By Scott Simoneau
Chris and I got in a game of
Flames of War 1918... except using 1914 lists. The British were attacking the Germans in Breakthrough. We played small - 580 pts a side. The games were played using Chris's
FoW1918 rules
THE LISTS:
The Germans (rated Confident Conscript, no special rules other than Quantity of Quality) consisted of
- CiC/2iC
- Three 17-stand platoons of riflemen
- A single HMG and command stand
The British (rated Confident Trained, no special rules other than British Bulldog) consisted of
CiC/2iC and
- Four 9-stand platoons of riflemen
- A single HMG and command stand
- Three 105mm howitzers (no observer or staff team)
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| Germans deploy in blog blocks knowing they'll have to high tail it over to the objective |
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| More blocks of Germans |
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| Germans on the far flank spread out into a gun line |
Deployment saw me putting the guns and the HMG in the corner with one rifle platoon protecting them. I put three other rifle platoons in reserve.
Chris deployed all the Germans, as mobile reserves did not hinder anything, as neither of us had any vehicles.
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| The guns open fire on the German lines |
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| The shots land and pin, but fail to kill anything |
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| The Germans advance their HMG up to draw LoS on my troops... |
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| ...but that ends poorly for the German HMG |
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| The Germans have hightailed it over the objectives. Circling the wagon on the sheep and moving towards the cart. |
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| Say, Hans, what do you think is in this cart anyway? |
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| Well, at least we can make some new wool uniforms? |
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| The second turn of artillery fire sees one German casualty. That's what you get for digging in on railroad tracks. |
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| And the British HMG has a silver bullet, taking out another stand with that 6+ firepower. |
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| The commander from the German HMG platoon fails his last man standing, when he was so close to getting away! |
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| Turn 4 sees British reserves arrive in the corner, taking control of the wheat field. |
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| And a second platoon advancing towards the sheep. |
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| The artillery fire keeps the third German platoon pinned down and unable to render assistance. |
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| The British charge forward towards the sheep. They were not able to pin the Germans down, but with only rifles on the board and ample cover, they pull the assault off. |
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| Defensive fire kills a few stands, and the assault kills a few more |
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| But the British push through, establishing control of the woods |
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| The Germans regroup, surrounding both British platoons in hostile territory. |
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| The Germans near the sheep are pushed back by defensive fire |
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| But the Germans at the cart still have Quantity of Quality and continue into close combat |
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| The fight is a bloody back and forth, but the British have no where to run, and fight down to the last |
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| The far Germans begin closing in towards the sheep |
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| But another platoon of British emerge from behind the woods! |
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| And put some shots on the stronger German platoon, dropping them below Quantity of Quality status. |
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| The British manage to wipe out the Germans contesting the sheep through shooting and a failed morale check |
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| While more Germans haul in from the east |
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| They manage to get close enough to contest, but are pinned down in the assault |
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| Meanwhile the British playing rearguard for the guns advance up, not wanting to be left out of the fight |
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| The Germans in the thick of it fail to unpin |
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| Rearguard British move into assault... |
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| And emerge victorious... |
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| And continue pushing towards the action... |
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| And the British take the sheep for another day |
After actions: Some mistakes were made - the HMG moving towards the British and not pulling back to cover the objectives was pretty huge. When you only have rifle teams to deal with, stopping assaults becomes very difficult.
It's really a refreshing take on FoW to play at the infantry level without tanks, and without a lot of "toys". At this point, we really only have rifles, artillery, and the occasional HMG. As we move towards later 1914 and 1915, we'll start to add some armored cars, which should prove to be pretty durable since the rifles only have an AT of 1. (and I just got my 3D printed Russo Balt in...)
