Guns Of August - 08/1915 - 02/1916

 Apologizes again, it seems life comes in between me and my hobbies.

The last Big Sunday game was Guns Of August, the 6mm recreation of the Avalon Hill board game.

Last time (the first half of the 1915 year) left the Central Powers stuck and ended their overwhelming superiority in offensives and structural force. The Allies had landed successfully in Gallipoli! The balkan front was established. Italy was joining them on by sheer luck earlier in their war efforts to free Europe from the anti democratic empires.

Now it would be the question if they could keep on their momentum. And that was quickly answered on the Italian front. The Italian forces that swept way beyond their supply lines retreated and the Austro-Hungarian flottila made an attack the second naval battle of the war ... and was sunk. The front lines hardened and are probably beyond the capabilities of either side to break the stalemate.

The western front kept quiet troops were shifted, forts were build, but everybody seems to be waiting for the big push that whisperingly would be announced soon ... all quiet here.

The Balkan front, despite numerous counter attacks ordered by v. Hotzendorf, the French-Serbian balkan front established itself and kept digging in, probably with the same perspective as the Italian one. Nobody wants to storm entrenched positions in mountains. On the Turkish side things got from bad to worse,. They are just hanging in there by their teeth. And we all expect Constantinople to fall in the next half year.

The Russian front never kept quiet. As the A-H line kept quiet (their men were needed elsewhere to fill gaps), the German pushed steadily foward towards Riga and Minsk. Not quiet there, but close to be a major concern.

Even though the overall situation has been lesser successful for the allies, by the rules if the game would have stopped, it would be a "strategic victory" for them, the grand diplomatic situation though is less than optimistic. 

We have 1916 and the first "Big Push" attacks happened in Belarus and the Karparthien (without much success though this time) - BUT if Russia falls 3 strategic cities would immediately swing the pendulum to the Central Powers (Operative victory). Also very disappointing is the abscence of the United States of America and Romania. Both could be and will be game changers, but remain still neutral to the anguish of both sides.

Also as we entered the phase of the moral check for each major combatant (each 3rd month),  the forthcoming year 1916 will be a very decisive and unquestionably intensive year. 

Even if Constantinople will fall, it will be too late for Russia. Rumania can elevate the Central Powers struggle on the Balkan, but can it help sufficiently to erase the front?

Same with America, even if it enters, it will take a year at least until its land forces can make a difference - will it be long enough for the Central Powers to turn the tide? 1916 was always (in previous games I played) the year of the Central Powers, the make or break - if played correctly and with a bit of luck they can smash the starting allies of the war ... or go down.

Barts blog for more images and a monthly description:

http://asienieboje.blogspot.com/2022/10/guns-of-august-3-081915-021916.html#comment-form

The western fronts in the summer 1915

The eastern fronts at the same time

The German start the Belarus offensive

All quiet around Swiss

The Germans before Riga at February 1916

And threatening Minsk

The eastern fronts at February 1916

The western fronts at February 1916

Casualties in relative relation so far

1506 - Big Sunday Heatwave Game - Great Italian Wars

This Sunday we played a (totally fictional) Renaissance battle with a heat wave topic at my place: 28mm, Great Italian Wars, Pike&Shotte - Bart choose the French and I played the Imperialists. The Germans were to be attacked by the French and Swiss, who supposed to be eager to charge, while the Imperial Marshal had made a mistake by building up the camp near a dried up river, easily fordable (and just rugged terrain) - due to a nasty Italian heat wave!

The French had better and more cavalry,while the Imperialists had one more pike block and the bigger guns. I got the first turn, but decided to play it traditionally, i.e. to bombard them and then maybe dare a raid with my few gendarmes in the hope to soften them up before.

One extra scenario rule was that each gun had 6 shots and an extra powder casks (plus 1d6 shots) and 2 powder casks in their camp/baggage train. The number would be rolled once the 6 shots were fired. Also, we made the explosions chance a bit "hotter" as we introduced an technical dice at long range (different colour) that would be just there to give a second 1 - in which the guns would explode! If that would happen with a powder cask near all units within 6" would get 1d6 automatic hits. The heat was on!

Unusually Bart had the same idea of playing cautious - which gave me time to fire away at his guns. Unfortunately right at the start one of my biggest guns exploded and harmed Gendarms, Men-at-Arms and some Doppelsöldner around it!

The progression of the battle was rather restrained cautious, with some action at the flanks - as Bart seemed to wait for the right opportunity to charge my walls just when my guns would run out of ammo, while I was waiting to catch the right moment to sally forth with my few gendarmes to prevent that!

My large pike at the flank exchanged itself in a "bad war" manner with a Swiss pike block. Bart send  one of his Gendarmes in as my block was disordered - ouch -  total sweep up!

On the right flank my Italian light cavalry battalia just was not making any progress! His guns  and powder cask were rolling 6s, while I was just rolling 1s or 3s - I would be soon out of ammo! Even so I stripped Bart of most of his guns. While all parts of the battle seemed stable on Barts side, my left flank was on the down and the right flank was an impasse.

Then Bart launched his French Grande Attack! One gendarme d‘Ordonnance and two Men-at-Arms, he could even afford two light cavalry to bolster /pressure my left flank - it didn‘t look good! But something happened, his rolling wasn‘t on top, he failed his big charge, and then due to some lucky shots from me, his knights got disordered, and then I charged back. He never got out of his disorder and I could charge a second time and then his middle (cavalry) line was gone! I beat the French on horse, huzzah!!!

That was when we realised that the battle was over, as his centre was missing and my knights stood there ...

It was a thrilling battle, much more thrilling as we both waited for the "right" time to set the charge. Unfortunately for Bart his "Grande Charge" had not worked out, if it would, I would have lost the battle, I am sure of. Also the defining power of getting a unit (gendarmes or a pike block) disordered by even the tiniest shot unit is worth a million bucks!

A Imperial victory: 5 German vs 10 French units.

Initial set up, French on the left

Imperials on the right staying put

Then my gun exploded

My Italian right flank stumbled on

while in the centre my gendarmes lick their wounds

His stradioti and the Black block block my Italian advance on my right

I advance on my left

His Swiss stay unusually put in restrained fashion

my advances are slowed

it will be a bad war!

while my centre blasts away

Bart builts up pressure on the right

My light manages to destroy a light gun

Then the Swiss counter charge my large pike block

and the rest of the Swiss battalia follows

Bad war happens

and his halberdiers manage to soften up my pike

then the pike blocks clash

and i manage to destroy a Swiss pike!!!

we survived just about it

but the next Swiss block is on its way

and further behind ...

the French heavy cavalry

and as the large block is disordered they sweep in for the kill

the other Swiss go after my remaining block

I retreat and Bart senses blood and charges with the rest of the French gendarmes to my centre

but he gets caught disordered and I counter harge!

and counter charge

and counter charge

until his  once proud French knights are in the ground

End of battle

1809 - Napoleonics - The Battle at Knuspern-Trinklingen

The Big Sunday Game was a call for Napoleonics, 28mm, Black Powder2 and the introduction of my new Austrian army. Peter came to my help with some British guns, as we  were facing Barts entire Napoleonic-Polish Vistula contingent and Campbells treacherous Würtemberger! Peter took with the Grenadiers and the light cavalry brigade and some line brigades the CinC cap and played the left wing of the 20x6 ft table and deployed before Campbells Würtemberger. Bart took, as French CinC, position before me and my cuirassier brigade and the veterans and jäger contingent.

Bart insisted that the totally fictional village/small town, named "Knuspern-Trinklingen", with (6 BUAs) in the centre, should be the objective of the carnage. And you could hear a moaning and grumbling going through the ranks ...

The battle started  conservatively with the usual cavalry charges on the outer hemispheres of the table. The Austrians were lucky to have the first turn and my Jäger managed to capture two houses, then my veterans another one. 3 down 3 to go!

In the following turns, I managed to capture the rest of the town as Campells Würtemberger did NOT obeyed their orders and wouldn't move an inch. The cavalry battle was heavy handed, as Barts Uhlans were at the wrong end of a charge of a large cuirassier regiment! Firstly, they charged in, the cuirassiers did NOT counter charge AND survived!!! Then they countercharged and swiped them away. From there on, due to Barts miserable rolled command dice AND in the next turn his ABYSMAL gunfire rolls (to countercheck my advance) - it was downhill for the Poles. I have never experienced such bad luck (Bart must have done something terrible to anger Fortuna!!) on any of my opponents before - and of course I HAD to exploit this.

Special mentioning deserves an entire brigade of 4 infantry and 2 guns that were happy to stay half the battle on the hill and then slowly sliding down hill towards the town only to get massacred while trying to recapture 1 (one of six) BUA. 

In the end they did, it as a sort of  futile attempt to regain some glory. That was the only unit I lost in the battle.

The battle then ended prematurely as my entire 3 large cuirassier regiment were at that point BEHIND the enemy lines.

After the first Austrian move

3 large Cuirassier regiments

The Franco-Poles on the hill

The Würtemberger cavalry

The road to the BUAs becomes the frontline

the Austrian guns in position and the next of the BUA captured

The moment the Würtemberger missed their chance to get the rest of the town

The Austrians consolidate their line

The cuirassiers charge

and charge again

"Knuspern-Drinklingen" in Austrian hands

The grenadiers hold their line

the "other" light cavalry battle

The rest of the cuirassiers sweeping off the shaken Poles

The battle of the town heats up

and my Jäger capture the rest of the town!

anything that gets past gets a sharp(shooter) greeting

On the hill the Polish brigade that were my best ally...

last ditch attempts at the town

and then my last cuirassier unit charged the artillery brigade full on

and survived their test (11!) and killed the guns

some all out attacks along the road

minutes before the only Austrian Infantry get destroyed (on my side of the table)

Another Würtemberger regiment gets shot to pieces

and the grenadiers hold the line

a passe on the left flank it seemes

The Polish casualty table ...