Belgium August 1914

This weeks game at the SESWC was a 28mm WWI game. Colin Jack and I have built up a collection of early war figures for Germany, Britain, France and Belgium so we decided to try out the Contemptible Little Armies rules for that period. The figures are by Renegade except for the pluckly Belgians who are by Brigade.  Colin came up with a fictional scenario of a Franco-Belgian counter-attack in August 1914.

German infantry at edge of village.  MG in building on left.

The Setup
The game was fought across a 8ft by 6ft table. The Belgians commanded by Colin attacked on the left flank to take 2 low hills held by the Germans under Bart Zynda whilst I with the French attacked a village held by Germans commanded by Hugh Wilson.

Belgian grenadiers take the walled field

How the game played
On the left wing 4 units of Belgian infantry made good progress against the Germans who decided to advance to meet them head-on with their 2 battalions. The arival of a Minerva armoured car proved decisive and the Belgians pushed the initial Germans back, taking the 2 low hills and wiping out them and their supporting Mg and artillery. They then held their ground against a counterattack by 2 fresh German battalions.

French close on the village - just seconds from disaster

On the right I was not so successful. My French who were rated as Ferocious in attack suffered heavy casualties and 2 battalions were destroyed by mg and rifle fire trying to reach the village. One of the battalions of 18 figures was wiped out in single turn without ever causing any casualties. The situation was saved by the charges of the French Chasseurs D'Afrique and the Belgian Guides who broke a German battalion. Two fresh French battalions then advanced to renew the attack on the village. An attack by german cavalry was held of but with heavy losses. We concluded that the game was an allied victory....but at heavy cost.

Chasseurs D'Afrique charge home...sabre vs picklehaube

The Rules
They work okay if you like removing massive numbers of casualties. However you can always recycle the troops back onto the table as we did in this game..