Yashka and the Brides of Death

 Lisa and I played the fourth and final scenario featuring Maria 'Yashka' Bochkareva from the TFL Empire to Revolution supplement for Through the Mud and the Blood.  Yashka has taken the lessons learned from her time as an enlisted soldier, and now leads the Women's Battalion of Death.  The scenario is based on an attack by the WDB on German trenches.  They are supported by a unit of Russian officers, as the mutinous, proto-revolutionary enlisted Russian soldiers had refused to assist.

Both sides deployed on blinds (represented by the national flags) - Germans in their trenches and Russians advancing from their table edge.

Although it is daytime, units must still be spotted before they can be fired upon.  The Russians used their spotting efforts to assess the damage to the wire.  The dice indicate the status of the wire, from 4 (impassable) to destroyed (removed). The Germans have started to spot Russian units, and have deployed so they can open fire on them.

Russian officers shelter in a shell hole, while shock accumulates.

Meanwhile, Yashka keeps her troops motivated as they keep up fire on the German MG position.

The fire is amazingly effective, the MG is reduced to a single crewman.

As I carefully read the rulebook to find out if the German officer could transfer soldiers to support the MG, Russian fire finished off the remaining machine gunner.

Women's Battalion cross the wire but take shock as German rifles fire on them.

Despite their shock from being fired upon, the Women charge the Germans and drive them from their trench!

The remaining Russians move up to clear the remaining German trenches.

Through a judicial use of the 'Urrah!' card, three sections of Russians combine to charge the last Germans.

The attack is a success, and the surviving Germans are captured.

The series of games with M&B gave a good intro to the rules.  There was a mix of trenches and open terrain.  Card activation went well, but a lesson learned was to make it really clear what each card represents, especially for the 'special' cards.  I liked using blinds, as it allowed troops to move around quickly before being spotted, so the early game moves faster and the action kicks off when the forces are closer to each other.  That said, I can also see how game development has moved on since 2009 when these rules were first published, and I'm looking forward to the new version of WWI Chain of Command that Alex 'Storm of Steel' Southern is working on!