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

Believe it or not, everything we’ve seen so far has just been the German phase of Turn 01.  Fortunately, the “defense” turns in these games tend to go much faster, and the turns overall go much faster as the game progresses as the units available to both sides undergo a precipitous decline.

So the French start of with  barrages from their on-board mortars.  These mortars are much less powerful than the barrages the Germans unleashed in the opening of the game, the trade-off being that these mortars are actual units in the French OOB and available all through the game (six turns), not just at the very opening.  Also, because they are called in by units with direct LOS, they do not “drift” like off-board missions do.

And the French score well on their first mission!  All five remaining Stokes mortars and the three Md58t2s hit this hex and score enough damage to kill a German flamethrower team as they rush through breached French trenches.    Why do I picture hot shrapnel igniting someone’s flamethrower pack and spewing fiery jellied gasoline, roasting stormtroopers alive as they try to scramble out of the French trench?

The French also launch counterattacks on the extreme right left and right, using buildings and communications trenches to cover approaches from German opportunity fire before launching close assaults.

Now here is where things get ridiculously bloody.  On the beginning of Turn 2, the Germans under Ritter launch a flanking assault from the east, cutting behind Capt. Versainte’s platoon to assault it from the rear.  At the same time, Hauptmann Bothi assaults from the front from the cleared French forward trench.  But Bothi’s assault rolls 12, the worst possible roll in the game!  Not only does this result in hideous losses and a failed assault, but a French sharpshooter appears anywhere within LOS of Bothi’s platoon and immediately makes a sniper attack (d6 – cover bonus = immediate loss of casualty points).  And the sniper rolls a 6!  Subtracting -2 for the trench bonus, Bothi’s platoon takes another 4 casualty points!  Holy hell, have the French actually turned the tide here?

Maybe not, because Neumann’s platoon immediately assaults as well from the northeast, overrunning the sniper’s position (taking more losses from the sniper’s opportunity fire) and them hitting Versainte’s position with not one but two flamethrower sections.  Good God, almighty!  Versainte’s position is wiped out, but the assault costs Neumann’s platoon another 6 casualty points (2 for the trench, 3 for the French half-squads, 1 for Versainte himself).

Seriously, eleven squads have just been lost in this 90-meter stretch of trench in less than two minutes, plus an officer, plus a sniper.  That’s 90+ men total = combat ineffective (at least 20 dead, 40 seriously wounded, 30 more walking wounded, scattered , terrorized).

On the French Turn 2, a mortar team rolls another 12, meaning that a German sniper pops up in this ruined and abandoned French bunker and snipes out the mortar team (goodbye to one of the Md58t2 teams).  Two French half-squads are detailed turn back and flush the sniper.  One half squad is shot down as they make the rush, the other kicks down the door of the bunker and eliminates the sniper (with the M1915 “Chauchat” machine rifle doubtlessly clearing the room with a spray of automatic fire).

We then see the overall situation at the end of Turn 2, with the French all but smashed completely off the western two boards (with the exception of officers and mortar teams), while the Germans have been smashed in turn almost completely off the eastern two boards.  Just that fast, this has turned from a north-attacking-south game to a west-attacking-east game.

Finally, we see the Germans at the beginning of Turn 3, starting to clear these French mortar positions on the southwest board.