The Kaiser's High Seas Fleet - The Great War at Sea 1914-18

 

This was another Christmas arrival which I'd pre-ordered some months ago and been looking forward to playing.  It's a development of the good old War At Sea system so I expected it to be a fairly straightforward play.  The components are very nice.

We begin with the obligatory shelling of Hartlepool

The Goeben dodges about in the Med.

The French find the Austrian U-boats. The hard way.

GT2:  a major engagement in the Baltic

Meanwhile the cocky Italians fall into a trap of in the Adriatic

The RN catches up with the Goeben in the Aegean...

...but the Goeben sinks the Indomitable and makes off to Constantinople!

GT3. Der Tag! Carnage!  Of the ships engaged, only one RN and 4 Boche are undamaged! But the RN always has more ships…

End of 1916.

End of 1917 and it’s all still to play for. But I’ve had a complaint from a Davy Jones saying that his locker is filling up with broken dreadnoughts….

By war's end it was all very close.  I need to re-read the rules and have another go before long.

The Twelfth Battle - Caporetto 1917

 

Santa brought me this. Great news, as you can never have too many battles of the Isonzo.  It's a solo game taking in the entire Italian Front over the weeks of the campaign.

Having sorted out the very nice components,  I set up the introductory scenario to try.

After the initial bombardment, in go the stormtroopers!

And the Italian 3 Armata starts to crumble

End of GT1. The defence has been breached in several places.

Meanwhile back on the Piave, there’s a lot of frantic digging.

Managed a draw (the historical result). Did I mention the counters are really nice?

I'm hoping to play through the full game in the next week or so.  Like many other solo games, I think it may adapt well to being played by a group over a Zoom link.

1914 Belgians - part 4

 

The rest of my Belgian Line Infantry and Carabiniers involved more head swaps.  The base figures were a few more Deetail FFL and Call To Arms Iron Brigade.  The latter's coats aren't really long enough but to my eyes they convey the right 'look'.  

I also made up two MG crews.  The gunners are both old lead hollowcasts.

1914 Belgians - part 3

 

Cavalry involved yet more head swaps.  These chaps began life as Italeri ACW troopers which with a 'paint conversion' served in my fictional Balkan-style Forbodian army for several years.  Most of their chums have gone to another project and the remaining three had new shako-wearing heads from Scale Link.

More cavalry were converted from a Britains hollowcast set with the same head swap treatment.

1914 Belgians - part 2

A few of my Belgians are pre-painted metal castings.  These would normally be vastly expensive but were bought at a discount.  We've already seen the two Tradition cyclists.

First up is a nice boxed set of eight line infantry from Alymer in Spain.  This consists of an officer, as standard bearer and six marching squaddies - all wearing the old-fashioned shako.  As in my world a company is six figures, this neatly makes a rifle company and a battalion HQ.  All I've done is stick them to mdf bases.

Then there's this Carabinier medic complete with dog.  I can't remember the maker but it's a lovely piece.

There are a few more metal figures but as they were converted and/or repainted I'll cover them later.

The Last Redoubt - Belgium 1914 - part 3

 

As they galloped (and pedalled) into contact the world held its breath. Imagine then everyone’s surprise when the charge succeeded! This effectively ended the German 5th division's offensive capability, a further blow being the untimely death of the divisional commander killed by a stray artillery shell. It would be ungallant of me to identify the nationality of the responsible gunner, right Simon?

 

By now the German 6 division had crossed the canal in strength and was approaching Louvain from the north east. Helped by corps assets, German gunners had battered the defenders of  the village sufficiently that the surviving Belgian guns were withdrawn to Antwerp, together with the far more important horse drawn field kitchen.

 

At this point we called Endex and talk through what might have happened next. We agreed that the  that the German 5th division would regroup and be reinforced over the next couple of days and the delay would effectively prevent the Germans sealing off Antwerp for that period of time. We talked through everyone’s objectives and individual victory conditions. On balance , the Belgians did slightly better than their opponents.  In terms of the victory points for objective locations, honours were even.

 By popular acclaim the “men of the match“ were the Belgian cavalry cyclists and armoured car crew. Clearly then these are the weapons of the future.

 Everyone claimed to have had a nice day and I was particularly pleased to have deployed my 54 mm Belgians so soon after completing them.  My thanks as always to the players for entering into the spirit of the game and providing such fine entertainment.

 Without wishing to cause undue alarm I can see possibilities for a sequel to this game. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Finally, for those of you wondering about the game's title, I refer you both to the individual objectives and the following quote:

“Accent is the last great redoubt of prejudice.”― A.A. Gill

1914 Belgians - part 1

Following a flood of requests (well OK, one) for more info on my Great War Belgians, here is part one of their story.

I'm sure that most of us are familiar with the fabulous illustrations in the Funcken books.  This painting of the 1st Carabiniers is very atmospheric!

My starting point was the Deetail French Foreign Legion figures - including some of the newer plastic-based copies made by DSG.  First step was to lop their heads off and trim away the havelock (neck cloth).  I took the opportunity at this point to make a few other changes - such as replacing the officer's sword with a flagpole.

New heads came from Tradition Of London.

New paintwork began to transform their appearance...

...with final detailing in the form of the yellow piping being added with paint pens.

.

Here is one with a pair of Tradition cyclists.  I picked them up for rather less than half price at a Paris Eurofigurines show a couple of years back.

And no - before you ask - I haven't built a dog-pulled MG.  Yet.

The Last Redoubt - Belgium 1914 - part 2

 A note on place names.  As this action was very much 'inspired by' rather then 'a recreation of', except for the outer area of Antwerp I hadn't got round to naming the other towns and villages.  Perhaps inevitably, the large town which ended up being heavily shelled and fought over became known during the game as Louvain.  I hear they've had to close the library...

The peaceful citizens of 'Louvain' going about their business.

A particular book seemed to be selling well

The Belgian cavalry, inevitably referred to during the game as the “cavalry mechanised group” started mostly in Louvain but swiftly withdrew when the head of the German column drew near.  They then took up positions near the eastern Canal Crossing. 

The cavalry leave town...

...and close in on the eastern canal crossing

An original* 1914 photo with the mighty Minerva armoured car detachment leading the way..

The Belgian infantry regiment deployed with two companies and the machine gun company in Louvain and the remaining two companies supported by both of the brigades artillery batteries in village A to the north Northwest of the Canal.

 

The other two companies of 27 Rgt.  The crafty Belgians had flooded the fields round this village.  Note the Belgian artillery and German scouts.

Belgian Commander Martin set up his HQ in the Fort and looked to have plans of spending a comfortable war therein.

The medical detachment having a nice lie down.

The German 6th Reserve Division advanced up the main highway and soon engaged by Belgian infantry and machine gun fire. 

The 5RD peeled off to the North and initially busied itself desecrating a monastery.  

German air reconnaissance (it’ll never catch on) found the suburbs of Antwerp to be free of troops. 

And just who was the intrepid aviator?  

Why none other then your humble correspondent.  Looking far too pleased for a supposedly grown man playing with a toy aeroplane.

After a costly struggle 6 division took Louvain and spent some time re-organising and preparing to move on.

As they closed in and prepared to assault village A, the Belgian artillery let rip with some (party popper) shrapnel which rather discouraged the lead German battalion. 

A further salvo or shrapnel discouraged a second German battalion at which point the attack on the village stalled.

Meanwhile, the Belgian cavalry and armoured cars made a nuisance of themselves at the eastern Canal Crossing where the Minerva attachment held up a German division for around half a day. 

While the Germans reorganised, the cavalry redeployed and soon arrived north of Lovain.  At this point - and in a shock development - they heroically charged a German battalion!

And....that seems like a good cliffhanger.  The final part of this sorry tale will follow.