Recent interest in WW1 by our gaming group led to some of us getting copies of the rules set, 'Crush the Kaiser-Over by Christmas' aimed at the early war period, 1914-16. For some reason I found myself buying a few Belgian's in the chosen scale of 20mm from both Irregular and IT Miniatures. Although both ranges are quite nice figures the Irregular ones lack a variety of poses but mix the two ranges together and you do get the hoped for variety. So far I have painted up two companies (of 12 figures) and and the Battalion HQ.
A close up of the Battalion HQ including a slight conversion on the kneeling figure to make a Field Telephonist. I sliced his rifle off and used a short length of wire stuck into a small piece of plastic eraser cut to size. The mouthpiece is made from the rounded end of a fine paint brush cut off and glued into place. I did google WW1 images of the Belgian army to find suitable inspiration to hopefully make a reasonably accurate figure.
Onto the game. This week Nigel was hosting as he has already got quite a large collection of British, French and Germans as well as suitable scenery. In fact Nigel is really to blame for Ian and I now collecting armies, but then we are easily led and are having fun. Nigel certainly laid out a great looking table with a central river crossed by two bridges.
The aim of the scenario was that my two companies of Belgians plus a whole regiment of BEF Scots had to hold the village and prevent the Germans from crossing the river. Ian and Nigel, controlling the more numerous Germans had to try and capture the two bridges and the village.
You can just spot the Germans advancing.
The German force massed ready to advance
The BEF Scots Battalion
The Belgians advancing to find something to hide behind and guard the left hand bridge.
This BEF machine gun was very effective until their building was attacked by artillery.
German Lancers getting close to the right hand bridge.
Lots of Germans advancing.
The BEF get into position
German artillery was slow to get into position.
We made slow progress in this game for a few reasons. We probably had too many troops on the table for a first game and we also enjoy chatting over a cup of tea and a piece of cake (a weekly tradition in our little group). We probably deployed too far apart as well as we were fighting along the length of the table. We only managed 4 turns but learnt a lot about the rules and are quite enthused by them. They are a fairly simple system just with a lot to remember and get used to the turn sequence.
However, the rules work well and I reckon we will progress quicker in the next game especially if we are less ambitious in numbers. A quick re-read of the rules before we next play will also speed things up. Now to finish painting my next two companies of Belgian Infantry.
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