Righto, we thought.. Great war Spearhead we thought, let's try a new scenario, we thought.. Usdau, 1914, we thought.. seemed vaguely familiar, we thought, but anyway, out came my 6mm armies (Irregular Miniatures), and on we went.
Only problem.. we chose a scenario we'd already played.. here is the link to the previous game, played with my 20mm armies.
Anyway, a photo record of the action in 6mm
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| The battlefield seen from the NNW.. Russians defending the high ground to the left, Germans attacking from the right. The rail line running along the table counts as level 1 entrenchments for stands immediately behind it |
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| Usdau is a 3 village sector 'town', heavily occupied by the Russians |
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| The Russian left, more lightly defended than the right, which hangs as an open flank |
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| Jon flank marches two regiments on the right, deep flank marches |
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| A German regiment holds the German right, and a second regiment advances directly towards Usdau |
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| The Russian reserve regiment turns to face the flank march |
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| Fire opens on the Russian right against the flank march (Russians on the left of the photo, Germans advancing on the right) |
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| The German regiment advancing directly towards Usdau comes under fire and begins to take casualties |
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| Jon pushes the advance on the flank |
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| The Russian right flank defenders are also taking fire and casualties |
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| German flanking force is taking signifiant casualties in what is becoming an intense firefight |
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| Russian 'reserve' regiment taking intense fire, including direct artillery fore from 77mm gun batteries that have now unlimbered in support |
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| The defenders of Usdau aa\come under heavy and sustained fire |
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| That German regiment advancing directly on Usdau is feeling the heat, fails a morale check and withdraws |
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| The remnants of the retreating German regiment seen in the upper part of the photo moving away from the camera |
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| Usdau.. it's pretty hot in there now, casualties mounting on the defenders |
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| The scene across the battlefield from behind the German flank march |
The German attack had failed, with one regiment having pulled back, and one of the flank marching regiments teetering on the brink of collapse too. However both of the Russian right flank regiments were also just a few stands away from compulsory morale checks. Their larger size saved them, since all of the Russian troops are counted as 'Green'.
Comparing this refight with our 2018 version, the German flank march was stronger this time around, Jon flank marching two regiments. However this meant that the remainder of the Russian force had been pretty much unengaged.
The German task is pretty demanding. The scenario notes comment that the Russian defenders are classified as Green to provide a degree of vulnerability given that the scenario models an open flank for the defenders. Interesting that in two runs through, the Germans have struggled to take Usdau, or to drive Russian regiments to a morale check.
However, another great game
