Background
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| Tabletop, viewed from South Edge |
Fought in early Sept 1914, this was the first clear victory by the Allied forces over the advancing Germans. The battle followed on from the Battle of the Frontiers where the Allied armies were forced into retreat and the pursuing Germans were on the verge of reaching the outskirts of Paris, where the French and BEF were able to hit the extended German lines in their western flank.
The Game
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| More 1st Korps advancing Battalions |
Staged on April 20th, 27th and slated for a 3rd week on 4th May, was put on by Phil, using his collection of 15mm WWI figures and his own adaptations of Shako rules to meet the period change required for combat occurring 100 years later than originally designed for.
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Seemingly endlesss Advance of German
1st Korps columns on Eastern roads |
Hopefully we'll see some notes from Phil on how he went about the development of these rules at some point but in summary each nationality has its own play-sheets to represent specific doctrines and skills whilst the core mechanics of the Shako rules shine through.
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| Advancing French Battalions to South West of battlefield |
Game is played on a detailed 8' x 6' table, with play running length ways of the table (ie Short edge to short edge. The forces involved are a snapshot of the opening phases of the battle and are not 100% historically accurate - rather they use as much of Phil's collection as possible whilst trying to respect historical balance.
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Lead elements of German &
French Divisions clash in woods |
Week One: The Germans start the game advancing with 3 infantry divisions and a cavalry division to north east of table.
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Town dominating centre of
battlefield held by German Jeagers |
French have deployed two divisions along the ridges at the south end of the table and they are later able to deploy a third (Zouave) division advancing into the German rear from the North East.
Week Two: The French Zouave division push on securing one of eth two roads used by the Germans as lines of communication, in the process mauling 1st Korps Artillery and a Reserve Korp Landwehr Brigade that blundered into the advancing French.
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Advancing 2nd Korps Battalions
along North central roads |
Elsewhere the Germans fared better, 1st Korps captured the town in the South West of the tabletop, before swinging north to move between the two French ridges. In the process two French divisions were badly mauled, being forced to retire with heavy casualties. The Germans also suffering heavy casualties to their 1st Korps: 1st Division.
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| German Divisional Artillery |
To the North the Reserve Korps and Cavalry Korps were hit by fast advancing French troops bit managed to hold them off in a series of firefights, before pushing back one of the French divisions with both sides taking casualties.
Week Two ended with elements of the BEF arriving to bluster the faltering French line, moving North West to South East and approaching the center of the table where a brigade of German Jeagers have been bravely holding out against repeated French attacks.
More to follow as the game progresses
