Great War Commander : 23 August 1914

This was as a learning game in two respects. 

The obvious one is that this scenario, the scenario #2,  introduces on-table ordinance in the form of a German mortar and off-table artillery in the form of a "telephone" that can call local barrages for the French. The other is that it had been almost two weeks since I played last and I had become uncertain about some rules in the interim which lead to more page flipping than I thought it would.

The situation is such that the French are initiating a last counterattack before withdrawing and the Germans are tasked with holding the village of Onhaye, Belgium. 

The Germans are outnumbered but they do have the cover of the village and reinforcements (a platoon with an MG - not exactly an overwhelming force) are coming. Unlike the French in the previous scenario, the Germans are not required to setup in specified hexes and therefore are not required to start units out of cohesion. There is a limit how deep they can deploy and which columns, but beyond that, the only requirement is that all of the fox holes they are allocated have to be deployed and occupied at the start. 

There are 5 objectives in play in this scenario, three of which are near French deployment so they have a leg up in that respect, but the Germans offset this with 6 VP at the start.

The French get a free barrage before the start of turn 1 that will turn two of the buildings, determined by card draw, to rubble and suppress any units in them. Rubble reduces the defense value of the building from a +3 cover bonus to +2. If later rubble is reduced to a shellhole, the cover bonus reduces to +1.

Because it was my first attempt at the scenario and being more interested in the ordinance and barrage aspects for this first run, I, for good or for ill, opted to deploy the French randomly. I used the cards to do this (the cards all have hexes on them for randomization of effects, such as snipers, blazes, and aerial attacks). The result was a force divided into three - which, while it on the one hand enabled easy capture of objectives for the French, led to some very obviously self-inflicted difficulties coordinating attacks.

Setup, post- pre-game barrage.

As one group of French attempted to capture the village head on, one tried to advance over open ground on the right, and another from the woods to the North West. Open ground when facing machine guns is, not suprisingly, a terrible idea - although the French were luck, recovering more than they lost each time. The French attacking from the woods tried to swing around the back of the Germans, but were completely cut off without a leader after some devastating rifle fire.

As I, and thus the French, began to get the hang of artillery barrages the village was gradually brought down to rubble and shell craters. Unfortunately, the bombing did very little to the Germans occupying the village.

And then the tide began to turn.

Not only did the Germans have reinforcements scheduled to arrive, but they drew a card which gave the * additional * support. 

End of game battle for the village.

Close combats went badly for the French. Although they managed to relink the cut-off units in the back of the village, the Germans continued to hammer the French with rifle and MG fire (the mortar was poorly positioned from the start - my error - and served no role in the proceedings) and initiated their own close combats with success. Meanwhile, the French churned cards looking for Offensive, Fire, or Advance (by this point artillery barrages had become too risky - they can drift from the proposed target and strike your own units ff you're unlucky).

The game clock reached 10 - the first sudden death check for this scenario. A card was drawn and the game ended there and then.  When the points were totaled the Germans won 24 to 18. Basically then, both sides scored 18 points, but the Germans had the 6-point advantage from the start.

The final accounting.

A lot of fun and stimulation of the "little grey cells" (been watching Poirot season 1, for the first time). I think next time - if I can get the game in before too much time passes - I will be able to invest more in focusing on the decisions and less on the rules.

Also for next time: the French setup will be more deliberate, and I will put the platoon with an MG with the highest ranked leader, and the Germans will position their mortar     well away from the town and the French board entry points, to take advantage of the mortar's long range.

And, completely unrelated to the above, a WIP shot of my Hospitaller. Quite a bit left to do, but this figure is finally starting to come together.  and you can get a sense of what the final will look like. 

I'm hopeful that I'll pick up the brush again in the next few days, now that I sense completion is near.