Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Cambra1 1917 - Planning the campaign

Okay now I have my organizations mapped how man troops do I need? The following order of battle focuses on troops involved in the initial assault.

Order of Battle

Germans

Group Caudry

9th Reserve Division
  • 395th Regiment – Not engaged
  • 6th Reserve Regiment – Not engaged
  • 19th Reserve Regiment
54th Division
  • 27th Reserve regiment – Not engaged, Group Reserve
  • 84th Infantry regiment
  • 90th Reserve regiment
  • 387th Landwehr regiment – from 20th Landwehr
20th Landwehr Division
  • 384th Landwehr regiment
  • 386th Landwehr regiment – not engaged

British

IIIrd Corp

  • 12th Division
  • 35th brigade
  • C battalion
  • 36th Brigade
  • F battalion
  • 37th Brigade - 2nd echelon
20th Division
  • 59th Brigade - 2nd echelon
  • 60th Brigade
  • A battalion – less 1 company
  • 61st Brigade
  • I battalion
6th Division
  • B & H battalions
  • 16th brigade
  • 18th brigade - 2nd echelon
  • 71st brigade
IVth Corp

51st Division
  • D & E battalions – less 1 company
  • 152nd brigade
  • 153rd brigade
  • 154th brigade - 2nd echelon
62nd Division
  • G Battalion + 1 company
  • 36th Division
  • 107th brigade – not participating
  • 108th brigade – not participating
  • 109th brigade

Commentary
If the Germans are deployed according to doctrine elements of 5 regiments each with a battalion in the front line are caught up in the attack, possibly closer to four if you consider that not not all units are being hit equally. The British are attacking with 11 brigades. It does quite match up for an easy game.
On the British left flank, the attack of the 109th brigade is almost entirely against the the 384th Landwehr. So we can reduce it to 4 versus 10. On the right the 19th Reserve is only partially engaged by the 35th brigade attacks it. This makes it 3 versus 9. That's the flanks taken care of.
In the centre each German battalion is attacked by three brigades, odds of six to one, just in the first wave with another six following up and that’s just the assault brigades. It might be easier to do them half scale. So three British battalions versus a half battalion of Germans. That’s possible with the troops I have got painted at the moment. So what more do I need to get and paint.
Now for tanks. Most assault battalions have a company of 12 tanks attached organized into 4 platoons. This could be upto four models, but for the moment both for aesthetic and financial reasons each company will be represented by two models.
So on that basis I will need the following reinforcements.
British
5x Tanks
1x British battalion
1x Trench Mortar company
1x MMG company
Germans
2x battalions
MMG
mortars
artillery
Damn it, I am not even half way. May need a simpler battle or to get my painting mojo back.

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