Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Great War, March 2011

I apologize for the nearly year-long delay in updating this blog.

Recently, we played a game of Warhammer Historical's The Great War. The game was a generic Anglo-German encounter battle. I wish I had more photos of the action, but I became too involved in rules explanation and refereeing to take pictures.

Before the photos, a quick recap of the game is in order. The British had the first turn and advanced their platoons up to a line of hedges. Their objective was to hold that line if possible and, if not, to hold a line at the rear of the wheat fields. The German objective was to push the British out of one or both lines. As soon as the Germans came within range, the British opened up with their Enfields and Vickers.

The Germans advanced. On their right, they made slow progress through the wheat field with two platoons. One platoon got on top of a rocky prominence, but was quickly chased off of it. The other platoon never advanced beyond the hedge of the wheat field. On the German left, a platoon of infantry and a Maxim gun ascended the rocky hill in the center of the map. They laid down and began firing on the British line. The last German platoon went around to the left of the hill, intending an assault on the British line.

Fortunately for the British, they were able to hold off the German advance long enough to get a victory. But things certainly looked grim at the end of the day.

To begin with, here is a view of the British line from behind the Vickers gun. A couple platoons of Germans can be seen in the distance.






On the first turn, rightmost British platoon advanced to occupy a country lane in advance of a wheat field.




A view of the line which the British held throughout the battle. A third platoon is located behind a hedge row in front of the wheat field in the distance, but its location obscured by the tree.




The German company enters the board. And their commander gesticulates.



And some Germans hanging out in a wheat field.