During our regular mid-week gaming, me and Marcin decided to continued with The Great War – French Army Expansion scenarios. I must admit the game is very attractive to us and with great interest we uncover the next chapters of great battles in The Western Front. This time we had a pleasure to play two completely different but very exciting and interesting scenarios. So, let us see what happened!

Scenario 43 – Verdun (Samogneux) – 24 February 1916

Scenario three continues with initial German assault in Verdun offensive. The German key objectives are Samogneux village (upper-right corner below) and important Hill 344 (upper left corner):

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Scenario 43, Expansion 2. Click to enlarge.

To say it was a fierce battle wold be an understatement… Especially, having in mind there are no trenches on the map! Let us see what happened in short summary:

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The final situation. French barely wins. Click to enlarge.
  • I started with great momentum, hitting hard on the right (Village) using combination of Infantry and Gas Attack. French line soon broke but well played Physician prolonged the struggle.
  • Then I proceeded with probing the left  approach (the Hill), but you cannot be in every place at the same time…
  • It seemed French collapse is inevitable and only question of time
  • Marcin regrouped his forces and fled with 1 and 2 block units to the hills
  • And then the cat and mouse game started, with me attacking and Marcin finding places and situations to “bite”
  • The French losses were staggering:

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  • However, even single-block units defied Germans:

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  • The hill barely held:

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But in the end the French prevailed! I have a feeling game was a little too long, with not so many options for overwhelming Germans to score 7 banners.

Scenario 44 – Verdun (Fort Douaumont) – 25 February 1916

This is scenario I was looking for. The famous and iconic for the battle of Verdun – Fort Douaumont. The struggle here between Germans and French was especially fierce and below scenario depicts initial German success, when taking that critical point in February 1916:

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Scenario 44, Expansion 2. Click to enlarge.

The Fort is depicted by 5 bunker hexes in upper-left corner of the picture above.

As always, short recap of our game:

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The final situation. Germans victorious this time. Click to enlarge.
  • First, that scenario introduces new Special Personnel figures – Marksman and Mortar Heavy Loader. I like the gradual way those elements are presented to player – not everything at the same time. In that case, we had possibility to add 1 figure each, so I went for Bomber and Marcin chose Light Machine Gun. Both units suited for close combat 🙂
  • As each hex of Fort is Permanent medal for Germans, I quickly rushed on my left wing. So quick, that French marksmen did not have a chance to fire using their special abilities.
  • Marcin tried delaying tactics plus – as in Scenario 43 – to regroup to the Fort. Before he did it, my officer already took over part of the fort, killing two units.
  • In the end I was pushed out of the Fort, but grabbed 4 medals here. The abandoned village – defended by single unit – gave the last 2 medals needed.

Germans deserved victory but only quick and decisive action allowed me to be in Fort before French reinforcements arrived. That was good evening, with victory going once to one side and then to the other.