The Battle of Sezanne 8th Sept 1914 - A WWI Batrep

Six Rejects got together at Reject HQ last Sunday for a game using Posties excellent 6mm Baccus collection, using his own rules, which I think are his best homebrew set!

The side were picked out randomly, Surj and Colin would play the defending Germans with Surj as CiC

While the French were play by me as CiC, Dan and Steve.

This was a semi fictional game set in late 1914 in and around the town of Sezanne, the German army has advanced into the region and set up camp and settled in for the night. The French army are charged with pushing the Germans back off the table edge, by taking 12 of the 22 terrain objectives, the choice was ours. These points were, buildings, crossroads, German camps and a single bridge.

The plan was for me on the right, to try and flank the Germans, Dan in the centre to attack Sezanne and Steve on our left to try for the left flank.

OOB

French

18th Corps - General de Maud'houy

35th Div - Gen Marjoulet

69th Brigade - 6th 3 Battalion & 123rd 3 Battalions

70th Brigade - 57th 3 Battalions & 144th 3 Battalions

Reserve Brigade -  218th 3 Battalions & 249th 3 Battalions

Support - 1st Chasseurs a Peid 1 Battalion

Support - 17th Chasseurs a Cheval 1 regt + Horse Artillery Battery

Support - 1 Company of Pioneers

Artillery - 9 Batteries

Germans

VII Corps - Gen der Kar von Einem

13th Infantry Division - Gen LT von Dem Borne

25th Brigade - 13th 3 Battalions & 158th 3 Battalions

26th Brigade - 15th 3 Battalions & (in Reserve) 55th 3 Battalions

Artillery - 6 Batteries + 3 in Reserve

Steve's troops in the left of the pic

Dan's in the centre, facing Sezanne on the crossroads.

Me on the right

This was an early morning attack, so undercover of a mist we stared moving forward.

All moving up on top of the three hills.

The German's were quite sparce on my side of the table, the points I had to capture are marked in red. First shot of the day, I fired my artillery at the village top right. It would take 12 hits to destroy the village, on that last point, any troops left in the building would be destroyed. BUT, it was hard to hit. O a D10 only a 9 or 10 would count, a 10 being 2 hits.

Poor Surj was very upset with my throw!!

6 hits of the buildings and 7 casualties caused. The company holding the villages were slaughtered to the man. So a great start for the French!!!

Surj did get his own back the following turn destroying one of my batteries.

They're quite hidden, but my Chasseurs a Cheval are sneaking through the woods on the right while their Horse Battery unlimbers by the woods, out of range of the German rifle fire.

Dan, in the centre is moving full speed ahead

And so is Steve

Back to the right flank, my Chasseurs a Cheval are lurking in the woods, waiting for their opportunity to try for the flank. My machine gun can be seen hiding behind the infantry. 

Dan heads towards the hedge for some much need cover.

I take my chance, Surj can only shoot one way, infantry to the front of Cavalry on the flank???

The Germans are putting up a very stout defence of their lines. As they're in cover we need to kill on 7's or above, out in the open its 5 and above. Dan has lost a lot of troops crossing the open ground.

Steve's dice are on fire, he is battering poor Colin out on our left, there are 10 points for Steve to collect here.

Disaster for the Germans but delight for the French. I push the defenders out of the village once again, they failed their morale test after I threw a 10 in artillery firing. They retreat 4 inches, right out into charge reach of my Cavalry. This couldn't have worked out any better???

Steve continues to batter the German's on our left. the retreating Germans can be seen behind the building. But as you can see, Steve's force have also been hit hard. The blue dice are casulty counters

The Chasseurs bugles blow for a charge!

Posties luvvly painted french cav

Surj, realising he's going to lose the melee, withdraws an infantry unit that was dug in on the road, so we didn't follow up our future victory and hit them in the flank.

Its not looking good for Surj?

The German's continue so soak up the fire in the centre, the only way we'll get them out of Sezanne is through those 10'd in artillery fire. But, you can only change who your artillery is firing at if after you've thrown d 10 on a D10 forcing them to take a morale check AND them failing that check. Dan was having a little trouble finding that 10.

Steve takes points for the bridge, the bend on the road the brown building and the T junction.

After destroying the Infantry on the left , I take the points for the camp, having already taken the village and the T Junction. The German Commander narrowly escapes capture.

Dan goes in for a charge

And is heavily defeated and pushed back.

Meanwhile the German reserves have finally entered the battle, on turn 4. They could have come on sooner but they failed the test each time.

Surj also abandons the protection of the hedge and fails back 12 inches. He had to do it or he'd have been over run. But I then moved my Cavalry round again. I've my pick of what to charge next turn

Colin's Reserve 55th Infantry, enter the table, but instead of going to help their own 26th Brigade on their right, they head over to help the 25th.

Steve moves over the hedge, capturing the German camp.

I lose another of my artillery, but all the remaining fire go on the newly arrived German infantry of the 55th Battalion

I start to turn my infantry towards Sezanne. And fire my artillery at Surj's Infantry on the hill.

Again I threw a 10, the German's failed there moral and were pushed back another 4 inches, now with their flank and rear showing.

The German lines are thinning out as they try and cover the French forces.

Surj is starting to realise they're done for.

Its only a matter of time?

Finally both Colin and Surj throw in the towel, they just haven't enough troops left to counter our moves.

Conclusion
Its been a while since we last played Early WWI, looking back it was nearly 2 years ago, here. I must admit I really enjoyed this game, It was very difficult for both sides, The Germans were outnumbered, as they should be with the French doing all the attacking, But they just couldn't handle our dice rolls and not getting the reserve on in time. I was very pleased with how my Chasseurs a Cheval got around the flank and caused havoc. We had a choice where to put them and I'm pleased we picked the right flank, I'm not sure they would have been that effective being deployed anywhere else.
It was the right time to end the game, Surj usually carries on and stays when all hope is lost, but he saw the light and we finished around 3 o'clock which was an early one for us!

Well done to all involved

Ray

Broadside 2025 - The Rejects on Tour - The Battle of Rivoli 1797

 

Its the day after the day after Broadside and my back's still giving me one up!

But what a crackin day we all had, putting on Richard's great Battle of Rivoli scenario.

I've split my Broadside post into two, in this post I'll concentrate on our game, everything else shall be on post 2. 

In nice and early to set up, but.......

Where's Richard, with all the figures and terrain??

Poor Rich was 10 minutes away from the venue when he realised he'd forgotten, all the woods, so a quick spin around on the M2 and back home he went!

He got a cheer when he finally arrived, 45 minutes late!

Lee asked me not to post this pic, because he looks stupid, so of course I posted it!!

Lee's teaching Surj how to count to 5......

Richard's very nice poster for our game.

I've included lots of photos of the game, I was in charge of the Austrian line infantry guarding the heights, but I only threw a handful of dice the whole game, I was one of the Rejects talking to the public, so I didn't really play a part in the game, so there's not gonna be much explanation of what's going on I'm afraid.

You just gotta love Richard's 6mm collection, remember they are all MDF figures from Commission Figurines !!

The man himself, only a General in this battle, little did he know what was ahead!

The French had some reinforcement enter the table in column, bottom right. The blank bases are to represent the unit being strung out in a long coloum.

Is Postie gonna try an flank me, I know I would!

Surg's arch nemisis, the Ravine. He failed to get out of the ravine in the two previous games we played. Would he have better luck this time round?

Some beautiful looking Cavalry.

Surj has done it, he's destroyed Dan's artillery and is free to break through the ravine.

This doesn't look good for my troops on the hills, attacked by three units, two of which hit my flank!

David in Suffolk makes an appearance! His blog the Ragged Trousers can be found, here.

Posties knocks me off the hill!

The French are in real trouble, they're being attacked everywhere!!

Dan & Steve, manage to block the ravine once again.

On the heights the French are being attacked on the other flank now???

But, around 3 o'clock the game was over, one side failed a major morale test which forced all the remaining troops in the brigade into retreat.... that poor Reject was Surj. 

So that was the end, somehow the French pulled the win out of the bag, when truthfully we should have lost. We all felt sorry for the Austrians for around a minute or two, I shall claim victory even though I hardly played.

Richard's game seemed to go down very well with the public, both myself, Lee and Postie were all in conversation most of the time, explaining all about the game, rules and figures. Several people kept coming back for more throughout the day, to see how the battle was playing out.

Although the game deserved to win a prize, the best in show prize went to the magnificent Retired Wargamers Reloaded, Gotterdammerung 1945 game. I don't think any game could have beaten them on the day.

Thanks to Richard for producing an almighty bash of a game, we all enjoyed the game, even poor Surj!

Thanks again go to Dave and all the Milton Hundred crew for all their hard work. We'll see you next year for more fun and games!