France '14 AAR Turning the flank !!

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 30

French commander (Foul) turn 30 thoughts:
In the North
All my forces north of the Canal d Aire have now been surrounded, this has exposed La Bassee to a last turn attack, but will Rick destroy my trapped men or go for the VP hex?

In the Centre
The expected assault on Lens did not materialise as i expected; maybe there will be a last turn attack, further south my forces are disintegrating fast with broken units everywhere. Rick has the chance to take Balleul on the front edge of Vimy ridge and also a possibility of the 300 VP hex on the ridge itself. In this part of my line excessive losses due to broken units causing overstacking may give a Rick a unexpected bonus also.

In the South
As expected i lost both the VP hex's on the ridges i gained last turn, Rick still has some offensive power in this area, the 45e DI turn up just one turn to late to attempt a counter attack!

Each turn is now becoming more painful as the command and control of my forces breaks down, it is very fortunate that this is the last turn; i will have to wait and see what the final points tally is?

German commander (RickyB) turn 30 thoughts:
Here is the end, I reached the outskirts of my target up near Lens, but couldn’t take it as I didn’t have anything able to assault the objective although I was able to move a few units next to it. I ignored Lens as it was hard to reach and too well defended, I was concentrating on weaker areas instead. I did see a few prospects if the game went a few more turns, but even then probably not to the point of reaching a draw that soon.

Good battle Foul., that last turn was definitely my worst on you, but your troops held up everywhere important.

Neutral Observer (Volcano Man) end of game thoughts:
The final rounded off tally of losses is:

Allied Powers
27,500 men and 100 guns

Central Powers
22,000 men and 12 guns



A very bloody four day battle indeed. The difference in losses provided the Germans 600 VPs, but unfortunately the battle was not close enough to the degree that it mattered.

In hindsight, an interesting German strategy might have been to, on day two, gradually relieve HKK.2 (which is then currently south of Lens) with 1.bayer.RD then have a less aggressive push towards Vimy Ridge in that area (the center). HKK.2, which numbers, at start, 10,463 men and 29 guns (which is over twice the size of HKK.1), could then push around the flank with force, hopefully making Lens untenable by a concentric advance from the northeast. This would be a more historical plan too, but naturally it would come at a sacrifice of a less determined advance on Vimy Ridge in the center. Having said that though, the key to the scenario definitely revolves around the need for the Germans to threaten the northern flank of the French line, but as was the case here (and most often the case with any scenario) the attack usually follows the path of least resistance at the start. In this case, the center withdrew and the Germans pursued, and then the main battle degenerated into a slugging match at the foot of Vimy Ridge.

In the end though, the German commander realized that the north should be better threatened and he shifted forces there which put some strain on the French commander to react. Unfortunately for the Germans, this decision came too late to provide a real benefit. As is often the case in the FWWC series (and in WW1 in general), once an attack develops, it is very difficult to shift its focus in time to really deviate from the opening plan and moves. If the attack in the north had developed 5 turns earlier (or if there were 5 more turns in the scenario), then it is possible that La Bassee (300), Haisnes (250), Vermelles(250), Benifontaine (250) and even Bethune (1500) could all have been threatened, providing, at best, over 2,500 VPs, which would have resulted in a draw, just 300 points from a German minor victory.

Regardless, both commanders fought well. Rick pushed forward with determination and Darran did well to fiend off the attacks in the most desperate areas. In the end, as mentioned, Rick adjusted his plan to flank in the north but it was only a few turns too late to make a difference.

NOTE: In a France ‘14 update, the VP levels in this scenario were fined tuned – they were lowered by –1000 across the board. Taking the result of this battle into account with the VP level change, the result would have been the same, but any sort of German attack around the north (as discussed above, resulting in the capture of Bethune) then the result in that case would have been a German minor victory, not a draw.