Valor & Victory – 1918 (German v. French Megagame)

The epic battle of French and Germans in the trenches of Chemin des Dames …

… concludes.

To the northeast, Hauptmann Schoeller gathers what remaining forces he still has from his shattered stosstruppen kompanie, clinging to his position as Bothi runs up behind him with his own handfuls of survivors.  The Germans have more or less won the western two boards, the final result of this murderous trench battle will come down to whether the Germans can clear most of the French positions on the eastern boards as well.  They face an uphill battle, the French are well-fortified, the actually outnumber the Germans here, and the French still have significant mortar support, although this last factor is fading fast as the Germans clear mortar positions from the western boards.

Weakened German stacks are vulnerable to French assault, especially after some of their units in these stacks are pinned by French mortar strikes or direct rifle fire from the bunkers and houses.

Finally, the third image below shows the overall situation at the end of Turn 4. The Germans have now completely cleared the western two boards (although even those mortar crews put up some decent fights on occasion and cost the Germans in casualties and time), while the Germans continue to feed squads into maintaining that bloody toehold on the northeast board.

Starting on Turn 5, we see the prototypical nightmare of Allied forces during the spring and summer of 1918 – German stosstruppen detachments running unchecked through secondary, support, and communications trenches, fanning out in all directions, assaulting and overrunning isolated French positions wherever they find them.  Three assaults at once are happening here, German firepower supplemented by flamethrowers and -1 and -2 officers.  By making careful use of the pinning rules, the Germans are not able to clear almost all these positions, but thanks to their elite status and presence of officers, actually pay almost nothing in the process.

Bothi just has a huge target painted on his back today.  One of the last French mortar teams scores a “snake eyes” hit (best roll in the game) on his remaining troops, inflicting still more casualties.

Yet Bothi will not be stopped.  Gathering still more squads and half-squads from remaining platoons, he forms a last-ditch assault group here (with another officer helping him, one of his fire teams armed with am MG 08 15 LMG and despite losing another half squad to opportunity fire, manages a lucky assault on Captain Auger’s position, the last real French position left.  The cost is grim, however.  The Building was a +3 cover bonus, and Auger had three half-squads in that building.  So that’s 3 casualty points for the building, 3 for the half squads, and 1 for Auger = 7 in all, in addition to the half-squad lost to opportunity fire.

Clearly, this is the kind of assault you usually make only after having a couple artillery missions called in on the house (but the Germans have none of these left) or some flamethrower teams burn some of the French out first (the Germans have none of these left either).  So it’s grenade, bayonet, and shovel time … and the Germans pay a predictably high butcher’s bill for this “victory.”

Meanwhile, Haputmann Setesch and Leutnant Brecht have assaulted from the south, clearing a much more lightly-held French  building and putting some fire down on French mortar pit, one of the last French positions on the board.

Finally, this last image shows t he position at the end of Turn 6, the end of the game.  The Germans have … won?  They have cleared all four boards except that last mortar pit, which be overrun by German assault on Turn 7.  They have lost 63 killed and 120+ wounded, plus many more walking wounded, scattered, missing, or terrorized (251 in all combat ineffective).  Of their twelve officers, seven are killed, wounded, or missing.

But they own the French trench system, and have inflicted 91 killed, 180+ wounded, and about 90 more walking wounded, or mostly taken prisoner (they own the board).  All French officers are either killed, wounded, or on their way back to German PoW camps.

At least we have finished this game with a narrow German victory, and at least on this board, and at least for now, “All’s Quiet on the Western Front.”

Believe it or not, everything we’ve seen so far has just been the German phase of Turn 01.  Fortunately, the “defense” turns in these games tend to go much faster, and the turns overall go much faster as the game progresses as the units available to both sides undergo a precipitous decline.

So the French start of with  barrages from their on-board mortars.  These mortars are much less powerful than the barrages the Germans unleashed in the opening of the game, the trade-off being that these mortars are actual units in the French OOB and available all through the game (six turns), not just at the very opening.  Also, because they are called in by units with direct LOS, they do not “drift” like off-board missions do.

And the French score well on their first mission!  All five remaining Stokes mortars and the three Md58t2s hit this hex and score enough damage to kill a German flamethrower team as they rush through breached French trenches.    Why do I picture hot shrapnel igniting someone’s flamethrower pack and spewing fiery jellied gasoline, roasting stormtroopers alive as they try to scramble out of the French trench?

The French also launch counterattacks on the extreme right left and right, using buildings and communications trenches to cover approaches from German opportunity fire before launching close assaults.

Now here is where things get ridiculously bloody.  On the beginning of Turn 2, the Germans under Ritter launch a flanking assault from the east, cutting behind Capt. Versainte’s platoon to assault it from the rear.  At the same time, Hauptmann Bothi assaults from the front from the cleared French forward trench.  But Bothi’s assault rolls 12, the worst possible roll in the game!  Not only does this result in hideous losses and a failed assault, but a French sharpshooter appears anywhere within LOS of Bothi’s platoon and immediately makes a sniper attack (d6 – cover bonus = immediate loss of casualty points).  And the sniper rolls a 6!  Subtracting -2 for the trench bonus, Bothi’s platoon takes another 4 casualty points!  Holy hell, have the French actually turned the tide here?

Maybe not, because Neumann’s platoon immediately assaults as well from the northeast, overrunning the sniper’s position (taking more losses from the sniper’s opportunity fire) and them hitting Versainte’s position with not one but two flamethrower sections.  Good God, almighty!  Versainte’s position is wiped out, but the assault costs Neumann’s platoon another 6 casualty points (2 for the trench, 3 for the French half-squads, 1 for Versainte himself).

Seriously, eleven squads have just been lost in this 90-meter stretch of trench in less than two minutes, plus an officer, plus a sniper.  That’s 90+ men total = combat ineffective (at least 20 dead, 40 seriously wounded, 30 more walking wounded, scattered , terrorized).

On the French Turn 2, a mortar team rolls another 12, meaning that a German sniper pops up in this ruined and abandoned French bunker and snipes out the mortar team (goodbye to one of the Md58t2 teams).  Two French half-squads are detailed turn back and flush the sniper.  One half squad is shot down as they make the rush, the other kicks down the door of the bunker and eliminates the sniper (with the M1915 “Chauchat” machine rifle doubtlessly clearing the room with a spray of automatic fire).

We then see the overall situation at the end of Turn 2, with the French all but smashed completely off the western two boards (with the exception of officers and mortar teams), while the Germans have been smashed in turn almost completely off the eastern two boards.  Just that fast, this has turned from a north-attacking-south game to a west-attacking-east game.

Finally, we see the Germans at the beginning of Turn 3, starting to clear these French mortar positions on the southwest board.

The German assault hits. I guess here is where I should lay out the German OOB for this game:

German Forces:
Three stosstruppen kompanie
Each with (8) full squads, (5) half squads, (1) +2 officer, (3) +1 officers
Support Weapons: (2) MG 08 15 LMGs, (2) flamethrowers.
* Thus each company has 84 men, 4 officers
* German total assault strength: 252 men, 12 officers.
* + (6) Heavy Barrages, (6) Light Barrages

Yes, the Germans are outnumbered by at least 35% (and they’re assaulting eemy trenches, when you’re supposed to outnumber the enemy by at least 3-1). But the German have better support weapons, more officers, better officers, and of course that murderous opening barrage.

Lastly (and perhaps most significantly) these German squads are qualitatively better than the French squads. Note the 6-4-5 combat ratings, compared to the French 4-5-4. That first “6” compared to the French “4” gives the Germans a +50% edge in raw firepower, at least close up (MP 18s, extra pistols, “stosstruppen” training, etc.) They also have an extra casualty point for each squad (the last “5” in stead of “4”) and the “E” in the upper right of their counters marks them as “elite,” which gives them enhanced chances for Valor rules, rallying pinned units, etc.

Now as the Germans make this approach (entering the north edge of the board), the French units that survived the barrage and are unpinned get a chance for “opportunity fire.”  Pinned units do not get opportunity fire, they’re too busy trying to crawl under the duck boards at the bottom of those trenches.  So you can see why the French decided to bit the bullet and take the losses under that barrage, they now get to positively maul the Germans as they approach over open ground, point-blank in front of French trenches and machine gun positions.  The Germans try to make the  most of crater hexes in their approach, but however you cut it, this will be nasty.

The German assaults have hit, I’m not even going to try and list out the math and die results for each one.  Suffice it to say the Germans took heavy losses going in, but once the assaults started their local superiority in numbers, not to mention stosstruppen stats, gave them annihilating victory in all but two occasions

Losses just in the first German turn have been truly “Great War” in scope.

German losses total 15 squads or their equivalent:
* 120 men combat ineffective
* Assume about 24 dead and 48 wounded (48 more scattered, walking wounded, terrorized, etc.)

French losses total 25 squads or their equivalent:
* 200 men combat ineffective
* Assume about 40 dead and 80 wounded (80 more scattered, walking wounded, terrorized, etc.)
* + four officers killed, wounded, or captured.
The French have also lost far more support weapons.

And this is only the German turn. We haven’t even finished the first turn, the French still get to make fire phase and assault attacks in their turn!

The overall situation at this point of the game – the Germans and French are more or less in a standoff on the extreme west wing, while the Germans have smashed open a pretty grisly breakthrough in the west and centre.  To the east, however, the French have actually repelled some of the stosstruppen assaults, have a local superiority, tons of on-board mortar support, and are about to launch some pretty serious counterassaults.

In summary, this battle could totally go either way at this point.

Stay tuned as this “All Quiet on the Western Front” mega game continues!

Okay, it’s time to put these new French counters, trench boards, and German stosstruppen to the ultimate test. Just how big of a trench assault game can we actually do in Valor & Victory? Let’s find out!

So I set up all four trench boards I designed previously for Valor & Victory: 1918 Edition. As you can see below, the boards are designed to fit together in multiple configurations, and most games would not actually include all four boards. Really great platoon sized games could take place on one board, really. Most games would be two boards, “vertically” for a breakthrough penetration game, or “horizontally” for a broad attack game.

But here we have all four. I’ve also deployed, simply put, just about all of my French counters. So what we’re looking at here is:

French Forces:
Four rifle companies, each with (9) full squads, (2) officers, and (3) M1915 “Chauchat” machine rifle LMGs.
* Officers are mixed bag, two companies have (1) +2 officer and (1) +1 officer, the others have (2) +1s.
* Total: 288 men, 8 officers.

One weapons company, with (15) half-squad weapons crews, (6) M1914 Hotchkiss HMGs, (6) 3” Stokes mortars, and (3) Md58 T2 trench mortars, (2) +1 officers.
*Total: 60 men, 2 officers.

Grand French Total: 344 men, 10 officers.

Some closer pics of the French deployment.  Note the M1914 Hotchkiss HMGs in frontal firing pits, each manned by a 2-5-2 half squad gun crew.  Rifle platoons are also staged across this frontal line.  Behind that are more platoons in a “secondary” trench line.  Behind and intermingled with them are the 3”Stokes mortars – a British design that by the end of WW1 was actually being widely used by many Allied armies, French definitely included.   Finally to the rear we have the larger Mod 58 T2 trench mortars in “reserve” or “artillery” trench lines.

Note the French are deployed in depth, and not bunched together.  This is because they are expecting a Germans assault, and this will lead off with a large pre-planned artillery barrage.  These fire missions very often “drift” off their intended targets, but if your group your forces too closely together, even enemy “misses” can drift right onto other friendly units.  When expecting enemy artillery, the classic rule is to spread out.   A

Also, the French want to keep some kind of reserve force for the second half of Turn 01 or even Turn 02, after the German stormtroopers have hit their forward line, taken hideous casualties from French opportunity fire and  in the course of their initial assault into the French trenches.  These weakened stormtrooper units can then be counter-assaulted by these French reserves, and perhaps turn the tide.

The Germans plan their initial bombardment.  Again, those familiar with the Valor & Victory system will see there is already a pretty big change here.  Normally you can only include these off-board support missions when you have a valid, unpinned spotter unit on the board with LOS on the target.  Of course the Germans have no units on the board yet.  So what gives?

Again, these are the new rules I’m trying out for 1918 Edition.  These are-pre-planned artillery barrages.  They can only happen on Turn 1, they cannot be “saved” for later, and hit only on a 1-3 result d6 roll instead of the usual 1-4 (i.e., they are less accurate).  They represent the plastering that German batteries are putting down before the stosstruppen go in.

I should note that the German barrages for this scenario included in their order of battle are:

6 heavy barrages. (7.5cm+ howitzers).
6 light barrages (8.1cm+ mortars).

The German artillery whistles down in a horrific crescendo of screaming ordinance, slamming into the French line.  You can see where some missions have drifted completely off their target.  Others with the “explosion” margers have hit their targets and damage to French units in that hex.  The large smoke marker designates where the fire missions has hit and completely obliterated all French units in that hex.

After the Germans roll to see whether each fire mission hits, the roll is then made of the Antipersonnel Firepower (APFP) table to see how much damage was done.  The better the roll, the more casualty points are inflicted.  Of course, heavy barrages tend to inflict more than light barrages (assuming they hit).  For each unit stack hit, the French then have to “pay” the indicated casualty points, which they can do by eliminating squads, reducing squads half-squads, or pinning squads / half squads.  Pinning squads keeps your men alive, but naturally  you  have to pin many more units to account for the same number of casualty points as a “killed” squad would pay for.  Pinned units are also murderously vulnerable if they are assaulted in the enemy movement phase.

For this reason, the French pretty much bite the bullet here and choose to take the losses, losing fewer units rather than pinning many units.  This is because a German assault is obviously coming, so the sergeants are screaming for their men to “hold their ground” and “keep eyes over the parapet” to meet the German assault already on the way.

The battle between veterans British rifles (Princess Charlotte of Wales’ Royal Berkshire Regiment – 53rd Brigade, 18th Division – III Corps – Fourth Army) and a hardened kompanie of German stosstruppen continues, somewhere in no-man’s land, near Villers-Brettoneaux … Both sides have orders to probe this village, seize and hold it if possible setting up a defensible forward outpost for their respective regiments and divisions.  However, these two company-sized patrols have run into each other, sparking a surprise, furious firefight.

Continuing on the British Turn 2:

The British push back in the north.  This doesn’t start well, however, as mortar and MG fire from Goddard’s weapon section fail to inflict further damage or pinning on the remains of Werner’s platoon.  Then, Flynn’s Owen Gun team makes a rush to try and take the building formerly occupied by Werner’s platoon, but a very lucky roll (finally the Germans catch a break) from Steiner’s powerful position positively chops this British fire team to bits as they enter the abandoned building.  If the British want that extra building hex, they’ll have to pay for it.

Meanwhile, Flynn has to assault Werner’s position (note: all British pinned units automatically rally at the beginning of the British turn).  Lea’s and McCabe’s positions have also failed to inflict further “softening up” damage, but fortunately Flynn has numbers on his side.  He rolls well enough to kill / capture the rest of Werner’s platoon, while taking four casualty points himself (2 for the German units in the hex, 2 for the terrain bonus of the wooded hex).  He drops another squad to half (accounting for 3 casualty points), then pins a half squad to account for the fourth, which again he fails to rally.

More success for the British comes in the south, where Lieutenant Wheeler forms a “fire group” between his platoon’s position and the adjacent hex with an additional half-squad of his, plus one of Goddard’s Vickers HMG positions.  They target the MG 08 position in the German center, commanded by Hauptmann Bothi.  It’s a high amount of fire (only through the “fire group” rules can units from different hexes combine like this into really devastating attacks), and the Wheeler rolls well, completely eliminating the MG 08 position and leaving Bothi alone in the hex.

(see the yellow fire lines and explosion markers, I took this photo after these counter has been removed and moved).

As much as I would love to leave that MG 08 in the hex and let Bothi command it against a charge of British infantry, in Valor & Victory that just isn’t allowed with “H” class weapons.  Also, when a unit is eliminated, any support units it was carrying go with it.

For the record, more complex games like Advanced Squad Leader (the spiritual forebear of this game, by the way) absolute do allow this, leading to savage assaults and counter-assaults over possession of key support weapons like this.

TURN 03

The Germans, in typical fashion when hit with a battlefield setback, manage to consolidate, fall back, and hit back, all at once.  To the north, Steiner’s platoon divides, with Steiner himself taking a half squad up to that northern building.  Again, if the British want that building, they’ll have to pay for it.  German MG fire and mortar fire, however, fail to inflict further damage on Flynn’s platoon.  Bothi falls back to the central building, while in the south, Ritter’s platoon opens a devastating fire on the Vickers pit that just helped Lt. Wheeler take out the German MG 08.  The Germans roll a 3 on 2d6 (very good roll), enough to completely wipe out the Vickers, its crew, and the half squad from Wheeler’s platoon that was dug in beside them.  They then use the assault move phase to actually fall back, fading into the smoky, splintered trees, daring Wheeler’s platoon to come in after them.

Score is currently British 36 to German 28.

The British could theoretically sit back and run out the clock, either taking the win they already have or letting the Germans try to assault them again (and we saw how well that worked out).

But that would be a boring game, so Wheeler gets the order to mount a reinforced right hook around the south, pressing Ritter’s position.  Captain Lea takes command of the southern building, sending McCabe and half of his platoon after Wheeler to reinforce.  The rest of McCabe’s platoon is kept behind so Lea has some weight with which to hold that southern building, just in case.

TURN 04

Ritter’s platoon falls back the rest of the way to the small stone house, deep in the woods.  The German 7.58mm mortar team repositions to where Bothi can call in fire missions … remember the “no-radio” rules for indirect fire here – the mortar team can use indirect fire, but only if it has LOS with the spotter unit.  Basically this reflects the spotter units yelling back to to the mortar crew for adjustments, or perhaps using hand signals.

Upon entering the woods in front of the Ritter’s house, Wheeler calls is a smoke barrage from Goddard’s mortar team, impacting between Wheeler and Ritter’s house.  Once the smoke mission lands, Wheeler then edges his platoon around the woods and into some craters facing Ritter’s house.  McCabe’s squad and a half are right behind.  The Germans try opportunity fire (heavy penalties due to crater cover, smoke, and light woods) but roll boxcars on 2d6 – the worst roll imaginable!

This “summons” a British sniper, I have to use an American sniper counter as a proxy as I don’t even have British snipers made up!

The sniper takes its shot at Ritters platoon, but rolls only a 3 (-3 for the building’s cover bonus = 0, so no effect).

TURN 05

Germans manage to pin some of Wheeler’s men, and Neuman’s mortar team manages to pin two fire teams under Lea in the south building.  Captain Lea is quick to rally them, however, thanks in part to his -2 difficulty Leadership rating.

The British, meanwhile, hope to pin some of Ritter’s platoon on Turn 05 with mass rifle fire from Wheeler and McCabe’s platoons, then assault on Turn 06.  These fire phases fail however, and no damage is done.

On the last turn, the German fire does basically nothing.  The British assault is actually quite foolhardy, but the British have already won and I’m just trying to test these new units, counters, and WW1 rules. Let’s say that Lieutenant Wheeler and Captain Lea don’t want to order this assault, but have been overruled by a brutal and incompetent regimental commander (Colonel Johnson, Lord of Oriskany).  😀

Reinforced by McCabe’s squads, Wheeler “blows the whistle” and the assault goes in again Ritter’s platoon, but he basically has no chance.  Ritter has more firepower, more grenades, and a fortified position.  To minimize his casualties, Wheeler makes the most of “pinning” rules rather than eliminating his men.  To their credit, Ritter’s platoon is also weakened.

Technically the remains of McCabe’s platoon could follow up with a second assault, but unless they rolled snake eyes it would be practical suicide.

In any event, the British wave won the day.

The final score:

German 26 (four building hexes = 16, ten half squads remaining = 10)

British 31 (five building hexes = 20, eleven half squads remaining = 11)

This scenario is a little wonky (again, slapped together for playtesting) but not beyond repair.  I might try reducing the award for building hexes to 3 points per hex, and change the points awarded for enemy units killed rather than friendly units surviving.  This would give both sides more options for victory rather than assaulting these buildings.

Or, a special rule that says “all these buildings are heavily shelled ruins, only give a +2 cover bonus rather than usual +3.”  That would reduce a little of the suicidal nature of these assaults.

As always, a work in progress.  Thoughts?

Next I might try my French units.  And then who knows?  Some tanks and infantry?

Okay, now that I have my British and French armies built for Valor & Victory 1918 Edition, it’s time to give them a try against Imperial German Army and German storm troopers.

Situation – Somewhere near Villers-Brettoneaux, Amiens Sector, northern France – June, 1918

During the course of the German “St. Michael Offensive” (launched on 21 March, 1918), the British Fifth Army and much of the Third Army has been largely destroyed.  The remnants were pushed back toward Amiens until a heroic stand finally stabilized the line near Villers-Brettoneaux.  Savage fighting bought the British time to reinforce this sector – and further battles fought through the end of April and into early May saw the line finally stabilize.  Now, as the heaviest offensives shift to other sectors of the front (the Georgette Offensive to the north in Flanders and the Blücher Offensive to the south at Chemin des Dames in the south), the Amiens front settles into a deathly, exhausted calm.

Still, the British and Germans divisions facing each other here jockey for position, probing each others’ positions for weaknesses.  Between the trenches in one section of no-man’s land, a small French village and a thicket of shell-shattered woods offers an apparently advantageous position for observation or even a springboard for further trench assaults.

A veteran company of British rifles (Princess Charlotte of Wales’ Royal Berkshire Regiment – 53rd Brigade, 18th Division – III Corps – Fourth Army) is sent as a “reconnaissance in force” to this position, with orders to scout its feasibility as an advanced regiment position.  If feasible, they are to take this position and fortify it against enemy counterattack, so they bring a weapons section of Vickers machine gus and Stokes mortars.

The trouble is, a kompanie of German “stosstruppen” has the same orders … and although slightly outnumbered, the Germans have reached the village first.

BRITISH FORCES:  Company Commander Captain Lea (-2 rating, Elite).  Three platoons of veteran “elite” rifles (4-5-4 *E).  Each platoon as a -1 leader (Lieutenants Wheeler, McCabe, and Flynn), two and a half squads, and a further half-squad carrying a Lewis Gun.  The company also has a weapons section under Lt. Goddard, with two Vickers HMG teams and a 3” Stokes mortar team.

5 officers, 84 men.

GERMAN FORCES:  Kompaniechef Hauptmann Bothi (-2 rating, Elite).  Three platoons of elite “stosstruppen” (6-4-5 *E).  Each platoon has a -1 leader (Leutnants Steiner, Ritter, Werner), two squads, and a half-squad carrying an MG 08 15 LMG.  The company also has a weapons section under Leutnant Neuman, with two MG 08 HMGs and a 7.58cm “Minenwerfer” mortar team

5 officers, 72 men.

VICTORY CONDITIONS – 4 points for every building hex occupied.  2 points for every fill squad left.  1 point for every half squad left.

Turn 01 –

The Germans enter the board and occupy four building hexes.  Some of these can only be reached thorough “assault movement” step at the end of the turn.

The British come on second and occupy five building hexes.  Already they are winning the game, the Germans will be forced to come to them.  Germans get first crack at the British, though, though opportunity fire.  But the British have approached from behind buildings, moving up through the buildings, so by the time the Germans see them, the British are getting benefit of buildings’ cover.

Those few platoons  that are not, like Lt. McCabe ‘s platoon in the south, are carefully placed so the majority of the German stormtrooper squads  cannot reach him.

Note the German squads get the higher antipersonnel firepower (APFP) of “6”, but the shorter range of “4”.  This is because as stormtroopers, they are heavily armed with MP 18 SMGs and extra pistols, shorter versions of the Gewehr 98 “Karbiner” and such, i.e., heaver firepower at a shorter range.  Meanwhile, the British are carrying the reliable Lee Enfield (APFP of 4, but range of 5).

As long as we’re discussing unit factors here, the British and Germans both have “veteran” forces here, so get the tougher “5” for casualty rating (last of the three large numbers).

German opportunity fire is a complete whiff here, with 2d6 rolls of 9, 11, and 11 (low numbers are better in this game) – so the British occupy these commanding positions with no problems whatsoever and no losses at all.

TURN 02

The Germans are in a bad position here, I realize I may have designed a poor scenario.  With a smaller number of units on the table and with the British pretty much automatically going to get five initial building hexes thanks to the board layout, the “burden of the offensive” is on the Germans, they HAVE to assault.  The British can afford to just sit back and defend, if they maintain the status quo, they win (more squads and half squads, more building hexes).

Still, these are stosstruppen, infantry units designed to assault.  So let’s give it a go.

In the north, the order is given to Leutnant Werner.  Leutnant Neuman’s mortar drops a smoke screen.  Hauptmann Bothi coordinates MG fire from two MG 08 positions on Captain Lea’s position, but this has no effect.  Leutnant Werner launches his assault, using the cover of woods and smoke screen to cover his assault.  Lieutenant Flynn’s platoon must have been surprised by the audacity of this charge, because with an “11” his opportunity fire does nothing despite a -2 point blank modifier.  The small Lewis Gun team to the northwest also has no effect.  Lieutenant Goddard’s Vickers team has a little more luck, inflicting one casualty point along with the positions of Captain Lea (under the “Fire Lane” marker) and Lieutenant McCabe.  So three casualty points overall are inflicted, which the Germans decide to “pay for” by knocking out a half-squad in their platoon.

The assault goes in.  The Germans, sadly for them, roll a 9, and the assault is a bloody disaster for them.  Lieutenant Flynn’s platoon repels the assault, inflicting the grisly total of nine casualty points (4 British units in the hex + 3 for the building + missed the required roll by 2 = 9).  Eight points are removed (a full 5-point squad and another 3 point half squad), with the past half squad being pinned and then rallied by Leutnant Werner.

Lt. Flynn, for his part, is trying to keep losses down among his men.  He’s required to pay four casualty points for repelling the failed assault (4 German units in that platoon).  He knocks one his 5-point squads down to a 2-point half squad (thus paying 3), then has to pin one half-squad to pay the last point.  He fails to rally this, however.

More to come tomorrow!  😀

One long night after work, and a new French Army is designed and ready to print for Valor & Victory: Great War 1918 Edition.

Tomorrow I’ll go ahead and print these out and start cutting them.  Maybe some wargaming on the horizon for these new British and French 1918 infantry units for the July 4 holiday.  😀

All counters are now printed, mounted on mat board, spray-painted light brown on the back for British army theme, then cut.  😀  Went ahead and cut a double-load of infantry squads (both regular and elite) so there’ll never be a shortage.

Maybe next will be French?  Just to be a “completionist?”  😀

Okay, here is the completed print sheet for British units.

Upper left are the “regular units” – with regular 4-5-4 rifle squads and regular -2 and -1 officers and leaders.  Note the names of these officers and leaders, all named for characters in “Zulu.”

Upper right are the “elite” units, with additional  4-5-5 casualty points to make them just damned tougher.  To my knowledge there are no real equipment or organizational differences between “hard as nails” regiments and more mundane regiments, they’re just tougher / braver / more likely to go “valorous” / more likely to rally from pins, better officers, etc.  This is reflected in the “E” in the upper right of their counters and the extra point of casualty rating (these squads can absorb more punishment before they drop to a half-squad).

Also, note the leaders for these squads, names for British and Irish members of the BoW community – either veterans, guys I’ve met at the bootcamps, or both!  😀

**tip:  Click on the image and then “open in new tab” for best resolution!

Okay, continuing the project to add British infantry units, support weapons, and officers to further expand my Valor & Victory: 1918 Great War edition – to go with US Army, German Army, US Marines, and German Stormtroopers already created.

In the previous post, we looked at creating the unit templates in Photoshop, how they’ll be used in either virtual tabletops or printed out and cut into physical counters for traditional play, and how the base rifle squads and half-squads are created.

Now we’re starting officers and support weapons to round out the rest of this force.

So using the same Photoshop layer methodology as previously laid out, and sticking to the general design template as other counters familiar to Valor & Victory players, we start working up British officers.

Again, sourced an image.  I found lots with the British officer standing passively, puffing on pipes with one hand resting passively on the hilt of a sword.  But I wanted to use this one that was a little more dynamic with his Webley revolver.  It was pointing the wrong way, but reversing the image was simple enough.  The only side-effect is that now all my British officers will be left-handed.  😀

Also, some slight alterations to color temperature, contrast, and resolution so his uniform would more closely match those in the rifle squad and half-squad templates.

Lastly, leaders in Valor & Victory are named.  Usually these are just slapped with generic names that “sound” like they come from the nation in question.  But some people on BoW have gotten a kick out of having units named for them, a tradition I’m continuing here.  For instance, this company commander is named for @commodorerob.  😀  I should note that the “-2” at upper left is not a penalty.  Quite the opposite, this is the amount by which he reduces the difficulty of certain tasks attempted by squads, half-squads, and weapons crews with which he is stacked.  So -2 is a pretty solid commander (the best, actually, in the base Valor & Victory sets).

So on top of my -2 “captains,” I usually make up about x5 as many -1 “Lieutenants.”  Any volunteers from among our British community members?

😀  It will mean “service in the trenches,” fair warning.

Keeping with the same methodology, we start chewing away at support weapons.  First up we have the 3-inch Stokes mortar.  The “H” is the weapon class for movement – these are mobile but half-squad crews cannot use their own firepower and firepower of their weapon in the same turn, and they slow down any unit that carries them by 1 movement point.  The “6” is the firepower, the 12 is the max range, the small 2 is the minimum range.    These are mortars, after all.

The A is their armor piercing class (“A” is the lowest possible, but it does register) – although I’m not sure how often these things will be used against German tanks or “armored” bunkers.

The Lewis Gun, light support weapon, able to be carried and used without penalty by squads or half squads (even leaders I think, although I think it replaces their “1” APFP value, I have to check that – you can’t fire that Lewis Gun and your Webley revolver at the same time. 😀

Vickers Mk1 heavy machine gun.  Note it has the same “H” movement class as the mortar.  However, they have no minimum range and no armor piercing value.

Last but not least, the British grenades.  These don’t have an actual firepower value, but act as a -1 benefit modifier for assaults, point-blank antipersonnel fire, and opportunity fire against enemy infantry movement (again, point-blank only, hexes in these games are generally 30 yards).  They are “expendably support weapons” – your list has a given amount (usually 6-12) and you use them as you go.  Once your force has used all your grenades in the game, though, that’s it for them.

So this will wrap us up for British army units in Valor & Victory at the moment.  Next steps will be to create print sheets for them, print a few, mount and cut them.  Hopefully I should have them on the table as soon as this weekend!  😀

Okay, Beasts of War.  To further expand my Valor & Victory: 1918 Great War edition, I’m adding British army units to go with my US Army, German Army, US Marines, and German stormtroopers.

Basically, this means creating a lot of .png files in Photoshop that can be either be used as “floating” image objects in a virtual game board or printed in a sheet, mounted on matte board, and cut into physical counters for traditional tabletop play.

So first, the design of the basic template.  I set up the file in Photoshop as a transparent background .png.  This is so I can design the image with a “drop shadow” effect that will make the counter look more “tangible” and interesting on a virtual game board.  For physical printing, obviously, this will have no effect, but this way I only have to create one set of counter files.

The choice of background color is fairly obvious.  However, it may  be a little lighter and brighter than historical British WW1 uniforms for two reasons.  (1) – these counters tend to print darker than they appear on a monitor (even on laser printers), and (b) – a major concern in counter design is high contrast for easy of play.  Counter games have no stat lines, no cards, all the information for the unit has to be right on the counter, which of course is pretty small.  Starting off with a light, bright color will make this easier in later stages of design.

Since I certainly don’t intend to sell or formally publish these, I’ll skip the 20 hours of work to design and e-draw my own British infantry figures.  I source these from Google images.  In Valor & Victory, full squad counters always have two figures on them, so I make sure to grab two.  There will be a little work in Photoshop here to ensure they both have generally the same color temperatures, resolution, sharpness, etc.

Next, a quick Wand Tool and a little careful work with the WACOM stylus and pad removes the background.  For those not familiar with Photoshop, you just duplicate the layer with the soldier, insert an intervening layer between them (I choose bright green for ease of contrast), and then Wand / Lasso / Erase all the negative space around the top soldier layer, showing the bright green beneath.  This creates a “floating” layer on top that is just the solider.

Resizing the two soldier layers, I then slide them onto the counter template.  I choose one to go in front and one in back.  The on in back is put a little “higher” on the image,  and shrunk slightly to create a “forced perspective” that he’s actually standing behind the first figure.

Once I’m happy with their placement, I go ahead and merge the two soldier layers, only then applying the white “Stroke” layer around them.  If I don’t merge them first, the white outline on the first figure’s rifle and bayonet will cut across the second figure’s chest, etc.  I also make sure I duplicate and “hide” extra copies of these un-merged layers, for reasons I’ll show below.

Okay, here’s a finished counter for a British rifle squad.  As you can see, I found a better pose for one of the figures, a little more dynamic than just standing there at “port arms.”  The British Army Rifle text is standard, as are the Arial Black numbers along the bottom for game values.  The UK flag is for embellishment and consistency with my American and German figures.

The 4-5-4 is the same as for German and American “regular” rifle squads.  Squads were approximately the same size, armed with similar bolt action rifles, grenades, bayonets, shovels, etc.  The differences come in special troops that come on different counters (stormtroopers, US Marines, support weapons, officers, etc).

Once I’m fully finished with this, I save the file, then merge all layers into one, and save again as a .png for storage and play.

Next, I create another version of the file for a half-squad.  Note the one figure and the 2-5-2 “half squad” values (antipersonnel firepower, range, casualty rating)

When units take fire in Valor & Victory, they suffer a certain number of “casualty points” depending on how much fire was thrown at them, the attacker’s roll, and terrain / cover / leadership modifiers.  These casualty points must be “paid for,” either be eliminating squads, reducing them to half-strength, or allowing units to become pinned, or some combination thereof.   Also, half-squads may be used in starting order of battles for scenarios with MG crews, mortars or other support weapons, or just an understrength forces.  Finally, players who have full squads may, at their option in the command phase of the turn, elect to divide them into two half squads for various reasons (two different missions, enhanced casualty-causing properties against enemy assaults, etc).

The epic battle in the German trench network … concludes!

Captain Lomax has no choice but to lead another bloodbath assault on the Habeck House.  A staggering five casualty points are inflicted by German opportunity fire (Schoeller applies a -2 leadership bonus) and then Lomax leads the assault in with the few men he has left.  It’s another massacre, and by the time I figure out the math, yes … Lomax has succeeded in the assault, so Schoeller’s teams are eliminated and the Habeck House again changes hands … but the required casualty points for the assault (3 for Schoeller’s units in the hex + 3 for the building’s defense bonus) exceeds the number of casualty points Lomax still has.

Yes, the two platoons have wiped each other out.

Badly wounded, Captain Lomax is carried off the field by her shaken, dazed survivors, and sends an orderly with a message to Captain Pollock in the south.  “German bunker cleared.  It’s up to you now!”

Fortunately for Captain Pollock, there isn’t much left in the way of German resistance.  Lomax and Saunders, Schoeller and Habeck, they all really went “all in” on possession of that building (and the +3 defense bonus it confers to whoever occupies it).  Consolidating with Lt. Ferber, Pollock prepares to push north, out of the German reserve trenches, through their communication trenches, and into his first immediate target, the remaining German mortar pit.

Pollock leads his assault in at the beginning of American Turn 5.  Fortunately, heavy weapons like the mortar cannot help with opportunity fire, and Pollock and his men are within the weapon’s minimum range anyway (“6” is the firepower, “12” is the range, the small “2” after that is the minimum range.  However, there is a mortar crew (half squad with rifles and pistols) and a German leutnant in there with a -1 leadership bonus.  Pollock has chosen a route of assault that includes craters, slowing him down but he’s very close anyway and he wants the cover bonus.  He only takes a casualty point to opportunity fire, which he resolved by pinning a fire team. Then the assault  goes in and with  a “5”, wipes out the mortar position.

Again, Pollock opts to pin units to account for his required casualty points (pretty much his whole stack).  He feels safe doing this because (a) there are no German units nearby to counter-assault, (b) he occupies the German trench, which is a trench with a +2 cover bonus, and (c) he has a -2 leadership bonus, which will make it very likely he will rally these men at the end of his turn anyway.

On the American Turn 6 (German MG fire has no lines of sight, so relocates to a rubble position for better defense), the Americans finally catch a bonafide stroke of excellent luck.  No clever tactics here, they just get damned, damned lucky.  German opportunity fire gets the worst possible roll, a 12.  Not only doe sit do no damage to the approaching American infantry, but when an infantry unit rolls a 12 on an attack roll in this game, an enemy sniper suddenly appears.  Snipers are handled in a rather abstract way in this game, they appear as if by magic anywhere within LOS of the enemy unit that rolled the boxcars.  So the American sniper pops up in t hose craters (apparently he’s been belly-crawling through no-mans land all this time) and immediately attacks the German MG team.  Sniper attacks are very simple, they roll a d6 minus the cover bonus of the target hex, and apply that many casualty points.

The sniper rolls a 4, -1 for the rubble, thus inflicting 3 casualty points.  Only 2 German casualty points are in the hex, so they are wiped out.  Pollock’s men assault t he hex only to find the Germans already dead or wounded by the sniper.  It’s an anticlimactic ending, but by this point the Americans are just glad they aren’t taking any more casualties.

Thus ends the game.  So did the Americans win?

Well, they cleared the German trenches in the allotted time … barely (Valor & Victory scenarios typically last six turns).  So … yes.  But did they take too many casualties?  Possibly.  This was a playtest game of the new trench boards, so I didn’t try to set up detailed victory conditions.  But in a more formal, finalized scenario, the Americans would have had to take the trench in the allotted time, and have “x” number of intact squads left to meet German counterattack from off the south edge of the table.

So with only 27 officers and men out of an original assault force of 198 … I don’t know if I would call this an American victory.  Those early assaults were very ham-fisted, not very tactical, and very bloody.  Then again, many German diaries and battle reports of the actual period recount that this is just how American units tended to fight in 1918 – fresh to the war so still very brave to the point of recklessness, but tactically somewhat unskilled.

Again, just because 171 Americans and 174 Germans have been “eliminated” doesn’t mean they are all dead.  Their units have been rendered combat ineffective.  The usual estimations for early 20^th Century combat usually runs about half the men in a “combat ineffective” unit being actual casualties, with about one third of the casualties being killed outright.  So German and American losses each ran about 27 killed and 54 wounded (81 total casualties).

As for the trench boards, there are a few clarifications I want to draw up for lines of sight, but other than that I think they worked great.  As for Valor & Victory, every time I play this game I’m reminded again how much I love it.  It’s quick, easy, extremely tactical, pleasantly realistic (without mind-numbing levels of detail) and best of all, it’s free. It’s a little bit of work to print the boards and counters …

… but definitely worth it if hard-core tactical, historical wargaming is your thing.

Good afternoon, Beasts of War history fans …

Okay, time to wrap up the trench battle in Valor & Victory: Great War 1918 Edition.

We start off in the southern part of the breached German trench system, where Captain Pollock wants to assault the next German strongpoint but cut down on his company’s losses.  Casualties are becoming a real problem here, the Americans are in serious danger of running out of men before the Germans run out of trenches.

Normally in Valor & Victory, the proper methodology to these kinds of assaults is usually a rough representation of real-life military “fire and maneuver” tactics, where your “base of fire” element force pours down fire on the target and pins them down, while your “maneuver” element flanks to one side or the other and assaults.

We’ve been running into two problems on this trench table, though.  One, once we’re down in the trenches, there is almost never a long enough line of sight for any kind of “base of fire” or “overwatch” element.  Two, the weapons of 1918 just aren’t powerful enough to seriously weaken or even pin significant units, the Americans have felt compelled to simply launch the assault “cold” (and pay the predictably horrific cost in casualty points).

Here, though, the Americans at last have no choice.  Pollock and his half-squad (carrying a Lewis Gun) elect to put down fire on the Germans in that rubble pile, while Lt. Ferber leads the assault.   The math works out that Pollock’s stack is better as the overwatch, because his -2 leadership bonus actually yields more of a benefit than the additional 2 points of firepower in Ferber’s stack.

But Captain Pollock scores huge on the dice  Check out that “3”!  Remember that low rolls are better in this game!  Not only does Pollock and his Lewis Gun team pin down the two German half-squads in that stack (one of them is carrying an MG 08 15 LMG), but actually kills them outright!  No assault is even necessary!

Up north, Captain Lomax is up against more serious opposition. That ruined building the Germans occupy (Leutnant Habeck) gives a +3 defense bonus, and is manned by 16 men, including another LMG.  Habeck himself also confers a -1 leadership bonus.  That is going to be one tough nut to crack.

Lomax’s stack unloads on Habeck’s position, with a “6” pins one of the half squads.  It’s not much, but as Lieutenant Saunders prepares his men for the grim assault, every little bit will help.

The assault goes in, and German opportunity fire is horrendous.  Two half squads are eliminated outright, a third is pinned down.  Saunders keeps feeding more men into the charge, not stopping until is stack is at maximum allowed for one hex.  At least now they’re in a crater, when they launch the assault.

Saunders’ assault clears eliminates Habeck’s platoon and clears the position.  In an effort to keep casualties down, Saunders elects to “pin” some of his units rather than let them  be eliminated (owning player gets to choose how to account for required casualty points, as long as he accounts for all points inflicted by the enemy).  The trade off is, when you’re pinning you must pin much MORE than if you’re taking eliminated casualties.  Saunders is gambling that he can rally his units before the Germans can counter-assault (any assault that hits pinned units – pinned units are automatically eliminated at no cost to the attacker).  He gets to apply a -1 bonus to his difficulty on this roll (leadership).  However he doesn’t roll very well, and two of his fireteams remain pinned as sure enough, Hauptmann Schoeller leads his men in for a counter-assault.

Now Lomax has foreseen this possibility.  Note the three 2-5-2 fireteams deployed forward at the trench junction, ready to take opportunity fire on the Germans as they make that left turn down the trench to attack Saunders in the “Habeck House.”  Sure enough, Schoeller sends units through this junction, and those three American rifle teams knock down one German fire team and pin two more.  But then Schoeller himself leads more troops down that trench (and those 2-5-2s have already fired).  They reach the building for their assault.  Saunders’ men take opportunity fire, but have two major drawbacks here … they are badly weakened since two of their units are still pinned (and can’t contribute) and the German assault is already in the other half of the building, so gets the =3 building cover bonus (this is now an assault inside a ruined German bunker)!

Saunders’ opportunity fire does nothing (note the “10” – a rather bad roll).  Schoeller’s assault goes in, and Saunders’ pinned units are immediately and automatically eliminated… even before the dice are rolled.

Saunder’s squads are eliminated (killed, wounded, captured, scattered, or otherwise rendered combat ineffective).  Schoeller has paid a steep price for this assault, but again has re-taken “Habeck House!”  The two half-squads up at the trench junction have rallied, and it looks like the Germans might still manage to repel this American assault!

This highlights the dangers of trying to pin too many of your units to account for casualty points, rather than “bite the bullet” and kill a smaller number of them.  In the long run, Saunders wound up losing much more.  Furthermore, setting up proper overwatch positions (like Lomax’s three fireteams at the trench junction) can help with preventing enemy counterassaults.  Also, care must be taken to not assault units too deep into enemy positions, where you wind up being closer to enemy counterattack units than you are to friendly supporting units.  And finally, the importance of leaders who can rally pinned units and prepare them to meet that enemy counter-assault.

In short, this game is fast, simple, and brutal, but also very tactical.  The tactics are hidden in the turn sequence, the math, the bonus, the resolution tables.  It’s not laid out on cards or stat lines.  You have to practice the game, learn how squads and platoons work in overwatch, base of fire, and maneuver elements …

…and we’re not even using ALL the rules (MG fire lanes, assault movement, etc.).

German Turn 02 begins with some ferocious counterattack.  First, the remaining 7.58 cm mortar crew lands a lucky drop on Arauz’s position, basically taking him out.  This opens up  the way for this German platoon to assault against Mader’s platoon, badly weakened from their assault on  Paulssen’s CP on the American turn.  Mader’s survivors miss their opportunity fire, and the Germans roll amazingly well on their assault (note the “3”, remember low rolls are better in this system).  Both Mader’s platoon and the rest of Arauz’s platoon are gone, opening a fearful gap straight through the American center and leaving a dangerous gap between Pollock’s and Lomax’s companies.

Sure enough, Lomax loses her left wing when Schoeller counter-assaults and retakes that former MG position.

The situation at the end of German Turn 02.  To the north, we have four remaining stacks of Lomax’s company, to the south we have two stacks left of Pollock’s company.  But the Germans are also in very bad shape, and that one platoon to the west is now terribly understrength and about to get cut off by a converging assault from the two American companies.

This was a rough turn for the Americans, but the Germans took pretty steep damage as well, and of course started off with less men to lose.  This one could still go either way!

Okay, Beasts of War history fans … it’s time to see how things are getting along with the assault of Captains Lomax and Pollock (BoW @stvitusdancern and @silverfox8) in their American Army assault against trenches held by the Imperial German Army – somewhere in the Meuse-Argonne, September 1918 …

When we last left this battle, we’d completed a fiery turn one.  American infantry has already cracked this band of German trenches, and how attack not only from directly in front of the trenches (to the right) but also from within the trenches from the left.  At top and right we have Lomax’s company coming in, from the left we have Pollock’s company.

So after off-board artillery and mortars had plastered forward German positions (although almost half the barrages missed) , the assaults went in.  While Lomax’s wing hitting the front of the German trenches at right ran into serious trouble and took heavy casualties, the main body split the weakened German position and pretty much cleared the upper left board.  Pollock’s company, meanwhile, had further to travel from the left and so hadn’t actually engaged heavily yet, although took some grievous German opportunity fire despite sound tactical movement, long ranges, and even cove rin hardened buildings (just ridiculously good German rolls).  On their turn the Germans fell back, consolidated their positions, launched some small counterattacks on that upper right hand board, and dropped some 7.58 cm “minenwerfer” mortar fire.

Now we begin Turn Two.

To the south, Pollock’s leading his strongest platoon directly against a rubble-filled stretch of trench that has been caved in by some long-ago artillery impact, held by the valorous Leutnant Erikssen and an understrength platoon.  Lt. Ferber’s platoon is trying to catch up, picking up and consolidating stragglers along the way, while to the north, Mader’s platoon prepares to assault a German company command post held by Hauptman Paulssen.

Lomax’s company, meanwhile, is coming down from the northwest, although having wiped out most of the German positions they hit last turn, and the surviving Germans falling back in front of them, many of their squads won’t be in direct combat this turn.  The exception is to the east, where Lomax’s wing is in serious trouble against German counterattacks led by Hauptmann Schoeller and Leutnant Habeck.

First we look at Pollock’s assault in the south.  Note the hexes to the left and right of Erikssen’s platoon are wide open, leaving Pollock no real options to approach other than straight down that trench.  Erikssen is also investing the last two German grenade counters, has the defensive bonus of that rubble, and gets a -1 difficulty (leadership bonus) point-blank opportunity fire shot as Pollock and his men come in.  I won’t lie … this one is not going to be easy … or cheap.  But the Americans roll a 6, which is a success.

*Math:  outnumbering the Germans with a combined firepower of 1 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 1 = 14 vs. 12 (Erikssen’s “1” counts double because of his “Valor” counter), so Pollock needs a 7 or less on 2d6 … then gets a -2 bonus for leadership, then -3 for grenades, but has to add +2 for German grenades and +1 for Erikssen’s leadership, so a net bonus of -2, or a 9 or less needed on 2d6.

So Erikssen and his platoon are eliminated.  However, with four units in the hex (Erikssen himself, a 2-5-2 half squad, another 2-5-2 half squad, and a 4-5-4 full squad), plus a +2 defensive bonus for that rubble (it “interrupts” the trench), means that Pollock has to pay six casualty points for this victory, in addition to what he already lost to opportunity fire.

This was a well-chosen spot for the Germans, well-fortified, supported with grenades, a valorous officer, and some solid dice on that opportunity fire check.  The Americans win this assault, but the cost is friggin’ severe.

Further north, more American assaults go in.  Again the Germans are fortified in rubble, trenches, and even a building, and have a solid officer (-2 Hauptmann Paulssen) leading them.  The Americans have superior numbers, and get some pretty good dice rolls.  They win both these assaults, wiping out Paulssen’s command post and that mortar pit, but again, losses are heavy.

The Situation at the end of American Turn 02.  In addition, the small squad at the far upper left (Lomax’s extreme left wing) has taken out another German MG 08 machine gun next, but is all but cut off by German advances of Schoeller’s kompanie and is now sadly likely to be wiped out by German assaults on their turn.

A little further down the trench, another American assault, having already paid a steep price in opportunity fire, again barely makes the required roll for a successful assault.  Note that this time the roll was an 8 or less on 2d6 instead of a 9 (slightly harder roll) because Lt. Arauz only applies a -1 bonus, not a -2.  If this attack had failed (shudder – failed close assaults on fortified positions are nasty), the two American stacks at left would have gone in and finished the job.

Speaking of failed assaults, here’s one that does fail.  Two full German squads (there were two 4-5-4 squads in that hex) repel the American assault on their trench.  The Americans have to pay 2 casualty points (one for each German unit in the hex) + 2 for the trench bonus  (note the attack was not coming in from within the German trench) + 2 for the margin by which they missed the roll (6 or below was needed, they rolled an 8).  So they have to pay 6 casualty points, meaning that one whole squad is wiped out and the second squad reduced to a 2-5-2 half squad (still carrying the Lewis Gun beneath them).  The Germans have to pay one casualty point for each unit that hit them, so one of their 4-5-4 squads is reduced to a 2-5-2.  Basically, the Germans have lost 4 men here, the Americans lost 12.

The overall situation at the end of the American turn, after their rallies (some succeeded, some failed and so the units remained inverted).  Note the Americans have largely failed to make a dent in the northeast board, but have all but smashed the German position on the northwest board.  Battle has yet to really join on the southwest board, as the Americans didn’t have the movement points to get close enough on Turn 01.

On the German turn, they largely fall back and consolidate their position.  Their one remaining platoon abandons the northwest board, their reorganize their squads (breaking into more half squads for better all-around defence in more directions), and their two 7.58 cm trench mortars drop a few fire missions on American platoons not in trenches (everyone’s at least in craters, but craters give a +1, while trenches give a +2.

Losses so far at the end of Turn 01.  It’s pretty even, with steeper American losses thanks to bloody assaults and German opportunity fire almost perfectly equalized by that opening American artillery salvo on German positions.  But now the Americans have used up their artillery.  Yet their largely in the German trenches.  Also, both sides have used up most of their grenades.  It’s time for pistols and entrenchment tools, and time for the both sides to be much more careful in how they throw casualty points, close assaults, and opportunity fire around.

So it’s finally time to kick off this battle, and see if I can “eat my own dog food” as the expression goes, and run a bonafide trench assault game for 1918 Great War.

Previous posts in this project thread have shown how the boards were drawn assembled, and the game was set up.   How now it’s time to take a quick step back and lay in the American off-board artillery fire missions.  A few points:

(1) The American squads have not technically made these rushes yet.  They have not actually entered the board.  The artillery missions are supposed to go in before the infantry arrives.

(2) This isn’t the way artillery normally works in published Valor & Victory.  Remember this are WW1 rules, where not only is an on-site infantry spotter unit not required, it’s actually illegal as no one in 1918 is carrying a field radio.

(3) The normal rolls for artillery accuracy (of 1-4 for an on-target impact, 5 = I hex drift, 6 = 2 hex drift) are modified where 1-3 is an on-target hit, 4-5 = 1 hex drift, 6 = 2 hex drift.  Again, this represents no radios, spotter rounds, or on-site adjustments before “fire for effect” is called.

The markers show where the artillery is intended to land.

Okay, so the artillery has gone in.  Two of the four “Light Barrage” mortar salvos drifted ad hit empty fields, crafters, and trenches.  Two of them hit and pretty much annihilated small German positions.  The “Heavy Barrage” howitzer salvo landed on target, but only damaged some of the German units in that hex.

American squads then assaulted from the north and west.  German opportunity fire was actually pretty ferocious, chewing up American assaults pretty badly.  Some American 4-5-4 squads have been eliminated, some have been reduced to 2-5-2 half-squads, and some have been pinned down (inverted).  One German infantry platoon at lower centre has done very well, and with a natural “2” on 2d6 not only chewed up half an American squad even though it was at extended range and in an abandoned building … but also its officer rolled sufficiently to become “Valorous.”

On the northeast board, a smaller American attack goes in, without artillery support.  Fortunately, the Germans are a little more thin upon the ground here as well.  Still, German opportunity fire has been deadly, and with a second “snake eyes” roll, another German squad becomes “valorous.”  Note the two American assault groups at upper left are in fact in “crater” hexes, they’re not standing out in the open in front of fortified German machine guns.  The crater artwork in the hexes isn’t quite big enough to show under the counters.

The first American assault goes in.  Note the commander, Captain Lomax, named for @stvitusdancern of BoW fame! (82^nd Airborne veteran).  Each unit (including officers) can commit one grenade counter (although each army only has so many) to give a -1 bonus to their assault roll.  So leading off we have Captain Lomax and two squads (one of which carries a Lewis Gun, that’s the “2-6” counter beneath is assaulting the two German 4-5-4 squads.  The German trench cover does NOT count since Lomax is assaulting from within their own trench.  Lomax’s combined firepower (first number is 1 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 11, vs the German 8, for 1:1 odds.  That’s not great for an assault (6 or less needed on 2d6), but never fear, Lomax applies a -2 leadership bonus to this roll and they get another -3 for their grenades.  The Germans force them to add +2 for their two grenade counters.  So it’s a required 6 or below on 2d6, -5, +2 for a net -3.  Basically, Captain Lomax has to roll a 9 or less.

And holy hell, they barely do it.  The assault is successful, and the two German squads are eliminated.  However, the Americans will take additional losses in the course of this assault as well.  Captain Lomax will have to choose whether to pin many of his men, “kill” only a few of them, or some combination thereof to pay for the assault.

Okay, so it’s time to finally set up this game and start the trench assault!

The Americans, in summary, have reached and cracked this section of the German trenches.  Their frontal assault came down from the top of the board, and they are also approaching these Germans from off the left side of the board (where their assault has apparently cracked the German trenches).

So the Americans cannot simply mass all their squads in one gigantic phalanx and steamroll through the German trenches.  The scenario specifies that they have to set up and attack from two directions.

Conversely, the Germans are not allowed to simply line up a brick wall of gray uniforms and machine guns and blast away at the Americans.  They have to defend in two directions.

I’m trying out one small special rule … the normal stacking limit for this game is three complete squads plus an officer / leader (usually a full V&V stack is thus a platoon).  For units in a trench, I’m limiting this to two squads and an officer.  I figure the trench is smaller than the entire hex (usually about 30 yards / meters across.

Three units and an officer can occupy a trench counter (it’s not illegal), they just don’t get the benefit of the trench cover (they can’t all fit in the trench realistically).

So here is the American assault and German defense in the northwest quadrant of the overall board.  This is the board being hit from two directions, so there is the most going on here.  Note that some American squads and platoons have already leaped into empty stretches of the German trench.  However, close assaults are going to be declared on German squads and machine gun positions, which are going to cost the Americans dearly.  Even if individual German positions are not being hit, they will get opportunity fire on Americans as they cross the hexes between the edge of the board and their close assault targets.

I haven’t resolved any of this yet, but suffice it to say the first turn on this game will be very very bloody on this map.

The Americans will get the first “swing” with all those light and heavy barrages I mentioned earlier.

Then the Germans will maul the Yanks as they charge down the trenches or across the fields and craters toward the trenches (those craters do give “foxhole” +1 cover bonus, however) …

Then the Germans, who will still likely be badly outnumbered on this board, will be largely wiped out in a series of American close assaults …

But close assaults have a dynamic in V&V that make even successful close assaults very deadly for the attacker as well (casualty points suffered usually = the number of enemy units that were in the hex + any cover bonuses, which the Germans all have being in trenches unless the Americans close assaulted from inside the same trench) …

So yeah, this one will  be proper Great War nasty.

Further south, this is the smaller American attack that’s coming in from the west, essentially from the off-board sector of the German trenches that have already been secured.  Movement for these units naturally limited, and in fact there will likely no NO action on this board this turn unless that minenwerfer trench mortar drops some fire on someone (again, no radios, so only pre-arranged or direct LOS artillery fire allowed, a change from the usual WW2 artillery dynamic in V&V).

The northwest corner of the board, where the Americans are mostly charging straight at the German trenches in the more classic “Great War” model.  Losses here will likely be even higher (proportionately speaking) than on the northwest board, so the bulk of American light and heavy barrages will likely be dropped right here before the attack actually goes in and German MG 08s take all their opportunity fire.

Okay, now that the trench boards are set designed, printed, cut, and mounted, it’s time to try them out!  I’m setting up a trench assault game of US Army vs. Imperial Germans, circa September 1918 in the St. Mihel Offensive, leading into Argonne Wood, etc.

As discussed in the video, we’ll be playing this game where the Americans have already reached the German trenches (and undoubtedly paid a grim cost).  But now two companies are in the trench system (not a single line, but more of a “banded web” of communication trenches, primary and secondary trenches, support and supply trenches, artillery trenches, observation trenches, what have you), trying to secure and expand their lodgement.

Centennial Gaming in the Great War – Tips For Playing in Trench Warfare

The German force – based on two rifle companies.  Each has a -2 Hauptmann (captain) , and a -1 Leutnant.  They then have three platoons, each with three full 4-5-4 rifle squads.  One squad in each platoon carries an MG 08 15 light support weapon.  Each company also has a weapons section  (commanded by another leutnant) – with two full MG 08 heavy machine gun emplacements and a 7.58mm “minenwerfer” trench mortar.   Each company also has a modest supply of stick grenades.

In all, each company has 87 officers and men, for a total German force of 174.

Here are the Americans, also with two companies.  But these companies are a little larger, with each platoon having two extra four-man fire teams.  However, because they are on the attack, they do not have heavy machine gun support (M1917s, etc.).  They do carry extra grenades for trench assault, and (and I forgot to include these in the photo), they do have light and heavy barrages available for a nice opening artillery salvo that should hopefully weaken the German defenders a little.

In all, each American company has 99 men, for a total force of 198, plus off-board artillery.

Here is the map.  Four sheets is pretty big for a Valor & Victory game, but we’re trying to “stress-test” the 1918 Edition units and the new trench  boards, to see if they really work.  Trenches usually give a +2 defense bonus, but we’re taking that away IF the attackers are actually in the same trench with you, or attacking from an adjacent, connected trench.

What were going for here is a “tunnel war” almost, where the attackers have breached the trenches, now they’re trying to clear this sector and secure the breakthrough for successive echelons of attack.  The Germans, of course, are trying to stop to delay them (until their own artillery can lay new barrages, or reserves can be mobilized to the threatened sector).

What is a World War I game without trenches?  Therefore, I have created some quick trench boards (using the same general methodology described in previous project posts) to us in Valor & Victory 1918 games.

Note the trench boards can be put together in multiple configurations to create different kinds of trench systems, including two maps deep for best representation of a “trench bent” assault zone.

It is hope that with these maps, I can soon run some Valor & Victory trench assault games as described in the recent interview, found here:

Centennial Gaming in the Great War – Tips For Playing in Trench Warfare