Attack into Belgium 1914

Much like elephants mating, wargames projects can be long in gestation. Murray began his 1914 Belgian division for Great War Spearhead quite some time ago, and having finally got enough troops painted and based to make for a 'playable' scenario (about half a division, 3 regiments) we had to give them a try. The figures are a mix of HaT 20mm and Lancashire Games 18mm. You probably can't tell the difference. In this scenario they are opposed by my early war Germans, all those old classic Airfix figures that actually date from some time in the early '70's if I recall correctly.

The scenario models a German division approaching a river crossable only at a major town bridge, and a ford a km or so upstream. An additional crossing has been found quite some way further upstream still enabling a flank march ... strains of the British on the Marne a few weeks later. The game was of course played using our preferred Great War Spearhead rules.

The Germans approach from the left, the Belgians have taken up position to the right of the river 

The Belgian deployment, with one regiment off able in reserve.. the eventual arrow of commitment appears on the bottom of the map.

The German attack plan, with the regiment that has marched upstream to investigate intelligence reports of a viable crossing

The German left flank.. Murray's deployment (at the top of the photo) was unconventional

The German centre (reserve) on the left of the photo, and the right flank 3rd Regiment advancing

Belgian artillery

The German left flank 1st Regiment takes its first casualties

Artillery and small arms fire against the German 1st Regiment

German fire starts to fall on the Belgian right, including an off table regiment of 77mm field artillery. These Belgians eventually also come under fire from the German 150mm Corps guns, but not yet

The German right flank 3rd Regiment takes casualties from the Belgian artillery seen at the top of the photo

German field artillery deployed in support of the German 1st Regiment

Getting messy for the right flank German 3rd Regiment

Belgian cavalry (proxied with British cavalry figures) advances from its position to the rear

The gaps in front of the German artillery (bottom of the photo) reflect the casualties that the Germans are taking from the Belgian artillery. However the German flanking regiment has arrived (after some delay) and takes the Belgian guns in the flank. One battery has already fallen

The impact of the German flank attack as the infantry bring fire onto the Belgian guns. German 150 mm gun fire is also now falling on the Belgians

The Belgian reserve regiment is committed and advances to counter the German threat to its flank

The German right. The Belgian artillery at the top of the photo has been reduced to two batteries after fire from German artillery (observed fire rather than counter battery, which is not available at this early stage of the war)

That Belgian artillery opposing the German right (3rd) regiment

Belgian fire has stripped away the German 1 Regiment infantry protecting the German artillery on the German left

The Belgian artillery supporting their left is eliminated

The Belgian reserve (top of the photo) advances from the Belgian baseline and joins the action against the German flanking regiment

Murray's Belgian divisional HQ stand

The Belgians opposing the German left push forward to threaten the German 1st Regiment

Reserves vs flanking force... this is getting serious

The German 3rd Regiment on the German right begins a shift to their left along the river (which is uncrossable anywhere except the bridge and the ford) to bring pressure onto the Belgians at the bridge

Belgian defenders at the bridge

The German flanking regiment is taking some significant casualties

However the Belgian regiment defending the ford on their right (the German left) has suffered significant casualties and fails two moral checks in the one turn (yes, it went from below 50% casualties to more than 2/3 casualties in one turn of fire)

The Belgian cavalry pushes across the bridge to take the half of the town on the other side of the river (which had remained unoccupied until now), but pays the price under fire from the German reserve which is immediately committed to attack the town and bridge with a command arrow 

The German reserve about to push forward

The German 3rd Regiment shift across from the right to the bridge

The game had a designated 12 turn length, and the Germans had to get across the river.  At this stage they had failed to take the bridge, and while the flank regiment was across the river, and their immediate opponents had been eliminated, the Belgian reserve had steadied the line and countered the flank attack.

We ruled the game a draw as neither side had effectively achieved its objectives. A great outing for the Belgians whose OOB as a fighting force are distinctly lacking in both MMG and artillery support.

Mesopotamian action 1916

This week Murray and I returned to Great War Spearhead, with a scenario set early 1916 in Mesopotamia. It is not an historical scenario, but rather one inspired by the sort of positional conflict you see in such battles as Sannaiyat, Ramadi, Daur and Tikrit. 

A Turkish division is manning defences in advance of a town, flanked on one side by a river (the Tigris perhaps?) and a dried watercourse or wadi on the other. A British division is attacking with the aim of breaking the defensive line and taking the town. It is supported by a naval flotilla of two gunboats. Their task is complicated by a significant supply problem: a shortage of artillery and shells. One of the many features of these battles was the impact of the mirage, the visual distortions caused by the heat. Accounts talk of this creating a severe limitation on target location generally, and on artillery especially. To simulate this, while the game is 12 turns in length, all location between moves 4 and 10 is limited to 12" regardless of any other circumstances (e.g. hill contours, target firing etc).

The game was fought using my 6mm armies, all of the figures from the Irregular range. The gunboats were scratchbuilt.

Turkish OOB and scenario rules

British OOB and scenario rules

British attack plan, which includes a deep flank march by units of the ANZAC Imperial Camel Corps (yes I know, wrong part of the Middle East for them, but it's still a fictional scenario)

View from behind the British attack. Two Turkish regiments hold the front defences, and one is in reserve in the rear defensive line. Their left flank (right of the photo) is held by a unit of Arab cavalry. The centre British brigade is held in reserve. The wadi is clearly seen on the upper right

The gunboats steam ahead

The  Arab cavalry

The British left flank brigade (the 19th) advances with the gunboat flotilla in support

The British reserve

The British right flank brigade (the 17th) advancing

The ICC deep flank march pushes in behind the Arab cavalry unaware of them at this stage

Turn 3, and the British ICC unit arrives on the Turkish flank after a successful deep flank march

The Turkish commander deploys his divisional cavalry from their reserve position to counter the threat to their flank

The gunboats take fire from a battery of Turkish 76mm guns, and a company of Turkish MMGs

One of the gunboats is suppressed

The early firefight sees significant gaps appear in the British 19th left flank brigade

On the British right similarly the attackers (7th Brigade) are caught in quite a firestorm of fire

The second gunboat remains suppressed while the first, having eliminated a battery of Turkish 76mm artillery, inflicts a suppression on one company of Turkish defenders

However that left flank Brigade (the 19th) is taking severe punishment

The 7th Brigade on the British right coming up against the Turkish defences

British casualties start to appear amongst the 7th too too

The ICC start to win the firefight with the Turkish cavalry even though the Turkish troops have the benefit of occupying the wadi

The ferocity of the firefight with the British left flank 19th Brigade, and the extent of the casualties, are clear to see here.

The British right flank brigade has secured some cover within a central palm grove

The Arab cavalry advance into the wadi.. what is their plan?

The ICC are still held up by the remnants of the Turkish divisional cavalry, which passes it's first morale check

The 19th Brigade is finally beginning to inflict casualties on their opponents in the light entrenchments, especially with the divisional artillery finally getting in to action firing direct from the raised ground tio their rear, but note the huge gaps in their formation. This has cost them dearly.

This is the Turkish right flank facing 19th Brigade

The British reserve brigade has been committed (seen on the right of this photo) and is joining the attack against the Turkish centre, but there too the Turkish defenders are proving resolute, and their fire is proving effective

The British right still heavily engaged

The Arab cavalry have emerged from the wadi, their intent now clear, to threaten the British right flank

The ICC are pushing forward, but it may be too late. The Turkish cavalry have done their job.

At this stage we ran out of time (we really must learn to spend less time yarning over a beer at the start of the evening). The British attack has clearly failed. The Turkish reserve remains uncommitted, and both of the forward Turkish regiments are still a way of first morale tests, while the British attackers have suffered severely. The British gunboat flotilla proved to be less decisive than we thought. As the British commander I might also have been. more thoughtful in the minor tactics of how I brought the  initial attacking brigades into the attack.

However all in all another damned fine outing for the GWSH armies.