100 year Anniversary of Armistice – and for me, even more importantly, 100 year after Poland regained independence – can be celebrated in only one way – playing The Great War!
With that in mind me and Marcin decided on re-enacting last four engagements of the Verdun battle. The scenarios were fierce and finally we had seen French in attack!
Scenario 49 – Verdun (French Attack on Fort Douaumont) – 22 May 1916
As promised, we start with French attacking – their first attempt to take fort Douaumont in May 1916. Marcin will have tough nut to crack as No-Man’s shelling did not remove enough wire:
Still, having only limited forces on my side and facing all-out attack, I had serious issues to hold the ground:
Fortunately, my counter attack plus HMG on right flank broke havoc among attacking allied troops, earning decisive although not an easy victory:
In next scenarios Marcin will have opportunity to further work on his attack skills – really crucial element of the The Great War.
Scenario 50 – Verdun (Fight For Fort Vaux) – 2-6 June 1916
Scores of Special Personnel – Marcin took two officers plus bomber; I augmented my forces with two bombers, mortar spotter and HMG loader – interesting, very confrontational set-up, besieged fort and 7 victory banners so no way victory will come by chance – that is receipt for superb scenario!
Thanks to Infantry Assault and Direct from HQ I managed to quickly move forces in center, overrunning Fort Vaux:
However, Marcin’s decisive attack in the center almost caught me off-gusty, but in time I managed to clear the fort and redirect my forces to retake the trench:
Very funny scenario, a lot of movement and tactical options. Chance for French to survive until reinforcements come, while for Germans it is real fight with time!
Scenario 51 – Verdun (Fleury) – 23 June 1916
Another scenario in which my forces starts “in the woods” – figuratively and actually 🙂
Such set-ups always makes me a little nervous – now I need to sacrifice some units to move others. But that is understandable when your only concealment is sporadic forest and you face two fortified positions:
Still, even in such desperate position you can overrun opponent using one of your flamethrowers and bringing then mortar to pound on enemy:
I had really great 3-4 turns, when I successfully took over two fortified positions, entered trenches on my left plus attacked on right:
Unfortunately, Marcin constant play of Recon for victory points (4 of them!) devoured me of victory!
Scenario 52 – Verdun (French Retake Fort Douaumont) – 24 October 1916
Finally it has come – the last episode in 12-scenario Verdun campaign – French will be re-taking the Fort Douaumont. This is huge scenario – 8 victory banners, there is a great disproportion in reserve artillery (Germans – 2, French – 5), the initial shelling is obliterating trenches and forts. A real hell on Earth in a way only The Great War can bring! Important to note – French are not racing against time, so they have all the time needed to win this scenario.
Have a look below – the land was ripped with shell-holes after very successful barrage by Marcin:
I felt completely hopeless in initial rounds – my first play was Infantry Assault – just to… move all units back towards fort. Marcin was pounding me with hist 5-dice artillery, killing many figures and 3 units. I managed to use Storm of Fire to eliminate some f his advancing squads:
Still, at some moment in time it was 5-1 for French. And then something broke in Allied advance… It seems that Marcin had not engaged all the units, and only the first line which in the end was depleted by the fight. What is worse, I counter-attacked with my Light Machine Guns and managed to reached 6-6 score.
It got tense then. Really tense, but Marcin’s ride into my trenches finally won him a day:
I think this was the longest scenario we played – 2 hours. We have almost depleted both decks of cards 🙂 Still, it was magnificent end of Verdun campaign, although I think that slightly too long 🙂
SUMMARY
A nice campaign cannot be left without proper summary. So here it is:
- We played in total 12 scenarios, in majority of which Germans were attacking and playing against the time
- 7 scenarios were won by Germans, while 5 by French
- in victory banners, a slight advantage on Central Powers side is visible: 69-62
- There were 4 scenarios which involved forts – really interesting new development
Now, we need some break from TGW in order to come back to this with fresh energy for Neville Offensive and Tanks scenarios!
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