Retreat From Mons AAR

For February's club game, Gareth, Peter, and I got out our WWI minis for a game of Mud and Blood.

Rules:
We used the Too Fat Lardies 'Through the Mud and Blood'. I had never played the rules before and generally shy away from card driven rules sets, however, I have been more open to them since playing Muskets and Tomahawks (which we will be playing in March). In this rules set every individual unit has a card that is shuffled into the deck along with a card for each user. I think the shooting and mele mechanics are more realistic the Contemptible Little Armies though they are a bit more complicated. Over all, without going into more detail, I really enjoyed the rules and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a WWI rules set.

Scenario:
Gareth had set the game up based of an actual battle during the British retreat from Mons. A small British Expeditionary Force was holding a small farm and some shallow trenches in the path of the advancing German army. The British where to hold their position long enough to delay the Germans and then pull back.

Overview:
According to Gareth our game went along perfectly with the historical outcome. The Germans (commanded by myself and Peter) where significantly delayed in our advance. The British (commanded by Gareth) fought bravely but where eventually overrun my the Germans larger numbers.

German 1st Platoon

 German 2nd Platoon

 The German deployment. The BEF was spreed out and hidden in and beyond the gully.

 2nd Platoon moves to the near by hedge and spots a BEF unit in the near by gully.

 2nd Platoon fans out and the BEF unit starts to fall apart under the hail of gunfire.

 1st Platoon advances in line and stumbles upon to BEF units either side of the bridge. 1 of the German sections is forced into a fierce mele with the BEF.

 The mele is intense and the German section is beaten back. 

 Despite the mele victory the BEF are forced to withdraw under the hail of German gunfire.

 After pushing back and nearly wiping out the BEF unit, 2nd Platoon surges forward to occupy the recently vacated gully.

 The rest of the BEF units take up positions in the trenches and farmstead 

 1st Platoon now occupies the gully as well.

 A BEF unit tries to fall back to the farm complex.

 The Germans did not manage to push beyond the gully before time ran out. All BEF units within 18in of the Germans where captured though few remained till that point.