Friday 29 October 2021

Rommel at Cosnes, 1914 - part 2

 I sent players their briefings and some options a couple of days before the game.  The terrain had been laid out on a 60x39 inch area of my table.  Broadly the Germans had to recce the area and not take too many losses.  The French had to stop them and then get away.

Above - the view from the German end.
A detachment of French lurking in the orchard.
More French take up position on the hill.  The things which look like clumps of bamboo were my attempts at making stands of cut crops.  I'll cover them in a separate post.

While Rommel worked his way through the woods on the German left, Russell's chaps had a nice lay down on the edge of a field of crops.  The pink markers indicate prone figures.
Don't those red trousers stand out?
French on the forward edge of the orchard trying to spot....
...Rommel and his lads in the wood.
As soon as anyone had a target shots rang out...
...and soon a couple of the French were wounded and down.
In the wood, Rommel has paused to encourage a soldier who has been hit.  Hit so often in fact that he was soon being referred to by both sides as 'victim.'
Having apparently cleared the hill would Russell's detachment advance?
Simon led the French on the hill, John was the Sgt. in the orchard while Cpl. Diego and his friend skulked at the rear.
As the Germans advanced, Sgt. John began to pull back through the orchard.

'Victim' down again.  Oh dear.  Rommel can be seen in front of him.



8 comments:

Archduke Piccolo said...

'Victim': so full of lead, they called him 'Pencil'.

Brad DeSantis said...

Another great report Tim! I like your cut crops, they make for a different kind of terrain. And you're right, those red trousers do make excellent targets for the Germans to aim at!

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
He is in fairness a solid lead figure!

Tim Gow said...

Brad DeSantis
For a wargames blog, there's a lot of chat here about fashion and horticulture!

Pete. said...

Great game - I do wonder what poor 'victim' had done in his life previously to deserve such a fate.

Cheers,

Pete.

John Y said...

Maybe not then, but today France is home to the largest European bamboo forest. Assuming that one blog post I found was correct.

Perhaps the Germans have stumbled on early efforts by the French to corner the European bamboo market. If that doesn't justify the war, I don't know what does.

Tim Gow said...

Pete
Clearly he had many sins to atone for!

Tim Gow said...

John Y
So the Great War was really all about the European bamboo supply? And all the guff about Austrian Archdukes and Belgian neutrality is just a postwar cover-up by the all-powerful bamboo industry. If you saw it on the internet it must be true….