A WD friend, John Bassett, came to stay so he could give a talk on nuclear disarmament to the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society. And play some games, or course.
As the WW1 game about the attack on Ronssoy in September 1918 was still set up in SHQ I thought it would be good to give it another go with someone new who also doesn't know NQM that well.
John hugged the barrage hard, sensibly, and brought up the supporting troops quickly. I had made some slight changes to the scenario timings to make it more likely that the British could get in place for the second phase of the attack.
The Royal West Kents were soon storming into the village. Heavy use of grenades meant a couple of out of red ammo markers showed up early doors.
The RWKs pushed on quickly into the village. The Bedfords (white tags) moved up to provide support, mopping up surviving German units.
One of the village strong points was proving tricky, so the tanks rolled forwards to support.
In the face of overwhelming fire, L/Cpl Widget rushed the village strong point. He will be written up for a VC.
Some of the positions by passed by the RWKs were proving tough. The Bedfords brought up their reserves, and deployed a Vickers Gun in support of the attack.
More Boches made their way to the cages. That's the end of their war.
The Germans counter attack, and L/Cpl Widget and his depleted unit are driven from the strong point. The fighting from building to building is proving tough.
The Bedfords meanwhile were consolidating the Northern edge of the village, to secure the jumping off point for phase two of the operation. Unfortunately the Royal Fusiliers weren't in position to leapfrog through when the barrage shifted from North/South to East/West.
The 6th Northants were in position, however, but were held up by "Quid Post" which they failed to capture when the barrage moved on. This Post was a real issue for them, with repeated brave attacks being repulsed.
The Royal Fusiliers (dark blue tags) were now trying to play catch up as the tanks and the Bedfords tried to clear the remaining buildings which threatened the flanks of the attack.
6h Northants were still being frustrated by the MG post.
The Bedfords were having a much more successful day out.
Supported by armour and fire from the Bedfords, the Fusiliers hit the Northern defence line hard.
The Northants were finally making progress. A Company have made the liaison point "A", Quid Post has been captured, and the line has been breached on the flank of the Fusiliers. They have also mostly caught up with the barrage. The Fusiliers have also broken the defensive line.
The last picture shows the Royal Fusiliers overrunning the German HQ on the left, as they drive the Hun from his trenches. The game is over, with a complete British victory although with quite heavy casualties.
JB said he really enjoyed the game. I got a lot more out of it, although I didn't realise how much at the time. It ran much quicker with the simple changes I'd made since the last game. I also woke up in the night with further thoughts that will tidy up some messiness in the turn sequence, so well worth running this through again.
I'm beginning to put together a nice little WW1 conversion pack for NQM, which is very pleasing.
I like the changes, Graham. The switch to just suppressing the Germans seems sensible as their dugouts were reported by the British as being deep and well-furnished. It also has the benefit of speeding up play. The bombardment looks much more impressive now that it is three squares deep!
ReplyDeleteWe got home safely, but there were a lot of , thankfully small, branches on the road.
Regards, Chris.
It is all shaping up quite well. I am moving the position of troops hugging the barrage to the forward edge of the square immediately behind the barrage marker. Troops under the barrage are "Pinned" and can't fight until Unpinned if attacked by troops hugging the barrage. With the turn sequence this means the barrage lifts, "hugging" troops move on to the Pinned position and fight unopposed as either Medium or Heavy v Light. Post combat is then resolved with all bases with two hits surrendering, and others ejected from the position if they lose the Post Combat dice off. The defenders then Unpin in the Reorg phase. If the attackers don't win the Post Combat then they're held off and lose the barrage.
DeleteGood to hear the road conditions weren't too bad. All that banging and noise in Shedquarters was twigs and branches falling off the ash tree in the garden. I picked up quite a bit on Wednesday morning.
You'll be pleased to hear that the application of Cillit Bang mould remover has shifted all but a residual trace of mould on the walls, so I can start to put things back where they should be.
The WW1 package would be of interest !
ReplyDeleteThe modifications being made are definately for late 1918, although they may work for earlier post 1st July 1916. The need is to test them against real world outcomes, which isn't always easy. The strength of NQM is that it isn't hard to teach and the mechanisms are mostly straight forward. On the other hand it does lack finesse, even at the lower, more detailed levels. The ground scale can mean that a couple of rows of hexes or squares can encompass the entire battlefield when trench lines are only a couple of hundred yards apart. Which is a way of saying my modifications for this scenario are probably a starting point, not an ending. I expect to be at Milton Keynes Campaign and both Partizans with it this year, so come by and say hello if you are there.
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