"British platoon attack, 1918 (and Hammer of Democracy!)" Topic

Check out my latest battle report with my wife, no less, and a plug for a new set of WW2 rules in development.

Enjoy!

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Very nice report! And inspiring – I really must get cracking and restart my WWI project again. There's no excuse if I use your rules of Trench Hammer, as I only need a few figures! (And quite cunningly, since I am painting up a Russian army, I can use some of them for battles in "October Hammer")!

Speaking of Trench Hammer, how do you handle anti-tank rifles, or the K round in those rules, or that late war anti tank gun? Give them a -3 hit modifier when shooting at armour, just like flamethrowers?

Oh – and I am also involved in the crowd funded "Hammer of Democracy". Quite looking forward to it. Thanks for mentioning it.

@Tony, I have tanks but have not puled them out for a game.

My plan is this: For Maxims with K Rounds, give them one attack with the -3 hit modifier (I figure they get 1 belt of K Rounds)

The 37mm Anti-Tank gun (And incidentally Minenwerfers deployed in direct fire mode as AT gun) get the -3 all the time, same for direct fire artillery.

Still working my way through the Too Fat Lardies scenarios, should be able to pull out my Mark IV's soon… We'll see how it works.

Post your Russians and let me know how you get on with the rules. They are very flexible and you can fiddle with them to you hearts content to get the feel you want.

Be careful with AT mechanics. K rounds had the potential to pierce non-hardened steel plating, for example on the Mk II British tanks used in the Battles of Arras and Bullecourt. The few tanks that were used at Bullecourt came under heavy MG fire with K rounds but few, if any, tank losses can be attributed to this munition type. K rounds were even less effective against the later Mk tanks (IV and V).

T-Gewehr rounds could penetrate a tank but German tests showed they were most likely to ricochet. A single round entering a tank did little damage in most cases, unless (as in one example I read) the round hit the engine block or radiator. Firing a T-Gewehr threw up a large signature, which made the team very vulnerable to immediate retaliation.

There is very little evidence of the effectiveness or otherwise of the 37mm AT guns. Few were deployed and very few saw action against tanks. It is highly doubtful, however, that the 37mm had anything like the effect of a 77mm projectile from a field gun (the big tank killers by far and away) or a Minenwerfer. Bear in mind that heavier Minenwerfer were used against tanks in indirect fire mode (knocking out at least one of the Mk II tanks mentioned above in the Battle of Bullecourt).

Robert

Here are links to a German regimental history from the Battle of Matz, when the French attacked with massed tank formations:

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Notice how the unsupported infantry were almost wiped out, despite using MGs and hand grenades. 'MGs' almost certainly refers to MG08/15s, as evidenced in other extracts from the regimental histories. K rounds were issued to MG08 crews, which were typically further back.

Robert

This link relates to the deeper defensive positions that engaged the French tanks:

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There is reference to MG08s (a Scharfschützen Abteilung), which would have been issued with K munition. Note, however, that the first mention of success with the MGs is then followed by a subsequent clarification that the MGs were part of a combined arms effort:

"One tank at a time was put out of action through the combined efforts of field artillery, Minenwerfer, and light- and heavy machine guns."

Robert