LSNC WWII & WWI Game Day & Farewell Party

  This past Saturday some of the HAWKs were invited up to run a couple games at Sam Fuson's Warhorse Farm in Gettysburg, PA as part of a farewell party for one of the fellows in Sam's unit who was moving on to another assignment.
  We began the day with a large semi-historical WWII battle from the Polish campaign in September of 1939, run by Buck Surdu using "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" rules.  In the battle Russian and German forces are converging on the Polish held town of Zboiska, while the Poles are tasked with clearing some German heavy artillery off a nearby ridge that is shelling the city of Lvov.  Historically, the Germans left the town for the Russians to take, and moved off to other objectives.  In our game, we pitted the Russians and Germans in a race to see who could capture the town first.

An overview of the T-shaped battlefield. The Germans are attacking from the near table edge on the left, the Russians from the right, and the Poles are counterattacking up the base of the T in the center.

German infantry, on the right, tries to find a weak spot in a treeline held by Polish cavalry.

A view of the battle from the Russian side, with the town of Zboiska in the distance.

Russian armor and infantry advances 

    In the end, the Poles were able to gain the ridge and had captured some of the guns. The Germans and Russians had both been able to eventually punch through the Polish defenses with their armor and the tanks were nearing their objective, but most of their infantry had been beat up in the fight so the chances of either side taking the Polish-held town were slim.  The game was declared a Polish victory.

     After a late lunch , Duncan Adams set up a WWI battle using a combo of modifed LSNC: WWII & ACW rules.  The battle was from the opening maneuvers of the Battle of the Marne.  The Germans were tasked with pushing counterattacking French forces back from a ridgeline that the Germans occupied.

A view of the battlefield.

German forces advance on the right, as elements of a French Colonial brigade move out to meet them.

In the end the French were able to push a small force onto the German held ridge on the French left, even though the French right had been badly mauled and was collapsing under repeated German attacks.  The game was called a marginal French victory.

  Everyone had a great time, and it was a nice send-off for a friend.

A "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWI" Game

At last Friday's HAWKs meeting, I got to play in Duncan Adam's WWI "Look, Sarge, No Charts" (LSNC) game.  Duncan has been working on modifying LSNC for WWI for a couple years now; combining elements of both the ACW version of the rules, and the WWII one. While he usually used his 25mm figures, mounted for another rules set, for these playtests, he recently took the plunge into 10mm for this period.  This was the first time his new 10mm WWI LSNC armies got to do battle.

My Brigade in their initial deployment, and two of the hills they needed to defend. 10mm WWI figures from Pendraken.

The scenario was from the early part of the war.  As the Germans are swinging southwest through Belgium, the French attack northeast into the hinge between these advancing Hun forces, and the other enemy forces on the German's left flank.  So, both sides had orders to attack; the French to seize a small town at the far corner of the table, and the German's to capture the three hills where the French first deploy.

One of the German Brigades opposite me, and the massed German artillery.

I took the command of the lone French brigade that starts on the table, facing two German brigades. There is another French Brigade that enters after the first turn.

The Germans immediately put pressure on my right flank

To begin, I boldly attacked on my left hoping to turn back the German right, catching them in a pincer as my friends entered on their other flank.   This attack soon petered out, and I  then found myself threatened on both flanks.  The concentrated German artillery was merciless, smashing any poor French unit who showed their heads in the open.

As I launch an ill fated attack on the Germans on my left.

With the arrival of my compatriots, some of the pressure was pulled away from my right, but all thoughts of attack were gone now, I was just desperately trying to hold the German's away from their objective.  It was up to the other brigade to try and seize our objective.

The French reinforcing brigade arrives.

In the end, we were very close to capturing the town, while the Germans had succeeded in capturing one of the hills, and were a turn away from the second.  All in all it was a close fought thing, and very exciting. I really love what Duncan has done with his modifications.  They really capture the punishing nature of this period of warfare, and you can see why it didn't take long for them all to start digging trenches.  And, his new armies were really beautifully painted, and a lot of fun to play with.