Gully Ravine 1915

 

Dawn Raid

0500 hrs 30th April 1915

4 objectives on table.

2 Primary

Boomerang Redoubt, part of British trench line 2VP

The Nest, location of a Turkish Artillery OP. 2 VP

2 Secondary

Twelve Pines 1 VP

The Lone Pine 1 VP

1914 coin toss

Loser deploys first group.

Both sides

Deploy half number of groups in trench line.

Half enter from baseline

Player that occupies  objective for two turns wins. VP.

Empire 

Number 3 gun Jacobs Mountain Battery.

1st Platoon, RN Division, Nelson Bn.

Turks

1st Company 27 Regt 11 Div Turkish Infantry.

Prep for the game.

The Turks crowd into the forward trenches

Limited wire in this battle

Those Indians seem far off

I remanufactUred into !one line and the Nest.  VP held.

The Turks attempt to take twelve tree copse

It's a good looking battlefield

The Turkish advance is battered back

The RN Division come forward

The Indians also begin to push forward and the Turks go defensive.

The Indians suffer.  Pinned up The gully!

And the game ends in stalemate.  Fitting for WW1 but great fun.

BLOOD AND VALOR HOUSE RULES

SHAKEN

Units that receive a Shaken result can opt to 'take cover' (go prone) instead of retreating 4 inches.

TRENCHES

Trenches are grouped into 2 types: shallow and deep trenches.

Shallow trenches are hastily built trenches, scrapes, trenches in difficult ground (e.g. rocky, frozen or muddy ground), ditches etc 

These constitute Hard Cover and are otherwise treated as per the core rules.

Deep trenches

Deep trenches are properly dug entrenchments that are deep enough to conceal a standing soldier.

These constitute Hard Cover. Troops occupying Deep Trenches may opt to use the 'Take Cover' action. When 'taking cover' units are down in the trench and out of line of sight, and hence cannot be targeted by direct fire weapons. (They may still be fired upon by grenades, rifle grenades, infantry support guns, mortars etc.)

Units in Deep Trenches may not fire (including Defensive Fire) unless they are manning the firestep. It takes an action to man the fire step and any cover marker is lost. Whilst manning the fire step, troops are visible and may be targeted.

Troops that are neither in cover nor manning the fire step are considered to be moving about, looking over the parapet etc. As such, they may not fire but may be targeted.

Units may not 'Run' in trenches of either type.

MOUNTAIN BATTERIES

Mountain guns may not move but may pivot with an 'Advance' action. 

It takes 2 actions to mount / dismount the gun from it's mule.

While mounted, the gun moves as infantry but may not 'Run', 'Charge' or 'Take Cover'. Dismounted guns may 'Take Cover'.

Mountain guns have a 'Shoot Skill' value of 4.

If a gun takes more than one hit in a single round of firing, one of the save dice must be of a different colour. If the coloured dice fails the save roll, the mule is killed.

OPTIONAL MOVE RATES

I'm considering this one for solo games.

Replace the 4" move with a 2D6 dice roll. The lower roll is discarded.

The 'Furious Assault' trait adds 2 inches to the move.

Movement dice may be re-rolled by 'Biting the Bullet'.

Further suggestion for Gallipoli.

 A Ravine counts as dead ground unless observing group is on the edge of the Ravine with a direct view down in to you.

Basically in a Ravine you can't be seen!  

This would allow a more interesting game with groups sneaking about.