"Cambrai" Topic

My pal Dan hosted his most ambitious WW1 game so far. Dan was a wargaming newbie to our group & wanted to do something on his own. He decided the Great War & in about 9 months, has produced this.I was inclined to avoid WW1 but these rules make it very playable. I am rather chuffed at my role in mentoring Dan into his first wargaming project but to be honest, it's otherwise all his own work. Talk is cheap but painting & modelling take commitment.

He's using 'Great War Spearhead'.I was the German commander. I had to hold the trenches (Hindenberg Lines) & the bridge. At Turn 5, my counter-attack arrived at the bridge. The rules make you dice every turn for every tank to see if it's broken down. In previous games, the tanks were usually left behind because of this. Damien, the British commander, did not really suffer from this, throwing consistently good dice.My big hope was to shell his two prong attack into mud & blood but he, cunning chap, masked his advance with smoke. He took the first objective, destroyed my counter-attack (advancing through open ground!!!) and failed (just) to crack the Hindenberg Line, giving him a Minor Victory.

The rules do have a lot to them that we'll add on as time progresses. Poison gas & aircraft come next.

Very nice, I actually enjoy WW1 gaming though I don't own any tanks. I do the first months 1914 between French and Germans and then also the Italian Isonzo front with Austria-Hungary.
He's done great work on his first project!

Dan has done well, no doubt due in some part to the mentoring ;-) Some nice touches on table too. Good to see the ridge. Many times, Cambrai is played on a flat table without the key terrain feature of Flesquières ridge.

Robert

Dan is an ex-British army officer and uses his professional knowledge in gaming.

He runs a magnetic notice board to monitor the game for instance. He researched the topography and simplified it butt ride to keep it accurate within this parameter.

Yes, the ridge was ground of tactical importance. An important 'simplification'.

Robert