without unnecessary calculations. A preliminary barrage is covered by the rules and with a few tweaks can be used as a creeping barrage.

Modifications for Trench Hammer: Assault Troops vs Regular Infantry on the Defense

 1. Creeping Barrage

• Handled after defender sets up
  
• Puts the defender Heads Down
  
• Kills some of the defenders - start with damage taken(Use the rules for "Artillery bombardment" from the rule book)
  

2. Coordination with Barrage determines starting position of attacker. 

This is the important bit - otherwise it's just a bombardment.

Early days of stormtroop use saw coordination vary considerably - and I get the feeling from having read Stormtroop Tactics by Gudmundsson, that each division had to figure this coordination out for themselves. Even later in the war, coordination was sometimes thrown off by a lack of visibility or mistakes in communication.  

Roll 1d6 to determine coordination. Add +1 to the roll for later war if you'd like to reflect more consistent coordination.

• 1-2 Poor coordination - place attacking unit 6" + 2d6" from defender position, initiative to defenders
  
• 3-4 Average coordination - place attacking unit 6" + 1d6" from defender position, initiative as normal
  
• 5-6 Excellent coordination - place attacking unit 1d6" from defender position, initiative belongs to attackers
  

Roll for the starting position of  EACH assault unit/squad. It was not uncommon for some units to run ahead of others based on conditions the squads encountered. 

 

For regular troops following behind the assault troops,  they would advance more in a line, without getting too far ahead or behind (if playing Verdun on Steam has taught me anything about WWI, is that you don't want to do either. If you do, you'll be shot by your own side for desertion) and thus a single positioning roll for behind the assault troops applied to all regular units would be acceptable to reflect that. Say 2d6" behind.

 

If that all seems close, it's based on the suggestion in the Expansion which recommends 2d6" + 6" for a starting position for a regular sized game.

3. Assault troops receive 1 leader for every 3 units AND  each one rolls 1d6 +1 for commands available (rather than rolling 2d6 and choosing the high roll for your entire force). Assault troops will almost always act then on their own initiative.

4. Regular troops receive 1 leader for every 6 - 9 units to represent lack of authority given to individual soldiers to act on their own intiative. 

Regardless of total leader count, they still only roll 2d6 for command points and keep the high roll. The attempt is to model overall command effort required to coordinate larger numbers of soldiers and the difficulty of larger units trying to react to a threat as quickly as smaller, more agile units.

Keep in mind none of the above has been play-tested yet. I hope to stage a game in the near future to try them out.