1918 - Two peaks and Lotti on fire

Two men down to the plague ... which meant that the British just had to defend with one platoon. And a tank (Mark V) and a HMG, oh good Lord! We will never win, lets give them two FTs (Renaults) additionally... Ach, those pre-battle moaners ...

Yes, you guessed correctly, it was time again for a WW1, 28mm, Through the Mud and the Blood/ Chain of Command (or short Muddy CoC). Me and Mike set up two platoons of Germans with a 77 Gun, a HMG and a A7V, named Lotti. I thought Mike was a Chain of Command veteran so I gave him the stormtrooper platoon ... hmm tactical error  ... 

Bart took his two french tanks and the Mark V and was the tank platoon, while Peter hid his infantry platoon of Tommies in the trenches trembling in fear for the huns to come.

First we just got a bit of a gun fight literally, but then Mikes stormtrooper and the HMG (?) advanced forward in the only connection trench we had to the second line of defense of the British positions.

But Bart and Peter stopped that quite early with withering machine gun fire. Peter chose the Hermaphrodite version (yes, I got the Trenchworx resin version with magnets so they could choose which armament they liked best), which turned out to be a wise decision. Two of Mikes stormtrooper teams werenæt even on the field! And then he settled his HMG in front of the British HMG and got shot down. minutes later A7V/Lotti got a hit on the main gun, trondled a bit further got more hits and the crew left for Karlsruhe, never to be seen again.

Meanwhile I was advancing, hopping from trench crater to crater ... got a little hit but not too much. My 77 took out the Mark V and one FT ... but at the end of the night we never reached the trenches. The Stormtrooper platoon was on the brink of desertion anyhow ... so a glorious British victory! Huzzah, they stopped the Michael offensive!

Next time, as a special scenario, we will give the Germans the 18 extra troopers in the A7V as extra platoon, that can exit and can move as a small half-platoon on its own - if its not getting nuked/burned or crushed beforehand ...

The field of carnage at the beginning

The Beutepanzer, just a broken down lump of metal in the landscape

My gun crew on overwatch

The Stormtrooper trench

Lotti, the A7V in action

My men, just regulars, - out of the trench and forward!

Waiting for the right timing

The grand attack

The big push stuttered, Lotti skittered off ...

I hit the Mark V - boom!

But Lotti got hit as well...

casualties and shock are mounting

... a little nearer to the second trench

My LMG crew is nearly flanking Peters Brits!

but the rest is stuck in the mud

The tommies fire back ... ouch!

Two men over the half line!!!

Absolutely nothing's new on the western front

Hello! This Tuesday (Thursday polling - club was closed), we decided to go Great with 28mm First World War with a muddle of rules (Chain of command mixed with Through the Mud and the Blood - or simply Muddy CoC). The British, after extensive barrages, got into the first German trench line, A platoon of veterans trying to survive until the rescue would come, played by Peter. While Alisdair played the German platoon who supposed to help a platoon of stormtroopers (played by Bart) to get back what belonged to the kaiser, at least in his point of view.

The tanks were bombed out the barrages otherwise occupied, we just wanted to see what two platoons vs one plus a HMG would do. Aand the stormtroopers had a flamethrower ...

Well turns out it was probably too advanced towards the end of the war, as both players were reluctant to risk an all out attack at the same time and after some honorable advances and fire fights and losses it ended pretty much as a draw.

Still I had fun, but I would like to have seen more slaughter. Next time we will just do 1 or 2 set off points in the trenches and two to advance/fight out ... and we will incorporate some tanks ... without the german rabble seems too frightened to get over the papermachee top ....

Below some pictures from our Kaiserlichen Kriegsbericherstatter sampled photographs, achieved and shot under extreme conditions and danger of life.

The Initial set up

Stormtrooper before the storm

Normal Germans on their way to the slaughter 

Massed infantry before the storming attack

The trench packed with Brits

Ready to defend the new captured trench

To kill as many huns as possible 

While these huns "approach"

until the end of the foremost post

Meanwhile the stormtroopers

storming in their trenches

and firing with rifles at the enemy

The Brits get hurt but not too much 

Crucially not the heavy machine gun

and their supporting mates

they even fire their mad minutes

But the Germans somehow 

are stuck in their trenches

The British officer reading the news

while the storm troopers attack via the connection trench

but everybody get shot who sticks out their noses

The British line seems impenetrable 

Then in the last hour all advance - Attack!

Even the stormtroopers get near to melee with a British unit 

But in the end ... nothings new on the western front.

1918 right after the last Offensive

We agreed to play a 28mm WW1 game, with the rules amalgam "Muddy CoC" (Chain of Command and Through Mud and Blood) in the scenario of the last German Offensives. The breakthrough would allow "normal" terrain, and maybe the lack of barrages (as we don‘t like them very much - too game determinating), but both sides would be evenly matched, so somehow after the high tide of the German offensives, each player would get one platoon and some extras. Bart played the Stormtroopers with a n A7V and  some artillery and mortars while I commanded the "normal troopers plus a "Beutepanzer". Peter played a British special platoon with a brand new Mark V (we boosted his morale to equal the Stormtroopers), and Neil playing the French pilous with a little Renault and some guns and mortars.

The set up was a bit brutal for any tactical movement as it lacked a bit of hills and walls and fences in the centre, so nobody would dare to come up and get slaughtered (apart from my platoon, of course) and so the main battle was a tank and artillery gunfight. In the end we all agreed on a draw (as usual) as no real advance was made or significant unit loss was there that would justify such statement ... the "black day" of the Imperial German army would have to wait a little bit longer, while the advance was surely stopped.

The initial situation

The British "train station"

Barts stormtrooper arrive on the scene

The French hide in the Woods (very wise)

The Stormtroopers aren't living up to their name ...

my platoon of normal recruits arrives at the edge of a forrest ...

While the British choose to lay fire upon them (instead of moving) 

For the tank and some recruits it is getting hot ...

the utmost point of advance in the game for the German players ...

The Beutepanzer turns from a weapon into a landmark ...

The Mark V slowly advance but too late ...

The infamous MG nest that killed a lot of Germans that day

but the Stormtroopers had an equal deadly advance post 

Neil was truly in line with his Pilous, up to the coat colours ...

the British get some fire as well ....

But the "train station" held out

The HMG put a hold to the German advance very quickly