France '14 AAR Uncovering the Enemy's Hand!

[Mr Grumpy]

Iverny, France, 5th September 1914: As von Kluck was executing his shift in direction away from Paris, he left behind his only remaining reserve formation: the IV.Reservekorps. His orders to the IV.Reservekorps commander, von Gronau, were to screen 1.Armee's flank against any "minor" threat from the direction of Paris. When von Kluck issued this order he was thoroughly convinced that he had already enveloped the allied flank and no serious enemy threat was located any further west from his position. On September 5th, von Gronau began to notice heavy enemy activity to the west and, although he was unable to completely ascertain the situation, he quickly came to the realization that it was much more than a minor threat. Von Gronau, a bold and able commander, made the fateful decision to launch an attack in order to properly gauge the threat. Thus, the Battle of the Marne began one day earlier than the French planned. As von Gronau's troops conducted their reconnaissance in force, it would ultimately uncover the enemy's hand and provide an early warning to 1.Armee of the impending attack, thus allowing von Kluck to avoid disaster and reinforce his right flank.

This is a small 5 turn scenario, the French side was played by Checkmate King2 (Chad) and Foul. (Darran) played the Germans, the AAR will be from the German POV only.

Setting the scene



As explained in the scenario description Von Gronau's IV Res Corps is conducting a reconnaissance in force to ascertain the strength of the French forces approaching from the west, the key ground in this encounter will be the high ground to the east of St. Souplets and Penchard (see image above), defenders have a huge advantage when occupying high ground due to the defencive benefits and the ability of MG and especially field gun (FG) units to project their firepower over several hex's.



Von Gronau's IV Res Corps consists of two divisions (7th & 22nd both C quality) and weak elements of the 4th Cav Div which are covering the flank to the north.
The French forces consist of the two divisions of Group Lamaze (56e DR mostly D quality with a couple of C quality battalions and 55e DR all D quality), their best troops are in the independent Moroccan brigade to the south east, all of these units are B quality.



The Germans move first, over the 5 turns they need to take more than 250 points in VP hex's or French loses to achieve a minor victory.

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 1

German movements
The 7th Res Div Cavalry make a dash for St. Souplets to support the single Cavalry squadron defending the village, while 7th Res Div infantry units move up to support as fast as possible, i need to occupy the high ground (250 vp hex) with a force capable of resisting a French counter attack.
To the south the 22nd Res Div prepares to face the Moroccan Bde to the south of Penchard with units pushed into the valley to act as a buffer and protect the MG/FG's units setting up on the ridge.

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 2

German movements
With infantry support now arriving at St. Souplets the 7th Res Div cavalry move out north to reinforce the 4th Cav Div flank guard, two battalions and a FG unit also occupy the important high ground to the west of the village and gain me 250vp in the process.

In the centre more units of the 7th Res Div push forward to strengthen my positions around the other 250vp hex, my fire disrupts the French battalions in this area.

To the west of Penchard the 22nd Res Div infantry has occupied the valley below the ridge, this position also has the advantage of a stream which the Moroccan units will need to assault across.

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 3

German movements

Both battalion units holding hilltop position disrupt due to fire from a double battery of 75's which is very bad news, i push another FG unit up onto the ridge but it will be vulnerable for a move while still in T mode, an assault from St. Souplets relieves some pressure on my hilltop units and as an added bonus threatens to cut off a French battalion.

In centre French units arriving in T mode NW of Le Plessis take a 60 man disruption shot on the French turn and then lose a further 150 men on my move.

22nd Res Div still holding line against Moroccan Bde, this is turning into a battle of attrition as both sides slog it out, i have an advantage as i have two FG units available.



I need 1000 points for a minor victory, i have 1283, so even if i lose a 250vp hex i am still plus 23 points on losses.

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 4

German movements
My second FG unit sets up on the hill and i feed in another fresh battalion, i think this position and the 250vp are now safe.
During his move Chad did not move his exposed battalion back, so i surround it with ZOC and assault it from from St. Souplets
and the cavalry to the north, the unit loses 494 men.



In the centre and the south i am happy to just maintain my positions, no need to risk anything while i hold the VP hex's.

[Mr Grumpy]

Turn 5

German movements, night turn
The trapped battalion was extracted during the French move.
My two FG units on the hill hand out some severe punishment, elsewhere i maintain my positions, apart from one disrupted battalion that i pull back from an exposed position, this being a night turn i do not want to move my units off road as they will automatically disrupt leaving them vulnerable to a French assault (one of the major differences between F14 and PzC titles) of course the battalion i did move was already disrupted and so apart from the possibility of gaining some fatigue (due to the night fatigue rule) there is no additional penalty.



After the last French move the result was a German Minor victory.



A typically fun little scenario from this excellent title.

[Dog Soldier]

... this being a night turn i do not want to move my units off road as they will automatically disrupt leaving them vulnerable to a French assault (one of the major differences between F14 and PzC titles)

Not really true. One half of the PzC titles already have the night movement disruption feature (9 of the 18). After the current round of updates, I would bet all of the PzC titles will have this feature.

Dog Soldier

[Ricky B]

True DS, but how it is implemented is different - F'14 is an automatic disruption, while PzC is a chance of it, adjusted for quality, for those who don't know this. Good rule DS, your thoughts were quite good for that.

Rick

[Dog Soldier]

Maybe that will change in a future F14 update. Very interesting game report.

What morale levels were the two sides by the en of of this five turn game? Did one half day's fighting exhaust both sides?

Does direct fire fatigue accumulate at about the same rate for units in F14 versus PzC? I am wondering about the affect of direct fire, bombardment, and assults on fatigue accumulation. From the AAR's Foul has post so far it appears management of reserves in F14 is a priority as units become battle fatigued at a faster rate than in WW2 PzC.

Dog Soldier

[Mr Grumpy]

True DS, but how it is implemented is different - F'14 is an automatic disruption, while PzC is a chance of it, adjusted for quality, for those who don't know this.

I can understand if you don't own F14 you could assume the night disruption rules are the same, but they are not to reflect the different periods that FWWC and PzC cover, the two rules have important differences, the FWWC rule has 100% automatic disruption (with quality not taken into account) if you don't move in T mode by road/rail line within the 2500 stacking limit.

Maybe that will change in a future F14 update. Very interesting game report.

As far as i know Ed has no intention of changing it to the PzC version.

What morale levels were the two sides by the en of of this five turn game? Did one half day's fighting exhaust both sides?

Does direct fire fatigue accumulate at about the same rate for units in F14 versus PzC? I am wondering about the affect of direct fire, bombardment, and assults on fatigue accumulation. From the AAR's Foul has post so far it appears management of reserves in F14 is a priority as units become battle fatigued at a faster rate than in WW2 PzC.

Yes both sides were "fought out" with high yellow and red fatigue in abundance, however small scenarios do tend to skew the way players use their forces as there is no advantage to resting units, my experience is that the fatigue/losses gained in F14 is the same as in PzC, the losses from direct/indirect can be severe especially if you overstack, but the fact that most units cannot break down into smaller units tends to offset that as battalions suffer less fatigue than company's, but of course a player who cannot unlearn the PzC "Death star" stacking tactic will suffer far more proportionately from losses/fatigue as FWWC uses a modified version of the PzC Alternate fire optional rules which equates losses suffered to the amount of troops/guns stacked in a hex.

As you always correctly say that you must keep a reserve, in FWWC you do tend to have more forces than in the average PzC scenario, in fact despite a generous stacking limit it can be tricky bringing your fresh troops forward and withdrawing your tried troops without suffering from overstacking as they pass through each other.