I wanna be... your Trench Hammer!

Having a read a couple of battle reports on the Stronghold Rebuilt the idea of using the Trench Hammer rules by Nordic Weasel looked absolutely perfect for my 54mm Great War project.
So with my recently completed armies all glossy and shiny I decided to play out an assault by a British platoon on the German line, using the textbook assault tactics of the British army of 1917-18.

First turn to the British and the Lewis section and rifle bomber section provide support as the Bombing section and rifle section advance.

It is probably not a good thing that they are standing out in the open, but remember, I've never used these rules before.

The German line consists of an HMG, rifle gruppe and MG08/15 gruppe

On the side of the table I have the printed cards to keep track of each unit. These were kindly provided by Jozi's tin men blog and are free to download. The QRS is mine and incorporates the integrity checks outlined in the Trench Hammer expansion pack.

Oh dear. Being in the open is slightly dangerous it would seem!

The bombing section hurriedly enters the cover of the woods on the right flank

And the support sections occupy some shellholes very quickly.

The HMG is receiving fire from the rifle grenades, and ineffectively returning fire.

In the right the bombing squad continues to advance, winning the first firefight with the Germans in front of them.

Followed by an assault that successfully occupies the German line.

It would appear the British are on the verge of victory!

Achtung! The rifle gruppe counterattacks and drives the British out!

And the HMG takes care of the rest.

'Zat vas a close vun!'

'That's it boys! Hunker down and wait for reinforcements!'

So that was the first game. With 50% casualties the British called off the assault and the Germans held their trench. I learned a few things from the game. Damage can be horrific - it is a d6 roll and your nice fresh unit can  find itself on the verge of destruction very quickly. This is exactly what happened to the British Rifle section. A difference from the main rules is that I don't allow units to be destroyed until they have failed an integrity check, but they are not allowed to carry out any orders other than rally once they reach 6 casualties. This little bit of house-ruling was never really put to the test, as every unit suffering 6 casualties or more failed their integrity check.

It was a good little game and perfect for my small collection of 54mm toy soldiers. I now just need to devise some more scenarios to include the artillery, and I am now eyeing up a 1/32 tank, just because.

Nate