Much like elephants mating, wargames projects can be long in gestation. Murray began his 1914 Belgian division for Great War Spearhead quite some time ago, and having finally got enough troops painted and based to make for a 'playable' scenario (about half a division, 3 regiments) we had to give them a try. The figures are a mix of HaT 20mm and Lancashire Games 18mm. You probably can't tell the difference. In this scenario they are opposed by my early war Germans, all those old classic Airfix figures that actually date from some time in the early '70's if I recall correctly.
The scenario models a German division approaching a river crossable only at a major town bridge, and a ford a km or so upstream. An additional crossing has been found quite some way further upstream still enabling a flank march ... strains of the British on the Marne a few weeks later. The game was of course played using our preferred Great War Spearhead rules.
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| The Germans approach from the left, the Belgians have taken up position to the right of the river |
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| The Belgian deployment, with one regiment off able in reserve.. the eventual arrow of commitment appears on the bottom of the map. |
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| The German attack plan, with the regiment that has marched upstream to investigate intelligence reports of a viable crossing |
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| The German left flank.. Murray's deployment (at the top of the photo) was unconventional |
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| The German centre (reserve) on the left of the photo, and the right flank 3rd Regiment advancing |
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| Belgian artillery |
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| The German left flank 1st Regiment takes its first casualties |
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| Artillery and small arms fire against the German 1st Regiment |
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| German fire starts to fall on the Belgian right, including an off table regiment of 77mm field artillery. These Belgians eventually also come under fire from the German 150mm Corps guns, but not yet |
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| The German right flank 3rd Regiment takes casualties from the Belgian artillery seen at the top of the photo |
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| German field artillery deployed in support of the German 1st Regiment |
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| Getting messy for the right flank German 3rd Regiment |
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| Belgian cavalry (proxied with British cavalry figures) advances from its position to the rear |
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| The gaps in front of the German artillery (bottom of the photo) reflect the casualties that the Germans are taking from the Belgian artillery. However the German flanking regiment has arrived (after some delay) and takes the Belgian guns in the flank. One battery has already fallen |
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| The impact of the German flank attack as the infantry bring fire onto the Belgian guns. German 150 mm gun fire is also now falling on the Belgians |
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| The Belgian reserve regiment is committed and advances to counter the German threat to its flank |
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| The German right. The Belgian artillery at the top of the photo has been reduced to two batteries after fire from German artillery (observed fire rather than counter battery, which is not available at this early stage of the war) |
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| That Belgian artillery opposing the German right (3rd) regiment |
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| Belgian fire has stripped away the German 1 Regiment infantry protecting the German artillery on the German left |
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| The Belgian artillery supporting their left is eliminated |
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| The Belgian reserve (top of the photo) advances from the Belgian baseline and joins the action against the German flanking regiment |
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| Murray's Belgian divisional HQ stand |
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| The Belgians opposing the German left push forward to threaten the German 1st Regiment |
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| Reserves vs flanking force... this is getting serious |
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| The German 3rd Regiment on the German right begins a shift to their left along the river (which is uncrossable anywhere except the bridge and the ford) to bring pressure onto the Belgians at the bridge |
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| Belgian defenders at the bridge |
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| The German flanking regiment is taking some significant casualties |
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| However the Belgian regiment defending the ford on their right (the German left) has suffered significant casualties and fails two moral checks in the one turn (yes, it went from below 50% casualties to more than 2/3 casualties in one turn of fire) |
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| The Belgian cavalry pushes across the bridge to take the half of the town on the other side of the river (which had remained unoccupied until now), but pays the price under fire from the German reserve which is immediately committed to attack the town and bridge with a command arrow |
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| The German reserve about to push forward |
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| The German 3rd Regiment shift across from the right to the bridge |
The game had a designated 12 turn length, and the Germans had to get across the river. At this stage they had failed to take the bridge, and while the flank regiment was across the river, and their immediate opponents had been eliminated, the Belgian reserve had steadied the line and countered the flank attack.
We ruled the game a draw as neither side had effectively achieved its objectives. A great outing for the Belgians whose OOB as a fighting force are distinctly lacking in both MMG and artillery support.
