FoW 1918: Battle of Mons

Chris, Anthony, and I played a game of FoW1918 using the new canal that Chris built. We were playtesting a possible Historicon scenario using Chris's FoW1918 lists. 

Check out the sweet canal and bridges!

 The German list consisted of three platoons of CC infantry, four CC 75mm guns, a single CC HMG, and a squad of 9 CT recce cavalry. Note that Chris later discovered a pointing error with the Germans, placing them under by about 100 points.

The British consisted of four squads of CT infantry, 2 HMG, and a battery of 3 75mm guns.

The mission was Fighting Withdrawal. With the canal being impassable, and only two points of crossing on the bridge, it would be an uphill battle for the Germans. The British deployed mostly single file across the edge of the canal. The Germans deployed pretty spread out. With only the narrow bridges to cross, there wasn't much point on overloading one flank as usual in Fighting Withdrawal, so they covered all fronts equally.

One objective was placed on each bridge

Including some lost sheep

The German cavalry use their recce move to move into the middle. 

They get shot up on the first British turn - utilizing the WW2 Soviet "recon" method - lifting gone to ground by getting shot at!

Germans move up the bridge on the left flank

Remainders of the cavalry and a second German infantry squad take up firing positions in the middle of the board

And another German platoon prepares to cross the right side bridge

The cross-canal British fire is overwhelming

The Germans walk single file to conceal their numbers?

Movin' on up

The right flank bridge assault charges in, but is stopped by defensive fire

Same thing on the left...

Providing a nice artillery target on the following British turn

The Germans attempt to cross the bridge once more, but getting hit on 2's in defensive fire stops the assault once again.

The British are victorious!

So, we kinda expected this result in advance. There's a few things that will be changed before we try the scenario again. The points issue with the Germans will be fixed, which will have the British only bringing three infantry platoons. While that's still enough to line the canal, it will require them to eventually remove an infantry platoon with the Fighting Withdrawal mechanics. Also, we're going to add a third bridge, and bump the German artillery up to trained to give a better chance to pin.

It's still going to be rough with the narrow bridge crossings - even if the assault pushes past defensive fire, only one or two conscript stands will get into contact.

Catch up on all the latest FoW1918 information on the Yahoo group here.