The Battle of Vervins, 28 August 1914

Postie hosted a early World War One battle for the Rejects in the shed of war.

It was the Germans attacking a position that the British and French had taken.  The winner would be determined by which side could inflict the most casualties in terms of stands (infantry, artillery or machine gun).

For the Germans there were Steve (CO), Ray and Surjit.
For the Allies - David (British) and me (French)

Ray took infinitely more, and better, photos than I did.  So, you might want to nip over to his blog at Don't Throw a One to read his report.

I'm not even going to pretend to report on all the events.  This is really more focused on my part of the tabletop where I faced Steve's Germans.

For your information, Postie was using his own excellent WW1 rules and his figures are all 6mm Baccus miniatures.

The long view down the table.  The Germans are on the right, The Allies on the left, with me as the French closest to this end, and Dave as the British in the further half.

Turn 2 - I received some reinforcements which arrived in taxis from Paris.  One battalion of elite unit of  chasseurs a pied.

And those chasseurs have arrived just in time as my dismounted cavalry in the woods have taken a battering from some fierce German artillery fire.

But I'm also dishing it out to the advancing lines of German infantry!

My British partner in defence, David, also received some much needed reinforcements.  These arrived by bus.  Good thing that they are more reliable than the ones where I live!

My defending troops on the far right of the line start coming under bombardment.

Meanwhile the Germans reach the woods and assault the small defending contingent.  They are about to be wiped out!

As this happens, the German progress in the centre is slow and facing tough opposition from the French and British battalions in position on the left of the fields.  This will prove to be a major obstacle in the teutonic advance.

Back on my right.  The chasseurs move up to counter the advancing Germans.

Whilst in the centre, my French unit and machine gun team deal out death to the attackers.  Any advance for Steve and Ray is going to come at a high cost!

The German assault begins on my right as they charge the hedge line and seek to engage in the woods.

However, gallic soldiery give the Germans a taste of French steel, and hurl them back.  I should say that Postie's rules heavily favour the defender.  Especially if they occupy any sort of favourable position.

Back in the centre the French and British units are heroic in their defence.  It now attracts the wrath of the German artillery.

But it holds !

Whilst in the woods the Germans have charged; found to their surprise an elite unit, and bounced off them.

The German advance is clear, but not dramatic - having just made it half way across the battlefield.  There is a second line of defence for them yet to encounter.  Further down the table the British left flank buckles.  It is this that will hand the Germans their victory.

Analysis
Postie included a new item that meant artillery could run low on ammunition and even run out.  This was not a big issue for the Allies as we had two ammo wagons.  However, this did blunt the German artillery who only had one wagon between three commands.  Postie gave a good reason for this (the speed of their advance meant logistic problems), but may have been a little harsh.

The Allied defence was solid and difficult to crack.  The rules perhaps gave the prepared defenders too much advantage in melee (extra dice plus roll 6+ against the attackers 8+ on a d10).  Though one might argue that isn't this precisely why World War One developed into stalemate.

The dice rolling is very important in the rules.  Whilst there were bouts of good fortune for both sides, I would say that the laws of probability applied themselves evenly across the game to all players.

The Germans won by 25 to 22.  This victory came as a bit of a shock to the bloodied German commanders.  Effectively this was resolved on the very last melee where Surjit's assault on the British left flank resulted in the capture of 3 stands.

I'm sure Ray's report will say more about the assault against the British.

All in all, a close game.