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-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 - German A7V

I fancied doing an A7V for my later war German Army.

This is the 10mm one from Pendraken comprising a RTV resin chassis with white metal weapons.  I drilled out the gun mounts and reversed the weapons and then snipped them down to length as I wasn't too sure what the blob on the end of the sprue was.  IMHO these have come out okay

Great War - SB - Trench Assault Play Test

Latest playtest was a 1916 Western Front game between my British (Attacking) Vs Germans.

Pretty standard forces. I opted for 11 Battalions of Infantry supported by a MkIV tank upagainst a German force with full artillery and MG allocation. Not a blood bath BUT I didn't win. Game was over at the end of turn 4 with some nifty end of game rolls from the Defender. Things not helped out by my poor dice rolling. Out of 30 D6 rolled I managed one 6 which left my attack unsupported. Pretty close in terms of game play with the British finally breaking into the Trench line and taking a forward redoubt but not enough to score a victory and in fact the VPs game an overwhelming victory to the Germans.

Close up view from the Germans looking towards the British start line at the end of the British 3rd Turn, Casualties have started to mount (Top Right corner), however the Germans are very weak. A Damaged gun and a damaged MG are all that oppose two attacking battalions in the objective square (the one with the flag).

Overview at the end of Turn 3. The first attack on the British left flank (Attacking R to L) has been repulsed while the MKIV (unpainted sorry) and infantry have succeeded in taking the forward bunker.

German Turn 3 however was a different picture as a point barrage hits the newly captured position before the two weakened battalions (2 Bases and 3 bases) can be assaulted. End result is the withdrawal of the British to their start lines.

As this was a playtest we spent a few moments checking the mechanism for main and supporting attacks from two flank attacks being launched.in a pincer movement.

8 to 9 on the left hand attack and 8 to 8 on the right hand attack. Not great odds however the German defenders are a single base and I am hoping to win by virtue of destroying the enemy.

All told an enjoyable game again. I need to review my terrain but Western Front isn't my main focus in the Great War so will have to see what happens.

Great War - Square Bashing - 1916 Western Front

Quick AAR unfortunately no pictures.  I had arranged to stay over at my best mate's house the other night unfortunately in my rush to leave i managed to leave my SB books at home.  Luckily we had access to an earlier SB playtest copy and playsheet so we could at least get a 90% solution in.

Pete chose Western Front Germans and I took British with both of us picking a 1916 options.

After taking the minimums I was faced with choosing an extra 107 points which ended up being an extra Regular Battalion, 2 MG Companies and 2 18 Pounders, Pete had a force with two Cavalry Regiments which I rubbed my hand in glee at, 4 77mm Batteries and the rest being split between MG and Regular Infantry.  I was sorely hoping to be the attacker.

Unfortunately that didn't happen.  Pete had elected for an offensive posture and soundly beat me in the pre-game set up.
My Artillery was low and ammo and could only fire 4 Square width barrages.  My Suppression Barrage was reduced to 4 Points.  He had an option to use his artillery against my armour (which luckily I hadn't taken for a change) and worse he ended up with a Stormtrooper unit to spearhead his attack and reducing my Point Barrage.  In addition he could move some of his MGs (remember this is a playtest list so isn't the same as the final print version)

I ended up being 21 points behind and was facing a 7D6 depletion roll once the units were all set up.

Terrain was duly set up and I had placed three objectives in Row 3 (9 Points) and one in Row 4 (4 Points) so that was fine.  I was hoping do keep him confined in the terrain and hope for some good end turn rolls.  That wasn't such a good idea facing Cavalry and his terrain roll moved my rough terrain that I was relying on to hold up his attack in front on the objectives.

The depletion rolls were horrid as well and I ended up with the three objectives in Row 3 being held with Profession Infantry and MGs and one Regular Battalion.  In terms of support I had 3 Field batteries the rest of the force were reinforcements.

Pete's first turn saw a suppression barrage on my defensive line which meant I couldn't fire out or over which left his force unscathed and on top of my positions.  In my turn despite an asset general I ended up with no support and unlikely to sortie out from the objectives into the open  I managed to get one reinforcement unit on (Reservist Infantry Grrrr).  An End Game roll of 1 set the tone that this really was going to be a bad day for the British.

I can't remember Pete's next asset roll but I managed to repulse two assualts he launched with no casualties.  The thrird assault however pushed me off of the centre objective. In my turn 2 I managed to land a small suppression barrage which effectively pinned his centre and right flank infantry.  A counter attack managed to recapture the lost objective and an end game roll of 6 meant that I was facing at least 3 more turns.

Next turn saw more assaults coming in which I shrugged off and thought that I might have a chance. The dice gods were not on my side and a point barrage intended to hit the attackers in the open dropped short on the Left hand objective causing casualties on the Professional Infantry which i could weather but both MGs took a loss meaning I had just lost 4D6 of Defensive firepower. 

With a barrage on my own position Pete rubbed his hands in glee for his own assets and promptly failed to add anything.  That said the damage was already done and his free roaming cavalry on the flank and rear coupled with losing 7D6 of defensive power (Damaged MGs and the 3 Barrage markers) meant that the assault was going one way in the favour of the Germans. I conceded at this point.

Lessons Identified -

• Terrain can only do so much and it is better to sit in it than in the open! 
• Asset Generals are fine but once you have rolled all your dice then they are gone.  Possibly better if defending to use a morale General.  Only really helpful if you have been shot up as has no effect in an assault. 
• You can never have enough barrage markers (only applies to me as I supply both forces and therefore need all the markers for boths sides)

Thoroughly good evening and the nice postman has delivered Pendraken order 6544 which contains some more late war Western Front additions to the British and Germans (I am daunted by the A7V though!)

Great War - Eastern Front Cavalry

As the Eastern Front Cavalry operations were the spark that set this particular fire off running I thought it was about time they had some more attention.

First up are a couple of new German bases.  The one on the left is a standard Uhlan base which will just be added to the pile of cavalry being painted up to give me the 1st Cavalry Division for some early 1914 games.  In the middle is my Cavalry Brigade command stand for GWSH and on the right is a WIP for the dismounted cavalry that both SB and GWSH can use.  These will go on to fill up 1st Kavallerie Divisionen which is now in the painting queue.

From a slightly different angle

 And the other side

The Russian Brigade HQ being worked up

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 - 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