Battle report - FOW1918 September 1918 Western Front

Taking a break from painting Turks I got a game in with Jan at the LGS.

It was the standard FOW Fighting Withdraw mission that works well with late 1918 after Amien. The Germans were mainly fighting a delaying action to keep the Allies off German soil until the Armistice. Jan took the British Bicycle Infantry Company and I had a regular German Line force. The British had two cycle platoons, one lorry mounted infantry platoon, one cavalry troop, a full RHA battery and a 17th Battalion A/C section. The Germans had three full infantry platoons, on HMG section, one Light mortar battery with the new lMW n.A. and a 37mm ATG, and a full 7.7cm battery with an AA MG team.

Set-up was straight out of the rule book with the three objectives.



Turn one the British advance and the Germans immediately respond with HMG and Artillery fire. The RHA take a bloody nose off and loose two guns.

The German Artillery continues to dish out the hurt on the RHA. The British Cav sneaks through the woods dismounts and assaults the left flank throwing the Germans back a little but the lMW battery that was in ambush pops up and takes range. The British push up the road on right cautiously.

The left flank becomes a heavy fire fight with the lMWs starting to take some toll. The area around the villa is starting to heat up as the British continue to push forward.

The Cav are taking the short end of the stick as the mortars continue to cause damage.

The British get to the edge of the villa and the fighting becomes hand to hand. The British push in but are counter attacked. The attacks taking many casualties. The A/C unit starts exchanging fire with the HMG teams in the fields.

The final positions at the start of turn six and the LGS telling us to pack up our toys and go home. The British concede.

The situation on the left is clear.

It was a good game even if er did not get to completely finish. The RFC only showed once and did not do anything. The A/Cs provided great support to the infantry trying to take the villa but with literally no artillery the British had an uphill battle. In WWI the artillery was the king of the battlefield and it proved itself today.