The rolling barrage has passed over the British trenches, and the shaken handful of front-line defenders emerge, shocked and stunned, awaiting the inevitable German attack and hoping that their reinforcements from the lines to their rear show up in time ...
Off we go with a post-Christmas game of Trench Hammer, this time featuring the Germans on the offensive against a British trench.
The British had a rifle squad, and Lewis squad and a Vickers machine-gun on their front-line. A rifle squad, Lewis squad and bomber squad were in reserve, off table. The Germans were assaulting with two MG08/15 squads, three bomber squads, a rifle-grenade squad and an assault squad.
The initial bombardment barely troubled the British. I pushed forward rapidly with the Germans, aiming to get as many units into assault range as possible.
The British threw back the German right, and quickly pinned down the German left.
But the British line was thinly manned, and a squad of Germans rushed through to the trenches. I wasn't sure exactly how to cover fighting along a trench, so decided to give both sides the trench bonuses (+3 for cover and only take half damage), but limit all combat to a 3" range.
The Germans assaulted along the trench, but the British forced them out.
They then laid down a withering fire on the squads attacking their front.
A German assault on the machine-gun was driven off as well.
The assault troops failed to trouble the Vickers.
The British reinforcements turned up almost immediately. I abandoned the German attack, as they'd not even dented the British line at this stage.
I set up the game again, moving one set of shell-holes to add some extra cover on the German left. The Germans attacked there with two MG08/15 squads and two bomber squads.
On the other flank their attack was less intensive; the rifle-grenades took up a firing position whilst the assault squad rushed right up to the British trench under the cover of some shell-holes.
On their left the German attack across open ground was badly shot up. But they laid down some fire on the British in return.
The bombers went in, but were driven off. However it left the British badly shaken.
The assault squad attacked on the right, but were forced to retreat.
The Germans kept up the pressure on their left.
The British officer fell trying to rally the rifle squad.
The Germans brought up an MG08/15 squad to support the assault troops on the right.
Their fire gave the assault squad the opening it needed to rush the British trench, and drive back the defenders.
An overview. On their right the Germans had a foothold in the British trench, although they had really only forced the defenders to retreat with very little in the way of casualties. On their left sustained attacks had destroyed the defenders of that section of the trenches, and the Germans were regrouping prior to moving forward to occupy them. The Vickers was still holding out in the centre, despite having take a few hits.
The Vickers failed to shoot up a bomber squad. But in the distance another squad was rushing into the trenches.
The British counter-attacked on the German right, and threw the assault squad out.
The Germans entered the trenches on their left. But they got some terrible command rolls, and couldn't bring up any support. This squad was on its own.
The British back in position on the German right. They inflicted more hits on the assault squad too.
The Vickers crew got their eye in, and cut down the bomber squad that was still caught in the open.
On the other flank the Germans threw in a squad to try and push out the shaken, but defiant rifle squad in that section of the trench, but failed to oust them.
The Germans, led by a doughty sergeant, attacked the Vickers, but it held them off.
The British reserves were now arriving. Just a bomber squad at first, but it was sufficient to provide some relief for the Vickers crew.
They drove back the Germans.
But were driven back in turn by a counterattack.
The Germans made one more attempt to take out the Vickers, as it was hindering their chances of bringing up any support.
They were thrown back again, and both the sergeant and their officer fell.
British reserves on the other flank put in some steady fire against the rifle-grenades, and eliminated them.
The British bomber squad attacked again. their officer fell in the fighting, but their attack was enough to scatter the Germans in the trenches.
With the whole trench-line back in British hands, and their few remaining squads all badly shot-up, the Germans withdrew. Their initial success was hindered by some bad command rolls at the point where they needed to reinforce it, plus a couple of terrible combat rolls in assaults. The British infantry squads put up a good fight, but were eliminated through sheer firepower. The Vickers was seemingly unable to hit anything at range, but held off a number of close assaults, and probably saved the British position. Medals all round for those guys (one of whom could have been my grandfather).
This was a more interesting game than I first thought. The scenario doesn't offer hard and fast numbers for the troops, so I just went with what seemed reasonable, but I didn't feel the balance was too off. The game can hinge on wild strokes of fortune anyway, especially the arrival of the British reserves, so wouldn't be easy to balance.
