We recently ran this fictional TooFatLardies scenario using their 'If the Lord Spares Us' ruleset with 10mm Pendrakens (mostly).
Set In WW1 Mesopotamia, this represents an engagement after the British landing at Fao in November 1914.
The British advanced-guard brigade has orders at daybreak to push forward and secure the river road to Basra.
Brigadier-General Stanley-Nyffe (Harrow) commands 3rd Dorsets (Jolly Good Fellows – SR0), 22nd Punjabis and 115th Mahrattas (both Havildar Heroes – SR2) and 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry (Saturday Boys – SR1). The infantry are supported by His Majesty's Gunboat Thor (strength 4) with its 3" guns (Navy Chaps – SR0), a section of mountain guns (Kukri Killers – SR1) and a battery of 18-pounders (Jolly Good Fellows – SR0). Artillery barrage fire is on-call and unregistered. The 6th Hampshires (Saturday Boys – SR1) are on the march from Fao to the southeast and are expected as a reinforcement.
(Photo1: Table looking south)
(Photo2: Table looking SSE) Basra Area Command has ordered Major Suleiman Bey (Young Turk) to bar the enemy's advance on Basra for as long as possible, with his 112th Regiment (two battalions of Pasha Bashers – SR3), supported by a battery of 75mm field guns (Pasha bashers - SR3) and a band of local Arabs (Damned ********* - SR4) rallied to the cause against the Infidel. The Major has received a telegraph signal that more troops will arrive.
Suleiman Bey has chosen a position at the Wadi Hu'ura, where an old mud fort covers the river road. His left rests on a large date plantation situated within the thin ribbon of cultivation that clings to bank of the Shatt al Arab. His line then extends out into the undulating desert. The Major knows that the river road is the vital line of communication, and believes the British will struggle to manoeuvre in the heat of the desert. Yet, he expects the British to pin him to the road and attempt to turn his open right flank. With so few troops he cannot spread his defence too thin. Therefore, he conducts a hasty defence of a refused position, as far as the Second Sandy Ridge, and orders a few men to create dummy positions out on the Third Sandy Ridge to bluff the enemy. Given time, the expected reinforcements will become a reserve.
(Photo3) The British appear on a broad front. Stanley-Nyffe deploys his Brigade HQ immediately in some scrub just off the road, and begins to scan the enemy position through his binoculars.
(Photo4) He easily spots three companies and a machine gun of the 1st Battalion, 112th Regiment on the Forward Hillock. Due to the hasty occupation of the position, the Turks have only had time to dig shell-scrapes. Not the best protection against the direct gunfire from Thor, which has steamed upriver, yet peering from their low cover the forward companies spot the mule-carried guns of the 30th Mountain Battery next to the enemy HQ, and the 115th Mahrattas further out in the desert.
(Photo5) Stanley-Nyffe takes the bold move of pushing the 22nd Punjabis directly up the river road to attack the Old Mud Fort. They are automatically spotted, but in return establish that the plantation is defended. The fourth company of 1/112th, supported by the band of Arabs, are taking cover in the network of drainage ditches that irrigate the date trees.
(Photo6) Whilst Thor switches fire to bombard the Arabs it can see on the riverside edge of the plantation, the 3rd Dorsets have been ordered to advance to the front of some high crops and engage the plantation defenders across the open fields. In a short, sharp firefight, the two forward companies and a machine gun overwhelm and annihilate the single Turkish company.
(Photo7) Suleiman Bey decides it's time to unmask his gun battery, and the 37th Field Artillery with line of sight down the river road, opens direct fire on the Punjabis.
(Photo8) This does not stop the lead Punjabi company from closing into combat with the Arabs near the road. To the astonishment of all, the Arabs stand their ground and after two rounds of close combat send the Indian troops packing, with small lose to both sides.
(Photo9) Suleiman Bey becomes concerned for his left flank. The British appear to be unexpectedly concentrating their effort near the road. The enemy makes little movement towards is his right flank. Maybe they fear the desert and its lack of water? A small enemy patrol approaching the dummy position on the Third Sandy Ridge is dispersed, whilst nothing else could be seen in dead ground. He decides to move troops towards the river.
(Photo10) They will be needed! There are only Arabs in the plantation and 1/112th is suffering under a crossfire of mountain guns and the Mahratta machine gun. The reserve company has moved forward to replace the losses. At least their rifle fire is keeping the Punjabis on the road under suppression.
(Photo11) Although Turkish machine gun fire from the Forward Hillock on the Indian mountain guns is uncomfortably close, Stanley-Nyffe is pleased to see the arrival of reinforcements.
(Photo12) 1/112th continues to take casualties. Suleiman Bey regrets positioning them atop the exposed hillock and gets his Regimental HQ to order a retire to the wadi behind the them.
(Photo13) The British Brigade HQ is also able to send a flurry of orders. Stanley-Nyffe now wants barrage fire on identified Turkish positions. With ammunition for eight turns of fire, the brigade staff initiate a timed fire plan with 208th Battery, Royal Field Artillery. Two serials of fire on the Turkish guns followed by two serials on the Old Mud Fort.
With hardly a delay, the first barrage zone accurately straddles the enemy guns.
(Photo14) The Indian mountain guns continue to effectively suppress 1/112th and prevent their withdrawal from the Forward Hillock. Whilst the Arabs remain in the cover of the plantation, unable to fire on any enemy outside of the trees, the only Turkish response comes from a 1/112th machine gun detachment, posted in the Old Mud Fort alongside Suleiman Bey's HQ.
(Photo15) Casualties and the suppressive effect of the British artillery fire forces the Turkish gunners to limber up and pull back to a safer position.
(Photo16) This provides respite to the Punjabis, whose officers show a Stiff Upper Lip and reorganise the battalion to continue with its Attack order. The two reserve companies move forward, one of which enters close combat with the end of the Arab line. For a second time, the Arabs repel the Indians' assault.
Beautiful
(Photo17) After some frustration Stanley-Nyffe finally sees the Dorsets respond to its change of order to attack and clear the plantation. The crop fields are surprisingly bad going, and the Dorsets reach no further than the front of the trees in their effort to support the Punjabis. They remain unable to see the Arabs.
(Photo18) The Mahrattas also get their act together and start advancing towards the Wadi Hu'ura. Another British unit starts moving beyond on their left flank.
(Photo19) The Turkish centre continues to be subjected to a deluge of barrage fire.
(Photo20) A Mesopotamian Standoff! The dummy Turkish position on the southern end of the Third Sandy Ridge is still able to intimidate the British flanking movement. The British unit remains in dead ground, unwilling to try and spot its opponent.
(Photo21) The British fire plan finishes. Under its cover, Stanley-Nyffe is able to order his reinforcement towards the Forward Hillock.
(Photo22) The last of the British artillery serials on the Old Mud Fort is avoided by the Turkish unit moving across the First Sandy Ridge.
(Photo23) Fighting off a small number of sepoys is a different kettle of fish to the flashing bayonets of a whole battalion of British regulars. The Arabs flee and disperse before the Dorsets' attack.
(Photo24) All is not lost for the Turks. The unit moving across from the Second Sandy Ridge is able to enter the plantation in time to replace the Arabs. Suleiman Bey intends to launch a counter-attack against the British infantry. And reinforcements arrive on the road from Basra and push forward, on the right of the Old Mud Fort.
(Photo25) Having expected to come under fire in the open during their advance towards the Wadi Hu'ura, the Mahrattas are relieved to spot that there are no actual enemy troops on the Second Sandy Ridge. It's a dummy position. But are they now about to enfiladed by the enemy on the Third Sandy Ridge? The Battalion CO drops off his machine gun detachment in anticipation of requiring fire support.
(Photo26) The Turkish bluff is finally uncovered, for the British flank unit finds its courage to cross the Wadi Hu'ura and spot the remaining dummy position.
(Photo27) Being Indian Army, Stanley-Nyffe has never encountered Territorials before. He is impressed as the 6th Hampshires enthusiastically storm the Forward Hillock and destroy the suppressed remnants of 1/112th.
(Photo28) As the Hampshires take their objective and go onto Hold orders, Suleiman Bey can see his defensive position has been prised open.
(Photo29) The Mahrattas start to climb onto the Second Sandy Ridge and threaten the Turkish right flank.
(Photo30) Suleiman Bey loses confidence and cancels the counter-attack into the plantation. He is not able to halt the advance of the reinforcement on his right, and fears they will come under fire from two enemy battalions. Can he hold his current positions?
(Photo31) Disaster strikes! The Indian mountain guns are ordered to engage the Old Mud Fort. Even though the gunners swear that all they can see through the Mirage is a herd of elephants, they score a direct hit on the machine gun inside the fort.
(Photo32) And then Thor, having moved upriver, opens fire on the re-deployed Turkish battery and wipes it out. Suleiman Bey loses his fire support.
(Photo33) The Turkish commander is left with infantry only. The 1st Battalion, 113th Regiment is spotted in the open next to the fort and enters an uneven firefight with the enemy.
(Photo34) The 2nd Battalion, 112th Regiment is spotted in the plantation by Thor. Despite the battalion suppressing the naval gun crews with fire from its machine guns, it is likely to be caught between two fires if it stays in place. It faces a difficult extraction, as Suleiman Bey decides that he has delayed the enemy advance long enough and it is prudent to order a withdrawal.
We called it here after 11 turns. Post-game we discussed the relative merits of direct versus off-table artillery fire. The mountain guns seemed to be the most effective weapon before the time of massed MGs. The Arabs got a mention in despatches!
What an amazing looking game, and a great report. 8)
Hello Duke. Thank you.
What a great game - been too long since the last WWI game report!
We've not tried off table artillery in our ITLSU games - we play so infrequently that we tend to just use the core rules.
What a amazing looking game Martin, thanks for the very comprehesive report :-bd
Looks like ITLSU is undergoing a bit of a renaissance....having not played a game for about 18 months we too are starting a game next weekend, with the Germans attempting to advance to the Channel coast in October 1914.
Excellent game; pictures, reporting and flow.
Hello Fred, Peter & Kipt.
Thank you. I appreciate your comments.
An excellent looking game Martin :-bd =D> :-bd =D> :-bd
I had delayed reading the report till I had time to enjoy it, and I am very glad I did :)
A very interesting report of an interesting game.
Stanley-Nyffe took a significant risk attacking up the road and was fortunate that the Suleiman Bey's artillery was driven off and then destroyed
Great looking game and AAR too 8) !
Yes, a good looking game. As this has made me want to play ITSLU again, and having a re-read of the rules, I've got a couple of questions around orders
Firstly orders for moving / attacking
The orders are:
Attack [position] : The unit must attack the position ordered. It must move forward at least half of its potential full move in each turn until its objective is reached. Amendments to the objective or orders must come via the C-in-C
Advance to [position]: The unit will advance to the position ordered and await further instruction from the Brigade C-in-C. It must move its full move in each turn. (Could also be Retire to...). If the position is held by, or has been taken by the opponent then this force will halt, assuming Hold orders until further orders are received.
How do you play these? Does Attack orders mean the unit must keep pushing on each turn, it can't take a pause to shoot at the defenders?
And with Advance at what point does the unit 'know' the position they are Advancing too is held and convert to Hold orders?
Engage orders also appear to allow a degree of movement
Engage: The unit must engage an enemy position, perhaps to pin. ... The player will specify at which range he wishes the unit to enter into a fire fight.
I get what the orders are trying to do - but they seem so loosely worded that in a game it's hard to apply them correctly.
Or is the [position] element of the order the more important bit, than the actions. I.e. a battalion is focused a single objective, its less important if they shoot it up, or march into it?
Secondly the Brigade command example on p21 printed (p23 pdf) ITSLU Example 3 - where the HQ uses 2 command points to change a unit's order. Why wouldn't it use its remaining command points to activate that unit?
Fred, we are currently playing an ITLSU game for the first time in about 18 months so I'm a bit rusty. My thoughts in red below
As this has made me want to play ITSLU again, and having a re-read of the rules, I've got a couple of questions around orders
Firstly orders for moving / attacking
The orders are:
Attack [position] : The unit must attack the position ordered. It must move forward at least half of its potential full move in each turn until its objective is reached. Amendments to the objective or orders must come via the C-in-C
Advance to [position]: The unit will advance to the position ordered and await further instruction from the Brigade C-in-C. It must move its full move in each turn. (Could also be Retire to...). If the position is held by, or has been taken by the opponent then this force will halt, assuming Hold orders until further orders are received.
How do you play these? Does Attack orders mean the unit must keep pushing on each turn, it can't take a pause to shoot at the defenders?
"It must move forward at least half of its potential full move in each turn." Infantry may move and fire but -2 D6
And with Advance at what point does the unit 'know' the position they are Advancing too is held and convert to Hold orders?
I'd say when it spots enemy on the position, which it can do when activated
Engage orders also appear to allow a degree of movement
Engage: The unit must engage an enemy position, perhaps to pin. ... The player will specify at which range he wishes the unit to enter into a fire fight.
Yes, move up to the specified range bracket, not a specific number of inches.
I get what the orders are trying to do - but they seem so loosely worded that in a game it's hard to apply them correctly.
Or is the [position] element of the order the more important bit, than the actions. I.e. a battalion is focused a single objective, its less important if they shoot it up, or march into it?
Infantry can move and fire so gives some flexibility. The difference between Attack and Advance is speed. Engage allows you to approach a position.
Secondly the Brigade command example on p21 printed (p23 pdf) ITSLU Example 3 - where the HQ uses 2 command points to change a unit's order. Why wouldn't it use its remaining command points to activate that unit?
It took me a bit of hunting, 6.7 Orders, second to last paragraph
"Units may act on the new orders on their next activation (although this may not be in the same command pip allocation as the one in which the order change was given, so a C-in-C with two pips may not issue an order change with the first pip and activate the unit with the second)."
Thanks Paul
I'd also managed to find the section 6.7 last night - again a feature of these rules is the really odd layout. Why this isn't simply listed as a condition of changing and order, I don't know.
Infantry can move and fire so gives some flexibility. The difference between Attack and Advance is speed. Engageallows you to approach a position.
managed I understand what is there, but given with Attack you can move full speed, or you can move slower and shoot, it just seems a more flexible order. The only real difference with Advance is that you get to automatically stop if the position has been taken by the enemy.
I'm still feeling all 3 could be of the form, move towards position X. And do one of the following it
Attack it
Engage the enemy in it
Hold your ground if it is enemy occupied and Engage them.
As I said earlier it feels the Position part of the order is perhaps the most important, and this is what requires the HQ to issue new orders to get the unit moving towards the next objective.
ITLSU gives a very good game but is not the best written set of rules :-\
Hi Paul, Steve. Thank you for your comments. Glad you enjoyed the report.
Hi Fred. Sorry for the late reply, but have just returned from holiday. All I can add to Paul's answer about the Orders section of the game, is that we we use it flexibly to avoid gamers' omnipotence (friction as intended by the authors?) and actually attempt to form and carry out a plan.
Yes on Attack, you have to keep attempting to go forward towards the objective, but it's a battalion order, so how its subunits (companies) achieve this is at our discretion. Subunits may assault (possibly fire and move), whilst others may provide fire support. Once the specific objective is taken, the change to Hold is automatic and subunits can manoeuvre to defensive positions as required.
Advance and Retire require full turn(s) movement to a specific location. We would play that if moving to a location that is occupied by the enemy before you reach it, the unit stops and would need an Attack order to take the specific location.
Engage is usually given to specific fire support units during an attack. Better units may self-convert to Attack. Whereas on Hold you can fire on an threatening enemy units approaching your defences. And better troops are permitted to counter-attack a lost position without further orders.
The rules allow for compound orders Eg. Advance to and then Hold Hill A, or Advance to Ridge B and then Engage enemy on Hill C.
Hope this is useful. Regards to All.
Thanks Martin
I get the intent of the orders, and like that they force some planning and limit control. But once you start analysing them to understand how they could work under unexpected situations is where it gets a bit woolly.
Advance feels a very risky order to use - I can't see it has any benefits over Attack. As Attack lets you move at full speed (if you want) and lets you fight. But from a thematic perspective, I get there should be a difference in these orders. I'm just struggling to see it.
Even Engage feels a better option than Advance in most battlefield circumstances.
The only time Advance feels useful is if you have a weak force you want to probe with against a possible unoccupied objective - then if it turns out to be occupied your force will Hold.
Otherwise Advance feels it risks blundering into the enemy.
We are playing ITLSU on Monday so will report back!
The key difference I see between Attack & Advance is that Advance automatically changes to Hold if the position is held by the enemy. This will hopefully mean your unit with Advance orders will spot the enemy and stop before they are in effective range. If they had Attack orders, they have to keep getting closer.
I use Advance for:
- quickly moving a unit to somewhere, typically in the direction of away
- moving a unit forward to see what is out there
I hope your game on Monday goes well