ITLSU - Encounter at Eecloo October 1914

[pierre the shy]

In an effort to play some games with troops that have not seen much table time in the last couple of years I designed a ITLSU scenario set in Belgium in early October 1914 during the "Race to the Sea".

All the figures are 10mm Pendraken Minatures. While writing this I realised that these forces were my first 10mm ones and that I have had them for a decade already    

We started playing last weekend and will be playing the rest of the game this coming weekend. I took some pictures and wrote up a report of our first session on my occassional blog here:   

https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2025/04/encounter-at-eecloo-11th-october-1914.html

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Awesome report

[fred.]

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing how this plays out

[Steve J]

An excellent game and scenario, with a period that makes WWI in the West interesting .

[Martin1914]

Excellent. Now awaiting the next instalment.

[Techno 3]

Same here.

[pierre the shy]

I have not forgotten about part 2, but still recovering from the "shock and awe" of the game 

[paulr]

 

[pierre the shy]

Recovery completed 

here is a link to Part 2 of my game report of our recent (well fairly recent anyway  ) ITLSU 1914 game.

https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2025/04/encounter-at-eecloo-11th-october-1914_22.html

   

[Steve J]

Oh dear, that run of cards for the damned Boche certainly did it for our brave boys!

[fred.]

That is certainly a lot of German cards in a row - and if the British HQ failed to generate enough pips it couldn't do much to stem the tide!

What size units (both representative and number of stands) do you have represented by a card?

The photos don't seem to show loads of figures, but not sure if this is the whole table or just a sector. 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ouch!

[pierre the shy]

Fred, thanks for the reply. The Germans had a full Infantry Regiment on each half of the table plus several supporting units...

Here is the full card list that I used for the game:

German 5th Reserve Infantry Division HQ (2 cards)
German Divisional Cavalry (2nd Reserve Dragoons)
German 12th Reserve Infantry Regt HQ (2 cards)
German 12th Reserve Infantry Regt MG Company
German battalion 1 (1st Btn, 12th Reserve Infantry Regt)
German battalion 2 (2nd Btn, 12th Reserve Infantry Regt)
German battalion 3 (3rd Btn, 12th Reserve Infantry Regt)
German 52nd Reserve Infantry Regt HQ (2 cards)
German 52nd Reserve Infantry Regt MG Company
German battalion 4 (1st Btn, 52nd Reserve Infantry Regt)
German battalion 5 (2nd Btn, 52nd Reserve Infantry Regt)
German battalion 6 (3rd Btn, 52nd Reserve Infantry Regt)
German battalion 7 (Reserve Jager Bttn 3)
German artillery 1 (1/5th Reserve Field Arty) 3 stands 77mm guns
German artillery 2 (2/5th Reserve Field Arty) 3 stands 77mm guns
German artillery 3 (5th Foot Arty) 2 stands 150mm guns
Hard as Krupp Steel (German Stiff Upper Lip)
German Blinds (2 Cards)

British 6th Cavalry Brigade HQ (2 cards)
British cavalry 1 (1st Dragoon Guards)
British cavalry 2 (10th Hussars)
British artillery 1 (C Bty RHA) 1 stand 13pdrs
British 20th Infantry Brigade HQ (2 cards)
British battalion 1 (2nd Btn Scots Guards)
British battalion 2 (2nd Btn Gordon Highlanders)
British battalion 3 (2nd Btn Border Regt)
British artillery 2 (F Bty RHA) 3 stands 13pdrs
RNAS Armoured Cars
British Blinds (2 Cards)
Stiff upper lip
They don't like it up 'em!

Tea Break (2 cards)

We use some house rules that allow for Divisional level HQ's.

[fred.]

Thanks Pierre - that is really helpful. 

That is a lot of Germans! I think when the dice in the bag activation mechanic was popularised by Bolt Action, we looked at using it in a number of different games, and I played with some of the statistics, and I think things skew quite a bit towards the side with more activations. It's perhaps a little different with cards that are tied to specific units, but runs for a side with more chits where definitely a thing. 

I am also interested in how you have constructed your deck, as it's a bit different to how I create them. 

HQs, Infantry Battalions and Cavalry Squadrons look the same. 

Artillery - I go with one card per gun, not per group of guns. We do find artillery strong, perhaps grouping them could help, they would roll a lot of dice, but it would be only at a single target. 

Blinds - with two cards, how does this work, are the blinds in groups, or is it like HQs that just the first one counts?

Tea Break - with two cards, is it the first that triggers the end of the turn, or do you need both? We've always played with one, but with dice in the bag we have tried that with two end of turn markers and needing to pull both. 

They Don't Like it Up Them - do you modify the rules for this at all - as we very rarely have SR 3 or 4 units this would have no impact on most games. 

[paulr]

That run of cards for the Germans was rather better than expected    

And unfortunately tipped the balance significantly in the Germans favour, the British Brigade HQ rolling low compounded the problem. It was still definitely an interesting and enjoyable scenario with the advantage swinging between the sides as the game evolved

Thanks Fred, runs can occasionally be a problem, fortunately one we don't see very often. I'm pretty sure that's the worst we've seen

Artillery - we normally go one card per gun and normally don't have that much artillery on the table.
Not having had the troops on table for years may have contributed to Pierre the Shy's troop choice 

Blinds - with two cards, it is like HQs that just the first one counts, the aim is to make a blinds card more likely to turn up

Tea Break - with two cards, it is the second that triggers the end of the turn, the aim is to make it less likely for the turn to end really quickly, IIRC this was suggested in one of the TFL's Specials

They Don't Like it Up Them - we leave it in the pack as a bit of a laugh, more useful in the Middle East for some Arabs and Turks