Vimy Part 2 - The Edmonton Boys at EWG

As we continue to commemorate the Battle of Vimy Ridge, we played our 2nd club game Wednesday Night. Thanks to Julian, I will be using some of his images also in this post.

1. SCENARIO BRIEFING, April 9th, 1917 8:30am

CANADIAN BRIEFING: 49TH BATTALION (CEF)

"The Edmonton Boys"

• Situation: It is 08:30 AM. The initial waves have pushed past the 1st line of Waldung Trench, but the position is far from secure. Your battalion must follow up, "mop up" the bypassed German strongpoints, and secure the ridge crest.

• Mission: Advance 48" to secure the Red Line of Walldung Trench. You must clear the 2nd line of Waldung Trench (24") and neutralize the pillboxes at the summit.

• Tactical Note: "Lean on the barrage." The creeping shells are your only cover against the heavy machine guns. If you fall behind the smoke, the ridge will become a graveyard.

CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: BATTLE ORDER 49-VIMY

TO: Commanding Officers, 49th Battalion (Edmonton Regiment)

SUBJECT: Operation Mop-Up – Capture of the Waldung-Zwischen Stellung

1. SITUATION:

The 42nd Battalion has breached the forward German crust. However, the ground is "dirty." Enemy holdouts in deep dugouts and concrete "beehive" nests have been bypassed and are now opening fire on our support lines. The 3rd Division's flank is bleeding. We are the tourniquet.

2. MISSION:

The 49th will advance in three waves to "Mop Up" all resistance between the Jumping-Off line and the ridge crest.

• Phase I: Secure the Waldung Trench (The Black Line).

• Phase II: Methodically clear the Rear Zone of all sniper hides and LMG nests.

• Phase III: Storm the Red Line of Waldung Trench and silence the heavy pillboxes at the crest.

We played across the width of the table this time, to allow the Canadians a more rapid advance as they follow the rolling barrage. We had 6 of us our, with George hosting. Chen, Julian & Will played the Canadians, while Colin & I once again played the Germans.

The advance continue as the barrage moves to the Waldung Black Line trench.

A view of the battle from the opposite end of the table.

Colin gives his son Will some pointers. Soon he shall see that no good deed goes unpunished! With the passing of the barrage, the first of the German defenders are going to appear.

German troops emerge from the 'stollen' dugouts to engage the attackers. They did have to make rolls though to see how they emerge. Their leaders could use up their command to modify the entry type by 1 category.

The German defenders are quickly whittled down, but do cause casualties to the Canadians.

The remnants of the platoon fall back, but were able to destroy one of the Canadian platoons before themselves succumbing.

With the barrage rolling forward & leaving the Canadians somewhat behind, they would now encounter various 'ambush' tokens which would be either LMG teams, Snipers, or dummies.

A German LMG team & sniper appear & blast withering fire into the approaching Canadian platoon.

Having achieved 6 hits upon the Canadians, Will then managed to save all hits (needing a 5+) The Maple Leaf = 6. The return fire on the Germans wasn't anywhere near as successful for the Germans & they were wiped out.

Photo by Julian

There was some payback however as 2 of the Canadian Mortar strikes targeting the bunker, strayed & landed amongst their own troops causing quite a few casualties.

The bunker is being flanked, though another Canadian platoon is destroyed by the MG within.

The bunker is damaged, as well the MG team within was suffering casualties.

As the barrage lifted, German Sturmtruppen were waiting to counter attack. As well other platoons emerged from the dugouts to engage the Canadians.

The Canadians had achieved Phase 1 & 2. They were in the process of achieving phase 3 with 1 of the bunkers already destroyed when we had to call the game due to time.

Thanks to those who came out to play & to George for hosting & putting all the work in that he did to support the Anniversary of Vimy Ridge.

Commemorating the Vimy Battle at EWG

George, reached out to me earlier this year saying he wanted to commemorate the  Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge during the club nights of April. Agreeing it would be a great idea, he was off to the races.

As the dates grew closer & it was becoming crunch time, I got this facebook message from him.

Thing were looking good for the club event! Good thing he is retired!

So for our first of 2 events we had 3 Canadian Players (Julien, Chen & Craig), while Colin & I played the Germans. George ran the game.

The ruleset we would be using is Zero Hour by Gripping Beast. Not the fanciest cover & it was a ruleset none of us have played.

A view from the Canadian side.

And from the German (pretty much a wall of Arty approaching). Time to dive into the deep bunkers!

The Canadians (PPCLI) had 3 company's up & 1 in support. 10 figures represented a platoon.

The movement of the rolling barrage & troops was timed. So it was a flurry of activity for the Canadians to keep up with the barrage. 3 dice were rolled with the highest being the movement of the barrage & platoons.

Overtime the rolling barrage got separated with some arty falling ahead. The wire defences are getting obliterated. At least on the flanks.

With the passing of the barrage, the German forward units emerge from the bunkers & are immediately charged by the approaching Canadians.

Its a death struggle, with 1 of the German platoons succumbing to overwhelming attackers (on the right flank). The centre platoon was holding with the attackers still wading through the wire. The German platoon on the left held & repulsed the attackers. But this was a brief delay.

The rolling barrage continues onto the 2nd line of defence where the concrete bunkers are located.

Meanwhile the Center German unit was about to be destroyed.

The rolling barrage is getting further ahead of the attackers!

Once the rolling barrage hit the 2nd line of defence, the Canadians opted to switch it to a normal barrage to pummel the defences. With the 1st line secured, the advance to meet a new batch of German defenders.

Even though they suffered some heavy losses, the Canadians pressed on & they were able to take the 2nd line of defences.

Checking the clock, we were forced to call the game at this point due to the store closing in half an hour. As was historical, the Canadians had won through. If I recall, the reserve company had yet to be committed. There were another 3 platoons of Germans remaining to hold the red line.

Thanks George for all the work you did for this event. We will get to play again next Wednesday in another part of the Battle of Vimy Ridge!

Frostgrave - Grave Concerns

 A couple of weeks ago, we had our 2nd Campaign game for our latest Frostgrave Campaign. Since then I've been off to a gaming retreat & it seemed I needed this long weekend to finally get the comic finished.

This was the 2nd homegrown scenario as we make our way to Felstad. Mainly to allow newer players an opportunity to work through their warband.

Something else I did, was also to invite a buddy over to run the Necromancer's band that is in the cemetary. If he survives, he will return in future scenarios to be a thorn in the Wizard's sides.

Before the game I asked my wife to take a photo of the players.

Terry, Chen, Jonathan(guest antagonist), Craig, Kurt, Dan, Rolland

The Warbands taking part

Chen's Warband

Craig's Warband

Dan's Warband

Kurt's Warband

Rolland's Warband (needs an updated image)

Terry's (My) Warband

Grave Concern AAR - better grab a beverage!

So a couple of points in the after game discussion. I used a 6'x4' mat, which had 4 of the players starting further away from the centre than the last 2. One comment was to go for a square board to make it equal for all.

Another thought is that instead of lowering the values of the chest with a d4, we would move to either a d6 or d8.

Everyone had a good time (at least that's what they are saying to my face) & liked that I had a player playing our ongoing nemesis.

Thanks to everyone for coming out & we get to play inside Felstad for the next game in a few weeks.