The Great War, Black Powder (adapted), 28mm

These League of Gentlemen Wargamer weekends usually fit a pattern. Initial games are followed by a big game, which reaches its climax on Sunday forenoon. Then we pack up and go home. Always, on the Saturday night, there’s an evening of food, drink and wargames chat – sometimes a lot of the last two. This time, we started the big game on Saturday afternoon, and reconvened on Sunday morning for the final German push.As before, the staffwork was impeccable. The Allies held the line of the Rover Sambre, occupying the high ground to the south of the river from Collineville to Gagneaux. The Germans had a bridgehead to the east, from Chenriville to Fesses (that’s it below), so here the Allied line curved south, from Gagneaux through Gadbois to Thurreau. The Germans began north of the river, from Huy to Genemefouxpas, then from Chenriville to Fesses.There were four five players per side, with everyone having their own part of the line to control. Then, Donald served as the overall German commander, allocating artillery and suchlike, while Charles performed the same role for the Allies. I say allies, as while the Germans were homogeneous (we were all  the 118th Hessian Regt.), one of the Allied commanders (Colin) was Belgian, over at Collinville, while Dale commanded the French around Gagneaux. For my part, I had Steve on my left flank, who pretty much spent the game doing his own thing against Kevin, while on his left around Fesses, Peter M was fighting Peter N. For my sins I had Dale and his Frenchmen to my front, while far over on my right, Peter McC. was taking on Colin around Collinville. Dale can be a frustrating opponent, who blunders about a lot, and is loose with the rules, but a daunting one too, as he’s incredibly lucky with die rolls!Anyway, everyone had two infantry units of around 20 figures, plus a 12 figure cavalry unit, and a machine gun team. Extras were given to the players at the whim of their colonel (Donald or Charles). Rather than attack Dale head-on, I sent my troops across the bridge between Moncherise and Villedebois, while on me left Steve advanced on Villedebois too, while also securing Touboul. Our aim was to break through the Allied line somewhere – anywhere…Things went well to start with, with Steve running into Kevin’s British to the south of Villebois, while I tried to filter mine through a wood, so I could line up an attack on French-held Gagneaux to the west. Inevitably though, part of my force was sucked into a firefight with the British, and it took several turns to drive them back far enough to deploy my own people for the attack. Meanwhile,  to our right, the Belgians were holding up Peter McC. most valiantly. It fact, Peter struggled to get a toehold over the river. Even when he did, Colin’s Belgians stopped him from advancing any further. So, the battle on the left turned into something of a stalemate. Dale’s French weren’t engaged yet, and then Kevin’s British got a boost just when they were on the ropes. A couple of Royal Naval Detachment armoured cars appeared, which stopped Steve’s advance on Gadbois in its tracks.For my part, Donald brought up artillery to the bridge at Gemenfoux  to shoot up Dale’s garrison at Gagneaux. Dale responded by trying – and failing – to charge the gun. So, the shelling continued, and the French became pretty disordered. Meanwhile,  the British to my front – an infantry unit and a  machine gun – were finally forced to retire, but then a French unit appeared, to bolster their defence, led personally by Col. Grant, commander of the Allied force. The French led a charmed life. they were routed after being hit by overwhelming German fire, and forced back to the table edge. There they rallied, and took up position in a hedged field, blocking what I thought was a clear avenue leading off the table and into the key town of Ligue des Messeurs. It wasn’t to be though – my troops were routed in turn by the doughty Frenchmen. So,the chance of an easy German breakthrough was lost. Meanwhile, my own Ulhans dismounted, and began sniping at the defenders around Gagneux, where the defenders were already getting hit and disordered by Donald’s German guns. The French garrison of Gagneux (below) was really the key to the Allied line – the only place where the Germans has any real chance of breaking through. On the Allied left around Collinville, and on the left around Gadbois and Thurreau, the advance had stalled. Inexplicably then – or rather for reasons known only to Dale – the French commander pulled his troops out of this key spot. So, I moved my Germans in. this caused some consternation in the Allied ranks -down below there’s a picture of both Dale, and Charles, his long-suffering commander! In any case, Dale then redeemed himself slightly by immediately rolling a ‘2’ on 2D6, and managing to occupy half of the key village he’d abandoned…

This delicate situation didn’t last long though. A combination of the German artillery, shooting over the river, the dismounted Ulhans and the Germans in the eastern half of the village outnumbered the remaining French, and eventually they were driven out. Gagneux was now firmly in German hands, and the Allied defencive line had been broken. That’s pretty much where we had to stop the game. It was Sunday lunchtime, people had to pack up and head home, and I had to catch a ferry from Aberdeen back to Orkney. We played out another two turns though, just in case something changed. In fact, it did. The French were now milling around on the table edge, between Gagneux and the off-table town of Ligue des Messeurs. the Germans though, controlled the road between the two places, and were confidently marching along it, towards their objective. The Allies had nothing left to plug the gap with, and now to my left, Steve was shuffling units forward, having finally stopped the heady advance of the armoured cars. So, that’s where the umpires Chris and Kieron called a halt, and counted up the points. Sure enough, the game was deemed a German victory, albeit a close-run one. We all had great fun over the weekend, and it just goes to show – none of us had more than 60 troops on the table, but we all felt we’d fought a major battle. What really made it though, was the colour of this unusual period, the simplicity of the rules and the superb organisation of it all. I usually finish these with a single photo – usually of some unit that did well in the game. today though, I’ll actually finish with several pics, to highlight a little more of the ‘look’ of this inspirational weekend-long game. The next LoGW fracas is in November – an American Civil War one – and I’m already looking forward to it. Not the ferry trip of course – not in November – but the game will be more than worth weathering a North Sea gale for! 

Tags: Black Powder