Affair at Halazin

Inspired by an article in the SOTCW Journal, I had a go at converting my  now quite venerable 'Paths of Glory' WW1 rules into hexes. They are essentially Great War Spearhead, but with some ruthless simplifications and an entirely different command system. The use of hexes allowed even greater simplification of movement, spotting etc but introduced some complications around stacking and hit allocation. It did (finally) provide a mechanism by which I could penalise excessive bunching up, simply by giving bonus shots against excessively stacked hexes. This did encourage a more historical dispersion than the Napoleonic formations which are pretty standard in most versions of Spearhead, and it was sooo much easier than messing around measuring distances between bases.

Of course I couldn't resist the temptation to tinker too much and dumped the previous random movement system with a completely new combined movement/morale table similar to that use in Fire & Fury. I suppose I should have playtested that bit somewhat more thoroughly first....

I set this up with the Senussi umpire run as they are fairly static with some pre-programmed activities, so Tim and John took the heroic forces of the Empire. We noted with some amusement that we'd managed to run the game almost exactly on the 99th anniversary of the historical action.

The Affair at Hazalin, Jan 23rd 1916

General

In late 1915 Grand Sheik Sayyid Ahmad Al Sahrif led the Senussi, with German support (in the person of a Germanised Turkish military advisor, Gaafer), against Italian Libya and British Egypt. As the Senussi invasion gained pace, the British concentrated their local forces at Mersa Matruh, while building up a composite division sized force under the command of Brigadier General Wallace at Alexandria to drive the Senussi out. The Senussi had several regular Muhafiziya battalions supported by artillery, machineguns and several thousand irregular tribesmen.  

The counter offensive started on Christmas Day 1915, and after some skirmishing on 19th January 1916 air recce reported a major concentration of Senussi at Hazalin, 25 miles southwest of Mersa Matruh. Wallace directed his forces to that point.

British Briefing.

The enemy were pushed out of their positions at Gebel Medwa on 25th December, but their resistance was unexpectedly fierce so the advance paused to bring up reinforcements and the enemy then succeeded in breaking contact due to bad weather. Air recce has located the enemy once more.

Break up the enemy, drive them from their trenches, capture and destroy the camp.

Forces, all formations and stands are regular unless otherwise shown

Div HQ, (MG Wallace), field ambulance, ammo trains etc.

Left Column (Brigadier General Tyndale Biscoe)

HQ; 1 x mtd MG section 

A btty, HAC (1 x 13pdr btty)

1 x Sqdn Australian Light Horse (veteran)

3 x Sqdn Royal Bucks Hussars

2 x Sqdn Yeomanry (Green)

Right Column (Lt Col Gordon)

HQ, 1 x MG Pltn 

Notts Btty, RHA (1 x 13pdr btty)

1 x Sqdn Yeomanry (green)

15th Sikhs (4 x Inf Co, veteran)

2nd South African and 1st Bn, New Zealand Rifle Bde (each 4 x Inf Co)

Reserve

HQ, 1 x MG pltn, 

SA Artillery (1 x btty 18pdr)

1 x Sqdn Yeomanry

1/6th Bn Royal Scots (4 x Inf Co)

Left and right column enter from the east in the centre six hexes (the plateau), left col in the left three and right col in the right three, reserve is in reserve(!)

Col Gordons column appears on the far ridge and the cavalry scouts note some Senussi activity in the nearest trenches.

The infantry companies are quite spread out with cavalry scouts up front.

The cavalry of the left hand column make an appearance as Senussi artillery and machineguns open fire.

A heroic charge shot in by artillery and MG fire clears the central trenches.

On the other flank the cavalry run into withering crossfire and suffer heavy losses.

Senussi reserves move up from behind the ridge to counterattack.

The Senussi infantry are shot down but the cavalry make a desperate charge...

which ends in predictable disaster as they are all pinned or shot down in front of the British positions

Meanwhile the Sikh battalion makes it as far as the Senussi camp and  notes various important looking dignitaries amongst the camp followers. One chap with a big flag sets off to the rear.

The capture of the camp prompts a general rout as casualties reach a critical level and the remaining Senussi units decide to make a run for it. 

Sadly the main Senussi force broke before their 'big surprise' counterattack troops made it on from the south (the bloke with the flag was setting off to get them). The hex based system worked well and we rattled through a division(ish) sized battle in about an hour and a half, which wasn't bad. A few things creaked, the combined movement/morale table was too cumbersome and needs seriously slimming down (although it did produce a sensible looking break point for the Senussi), and in the heat of the moment I completely forgot about the in-hex hit allocation system I'd worked up.

So, not a bad first outing for the revised rules,  but a bit more work needed I feel.

20mm First World War British (Part 1)

These are my 20mm plastic WW1 Western Front British troops. Being a bit sad I also have WW1 stuff in 15mm and 6mm, so at some point I'll take some photos of those.

Various stands lined up, a 1918 brigade in Great War Spearhead terms.

Infantry stands. These are all Emhar, they look a bit rough close up but take an inkwash nicely.

Support elements, Vickers guns and Stokes mortars plus the inevitable officer looking one way and pointing another.

A field artillery regiment, Emhar 18pdrs.

The guns from the side.

These have been a very serviceable army and have seen a fair bit of action over the years, generally being forced over the top time and again as I try out various permutations of high intensity trench warfare rules. The figures are painted with Humbrol khaki over a black undercoat, the webbing picked out in GW 'bestial brown' and the whole thing washed in Windsor & Newton peat brown ink.

Le Monchal, 1918

This was a game played at Sheffield Wargames Society in June 2011, covering the French counterattack at Le Monchal on 30th March 1918. Historically this was at the tail end of the Kaiserschlacht, but the road/rail lines running south from Montdider through the village also marked the boundary between two armies, and the French made every effort to push the Germans back again.

Tim Gow played the Germans and John Armatys the French. We used my 'Paths of Glory' WW1 rules and my assorted 20mm WW1 figures with contributions of aircraft and armoured cars from John and Tim. The figures are a mixture of Revell, Airfix, HaT and Emhar.

Le Monchal 30^th March 1918

General Briefing

On 30^th March with the main German offensive towards Amiens stalled, Hutier launched a series of attacks on a 25 mile front against Fayolles Army Group, trying to extend their bridgeheads over the River Avre. In the far southeast of the front, the 16^th Silesian Division succeeded in capturing the village of Le Monchal on the boundary between 1st and 3rd French Armies. The French 162^nd Division launched an immediate counterattack to retake it.

French Briefing

After a crushing bombardment this morning, our forward regiments were overrun after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The remains of the 488^th still hold a scratch front, but the 487^th was completely destroyed.. The enemy has succeeded in capturing the village of Le Monchal, it must be recovered at all costs.

The reserve regiment of the division, plus the Corps cavalry regiment operating dismounted, have been release for an immediate counterattack. The cavalry have so far proved to be highly effective and are supported by some armoured cars. Some artillery support is available, but many of our guns have been lost and there is little ammunition left.

Objectives

Prevent any further German advances.

Recapture Le Monchal.

Drive the Germans back over the Avre.

Forces

488^th Infantry Regiment (Regular), but gone to ground.

Regt HQ

1 x Regt mortar Co, 1 x MG Co

2 x Battalions with 2 x Infantry ea

Deploy along the ridge line south of the Avre.

16^th Dragoon Regiment (Vet)

3 x Inf, 1 x MG, 1 x Armoured car

486^th Infantry Regiment (Regular)

Regt HQ

1 x Regt Mortar Co

8 x Inf and 2 x MG Co divided between 3 Bns

Both regiments may enter from the south edge.

2 x 75mm Arty Regt, 5 shots ea, may in Div support or assigned to a regiment.

2 x 150mm arty missions as pre-planned fire.

German Briefing

The division suffered heavy losses attacking the enemy this morning, one regiment was rendered ineffective and another incapable of further advances. The reserve regiment finally succeeded in capturing Le Monchal, but the troops are still reorganising after taking the town. It is likely that the French will counter attack but the momentum of the advance must be maintained. Some artillery support is available but there is only limited ammunition left.

Retain control of the village.

Continue to advance southwards.

Retain control of the bridgehead over the river.

Forces

49^th Silesian IR (Regular) gone to ground

HQ

2 Bns each with 1 x mortar, 1 x MG, 2 x Infantry

50^th Silesian IR (Regular)

HQ

3 x Bn with 3 x Inf, 1 x mortar, 1 x MG ea.

1 x close support battery on the far side of the Avre.

2 x 77mm Artillery regiments, 4 shots ea. May be in general Div support or assigned to a regiment.

All start within 6” of the Avre as far as the crossing, then due east. 50^th IR may have one battalion (only) in Le Monchal.

Terrain

The river is fordable for infantry/cavalry but guns and vehicles must cross at the bridge. Slopes are not significant obstacles to movement.

Some not very wonderful photos (taken on my phone) of various events. The bases are very spread out as I was using an AK47 style collateral damage type rule to discourage bunching. At the standard ground scale (1" = 80 yards) jamming an entire battalion of four bases into an area 200x200 yards doesn't seem very wise, so encouraging them towards a more realistic dispersion of 500x500 yards seemed sensible. I could of course change the ground scale, but then the battlefields would become ridiculously small, and that would just be silly:)
 

French Regimental HQ and mortar company observe the Germans from the edge of a wood.

German infantry occupy Le Monchal, spread out to reduce the effect of artillery fire.

French 150mm artillery shells the bridge, inflicting losses and causing the remaining Germans to scatter.

French reserves march up in parallel columns.

Cavalry armoured car knocked ut by armour piercing bullets. Dismounted dragoons follow.

In the end the French counter attack ran out of steam but had blunted any further German advance.