And now for something somewhat different -

[Sutton]

On June 28th 1914, the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, beginning a sequence of events which would plunge Europe into a war bloodier than any the world had seen before.

By August 4th France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Belgium, and the United Kingdom were at war; with the Ottoman Empire joining in October.

They'd said the war would be over by Christmas, but that was two months ago, and still the war continues - You've been placed in command of the 15th and 16th battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers to fight the Germans on the Western Front.

February 27th, 1915
New communications have come in from headquarters - intelligence reports the entire 6th Brandenburger regiment is massing near your lines, and is likely preparing for an attack - you are to hold Hill 318 at all costs, and inflict as many casualties on the germans as possible in preparation for a counterattack.

The Terrain near Hill 318

The horizontal colored lines depict the Deployment Zones of the two forces - that is, where each may place trenches, units, etc. The dark green area at the top is a forested zone, the bands below are sloped sections (with the zones "downwards" each slope being elevated.)

You'll need to deploy your troops carefully to ensure good defensive performance, as the Germans are battle hardened and are believed to have a significant numerical advantage (and likely will begin their attack with a major artillery barrage). Under your command, you have -

Two Battalions, each consisting of:
6 "Subunits" of infantry (which may be deployed independantly)
A single Heavy Machinegun unit (which must be deployed with one of the Subunits)
A pair of Light Machinegun units (which must be deployed with one of the Subunits)
Your troops are of "Steady" morale and "Poor" training

And the following support troops:
2 Light Machinegun units which may be deployed independantly
2 18-Pounder Field Gun units, which may be deployed independantly
1 Trench Mortar unit, which may also be deployed independantly

As well, you may position (of course!) trench lines and barbed wire, as well as a single Pillbox (which provides a well protected firing position for a Machinegun unit).

Anyone who wants to may join, just post below if you'd like to participate.

After a consensus has been reached on how your troops and defensive works will be deployed, the battle proper will begin.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away.

[sgtkill]

I will definitely Participate.

Defensive plan:

C:\Documents and Settings\Pat & Ann\My Documents\My Received Files\WW1MapPosty.jpeg[/img]

[Sutton]

Useful Information

Morale[/b]
All units have a Morale rating, that can be at one of five levels (in order of bravery): Reckless, Brave, Steady, Shaky, or Mutinous. More courageous units are less likely to panic or break in the face of poor battlefield conditions. Example conditions which would force a morale test include: Taking Casualties, Being targeted with terrifying weapons (Poison Gas, Flamethrowers, Armored Vehicles), Facing the enemy in Close Combat

Training[/b]
All units have a Training rating, that can be at one of five values (in order of quality): Outstanding, Great, Average, Poor, or Abysmal. Better trained units are far easier to get to follow orders properly. As an example, if a commander wants his infantrymen to rush an enemy machine-gun that has just jammed so they can take it out with grenades, those infantry will need to make a command check or they'll sit in their current place instead.

Unit Stances[/b]
Units may be placed in a prone stance - this makes them safer from artillery, and when used in conjunction with a Trench or Foxhole renders them completely safe from direct fire weapons (Machineguns, Rifles, Field Guns). However, this protection is a double edged sword - your units will be substantially harder to spur into motion if you need them to get moving; because they'd rather stay low where they are safe. This is especially unfortunate for direct fire units in trenches or foxholes - while they are immune to direct fire, they are also unable to fire their weapons while in this stance. Thus, a daring enemy may be able to make it all or most of the way to your trench before you even have a chance to open fire!

Movement Modes[/b]
Units have three main movement modes: Crawling, Rushing, and Walking.

Crawling - This is the only movement mode availiable while Prone, and is the slowest movement mode. But, it's safer for the men to crawl across the field than it is to get them to stand up and march in lockstep, so it has it's uses.

Rushing - Paradoxically, this is not the fastest movement mode. It represents men spending some/most of their time prone or crouched behind objects, interspersed with short sprints to other cover objects / nice places to lie down. It is not quite as safe as crawling, but covers ground just over twice as fast (and thus could be safer overall as it leaves the enemy less time to shoot at you.)

Walking - Represents a brisk walk or jog. Is the fastest movement mode available to foot troops, but also leaves them quite vulnerable to enemy fire, as I'm sure you can imagine.

As well, any of these modes may be used to make Assault Movement - a special movement mode that requires a harder command test but may cover twice the distance in the same amount of time. (An Assault Walking move covers eight times as much distance as a Crawling move!) Each consecutive Assault Move without a turn either resting or making a Standard Move increases the difficulty of the command test, however, so use them wisely.

Assault Movement mode is required if one is to launch an Assault on an enemy unit, so there is little reason to close within one movement of an enemy before launching an assault.

On the topic of assaults -

In an assault, several factors come into play -

Morale - If a unit is pinned down or on the run, they will fight in close quarters at a penalty.

Troop Quality - Troops that have been trained to an exacting standard and instructed in the most cutting edge methods of warfare tend to perform better than untrained rabble in many areas - close combat is no exception.

Stance and Cover - A prone unit fights in close quarters at a penalty, and units with good cover fight at an advantage.

Grenades - While a bayonet may be essential for "maintaining a good offensive spirit" within a unit, far more important for close-combat effectiveness is a good supply of hand grenades - historically the Germans were much faster to recognize this, and thus early war German units get a bonus on Assault rolls versus their Entente counterparts.

More "useful" info will follow as I feel inspired to transcribe it.