Square Bashing Verdun

Yesterday evening the former White Hart Gamers met up at a  new potential venue for dinner, a chat about the future and if time allowed some games.

Alongside our 28mm collections that have seen extensive use of late James has also been painting a collection of French and German troops from the Kallistra 12mm range. As you'll see from the photos they do look rather splendid.

We set up a German attack on the remains of the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont. The French defenders of mainly reservists had to hold the villages against a concerted German attack.

Myself and James played the French while Matt and Mike took the Germans. The initial bombardment was telling, our infantry was largely unscathed but all our support was either damaged or forced into reserve. The Germans came on driving in equal force at both objectives and in a bit of fortune for the French none of the promised German support materialised.

The extreme right flank of the Germans was held by a single damaged machine-gun company that fortunately and successfully repulsed a battalion strength attack. On the French left they also fared well when a battalion of Chasseurs repulsed almost an entire regiment of German Jaegers.

The  German artillery soon got the range and interdictory fire fell upon the defenders while the Germans massed their main attacks. However, the French also managed to disrupt the German plans, but, a German attack in strength soon drove the French from their positions in the right of the village.

Again the French Chasseurs repelled another attack on the left, however, the Germans regrouped and screening the Chasseurs with machine-guns attacked in strength against the weakened reservists who were driven from the village.

With the Germans now holding both sides of the village the French called in a massive bombardment from their 155mm guns in the rear.

With the German defenders dazed by the bombardment and without support the Poilu charged home with white-gloved officers leading from the front. The Jaeger resolutely held their ground and the Poilu were driven off. A solid victory to The Bosch.

All the figures and terrain were painted by and are from the collection of James Morris.