Tuesday, 21 October 2025

"The Guns in August" WW1 Sunday Game

On Sunday, we had a large early WW1 Game at Barrys, using mainly Marks figures and entirely Marks rules, scenario and specialised terrain pieces.


Map Copyright "1866 and All That" M. Strachan Enterprises.


The table from the East.


A delightful little Belgian ville.



To quote Capt Edmund Blackadder "and then suddenly four-and-a-half million heavily armed Germans hove into view. That was a shock, I can tell you. Baldrick"!


Belgians prepare to defend their 'hood




Local civilians head east...





 
2 bicycle mounted German Jaegers. That will have them quaking in their boots!


The German CinC deployed his onboard artillery immediately upon arrival and retained 25% of the infantry as a strategic reserve



Mounted German reconnaissance troops attract Allied artillery fire  



The dreaded Bosch move up to the north of the small town


"Yoicks, View Halloo, Tally Ho chaps" - yes, the bloody English have arrived!



AND the garlic breathed snail munchers.


German infantry deployed north of the town


Much coming and going to the south as the French and Belgians mill around, shouting orders and generally getting in each other's way.


"Je pense que nous sommes ici, colonel......" (the map is upside down......)


The Wurst munchers deployed to the northeast of the town




It's like The Grand Old Duke of York inside the place!


While to the north, the Germans blast away at the Belgian defenders



Slightly east of the town, another German unit deploys as the French move up from the south


And the British move in from the east.


Why are they still wearing their grandads Crimean War uniforms though?!!




The Belgians, including their dog mounted HMG's (it's a real thing!) begin to withdraw




The leading German unit was targeted by ALL the Allied artillery and after a couple of rounds of very effective fire - disintegrated - scheisse!





Germans entering the northern "suburbs" of the town



The Brits chasing the Germans back down the road whence they came ....


"Now, about this meal we have booked in Berlin for later in the month...."



Looks like the British cavalryman has lost his false teeth!


Belgian armoured car and French taxi heading east from the town

 


Final shot showing a solid line of French troops facing north, as their British allies come in from the east (left) to push the Germans back.

We called the game here - the German mission was to get off the eastern table edge, and we realised pretty quickly that was very unlikely to happen. Mark generously gave us some credit for control of the town but in reality, it was a severe check for the Germans, and they were left with a very bloody nose and forced to retire pell mell as the British advanced on them.


On arrival home, I had received a small courier delivery (not the cork buildings, I just put them in as a "progress report" for my ruins WIP)


Two bags of "bits" to enhance the aforementioned ruins - as per below


Lots of useful stuff here and a good deal at $NZ 12 per bag (the other bag is mdf "bricks")


One last look at the new cork buildings - they have now been based but with some more enhancement to go. The one on the right is an exact copy of one of the mdf ones, which I used as a template.

That's all I have for you today - another game of V&F coming up on Friday - don't know if I will do a home solo game this week - it's a possibility though 😏

24 comments:

  1. That is a cracker of a WWI game there Keith, and many of the captions had me chuckling:)! Good to see more buildings in the pipeline and with the option of adding some nice detail too them too. Hope you have another fun game with V&F too.

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    1. Thanks Steve, given our (Germans) lackluster performance, I used some humor to cover up!

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  2. That is a good photo roundup Keith and your pictures complement Mark's nicely. The debris from Battle Kiwi looks good as well. I have been to his website a few times but must have another look.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence...the actual buildings I thought are a bit average and also pricey for what they are, but these "extras" are pretty good I think

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  3. WW1 I'd not often played but you did a terrific AAR and Mark's photos do a good job completing the story.

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  4. Great looking game and excellent write up!

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  5. Very impressive early-WW1 gaming and figures! I had initially thought of doing this early period with French in red trousers, but decided to go with the horizon bleu uniform, post-1915, as I had FPW French in the early looking uniforms.

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    1. Thank you Dean, your logic makes perfect sense to me! Another member of our group (Rick) has the later French, Germans and British I think.

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  6. Super table and some cracking miniatures on show, really very nice indeed and a very good read, gave me a smile or two!

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    1. Thanks a lot Donnie, I am happy you liked my report.

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  7. Love that set-up. Refugees and all. Very Flemish looking scene, though they appear to have moved a cafe from Normandy. That'll confuse the hell out of John Howard when he doesn't see it 30 years later.

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    1. Thanks Chris, all the extra little details Mark adds to his Games are always top notch!

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  8. Mark sets a very handsome table! I really enjoyed all of the close-up photos of the troops and especially the vignettes. The French command map-reading exercise is a classic.

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    1. Thanks Jon, absolutely agree re the standard of Marks tables!

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  9. Von Moltke will not be pleased Keith! 😂
    Great looking game and figures and a very fun report. Sometimes all you can do is laugh when everything is going downhill.
    The Germans didn't try to tempt the Belgian MG dogs away with some bratwurst? Have to try that next time. 😁

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    1. Thanks Ben, I am pleased you found it amusing - it's possible not everyone appreciates my particular sense of humour - it wears a bit thin on my wife sometimes, that's for sure!
      Nothing as subtle as Bratwurst Bribery for our CinC - he simply attempted to obliterate les pauvre chiens with high explosive shells!

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  10. Great looking game and interesting I have just been watching an early WW1 documentary with the variations in their early war uniforms.

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    1. Thanks Matt, the French in particular seemed to have some rather anachronistic uniforms in 1914...they look pretty though!
      I hear you have not been well recently so hope you are on the mend now

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