Vimy Ridge | 11 Apr 2017 8:04 a.m. PST |
Here are some photos of the Demonstration game we put on at the Canadian War Museum on the 8th and 9th of April as part of the Vimy Commemoration event.
Table layout without all the troops and fine detail.
Second Canadian Division leaning hard into the barrage – 0530am 9 April 1917.
Table length 10 feet – near table edge is the 1st Canadian Division and the far end is Givenchy/Souchez, the Pimple and Hill 145!
German gun line at Bois de Farbus and Bois de Ville. Contained all the guns of the 79th Reserve Infantry Division and 2/3rds of the guns of the 1st Bavarian Infantry division as well as a battalion of 15cm howitzers!
Canadian 1st Division machine guns and trench mortars support the barrage and the infantry assault.
Ville de Farbus, hub of German 79th Command and Control as well as a staging area for possible counter attack. Due to this it was hit by 450 rounds of 15inch and 12inch Howitzer shells and another 650 8inch and 6inch shells laying waste to the majority of the area.
General Julian Byng and the Canadian Corps Headquarters. Over 50 percent of the staff planners and nearly all lead planners were British – they were teaching the Canadians the art of the Staff officer!
This is the 1st Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment waiting for their deployment in the after noon and evening of 9 April. They launch a limited counter attack against the 1st Division that was broken up by artillery. |
Toronto48 | 11 Apr 2017 5:19 p.m. PST |
As you can see from the pictures Shawn and Robert presented a fantastic display to visually demonstrate the scale of the Vimy Ridge Battlefield. I thank them for giving me the opportunity to participate so I could combine my two major loves, history and gaming The reaction of the public was great and many said that the display really brought the battle to life The only problem for me was that due to the continuing flood of visitors it was impossible to do any actual gaming All our time was devoted to giving [explanations and answering questions |
whitejamest | 11 Apr 2017 6:24 p.m. PST |
Wow, that looks like a hell of a game! |
wrgmr1 | 11 Apr 2017 6:29 p.m. PST |
Well done Shawn and Robert, the table looks great! Kudos to Ted for making the treke to Ottawa and helping out. It's a long way for both Shawn and Robert. Glad to hear it was well received. |
Vimy Ridge | 11 Apr 2017 7:05 p.m. PST |
Glad you could make it out Ted and Brian! I think folks got a lot more out of it that if we had gamed it but I know what you mean Ted, would have been nice to move a few stands lol :) Shawn |
monk2002uk | 11 Apr 2017 11:59 p.m. PST |
It was an extraordinary experience. The number of visitors far exceeded the expectations of the staff in the Canadian War Museum. Earlier in the week, we cut out the contours of the ridge based on original trench maps. Foam core board was ideal. It is light-weight and easily sourced in Ottawa itself, saving us from having to transport the material to Ottawa. As it was, the combined weight of the trenches, roads, villages, etc was 28kg in my suitcase alone. The ridge itself ran diagonally along the 6' by 10' table, roughly in a north-south orientation. You can see the steep reverse slope in the photograph of the German gun line in the trees. The Canadian side of the slope rose gradually, centred around Hills 135 and 145. The first set up was on the Wednesday night, when the various exhibits were opened formally. The highlight visitor was the military liaison officer from the German Bundeswehr. We had to take everything down again that night, resetting it all on the Saturday morning. There was a steady stream of visitors, right from the outset. Several platoons of new recruits stopped by. The museum is part of their training programme. Civilian visitors included many families who came with photographs, newspaper clippings, attestation papers, copies of war diaries and other information relating to loved ones who had fought in the Battle of Vimy in 1917. They were absolutely thrilled when, as a result of Shawn having accurately labelled each unit's base, we were able to show them exactly where their relative had been on the day. We even had one German visitor whose grandfather had been in the German gun line illustrated in the 4th photo down. We also had the Lt-General who had recently commanded the 3rd Canadian Division visit as well. Now that I am back home, I will put up some more photos and post the link here. Robert |
ChrisBBB | 12 Apr 2017 6:47 a.m. PST |
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monk2002uk | 12 Apr 2017 12:56 p.m. PST |
There are more photos from the two days here: link Robert |
boy wundyr x | 30 May 2017 4:13 p.m. PST |
Finally got my photos and notes from the day up: link Chris |
monk2002uk | 30 May 2017 9:41 p.m. PST |
Brilliant. Thanks very much. I especially love the 'heavy' crowd shot ;-) Robert |
Vimy Ridge | 31 May 2017 4:57 a.m. PST |
Fantastic thanks Chris! Shawn |
boy wundyr x | 31 May 2017 9:48 a.m. PST |
Feel free to borrow the crowd shot photos guys. |