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

The German assault hits. I guess here is where I should lay out the German OOB for this game:

German Forces:
Three stosstruppen kompanie
Each with (8) full squads, (5) half squads, (1) +2 officer, (3) +1 officers
Support Weapons: (2) MG 08 15 LMGs, (2) flamethrowers.
* Thus each company has 84 men, 4 officers
* German total assault strength: 252 men, 12 officers.
* + (6) Heavy Barrages, (6) Light Barrages

Yes, the Germans are outnumbered by at least 35% (and they’re assaulting eemy trenches, when you’re supposed to outnumber the enemy by at least 3-1). But the German have better support weapons, more officers, better officers, and of course that murderous opening barrage.

Lastly (and perhaps most significantly) these German squads are qualitatively better than the French squads. Note the 6-4-5 combat ratings, compared to the French 4-5-4. That first “6” compared to the French “4” gives the Germans a +50% edge in raw firepower, at least close up (MP 18s, extra pistols, “stosstruppen” training, etc.) They also have an extra casualty point for each squad (the last “5” in stead of “4”) and the “E” in the upper right of their counters marks them as “elite,” which gives them enhanced chances for Valor rules, rallying pinned units, etc.

Now as the Germans make this approach (entering the north edge of the board), the French units that survived the barrage and are unpinned get a chance for “opportunity fire.”  Pinned units do not get opportunity fire, they’re too busy trying to crawl under the duck boards at the bottom of those trenches.  So you can see why the French decided to bit the bullet and take the losses under that barrage, they now get to positively maul the Germans as they approach over open ground, point-blank in front of French trenches and machine gun positions.  The Germans try to make the  most of crater hexes in their approach, but however you cut it, this will be nasty.

The German assaults have hit, I’m not even going to try and list out the math and die results for each one.  Suffice it to say the Germans took heavy losses going in, but once the assaults started their local superiority in numbers, not to mention stosstruppen stats, gave them annihilating victory in all but two occasions

Losses just in the first German turn have been truly “Great War” in scope.

German losses total 15 squads or their equivalent:
* 120 men combat ineffective
* Assume about 24 dead and 48 wounded (48 more scattered, walking wounded, terrorized, etc.)

French losses total 25 squads or their equivalent:
* 200 men combat ineffective
* Assume about 40 dead and 80 wounded (80 more scattered, walking wounded, terrorized, etc.)
* + four officers killed, wounded, or captured.
The French have also lost far more support weapons.

And this is only the German turn. We haven’t even finished the first turn, the French still get to make fire phase and assault attacks in their turn!

The overall situation at this point of the game – the Germans and French are more or less in a standoff on the extreme west wing, while the Germans have smashed open a pretty grisly breakthrough in the west and centre.  To the east, however, the French have actually repelled some of the stosstruppen assaults, have a local superiority, tons of on-board mortar support, and are about to launch some pretty serious counterassaults.

In summary, this battle could totally go either way at this point.

Stay tuned as this “All Quiet on the Western Front” mega game continues!