David R. Moody - Apr 28, 2005 3:38 pm (#9698 Total: 9700) Last played: 3 Days of Gettysburg, Gringo!, Candyland, Pirates of the Spanish Main, This Hallowed Ground, Red Badge of Courage, War of the Ring, LotR Collectable Minis, B-17, ASL, Down in Flames. Reading: Decision in Normandy (Carlo D'Este). On The Table last night at Endgame in historic old Oakland, CA: The Old Contemptibles, from S&T 228. Joe Oppenheimer and I planned a World War I night for our weekly gaming session, starting with this new release on the battle of Mons, the first clash between the BEF and the Germans in Belgium in August 1914. It's a simple game, but not simplistic--there are lots of decisions for both players to make. Joe took the Germans, who can win in one of two ways. If they take all six hexes containing bridges on the south bank of the Conde Canal (runs from Conde to Mons) by turn 7 (end of the first day) they win; otherwise they win at game end (turn 14) if they get 2 VP. They get 1 VP for every 20 British units they eliminate, 1 VP for taking the city of Bavai (located some distance to the British rear--historically it was the BEF advanced HQ, I think, and lots of roads run through it), and 1 VP if the British fail to exit at least 8 units off the south map edge (which they can't do until turn . Historically the Germans got just the 1 VP for taking Bavai. So, my plan was straightforward--hang on to the canal as much as possible on the first day, and run like hell on the second day. This plan was theoretically helped by the fact that, in a typical Ty Bomba touch, the British can choose to move/fight, fight/move, fight/fight, or move/move on their player turn, whereas the Germans can only move/fight. The Germans are also further restricted in that their big 8 strength regiments can't stack together, even after they get whittled down by British fire, and the divisions within their three corps (all color coded--one in white on black--eeek!) can't attack together until the game is almost over. So I was feeling pretty confident my lads could handle the Boche. But, as with so many things in war and life, it's not that simple. The battle started out well--Joe's IX Corps opened the ball by hitting my advanced right flank along the river north of Mons. My defensive fire cut up some of the Boche units pretty badly, but there were too many Germans and they began pushing me back. I pulled back to Mons and brought up reserves and artillery as German guns pounded away. I also goofed--forgetting that ZOCs don't extend into built-up hexes (most of the battle was fought in the industrial region along the canal), I allowed the Royal Fusiliers to get cut off and destroyed, doubly bad since British units isolated when they are eliminated count as two dead units. DOH! (An aside: if memory serves, the first VC awarded during the Great War was given postuhumously to a member of the Royal Fusiliers. I guess the whole unit earned it, for before they died I used them as spotters for some artillery fire that did damage to a couple of Joe's units.) While IX Corps was hammering my right, supported by a division of III Corps, the other III Corps division was getting cut to pieces along the canal by deadly British defensive fire, backed up by a whole lot of artillery. Brutal. German artillery fire inflicted losses on my units, however, and the rest of III Corps and IX Corps continued grinding forward, pushing me out of Mons and threatening more of my right. I rushed some cavalry over to screen it from a possible German flanking move to the south as the fighting continued. Joe managed to break across the central part of the canal with part of III Corps, but I counterattacked with six cavalry units, supported by artillery, and sealed off the lodgement (but at cost of more losses of my own--probably not the best thing for me to do). Soon IV Corps arrived, and began turning my lightly-held left around Conde, which soon gave way. At that point I began to wonder if I could hold on for a few more turns and start withdrawing. I did, and, with both flanks given way, started pulling back on my half of turn 7, having successfully denied Joe a first day victory. Too many of my units had been lost, though--18 were in the deadpile, with one counting double (the late lamented Royal Fusiliers). I had no intention of trying to hold Bavai--I just wanted to run off the map as soon as possible. In retrospect, I should have run some cavalry down to hold open the exit hexes and screen off Joe's IV Corps from cutting me off, rather than just move it off the map, but my previous losses didn't give me any margin for error. At any rate, I ended up exiting about a dozen units, but the limitations of the road network confined me to one road through Bavai. Joe, using March mode (double move for the Germans, but no moving adjacent to the British, nor any combat), caught up with me and inflicted one more loss on the road out of Bavai (which place he occupied with one of his few remaining full-strength regiments). He also got a couple units of IV Corps to extend ZOCs over the exit hex I was using, meaning I would have to fight to get them out of the way. At that point I conceded, as Joe had his two VP. So the battered BEF pulls out, probably heading for Le Havre and home. Great game, and deceptively simple. Both sides have their strengths and weaknesses. The Germans have the numbers, but suffer under the restrictions mentioned above. Furthermore, their units are brittle--one hit knocks those 8 SP units down to 4, which can really mess up what you thought was a high-odds melee attack. Time and again we saw Joe's units try to melee, get cut up, reducing what had been a 4-1 to a 2-1, made worse by negative modifiers for built-up terrain and the canal. He lost almost all of a III Corps division that way. The Germans also can't let their strength make them too overconfident and attack pell-mell. Joe said later he felt he should have waited and launched a more coordinated attack on my right, with a good reserve. Conversely, the British can't stand and slug it out for too long, as their units are small (only two steps). Timing the withdrawal, and executing it properly, is key. And don't get cut off! Another winner from S&T, and definitely replayable. Next week, air power--Wings of War (which we wanted to do last night, but ran out of time) and more Okinawa campaign from Down in Flames. Still slogging through 3DoG II at home. Maybe more this weekend (wife out of town).