In the Last Ditch Again

Last night Doug and Legion came by to try out Through the Mud and the Blood.  Doug recently  finished converting some Renegade Miniatures early war French into Belgians and wanted to try them out.  So I looked up Too Fat Lardies' 'Play the Game' compendium of WWI gaming resources, and picked out a scenario entitled 'In the Last Ditch Again' featuring an allied delaying action against the German onslaught.

This is a fairly simple scenario - as written a British platoon has deployed around a farm, as a German force advances along the road toward them.  We substituted the Belgians for the British and got on with things.

The table is pretty flat and open.  As it turns out, a bit too open.  If we try this again I will add more hedges to break up line of sight, and rate the crops to make it a bit harder to spot the troops on blinds.  Note the blinds on either side.  The German flags are fine, but since I didn't have any Belgian blinds available, I provided the Russian blinds instead.  I figured these would be ok as Russia and Belgium were allies in WWI!

In addition to his Belgian infantry, Doug also brought this fancy truck to transport their ammunition!

German infantry appear after the Belgians spot their blinds.

Having identified the Germans, the Belgians opened fire, revealing their location in the process.

German forces take hits, and their numbers are quickly depleted.  Note that this group started with 19 soldiers!

Behind the Belgians, you can see Doug's shock marker.  Depending on which edge is aligned with the section, it signals how many shock that unit is carrying, from one to six.

More Belgians deploy and rain rifle fire on the Germans!

I needed a way to show that one of the Belgian sections had quickly dug in, so these gabions represent that.

Meanwhile, Legion's Germans shelter behind the hedgeline as they return fire.

The central German section was forced to fall back, as the number of shock points exceeded the number of remaining soldiers!

Shock also accumulates on Germans behind the hedge.

Another couple of glamour shots of the Belgian truck!

The game ended up a bit one-sided, as the Belgians easily spotted the Germans, taking them off blinds right away.  This meant that the Germans started taking shock, which ended up stopping them and allowing the Belgians to continuing whittling them down.  One of the reasons for this is that I'd made a mistake when I assigned Legion his command - each of the four German sections was meant to be 2 groups of 9 plus an NCO, but instead they deployed as 18 men plus an NCO.  Probably would have been better if they could have deployed with separate 9-man units, so that the Belgians would have had to slow down each of the half sections. Sorry Legion!  Another factor was the tiffin card that kept showing up very early each turn, keeping many of the German sections from activating.  As units that didn't activate could still shoot, this meant that the Belgians had no trouble pouring fire onto the stalled Germans, while the Germans were not able to rally or reorganise.  

At any rate, it was nice that Doug was able to field the Belgians, and that they were successful in their first outing!  

Empire to Revolution - Hunting Expedition

 Arthur found the scenario 'A Hunting Expedition' in the Empire to Revolution supplement for Through the Mud and the Blood.  It's actually an excellent intro scenario for M&B.  Each side gets only a single level II leader and a squad of soldiers, so players can quickly learn the basics for movement, spotting, firing and special tasks, as well as the use of blinds.

In this scenario, an ambitious young Austro-Hungarian officer has taken a squad of soldiers (represented by German soldiers as I don't have any A-H in my collection) to seek a prisoner to interrogate, while on the Russian side, a group of Cossacks are on the search for some tasty provisions, which they hope to find in the barn.  In the photo below you can see the table setup by Arthur - I think he did an excellent job, it looks great.  Russians enter on a blind at the top (as seen above) and Germans from the left.

Germans entered on a blind, but were immediately spotted by the Russians.  

Russians were spotted in the second turn!

Russians immediately started to run for the barn.  Thanks to a few turns in which the 'time for a snifter' card came up before the Germans could activate, the Russians had a bit of a head start on the run.  M&B isn't a game to play if you want your troops to activate reliably, but I like the unpredictability - even when it doesn't go my way!

Russians reach the barn while the Germans are still mucking about in the orchard.

Germans reach the edge of the orchard as the Russians emerge from the barn, and immediately start a fire fight.

Russians keep pulling back toward the table edge, but their progress is impeded by the accumulation of shock.

The Germans manage to wound the Cossack officer, who is left behind as the remaining Cossacks flee the field.  

This is a nice, quick scenario.  Our playthrough really demonstrated the effect of the 'snifter' card, as there were many turns where one side or both failed to activate.  This is either a great example of M&B's approach to 'fog of war' or maddingly frustrating depending on your take on the rules.  As I mentioned before, I like the randomness but recognise how annoying it can be for someone who prefers more predictability in a game!

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!

Yashka kept in the dark

 On Friday, Lisa came over to play out the third of the scenarios based on the wartime experiences of Maria 'Yashka' Bochkareva from the Empire to Revolution scenario pack for Through the Mud and the Blood.  In this scenario, Maria, now promoted to corporal (or Ефрейтор), joins a patrol to raid German lines, seeking to capture German prisoners. Unfortunately for the Russians, the Germans have anticipated the raid and set an ambush of their own!

Everyone deploys on blinds. German trenches are on the left, but some of German forces are setting up their ambush in the small wood in the lower right corner. Some of the Russian blinds have already been spotted and required to deploy. The Russians have started to lay down fire on the German trenches, resulting in the shock marker on the German blind.

Germans return fire with devastating effect on the Russian third squad. With more shock markers than troops, the squad is forced to fall back.

From their ambush location in the woods, German troops fire along the Russian flank.

German fire continues to wear down the Russians, as second squad is also driven off.

Germans in the trench are keeping up fire on the Russians in no man's land.

It's not all one-sided.  Russian return fire on the ambushers drives back one of the squads.

Yaska keeps the Russian first squad in good order,

but even her leadership is not enough as German rifle fire wears down the remaining troops.

 The scenario ended up as a stalemate.  The Russians were forced to fall back, but neither side was able to capture any prisoners or gain control of no man's land.  We have one more scenario to go, as Maria Bochkareva is promoted to command the Women's Battalion of Death!