Good evening wargamers!
Today we fought the British left flank at the Battle of Mons August 1914.
Rules: Great War Spearhead 2 (GWSH2)
Scenario: Mons Canal - Marching to War Scenario Book for GWSH2
Miniatures: my collection of 15mm WW1 miniatures (mostly Minifigs). Sorry I couldn't get the German artillery crew painted.
Terrain: Cigar Box mats, FlexTerrain roads and canal, and PaperTerrain buildings.
Players: Eric (British), Rob & Michael (Germans)
As usual, click on the photos to see bigger versions of the photos.
The Scenario
The Map
My rendition of the map on the tabletop with the British in light entrenchments south (right side) of the Mons Canal.
Victory Conditions
The Game
Michael (German 5th Division) and Rob (German 6th Division) marked their planning maps with their "orders" for their 8 total regiments, plus artillery. The 5th Division assaulting St. Ghislain, while the 6th took Jemappes and the center road bridge. My British 13th Brigade defended the St. Ghislain area, while the smaller 9th Brigade was spread TOO thin across the other two road bridges.
13th Brigade defending the bridge and railroad bridge near St. Ghislain:
The poor 9th Brigade put in an untenable situation right from the start by their commander (me)! This brigade had to defend half the table! I should have swapped the brigades so the larger brigade could cover the larger front.
The entrenchments around Jemappes:
The Germans arrive! Two regiments of the 5th Division!
The 6th Division arrives, sorry for the fuzzy photo:
A better view:
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Tetre (2 VP) the undefended village falls to the Hun's 12th Regiment!
Because of the range and hidden nature of my British troops the Germans moved at least three times before they could even come under fire, let alone see my troops.
OH MY! Three German regiments (and 2 artillery regiments) of the 5th division advance on St. Ghislain! I'm feeling a bit insecure! He has 9 batteries to my 1!!! Steady lads!
German 24th Regiment, 6th Division slithers through the woods towards the bridge in front of Jemappes.
Meanwhile, two other German regiments, plus two artillery regiments make a bee-line to the isolated bridge in the middle of the table! Division HQ in the bottom right of the photo. Round Forward Observer (FOs) can be seen with their artillery regiments.
My 13th Brigade 18pdr and Machine guns open up on the masses of Germans across the canal from St. Ghislain! A German company destroyed and several others suppressed. Black markers indicate non-moving fire.
An idea of the mass of Germans I'm facing!! Thank goodness the canal bridges are the only way across.
6th Division main force deploy their artillery regiments and start softening up my entrenchments with High Explosive shells and sharpnel.
24th Regiment slips through the woods for point-blank fire into the defenses of Jemappes!
Michael wants to break some eggs! The 8th Leib Grenadier Regiment charges across the railroad bridge! Many brave Germans will not return home. NOTE: I didn't have railroad tracks! Uggh! So I used my old dark brown FlexTerrain roads (Thanks Jim Brokaw) for the rail lines.
Meanwhile the center looks a bit frail with 2 MG sections and one rifle company attempting to hold off the entire 20th Infantry regiment with artillery and infantry support!
German assaults across the bridges near St. Ghislain. Trenches are home-made by me about 20 years ago!
A better view of the attack!
Germans start pounding the British line with indirect 77mm Regimental artillery fire! This was not that effective despite the pucker factor here on the British side. Every suppression counts though!
Smaller blast markers indicate suppressed units.
German 20th regiment crosses the center road bridge as there is little to stop them (command radius issues with the British). Why haven't the Germans attacked Jemappes yet?!
German 24th regiment uses the cover of the woods to advance closer to Jemappes and keep casualties to a minimum.
Then they rush the bridge and defenses!
The German 12th has thinned out the enemy, but at a cost of many good Germans lying dead on the bridge or in the canal.
The 20th regiment in the center has blasted the British defenses and has moved into close assault with the remaining defenders of the 9th Brigade!
Mounds of German bodies cover the bridges and float downstream in the canal! Each skull is a lost company (note that many of the losses are in the British entrenchments)
The fighting is vicious across the bridge at Jemappes and into the entrenchments. German 24th Regiment making steady progress and eventually wear out the British defenders!
A desperate bayonet charge by a company of the 9th Brigade eliminates a German company in the outskirts of Jemappes! The last Hurrah!
The center road bridge is completely overrun by the 20th and they have 2 Regiments coming to their aid!
At this point, the Germans has 6 VP (Tertre, Jemappes, and forced the 9th to test morale), while the British had only 4 VP (St. Ghislain and Flenu). With the center broken and 3 German regiments
streaming across that center bridge and no way for the British to retake Jemappes we called the game.
The Casualties
German Casualties
The 5th Division took the most casualties for the Germans with 15 companies destroyed. Most died on the canal bridges. As Michael said, "you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs!"
8th Leib Grenadier Regiment - 5 companies.
12th Grenadier Regiment - 5 companies.
52nd Regiment - 5 companies.
6th Division
20th Regiment - 4 companies.
35th Fusiliers - 1 company.
24th Regiment - 2 companies.
Germans lost no MGs or Artillery!! Due to proximity, range, and spotting rules this would have been very difficult for me to achieve as the British.
British Casualties
Well, when you are outnumbered 4 to 1 in infantry and 18 to 1 in artillery things are not going to be easy. Hahaha
9th Infantry Brigade (guarding Jemappes) - 8 companies and 2 MGs
13th Infantry Brigade (guarding St. Ghislain) - 4 companies and 2 MGs
Post Game Thoughts
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and want to play again. I hope to run another GWSH2 game before the end of the year.
I'm going to work on a different terrain idea for a canal which I can use for this period. I'll post pictures of that when I'm done. I'm also going to paint the flip side of the FO circle counters so when they move, they flip over so you remember you can't use them to call in artillery that turn. I'm going to make movement sticks 8" long as most everything (infantry, MGs, etc) moves at that rate. It will have a tick mark at 4" for combat moves. I thought I had Railroad tracks in N scale, and now that I don't I have to buy some for my WW1 games. Sigh. Lastly, I will update my home-made Quick Reference Sheet (QRS) for GWSH2. I like to change the layout and add additional modifiers that are not present on the original QRS for the game.
Have a wonderful day!
Eric
