World War One in Three Turns at COW 2023

 I wanted to put something on in the short games slot at COW this year, and as it is well over 20 years since I last ran World War One in Three turns, I got all the stuff for that out again. I did a bit of light tweaking on the 1918 combat results table, as it is a bit harsh for some of the player options, but otherwise the game is unchanged.

Players take on the role of a British divisional commander and conduct a series of attacks in 1916, 1917 and 1918, selecting a plan from one of the options presented by their staff, and then pushing a lot of toys over the table and throwing lots of dice to see if the plan succeeds or not.

As the war proceeds, the range of options change as the tactical capabilities of both sides change and the defensive posture of the Germans is modified. The final outcome each year is determined by the interaction of the players plan with the current German tactical stance, so what works well in 1916 isn't necessarily going to work in 1918.

Unfortunately the plenary game started late due to catering delays at the venue, so my session was delayed as well and we didn't get going until after 11pm. A number of players dropped in though, and we managed to run it four times before it was time to go to bed around 1220am.

This 1918 British attack has foundered on the third line of defences. So near and yet so far! The players have a chance to win medals and gain public recognition the further they penetrate the German defences.

This game ran on the show circuit back in 2001, and I made up a special battle board for ease of transport, but that has been long recycled. This is just using my trenches on my Ciger Box mat.

View of the British start line from the German front line. The British start with 12 battalions in 1916 and 1917, dropping to 9 battalions in 1918. They have increasing amounts of support as the war progresses, including the option for tanks in 1918. The German defenders are generally a reinforced Regiment.

In 1916 the Germans have much of the strength in the front line, as doctrine was to hold the Haupkampflinie (HKL or Main Battle Line) at all costs.

Again, for the original game I made up a special set of figures, but they have also been incorporated into my existing stuff. The figures are my usual 20mm WW1 stuff, a mix of Emhar, Revell, HaT and Tumbling Dice.

By 1917 the Germans had figured out an upfront defence as very costly and the Allied artillery was very adept at demolishing, or at least suppressing, the first trench system.  The Germans deepened their defences and created a 'Battle Zone' a few thousand yards deep between the first and second defence lines, studded with concrete pillboxes. These dispersed defences were far less easy to locate, but with modern weapons each small positions could dominate the ground around them with automatic weapons fire.

Essentially each plan option has varying dice scores required for each battalion to penetrate each line of defences. Failures result in elements being forced back or destroyed. Each destroyed element results in 1000 casualties, and each force back results in 500. Losses are replaced between rounds.

Over the course of the war, the average British division on the Western Front lost around 25,000 men. A far cry from Robert Graves` claim that his battalion alone lost 20,000 men, but pretty sobering nonetheless.

The German third line was typically where reserves were positioned to counterattack any penetrations of the Battle Zone, and also where the bulk of the field artillery was held. Generally it was out of range of the Allied field guns.

In this 1918 attack, a single British battalion has made it as far as the Third Line, while all the tanks are knocked or bogged somewhere back in the Battle Zone.

Sadly the odds are against a single battalion, a full brigade would stand a much better chance. The players losses per division over the three years varied between 23,000 and 27,000, so all around the average. Very few of them managed to even take the second line however.

Mark F shows how it should be done as infantry and tanks roll over the Third Line in 1918.

We managed to get through the game four times, but cumulative British losses were in excess of 100,000 men by the end,  although Mark F did eventually manage to break through with a masterful surprise tank attack, bearing a strong resemblance of the Battle of Amiens. Some of the players kept conducting lengthy bombardments, not apparently noticing the effect they were having on the ground, and were puzzled as their attacks ran out of steam in the depths of the German positions.

That was actually a load of fun to get out and run again, and John A asked if I wanted to take it to Partisan. So yes, it will be doing the show circuit again this year.