Next year is the 100 year anniversary of the start of the Great War.
What are your gaming plans to commemorate this?
I'm off to the Marne to play in a GWSH 2 game at a chateau there...
Trumps me - I'm on a Comrades Association battlefields tour to commemorate the anniversary
While were over there were going up to see friends in Ieper and the surrounding area
Ohh, no clue.
A few of us have the idea of a walking holiday following von Kluck's First Army and their actual route. Friends did it in 1984 and I have the route plan. They liked their wine so it was more of a "bottle field" tour. But it allows revisiting Soignies and Mons.
Well, my resistance to get into WWI is quickly fading so I will probably do something. I like the new releases so I will probably start with early war and work my way forward.
Went to Mons in 1999, my wife has never forgiven me for taking me with her, "A canal bridge in an industrial area..." She has never let me forget that.
She enjoyed Waterloo though. ;)
From a gaming perspective, I can see fresh interest in the initial skirmish contacts via the "battles of the frontiers" to the Marne. A transiition war before trenches and the stalement of killing grounds ruled by HMG and HE. Red trousers, Napolonic uniforms, lances, and shoulder to shoulder formations.
What rules do you recommend for 1914 to refect this mindset?
I guess it depends on the size of battle, As I mentioned elsewhere I shall be using GWSH2 but test of battle ww1 supplement is meant to be good, The free set from WTJ aren't bad either
Oddly enough I've started in the east with Austrians and Russians, but plan to move on to the BEF and also the Antwerp campaign. Hoping some more Belgians are going to appear before too long.
Hello
Well I've thought I'd look at some of the out-of-the-way campaigns:-
South West Africa
Caucausus
Siege of Tsingtao (currently the smart money is on this as favourite :D )
A what-if on Rabaul
East Africa
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
Having played 'Through the Mud and Blood' at Wyvern Wargames yesterday, we were talking about the very early battles up to the Marne as being of interest, with very late War, the Eastern Front, Mesopotamia and East Afica in the mix as well. Assaulting trenches does not a fun game produce methinks. Having re-read 'Goodbye to All That' recently, I'd forgotten that whole companies simple never returned from an attack, and this happened over and over again whilst the author was at the front. So if I game this I will stick with the theatres as outlined above.
Can't say the 14-18 War engages me much. I do like the pretty French uniforms of 1914, and I do like late war tanks, but the "classic" Western Front just saddens me.
Quote from: fsn on 09 June 2013, 06:59:54 AM
Can't say the 14-18 War engages me much. I do like the pretty French uniforms of 1914, and I do like late war tanks, but the "classic" Western Front just saddens me.
Have to agree. The first few weeks of 1914 with a war of movement, the eastern front with its wide open spaces, or in Palestine and Mesopotamia against the Turks, perhaps. Otherwise, no thanks.
I am considering the trench warfare period - but using 10mm figures and doing it at matching figure and ground scale - with the trench lines often being within 100m of each other this translates to only 75cm on the table.
I fancy making some custom terrain boards, so the trenches are actual holes going down, rather than ramparts standing up on a green mat.
I've no idea about rules. But looking at more of a skirmish level rather than battalions marching into machine guns.
And it all sounds a bit complex - and may be more of a modelling project than a gaming one...
I have to say that the death rates in 1914 are the worst of the war. It was facing HMGs without the cover of the trench. There was a reckless bravery by soldiers of all sides.
I like Grumpys idea of the "out of the way" battles.
From what I have read and heard I thought 1918 had the highest casualty rate of the war
1918 sees a change in tactics and a return to mobility on the Western Front, however the losses were still horrendous.
Quote from: mad lemmey on 09 June 2013, 04:25:35 PM
1918 sees a change in tactics and a return to mobility on the Western Front
Mainly due to i) losses in previous years thinning out troop densities, and ii) the invention of the tank and
stoss-truppen
Also the Allies learning about combined arms as shown at Le Hamel
I know the British and Commonwealth troops took their highest casualties in 1918, right up to the chiming of 11 o'clock. The French, however, lost 250,000 in the first few weeks in 1914 as they tried to refight the FPW in reverse, i.e. attack. The Germans however had better machine guns than those of 1870 and seemed to have a much better understanding of how to use them.
Quote from: Dour Puritan on 10 June 2013, 03:44:13 PM
I know the British and Commonwealth troops took their highest casualties in 1918, right up to the chiming of 11 o'clock. The French, however, lost 250,000 in the first few weeks in 1914 as they tried to refight the FPW in reverse, i.e. attack. The Germans however had better machine guns than those of 1870 and seemed to have a much better understanding of how to use them.
This is quite correct. It may be that the national experience - ie high British Empire losses in 1918 - has coloured our history. The BEF in 1914 was a modest force whilst in 1918 Britian had a much larger army and on the offensive.
The real prophet of WW1 was Kitchener. He predicted a long bloody struggle whilst the general mood was that modern industrial nations could not sustain such a drain on their interlinked economies.
For those interested, there is a feature in the July edition (363) of Miniature Wargames (with Battlegames) using Pendraken WWI figures and models.
It covers a wargame recreating the British attack on the Messines ridge in June 1917. There are some interesting ideas including terrain, events and command and control, especially with respect to artillery.
Quote from: Albie Bach on 28 June 2013, 02:32:33 PM
For those interested, there is a feature in the July edition (363) of Miniature Wargames (with Battlegames) using Pendraken WWI figures and models.
It covers a wargame recreating the British attack on the Messines ridge in June 1917. There are some interesting ideas including terrain, events and command and control, especially with respect to artillery.
8)