Great War - Later Period German Artillery update

Due to word blindness I clicked on "with helmets" rather than "with picklehaub". End result a pack of 77mm Guns with the wrong crew,  Oh well I thought I can always use the guns as part of later army I will just order the right pack.  This time managed to click on  2 packs of "Howitzer" rather than "Field Gun". End result the right crews for the first Field guns and one of the packs of Howitzers.  So the crew "with helmets" have now become a Howitzer battalion rather than 77mm in the front line.

As they are in helmets these will be for a later period army than my 1914 - 1915 collection. Fancied my hand at some of the more elaborate camo.  No idea if it is realistic but they were fun to paint.

Usual basing material using a mix of PVA and flexible filler.  Given a watered down coat of GW Graveyard earth which I am now on my last pot of.  GW Desert Yellow dry brush (loads of that left) and finally "burnt grass" static grass.

The go with the Stormtroopers and the A7V I did a while ago so happy that they aren't on their lonesome.

Great War - Imperial Russian Army - III Corps

I have decided to base my Russian forces around the elements engaged at Stalluponen and Gumbinnen in 1914.

3rd Army Corps

• 25th Infantry Division
• 1st Brigade
• 97th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 98th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 2nd Brigade
• 99th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 100th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 25th Artillery Brigade (2 divisions each of 3 eight gun batteries)
• 27th Infantry Division
• 1st Brigade
• 105th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 106th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 2nd Brigade
• 107th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 108th Infantry Regiment (4 Battalions)
• 27th Artillery Brigade (2 divisions each of 3 eight gun batteries)
• 3rd Cavalry Division
• 1st Brigade
• 3rd Dragoons (6 Squadrons)
• 3rd Lancers (6 Squadrons)
• 2nd Brigade
• 3rd Hussars (6 Squadrons)
• 3rd Don Cossacks (6 Squadrons)
• 3rd Horse Artillery Battalion (2 six gun batteries)
• 5th Rifle Brigade
• 17th Rifle Regiment (2 Battalions)
• 18th Rifle Regiment (2 Battalions)
• 19th Rifle Regiment (2 Battalions)
• 20th Rifle Regiment (2 Battalions)
• 5th Rifle Artillery Battalion (24 Guns in 3 eight gun batteries)
• 3rd Howitzer Artillery Battalion (1 division of 2 six gun batteries)
• Corps Troops
• 3rd Sapper Battalion
• 4th Pontoon Battalion
• 2nd Telegraph Company
• 9th Aeronautical Company 

Great-War-Eastern Front updates

The very nice people over at Pendraken have been cracking out additions to their WW1 range at a prodigious rate. So I asked Pete to pick up a largish package from Salute.  This will enable me to crack on and update both the Russian and Imperial German units to Roughly Corps sized formations.  As usual now I have read what I ordered I have no idea of the rationale behind some of the numbers so was probably suffering from word blindness at the time :)

Germans

• 1st Corps
• 150 Infantry - Rough equivalent of 50 bases (3 figs to a base) which should give me the Infantry component for 1st Infantry Division of Francois's 1st Corps.
• 6 Field Guns - Divisional Artillery for the 1st Infantry. 
• 3 Howitzers - Howitzer Battalion for the 1st Infantry

• 1st Cavalry Division
• 30 Kuirassiers - Two regiments for the 1st and 4th Cavalry Brigades.
• 30 Dragoons - One regiment the for 1st Cavalry Brigade, the other to use as Jager Zu Pferde for the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.
• 90 Dismounts - Roughly 30 bases which is hopefully more than I will every need

Russians

• Imperial Russian Army
• 120 Infantry - Rough equivalent of 40 bases which is no where near enough for the 16 battalions needed for a second Russian division.  Get these painted up and then add the missing units.
• 3 MGs - Enough for very early games where the MG Coy is at Regimental level
• 15 Cavalry - Two per base in my armies so 7 bases or just over one Regiment (6 sotnia per regiment)
• 15 Cossacks
• 3 Field Guns - Again only half of what I need so will need more and I haven't accounted for the horse artillery for the cavalry formations yet either.

What is still to do...

So forgot the horse artillery and the third Field artillery Abteilung for the Germans.

The old Uhlans will get moved into Divisional Cavalry.

I haven't added any MG units for the Germans, For very early 1914 games that isn't a problem but will need to add more as I go forward.

Russian Cavalry organisation needs about 24 bases per Division which is the same as the Germans. But the Germans only have 1 division in the East so will need a a few more for the Russians.

Russian Infantry need 16 battalions per division so I will need about two more packs pretty soon.  Will see how the new marching poses fit in.

Great War - Square Bashing - Stormtroopers

Square Bashings (and GWSH) permit the use of Stormtroops for several nationalies.  SB allows for complete battalions which reflects the attached comanies in the overall performance.  GWSH on the other hand allows the direct modelling of the Companies as independant units.  Either way the latest addtions to the Western Front are two Battalions, with complimentary Half Bases and Casualty figures

The Half Bases are the Casualty step removal element for SB

The battalions as they will be fielded

SB also allows the 1918 German list to field two Flamenwerfer bases.

Great War - GWSH - Jaeger Bns

I have finally found time to finish off the two Pendraken Jaeger Battalions needed for my 1 Kavallerie Divisionen for the 1914 Eastern Front.

They now need a Cyclist Company added.  The Bn MGs were completed at the beginning of the project so just need to be mated up and they are ready to be used

Great War - 1914 Russians (update)

With the impetus to get some SB units finished, I have returned to the Eastern Front.  This is the area that my interest in WW1 started with rather than the Western Front.

My Russian forces are based on a "standard" Infantry Division.  They were based around a Pendraken Starter set with some small additions to get me up and running for the SB playtesting.

Since the play test games I have added more units to provide:

• Two Brigades of 2 Regiments Each of 4 Battalions of Infantry.
• Regimental MG Companies
• Divisional Cavalry Regiment
• Two field regiments of 76.2mm Guns
• One Heavy Regiment of 122mm Guns

GWSH and others seem to suggest the Russians were poorly provided with Artillery compared to the Imperial German Army.  The Batteries were deemed to be inefficient by still retaing 8 gun strucutres rather than 6 pieces.  Stone (The Eastern Front 1914 - 1917) makes a statement on Page 38 that "...their regular Divisions (German) had eighteen such weapons (field-mortars) to fifty-four field cannon, whereas the Russian army, in 1914, had only six per division (and forty-eight field-cannon).  This give me a benchmark for the Germans of:

3 Batteries of 6 Howitzers
9 Batteries of 6 Field Guns

Which translates the Russians to:
1 Battery of 6 Howitzers increasing to two batteries following the reforms
6 Batteries of 8 Field Guns

Great War - 1916+ British Current Progress

Problem with so many projects is that you keep finding things you hadn't gotten around to.  In this case my 1916+ British Artillery, HQs and Tanks had sat unloved for a while.

Now completed this lot with another load on order from those very nice people at Pendraken

HQ Set with Motorcylist and Carrier Pidgeons and Telephones

MkIV Male

Lions

The Divisional Artillery 

 Supports waiting for the next batch of metal (MGs and another Regiment of 18 Pdrs)

3 Brigades of British Empire Infantry

Great War - German 1st Cavalry Division

ORDER OF BATTLE

· 1st Cavalry Brigade

o3rd (East Prussian) Cuirassiers "Count Wrangel"

o1st (Lithuanian) Dragoons "Prince Albrecht of Prussia"

· 2nd Cavalry Brigade (from I Corps District)

o12th (Lithuanian) Uhlans

o9th Jäger zu Pferde

· 41st Cavalry Brigade (from XX Corps District)

o5th (West Prussian) Cuirassiers "Duke Frederick Eugene of Württemberg"

o4th (1st Pomeranian) Uhlans "von Schmidt"

· 5th Machine Gun Detachment

· Horse Artillery Abteilung 1st (Prince August of Prussia) (1st Lithuanian) Field Artillery Regiment

· 1st Jager Battalion

· 2nd Jager Battalion

For gaming purposes this is quite a small formation of some 8 battalion equivalents, 6 mounted and 2 Infantry.

2 Cuirassier Regiments

2 Uhlan Regiments (Already completed)

1 Jager Zu Pferde Regiment

1 Dragoon Regiment

3 Cavalry MG Stands (representing 2 Guns each)

Jager Battalions each comprising

    4 Jager Stands

   1 MG Stands

   1 Cyclist Stands

· 24 Dismounted Cavalry Stands (needed for SB as well)

Great War - GWSH - "They Shall Not Pass"

I haven't played against a "real" opponent with GWSH.  So I took the Scenario from the book as a learning exercise.

First up then is a straight 1915 Slugfest with a German Division assaulting French trenches near Verdun. The battle was deliberately restricted to a Regiment of Defenders as this keeps the table size down to a 2' x 4' which is a strange table size for most gamers when considering this will be a 3 Regiment Assault but reflects troop density and tactics in this year of the War.

French Defenders: (Using my Russians as Proxy units )

Regiment HQ Stand

• 37mm Infantry Gun Battery
• 3 Battalions each with:
• Hotchkiss MG
• 4 Infantry Companies.

Divisional Artillery Support:

• Regiment of 75mm Guns (3)
• Trench Mortar Battery

Corps Artillery Support:

• 2 Regiments of 75mm Guns (3) (6 Fire Missions each)

Trench Defences

1 Bunker
3 Pillboxes (assumed provided on Divisional frontage by Engineer battalion)
24" of Trenches (First Line)
24" of Trenches (Second Line)
24" of Barbed Wire (10 Sections laid in one continuous strip)
12" of Barbed wire (5 Sections placed as required by the defender)

German Attackers:

Division HQ Stand

4 Infantry Regiments, each with

• Regiment HQ Stand
• 3 Battalions each with:
• MG08
• 4 Infantry Companies

Divisional Engineer Company

Divisional Artillery:

• 3 Regiments 77mm Gun (3)
• 1 Regiment 105mm Howitzer (3)

Corps Artillery Support:

• 1 Regiment 150mm Howitzers (2)

Army Artillery Support:

• 1 Super Heavy Regiment
• 2 Heavy Regiments

On Table forces set up (both sides) See GWSH map.

• French decided to go with 2 Battalions (at 50%) in the Front Line plus the two pillboxes containing the Bn MGs. The rest of the two forward Battalions were held in the Second line together with the Complete 3rd Battalion. The Bunker (containing the 37mm IG) and the final pillbox were in the second trench line with two battalions HQ and support. The idea would be to reinforce the threatened sector with reserves as soon as the German assault began.
• German idea was to lead with 2 Regiments into the first trench line and then pass through the two fresh regiments against the second line trench system supported by Div Arty.

Preliminary Bombardment

I had 3 days Preliminary bombardment, I didn't extend it otherwise the French would have been allowed an additional regiment of troops.

So... Germans have, 1 SH Regt, 3 H Regts, and 4 Field Regiments to support the attack.

To destroy the Wire, I need the Field Regiments, while only the SH and H Regiments can damage the Bunkers and Pillboxes.

The defenders can replace 1/2 a stand of wire and on a roll of 4+ may replace a full stand (the rules let me replace 3 pieces per 2 engineer bases so 1 base can replace 1.5. As mine are double width I thought it sensible to give them a 50/50 chance of replacing a full stand.

Three days of 4 Field Regiments shooting gives me 12 shots so on average I might destroy 2 stands of wire. As hitting the same area twice causes a terrain effect, I may as well keep shooting and hope that day 3 will clear a path through.

Using the H Regiments against the Infantry should reduce the defenders firepower as they kill infantry 50% of the time. This then leaves the SH Regiment to 3 days to target 3 separate bunkers/pillboxes. Obviously this means I am aiming for the forward trench area.

Fire plan written off we go.......

Great War - Russian

I have no history for any Russian unit at present so this unit will be a generic formation present at Stalluponen or Gumbinnen in 1914.
Elements of the Starter Army I bought a long time ago. I have now started adding units to it. The white undercoated bases have now been painted so I have just under two full regiments painted up (two of which is about half the necessary Infantry so the Divisions are massive). My next Pendraken Order has 90 Infantry in it which will begin to fill the Infantry up for this. Need to look at the Artillery support which is historically weak with only two artillery battalions per Division with a total of 6 - 8 Batteries, compared to a German division which has 12 Batteries, in 4 Battalions. Might have to rely on the Stoicism of the infantry to enemy firepower to hold the line!
So Pendraken Order has arrived only to find that I ran out of bases as I did a few extra German troops during the week...Doh! More on order but currently means I only have 10 battalions of Russians done for Monday's game! If my mate can get a pack in the post to me tomorrow I can be upto 13 Battalions! Only another 3 left to order then which will be another two packs of RP1 Infantry. At least I have all the MGs!

  

Great War - Western Front Terrain

As I wanted to use my forces for both Square Bashing and GWSH I looked at some terrain ideas that could be used between the two systems.  This is as far as I have got.  The Trench system is modular and I have done some angular connecting pieces.  I have also knocked out more wire sections which count as difficult terrain in SB.

An idea of the two lead regiments on part of my Western Front terrain. Simple terrain pieces so far, as I gradually get to grips. Eastern Front is my main thing so this will be most definitely work in progress

The thing with both GWSH and SB is that the ground scale doesn't match accurate terrain features such as trenches, so, A bit of artistic license needed.

Great War - 1914+ German

The German 1914 Army starter was my first pack of WW1 figures from Pendraken.  The range is quite large and painting over a white undercoat meant I could snap them out in pretty rapid fashion.  Need to go back and see what hasn't been completed on these for GWSH but they have been used for Square Bashing a couple of times so cannot be much.

What I have haven't worked on yet is the Cavalry Division with attached Jaeger Battalions, that will be a separate post.

The Germans will be modelled on Francois I Corps divisions (1st and 2nd) on the Eastern Front in 1914. It will have sufficient extras to allows it to move to the Western Front and with the odd Helmet swop out be able to be used for 1916 based games. I have decided to paint 2nd Infantry Division first (not that it matters) so I can use it in the Gumbinnen Scenario.


Basic Infantry Battalion

Initial forces with some GWSH trench markers

The artillery formation less the 105mm Howitzer Battalions

Higher Command

GWSH command additions

Trench raiders which are added to indicate my professional rated formations

Divisional Cavalry.  Pendraken only do the Uhlan head gear and the Div Cavalry are Jager Zu Pferde.  I have tried some head swops but that is too time consuming to be able to complete a cavalry Division's worth

Great War - 1916 British (Infantry)

Fielding a complete division for Square Bashing was relatively straight forward with the Pendraken figures.  Four bases make up a Battalion sized unit and it was relatively easy to make sure that the forces constructed could also be used for Great War Spearhead (GWSH)

I have tried to keep the bases pretty simple for this project and have only put small terrain items on a couple of bases spread across all the units.  I have plenty of spare bases which will gradually have additional detail modelled onto them (providing time and interest remains)

The Pendraken range for figures in Helmets is excellent with a mix of plain helmets and covers which meant painting was varied and kept my interest up.  These are the base figures from each of the four packs making up the bulk of the Division.

BP2 is the basic infantry pack with figures wearing the Shrapnel helmet which came into service in 1916. There are 3 poses in the pack, 1 Officer with pistol wearing an uncovered helmet, Infantryman at the High Porte with a covered helment, and an advancing infantryman with a plain helmet. Both Infantrymen have bayonets fitted..

BP37 is Infantry in Helment with a backpack normally worn during the assault. As with the GP23 Germans this is an addition pack so there are only two basic poses; One is a standing firing from the shoulder, wearing a covered helmet, the second is advancing at the high porte with an uncovered helmet. Again both figures have bayonets fitted.