Sunday, 11 March 2012

Guise 1914 revisited

This game was played at the Sheffield club on 7 March using Op-14 rules, with Steve T as the man in the spiky helmet and Martin as the garlic muncher.  I had previously run this game solo link so it was interesting to compare and contrast the outcomes.
As before (and indeed as in 1914), daybreak saw two German corps heading south towards Paris, and encountering rather more French soldiers than they expected!  In an attempt to make things more interesting for the Germans (and because Steve hadn't played the game before) I added a cavalry division to their order of battle.
Unfortunately I kept forgetting to take photos, but there are enough to tell the overall story.  All were taken from my vantage point in the west, so the Germans are coming from the north (left).
The Germans emerge from the north.  The French X Corps can be seen on the plateau, just east of Sains.
The Germans in the east (centre left in the photo) encounter the French, while their chums continue the march on Paris.  Just obeying orders.
After the initial contact the French soon halted and indeed pushed back the Germans.  The very effective French artillery made a great contribution here.  German air scouts soon revealed the extent of the French force.
In the west the German cavalry soon found another French division, causing the second German corps to break their march south.
By the afternoon the Germans became engaged against the French in the west and all was going well until French I Corps appeared in their rear!
Overall then, a broadly historical result in that the German advance was halted, but our game saw them advance a few km further.
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8 comments:

  1. Conrad Kinch12 March 2012 at 06:27

    Interesting stuff. Is is a hex based game or were you using Hexon because it was what you had on hand?

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  2. Tim Gow12 March 2012 at 07:57

    Conrad Kinch
    It was actually designed to use offset squares, but the hexes work better for me. Each hex is 2km across and accommodates a brigade.

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  3. Peter Douglas12 March 2012 at 14:32

    Love the Taube over the battlefield.

    PD

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  4. Tim Gow12 March 2012 at 15:54

    Peter Douglas
    We had great fun requesting aircraft - I made the players pretend to 'phone their airfields and ask in very dodgy accents for spotter 'planes. The French never got one....

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  5. Martin Rapier13 March 2012 at 09:15

    "The French never got one...."

    Au contraire. A rather large French aircraft did make a brief appearance.

    Only the once though.

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  6. Tim Gow13 March 2012 at 11:54

    Martin Rapier
    You are of course quite correct! Une avion did put in a brief appearance - in response to your entertaining telephone call.

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  7. Brigadier Dundas14 March 2012 at 02:39

    Following your use of the OP-14 rules. Are they available from the author? I ask as they would work for Eastern front .

    Thanks,
    Don

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  8. Tim Gow14 March 2012 at 08:15

    Brigadier Dundas
    I will ask the author if he will allow me to make them available. They do indeed work in the east: http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2010/05/august-1914-battle-of-gumbinnen.html

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