Square Bashing on the Western Front

[TWD]

After a lengthy gap James and I dug out our 10mm WW1 armies for a game of Square Bashing.

Pete joined us for a first go at the rules for him and we set up a straightforward German assault on British holding a chateau and surrounding villages.



The British suffered badly undet the initial German bombardment and would be starting on the back foot.




They were well dug in in the church on the left of the line.



However German observers were able to call in more barrages with devastating effect.



And the German assault dislodged the British and claimed the victory.

More explanation and pictures over on the blog: https://tomstoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2024/01/square-bashing-ww1-10mm-game.html

[fred]

Good stuff. Are the figures Pendraken? I assumed they were as they are 10mm, but then I’m not recognising many from the photos.

Sounds like the artillery was the main determinant of the game? Did this feel right? I know artillery was huge in WWI, but I ask about the on call nature of it, and it clearing the defenders from fortified areas, rather than just suppressing them.

[TWD]

They're Kallistra models rather than Pendraken.

Artillery is a powerful tool in Square Bashing - each side has the chance to call for barrages throughout the game - with two different types available - suppression (which, as the name suggests makes firing and advancing tricky) or "point effect" which is more concentrated and devastating.
The point effect barrage that the Germans landed directly on the British defenders (aided by their airborne spotter) was so effective the British were thrown back, leaving the chateau undefended.
So yes, barrages can be effective and decisive but they are limited, have a chance of landing on your own men (or not coming at all) and ultimately you'll need to do some work at the point of a bayonet

It feels quite WW1 to us (if you're prepared to persist with quite a poorly laid out set of rules that is!)

[fred]

Cool, that sounds good. It’s hard to tell with a single game report if something was a run of lucky dice, or is what always happens, but sounds like there is quite a lot of variability in what can happen with barrages.

We mainly use If the Lord Spares Us for big WWI battles - and it was a fight to understand the rules. Perhaps a feature of WWI sets and most of them being a bit older, and not often updated.

[TWD]

We played quite a lot of games a few years ago and it's a good set for the scale.
More reports from the past here: https://tomstoysoldiers.blogspot.com/search/label/Square%20Bashing

James keeps talking about trying to get together a good, easy to understand set of rules - but that's for our 28mm games.