Valor & Victory – 1918 (German v. French Megagame)

So it’s finally time to kick off this battle, and see if I can “eat my own dog food” as the expression goes, and run a bonafide trench assault game for 1918 Great War.

Previous posts in this project thread have shown how the boards were drawn assembled, and the game was set up.   How now it’s time to take a quick step back and lay in the American off-board artillery fire missions.  A few points:

(1) The American squads have not technically made these rushes yet.  They have not actually entered the board.  The artillery missions are supposed to go in before the infantry arrives.

(2) This isn’t the way artillery normally works in published Valor & Victory.  Remember this are WW1 rules, where not only is an on-site infantry spotter unit not required, it’s actually illegal as no one in 1918 is carrying a field radio.

(3) The normal rolls for artillery accuracy (of 1-4 for an on-target impact, 5 = I hex drift, 6 = 2 hex drift) are modified where 1-3 is an on-target hit, 4-5 = 1 hex drift, 6 = 2 hex drift.  Again, this represents no radios, spotter rounds, or on-site adjustments before “fire for effect” is called.

The markers show where the artillery is intended to land.

Okay, so the artillery has gone in.  Two of the four “Light Barrage” mortar salvos drifted ad hit empty fields, crafters, and trenches.  Two of them hit and pretty much annihilated small German positions.  The “Heavy Barrage” howitzer salvo landed on target, but only damaged some of the German units in that hex.

American squads then assaulted from the north and west.  German opportunity fire was actually pretty ferocious, chewing up American assaults pretty badly.  Some American 4-5-4 squads have been eliminated, some have been reduced to 2-5-2 half-squads, and some have been pinned down (inverted).  One German infantry platoon at lower centre has done very well, and with a natural “2” on 2d6 not only chewed up half an American squad even though it was at extended range and in an abandoned building … but also its officer rolled sufficiently to become “Valorous.”

On the northeast board, a smaller American attack goes in, without artillery support.  Fortunately, the Germans are a little more thin upon the ground here as well.  Still, German opportunity fire has been deadly, and with a second “snake eyes” roll, another German squad becomes “valorous.”  Note the two American assault groups at upper left are in fact in “crater” hexes, they’re not standing out in the open in front of fortified German machine guns.  The crater artwork in the hexes isn’t quite big enough to show under the counters.

The first American assault goes in.  Note the commander, Captain Lomax, named for @stvitusdancern of BoW fame! (82^nd Airborne veteran).  Each unit (including officers) can commit one grenade counter (although each army only has so many) to give a -1 bonus to their assault roll.  So leading off we have Captain Lomax and two squads (one of which carries a Lewis Gun, that’s the “2-6” counter beneath is assaulting the two German 4-5-4 squads.  The German trench cover does NOT count since Lomax is assaulting from within their own trench.  Lomax’s combined firepower (first number is 1 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 11, vs the German 8, for 1:1 odds.  That’s not great for an assault (6 or less needed on 2d6), but never fear, Lomax applies a -2 leadership bonus to this roll and they get another -3 for their grenades.  The Germans force them to add +2 for their two grenade counters.  So it’s a required 6 or below on 2d6, -5, +2 for a net -3.  Basically, Captain Lomax has to roll a 9 or less.

And holy hell, they barely do it.  The assault is successful, and the two German squads are eliminated.  However, the Americans will take additional losses in the course of this assault as well.  Captain Lomax will have to choose whether to pin many of his men, “kill” only a few of them, or some combination thereof to pay for the assault.

Okay, so it’s time to finally set up this game and start the trench assault!

The Americans, in summary, have reached and cracked this section of the German trenches.  Their frontal assault came down from the top of the board, and they are also approaching these Germans from off the left side of the board (where their assault has apparently cracked the German trenches).

So the Americans cannot simply mass all their squads in one gigantic phalanx and steamroll through the German trenches.  The scenario specifies that they have to set up and attack from two directions.

Conversely, the Germans are not allowed to simply line up a brick wall of gray uniforms and machine guns and blast away at the Americans.  They have to defend in two directions.

I’m trying out one small special rule … the normal stacking limit for this game is three complete squads plus an officer / leader (usually a full V&V stack is thus a platoon).  For units in a trench, I’m limiting this to two squads and an officer.  I figure the trench is smaller than the entire hex (usually about 30 yards / meters across.

Three units and an officer can occupy a trench counter (it’s not illegal), they just don’t get the benefit of the trench cover (they can’t all fit in the trench realistically).

So here is the American assault and German defense in the northwest quadrant of the overall board.  This is the board being hit from two directions, so there is the most going on here.  Note that some American squads and platoons have already leaped into empty stretches of the German trench.  However, close assaults are going to be declared on German squads and machine gun positions, which are going to cost the Americans dearly.  Even if individual German positions are not being hit, they will get opportunity fire on Americans as they cross the hexes between the edge of the board and their close assault targets.

I haven’t resolved any of this yet, but suffice it to say the first turn on this game will be very very bloody on this map.

The Americans will get the first “swing” with all those light and heavy barrages I mentioned earlier.

Then the Germans will maul the Yanks as they charge down the trenches or across the fields and craters toward the trenches (those craters do give “foxhole” +1 cover bonus, however) …

Then the Germans, who will still likely be badly outnumbered on this board, will be largely wiped out in a series of American close assaults …

But close assaults have a dynamic in V&V that make even successful close assaults very deadly for the attacker as well (casualty points suffered usually = the number of enemy units that were in the hex + any cover bonuses, which the Germans all have being in trenches unless the Americans close assaulted from inside the same trench) …

So yeah, this one will  be proper Great War nasty.

Further south, this is the smaller American attack that’s coming in from the west, essentially from the off-board sector of the German trenches that have already been secured.  Movement for these units naturally limited, and in fact there will likely no NO action on this board this turn unless that minenwerfer trench mortar drops some fire on someone (again, no radios, so only pre-arranged or direct LOS artillery fire allowed, a change from the usual WW2 artillery dynamic in V&V).

The northwest corner of the board, where the Americans are mostly charging straight at the German trenches in the more classic “Great War” model.  Losses here will likely be even higher (proportionately speaking) than on the northwest board, so the bulk of American light and heavy barrages will likely be dropped right here before the attack actually goes in and German MG 08s take all their opportunity fire.

Okay, now that the trench boards are set designed, printed, cut, and mounted, it’s time to try them out!  I’m setting up a trench assault game of US Army vs. Imperial Germans, circa September 1918 in the St. Mihel Offensive, leading into Argonne Wood, etc.

As discussed in the video, we’ll be playing this game where the Americans have already reached the German trenches (and undoubtedly paid a grim cost).  But now two companies are in the trench system (not a single line, but more of a “banded web” of communication trenches, primary and secondary trenches, support and supply trenches, artillery trenches, observation trenches, what have you), trying to secure and expand their lodgement.

Centennial Gaming in the Great War – Tips For Playing in Trench Warfare

The German force – based on two rifle companies.  Each has a -2 Hauptmann (captain) , and a -1 Leutnant.  They then have three platoons, each with three full 4-5-4 rifle squads.  One squad in each platoon carries an MG 08 15 light support weapon.  Each company also has a weapons section  (commanded by another leutnant) – with two full MG 08 heavy machine gun emplacements and a 7.58mm “minenwerfer” trench mortar.   Each company also has a modest supply of stick grenades.

In all, each company has 87 officers and men, for a total German force of 174.

Here are the Americans, also with two companies.  But these companies are a little larger, with each platoon having two extra four-man fire teams.  However, because they are on the attack, they do not have heavy machine gun support (M1917s, etc.).  They do carry extra grenades for trench assault, and (and I forgot to include these in the photo), they do have light and heavy barrages available for a nice opening artillery salvo that should hopefully weaken the German defenders a little.

In all, each American company has 99 men, for a total force of 198, plus off-board artillery.

Here is the map.  Four sheets is pretty big for a Valor & Victory game, but we’re trying to “stress-test” the 1918 Edition units and the new trench  boards, to see if they really work.  Trenches usually give a +2 defense bonus, but we’re taking that away IF the attackers are actually in the same trench with you, or attacking from an adjacent, connected trench.

What were going for here is a “tunnel war” almost, where the attackers have breached the trenches, now they’re trying to clear this sector and secure the breakthrough for successive echelons of attack.  The Germans, of course, are trying to stop to delay them (until their own artillery can lay new barrages, or reserves can be mobilized to the threatened sector).

What is a World War I game without trenches?  Therefore, I have created some quick trench boards (using the same general methodology described in previous project posts) to us in Valor & Victory 1918 games.

Note the trench boards can be put together in multiple configurations to create different kinds of trench systems, including two maps deep for best representation of a “trench bent” assault zone.

It is hope that with these maps, I can soon run some Valor & Victory trench assault games as described in the recent interview, found here:

Centennial Gaming in the Great War – Tips For Playing in Trench Warfare

Here is a sample of the Imperial German (regular army and “stosstruppen”) units so far.  The first number is an “APFP” (antipersonnel firepower), basically an attack value for anything besides hardened bunkers or vehicles.  The second number is a range, the third number is “casualty points,” basically a measure of how much damage the unit can absorb.

Note some units have two figures and larger values, some counters have one figure and smaller value.  These are full and half squads.  When units take hits, they can be pinned (up to a point), or take damage.  The number of “casualty points” the enemy player scores is the number you have to “pay for” by pinning, reducing, or removing units.  Knocking down full squads to half squads is one way you can “cover the butcher’s bill” to account for inflicted casualty points, but still retain a cohesive force.

There are also leaders (note our German commanders are named for German BoW community members) and support weapons.

Here are their counterparts for the United States Army circa 1918, and the US Marine Corps (famously engaged with two regiments at Belleau Wood).

So the first thing to do is to create some maps.  Map boards in the Valor & Victory system have a certain format, which doesn’t have to be strictly adhered to, but helps it you’d like the maps to be compatible with maps that come with the base game, its expansions, or maps other community members have created.

Of course, custom maps are also very possible.

We begin with the template hex grid.

**I’ll be using Adobe Creator Suite 5.5, Photoshop 14, Illustrator, and Acrobat Creator for this project.

Next up, I add a background texture for my base game mat.  Satellite images of deserts are my go-to, then re-hued in PS14 for whatever terrain I’m going for (desert, urban, temperate, tundra).

The I start building assets.  Craters, buildings, a few different kinds of rubble, etc.  These are steadily built up, with different versions for different building layouts and levels of damage.  Because they are transparent .png-format layers in the PS file, I can layer them together to create different combinations (rubble “beneath” damaged or ruined buildings, for example).

I start to shuffle all these assents together with the base background and hex grid to create a working template.

Below is the first file.  The roads are a simple layer of sand painted on with an outer glow effect of darker brown, so it appears automatically wherever I draw with the WACOM pad.  The trees are a two-color blend template I’ve created in my PS brush files, that allows very fast addition of light and heavy trees.

Much more to come!