How would you game 1914?

[Khurasan Miniatures]

At what scale would you wargame 1914 in Europe?  Of course this is before trench warfare fully set in.

Would your basic units be squads/sections, companies, battalions, or even larger?

I ask because preliminary work is being started on a range and the scale at which a game is fought does have some effect on poses to be made.  Poses that work for units which are sections might not look right when the unit is a battalion.

Any input appreciated....

[Cherno]

I'd go 10mm and make a huge battlefield with lots of trenches, no mans land, ruined villages etc.. 5-10 infantry each stand, single tanks and artillery. Something like Blitzkrieg Commander.

On the other hand, 28mm would make for some Stormtropper trench raiding actions

[Khurasan Miniatures]

No no, not figurine scale -- scale of unit size.  Unit is a section, unit is a company, unit is a regiment, unit is a division....

[Slayer]

a mate and I are doing it in 20mm, Infantry units are 15-16 men, Cav 8-12

[former user]

I guess 1914 would have the large companies as useful manouver unit, in or outside the trenches

[Driscoles]

I would game  larger skirmishes with 28mm miniatures.

[carlos marighela]

Given that the company was pretty much the smallest tactical unit in 1914, i couldn't see much point in doing sections or parts thereof. When I did game the period we used Greg Novak's old Over the Top rules, a spin-off of Command Decision where each stand represents a platoon but the lowest level of command is the company. Gave great games for brigade sized actions.

Were I to game the early part of the Great War again, I would still see no reason to chane my approach or rules.

[Yankeepedlar01]

This ~
http://talesfromghq.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Great%20War
The Battalion is the basic unit of infantry with ten bases. Cavalry has six figures, artillery one gun and crew. We have developed our own rules to suit our view of the game, but there are plenty out there.

[Lowtardog]

I'd go 10mm and make a huge battlefield with lots of trenches, no mans land, ruined villages etc.. 5-10 infantry each stand, single tanks and artillery. Something like Blitzkrieg Commander.

On the other hand, 28mm would make for some Stormtropper trench raiding actions

I think I would go this way. Painted up 28mm in the past but didnt feel right scale wise for me personally. Something like Great War spearhead would be a sight to see however.

[Plynkes]

Except the OP was asking about 1914, so tanks and anything beyond the most rudimentary of trench lines aren't really in it.


And despite his extremely roundabout way of asking it, the question he really seems to want an answer to is "What poses would you buy?"

[former user]

Poses that work for units which are sections might not look right when the unit is a battalion.

this aspect needs to be elaborated on slightly....

[Lowtardog]

Except the OP was asking about 1914, so tanks and anything beyond the most rudimentary of trench lines aren't really in it.


And despite his extremely roundabout way of asking it, the question he really seems to want an answer to is "What poses would you buy?"

I see what you mean. I am guessing they will be 15mm? I still think open warfare would be better on the larger scale, cavalry and horse drawn artillery etc.

Pose wise you have two options I would think Advancing and moving or static defence e.g. standing firing/reloading, kneeling the same etc

[former user]

maybe also a lot of sitting in the trenches with daily routines? 

[Plynkes]

1914 didn't see an awful lot of sitting in trenches. A more typical pose for that year would be an exhausted soldier doggedly marching, or collapsed in a heap on the roadside for a few minutes of precious rest. 

[Ray Earle]

For the British - probably firing line poses, shooting, reloading, reaching for extra rounds. Standing and crouching. Oh, and writing poetry. 

Germans - advancing under fire, march attack that sort of thing.