WW1 Western Front Tactics Prior to Commencement of Trench Warfare

[monk2002uk]

I think an image is the easiest way to emphasise the difference. Attached is a Battle of Mons map, which covers BEF II Corps only (i.e. half of the British force, which totalled 80,000 roughly all up). Overlaid is the map of Mars-la-Tour (framed in red), which had 80,000 men per side. The maps are the same ground scale.

Robert

[monk2002uk]

As I mentioned before, I don't know rules like Black Powder. The Fire and Fury set are the only rules from mid-19th Century that I own and am reasonably familiar with. The quantum difference in dispersion is one of the reasons that I would not recommend such rules for WW1. On first impression, it would seem likely that rules covering earlier periods like FPW should work but, FWIIW, my preference is to go with dedicated rulesets for this scale, hence Great War Spearhead for example.

Robert

[monk2002uk]

Now to another really interesting video:



It shows Belgian and French troops on manoeuvres in 1913. There are some very good views of large troop formations on the move, dispersed as sections. You can also see somewhat stylised attack manoeuvres, with a firing line providing covering fire while sections bound up to join the line. The sections start from another line further back that is not firing, indeed many of the men are taking the time to pose for or look to the camera ;-). In practice, this 'line' would have been firing too, supporting the manoeuvre elements.

On first glance, the troops still look quite massed together. The section-based manoeuvre elements are clearly distinguishable but the whole thing seems very compressed. It is. The camera can only take in a certain maximum width, perhaps several hundred metres but not more than a kilometre at most. There was no way that a camera on the ground could illustrate the dispersion that was a feature of the Mons map above for example, where just one BEF division covered many kilometres in defense. Furthermore, the amount of land available for manoeuvres in France and Belgium was very limited. Germany, by way of contrast, set aside vast areas for corps manoeuvres. Finally, such films were designed to impress. A battalion or, worse still, a company advancing over the same territory would not impress militaristic neighbours ;-)

Robert

[armchairgeneral]

Thanks for all the information Robert. As you probably gathered I am considering gaming this period in 28mm at brigade level. Just wondered what rules would be best if not BP.

[monk2002uk]

What is the smallest unit you are hoping to represent on table?

Robert

[armchairgeneral]

What is the smallest unit you are hoping to represent on table?

Robert

A battalion represented by 12 - 16 figures. A gun model to represent a battery.

[monk2002uk]

So an individual figure would represent an infantry company essentially? A four battalion brigade or regiment would mean 64 figures in total, leaving out MGs, HQs, etc. Is that the sort of scale you are after?

Robert

[carlos marighela]

Over the Top by Frank Chadwick. That exact scale, one stand ( or infividually based figure in 28mm) represents a platoon, a gun represents a battery etc. Designed to be played at Brigade level, plays well and has a bathtub campaign for 1914.

[armchairgeneral]

So an individual figure would represent an infantry company essentially? A four battalion brigade or regiment would mean 64 figures in total, leaving out MGs, HQs, etc. Is that the sort of scale you are after?

Robert

Yes though 1 figure would be about 40 men so representing a platoon if that's what you meant?

[armchairgeneral]

Over the Top by Frank Chadwick. That exact scale, one stand ( or infividually based figure in 28mm) represents a platoon, a gun represents a battery etc. Designed to be played at Brigade level, plays well and has a bathtub campaign for 1914.

Thanks for the tip. Do you know where you can get hold of these rules? And did you mean the ones by Greg Novak?

[monk2002uk]

Yes though 1 figure would be about 40 men so representing a platoon if that's what you meant?

Yes, that's what I actually meant ;-) Crush the Kaiser is the other WW1 game that is specifically designed for this scale of unit command.

Robert

[monk2002uk]

Here is a map that shows how stretched out brigades/regiments were during an advance to contact. The map shows two German divisions (5 and 6 Infantry Divisions - the 'J' is a carryover from the older German script where a capital 'I' looks like a modern 'J'. You will see some translations that call these Jaeger divisions, which isn't correct as Jaeger only operated in battalions). If you follow 24 Infantry Regiment for example then you will see it track down through Ghlin, cross the canal near Jemappes, then down through Flenu, and on to the area around Frameries. This makes modelling a brigade/regiment quite hard in the context of an advance to contact and then exploitation of a break-in, which is what happened at Mons.

24 Infantry Regiment's advance was over 18 km at least, with more than 12 km in contact with the BEF. Contact was made just north of Jemappes, where the BEF was defending the crossings. The regiment was not advancing shoulder-to-shoulder throughout. Battalions were echeloned one after the other, giving depth but not width.

Robert

[carlos marighela]

Thanks for the tip. Do you know where you can get hold of these rules? And did you mean the ones by Greg Novak?

Yes, sorry I should have credited Greg. A sad loss to the gaming community. I always think of Frank, as they are part of the Command Decision rule series. If you want faster play you can always use the hit mechanism from Test of Battle, which is essentially CD version 4. There's a forum of the same name and you'll find some nice chaps who are incredibly helpful. It's no longer the shiny system de jour but it has stood the test of time. You'll find tables of organisation for all the main armies in your selected scale too. For 28mm I just used one figure per stand vs the two to three of 15 and 20mm.

[monk2002uk]

You need to make sure that these rules do not use a WW2 ground scale. Otherwise you run into the opposite problem from the FPW. By WW2, an infantry platoon covered the same frontage as a WW1 infantry company. This is an order of magnitude difference.

Robert

[monk2002uk]

Another photo, possibly taken in August 1914, that allegedly shows a British contingent moving towards Mons via Jemappes. Note how, when not within range of the enemy, movement was in denser columns. The pyramid shape in the background is consistent with one of the numerous slag heaps in the Mons area.



Robert