Valor & Victory - 1918 (German v. French Megagame)

Okay, Beasts of War history fans … it’s time to see how things are getting along with the assault of Captains Lomax and Pollock (BoW @stvitusdancern and @silverfox8) in their American Army assault against trenches held by the Imperial German Army – somewhere in the Meuse-Argonne, September 1918 …

When we last left this battle, we’d completed a fiery turn one.  American infantry has already cracked this band of German trenches, and how attack not only from directly in front of the trenches (to the right) but also from within the trenches from the left.  At top and right we have Lomax’s company coming in, from the left we have Pollock’s company.

So after off-board artillery and mortars had plastered forward German positions (although almost half the barrages missed) , the assaults went in.  While Lomax’s wing hitting the front of the German trenches at right ran into serious trouble and took heavy casualties, the main body split the weakened German position and pretty much cleared the upper left board.  Pollock’s company, meanwhile, had further to travel from the left and so hadn’t actually engaged heavily yet, although took some grievous German opportunity fire despite sound tactical movement, long ranges, and even cove rin hardened buildings (just ridiculously good German rolls).  On their turn the Germans fell back, consolidated their positions, launched some small counterattacks on that upper right hand board, and dropped some 7.58 cm “minenwerfer” mortar fire.

Now we begin Turn Two.

To the south, Pollock’s leading his strongest platoon directly against a rubble-filled stretch of trench that has been caved in by some long-ago artillery impact, held by the valorous Leutnant Erikssen and an understrength platoon.  Lt. Ferber’s platoon is trying to catch up, picking up and consolidating stragglers along the way, while to the north, Mader’s platoon prepares to assault a German company command post held by Hauptman Paulssen.

Lomax’s company, meanwhile, is coming down from the northwest, although having wiped out most of the German positions they hit last turn, and the surviving Germans falling back in front of them, many of their squads won’t be in direct combat this turn.  The exception is to the east, where Lomax’s wing is in serious trouble against German counterattacks led by Hauptmann Schoeller and Leutnant Habeck.

First we look at Pollock’s assault in the south.  Note the hexes to the left and right of Erikssen’s platoon are wide open, leaving Pollock no real options to approach other than straight down that trench.  Erikssen is also investing the last two German grenade counters, has the defensive bonus of that rubble, and gets a -1 difficulty (leadership bonus) point-blank opportunity fire shot as Pollock and his men come in.  I won’t lie … this one is not going to be easy … or cheap.  But the Americans roll a 6, which is a success.

*Math:  outnumbering the Germans with a combined firepower of 1 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 1 = 14 vs. 12 (Erikssen’s “1” counts double because of his “Valor” counter), so Pollock needs a 7 or less on 2d6 … then gets a -2 bonus for leadership, then -3 for grenades, but has to add +2 for German grenades and +1 for Erikssen’s leadership, so a net bonus of -2, or a 9 or less needed on 2d6.

So Erikssen and his platoon are eliminated.  However, with four units in the hex (Erikssen himself, a 2-5-2 half squad, another 2-5-2 half squad, and a 4-5-4 full squad), plus a +2 defensive bonus for that rubble (it “interrupts” the trench), means that Pollock has to pay six casualty points for this victory, in addition to what he already lost to opportunity fire.

This was a well-chosen spot for the Germans, well-fortified, supported with grenades, a valorous officer, and some solid dice on that opportunity fire check.  The Americans win this assault, but the cost is friggin’ severe.

Further north, more American assaults go in.  Again the Germans are fortified in rubble, trenches, and even a building, and have a solid officer (-2 Hauptmann Paulssen) leading them.  The Americans have superior numbers, and get some pretty good dice rolls.  They win both these assaults, wiping out Paulssen’s command post and that mortar pit, but again, losses are heavy.

The Situation at the end of American Turn 02.  In addition, the small squad at the far upper left (Lomax’s extreme left wing) has taken out another German MG 08 machine gun next, but is all but cut off by German advances of Schoeller’s kompanie and is now sadly likely to be wiped out by German assaults on their turn.