ITLSU - Umbrella Hill, 3rd Gaza 1917

[paulr]

More like the both openers getting golden ducks

It looks like it is going to be a very bad night for the Ottomans

[Ben Waterhouse]

Cracking layout and write up.

[Martin1914]

(Photo 13) ......... and charged down the right-hand side of the redoubt to attack the MG. The close combat was a draw, the Scots winning by default, killing the crew, but for equal loss. The Turkish battalion officers survived and re-joined the 3rd Company at the rear.
(Photo 14) Hearing a chorus of distinctive Scottish cheering and quite a few shouted anti-Turk obscenities, Leggett correctly deduced that Umbrella Hill had fallen. Mindful of the need to consolidate and organise at defence, he ordered the Bde MG Officer to take his fellows up on to the hill.
To be continued.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks like it's going a little too well

[Martin1914]

(Photo 15) Although the Turks remained surprisingly quiet, the CO of the 1/7th expected a counter-attack and having taken his objective, automatically went on to Hold orders. He organised an all-round defence in the redoubt, incorporating the 1/8th company and holding a company in reserve on the British side of the hill.
(Photo 16) Leggett was smugly pleased with the turn of events. The attack had gone better than anyone could have expected! He had no intention of losing his grip on Umbrella Hill now. Confidently, he ordered the trench mortars forward.
To be continued.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Dumdumdum!

[Techno]

 

Cheers - Phil

[paulr]

 

[sunjester]

A really fantastic looking set up!

[Martin1914]

(Photo 17) Karparc Bey awoke slowly through the fog of pain in his head.

Finally! The Turkish Blinds card!

Becoming aware of the presence of his senior staff officer, he asked "What happened?"
"You were hit on the head Sir....... and I'm sorry to report that the enemy have taken Ahmettepe."
"What! Where's 3rd Company?"
"They ran from the redoubt Sir. The battalion CO is trying to rally them now."
"And 1st and 2nd? You've ordered a counter-attack, haven't you?"
"Still holding their positions Sir."
Karparc Bey struggled to control his anger. "You've called for artillery then?"
"The line's dead. Must have been cut by shell fire. I've sent linesmen out. But the telephone isn't working yet."
"And these enemy..... are they English troops?"
"I'm just not sure Sir. I know a little English and I've heard their shouting, but I can't understand them."
"No matter Lieutenant. I don't care if they're English, Australians, or those little bastards with the long knives, we've got to shift them! Right! Send runners back to the battery. I want at least 5 minutes of fire on that hill before I send 1st and 2nd Companies back up there! Get it done!"
Karparc Bey staggered painfully out of his HQ dugout. He had to get 2nd Battalion into action.
(Photo 18) Outside he learned that the battalion CO had failed to control 3rd Company who had routed, heading for Gaza. 1st and 2nd Companies were firing uphill at the enemy in the redoubt, with some suppressive effect.
To be continued.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Oh heck, here it comes!

[Martin1914]

(Photo 19) Karparc Bey sensed the situation was slipping from his grasp. He wanted to launch his counter-attack and every minute lost would make it harder to retake the redoubt. He could tell the enemy had got MGs up there now. Over the noise of rifle fire, his men would not respond and continued in their firefight.
(Photo 20) Even within the hard cover of trenches, MGs at such short range proved deadly. Losses and suppression within the Turkish companies mounted rapidly. Karparc Bey realised he had lost his combat strength and would not be able to retake the hill. He conceded defeat and would have to live with the humiliation.
156th Brigade had successfully taken and held Umbrella Hill with minimal loss, removing the threat to the main attack that was to follow. The 1/8th were down half the company, but the 1/7th hadn't lost a man.
Well there you have it. Thank you all for your comments.
3 hours to play 8 turns, representing 40 minutes of real time. The Brits ran away with it. Certainly, getting the run of the cards. The Turks couldn't get into the fight and could only be reactive. Frankly, Jase played a blinder! (Pun intended).
As for the Turkish artillery? Historically the Cameronians suffered quite heavily from retaliatory shell fire. In this scenario, Karparc Bey, rated Young Turk, had the chance of D6-1 turns of artillery fire. I rolled a 1! Summed up my night really.
Regards to all for 2019.
Mart

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Mart,
A superb series of reports, full of excitement and flavour. I could learn a lot.
Well played all.

[paulr]

 

A great looking game and fun to follow

One tweak we have made to ITLSU is to have two blinds cards for each side in the deck, only activating on the first drawn
This increases the likelihood of a blind card being drawn and reduces the frustration of large parts of a force doing nothing

We also tend to deploy our brigade commanders so they don't have to wait for the blinds card to turn up

Both of these would have made things more 'interesting' for the Scots

[Martin1914]

Thanks Paul.
I fell foul of the very thing that attracted me to TFLs rulesets like IABSM and ITLSU in the first place - card induced friction.
I like your ideas, particularly about deploying commanders. They would be waiting for their own cards in the deck rather than just the one Blinds Card. It implies they could use command pips to activate units on Blinds even before the Blinds card. I will give it a try.

Happy New Year to you.

Mart

[paulr]

The card induced friction is definitely one of the major strengths of the rules

The trick is to get the level of friction right

[Norm]

Lovely table and the lighting invokes exactly the right atmosphere for the subject.