Battle of Guise (Again)

This week at the Central London Wargames Club we got an opportunity to have another go at the fighting the French counter attack on the left flank  of the battle of Guise. 

The French advancing, note in the background a unit of Uhlans charging down the road towards the French rear.

It transpired to be a most successful scenario which seemed to represent the historic action well.  Though the French came out slightly better at the end of the day. This was principally because the Germans ran out of steam by the closing stages of the engagement. 

The Germans, under Martin's command showed his Ulan's agility by galloping  the entire length of the  board to take up positions  in the undefended town in the French rear. 

Two regiments of the French centre traverse the high ground . 

In doing so  they successfully avoided my French cavalry who were scouting against him  they had just barrelled up the main road in an effort to take the crossroads. They got a nasty shock has they met a regiment of Artillery sitting on the crossroads. Unperturbed they charged! The follow action perturbed them somewhat but not before destroying a battery of  German 77's. This forced the Germans to show their hand and allowed the French to zero in on the crossroads.

The main French advance was on three fronts, sending the main force of 2 regiments over the central hilly region. They were supported by a the third Regiment and a Regiment of 75mm Artillery  to their right who where principally positioned to to defend the road and cover the flank of the main thrust.  

The French right flank in position  to engage the advancing Jaeger regiment.

On the left of the main attack the French attempted to flank the German advance with a regiment of Tirailleurs Senegalais light infantry. 

The centre commanded  by Alan, held  the advancing Germans and they fought  each other to a stalemate with a regiment from each side  forced in to retreat due to excessive casualties. On the left the Tirailleurs failed to cross the canal and were met from strong German defensive fire from the village.

However on the right flank the French 75's fired effectively causing casualties to the remaining German Regiment allowing the third  French regiment to advance  and flank the German positions which would force them into a withdrawal. 

We have played a  good few historical refights of First World War battles over the centenary period using the Great War Spearhead rules and it seems to work well and produce generally  historical results as far as we can tell. Though personally I find elements of the rule set quite complex when it comes to artillery fire. Despite this the rules seem to produce entertaining evening of gaming.