Mud & Blood

1 Introduction
Through the Mud and the Blood is a set of wargames rules aimed specifically at large scale skirmish games
in the Great War on the Western Front with between thirty and a hundred or so figures a side. The
mechanisms are designed to produce an enjoyable and playable game which can also faithfully reproduce
the tactics historically used.
This is a conflict that has always interested me; my father was named after his uncle who died in 1918
fighting against the Turks. My Grandfather, William Clarke, was wounded by machine gun fire on the first
day of the Third Battle of Ypres, nearly ending my rule writing career before it had begun. They were two
of eight brothers who served King and Country during that terrible conflict and whose service left an
indelible mark on my childhood as my Grandmother’s home was literally crammed with accounts of the
fighting in magazines and books published either during or soon after the conflict.
Naturally, my experiences at school taught me that to view the Great War as anything other than a huge
man-made tragedy was not only wrong-headed, but somehow immoral. Fed on a diet of poets and dubious
politics we were assured that “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” was not just an old lie, but the most
terrible lie of all. The sacrifices of our forebears were made somehow worse, even futile, by the earnest
assertion that they had been sacrificed on the altar of militarism by uncaring Generals; Generals safe in
their Chateaux, who senselessly, carelessly and repeatedly sent hundreds and thousands of poor bloody
infantrymen to their deaths without any compunction. How could one have any wish to make a game from
such a dreadful conflict, where serried ranks of heroic but misguided men were simply fed into the
mincing machine that was the Western Front?
In fairness it was not a question I asked myself. It was clear that from a wargaming perspective the Great
War was a “non-period” where, apart from anything else, good taste precluded transferring it to the
tabletop. For me this, like the assurances made to us at school, was a simple fact, until it was that I
stumbled across Paddy Griffith’s superb book, Battle Tactics of the Western Front.
I must state here that I am a tremendous respecter of Dr Griffith’s work. He writes courageously, in that
he is prepared to question accepted “truths”, and in doing so obliges the reader to do the same. Whether
you agree with his findings and conclusions or not, you are at least obliged to challenge your own beliefs
and, hopefully, are then inspired to seek out more information with your own research and reading. It is
notable that since that book was published in 1994 we have seen a plethora of historians prepared to take
up the torch and re-examine the Great War. It is thanks to their hard work that we are now able to see
that far from being a war of senseless sacrifice, it was actually a conflict that saw phenomenal advances
in technology and tactics. In 1914 the German Army went to war in the close company columns of the
Franco-Prussian war forty-four years previous; by 1918 all the three main participating armies had
developed their battle-drills into what we would today recognise as modern infantry fire and movement
tactics, with some even able to adopt an all arms approach on a deep battlefield.
To me this fresh research has truly opened up the Great War as a gaming period, where we can use our
tabletop games to trace the development of tactics through this vibrant period. The rules presented here
may be used to game the entire four years of the war; with the years in the trenches represented as well
as the more open fighting of 1914 and 1918. We have chosen the 1:1 figure to man ratio as we believe
that this is where the tactics of the conflict can best be examined and gamed. We recommend between
thirty and one hundred or so figures a side with 15mm, 20mm or 28mm figures. The rules are equally
applicable to other theatres, and we intend to produce supplements to allow the gamer to move their
gaming to those.
To assist the gamer we have provided a guide to each nation that looks specifically at the development of
tactics throughout the conflict and the changes to the unit structures that accompanied that. Using this
will, we hope, allow a game that truly represents the conflict within a tabletop in a game, providing all of
the flavour, tension and heroism of the Great War.
Richard Clarke
Lard Island 2009
To Albert, Arthur, Fred, Herbert, Harold, John, Josiah and William Clarke of Isleham, Cambridgeshire.
Seven of whom lived through the mud and the blood to see the green fields beyond.
Through the Mud and the Blood Page 1 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

Contents
1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1
2 DULL BUT USEFUL STUFF .......................................................................3

Ground scale, time scale, dice and wind.
3 LEADERS & THEIR FORCES ......................................................................3

Forces defined.
4 TURN SEQUENCE..................................................................................4
The Cards, their meaning, Big Men and Initiative, formations, a Group's turn, Action Dice and troop
types.
5 TROOP TYPES .....................................................................................9

Specialist roles, troop types explained.
6 MOVEMENT....................................................................................... 11
Blinds and hidden movement, tabletop movement, effect of terrain, facing, and interpenetration.
7 SPOTTING ........................................................................................ 14
Spotting the enemy, spotting the wire.
8 INFANTRY WEAPONS ........................................................................... 15

Armament for infantry and on table support weapons.
9 FIRING............................................................................................. 20
Who can fire, how to fire, effect of fire, Big Men casualties, target density, shooting at Blinds.
10 OFF-TABLE SUPPORT ....................................................................... 23

Barrages, bombardments, SOS fire, MG Barrages, Sustained Fire MGs, FOOs, Gas.
11 BOTTLE......................................................................................... 27
Loss of bottle, its effect and how to recover it.
12 CLOSE COMBAT ............................................................................... 28

Calculating close combat, its effect, clearing buildings, bunkers and dug-outs, taking prisoners.
13 NIGHT FIGHTING.............................................................................. 30
14 WIRE & ENGINEERING........................................................................ 31

Artillery on the wire, Bangalore torpedoes, engineering works and their effects.
15 ARMOURED VEHICLES........................................................................ 33
Movement, bogging down, breaking down, squashing things, firing, anti-tank fire.
16 AIRCRAFT ...................................................................................... 36
Aerial spotting, aerial attacks, anti-aircraft fire.
Supplementary Section One: Great War Artillery………………………………………………………. 38
Supplementary Section Two: National Guidelines …………………………………………………..… 45

2 Dull But Useful Stuff
2.1 Ground Scale
In constructing these rules we attempted to find a scale that was both aesthetically pleasing and practical
in representing the range of weapons used at this level. In the end we settled on 12” = 40 yards which
looks perfect with 28mm figures, but in fact is closer to 15mm figures, with 15mm being equal to 6’.
2.2 Time Scale

In broad terms the use of the card based turn sequence is designed to represent burst of action and
initiative on the battlefield rather than any specific period of time; as such the time period could be
argued to be variable. That said it seems reasonable to assume that each turn represents less than a
minute of real time.
2.3 Dice
In the rules the following dice are used.
D6: One six sided die numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
D8: One eight sided dice numbered 1 to 8.
D10: One ten sided die numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 with the 0 representing 10.
DAv: An Average die with six sides marked 2, 3, 3, 4, 4 and 5
Deviation Dice: One six sided die with four sides showing and arrow, two a hit symbol.
2.4 Rounding the Dice

Sometimes the rules will ask you to add or subtract dice as a proportion of what is available, in all
situations you should round down for any calculations that are not straightforward.
2.5 Wind Direction 1

This is largely only of importance if gas is being used. At the start of the game roll 8 2
1D8 to give the direction in which the wind is blowing using the compass below with 1
being North. Each turn the Wind Direction card is dealt roll 2D6. On an 11 or 12 roll
1D6. One a 1-2 the wind direction changes one point clockwise on the compass. On a 7 3
3-4 the wind direction changes one point anti-clockwise on the compass. On a 5 the
wind changes completely, roll again with a D8. On a 6 a strong breeze blows up and 4
6
clears all gas or smoke.
5
3 Leaders & their Forces

Through the Mud and the Blood is a game all about leaders and their initiative; the men on the battlefield
who, in the face of adversity, drive on those around them to achieve victory. To that end there are two
sorts of men in Through the Mud and the Blood, Big Men, the battlefield leaders we have mentioned
above, and ordinary Men. The former are individuals whose role is to lead so that others may follow. The
latter operate in Groups of up to section or squad size in number, or sometimes in larger Formations
made up of a number of groups; it is they who do the bidding of their leaders and whose sacrifice in blood
will buy the ultimate victory. Left to their own devices these men will stand, fight and take advantage of
whatever cover is nearby, but they will not normally act with any great degree of initiative or take the
battle to the enemy. It is the actions of the Big Men that will drive these men forward by using their
Initiative, as we will see later.
As in reality, the formal military structures of the company, the platoon and the section are there to be
used, but the gamer will find that the formations of the Great War became very fluid, as specialist tasks
emerged, and ad hoc units were formed, balanced for specific battlefield tasks as their commander saw
fit. The rules replicate that by allowing the player to form his men into Groups of his choosing, allowing
him, as in reality, to tailor make his force for the battle ahead. To aid him in this we have included
sections on the four main protagonists on the Western Front, the British, French, Germans and Americans,
which look at historical unit structures and tactics used, but in a conflict where the continuous retraining
of troops and restructuring of units was attempted in an effort to unlock the deadlock of the Western
Front we feel that this system is ideally suited to gaming the small unit tactics that these rules are
designed for, with the flexibility to allow the gamer to structure his forces exactly as he sees fit, in groups
of men with various skills and abilities.

4 Turn Sequence
The sequence of play in Through the Mud and the Blood is determined by the cards in the Game Deck.
This contains cards for each Big Man along with a number of additional cards that will be used to reflect
the forces involved in any fight. All the cards are shuffled into the same deck and then dealt out one at a
time, with each one being acted on before the next one is drawn. This is designed to add what Clausewitz
called “friction” to the battlefield and to remove the artificial certainty whereby a commander knows
exactly what his men are prepared to do. In Through the Mud and the Blood it is down to you to lead your
men on to victory.
These cards are as follows.
4.1 The Cards

One for each Big Man
Blinds card, one for each nationality
Command Initiative cards, marked by nation and Status level
Support Unit cards
A Sentry or Outpost card
The Blank card
Time for a Snifter card
National Characteristics cards
4.1.1 What Do The Cards Mean?

In simple terms having one of your cards dealt means that it is your turn. However rather than move and
fire with all of your forces, as is the case in the traditional “I-Go-You-Go” rule system, we use a random
movement mechanism that means that only the Big Man or support unit named on the card can now take
his or its turn. Let’s take a look at the cards and what they mean.
Big Men Cards

One card is included in the Game Deck for each Big Man. When it is dealt he may take his turn, using his
Initiative to influence Groups of men within his influence distance or to simply take his own go.
Blinds
The deck contains one Blinds card for each nationality or faction involved in the action. On this card all
Blinds of that force may take their turn, moving or spotting. The troops represented by the Blind may
fire, but if they do so they will be placed on the table and will remain so for the rest of the game. Troops
operate on the Blinds card while they are unspotted or during the turn that they are spotted, after which
they will rely on Big Men to influence them. See section 6.1 for just how Blinds represent the fog of war.
Command Initiative
Nothing is certain in war, so Command Initiative cards are included to vary the level of Initiative that a Big
Man has. These cards are added to the deck, being force specific and with a status level attached. Once
dealt they are left in play, ready to be used by any subsequent Big Men of that Status level or above when
his card is dealt. They give that Big Man one additional Initiative Point for each Command Initiative card
available to him for that turn. If he uses the card it is returned to the deck to be shuffled in for the next
turn. If not it may be left in play for a subsequent Big Man to use.
The number of Command Initiative cards will vary depending on the number of Big Men in each force. For
every two Big Men add one Command Initiative card, the first being Status I, the second Status II and so
on, up to the highest Status Big Man present. Once you get to that point begin again with Status I.
Support Units
These can be any type of support weapons that are allocated to our infantry force. This can range from
pre-planned artillery support, SOS artillery support, mortars, heavy machine guns, or a sniper. In fact
anything that is not an infantry section, tank crew or headquarters unit will get its own card.
Sentries & Outposts

Sentries and outposts operate slightly differently to other troops in that they have a very specific job to
do as we will see in Section 5.2.1. They will act upon this card being dealt.

Time for a Snifter
This card ends the turn. Uncork your hip flask and have a snifter, fortifying yourself for the fighting yet to
come and against the horrors of war. Any Big Man who has not had his card dealt will not be able to
influence play in that turn. Any Group of men that has not been activated during the turn may now take
its go with two Action Dice, spotting, firing or adjusting their position, but not moving (unless they are
cavalry attacking, see section 6.2). Troops on Blinds may choose to deploy and take their turn on the
Snifter card. We recommend using one Snifter card, but some gamers who prefer less friction in their
game do add a second, ending the turn once both Snifter cards have been dealt. Some other events, such
as pre-planned barrage fire, occur on the Snifter card and these are outlined in the rules.
The Blank card

This is an optional addition, but can be useful for timing the arrival of reinforcements or triggering pre-
planned events. It has no specific function, but experience has shown that a blank card can be used for
many unplanned events that can occur during a game.
National Characteristics Cards

These cards will be included in the deck to represent the strengths and weaknesses of a force. In all cases
the card will relate to a specific nation. For example there may be a German Rally card if their force is of
suitable quality, whereas a lesser quality French unit may not have a Rally card in the deck.
Storm Card. This is named variously for the different nationalities; “SturmAbteilung Vor!” for the
Germans, “Up and at ‘em!” for the British and “En Avant!” for the French, “Let’s go boys” for the
Americans. The effect is identical. A single group or Blind of the player’s choice may take a bonus move,
over an above their normal activation in the turn. They may only move. They may not fire, take cover or
spot; however they may enter close combat with enemy infantry or physically attack a bunker or an
armoured vehicle. This card should only be included in the deck for units of stormtrooper quality.
Rally. This card should be included in the deck for a high quality force. On it being dealt the relevant
player may remove one point of Shock from a single unit.
Hesitant Troops. This card should be included in the deck for lower quality units that are inclined to sit
tight and fire rather than take the battle to their opponent. Once this card is dealt it is noted and if the
next card is a Big Man of that nationality he may not use his initiative to move any Groups; they may only
fire, spot or take cover.
Heroic Leader. One Big Man may attempt something absurdly heroic, with his chances of success being
agreed upon by the players or assessed by the umpire. Once this card has been used it will be removed
from the deck.
Dynamic Commander. A Big Man of the player’s choice may personally take a bonus move, whether he
has already moved or not. This is restricted to his figure moving using two Action Dice. He may not be
accompanied by any troops, and he is restricted to moving only.
Ammunition Shortage. This may be included in the deck for any force that is running short of
ammunition. It may be in the deck from the start, or be added at a point during the game as specified by
the scenario. If this card is dealt immediately after a Group or Groups of that nation have fired, then they
are declared to be running short of ammunition. They may then only fire at close range for the rest of the
game. Ideally only the player affected by this will be informed of that.
Mad Minute. This should only be included for the “Old Contemptibles” of the original BEF. When this
card is dealt a Group of the player’s choice may have a bonus turn of firing (no other actions allowed)
using two Actions fo4 1914 and one action in the first half of 1915.
Air Support. Variously named for the nations; ‘Biggles’ for the British, ‘Hun in the Sun’ for the Germans
and so on. Once dealt this card sees a force with close air support have the option of a plane arriving to
make an attack on the enemy forces.
Friction. The best laid plans can never be guaranteed, so this card may be added for any force that is
undertaking a mission without proper planning. In effect this is a negative Command Initiative card. Once
dealt it is left in play until the next Big Man of that force is dealt. He then has his Command Initiative
reduced by one for that turn.

Assembling and using the deck is simple. All the cards that are needed for both sides are put
in one deck and then these are turned over one at a time, with each one being acted on
before the next card is turned.
Remember the Command Initiative cards, one for every two Big Men, the first being Status
I, the second Status II and so on, up to the highest Status Big Man present. So, if you have
eight Big Men with the best being Status III you will add four Command Initiative cards, two
being Status I, one Status II and one Status III. Cards may be found on the TooFatLardies
Yahoo Group.
4.2 Big Men and Initiative

In order to get things to happen on the battlefield we need Big Men to use their Initiative. The level of
Initiative that they have is equal to their Status, as follows.
STATUS DESCRIPTION INITIATIVE LEVEL INFLUENCE RANGE

IV Absolute Topper 4 12”
III Damned Fine Chap 3 10”
II Good Sort 2 8”
I Able Fellow 1 6”
When their card is turned they may add any Command Initiative cards to enhance their Initiative for that
turn and then use this to influence the men around them who are under his command.
Big Men may do the following for one Initiative

• He may take his turn immediately, spotting, moving, or attempting a task. If not under fire and
possessing sufficient rank he may move a formation at the same cost.
• He may activate a Group under his command and within his Influence range that he can see to
take their turn immediately. He may command multiple Groups or Formations if he has sufficient
rank and initiative. If the Group is firing he may use his Status to adjust their firing dice.
• He may send a runner to activate a Group under his command that is outside his Influence range
take their turn once the runner reaches them.
• He may remove one point of Shock from a single Group that he is physically with.
• He may initiate a charge into Close Combat
• He may add fervour to a Group that is entering Close Combat
• He may combine any two immediately adjacent Groups of four men or less, as long as they have
no Shock points on either Group, to form an ad hoc larger Group.
• He may order a Group or Formation (if he has sufficient initiative) to “Wait for it” and prepare to
fire later in the turn.
4.3 Commanding Larger Formations

When several Groups are part of the same parent body, such as a platoon, they may begin the game
operating as one Formation under the command of a Big Man providing he has sufficient rank to do so.
So, for example, a Lieutenant may command all the Groups in his platoon whereas a Corporal would not
be able to do this unless he was the highest ranking Big Man left functioning in the platoon. This reflects
the real command structure within the unit and the role of Officers and subordinate NCOs. This
arrangement will come to an end as soon as the Formation is fired on, after which the individual Groups
function separately for the rest of the game.
4.3.1 Musical Commands

The use of musical instruments to command troops was an effective method of communication for many
centuries, however on the large scale battlefields of the Great War this was found ineffective for more
than localised control and the newly trained civilian armies of 1916 and onwards were insufficiently
familiar with musical commands to make them effective. At a local level Big Men of officer rank did use
whistles or personal instruments such as hunting horns to extend their area of influence. At the cost of
one initiative they may issue a whistle or bugle command to the men of their force. Only the senior

commander in any game may use his whistle and only three of the commands listed below may be
specified for any game.
Whistles & Bugles

A whistle will have a range of 24”, Bugles the entire table, and will allow the officer to influence all of his
troops in that range by issuing the following orders:
Halt - Remain stationary
Advance - Advance forward to the front only
Rally - Form up around the whistle blower
Retire - Fall back directly to the rear
Other simple commands of five words or less could be substituted at the start of a game if the players
desire, however the emphasis should be on simplicity.
4.3.2 Chain of Command

Big Men influencing troops around them must be aware of the chain of command. In normal circumstances
a Big Man may only give orders to troops from his parent Regiment. He may not issue commands to troops
who are directly under the command of a more senior Big Man. He may, however, issue commands to
troops who are under the command of more junior Big Men.
In some situations the chain of command rules may be ignored. Troops whose own commander has been
killed or badly wounded may be influenced by other Big Men from any unit.
Imagine this chaps, there I am, a damned fine chap (which apparently makes me Status III).
When my card is dealt I first check to see if there are any British Command Initiative cards
that I may use. I’m lucky, there is one and it’s a Status II card, less than my status so I
can use it. Good show, that gives me a total of four initiatives I may use, my three plus
the extra one for the card. Things are a bit sticky for my platoon as we’re in No-Man’s-
Land under Boche machine gun fire.
I use my first initiative to spot to try to find a break in the wire. I find one! With my next
initiative I activate my Lewis Group, they can put down some suppressive fire on the Hun. My
third initiative is spent activating the rifle grenade group so they can put down some fire as well, and
then finally I lead the bomber group through the wire with my fourth initiative.
Had my Corporal had four Initiative he couldn’t have done all of this as his rank will only allow him to
influence the Group he is with - unless Sergeant Mitcham and I are dead, of course, when I’d hope the
Corporal would take command and push on to victory!
4.4 Isolated Big Men

A Big Man who is not accompanying a group may not fire or initiate close combat. He may, however,
choose to fight in close combat if attacked by an enemy Group counting 1D6 for each two levels of status.
4.5 A Group’s Turn

A Group of men or Formation are activated (i.e. may take their turn) when a Big Man uses one point of
Initiative or, if they have not been activated during that turn, on the Snifter card. At that point they may
use their Action Dice.
When a Big Man uses one of his Initiatives to activate a Group it may immediately use its full allocation of
Action Dice for that turn. With these it can Spot, Move, Fire, Reload, take cover, undertake a task, or any
combination of these. At all times we assume that troops are making the best of what cover is available,
however troops using an Action Dice to take cover will be better protected from enemy fire.

If the Big Man sends a runner to a group outside his command range then they will be activated once the
runner arrives. The Big Man must issue specific instructions to the runner in terms of what action he
wishes the men to take, this being limited to moving in a straight line (with some allowance for terrain
that is not straight) to a specific point. On subsequent turns the Group, whatever their distance from the
Big Man will comply with those orders, provided the runner is still with them, at the cost of two Initiative
Points per turn.
Alternatively a Group or Formation may be ordered to “Wait for it”, standing their ground and waiting to
fire if a target of opportunity presents itself in the rest of the turn. Once a Group or Formation gets the
order to “Wait for it” they may then fire at any time subsequently during the turn.
When taking their turn on the Snifter Card a Group may Spot, Fire, Reload, continue with an on-going task
(but not start a fresh one) but may not move (with the exception
of cavalry charging towards an enemy, see section 6.2). They
may, however, take 1D6 of movement for one Action Dice to
A
B reposition within any terrain feature that they occupy or deploy
into a terrain feature.
For example (at left) Group A may reposition itself, deploying

into the adjacent shell hole as it is immediately next to them.
Group B may not do so as it is too far away.
4.5.1 Action Dice
All Groups have two Action Dice which they may use when they take their turn. Each action undertaken
will cost them dice as follows.
ACTION COST
Move 1D6 inches 1 Dice
Take Cover 1 Dice
Cross a low obstacle 1 Dice
Cross a high Obstacle 2 Dice
Enter an unbarred building 1 Dice
Mounting a horse or vehicle 1 Dice
Fire 1 Dice
Clear an MG stoppage 1 Dice
Spot 1 Dice
Attempt a task 1 Dice
Reload artillery piece 1 Dice
Groups may choose to duplicate actions, for example firing twice, moving with 2D6, spotting twice, or
they may spot once with an enhanced chance, adding +1 to their dice throw for the use of the second
Action Dice.
4.6 Troop Types

In Through the Mud and the Blood troops are generally defined by two areas; Experience and Morale.
Experience represents the fighting skills of the unit, affecting its capabilities in Close Combat, its tactical
ability and its command coherence. Morale looks at the unit’s confidence and self-belief representing its
“stickability” when the going gets tough.
These are as follows:
CATEGORY HIGHEST NORMAL LOWEST

Experience Veteran Regular Green
Morale Good Reasonable Poor
Some units may also be designated Aggressive which will give them a further bonus in close combat.

5 Troop Types
By the time of the Great War the difference between regiments bearing the titles of Fusliers, Grenadiers,
Light Infantry and the likes had largely disappeared, with units becoming homogenous in their structure
and methods of training. Indeed by 1916 the same could be said for German formations with the titles
Line, Reserve or Landwehr which, in the melting pot of battle, had become almost identical. As the war
progressed changes in tactics saw specialist roles emerge, however rather than having entire battalions or
companies with specific skills, these fitted into the normal platoon or section structure.
5.1 Specialist Roles

During the early war the standard tactical formation for all participants was the company, however this
was found to be too large a body to control effectively on the modern battlefield. Ultimately the platoon,
or in German forces the Truppe, became the basic tactical unit in battle.
Within these smaller formations a variety of specialist roles emerged, and these are outlined below.
5.1.1 The Rifleman

The Rifleman was the traditional foot soldier who relied on his firepower and his ability to manoeuvre to
achieve his task. This soldier made up 100% of the fighting men in the infantry company of 1914, with the
rifle their only weapon, however as time progressed the automatic rifle or light machine gun would be
added to their armoury to enhance their firepower.
As the war progressed various specialist roles emerges, as we will see below, but all infantrymen may
operate as riflemen, temporarily ignoring their specialist training and reverting to their traditional role
with rifle and bayonet.
5.1.2 The Bomber

The Bomber was the first specialist to emerge. With their opponents hidden in entrenchments the rifle
was no longer a battle winning weapon for the attacker. The hand grenade, with its particular
effectiveness in a confined space, such as a trench, gave the infantryman the tool he needed to attack an
enemy in prepared positions. Within the rules the bomber is the only soldier capable of launching an
effective concerted attack with grenades at close quarters. Other troops will have grenades, however
their effect is incorporated into the close combat rules.
5.1.3 The Trench Cleaner

Whilst the grenade was effective at stunning an opponent or driving him off, there was still the need to
secure the ground captured from the enemy. This was the job of the rifleman with his bayonet, and
amongst their ranks some men emerged as experts in close combat, being recognised as the trench
cleaner; men prepared to move in and clean up any resistance. In the British Army this was seen as the
realm of the bayonet, but all forces found themselves using many improvised weapons, such as sharpened
entrenching implements and even trench maces. Indeed the introduction of body armour to some troops
gave the trench cleaner a distinctly mediaeval look. As the war progressed newer weapons, such as the
sub-machine gun or sawn-off shotgun, were developed specifically for this role, becoming known as
“trench brooms”.
Trench cleaners come into their own in close combat, but at other times will function as riflemen.
5.1.4 The Rifle Grenadier

The Rifle Grenadier gave the traditional infantryman his own inherent ‘artillery’ capability, with a range
far exceeding that which could be achieved with a hand-thrown grenade. Using these weapons to
suppress their opponent, the rifle grenadiers could create the circumstances which allowed the Riflemen
to use fire and movement tactics to outmanoeuvre their opponent. Naturally rifle grenadiers may
function as normal riflemen if desired.
5.1.5 The Sniper

Snipers would operate as an individual or as part of a two man team, one spotting and selecting targets
the other firing, however a single sniper figure can represent either of these. A sniper fires with
enhanced accuracy and with the ability to single out Big Men as targets. The sniper figure is simply a
representation that a sniper is at work in that area, and does not signify his actual location exactly. A

sniper may operate as a rifleman until he assumes his specialist role, at which point his figure should be
replaced with a specific sniper figure.
5.1.6 The Pioneer

Pioneers are men who have skills in construction, being either from a Pioneer unit or with sufficient
strength and wherewithal to undertake engineering tasks. In German forces a Pioneer will automatically
count as a Bomber as well.
5.2 Other Duties

Some men, whatever their designation above, may be detailed off to undertake some specific duties such
as standing sentry, manning outposts, operating as scouts or as a runner. These are covered below.
5.2.1 Sentries & Outposts

These are men who have been told off from their parent Group to undertake the role of sentry or man
outposts. They have their own card entitled “Sentries & outposts” that is used whether they have been
spotted or not. Within Through the Mud and the Blood these can be useful outposts and early warning
systems, especially for any force in a defensive position. Within the rules these count as one man who
functions autonomously while on piquet duty.
In Through the Mud and the Blood Sentries may operate with two Action dice in a turn, which they may
use to spot, fire, raise the alarm or retire towards their parent Group
Spotting and firing are undertaken as normal, raising the alarm takes one Action Dice. If a sentry
abandons his post he may only move until he rejoins his parent Group, doing so with 2D6 on the Snifter
card. Cavalry piquets may move at the faster cavalry speeds (see section 6.2)
5.2.2 Scouts
Scouts may be employed to advance ahead of a Group or Formation to attempt to identify the enemy,
paths through defences, or soft spots in their opponent’s position. These operate as normal when their
Group is activated by a Big Man, however if they stray outside the Big Man’s command radius they will go
to ground until he moves close to them.
5.2.3 Runner
Any man may be selected at any point in the game to act as an officer’s runner. He will be activated on
the Big Man’s card whatever his distance from that Big Man. He may not, however, change his objective
in terms of the group that he has been sent to activate and must move towards that group at full speed.
Like a Big Man, a runner may only be targeted by a sniper. The runner will leave the group once they
have achieved their objective as per his instructions or when he is physically contacted by a Big Man.
So there I am, running for Lieutenant Carshalton. He say “Get across to the Corporal
Sutton’s riflemen, they seem to be hanging around. Tell them to get moving up to that
trench so they can put some fire down on the Hun”. So, off I runs, and when I get to
the riflemen Corporal Sutton is dead. No wonder the lads got their heads down. I
says “Right you lot. Message from Lieutenant Carshalton. Get across there and
put some fire down on Fritz”. They start moving straight away, I’ve activated them
on behalf of the Lieutenant, and if Mr Carshalton spends two Initiatives next turn they
will be able to keep moving again. Naturally I can’t leave them, or they’d just get their
heads down in a shell hole and blaze away on the Snifter card!

6 Movement
There are two types of movement in Through the Mud and the Blood; movement on Blinds when a force is
not spotted, and tabletop movement once the force has been spotted and the figures are on the table.
6.1 Hidden Movement on Blinds

Through the Mud and the Blood uses a system of Blinds to allow some fog of war to be added to the game.
These Blinds are blank cards, roughly 6” wide and 2” in depth, which may represent a force up to two
Groups in size that have been given the same task. If, for example, you have two Groups ordered to
occupy and hold a ruined farm, they may start the game on one Blind. If, however, one was to occupy the
farm, and the other a wood adjacent to it, then two Blinds would be needed to reflect the different
objectives and orders.
Troops on a Blind benefit in a major way. The entire force on that Blind can operate in concert until it is
spotted by the enemy. This represents the fact that when not under fire troops can be relied upon to
generally do what they are ordered and work together. Blinds operate with three Action Dice which they
may use to move, spot and/or deploy their Group on the table to fire, in any order desired. While on a
Blind they may not be fired on. Troops on Blinds are affected by terrain in the usual way. Deploying
from a Blind costs nothing.
Troops deploying from a Blind must do so at the start of their turn before any actions are undertaken with
the Blind’s dice. If they are deploying in order to fire they will do so with the added initiative of the most
senior Big Man with them.
Once placed on the table, having been spotted by the enemy or voluntarily deploying on the table in order
to fire, the troops will, from that turn onwards, then operate on the Initiative of the Big Men or on the
Snifter card.
One key point is that any terrain object that can conceal men may be considered a Blind. So a sniper in
the ruined barn or the assault troops hiding in a crater need not be represented by a Blind so long as they
remain stationary, the terrain being considered a Blind in its own right. The player must consider,
therefore, that the enemy can be hiding in every shell-hole or behind every shattered tree.
In addition to Blinds for his troops a player may be issued dummy Blinds to confuse the enemy or represent
scouting parties. These may move and spot as normal, but if spotted will be removed from the table.
6.2 Tabletop Movement

In general terms each action dice allows 1D6 of movement. The player must allocate how many of his
dice he is using for movement at the start of a Group’s turn. He may not then alter that and must move
the full distance indicated by the roll of the dice, unless he is moving to a specific named point such as
“up to that wall” or “in line with the Loamshires left hand platoon”.
UNIT MOVEMENT
Infantry As per dice roll
Big Men/Runners +1 pip per dice
Armoured Vehicles Vehicle specific, see Section 15
Cavalry Walk +1 pip per dice
Cavalry Trot +3 pips per dice
Cavalry Gallop Add one extra dice then add +3 pips per dice
Artillery Limbers May move at cavalry Walk or Trot speed
Manhandled Artillery Roll 2D6 for a full turn’s movement, discarding
the dice with the lower number of pips.
Big Men move with the troops they are with, however if moving on their own they move as their troop
type.
Any Shock points that a Group has suffered will reduce its movement by one inch per pip from the total
score rolled. Formations operating on flat, hard ground roll once for movement, all the component
Groups conforming to that speed, however each Group will roll independently if in heavy terrain or if any
Groups have Shock points.

Cavalry moving from or slowing to a halt must take their first and last whole turn of movement at the
walk.
Cavalry moving in Formation may do so without difficulty whilst moving at the walk or trot. They may
move one turn in Formation at the gallop but on the second consecutive turn of galloping all Formation
will be lost and the Groups moved separately.
Cavalry dismounting do so for no loss of Action dice, however it costs them one Action dice to mount up.
One in five mounted men must act as horse-holder.
Unlimbering horse drawn guns takes one full turn stationary (manhandled guns are assumed to unlimbered
at all times), with the gun being placed within 4” or the limber. After unlimbering guns must be loaded
before they can fire. To limber the guns this process is simply reversed.
A cavalry Group or Formation that is moving towards the enemy at the trot or gallop may, if they are not
activated during a turn, choose to move on the Snifter card. If they do so they will lose Formation and
move as separate Groups.
Beasts of Burden, such as pack horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, may be used to carry packs or pull
wagons. With their loads they move at 2D6 inches per turn.
6.3 Terrain Effects & Obstacles

Poor terrain may affect infantry or cavalry movement by a -1 or -2 to the pips on each dice rolled. In
slightly broken terrain movement is reduced by -1 pip per dice, whereas in a heavy terrain -2 pips are
deducted from each dice. This affects Blinds as well as troops on the table.
When Groups or Formations encounter a linear obstacle, such as a wall, a fence, or hedge, they may cross
this at the cost of one or two Action Dice depending on its size. Naturally some obstacles may not be
crossed at all in normal circumstances and some will differ depending on the approach. For example
jumping into a trench incurs no penalty, whereas climbing out will take Action Dice.
Cavalry Groups crossing linear obstacles may do so with no problems for very small obstacles, or may
encounter some difficulties. Any Formations will be broken by crossing obstacles. Cavalry Groups may not
move in Heavy terrain if mounted nor may they maintain Formation in any broken terrain
The ground between the lines is like a swamp, this Flanders mud is terrible and made worse
by the constant shelling. My group is moving through this landscape scarred by shell-holes
and with swamp-like mud. We allocate two dice to moving and roll 6 and 1. With -2 on
each die the net result is 4 and 0 (we ignore negative results) so we move 4”. God knows
why the Kaiser wants this place!
6.4 Movement in varying Terrain

Troops that are move in more than one type of terrain adjust each dice according to the terrain that they
are in when they begin to move. They may choose to roll the dice separately if the terrain is different for
each of the two dice.
6.5 Changing Facing

Men in Groups may change their facing at no cost but only on their turn. The infantry figures are
considered to have a 180° arc of fire to their front, whereas heavy support weapons, such as HMGs, on-
table artillery and mortars have a 90˚ forward facing arc, however they may change their facing by up to
45˚ in a turn at no cost. Greater changes in facing will require two Action Dice being used, with no other
actions undertaken in that turn.

6.6 Interpenetration
Both Blinds and troops deployed on the table may normally pass through other Groups or Formations at no
cost to their movement so long as there is room to do so. Normally trenches will be sufficiently wide for
this to happen, however some saps or minor trenches may be only wide enough to accommodate one man.
In this case no interpenetration is possible.
A Group that is interpenetrated by a friendly unit retreating due to losing its bottle (see section 11) will
itself suffer the number of Shock points that the friendly unit exceeds its strength by.
Strike a light! There we was firing away at to our front when back comes Bertie Banstead
and his section, running like mad. There were six riflemen and they had nine points of
Shock and, being right windy characters with poor morale, they was retiring a rather
rapid, a whole 9”. Naturally we chivvied them up and shouted rude names as they ran
by, but I could see it shocked my lads to see Britons running from a foe. We took three points
of Shock ourselves; one for the three over the six men that Bertie had with him.
6.7 Carrying Awkward Things

In general it is a combination of weight and awkwardness of a load that makes it difficult to carry. Troops
carrying awkward or heavy things will reduce their movement by one pip per dice over and above any
terrain restrictions.
6.8 Unit Integrity

The rules do not specify any set distances for how close figures need to be kept in order for a Group to
retain its cohesion. How close together men deployed depended on both their training and experience,
and we tend to assume that more experienced troops will deploy more loosely than green recruits. That
said some common sense needs to be applied, and if any Group is split up on the battlefield with the two
parts being more than 4” apart they must be considered as two separate Groups until that gap is reduced.

7 Spotting
Within Through the Mud and the Blood any figure that is deployed on the table can, it is assumed, be seen
by everyone. Spotting, therefore, is only used against Blinds
Spotting may be undertaken by a Group, Blind or a Sentry using an Action Dice or a Big Man using an
Initiative.
Spotting cannot be a precise science and if an umpire is available he should feel he has complete freedom
to adjust the following target scores. For example the thickness of a smoke screen or fog may vary
hugely, so some of this must be left to the scenario designer. To spot, an action costing on Action Dice,
the spotter rolls 2D6. He may choose to spend more than one Action Dice and thereby improve his
chances, adding +1 for each additional Action Dice or Big Man’s Initiative.
TARGET LOCATION/DISTANCE 0-9” 9-24” 24” AND OVER

In the Open Automatic Automatic 5
Slightly obscured – light cover 6 7 8
Obscured – medium cover 7 9 11
Badly Obscured – heavy cover 10 11 14
Add one, to the required score (Make Harder) for: Deduct one from the required score (Make Easier)
for:
Spotter under fire Spotter elevated
Target stationary Per dice target moved this turn
Target obscured by smoke or fog Each additional dice used for spotting
It’s night Spotter is a Big Man
Spotter Wearing a Gas Mask Target Mounted
Spotter buttoned up in an armoured vehicle. Target is a Formation or tank
7.1 Automatic Spotting

Any Blind in the open that moves to within 12” of an opponent will automatically be spotted and the
figures placed on the table immediately. If slightly obscured and they move within 9” of an opponent
they will be placed on the table on the Snifter card. Any tank that comes within 36” of an opponent will
be placed on the table immediately due to its noise and size.
If a Group or Formation hidden in terrain ends the turn within 6” of an enemy then a Blind will be
deployed on the table on the Snifter card.
Damn this fog! You can never trust Tommy, but on a dark, foggy night we can almost be
certain that he will have some lunatic scheme planned. On the parapet of the trench I
peer into the night. I am certain that there is movement out there, about 18” from my
position. The shell holes make the view slightly obscured, so normally I’d need to roll 7
on my 2D6. But it’s night, so that makes it one worse and this fog is thick, so another two
worse, so I need to roll 10. But wait a moment, I am a Big Man, so that reduces it to 9, and
I will use two initiatives rather than just one, brining it down to 8 required. I roll double 2.
Failure! Gott strafe England!
7.2 Spotting Wire

Wire may be spotted for assessment purposes once a Big Man or Group is within 12”. In any turn they may
spot a 9” frontage, three of our 3” sections. At less than 6” from the wire its state is automatically
identified, at 6” to 12” they roll 2D6, requiring 7 or more on the dice to be successful.

8 Infantry Weapons
Before we look at how to fire, let’s take a look at the range of weapons available on the tabletop and the
troops who use them.
8.1 Infantry Specialist Roles

As we have seen, the infantry platoon of the Great War changed its shape during the conflict to deal with
the advances in tactics and technology. Specialist roles evolved that changed the way that troops fought.
These are covered below. Here we look at their methods of fighting, and how they undertake firing.
8.1.1 The Rifleman

The Rifleman is the basic rifleman, firing and acting in close combat without any penalties or benefits. He
is the benchmark against which all other troops are measured. All troops may, if they wish, temporarily
revert to their role as riflemen during a game as this was what they were when they completed their basic
training. Riflemen fight with the rifle and bayonet, the automatic rifle or LMG and with a small number of
grenades that they use in close combat.
Basic rifle armed soldiers will fire with ½ a D6 per Action Dice of firing, so if they spend their whole turn
doing nothing else they will roll 1D6 each. Riflemen do not normally have to worry about running out of
ammunition.
Riflemen armed with automatic rifles or light machine guns will roll more dice than their rifle armed
comrades to reflect their higher rate of firepower. Automatic rifles, such as the Chauchat, the Madsen
and the BAR, will fire with 3D6 per Action Dice used for firing. The Lewis and MG08/15 Light Machine
Guns fire with 4D6 per Action Dice. Light machine guns have a crew of two men when firing.
Automatic weapons, especially primitive ones, are prone to jam and suffer stoppages when firing. This
could be as nasty as a stubborn jam, just the need to pause briefly to re-load with ammunition or simply
the case that the firer is briefly off-target. All of these we classify as a stoppage. This happens if more 1s
than 6s are rolled for firing in turn. On the weapon’s next available action the crew may attempt to clear
the stoppage with one attempt for each dice of fire until successful, rolling a D6 requiring 5-6 to clear the
stoppage. Once cleared they may resume firing with any dice remaining.
Would you believe it, Fritz is on the wire and I’m firing away with my Lewis Gun. I fire for
the whole turn so I roll 4D6 twice. I roll 1, 1, 2, and 6, more 1’s than 6’s so I’ve got a
stoppage.
With my next Action Dice I try to clear the stoppage with my first roll, a 2, I fail, so
with my second roll I try again, getting a 5; I’ve done it. So, I have used two of my four fire
dice for this turn, so I fire with the remaining two, praying that I don’t get another bloomin’
stoppage…
8.1.2 The Bomber

The Bomber is amply supplied with grenades and uses them as a close range weapon to overpower the
enemy. These troops attack as a group rather than throwing individual grenades. They have only one
range band, 4” to 10” inches and treat all targets within that as being at effective range. They may
attack once per Action Dice, rolling one dice per man. If two more 1s than 6s are rolled the Bomber group
will be short of grenades; they may make only one more bombing attack after which they may operate as
Riflemen.
Grenades reduce the defender’s cover by one level and add +1 to the “Effect of Hits” roll if the target is
in a confined space with a ceiling, such as a bunker.
If engaging an enemy at a range of 4” or less the bombers are considered to be in close combat where
they gain a benefit for their skills.

8.1.3 Trench Cleaner
The trench cleaner is an aggressive soldier whose job is to mop up any enemy resistance at close quarters.
As such these men get a significant benefit in close combat. When not engaged in close combat they may
act as Riflemen, however their effectiveness may be restricted if they are armed with weapons only
suitable for close quarter fighting such as a trench broom.
Trench cleaners may wear trench armour if any is available, however this will reduce their movement by
an additional -1 inch per dice over and above any effect of terrain, making them very slow moving. In
reality such armour was abandoned as being impractical, you need to consider whether the added benefit
is worth slowing down your troops.
8.1.4 Rifle Grenadier

Rifle grenadiers operate as a group, when firing they must all select the same target or a target area with
dimensions no greater than 9” square. They attack with ½ a D6 per man for each Action Dice of fire.
They have a minimum range of 12”, treating targets between 12” and 36” as at effective range and
between 36” and 48”, their maximum, as long range. Grenades reduce the defender’s cover by one level
unless they are in a covered position.
Ammunition is relatively plentiful, but then again in action the rounds could be got through in a very short
space of time. If 2 more 1s than 6s are rolled in a turn the rifle grenadier group will be short of grenades;
they may make only one more bombing attack after which they will operate as Riflemen.
N.B. a rifle grenade team would normally be two men, one loading, and the other firing. When totalling
the fire dice count all the crew as firing rather than the actual grenade launchers to reflect the benefit of
having the dedicated loaders. HOWEVER, in the first turn of firing at any target they roll half of that
number of dice to represent them getting their range with the first few rounds. In that first turn any rolls
of 1 on the dice to hit will result on a hit one any friendly troops within 6” of the target.
8.1.5 Sniper
Snipers are somewhat abstracted in the rules in order for them to behave in a realistic manner. Snipers
are more effective than Riflemen at longer ranges and also double any points of Shock caused by their
firing. They may fire one shot per turn on their card, rolling 2D6 and discarding one (presumably the
lesser roll). On any double roll the sniper is removed from play, either out of ammunition or killed by the
enemy. The sniper does not have to fire in a turn, once his card is dealt me may “wait for it” hoping for a
better target comes up later in the turn, and may decide not to fire at all in that turn.
8.1.6 Infantry Weapons

The following table gives the ranges and firing dice for each of the infantry weapons used by the basic
infantry groups on the battlefield.
WEAPON DICE PER RANGES

TYPE ACTION DICE OF FIRE Close Effective Long
Rifle ½
Automatic Rifle 3
Lewis Gun 4 0-18” 18-36” Over 36”
MG 08/15 4
Bombers 1 - 4”-10” -
Rifle Grenades ½ - 12”-36” 36”-48”
Sniper 1 0-36” Over 36” -
8.1.7 Trench Brooms

Weapons such as sawn-off shotguns and SMGs have no ranged fire capability and are only a Close Combat
weapon.
8.2 On-Table Support Weapons

Support weapons are anything that does not fit in with a normal infantry platoon, from HMGs to artillery
deployed forward in a direct fire role. All support weapons count as being awkward to carry when moving
and take two Action Dice to set up before they can fire.

8.2.1 Heavy Machine Guns
Heavy machine guns were used by all participants of the Great War, albeit in some quite different ways.
The Germans tended to concentrate their weapons near the front line, attached to their infantry
companies, even developing Machine Gun Sharpshooter units, whereas the British tended to bring their
together in larger bodies to operate en masse, leaving the light machine gun to provide support at platoon
level. That said application at low level would depend very much on local preferences so all force may
choose to use their HMGs in either a direct fire or sustained fire role. Heavy machine guns will normally
have a team of five men, two being required to fire the weapon, the rest to carry ammunition and keep
the gun manned. Those reduced to one man will halve their firing dice.
Direct Fire
HMGs firing using direct fire tactics may select any target within their 90° arc of fire. They will operate
on their card, firing with six dice per Action Dice of fire.
Sustained Fire
At any point in the game an HMG may be declared to be operating in a sustained fire role. Once this
declaration is made the weapon must continue in that role for the rest of the game unless the enemy
come within 12” of it, at which point it may switch to a direct fire role.
The sustained fire machine gun will mark an aiming point anywhere on the table edge. This then creates
a fire lane from the weapon to that point that extends to 3” either side of the straight line (so a 6” wide
lane of fire). When any enemy unit moves or fires within that fire lane the machine gun fires at it with
one Action Dice. Any groups within that fire lane that are not activated during the turn will be fired on
when the Snifter Card is dealt. There are no limits to how many times a sustained fire weapon may fire in
any turn.
If two or more Groups enter the fire lane simultaneously then they should be fired on in sequence, with
the unit nearest the machine gun being fired on first, the furthest one away last. Any stoppages during
this fire relate only to the unit being fired on at that time. In extreme circumstances one unit may find
that it takes no fire, with the enemy machine gun having a stoppage, while another unit is fired on with
full effect. This is simply the luck of war.
8.2.2 Machine Gun Stoppages

Like lighter automatic weapons, heavy machine guns firing in a direct fire role may suffer from stoppages.
This happens when 1s than 6s are rolled for firing in any action. On the weapon’s next available action
the crew may attempt to clear the stoppage once for each dice of fire until successful, rolling a D6
requiring 5-6 to succeed. Once cleared they may resume firing with any dice remaining. Machine guns
operating in a Sustained Fire role do not suffer from stoppages.
8.2.3 Grenade Throwers & Mortars

Very early in the war the soldiers in the front line trenches looked for ways to propel explosive charges
towards the enemy. Initially such bizarre methods as giant catapults were attempted and the French
removed Napoleonic Wars mortars from museums to press them into service. This resulted in the
development of newly designed mortars that, with the Stokes mortar, advanced to the point from which
all modern mortars have evolved.
Impromptu Catapult
These require a crew of two men, and have a minimum range of 18” and a maximum of 48”. They may
fire once in a turn, selecting an aiming point and rolling 2D6 plus a deviation dice to see where the round
actually lands. At a range of 18” to 36” the lower D6 is discarded. The round fire has a two inch blast
radius and strikes with 2D6 on the “Effect of Hits” table.
Any roll of the deviation dice that results in double 1 or 6 being rolled sees the catapult break and the
round inflict its hits on the crew.
Grenade Launchers
This refers specifically to the purpose build grenade launchers, such as the German Granatenwerfer 16.
They operate with a minimum range of 18” and a maximum of 96” (if you are fortunate enough to have a
table that large!). They have a two man crew and fire like an infantry Group, not needing to roll for

deviation due to their high rate of fire. They attack with 1 D6 per Action Dice of fire per crew member.
They treat targets up to 72” as at effective range and above that as long range. Grenades reduce the
defender’s cover by one level unless they are in a covered position.
Purpose Built Mortars

These ranged in size from the light mortars around 2” in diameter to large 9.45 inch “Flying Pig” and the
25cm Minenwerfer. It is important to consider that some mortars were designed to fire a charge of
significantly larger size than their bore would indicate, such as the 2” Toffee Apple round that was
actually 9” in diameter, only the shaft of the shell, not the charge itself, being inserted in the barrel of
the mortar. When considering effect the size of the charge, not the calibre of the mortar, is important.
Within the rules we do not differentiate between these weapons in terms of range. They all fire with a
minimum range of 24” and may hit anywhere on the table. They select an aiming point and roll 2D6 for
deviation. At 24” to 36” they discard the lowest dice. Any double 1 rolled for deviation results in the
weapon running out of ammunition.
WEAPON RADIUS STRIKE DICE NOTES

Grenade - - Fires as an infantry weapon with no deviation roll
To 60mm 3” 3 May fire on each action
60-100mm 4” 4 One action to load, one to fire
100-175mm 5” 5 Three actions to load, one to fire. Double Shock inflicted.
Over 175mm 6” 6 Three action to load, one to fire. Double Shock inflicted.
Reduces defences on double 2 to 6.
8.2.4 Flamethrowers
There are two sorts of flamethrowers, light and heavy. These operate as follows:
Light Flamethrower
These may have two crew, with a Minimum of one man being required to operate them. They may
operate individually or as part of a larger Group. They always move at -1" per movement die, in addition
to other penalties for crossing difficult ground.
Firing: Range 8". Roll to hit as normal except that the target is always counted as having no cover, a miss
indicates that the fuel failed to ignite or the flame went short, etc. A light flamethrower strikes with
6D6. Any Shock is doubled. A light flamethrower section may fire twice, using one Action Dice per shot.
Heavy Flamethrower
These may have a three crew, with a minimum of a two man team required to operate, and may operate
individually or as part of a larger Group. They always move at -1" per movement die, in addition to other
penalties for crossing difficult ground.
Firing: Range 12”. Roll to hit as normal except that the target is always counted as having no cover, a
miss indicates that the fuel failed to ignite or the flame went short, etc. A heavy flamethrower strikes
with 8D6 as per the normal rules. Any Shock is doubled. A heavy flamethrower section may fire three
times, using one Action Dice per shot.
8.2.5 Direct Fire Artillery

These are both tank guns and on-table artillery pieces that, through design or circumstance, find
themselves in the front line. These guns may only operate in a direct fire role and, due to their close
proximity to the target do not roll to hit, rather how accurate their fire is will be dictated by their success
with the strike dice. Only guns up to 18 pounder/80mm may be used in this role. Larger guns can only be
defended as their crews operating as riflemen.
WEAPON DICE PER ACTION DICE OF FIRE NOTES

37mm/1 pdr 3
60mm/6pdr 4 Artillery reduces cover by one level.
61-76.2mm/13 pdr 5
77mm+/18 pdr 6

Firing an artillery piece or tank gun always takes one action, fully served artillery will take one action to
reload. Crews that are reduced by casualties will find that they take longer to load their pieces, see
section 9.7. Field guns will normally have a crew of five or six men.
8.2.6 On-Table Support Weapons

The following table gives the ranges and firing dice for each of the infantry support weapons.
WEAPON DICE PER RANGES

TYPE ACTION POINT Close Effective Long
HMG 6 0-24” Over 24” -
Light Flamethrower 6 0-8” - -
Heavy Flamethrower 8 0-12” - -
Sharpshooter HMG 6 0-36” Over 36” -
Field Gun Weapon dependent 0-24” 24-48” Over 48”
Tank Gun Weapon dependent 0-18” 18-36” Over 36”
Tank guns are less effective at range as the tank is not a stable firing platform and visibility is poor,
thereby making aiming harder. The number of firing dice is reduced according to their speed, see section
15.5. If firing from a sponson or turret with multiple weapons only one of these may be fired in a turn.

9 Firing
The method used for firing is the same for all of the on-table weapons. First we need to establish who can
fire and then see what the effect of that is.
9.1 Who Can Fire?

Any Group with Action Dice available may fire providing they can see their enemy and he is within their
arc of fire. Infantry fire with a 180˚ arc of fire to their front, bombers and rifle grenadiers do not need
line of sight, however their target must have been spotted. Heavy support weapons have a 90˚ arc of fire.
Troops in buildings are limited to two riflemen or one automatic rifle or LMG firing from each window or
doorway.
Troops may not fire through intervening friendly troops unless they or the target is sufficiently higher or
lower than the intervening friendly unit that they do not affect the firing. Common sense must be applied
in deciding this.
NCO Big Men with a Group or Formation count towards the number of men firing, officers are assumed to
be directing the fire, not actually firing themselves. All Big Men with a Status of II or higher, whatever
their rank, may positively affect the fire of unit under their direction.
9.2 How to Fire

Each Group may use its Action Dice to fire. It is perfectly acceptable for some figures within a Group to
fire whilst others move, or to have any combination of actions.
The number of dice a group uses to fire depends on its weapons and any Shock that the Group has. Total
up the number of dice for the weapons firing and then remove one dice per two points of Shock that a unit
has against it.
Once the number of dice is ascertained then roll them and adjust the scores as follows:
Firing at Green troops +1

Firing at Veteran troops -1
Any Big Man adjustments as appropriate for his Status
Firer wearing a gas mask -1
Target taking cover -1
In any turn that they are initiating fire a Big Man may add +1 pip to any single dice for each status level
above 1. So a Status II Big Man who gets two Groups of riflemen to fire may add +1 to one of those dice.
A Status IV big man may add a total of +3 to the dice rolled, be that on one, two or three dice as he
desires.
To following adjusted scores are required to hit.
CLOSE EFFECTIVE LONG

3-6 4-6 5-6
9.3 Effect of Hits

Once the number of hits has been discovered, the player suffering the casualties should roll on the
following table to see what the effect of fire is.
COVER NEAR MISS SHOCK KILL

None – troops in the open or shot along a trench 1 2, 3, 4 5, 6
Light – Ditch, shell hole or similar 1, 2, 3 4, 5 6
Medium – trench or building 1, 2, 3, 4 5 6
Heavy – solid bunker 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 6 -
A near miss means just that, it missed, but the enemy troops know they are under fire.

A Shock point is a negative cohesion factor and represents pinning and suppressing within the rules. As
Groups accumulate Shock points they will move more slowly, eventually halting altogether, and fire less
effectively. As a result of multiple Shock points troops may lose their bottle and retire or even rout. (See
section 11)
A Kill is one man rendered hors de combat for the duration of the game. It may well be that many of the
“dead” are in fact badly wounded.
We see the French coming across the crest of the rise and I get my men to open fire. There are
six of them, plus me, a Gefreiter, all armed with rifles. We will be using both our action
points to fire, so we get seven dice in all. The enemy are close, less than 18” away, so we
roll our dice needing 3-6 to hit. We roll 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, four hits. But wait, I am a Status
II Big Man, so I am being able to make one point of adjustment to the dice. I increase one
roll of 2 up to 3. So, five hits.
The French are in the open, they are not taking cover at all, trying to get us with the bayonet, so
their player needs to roll for our hits to see what damage we do, with 2, 3 or 4 being a point of Shock on
the enemy, 5 or 6 a kill. He rolls 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, so two Frenchmen die and their group receives three
points of Shock.
9.4 Hit Allocation

With a crewed weapon such as a heavy machine gun it is assumed that the man firing the gun is the last
man hit, any breaks for stoppages representing changes of firer prompted by losses. With an infantry
group where members of the group have different specialities it can be important to discover who
specifically has been killed. In this case the removal of figures will be done alternately by the players.
The first casualty lost to any round of firing being chosen by the figure’s player, the second by the
opponent who is doing the firing, and so on until all the casualties are removed.
9.5 Hits on Big Men

A Big Man who is attached to a Group that loses men dead will roll a D10. If the Big Man rolls a score
equal to or below the number of men killed in that Group in that turn then the Big Man is considered hit
rather than one of the men. He is not, however, necessarily dead. Roll a D6 to see what effect the hit
has.
Dice Effect
1-4 Lightly Wounded
5 Badly Wounded
6 Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
9.5.1 Which Means What?

A lightly wounded Big Man will reduce his Status by one for the rest of the game. If his status falls below
1 then he is considered badly wounded.
A Badly wounded Big Man is in a pretty poor state, however with medical assistance he may yet live. He
may have no further influence upon the game but his men may wish to save him by removing him from the
field of battle. Roll a D6. On a 4-6 two of his men will attempt to leave the table with him, taking him to
a casualty station. A Badly wounded man who is wounded again, no matter how lightly, is dead.
Dulce et decorum est… He’s a stiff, see Replacing Big Men, below.
9.5.2 Replacing Big Men

The loss of Big Men, be they badly wounded or dead, can, and should, impact on the efficiency of a force.
It is, however, possible that another leader will step forward from the ranks to fill the void. If the Big
Man is the last or only leader that a force has then it will happen automatically with no roll required,

otherwise the player should leave the dead Big Man’s card in the deck, and the next time it is dealt he
should roll a D6 to see if a replacement emerges.
EXPERIENCE ROLL REQUIRED

Veteran 3-6
Regular 4-6
Green 5-6
If the roll is not successful then remove the Big Man’s card from the deck. If the roll is successful a
replacement Big Man will step forward, being one rank junior to the man he replaced and one Status level
lower unless the original Big Man was Status I when that level is retained. The replacement Big Man may
act immediately.
9.5.3 Targeting Big Men

Naturally Big Men may choose to move independently of any Group. If this is the case they may not be
fired on unless by a sniper, however the enemy may attempt to capture them, recognising their worth as a
potential source of information.
To capture a Big Man a Group must move to contact him. The Big Man may engage them in close combat,
but if he loses or the dice are 4:1 in favour of his attackers he is considered overwhelmed and captured.
9.6 Shooting Mounted Troops

When firing at mounted men the following rules should be used.
A kill result on a mounted man will be diced for to see if it kills the man or the horse. On a 1 to 3 the
horse will take the hit, on a 4 to 6 the man. If the man is hit treat this as normal, if, however, the horse
is hit then roll a D6. On 1-3 the horse will ignore the wound, on 4-6 the horse will be killed
Troopers dismounted due to the loss of a horse will then operate as Rifleman. They will suffer all the
penalties of being isolated and leaderless.
9.7 Shooting Gunners

Reducing the numbers of men serving a gun will, naturally, reduce its effectiveness. Guns will normally
be served by a crew of five figures. For every two gunners less it will take one additional Action Dice to
load the piece. For each two Shock points on the crew one firing dice will be removed to represent
poorer aiming.
9.8 Shooting Flamethrowers

A "kill" result on a member of the flamethrower squad may disable the device; it will be inoperable on a
roll of 1-3 on a D6 with 1 resulting in the fuel tank exploding for a light weapon, 1 or 2 for a heavy one.
Any figures within 4” (heavy) or 3” (light) will roll the appropriate dice for one shot of fire from the
weapon, taking casualties accordingly.
9.9 Shooting Blinds – The Exception to the Rule

As a norm Blinds may not be fired on. However the exception is barrages and sustained fire machine guns
which will fire on any Blinds in their target area. Barrages are covered in Section 10. The machine gun
fires as normal, with the number of hits being noted. The effect of the fire is only diced for once the unit
is deployed on the table, with any “kills” removed as dead but any resulting points of Shock being ignored.
No Big Men casualties will be diced for.

10 Off-Table Support
Off-table fire is limited to artillery or machine guns, and is broken down into either Barrage, SOS fire or
sustained machine gun fire.
10.1 Artillery Barrages

Artillery barrages are pre-planned affairs, fired against known enemy positions and following a set
timetable or being represented as pre-game bombardments. They are covered in detail in Supplementary
Section One, Great War Artillery. In the case of a barrage the player should be allocated a number of
turns of fire he has available either based on the scenario or using the Support Generator table (shown
later).
He should then state where and when he wishes his bombardment to land, typically splitting this between
the wire, the enemy’s front line positions and their support positions.
A simple barrage will be 6” deep and be as wide as the table. This will be moved according to the
player’s pre-set plan, with its effect calculated and movement happening on the Snifter card.
10.1.1 Effect of Barrage

Groups under a barrage can do nothing other than roll on the barrage table to see how they are affected.
This will be in three possible ways: They may stay at their post relatively unscathed; they may remain at
their posts but suffer casualties, or they may be driven to take shelter by the power of the barrage.
The actual effect is diced for once the barrage ceases and the player attempts to activate the groups.
This is done by rolling 1D6 for each turn that the Group was under the barrage and adding +1 to the result
if Mustard Gas is included in the barrage. Each result is then applied before the next dice is added to the
cumulative total and that result then applied. This continues until one dice has been rolled for each turn
under the barrage.
The calibre and number of gun are not important within the context of a game at this level, although
representing the effect of light guns, field guns rather than heavy artillery, is possible by deducting -1
from each dice roll after the first.
Dice Effect
12+ Unit takes cover in shelters and may not return to the trenches until the barrage ceases. Once the
11 barrage is over each group will roll a D6 when they are activated. On 1-4 they remain in the
10 shelters, on 5-6 they emerge in the trenches. Add +1 to the dice on subsequent turns. Add 1D4
9 points of Shock if Mustard Gas is in the barrage.
8
Roll for 1D6 hits on the unit, reducing cover by one level. Any crewed weapons are destroyed on
7
a 1 on the roll of a D6. Do not dice for Big Men losses. Double any Shock if Mustard Gas is used in
6
the barrage
5
4
3 Barrage has minimal effect. Group takes one point of Shock but may remain manning the
2 trenches.
1
Before the introduction of instantaneous fuses in late 1917 any ground crossed by this barrage will count
as -1” per dice of movement. After that time any dice for the effect of British barrage fire on wire will
have a +1 applied.
10.1.2 Troops with No Cover

Troops in hastily constructed positions or in outpost positions may well find themselves wanting to take
cover in shelters, but not having that option. The cumulative total for these troops will never be
considered more than 8, with any rolls that would bring the total to more than that taking casualties on
the 5-8 result line, but doubling any Shock suffered for that roll.

The Boche barrage was terrible to behold, falling along our position for three turns before
moving on to the support trenches. Once it was over I attempted to activate the Lewis
group to get them to man the parapet. I rolled a D6 for the first turn. It was a 4;
minimal effect, just a point of Shock. The dice for the second turn came up 3. Added to
the 4 that game a cumulative total of 7. That was nasty, I rolled 1D6 and the Group took
four hits, they lost one man and took two points of Shock. I was now praying that my last
dice would be a 1, as that would bring the cumulative total to 8 and, despite meaning more
likely casualties, they would at least still be up in the trench and ready for action. No such
luck. A roll of 6 saw the total reach 13, they had gone down in the dug-out and needed calling
up. I rolled a 2 and they remained below. This would now be a race to the parapet!
10.1.3 Shorts
Any friendly groups who come within 18” of the barrage must dice for any under-shoots and friendly fire
casualties that occur. If within 6” of the barrage a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-4, if between 6”
and 12” a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-3. If between 12” and 18” a group will take 1D6 hits on a
roll of 1. As usual artillery fire will reduce cover by one level.
If a Blind comes under friendly fire then any hits are diced for as normal, but the effect is not calculated
until the figures come off the Blind and are placed on the table.
10.2 Preliminary Bombardments

The type of in-game barrage we have described above relates to fire in support of an attack. Larger
attacks against known enemy positions would be preceded by a preliminary bombardment. In this case,
we treat this as a pre-game event, with the game beginning as the last gun falls silent. It may be that you
wish to combine the pre-game bombardment with a barrage using both mechanisms to represent a specific
fire plan.
For each group or support weapon that has been under the bombardment roll on the following table
adding +1 if Tear or Chlorine Gas is used in the bombardment, +2 if Mustard Gas is used.
ROLL GROUP WEAPON

8 3 dead, 5 Shock Two dead, three shock
7 2 dead 5 Shock One dead, four shock
6 2 dead, 4 Shock Destroyed
5 2 dead, 2 Shock Damaged, 6 on D6 to mend
4 1 dead, 2 Shock Two crew dead
Two Shock
3 2 dead, 1 shock One crew dead, Three Shock
2 No dead, 4 shock No dead, two Shock
1 No dead, 2 shock No dead, one Shock
Next roll a D6 for each Group to see the morale effect the bombardment has had.
DICE EFFECT
1-2 The Group will have gone below ground badly shaken. Once the barrage is over they will
roll a D6 when activated. On a 1-5 they remain in the shelters, on a 6 they emerge.
They may add +1 to their dice each time they attempt this on subsequent activations
3-5 The Group will have gone below ground badly shaken. Once the barrage is over they will
roll a D6 when activated. On a 1-4 they remain in the shelters, on 5 or 6 they emerge.
They may add +1 to their dice each time they attempt this on subsequent activations
6 The Group has remained at its post in the trenches

10.3 Troops in Bunkers
Troops in well constructed concrete bunkers dice as normal for barrages, ignoring any kill results but
counting Shock as normal. They are considered to be in shelters already so will not to have to go down to
dugouts, nor will they have to dice to emerge from their shelter.
In preliminary bombardments the troops in the bunker roll a D6, on any result other than a 6 the unit
takes that many points of Shock. On a 6 the bunker has been neutralised and the crew lost.
10.4 SOS Fire

This represent reactive support fire called in on pre-registered targets. Consequently it may only be
available to troops defending trenches who have been able to spend several days co-ordinating their
defences.
A defender may pre-register one target for every 24” of front on the tabletop and may call in fire with
either a Forward Observation Officer or a Sentry or Outpost. Normal SOS fire is four rounds of fire per
turn on the chosen aiming point using a Deviation Dice and 2D6 to see where the rounds land. Each round
has a 4” radius with 6D6 for effect and reduces cover by one level.
An SOS barrage will normally fire for three turns on the SOS card, however it may be called off by a
counter-signal or be extended. If extended it will fire until called off or any double is rolled for deviation.
10.5 Machine Gun Barrages

These complex affairs represented the zenith of machine gun tactics and were peculiar to the British
Army, other participants preferring to keep their machine guns in a front line role. Machine gun barrages
are dependant on multiple weapons firing on fixed lines to saturate an area of ground, denying its use to
the enemy. To represent this realistically is difficult in a game of the size we are attempting, the
simplest and most effective way is to simply stop any movement in the area concerned other than by
armoured vehicles. It is more likely that a machine gun barrage will be used to stop enemy
reinforcements entering the table than actually fire on the main body of the gaming table.
10.6 Sustained Fire Machine Guns

These operate in almost exactly the same fashion as on-table sustained fire weapons, however the player
must select the fire lane before the start of the game, either notifying an umpire or marking it on a sketch
map.
The off-table sustained fire machine gun will mark two points on the table edge, one of which must be
within 6” of their own front line. This then creates a fire lane from the weapon to that point that
extends to 3” either side of the straight line (so a 6” wide lane of fire). When any enemy unit moves or
fires within 3” of that fire lane the machine gun fires with one action dice. Any groups within that fire
lane that are not activated during the turn will be fired on when the Snifter Card is dealt. There are no
limits to how many times a sustained fire weapon may fire in any turn.
10.7 Forward Observation Officers

An FOO card will be included in the deck if one of these is present. In normal circumstances he will act as
a second artillery card, the first one being drawn is used, the second is ignored.
In the late war, when shoots may be called in to support advancing troops in open warfare the FOO will be
required to call this in. Treat these shoots as SOS fire but on a target of choice rather than a pre-
designated point. Once called for the first turn of the artillery card will represent the ranging shot, with
one shell diced for using 4D6 deviation.
Once the ranging shot has come in the FOO’s next card will confirm the fall of the shot and on the
following artillery or FOO card the guns will fire for effect.
10.8 Gas
There were three main types of gas used during the Great War; lachrymatory, asphyxiates and toxic
blistering gasses. Lachrymatory gas is also known as tear gas and was used as early as 1914 with barely
noticeable results, the target often not even noticing its effect, however variants were used later in the
war to induce sneezing, thereby obliging the target to remove his gas mask and allowing more toxic gases

to have their effect. Asphyxiates, such as Chlorine and Phosgene, were more virulent irritants, affecting
the nose, throat and lungs of the target and, in extreme cases, causing death by asphyxiation. However
toxic gases that attacked the skin as well as the eyes and lungs, called Mustard gas by the British and
Americans, was by far the worst gas used, causing terrible blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs as well
as temporary or permanent blindness.
Gas is a particularly nasty weapon if troops have no defence against it, however as soon as the Germans
initiated the use of gas as a weapon all sides began providing gas masks of one form or another for their
forces which allowed them to function where tear gas, chlorine or Phosgene were present. Mustard Gas
affected the skin of the victim as well as the lungs, so gas helmets or masks were of limited effect, but
this efficiency was tempered by the fact that mustard gas had a tendency to linger for long periods of
time, up to a week in fact, and troops were understandably loathe to go anywhere near it. As such its
prime use was to create a physical barrier rather than to open the way for the attack. In many respects
gamers would be advised to not use Mustard Gas in a game of this scale.
10.8.1 Deploying Gas

Gas may be included in a barrage, in which case it may be added to all or part of a barrage as the player
wishes. Alternatively gas may be delivered by release from canisters or cylinders and then being reliant
on the wind to move it towards the enemy, or by the more accurate method of gas shells from artillery
pieces or purpose built projectors. In these cases the cloud produced will cover an area of 24” by 18”.
Once deployed it will move 4” per turn with the wind (see section 2.5). Naturally the side using the gas
would be cognisant of wind direction before they deployed the weapon.
Deploying Gas by shells is done with the player declaring his aiming point and then rolling 2D6 and a
deviation dice to establish the centre point of the gas cloud. The 24” side of the cloud will always be
parallel to the player’s table edge.
10.8.2 Effect of Gas

On the first turn that a Group or weapon team find themselves in a Tear or Chlorine Gas cloud they will
roll for 1D4 hits on the effect of hits table (section 9.3) counting no cover. Troops in a Mustard Gas cloud
will do the same with 1D6, doubling any points of Shock that result. On subsequent turns troops in a
Mustard Gas cloud will roll for 1D4 hits, ignoring any kills but counting Shock as normal. When troops are
in any gas cloud command ranges are halved, all spotting will be undertaken with a -2 on the dice roll.
Any group firing will lose one dice in five.
Any ground that has been passed over by a mustard gas cloud will remain toxic; troops who pass through it
will roll 1D6 each turn for hits on the hit effect table counting no cover. Kill results do not apply, but are
treated as additional Shock.

11 Bottle
Shock has several effects on the battlefield; it slows down troops, it reduces their effectiveness when
firing, but maybe most important of all is its use to represent the morale of a group.
Groups that have accumulated excessive Shock points will become shaky and inclined to retire; this is
termed “losing their bottle”. If an infantry Group or weapon team has more Shock points than men
remaining it may retire as normal but it may not advance. When a Group reaches that point it will fall
back directly away from the enemy, whatever else it has done during the turn. The distance they retire
depends on their morale state. See the table below.
Morale Distance Retired
Good 1” per excess point of Shock
Reasonable 2” per excess point of Shock
Poor 3” per excess point of Shock
The exception here is troops in Heavy Cover who will simply be silenced, unable to fire, remain in their
position until they have accumulated double the number of Shock points as there are men remaining at
which point they will retire as normal.
The German fire was terrible, we’d already lost Bert and Nosher from our little Group, and
with only six men left we were feeling more than sorry for ourselves, especially with five
points of Shock. Fritz fired again! No dead this time, but three points of Shock was
enough to see out total, now eight, rise higher than the six men we had left. We could
stand it no longer, and began to crawl back away from the enemy. This was no rout, overall
our morale was reasonable, but we still fell back four inches to try to avoid that dreadful fire.
11.1 When Does this Happen?

A Group loses its bottle as soon as it reaches the point where the number of points of Shock exceeds the
number of men. This is most likely to be when it is fired upon or during a close combat. Subsequently the
group will retire on each Snifter card if it is in the open. If it reaches cover it may stop retiring, however
it will automatically recommence its withdrawal if it takes any further Shock or losses from fire, or if an
enemy attempt to enter close combat.
11.2 What Can Troops Who Have Lost their Bottle Do?
They may move as long as they do not go any closer to the enemy than they currently are. They may fire,
albeit with their effect reduced by their Shock. They may spot and take cover as normal.
11.3 How do Troops Recover their Bottle?

The only way to recover bottle is to remove the points of Shock. This may be done by a Big Man using his
initiative, or, in the case of an elite unit, to remove it with the Rally card.
11.4 Mounted Troops and Bottle

If a mounted cavalry Group has more Shock points than men remaining it must withdraw out of enemy
effective small arms range, retiring on the next Snifter Card, and subsequent ones if required, and be
rallied before it can take any aggressive action. It is recommended that all of its Shock points are
removed, however the player may choose to only remove sufficient to reduce the number of Shock points
to less than the number of men remaining, however a Group only partially rallied will be very susceptible
to further losses.
11.5 Artillerymen and Bottle

Artillery crews suffering more Shock points than men remaining will see their effectiveness reduced as
their firing dice are reduced, but will hold their ground until the number of Shock points is twice their
strength, at which point they will abandon their piece, running to the nearest place of safety or until the
enemy are out of 18” when they may rejoin their weapon if sufficiently rallied to move back.

12 Close Combat
Close combat occurs when any Group comes within 4” of the enemy, and represents the use of all
weapons to hand, from grenades and pistols to entrenching weapons and the bayonet. This includes
assaults on strong-points where attackers have worked in close enough to launch an attack on firing slits
or doors. Ordinarily this will happen when a Big Man leads an attack with his initiative, however it is
possible for Groups to simply stumble into one another, in which case none of the modifiers for initiative
count.
Close combat is calculated by breaking the combat down into Groups fighting, not the Formation as a
whole. All the men in a Group will join the fight, even if they are not in immediate contact, so long as
they are within 9” of the enemy. Any figures outside that distance are unable to take part until they
move close to the enemy. Where multiple groups are involved in a close combat the fight should be
broken down into Group sized parts, with the side with the most men eligible to fight choosing how this is
broken down.
12.1 Calculating Close Combat

Both sides roll 1D6 for each man they have in the fight, including Big Men, and adjust as follows in this
order:
Add 1D6 for each point of fervour added with Big Man’s Initiative
Add 1D6 for each two status levels for all Big Men (round down)
Each Experience level higher than enemy +2 dice per Group
Per dice of enemy’s movement this turn -2 dice per dice
Per two Shock points on the Group -1 dice
Aggressive troops +½ dice each
Bombers +½ dice each
Each trench cleaner present +1 dice
Each “trench broom” weapon +2 dice
Defending light cover Add one additional dice per three dice so far
Defending medium Cover Add one additional dice per two dice so far
Defending heavy cover Add two additional dice per three so far
Hit in rear Lose half the dice
Lancers v other cavalry in first round Add two dice
Lancers v other cavalry 2nd round onwards Loose two dice
Cavalry charging with élan Add one additional dice per four dice so far
Cavalry v infantry in the open Double dice
If one side has four or more times the number of dice as their opponent (three times if fighting troops
with poor morale) then the side with the lesser dice routs immediately, falling back 3D6 inches with their
backs to the enemy and taking an automatic six Shock points per Group. If surrounded they will
surrender. Otherwise the two players roll their total number of dice. Each 6 kills one enemy, each 5 is
one point of Shock on the enemy.
12.2 Results of Close Combat

Compare both sides' losses of dead (not Shock points) and refer to the list below:
Draw: Fight again immediately. This occurs for a maximum of three rounds, after which
both sides retire 2” to take a breather, recommencing on any participating Big
Man’s card if he so desires.
Defeated by 1: Thrown back 6” (12” for cavalry) facing your enemy, may act as desired.
Defeated by 2: Thrown back 9” (18” for cavalry) facing your enemy, add a further two Shock
points. You may only fire in your next turn.
Defeated by 3: Thrown back 12” (24” for cavalry) facing your enemy, add a further two Shock
points per Group. You may only fire in your next turn

Defeated by 4 or more: Thrown back 18” (24” for cavalry), double the number of Shock points taken. If
no escape the survivors surrender. The winner allocates guards at 1 to 5 ratio.
No movement or firing in the next turn.
Superior and/or Aggressive troops ignore a defeat by 1, and fight again immediately. Inferior troops who
lose will consider their defeat one level worse than it is, so a “defeated by 2” becomes “defeated by 3”
and so on.
I led my men forwards towards the American lines; we hurled grenades and leapt down into the
trench with trench knives at the ready. There were six of us, three bombers and three
trench cleaners, tough men who were veterans of many such fights. We started with six
dice and then worked down the list from the top, adding or subtracting dice where
necessary. I had added a point of fervour with a spare initiative point; bringing our total
to 7, and another for my Big Man Status, so 8. We were Stormtroopers, well trained and
motivated, so we got four dice for our experience level exceeding the Americans by two,
and we are aggressive troops, so a further ½ dice each, three more making 15. One more
dice for the three bombers (½ a dice each rounded down) and three more for the trench
cleaners. So 19 dice in all.
There were ten Americans, so they started with ten dice. Their Corporal had a Big Man status of 1, so
nothing for that as we round down. We had moved with two dice to reach the trench, so they added +4
dice for that. They may have been Green troops, but they were certainly aggressive, getting five more
dice (½ a dice per man) bringing it to 19. They were also defending a trench, medium cover, giving them
one extra dice for each two so far. Another nine dice (remember, we always round down), so 28 dice.
The American rolled four 6’s and four 5’s, four kills and five points of Shock. We rolled two 6’s and five
5’s. So we lost by 2 and the remaining two of us (I survived my roll for Big Man casualties) were thrown
back 9” and added a further two points of Shock, bringing our total to seven points of Shock. They may
be green, but these Americans are still tough fighters!
12.3 Cavalry Defeating Infantry

Any infantry Group that loses to cavalry and is defeated by 2 or more will automatically rout 12". If the
cavalry have taken less than 50% of the kills that the defeated infantry took then they are under control
and may act as the player desires. If, however they took 50% or more kills than the infantry then they are
out of control and will pursue, remaining in contact with the routers until they kill them all, drive them
from the table, or are interrupted by other enemy troops entering into close combat with them. The
routers continue to run at 12" per turn.
12.4 Clearing Buildings

Multi-storey Buildings must be captured one floor at a time by troops engaging in close combat. Any
troops on the level of a building that is being attacked may join in close combat to defend it. If they are
defeated and a withdraw result is achieved then they may, if the structure allows, retire to a higher or
lower floor. This will, however, be limited to three men per turn if the only access is a ladder rather than
a stairway. If no retreat is possible the occupiers will surrender.
Troops defending a level of a building against an enemy attacking from a different level, above or below,
count as defending light cover if the enemy is attacking up a broad stairway, or hard cover if they are
attacking up a ladder or narrow stairway.
12.5 Capturing Bunkers & Dug Outs

Large bunker or fort complexes must be treated in the same way as buildings, being cleared one area,
rather than storey, at a time. Bunker and fort designs will vary hugely, however what constitutes an area
must be based on common sense, it being impossible to legislate for with generalities.

Normally bunkers or dug-outs will be significantly smaller affairs, more shelters than fighting positions.
These tended to be captured once the enemy had reached their entrance and the occupants had no route
of escape. If a Group of attackers reaches the entrance to a bunker or dug-out the occupants may be
offered the opportunity to surrender. To see if they choose that option roll a D6. On a 1-4 they will
surrender on a 5 or 6 they will come out fighting, entering close combat with their opponents counting as
defending light cover. Add one to the roll if they are accompanied by an officer Big Man.
Alternatively the attacker may throw grenades into the bunker or dugout, rolling 8 dice on a target
counting no cover. After this the troops in the dug-out will either surrender if their bottle has gone (see
section 11) or roll a D6 for their reaction. On a 1-3 they will surrender, on 4-6 the survivors, incensed will
come out fighting, entering close combat with their opponents counting as defending light cover
12.6 Taking Prisoners

Prisoners were often a valuable source of information and often raids would be launched with the specific
intention of capturing men for interrogation. In order to capture a man he must be overwhelmed or
surrender. If this is the objective of a close combat then any enemy dead may be rolled for, on a 5 or 6
on a D6 they are captured rather than dead.
Prisoners who have lost their bottle may be sent back unaccompanied, other prisoners will need one guard
per five men.
12.7 Fighting “Round the Bend”

In trenches, where an enemy is not necessarily in view due to the traverses, close combat may still occur
representing the use of grenades.
13 Night Fighting
Fighting at night was a factor of the Great War that is both impossible to avoid and difficult to model. For
the sake of simplicity we have kept things as straightforward as possible.
At night visibility is reduced depending on the state of the moon. A bright night can generally be
represented by shifting the spotting target one column to the right (i.e. making it harder to spot), a pitch
black night using two shifts to the right.
Flares may be used, illuminating an area with an 18” radius from the aiming point (roll 2D6 for deviation),
and will last until the third Snifter card. When a flare is up any troops in the illuminated zone will be
spotted as per daylight but with a -2 on the target roll if stationary. On the turn after the flare dies there
will be no spotting allowed at all. The number of flares available may be restricted by the scenario or the
players may simply roll 1DAV to see how many are available.
Troops firing in the dark will automatically be spotted due to their muzzle flashes, and so are deployed on
the table as normal.

14 Wire & Engineering
Wire tended to be deployed in thick belts, both for the purpose of protecting front line positions and for
channelling any enemy attacks into areas best covered by firepower. We recommend that wire be
constructed in 3” square sections for easy removal. Wire may be cut in several ways, as detailed below.
The state of wire can best be described in the following fashion.
State Effect
4 No breach
3 Wire crossable at -3” per movement dice on any movement dice that turn
0 Wire destroyed completely, no movement penalty
14.1 Artillery on the Wire

Wire may be cut by artillery as part of a barrage or, for simplicity, this may be considered a pre-game
event. Either way, once attacking forces reach, or spot, the enemy wire they may establish what state it
is in using the following table. Roll a D6 and adjust as follows:
The wire has been under the barrage for one turn: -2
The wire has been under the barrage for two turns: -1
The wire has been under the barrage for four turns: +1
The wire has been under the barrage for more than four turns: +2
1914-15 -2
1916 -1
British in 1918 +1
Check the final score to see the state of the wire as below.
Result Effect
0 or less State 4
1 State 3
2 State 2
3 State 1
4 State 0
14.2 Bangalore Torpedoes

These, or the German improvised charge from multiple grenade heads, are normally employed by Pioneers
or Engineers and require a full turn stationary to put in place. On the turn after they have been deployed
they roll a D6. On 1-5 the torpedo explodes, removing a complete 3” by 3” section of wire. On a roll of 6
the fuse is faulty and requires one full turn to replace.
14.3 Tripwire and Alerts

Sections of wire may be trip-wired, with any group attempting to cut their way through being spotted on a
roll of 4-6 on a D6 whatever the visibility.
14.4 Tasks & Engineering Works

The very nature of trench warfare meant that certain engineering or construction tasks needed to be
undertaken under the most extreme circumstances. Troops seizing enemy positions would be obliged to
prepare these for a speedy counter-attack by the enemy, which involved them in blocking lines or
approach with hastily constructed barricades or pre-prepared equipment, such as Chevaux-de-frise or
coiled “French” wire. In captured trenches the fire step and parapets were, naturally, facing the wrong
way, so adjustments would have to be made rapidly in order to prepare these to meet any enemy threat,
equally a shell hole could be made into a good fire position by adding a parapet.
Within the rules we suggest allocating a numerical value to any such engineering works undertaken, with
the troops allocated to that task rolling a dice each turn and succeeding once the cumulative total
reaches the required level.

For example, the total required for constructing an impromptu trench barricade is 30. One man
attempting this will roll 1D6 for each turn he is involved in that activity, likewise six men will roll 6D6.
Once the cumulative total reaches 60 the barricade is complete.
Blinds undertaking such tasks will always count as 6 men whatever the strength of the unit they contain.
They may not, however, roll more dice than the maximum number of men that may be allocated to a task.
We suggest the following numerical values are allocated to these tasks.
TASK VALUE NOTES

Construct a trench barricade 60 A maximum of six men may be employed on this task
Construct 6” of trench fire step 80 A maximum of 12 men may be employed on this task
Construct 6” of parapet 40 A maximum of 12 men may be employed on this task
Deploy a Chevaux-de-frise 12 A maximum of two men may be employed on this task
Deploy a 4” length of French wire 12 A maximum of two men may be employed on this task
Dig a one man scrape 24 A maximum of one man may be employed on this task
Remove a trench barricade 30 A maximum of six men may be employed on this task
Clear a trench of French wire 18 A maximum of four men may be employed on this task
Clear a trench of Chevaux-de-frise 18 A maximum of four men may be employed on this task
Reduce a wire section by one state 16 A maximum of four men may be employed on this task
These are clearly guidelines and the scenario designer should feel free to adjust and amend these to
represent certain ground conditions or add other tasks of his own. For each Pioneer involved in
attempting a task +1 should be added to the total in any one turn.
14.5 Effect of Works

A trench that has a fire step constructed may be defended by troops firing from it, however without a
parapet it will only offer light cover. With a parapet it offers medium cover as is normal for a trench. A
shell-hole that has a parapet added will also offer medium cover and these were used extensively by the
Germans in the late war.
Trench barricades, French wire, which is pre-coiled wire ready for speedy deployment, and Chevaux-de-
frise were generally used to block trenches. Once deployed they are considered impassable if defended.
If undefended they may be removed in the same way as they were deployed, with a task roll.
14.6 Incomplete Works

Works that are only partially complete, possibly interrupted by enemy action, are ignored.
14.7 Major Works

Within the scope of this game it is considered that any heavy construction work, such as digging trenches,
is impossible. Such work may, however, be part of a campaign of several linked games so for information
purposes the following guidelines are suggested for what could be achieved.
In a few hours: Machine gun and rifle pits could be constructed, affording protection against machine gun
fire and shell fragments. Simple wire obstacles could be put in place. In half a day: Weapons pits could
be linked to forma rudimentary trench. In a whole day: Wire obstacles could be strengthened, and
communication trenches begun to crawl depth. In several days: A continuous network of trenches could
be constructed. In several weeks: A complete network of defences could be constructed, with
continuous trenches and shelters for the troops.

15 Armoured Vehicles
The Great War saw the birth of armoured warfare, with primitive machines used in the hope of breaking
the deadlock of the Western Front.
Tanks operate on their commander’s card in the same way that an infantry Group operates. Tank crews
that are doing more than one thing, such as moving and firing, or firing multiple weapons, will need
multiple Initiatives from their commander. Tanks are rated according to their speed, weapons and the
strength of their armour, as follows.
TYPE WEAPONS ARMOUR SPEED

BRITISH
Mark I Male: 2 6pdr guns, 2 LMGs. Female: 4 HMGs, 2 LMGs 3 1D6*
Mark IV Male: 2 6pdr guns, 3 LMGs. Female: 6 LMGs 3 1D6*
Mark V Male: 2 6pdr guns, 3 LMGs. Female: 6 LMGs 3 1D6*+1
Mark V Star Male: 2 6pdr guns, 3 LMGs. Female: 6 LMGs 3 1D6*
Mark A Whippet Four Hotchkiss LMGs (treat as Lewis Guns) 3 2D6+1
Rolls Royce A/Car One HMG 3 Wheeled
Lanchester A/Car One HMG 3 Wheeled
Austin A/Car Two HMGs in separate turrets 3 Wheeled
GERMAN
A7V One 57mm gun, Five MG 08/15 LMGs 3 1D6*+1
Eberhardt A/Car One HMG 3 Wheeled
FRENCH
Schneider CA 1 One 75mm gun, two LMGs 3 1D6*
St Charmond One 75mm gun, four LMGs 3 1D6*+1
FT 17 37mm gun or one LMG 3 1D6*+1
Charron A/Car One MG 2 Wheeled
White A/Car One 37mm gun, LMG 3 Wheeled
BELGIAN
Minerva A/Car Unarmed or one LMG 2 Wheeled
15.1 Armoured Movement

Armoured vehicles movement needs some explaining. The speed marked above should be applied as
follows:
Speed Distance Moved in Inches
1D6* Roll 2D6 and discard the lower dice, the tank moves the resulting distance in inches.
1D6*+1 Roll 2D6 and discard the lower dice but add one dice to the result.
2D6+1 Roll 2D6 and add +1 to each dice
Wheeled Roll 2D6 on road and double the total. Off road move the distance indicated on the
highest dice.
15.2 Armoured Breakdown

The tanks of the Great War were notoriously unreliable and dangerous for their crews due to the fumes
that were discharged into the crew compartment. If a double 1 is rolled for movement then the following
table is consulted.
Roll Result
1 Tank is overheating, no movement in the next turn.
2 Tank is overheating badly, no movement in the next two turns.
3/4 Tank has engine trouble, no movement until fixed. Roll a 6 on a D6. Try each turn.
5 The tank is completely broken down, it may not move for the rest of the game, but
may fire.
6 Crew has carbon monoxide poisoning. The crew must leave the tank for two turns to
recover. If contacted by the enemy they will surrender

15.2 Bogging Down/Crossing Trenches
Armoured vehicles moving in poor terrain will bog down if they roll a double 6 for movement. This may be
avoided by preceding the tank with a Big Man moving on foot to check the ground.
Tanks crossing trenches will bog down on any double roll, however if a fascine is employed this will be
limited to bogging down on a double 6. A fascine is attached to the front of the tank by wire which is
released by a lever that the driver controls. To deploy the fascine roll a D6. On 2-6 the fascine deploys
successfully. On a 1 the mechanism is jammed and needs to be manually operated from outside the tank
by one crew member. It will take him a turn to leave the tank, a further turn to deploy the fascine and
get back in the tank.
15.3 Squish!
Tanks may attempt to run over infantrymen and support weapons. Support weapons, such as mortars and
heavy machine guns, that are moved over by a tank are automatically lost. Infantrymen and weapon
crews roll a dice per man. On a 1 they are squashed, on a 3-5 they will retire directly away 12”, on a 6
they may make a desperate attack with a grenade bundle, the effect of which is calculated immediately.
If they succeed in halting the tank they survive, if they fail they are killed.
15.5 AFV Firing

Armoured vehicles were generally armed with a light gun or machine guns (treat all MGs listed as LMGs as
the Lewis Gun). Due to the very limited visibility these weapons will reduce the number of firing dice
they roll by one dice per Action Dice of fire when rolling for effect when stationary. Tanks moving with
one dice will lose two firing dice; those moving with more than one dice may not fire in that turn. All
firing by tank or armoured car guns is conducted on the direct support fire table in section 8.2.5.
15.6 Dismounted Tank Crew

The crew of a tank that has been permanently immobilised will rescue one or two machine guns and form
an impromptu infantry section. Their primary objective is to defend their tank so that it can be retrieved
after the battle and repaired, however if there is no enemy threat to the tank they may advance to
support the infantry.
15.7 Anti-Tank Fire

Anti-tank weapons can be either designed for the role or impromptu weapons that find themselves facing
tanks. Either way they have ranges identical to normal infantry fire (with the exception of the grenade
bundle which has a range of only 4”) and a number of strike dice which are used to decide the effect of
their fire. These are as follows.
Weapon Strike Dice
Grenade Bundle 2
Anti tank rifle 1
Armour Piercing MG ammunition 1
37mm Anti tank gun 4
37mm low velocity gun 2
57mm/6 pounder gun 3
75mm/77mm M1896/13 pounder gun 5
75mm Anti Aircraft Gun 6
77mm M1916/18 pounder 7
Guns firing against armour roll to hit as normal. If a hit is achieved they the roll their strike dice to see
the number of hits achieved, whilst the tank rolls one dice for each point of its armour class, giving the
number of saves. Hits or saves are achieved on 5 or 6 on a D6. If the net number of saves exceeds or
equals the number of hits then it has no effect. If, however, the number of hits exceeds the number of
saves roll again on the relevant table below with one D6 to see the effect.

Net One Hit
Dice Effect
1 Crew shocked, no movement next turn
2 Commander shocked, continue current movement in next turn
3 Weapon hit (dice for which), -1 to hit for all fire next turn
4 Driver shocked, bog in on any double next turn
5 Gunner shocked, no firing from one gun this turn.
6 Engine fire. Three turns to put out, 5 or 6 on a D6, or abandon
Net Two Hits

Dice Effect
1 Driver killed, no movement for rest of game
2 Gunner killed, one weapon destroyed (dice for which if required)
3 Commander killed, lose any Big Man bonus
4 Engine damage, -1” on movement. Engine packs up on any
subsequent double for movement.
5 Track damage, permanently immobilised.
6 Internal fire – 2 turns to put out, 5 or 6 on a D6, or abandon
Net Three Hits

Dice Effect
1-6 Tank on fire. Crew abandon. D6 for each, on 5 or 6 crew
member killed.
All around me men were struck with terror as the English behemoth lumbered towards our
trench; what kind of weapon was this? I worked rapidly to secure the bundle of grenades and
waited until the beast was but yards away before hurling the charge with all my might. I
rolled a D6, although it was close my grenades always count as effective range, I needed to
roll 4 or more. Yes, a 6! Now I rolled two strike dice for effect and the British player rolled
three for his armour class. I roll 2 and 5, so one hit, the British player rolls 1, 3 and 4, no
saves! So a net strike of 1 and I roll another D6 for the effect. A 1. So the British monster has
been shocked. I pray that my next attempt will meet with more success…

16 Aircraft
As the Great War progressed aircraft became increasingly adept at performing tasks way beyond the
reconnaissance role that they were originally deployed in. In 1917 the first real use of aircraft en masse
for ground support were used, and by 1918 this was a standard tactic for all participants.
Aircraft may be used to either spot or attack with machine guns or bombs.
16.1 Aerial Spotting

Spotting is undertaken as normal, however an aeroplane should get a +2 on his roll due to his lofty
perspective. Due to communication limitations the aircraft will not spot actual figures but will oblige any
groups deployed in hidden positions, such as trenches, to be placed on the table as Blinds. This represents
the identification of troop concentrations rather than actual troops and their types.
16.2 Aerial Attacks

As planes are attacking from above they will reduce any cover that their target enjoys by one level. The
only exception here is troops in bunkers who are immune to air attack except for heavy bombs which
attack as normal, i.e. the defender’s terrain is not reduced.
If a force has close air support a card will be included in the deck to represent this. Each time it is dealt
the player may choose whether to begin the air attack immediately or wait for a subsequent turn of the
card. Once the attack commences the plane may attack on subsequent turns until his ammunition is used
up or he is driven off or shot down by ground fire, at which point the card will be removed from the deck.
Ordinarily a scout plane will be able to attack once with bombs and twice with machine guns, using the
following dice for each attack. A bomber will be able to attack twice with heavy bombs
16.2.1 Making the Attack

When he decides to commence the attack the aeroplane model will be paced directly over the Group or
weapon that it is attacking, with the player declaring whether he is attacking with bombs or strafing with
machine guns. He rolls the following dice to hit.
Weapon Firing Dice

MGs 5
Light Bombs 8
Heavy Bombs 12
16.2.2 Attacking Structural Targets

Structural targets would normally be bridges or similar targets where the attacker is looking to destroy the
structure rather than simply kill enemy troops. Only bombers may attack structural target of any
significance and their chances of success can be tailored to suit any give scenario by giving the structure a
numerical defence value.
When bombing a structure the deviation dice should be used with 2D6, with the plane selecting an aiming
point and rolling the dice. For each hit on the structure roll a D6. Once the total of hits reaches the
structure’s defence value then it is destroyed. Any misses that hit troops will dice for hits as normal as
above.
Some typical values would be as follows:
Structure Defence Value

Small Stone Bridge 10
Large Stone Bridge 15
Steel Bridge 20
16.3 Archie
Aeroplanes attacking targets on the ground will be at risk from “Archie”, Anti aircraft fire. At the low
altitude we are talking about the heavier anti-aircraft guns, such as the British 3” or German 75mm guns

would not be able to intervene, however ground troops and the light weapons, such as the 1pdr Pom-Poms
and 3.7cm “Flaming Onions” can be effective.
Anti aircraft fire takes place when an aircraft is about to attack a ground target (i.e. it will only make its
attack AFTER the effect of Archie is calculated). The Group or weapon being attacked my fire, along with
any anti-aircraft weapons that are within 24” of the target unit and have line of sight to the aircraft. Roll
2D6 per firing Group or weapon.
Target is a Scout Aircraft 12 to hit

Target is a Bomber 11 or 12 to hit
An AA mounted machine gun may add +1 to their roll, the heavier anti-aircraft weapons add +2.
16.3.1 Damage to Aircraft

If a hit is obtained roll again to determine the effect it has.
Rolla D6
1-3 The aircraft is driven off but remains over the battlefield and may attack on a subsequent turn.
4-5 The aircraft is damaged, it aborts its mission and returns to base immediately.
6 The aircraft is shot down; it crosses the horizon trailing smoke and flames before exploding.
I say! There we were minding our own business when a damned cheeky Boche Scout flew
down and began shooting up our trench. It was tea time as well, so really not on at all.
I cried out to Simpkins to man the AA Lewis gun and give him a burst. Well, down he
came blazing away with his Spandaus, but Simpkins was too quick. He took the Hun high
like a pheasant, and rolled an 11, hit the blighter! We rolled for effect, a 4, and that was
the last we saw of the swine, he turned tail and flew for home. Mind you, my teacakes
were ruined. Damned uncivilised this war y’know.

Supplementary Section One
Great War Artillery
Whilst these rules focus on what are relatively small actions, it would be impossible to truly model the
Great War without some serious appraisal of artillery tactics during the conflict, and in particular to see
what impact that had on the battlefield and, from a wargamer’s perspective, on the games we play.
In 1914 the artillery of all the protagonists anticipated fighting their war in the way that they always had
done; deploying on the battlefield and firing directly at visible targets. In practice nothing could have
been further from the truth. Very rapidly at was seen that gunners could no longer function in the face of
enemy infantry. The loss of British guns at Le Cateau in August 1914 served as a cruel harbinger, showing
that war for the artilleryman was now changed for good and that a new role would have to be found that
involved indirect fire from a position of safety.
Primitive as the methods of communication were in 1914 the telephone did at least allow forward
observers to communicate with batteries and the advent of the military aeroplane allowed much effective
spotting to be done from the air. Indeed the use of balloons to lift the artillery spotters high above the
lines and afford them a grandstand view led to the expression “the balloon’s gone up” being used to
herald impending action.
What followed was a gradual process of development and improvement of artillery tactics as all sides
attempted to find the methods that worked best. A typical example of this change is the case of British
ammunition. In 1914 the British artillery was largely equipped with shrapnel, based on its efficacy in the
Boer War. As the experience of trench warfare was gained the demand shifted to high explosive shells as
these were found to be more efficient in cutting wire and inflicting casualties. An unwanted side-effect,
however, was that HE Shells caused excessive cratering of the landscape which slowed down the troops
that followed the bombardment. This was rectified in late 1917 when the type 106 fuse was introduced,
giving an instantaneous explosion above, rather than in, the ground. This process of change could not
have been anticipated, but only came about through on-going assessment of performance in action.
Equally other nations were to discover that their preparations had been faulty. The French reliance on
the famous “Soixante Quinze” left them without sufficient heavy guns to damage an entrenched enemy,
whilst the Germans, with their heavy siege guns, were ahead of the game, but the inaccuracy of their
77mm Field Gun made collaboration with advancing infantry problematic.
As trench warfare became the norm and prepared defences increased in strength and effectiveness, it was
recognised that the odds were being stacked firmly in the favour of the defender. A French study in 1915
concluded that even with numerical odd of twelve to one against him, an entrenched defender could still
defeat an attack. Now preliminary bombardments were introduced in an attempt to downgrade defences
and the defender’s will to resist in an attempt to tip the scales back to favour the attacker.
New techniques and weapons were sought. Gas was introduced in 1915, being deployed in a rather
rudimentary manner it needed the wind blowing in the right direction, something no General could
control, whereas by 1916 gas shells were allowing much greater accuracy and, therefore, efficiency. The
adoption of smoke shells in 1917 allowed advances to be undertaken in the face of an enemy now blinded
to his opponent’s intentions until the last minute.
Yet it was not in detonators or types of shell or even poisonous gasses that the greatest advances were
made. Gradually the types of barrage fired evolved to allow complex fire patterns to be developed to
achieve the most effective support possible for the advancing infantry. The first barrages were simple
affairs typified by the Straight Barrage, where artillery fired on a line which was advanced gradually
across the battlefield with the attacking infantry following it. This system had several problems, not least
of which was that it was wasteful, with the majority of shells falling on unoccupied ground and the
occupied areas consequently being under fire for less time than ideal. This latter issue was only solved by
preceding any attack with a massive bombardment along the front line positions, often for days or even
weeks before the actual attack was launched. Indeed the pattern was establish which was largely
retained up until 1918 whereby the artillery first undertook a preliminary bombardment of the enemy
positions before then using a moving barrage to “shoot in” the infantry attack.

The Piled-Up Barrage of 1916 was something of an improvement, with the barrage conforming to the
enemy’s positions once it reached them, concentrating fire on the occupied area, but the greatest
development was the Creeping or Rolling Barrage which saw two lines of barraged fired concurrently, with
each one successively leapfrogging the one in front as it advanced slowly across the battlefield. This had
the advantage of being continuous, with no breaks in firing as one set of guns continued to fire while the
other changed target. It also covered every inch of the potential battlefield, with the added physical and
psychological impact on the enemy.
Other barrages were used, often with two types being combined. The Box Barrage with three or four sides
would be used to seal off an area of the enemy’s front line, originally to allow large scale raids to be
launched without fear of large scale enemy reinforcements interfering with them and one or all of its
walls could be “walked” to scour the area. Later it was used once an attack had been successful to
protect the newly captured positions from an enemy counter-attack.
The Chinese Barrage was nothing more than an attempt to catch out an enemy. It was found that an
opponent under a bombardment, especially a Straight Barrage, would emerge from his dugouts as soon as
the barrage had passed by. The Chinese barrage was developed to walk the barrage backwards as well as
forwards, often catching the newly emerged enemy in his trenches. Sophisticated Chinese barrages could
walk back and forwards several times in an attempt to persuade the enemy to keep down in his dugouts
for enough time to allow an attack to go in. It could be argued that Oberst Brüchmuller’s Feurwaltz was
in fact little more than a rolling barrage of mixed shells with Chinese aspects to it.
What did become clear as the war progressed was that whilst fire was required to cut wire it was not the
destructive power of artillery that won battles, but rather the neutralising effect. Massive
bombardments, such as the one that preceded the July 1st attack on the Somme in 1916, were counter-
productive in that they telegraphed to the enemy exactly where your main attack was to be launched and
allowed him to bring his reserves into position behind the front line to oppose it. Even the process of
registering guns on their target – essentially a practice shoot in advance of the actual bombardment - was
sufficient to alert the enemy, and by late 1917 guns were being registered on firing ranges behind the
lines, where the peculiarities of each piece could be examined, rather than firing on enemy positions.
This technological advance, coupled with the advances in sound ranging technology, flash spotting, aerial
reconnaissance and photography were all applied to allow the protagonists to launch attacks where the
element of surprise was maintained. Enemy gun positions, previously hidden, were targeted accurately
and air power used to interdict communication routes to the enemy’s rear to restrict his ability to move
troops. Lengthy bombardments were abandoned for intense “hurricane” barrages on the positions to be
attacked and the types of shells used was varied to provide a combination of Shrapnel, High Explosive, Gas
and Smoke shells to provide the right balance for the specific task being undertaken. As such an attack by
the British in late 1917 or the Germans in early 1918 was a very different affair to those earlier in the war
and the success of the attacks, at least while the advancing infantry maintained contact with their guns,
was increased proportionately.
For the following infantry the main priority was to maintain contact with the barrage. Early in the war
the planners were overly optimistic in the speeds that their infantry could maintain when crossing the
battlefield, especially when it was scarred by shell holes, allowing the defender to emerge from their dug-
outs and man the fire step. By 1917 both sides were at a point where, based on previous experiences,
they could calculate precisely the number of guns required for the frontage of the attack and the type of
speeds that infantry could maintain. Infantry were encouraged to “lean on” the barrage, pushing up as
close as they dared to the wall of fire that preceded them. It was accepted that a percentage of losses
from shells dropping short was preferable to letting the barrage and infantry lose contact, thereby
allowing the defenders time to recover their wits and put up an effective defence.
Representing Artillery in Through the Mud and the Blood.

The basic barrage rules provided will quite possibly prove adequate for most gamers, however we suggest
the following options for those who wish to represent the various types of barrage in more detail. In the
nation specific section of the rules we have provided dates for when the various types of barrage can be
introduced reflecting their historical deployment.

The Straight Barrage
The Straight Barrage was used from 1915 onwards and is the simplest
form of barrage, firing in a straight line that is as wide as the table and
6” deep. Generally this will be programmed to move at between 6”
and 10” a turn. As with the basic artillery barrage rules this will
advance on each turn of the Snifter card.
The Piled-Up Barrage

Introduced in 1916, the piled up barrage began in a similar manner to
the Straight Barrage but upon reaching the enemy lines it literally
“piled-up”, conforming to the shape of the enemy positions so as to
thoroughly saturate the likely points of resistance. This begins in a
straight line, as wide as the table and 6” deep, when crossing the
enemy wire, but will assume the shape of the enemy line when
that is reached.
The Piled-Up Barrage will advance at a rate of between 6” and

12” per turn depending in the players fire-plan.
The Rolling Barrage

First used in 1915 this was still a rarity on the first day of the Somme in
1916, but became standard practice after that. It operated with two
concurrent barrages that leap-frogged forward, creating an unbroken
wall of fire that rolled across the terrain rather than jumping
forward.
The Rolling Barrage is as wide as the table and has a depth of

12”. It advances from 4” to 12” per turn
The Lifting Barrage

The lifting barrage was designed in an attempt to avoid
cratering the ground that the infantry were to cross. It did
this by restricting its fire to specific targets rather than
simply combing an entire area. The diagram at left shows
the lifting barrage firing first on two rows of wire before
then moving on to the front line and then support trenches.

The Box Barrage
First used in 1915, the box barrage was designed to box in an area,
either on all four or, more likely, on three sides. This was
particularly useful from protecting an attack or a raid from an
enemy counter attack.
This type of barrage was often used as a secondary barrage after

the attackers had taken a position in order to give them time to
put the captured ground into a state of readiness. There is no
restriction on the size of a box barrage.
The Chinese Barrage

The Chinese barrage was not actually a specific type of barrage,
but rather an attempt to stop the enemy emerging once a barrage
had passed. To do this the barrage would be walked backwards
as well as forwards, sometimes passing over the enemy positions
several times.
The diagram at left shows exactly this process, with the

barrage moving back and forth between the front and support
trench. How quickly this type of barrage moves and its
depth will depend entirely on the basic type of barrage that
this technique is being applied to.
In fact the capability and artillery of 1918 was little different to what could be achieved in the Second
World War. What did differ, and thereby shackle the potential of the arm, was the lack of effective,
reliable and portable communications between the infantry and the battery. In the end it was the man-
portable radio that would ensure that in later wars the breakthrough, so illusive in the Great War, could
be achieved.
General Comments on Barrages

The effect of a barrage is calculated using the normal rules for Off-Table Support Fire, but clearly how
long an enemy unit remains under the barrage will depend on the type of barrage and the speed it is
moving at. In normal circumstances a barrage will form a line across the table, parallel with the firing
player’s table edge, however there is absolutely no reason why the line barrage cannot be at any angle
the player chooses. Indeed the options for devising a fire plan are almost unlimited.
The player should, within the confines of historical precedent, be able to make up his barrage with any
types of shell he desires, including gas or smoke in the later stages of the conflict.
A Fire Plan
The Fire Plan that we use in the game is, to a large degree, abstracted, but nevertheless will provide an
interesting opportunity to tailor make the fire support you receive in your game. The level of support
available may be scenario led, particularly for games based on historical engagements, or may be simply
diced for using the following Support Generator which will allow your basic force to be supplemented
according to its role in the game.

Support Generator
When creating a force for a game we recommend that two relatively balanced sides are used as the basis
of a game; anything from 40 to 90 men a side organised into Platoons and squads or sections is an ideal
starting point. Once that is done each player should roll a D10 and add 10 to the total. That now gives
him the points of support that he can potentially call upon for the game.
The player now rolls a D10 to see what support he gets, noting the result and the cumulative point cost.
The player does this until all of his points are spent or he rolls a result that he cannot afford in terms of
the number of points he has remaining.
If the game is a straight attacker versus defender affair, then the two sides roll on the relevant Attacker
and Defender tables. For any other action which does not involved a major attack or raid then both sides
should roll on the Other Actions table.
Attacker’s Table
Dice 1914-1916 1917 1918
Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turn of
1 bombardment for each point bombardment for each point of bombardment for each point of
of support up to 6 support up to 6 support up to 6
Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turn of
2 bombardment for each point bombardment for each point of bombardment for each point of
of support up to 5 support up to 6 support up to 6
Bombardment. One turn of Add a trench mortar or Add a trench mortar or
3 bombardment for each point granatenwerfer team. granatenwerfer team.
of support up to 4
Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turns of Hurricane Bombardment. Two
4 bombardment for each point bombardment with gas for each turns of double effect
of support up to 4 point of support up to 6 bombardment with gas for each
two points of support up to 6
Pre-Game recce of enemy Add air support to strafe enemy Add air support to strafe enemy
5 wire. Spot on four sections positions for 2 points per plane positions for 2 points per plane
of wire for no cost up to three in total. up to three in total.
1914: Nothing Add one turn of Gas to a Add one turn of Gas to a
6 1915 on: Add one turn of Gas bombardment for one point per bombardment for one point per
to a bombardment for one three turns. three turns.
point per three turns
Add an additional twenty Add an additional sixteen men Add an additional twelve men
7 men in Groups of players in Groups of players choice (no in Groups of players choice (no
choice (no support weapons) support weapons) for three support weapons) for three
for three points points points
Add one HMG for two points Add one HMG or LMG for two Add one HMG or LMG for two
8 either on the table or in an points either on the table or in points either on the table or in
off-table sustained fire role. an off-table sustained fire role. an off-table sustained fire role.
Bombardment. One turn of Bombardment. One turn of Hurricane Bombardment. Two
9 bombardment for each point bombardment for each point of turn of double effect
of support up to 3 support up to 6 bombardment for each two
points of support up to 6
10 Any of the above of player’s Any of the above of player’s Any of the above of player’s
choice. choice OR an armoured vehicle choice OR an armoured vehicle
for five points. for five points
Constructing Your Fire Plan

Clearly an early war Straight Barrage will not need much planning; the player simply decides where to
start it and how fast it will move. More complicated barrages will allow more choice in where to
concentrate fire, and will consequently need more planning. Once the attacker has rolled for his support
he may then construct his fire plan with the points of bombardment available. In doing so he allocates
the points available to specific areas of the enemy defences, as follows.

AREA COMMENTS
If an attack is going to get anywhere near the enemy positions it will need to ensure
Wire that the wire is breeched.
Front Line This is the enemy first line of defence which will need softening up before the
attacking troops go in.
How many of these there are depends on the position being attacked. Troops in this
Support Lines area cannot assist those in the front line while they are under the barrage, thereby
allowing the attacking infantry to carry out their attack without interference.
Counter Battery Enemy SOS Barrages can be devastating so the attacker will want to silence their guns
when possible.
With Straight or Rolling barrages you will need to decide what speed they should advance at per turn, and
with more complex Lifting or Chinese barrages the timings of the shifts in target or changes of direction
will need to be planned as well. Barrages may speed up, slow down or remain stationary for a number of
turns as the player desires. Once a barrage begins the fire plan may not be altered.
Constructing Your Defence

While the attacker makes his plans the defender checks for his assets. His artillery is much more reactive
than his opponents and he needs to select one target for every 24” of front line for his guns to pre-register
on so that they are available for firing an SOS Barrage to protect the front line trenches. Additionally the
player will need to decide where to place his forces; in the front line where they can fight off any
attacker but may be susceptible to enemy bombardment, or the support line from where they can launch
counter attacks but may not be immediately to hand to fight off the initial attack.
Some forces will have some of these choices made for them, the British were more inclined to keep the
bulk of their force in the front line, whereas the Germans preferred to lightly hold the front line and then
rely on heavy counter-attacks. All of this information is included in the force specific section of the rules.
Defender’s Table
Dice 1914-1916 1917 1918
1 SOS Bombardment. One turn SOS Bombardment. One turn of SOS Bombardment. One turn of
of bombardment for each bombardment for each point of bombardment for each point of
point of support up to 6 support up to 6 support up to 6
of bombardment for each bombardment for each point of bombardment for each point of
point of support up to 5 support up to 6 support up to 6
3 Player may select any result Player may select any result Player may select any result
4 Add one HMG for 2 points in Add one HMG for 2 points in an Add one HMG for 2 points in an
an on or off-table role. on or off-table role. on or off-table role.
5 Twenty men may enter the Sixteen men may enter the Eight men may enter the table
table in the support trenches table in the support trenches on in the support trenches on turn
on turn 6 in Groups of turn 6 in Groups of players 6 in Groups of players choice
players choice (no support choice (no support weapons) for (no support weapons) for 3
weapons) for 3 points 3 points points
6 Nothing, lose 2 points Nothing, lose 2 points Nothing, lose 2 points
7 Twenty men may enter the Sixteen men may enter the Twelve men may enter the
table in the support trenches table in the support trenches on table in the support trenches on
on turn 6 in Groups of turn 6 in Groups of players turn 6 in Groups of players
players choice (no support choice (no support weapons) for choice (no support weapons) for
weapons) for 3 points 3 points 3 points
8 Add one HMG for 2 points in Add one LMG team 2 points Add one LMG team 2 points
an on or off-table role.
of bombardment for each 2 bombardment for each point of bombardment for each point of
points of support up to 6 support up to 6 support up to 6
10 Any of the above of player’s Any of the above OR an anti Any of the above OR an anti-
choice. tank gun or rifle for four points tank gun or rifle for four points.
The two tables above are for games where the role of attacker or defender is clear cut and the forces are
operating from fixed positions in trenches. These actions are the easiest to game, however in the phases
of the war where open warfare was the norm, in 1914 and from spring 1918 onwards, support was much

rarer, especially when forces had out-paced the speed that their primitive communications network could
cope with. Equally the support for smaller actions, such as aggressive patrols in No-Mans-Land would not
generally be covered by a full barrage. In these situations we recommend that both sides dice for their
support on the “Other Actions” table below.
Other Actions Table

Dice 1914-1916 1917 1918
1 SOS Bombardment. One turn of SOS Bombardment. One turn SOS Bombardment. One turn of
bombardment for each point of of bombardment for each bombardment for each point of
support up to 4 point of support up to 5 support up to 4
bombardment for each point of of bombardment for each bombardment for each point of
support up to 3 point of support up to 4 support up to 2
3 Player may select any result Player may select any result Player may select any result
4 Add one HMG for 2 points in an Add one HMG for 2 points in Add one HMG for 2 points in an
on or off-table role. an on or off-table role. on or off-table role.
5 Twenty men may enter the Sixteen men may enter the Eight men may enter the table
table on the player’s base edge table on the player’s base on the player’s base edge on
on turn six in Groups of players edge on turn 6 in Groups of turn 6 in Groups of players
choice (no support weapons) players choice (no support choice (no support weapons) for
for three points weapons) for 3 points 3 points
6 Nothing, lose two points Nothing, lose 2 points Nothing, lose 2 points
7 Add a trench mortar with crew Add a trench mortar with crew Add a trench mortar with crew
8 Add one HMG for two points Add one LMG team 2 points Add one LMG team 2 points
either on the table or in an off-
table sustained fire role.
bombardment for each two of bombardment for each bombardment for each point of
point of support up to 4 point of support up to 5 support up to 3
10 Any of the above Any of the above Any of the above
All of the above are clearly guidelines that the players may wish to alter to represent the forces that they
have available to them. Naturally some players may not wish to go to the bother of making such plans,
and the rules will work perfectly without it, but no significant attack was undertaken without careful
planning, and this simple system does allow the gamer to replicate some of that in the space of just a few
minutes.
Counter Battery Fire

Counter-Battery fire was generally included in an attacker’s Fire Plan, with the intention of stopping an
SOS Barrage being called down on his troops. As the war progressed the effectiveness of these shoots
improved as sound ranging and flash spotting techniques, combined with aerial photography and
reconnaissance techniques were developed and improved.
To fire counter-battery the attacker must have allocated some of his barrage points to that task, being
able to attempt to block SOS fire once for each point allocated to that task. The effectiveness of counter-
Battery fire is checked when a defender attempts to fire an SOS barrage. The attacker rolls a dice and on
a roll of 4-6 the counter-battery fire (adjusted as below for the date) has been effective for that turn, and
no SOS Barrage may be fired.
A counter battery shoot in 1915 or 1916 rolls with a -1, from July 1917 onwards add +1.

Supplementary Section Two
National Guidelines
As touched on in the introduction, the Great War was a period of intense change and development, driven
along by the participants’ desire to break free of the mud and blood of the trenches, and to restore
mobility to the war, thereby allowing them to strike the knock-out blow that would deliver victory.
Much is made of the tactical innovations of the Germans, with the Stormtroopers surging forward with
novel and potentially war winning tactics, however to focus exclusively on the Germans is to miss the fact
that far reaching changes were occurring throughout the ranks of every army; innovation that was to see
the birth of modern infantry tactics.
The period of 1914 to 1918 saw soldiers of all nations move from fighting as serried ranks of almost
exclusively rifle armed infantrymen, to incorporate new weapons and tactics in a fashion that would
forever change the way that units were structured and fought on the battlefield. The pace and nature of
change was variable and dictated by the accumulation of experience and the opportunity to test new
theories, but ultimately the final destination was the same even if the paths differed in detail.
The following sections look at four of the main protagonists on the Western Front and consider their unit
structures and tactics throughout the conflict. They also make suggestions for when various technologies
became available and how best to represent the forces on the tabletop. With the space available we have
not been able to include some of the other nationalities that found themselves serving on the Western
Front, from the Italians and Austro-Hungarians, to the Russians who served with the French and the
Portuguese serving with the British. The most glaring omission is that of the irrepressible, unconquerable
Belgium who continued to fight on under the leadership of King Albert even though only the slenderest
toe-hold was retained in their home land. For this I can only apologise, and assure readers that this wrong
will be righted within in a forthcoming Special.
What follows is an overview of Germany, France, Britain and the United States and the way they fought
the war. What the reader will find is that, contrary to many popular myths, whilst there are plenty of
lions there are no donkeys present. Whilst tactical development takes place at variable rates, there are
no collective supermen who discover the solution to the conundrum of trench warfare, indeed by 1918 no
solution had truly been found. Instead what shines through is more the similarities between the various
national doctrines which all revolve around creating an effective all-arms tactical unit that can operate
independently on the battlefield.
What is also notable is that all four nations start their war filled with confidence in their own superiority,
only to learn that they are all fallible and quite capable of making the same mistakes as those who went
before. France in the Vosges, the Germans on the Marne, the British on the Somme and the Americans in
the Meuse-Argonne all paid the price in blood before they adapted their tactics to deal with the realities
of modern warfare.
Allocation of Big Men

As a general rule Big Men should be available at historical levels, based on the structure of the unit
fielded. Typically this will be one Corporal for each infantry section or squad, and a Junior officer and
Sergeant per platoon. With larger forces a senior Sergeant and Captain or even Major may be present to
represent Company command. It may well be that the player does not wish to allocate his NCOs in the
historical manner, especially with an ad hoc force assembled for a specific raid or objective, but
nevertheless this would set the numbers available. The status of these Big Men will largely be a matter of
personal taste, and can be varied infinitely to represent better or poorer quality units. As a general
guideline Corporals will be Status I or II if good quality, Sergeants or Lieutenants may be Status III or
occasionally II or IV, whilst Captains, Majors and Senior Sergeants will be more likely to be Status IV,
possibly III, but rarely less.

The German Reich
The German Empire went to war in 1914 confident that this, like the campaigns of 1864, 1866 and 1870-71
would be a swift and victorious. Indeed there was much about the German Army that was reminiscent of
conflicts past, and there was a strong traditionalist element within the officer Corps that clung on to the
fighting methods of victories gone by. Ever since the introduction of the Dreyse Needle Gun in the 1840’s
and the increased firepower of the infantryman combined with his ability to fire from a prone position,
arguments had raged about the best way to maintain control of forces on the battlefield. With the arrival
of magazine fed bolt action rifles the argument had intensified rather than dissipated.
The Germans were impressed with the tactics employed by the Boers in their fight against the British, and
experimented with what they called “Boer tactics” with troops operating in loose order, advancing by
rushes. Yet for every supporter of these new ideas there was a traditionalist who believed that to allow
more open formations was to remove control from the officers and thereby see units become bogged down
in interminable fire-fights. These men went to far as to say that troops in close order may initially suffer
more casualties when advancing against an opponent in open order, but that their concentrated firepower
would quickly succeed in overcoming their opponent.
In the event the German emphasis on independence of command allowed each Regimental commander the
independence to employ whatever tactics and formations he considered most advantageous. The results
were, in such circumstances, understandably patchy. Whilst some commanders adopted open order
formations, others went so far as to insist that their men advance with “cloth touching cloth”, with each
man physically in contact with his neighbour. As a result the period of August to November 1914 saw the
Germans suffer half a million casualties.
A typical Company attack in the early war would see the unit advance in line towards the enemy. As they
came under fire the various platoons would advance by rushes, one moving while covered by the fire of its
neighbour. As the range closed and the platoon as a whole was no longer able to advance as a single
body, the half platoons and squads would continue the advance, each rushing forward, falling prone and
then firing as opportunity presented itself. In this manner it was envisaged that the body would work its
way to close quarters where rapid fire would demoralise the enemy and a bayonet charge would settle the
matter. In truth this was barely an advance from nearly fifty years before when Prussian infantry acting in
skirmish swarms destroyed the serried ranks of the Austrian Empire in what were then novel tactics. In
1914 it was pedestrian in the extreme, especially when the attack was made in close order against
professional soldiers like the British Expeditionary Force.
Tactics & Technology

Change was needed, especially with the advent of trench warfare, and the Germans were as industrious as
anyone else in finding a solution. Unlike the British and French they did not immediately seek out light
automatic weapons to supplement their firepower, rather they increased the number of heavy machine
guns within a battalion and then shaped their defensive positions around these efficient weapons that
suited perfectly the general defensive stance that they assumed. That said, these were also used
efficiently in the limited objective attack, often being moved forward into No-Man’s-Land in advance of
the infantry to operate on the flanks of an attacking force, thereby keeping the enemy under fire until the
last possible moment.
The real engine for change came from a surprising source, the Pioneers. Within the German army these
troops were the only ones with who in the early war had training on weapons such as hand grenades,
which had originally been seen as a tool of siege warfare and as such firmly in the domain of specialised
troops. Their expertise was quickly harnessed, in the earliest instance by attaching Pioneers to infantry
forces on an ad hoc basis for particular operations. As a longer term solution they were used as a cadre to
both develop new tactics and to train the infantry in these skills. Indeed this is where the Stormtrooper
was born.
The grenade was without doubt the weapon of choice of the German army in the attack, the ranged fire
of the rifle being preferred in defence. Two types of grenade were employed, the stick and the egg
grenade, the former was ideal for close range as it relied on the concussion effect of its explosion,
whereas the latter’s fragmentation and lighter weight made it better for assailing a more distant target.
By 1916 infantry platoons generally had their own specialist bomber squad of eight men which operated as
two four man teams. Unlike the British and French who favoured the bayonet at close quarters the

Germans used the grenade as a weapon of melee, relying on trench knives or pistols only in extreme
circumstances. Added to this was the sandbag that was carried to allow rapid construction of barricades
to secure ground seized.
Interestingly the Germans were distinctly unimpressed with the rifle grenade, even ceasing its production
mid-way through the war, instead relying on the Granatenwerfer grenade launcher. The reasons for this
were that the former was essentially a weapon of offence to be used against a static enemy. As a
defensive weapon to be used against an advancing enemy they were far less effective, whereas the
granatenwerfer, especially when several weapons were grouped together, could provide an effective
defensive barrage.
In 1914 an infantry Regiment was made up of three battalions and a single machine gun company with six
Maxim HMGs. As the war progressed and casualties mounted the Germans sought to increase the
firepower within a battalion whilst allowing numbers of men to fall. In 1916 one machine gun company
was incorporated into each battalion and by the end of the war this had risen to twelve HMGs per
company. In February 1917 twenty-four Granatenwerfer and twelve light mortars were attached to each
Regiment.
Slow to adopt light automatic weapons, the Germans were very impressed by the British Lewis gun which
they recognised as having greater offensive potential than their cumbersome heavy weapons. In that year
they embarked on a development programme to produce a lighter version of the Maxim, the MG08/15, and
by May of 1917 two light machine guns were attached to each company, with this being increased to four
in September of that year and six in early 1918 in time for the Spring Offensives.
Developments in German tactics were driven by exactly the same desires as the Entente powers, but
shaped by what equipment was available, both to them and their enemies. Whereas the British and
French could develop and build tanks and could produce untold numbers of artillery shells, the Germans
were unable to compete in those areas due to the lack of raw material caused by the Royal Navy’s
blockade of her ports. The severity of the all-consuming artillery bombardments that the Germans were
subjected to saw them change their defensive tactics in order to preserve lives. No longer would the
front line positions be packed with men who would suffer dreadful casualties under bombardment, instead
a policy of elastic defence was adopted, where the front line was held in small numbers with the bulk of
the troops held to the rear. Any enemy incursion into the German positions would then be met with a
counter attack designed to restore the front. This tactic was particularly effective as any British or
French force advancing into the German positions tended to lose contact with its artillery and therefore
its fire support. The German guns, registered on their own front line, could then bombard the enemy
prior to the launching of a counter attack.
This policy proved to be particularly successful and resulted in the Germans reconfiguring their front lines
so that by late 1917 rather than continuous lines of trenches they constructed a belt of mutually
supporting outposts, Widerstandnest, that stood in front of their main defensive line positions. Within
each formation, be that Gruppe (Corps), Division, Regiment or Battalion, some units were designated as
Eingreiftruppen, counter-attack troops, who were held back ready to launch an attack on any enemy
incursion.
It was here, within the Eingreif units, that the Germans gained most of their experience of offensive
tactics. Whilst these units were not specifically trained as an elite force, indeed the units selected for
that role would be rotated within the parent formation, it did over time result in some units being seen as
more effective or aggressive than others, and ultimately this led to a de facto and then later official
acceptance that Divisions would either be rated as Angriff, attack, formations or Stellungs, positional or
defensive, formations. This in turn coloured the development of the Stormtrooper concept, especially
with the entry of the USA into the war and the need for a make or break offensive in the West.
With an absence of tanks and a shortage of ammunition the Germans were obliged to develop tactics that
used men to achieve the same end: the breakthrough battle. The result was the expansion and extension
of the Stormtrooper concept away from the pure development and training role into massed Divisions
capable of launching deep attacks into enemy positions. In these, speed was of the essence; it was
critical that the offensive broke through to the enemy gun lines on the first day and that maximum chaos
was caused in the enemy ranks by destruction of command and communications, thereby isolating their
forces from support or supply.

In fact the tactics employed by the Stormtroopers were the precursor to German “blitzkrieg” of the
Second World War. An attack was made with speed, seeking out the weak points in the enemy’s line and
penetrating through them. Strong enemy positions were by-passed, once isolated they could be mopped
up by supporting units, whilst the lead elements pushed on remorselessly. It was clearly recognised that
flanks were no longer relevant so long as the momentum was maintained and the enemy was so shocked
by the attack that he was unable to respond.
These attacks were supported not by lengthy bombardments, but by short but intense barrages that were
designed to stun and suppress the enemy rather than destroy him. The artillery was then to advance
rapidly to support the front line troops, allowing them to maintain the momentum of their advance.
Indeed by the last offensives of June 1918 the Germans had adopted a system where one battery of
artillery was placed under the direct command of the Infantry Regiment that it was supporting.
Second wave Storm troops infiltrate and Gas suppresses
mops up resistance isolate enemy positions and push on enemy artillery
All of this had, of course,
been done before. The
German bombardments of
1918 were no different to
the British or French
bombardments of late
1917, where duration had
been forfeited for surprise,
indeed Brüchmuller, the
German artillery “Ace” had
taken many of his ideas
from British fire patterns
on the Western Front
before employing them
himself against the
Russians. Yet there was a
key difference that made
the German Stormtrooper
potentially more
dangerous; Auftragstaktik.
There were, and still are,

two methods of issuing orders, “mission led” and “directive command”. The latter system was used by
the British, the French and subsequently the Americans, and relied on the commander telling his
subordinate not just what to achieve, but how to achieve it. The former, and in German this translates as
Auftragstaktik, sees the commander tell his subordinate what he wants done and then leave it to him how
he achieves that result. Indeed we have seen Auftragstaktik in operation previously, when the German
Regiments of 1914 went into battle in close or open order depending on the preference of their
commander. Indeed this system had been inherent in the Prussian and the German army for generations.
The key change that had occurred during the Great War was that the Germans had extended downwards
the level at which this concept was applied. By 1917 German NCOs were being given responsibilities way
beyond their counterparts in other armies. This was largely due to the Junker “caste” system which did
not allow commissioning from the ranks to occur in the German army as it did in the French and British
systems. Instead it divested tactical responsibility down the chain of command to the lowest level,
instilling a culture of self-reliance, a trait that could not be more valuable than in a battle of infiltration
that the Germans were now undertaking.
This was particularly true as it combined with Ludendorff’s pseudo-strategic idea that in the offensives of
1918 strategy would be subordinate to tactics. As such German Angriff formations were not given specific
objectives; rather they were encouraged to just keep pushing on with their attack, penetrating as deeply
into enemy positions as they could, altering the direction of their thrust to constantly seek out the path of
least resistance, with success, wherever it lay, being reinforced and failure abandoned.
That this illusory policy of strategic mumbo-jumbo led to abject and costly failure does not remove the
fact that on a tactical level significant advances were made, deep into Entente lines. Unfortunately the
fragmentation of the forces with each unit effectively conducting its own self-contained offensive,
partially caused by the very self-reliance that was seen as such a strength when combined with a lack of

governing strategy, resulted in dreadful casualties that, over the period of March to June 1918, saw the
cream of the German Army frittered away to the point where no further offensives could be launched.
What was worse was that the Germans, now exhausted, were unable to resist the Entente offensives that
followed. It is intriguing to think how much more successful these offensives could have been had the
high command imposed more formal strategic objectives rather than simply chasing success wherever it
could be found.
In 1914 the German infantry Company was made up of three Zug and a headquarters, totalling 259 men.
Commanded by a Leutnant with a Feldwebel as his right hand man, each Zug was commanded by a
Sergeant or VizeFeldwebel and was split into four Korporalschaften or sections, each of which was broken
down into a Gruppe of eight men under a Gefreiter. The Korporalschaft was an administrative unit rather
than a tactical one. All the men were rifle armed and the Regiment had six machine guns, just two per
battalion on average.
As the war progresses it is difficult to be precise regarding German small unit formations as the structures
adopted were increasingly ad hoc, based around what was available and the preferences of their
commanders. In theory a late war platoon adopted the same structure as that of 1914, albeit with three
rather than four Korporalschaften, giving each Zug, or platoon, six Gruppe or squads. The rank of
Sergeant had also disappeared from the German Army in 1917.
More significant is the fact that by 1918 each Battalion had its own machine gun company with twelve
weapons, sufficient for one per Zug, and added to that would be the Scharfshützen machine guns that
were attached to each division. In 1917 this had added one sharp-shooter machine gun to each company.
Add to this the fact that in late 1916 the infantry companies began receiving the MG08/15 light machine
gun, and one sees a force that is increasingly well supplied with automatic weapons. That said, the book
strength of a unit is no real reflection on troop strengths at the front, indeed by late 1918 some units
were so weak that almost all of their personnel were collected into the machine gun teams, with no true
rifle Gruppe remaining, making this an army where fire alone, and not movement, was the only doctrine
in the final days before its collapse.
By 1916 the development of Stormtrooper units was well underway, with one Storm Battalion per Army
comprising two or three infantry companies, a machine gun company and a mortar company. This would
have one battery of four to six 37mm infantry guns attached as well as four to five flamethrower teams.
By the end of that year German Infantry Divisions were unofficially forming their own Stormtrooper
companies or even battalions in some cases and the 37mm guns were being replaced with adapted
captured Russian 3” field guns. These forces were used at the front for specific operations, or served
behind the lines training troops in the latest tactics and techniques.
At the very lowest level the German troops were armed with the heavy machine gun, the grenade, the
rifle and, in the latter stages of the war, the light machine gun. Additionally the granatenwerfer would
normally be on hand to support any operation. How units structured themselves was a matter of
preference, something that allows the gamer great latitude in organising his forces. Stormtrooper units
were better equipped, with heavier equipment available as required, however as the essence of their
modus operandi was speed these were often left behind in the advance.
Support
It is almost impossible to look at German machine guns as support weapons as they were such integral
parts of the Company in the front line; as such they have been covered above. Indeed the Germans can
be said to enjoy both the greatest and least support in different area. With the machine gun they were
superbly equipped, but they had almost no tanks to speak of (less than twenty as compared to literally
thousands deployed by the Entente) and their chances of close air support were low, limited only to a
brief period of domination in April 1917 at the time of Arras, and at that stage such co-operation between
ground and air forces was in its infancy.
German artillery was restricted in its operations by shortages of shells, however stock-piling supplies for
offensives meant that this normally limited defensive fire rather than offensive. By 1917 German
batteries were deploying one gun each in the front lines to give close support against enemy tanks, and in
1918 they were attaching them at Regimental level to provide effective close support. Overall the
Germans lagged behind the Entente in their offensive artillery tactics as they had less opportunity to put
theory into practice. As such the following restrictions apply.

Method Notes
Straight Barrage January 1915 onwards, lifiting 10” per turn until 1917 then 6”-8” per turn
Box Barrage January 1915 onwards
SOS Barrage January 1915 onwards
Piled Up Barrage March 19176 onwards, lifiting 10” per turn until 1917 then 6”-8” per turn
Creeping Barrage August 1917 onwards, lifiting 8”-10” per turn until 1917 then 6”-8” per turn
Lifting Barrage August 1917 onwards
Tear Gas April 1915 onwards
Chlorine Gas September 1915 onwards
Mustard Gas July 1917 onwards
Gas Shells August 1916 onwards
Smoke Shells October 1917 onwards
Instantanous Fuse Never
National Characteristics
From 1915 onwards a German Stormtrooper unit may have a StormAbteilung Vor! Card added to the deck.
In 1918 any Angriff formation may add the same. Any high quality force may add a Rally card whilst
Stellungs formations should add a Hesitant Troops card. Heroic Leader may be added by any unit and all
stormtrooper formations should have Dynamic Leader card. Air support will be very rare indeed.
Troop Quality
As a rule German troops throughout the war should be Veteran or Regular, Green troops being very
unlikely. Their morale is generally good, falling to reasonable during times on the Somme or around
Verdun in 1916 and reasonable or poor for most units during the Hundred Days in 1918. Big Men above
Gefreiter will tend to be of a high quality, and well supplied in Stormtrooper units.
Force Limitations
• Some German forces in 1914 may be obliged to deploy in dense formation, counting as a Green
target whatever their actual experience.
• The German emphasis on the hand-grenade as a weapon of attack means that a German bomber
sections operating as part of an attacking force may only operate as riflemen if they are short of,
or have exhausted their supplies of, grenades.
• German field artillery was less accurate than that used by the Entente, making it harder for the
German forces to lean on the barrage without losses. To represent this any friendly groups who
come within 24” of the barrage must dice for any under-shoots and friendly fire casualties that
occur. If within 6” of the barrage a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-5, if between 6” and
12” a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-4. If between 12” and 18” a group will take 1D6 hits
on a roll of 1-2. If between 18” and 24” a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1. Other rules
apply for Shorts as per section 10.1.3.
• German tanks will bog down on a double 1 or 2 on their movement dice.
• Stormtroopers should always be considered Aggressive, as may Angriff Divisions in 1918.
• Up until August 1916 at least fifty percent of any force must be deployed in the front line
trenches. After that time at least sixty percent must be deployed in support trenches.

The French Republic
France entered the Great War with memories of the Franco-Prussian War, and the consequential loss of
Alsace and Lorraine, still fresh and raw. The overarching objective of this war would be to inflict a defeat
on the hated Boche and restore her lost provinces.
French military theories in 1914 were the result of a process that had been going on since the Second
Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. The victories over the Austrians in the war of 1859 had been
largely attributed to the offensive spirit of the Furia Francese, the French Fury, yet the arrival of modern
weapons, the breech loading rifle in particular, had led to a re-evaluation of the capability of the infantry
to take the attack to the enemy. In reaction to these ideas, and cognisant of the terrible and
disproportionate losses of the Austrians in the Seven Weeks War of 1866, the French adopted the strategy
of the Position Magnifique. In essence this dictated that the French Army in the Franco-Prussian War
would carefully select the ground on which it would fight; choosing high ground with clear fields of fire
that would allow the Chassepot rifle to decimate any advancing foe as they crossed the beaten ground.
The results of this policy were disastrous. Seduced by the long range of their weapon the French infantry
were inclined to open fire too early. The rapidity of fire meant that supplies of ammunition were quickly
used up, and the Germans were able to cross the beaten ground and close with their enemy where their
Dreyse needle gun, with its shorter range but ample ammunition, could win the fire-fight.
Naively, the response amongst French military thinkers at the Ecole de Guerre was to blame the failure of
1870 on the policy of the position magnifique which, they argued, had been too passive for the collective
French character and had allowed the enemy to seize the initiative. In the next war there would be a
return to the Furia Francese, with ceaseless attacks at all points suiting the French natural flair for the
offensive and, equally importantly, stretching the resources of the enemy to breaking point. Combined
with this recipe for collective suicide was the belief that by prosecuting the war in such a fashion the
initiative would be seized from the enemy, thereby making his plans and objectives of no consequence.
At a tactical level the emphasis was just as simplistic. Since the turn of the century French drill books
had emphasised massed formations that were not to fire in the advance, but were to fix bayonets and
advance to contact with the enemy in wave after wave until their objective was achieved. The 1914
regulations that were about to be introduced did allow for some firing during the advance, but this was
not to retard speedy movement or the use of the bayonet. Indeed such was the emphasis on the offensive
strength of the infantry that artillery support was not considered necessary.
This was lunacy writ large and the subsequent attacks of 1914 saw casualties of nearly one million men,
with 60% of the junior officer corps falling, making the British losses on the Somme two years later appear
almost minimal. Unsurprisingly French offensives ground to a halt.
This early attempt at Materielschlacht failed abysmally and the emphasis switched from the bayonet to
the entrenching tool as the French recognised the critical importance of holding on to what ground they
retained before the results of 1870 were repeated. Interestingly the rejection of the cult of the offensive
and the adoption of positional warfare was perhaps the ultimate de facto shift to the position magnifique
of Napoleon III. In a short period French strategy had been turned on its head and the phase of open
warfare brought to a close.
What followed was a period of collective uncertainty, where all participants in the conflict recognised
that to continue to attack against an opponent who was dug into strong positions would result only in
costly failure. New tactics were needed in order to defeat their enemy and maybe new technology.
In fact the French initial response was to look backwards rather than forward. Weapons of siege warfare,
not seen since Sevastopol, were brought out of museums to be turned on the enemy; even Napoleonic
mortars were deployed in the trenches. This, however, was merely a case of improvisation filling a gap.
Very quickly more modern substitutes were developed to replace these antiques and this began a phase of
the war where all armies were re-arming themselves for the battles to come.

The French were quick to recognise that their infantry formations required enhanced firepower at the
lowest level rather than simply relying on the bolt action rifle with which they had begun the war. In

1915 the 1915 model CSRG automatic rifle, better known as the Chauchat, was introduced at squad level.
With a twenty round magazine this was manned by a team of two and provided at the rate of one per
platoon. The grenade, with its blast effect well suited to the confined conditions of the trench, quickly
became a popular weapon with all the protagonists. The French took this a step further by developing the
Vivien-Bessières rifle grenade which, with its “bullet through” system was far more accurate than the
earlier muzzle loading stick-grenade arrangements, and gave the infantry the ability to provide their own
indirect fire support.
The war had begun with four rifle companies in a battalion, each comprising 194 men of whom 160 were
in the combatant platoons. Each of these companies was made up of two platoons of two squads. These
large formations were considered ideal when the only tactics involved were to fix bayonets and advance
on the enemy, but they were equally ideal targets for the German machine-gunners. The provision of
modern and more effective weapons saw the French unit structures change to incorporate these. The
regulations of 1916 saw the battalion reduced to three rifle companies, each of four platoons. A support
platoon was present with three or four Hotchkiss Heavy Machine Guns and a single 37mm light gun
available for direct fire support. More importantly the structure of the platoon was now a coherent
miniature “all arms” force that was capable of far more than the blunt weapon of the early war.
The 1916 platoon was made up of two half-platoons, each commanded by a Sergeant. In the first half-
platoon Squad No.1 was commanded by a Corporal with seven Grenadiers who were trained specialist
bombers. Squad No.2 was again commanded by a Corporal but with six men fielding two Chauchat
automatic rifles. The second half platoon contained Squad No.3 with the Corporal commanding eight
Voltigeurs, five of whom had rifles and three manned the two VB grenade launchers (two firing, one
carrying the ammunition). Squad No.4 was similar but with one extra man. Despite the formalisation of
the different roles, these squads, and indeed the platoon itself, was not seen as an exclusively discrete
unit. In many cases commanders would mix their formations to give the balance that they desired. The
following diagram shows a Platoon attacking.
20 paces
15 paces
No.1 Coy No.2 Coy

Grenadier
Fusilier Lieutenant
No.3 Company
Rifle Grenadier Sergeant
Voltigeur
The platoon we are viewing in detail is the one marked in grey on the diagram of the battalion attack
shown to the bottom right. The front rank of the platoon is made up of the Grenadier and Fusilier squads
interspersed. The second rank is the two Voltigeur squads, each with its VB launchers on the inner flank
so as to combine in a central rifle grenade “battery”, available for a concerted bombardment if required.
A third rank of Grenadiers has been attached from the platoon advancing immediately behind this one in
order to provide clearing up parties, trench cleaners, to allow the lead platoon to continue its advance
without the need to delay while the dug-outs are all cleared. As can be seen on the battalion diagram,
No.3 Company is advancing in column rather than line, and will only deploy into line as it passes through
the lead companies and takes up the advance once they are halted by the enemy.
Within the French Company the commander, a Captain, had the advantage of having over thirty
supernumeraries available, be they musicians, tailors, cobblers, signallers and the likes, who were
available to make up numbers when losses occurred. In extreme situations the second half platoon could

be reduced to just one Voltigeur squad, however efforts were made to keep at least one of these squads
at full strength.
As we have seen above, this force no longer advanced in dense formation but allowed the component
Squads far greater independence. Columns tended to be used for an approach march or for successive
supporting lines, with the Squads forming into skirmish line, with a gap of two paces between each man,
once nearing the enemy. The combination of line and column allowed a more flexible formation that
could react to threats from any direction and manoeuvre at the fastest possible speed.
Training manuals now emphasised that any advances should only take place under the cover of artillery
fire which, ideally, would suppress the enemy. However, should the advancing platoon come under fire
then the individual squads would advance by bounds, covered by the fire of the other groups. That said,
the emphasis was on not firing until within close range of the enemy, at which point the Grenadiers would
be able to initiate the assault.
An attack on a trench would rely on the Grenadiers and Voltigeurs to close with the enemy, while the
Fusiliers and rifle grenadiers provided supporting fire. Once close to the enemy bayonets would be fixed
and the men readied to rush on the enemy. Grenades would be hurled and upon their exploding the
enemy would be rushed and overcome. Speed was of the essence, and an assault on an enemy position
would only halt for long enough for the attackers to re-organise before pushing on into enemy territory.
Trench-cleaners from subsequent waves, expert in the use of trench knives, bayonets, grenades and other
close quarter weapons, would be tasked with rapidly mopping up any enemy positions remaining so that
the advance could continue forward.
Regulation intervals and formations were largely abandoned once the attack made contact with the enemy
and this was recognised and even encouraged by the high command. The use of terrain to achieve a rapid
and deep penetration into the enemy’s position was considered far more important than the dogma of
drill, and leaders of all ranks were encouraged to push forward independently and, once halted, to rapidly
fortify their position and hold against all counter-attacks until relieved. No ground gained was to be given
up.
Within the trenches each group of men was to be headed by a man armed with a rifle or pistol, while
behind him men threw grenades forward to clear the enemy. One man would concentrate on hurling his
grenades as far as possible to stop any aid reaching the enemy immediately to their front.
These were the tactics that formed the basis for French infantry operations throughout the remainder of
the war. There were some alterations and tactical developments still to come, but these were largely
changes in the support that was available, be that in the form of enhanced artillery techniques or tank
support, rather than any significant alteration in the way that the infantry fought. The structural
changes, in late 1917 and again in late 1918, were a case of improvement rather than actual tactical
change.
In October 1917 the infantry platoon was amended so that its No.1 Squad now had seven Grenadiers, with
Nos 2 and 3 Squads both having one Chauchat and three VB launchers with a total of seven men in each.
No.4 Squad now had seven rifle armed Fusiliers. In October 1918 the platoon again changed, now having
three Groupes de Combat, each made up of a six man Chauchat Squad and one Squad of six men with a
single VB grenade launcher. In the more open warfare of the last few months of the war the need for
specialist bombers had receded, with riflemen now expected to operate with whatever weapon best
suited the situation, bomb, bullet or bayonet.
Support
What changed significantly over the course of the war was the amount of support available to the infantry
battalion. In 1914 an infantry battalion was almost solely armed with rifles, with just two Machine Guns in
support. By 1916 there were eight Machine guns and a 37mm gun had been added to assist in overcoming
enemy strong-points. French tanks were first introduced to the battlefield in 1917, and whilst slower to
develop these than the British they did deploy them in large numbers. A tank section was generally five
vehicles strong, with three sections plus an HQ to a Company. Where mixed weapons were fielded, such
as with the FT17, three 37mm armed tanks and two machine gun armed vehicles would make up a
platoon.

Most significant of all was the support from the artillery which was ground breaking in some of its
developments. The French began the war with the famous 75mm Field Gun making up the vast majority
of their Divisional artillery, with very few 120mm and 155mm guns to provide heavier support. What was
more, the famous Soixante Quinze, whilst a ground breaking design in the 1890’s with its quick fire
mechanism, was less than ideal when used for trench warfare, its shells lacking the weight to inflict real
damage on a target that was dug in. The result was that the French were obliged to rapidly expand their
heavy artillery arm to make up for this deficiency, whilst the 75mm gun would find itself relegated to
destroying barbed wire with high explosive or delivering gas shells.
Artillery Availablity
There is much debate about who developed new artillery tactics and when. What is sure is that all of the
participating forces were quick to adopt successful tactics used by their allies or opponents. As such the
French are restricted to using the various barrages as follows:
Method Notes
Piled Up Barrage March 1916 onwards, lifiting 10” per turn until 1917 then 6”-8” per turn
Creeping Barrage August 1916 onwards, lifiting 8”-10” per turn until 1917 then 6”-8” per turn
Lifting Barrage January 1917 onwards
Tear Gas July 1915 onwards
Chlorine Gas October 1915 onwards
Mustard Gas September 1918 onwards
Smoke Shells June 1917 onwards
Instantanous Fuse Never
In 1914 and 1918 the French should have the “En Avant” card in the deck when they are attacking. In
1914 this may be applied to more than one Group or Blind provided that there is no more than 4” gap
between each Group and the Groups have not fired in this turn. The Hesitant Troops card should be
added in 1917, with the Heroic Leader and Dynamic Commander cards always present for a French force.
A card for ground attack aircraft may be included from October 1917 onwards.
Troop Quality
French troops will generally be of Regular quailty, saving their Veteran rating for units such as the Foreign
Legion, the Moroccan Division and other elites. The Zouaves should always be Aggressive troops. In 1914
French morale should be good, dropping to Reasonable for the rest of the war, with the exception of
periods of 1917, notably after the Nivelle Offensive, when it becomes Poor.
Force Limitations
• A French force of 1914 and the first half of 1915 may not be considered a Veteran target,
whatever its level of experience due to its emphasis on close formation.
• The Chauchat Automatic Rifle, notorious for its capacity to jam in action, will suffer a stoppage
when the number of 1’s rolled is equal to or greater than number of 6’s rolled.
• Whatever the net number of hits the French Schneider tank will always burst into flames on any
effect roll of 6 due to the fuel tank being positioned at the front of the vehicle.
• High quality troops may be considered Aggressive, in particular French Colonial forces.
• Up to 1917 at least fifty percent of their troops in the front line, after which at least fifty percent
must be in the support line.

The British Empire
When the threat of impending conflict loomed large in 1914 Britain was in no way prepared to fight a war
against the massed armies of her Continental neighbours. For the past hundred years the British Army had
been a small force of volunteer troops who were highly trained to undertake their role as defenders of
Britain’s vast overseas Empire. Typically it may be called upon to subdue a rebellion here, or conduct a
swift campaign of conquest there, but rarely were these affairs anything more than localised affairs
relatively small numbers of troops required.
The Crimean War had been one exception, and more recently the Boer War had required the Army to
deploy hugely disproportionate forces to subdue the irregulars of the Boer Republics. Indeed it was that
war on the South African veldt that had left an indelible mark on the British Army, with experiences in
modern warfare that were the most current of all the protagonists. The Boers had shown the killing
power of modern weapons when used by a concealed man in entrenched positions. The British had been
obliged to rethink the way they moved and fought on the battlefield and the way that artillery, infantry
and cavalry operated along side each other.
The result had been threefold. The British tended to operate in more open formations than their
European counterparts, they were conversant with infantry and artillery co-operation on the battlefield,
with attacks being “shot-in” with artillery support suppressing their opponent until the last possible
moment, and their cavalry had become almost universally mounted infantrymen, cured of their marriage
to the sword and lance in a way that the Germans would not match throughout the Great War.
Yet for all of this experience the British were to find that the changes that they had made in South Africa
were to be insufficient for European warfare. For a start the Boers did not have the heavy artillery that
the Germans had, and secondly the Maxim gun was notable absent from the arsenals of the Orange Free
State and the Transvaal. Much is made of the competency of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914,
however what is often forgotten is that the British were as shocked by the capability of German heavy
artillery as the Germans were by the B.E.F.’s competency with the Lee Enfield.
It is undoubtedly true that the B.E.F. that arrived in France in 1914 was of superb quality, but its six
Divisions were a meagre, some would say contemptible, assembly when compared with the massive
conscript armies of France and Germany. What was to follow was an attempt to enlarge the army on a
scale never before undertaken by Great Britain and this domestic enlargement was supplemented by
calling on the Empire to stand beside the mother country. This they did in significant numbers, with
Divisions from the Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and forces from India, South Africa,
Newfoundland and other colonies swelling the numbers.
What was true of all of these men was that, despite obvious fighting spirit, they were largely devoid of
any military training or experience. Once the German advance had been halted in 1914 the British
focussed on simply holding the line while they put all of their energies into training this new army that,
due to the Secretary of State for War’s famous recruiting campaign, was widely known as Kitchener’s
Army. This was clearly a necessary process as France, the senior military partner in the Entente, was
quite adamant that the broad strategic thrust was to be an offensive one, liberating territory occupied by
the Germans. In such a war the British would need manpower, and recruitment and training were the
foundations upon which the new army would be built. The down side to this, however, was that adopting
a defensive stance against a largely passive opponent allowed little opportunity for development of new
tactics, and by the time the British launched their first major offensive on the Somme in 1916 they had
progressed little from their first stumbling offensive at Loos the year before. The French were quick to
note the British tactical naivety, however they had already lost a million men learning the lessons that the
British were yet to face.
In 1914 the emphasis was on the use of firepower to overcome an enemy. Troops generally attacked in
battalion formations, with the component companies forming into open order firing line and engaging the
enemy with accurate and rapid aimed fire whilst supported by artillery that would fire over their heads
onto the enemy positions. Subsequent companies would push through the firing line, with the battalion
advancing forward in stages until the enemy could be finally overcome with firepower. These tactics were
perfectly reasonable while the proportion of machine guns accompanying an enemy force was low,
however as numbers of these increased, and increase they did with alarming speed, they were less
appropriate.

On the 1st of July 1916 on the Somme the troops of Kitchener’s Army received their baptism of fire. By
then the infantry platoon had been provided with a Lewis gun to add firepower, but was still essentially a
rifle armed force. They attacked in open order lines conforming to the preceding linear barrage that
would, they anticipated, obliterate any resistance before they got to the German positions. That it did
not was not due to the ineptness of an uncaring high command, but because the capabilities of their
supporting artillery had been over-estimated, and in many places the following infantry lost contact with
the barrage. What was more, the regular officer corps were not confident of the abilities of these
entirely new and untried units. There are parallels with the mistakes made by the Germans in 1914 who
had advanced in close formations in order to maximise command and control. The British had not made
this error, South Africa had taught them that close order formations were no longer possible, but the
smallest tactical formation employed in the attack was the company, and in attempting to keep this as a
coherent unit time was wasted and men lost. Nearly twenty thousand British men died on the first day of
the Somme, a terrible price, but this was the beginning of the learning process for the British that the
Germans and the French had begun two years previously.
The learning curve can only be described as steep. Within days, the artillery were amending and
adjusting their fire plans in order to provide the infantry with better protection from the Germans, and
within the infantry Regiments and at high command studies were being conducted looking at infantry
tactics and how to develop them. Some modern commentators are wedded to the idea that the British
Army was an inflexible entity that continuously, and with wanton abandon, made the same mistakes.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It was certainly true that in 1916 the British were nearly two
years behind the French and the Germans when it came to tactics, however from that point on they had
sufficient manpower available to undertake sizeable actions, each one providing experiences that helped
develop new theories that could then be tested in practice. From that process of continuous assessment
and development came what were essentially modern infantry tactics.

In fairness to the British Army the period from the end of 1914 to mid-1916 had not been a tactical
vacuum, but the emphasis had been on the small localised engagement rather than the large battle.
Several British and Empire formations claim that they “invented” the trench raid, and whilst this type of
low level action did not do much to develop the art of major attacks, it did have the effect of making the
British troops entirely familiar with the weapons of war.
In 1914 the infantry battalion was made up of a headquarters and four rifle companies with one section of
two machine guns attached. This force had a nominal strength of 1007 officers and men. Each company
was comprised of six officers and 221 men, with a Captain commanding and four platoons, each
commanded by a Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant. In his platoon the Lieutenant would have a platoon
Sergeant, his batman and a runner. There were then four sections, each under a Corporal with eleven
rifle armed men. As a result of the shift to trench warfare the British were as quick as anyone else to
recognise the importance of weapons of siege warfare, and the infantry swiftly became conversant with
the hand-grenade and its uses. It would be wrong to suggest that specialist bomber teams were part of a
platoon organisation in the first half of the war, but they were certainly created for small actions such as
trench raids.
After the Somme the British set about restructuring their forces. The emphasis shifted from the company
in battle to the platoon as it was recognised that smaller units were more likely to maintain their cohesion
on the battlefield, and as a result these were restructured to reflect the fact that they would often have
to operate as discrete tactical units. By early-1917 the rifle was no longer the universal arm and four
distinct sections had emerged. This mirrored the French experience, but for the British the norm was to
keep each section focussed on a single function rather than the somewhat chaotic appearance of the
French platoon with the various skills being spread around the component sections. A bomber section had
five men under a Corporal, the Lewis section had nine men, the rifle section had nine men including a
sniper and a scout, whilst the final section had nine men with four rifle grenade launchers.
The British had recognised that smaller sections were just as able to achieve their objectives as larger
ones and were easier to control. As such some debate occurred about section size, with a Corporal and six
men being promoted as the ideal, but this argument was largely theoretical as in the field commanders
made do with what was to hand. The British now approached an enemy with their assault teams, the
riflemen and bombers to the fore. Behind them, in a distinct second wave, came the fire teams with the
Lewis gun section and the rifle bomber section. In 1917 the Lewis gun section had just one light machine
gun with the other riflemen carrying the ammunition and adding their firepower with their rifles. By the

second half of 1918 this had been increased to two Lewis guns giving a significant base of fire which the
rest of the platoon could work around. The rifle bomber section was made up of four rifle-grenade
launchers, a cup attachment to the Lee Enfield, with four riflemen to carry the bombs and assist as
“number 2” loaders.
In the advance the rifle section
Scouts would lead the way with its
scouts pushed forwards, seeking
for gaps in the enemy’s defences
through which to infiltrate and
seek out the enemy’s flanks. In
the attack the Lewis gun section
and the rifle bomber section
would engage the enemy with
fire, while the riflemen and
grenadiers sought to manoeuvre
Bombers to the flanks to get to close
quarters.
Lieutenant
Lewis Section
By 1918 the linear formation had
Rifle Bombers Sergeant been supplemented with the use
of “Blobs” and “Worms” which
Riflemen were not actually as amorphous
as their names suggests. With
blobs each section formed a
diamond or square pattern, with the platoon then forming a larger diamond. This formation allowed for a
rapid alteration of the line of advance, and the ability to face an unexpected enemy in any direction.
Worms had been used throughout the war, but largely for moving forward second line troops but by 1918
it was being used to press forward in the front line. It was advantageous that the troops would simply
follow their leader, and devolved command down to junior NCO level, with the emphasis being on leading
the section into gaps and “soft spots” in the enemy position with a view to making their front line of
defence untenable.
In essence, by 1917 the British platoon had Blobs Worms

become a self-supporting entity that was able
to amend its tactics to suit the situation that
existed. It is interesting to see that as the
war progressed variations were implemented
at local and official level. Some platoon
commanders equipped two of their sections
with Lewis guns, in at least one situation
even reducing the team to three men and
combining two fire teams in a single section. In the more open warfare of the hundred days campaign in
1918 the British bomber and rifle grenade sections, so useful in trench warfare, would be officially
dropped. Now the riflemen were expected to use the rifle, the grenade and the rifle grenade as the need
arose, with the specialist skills retained, but not in their own sections.
Support
Unusually, the British took the step as early as 1915 to remove the heavy machine gun from the infantry
battalion, seeing the Lewis gun as the more appropriate weapon for the front line. This was entirely the
reverse of German thinking, however this highlights the real difference between the two armies; the
Germans were on the defensive, where an emplaced heavy machine gun can form the backbone of the
position’s resistance, whereas the British were on the offensive, where the lighter more portable Lewis
gun can be employed with far greater flexibility then the heavy and unwieldy Vickers gun. This in turn
made the Vickers available to operate in large units, batteries indeed, where their ability to provide
indirect fire as part of a pre-planned barrage meant that they could saturate large areas of ground,
denying them to the enemy and disrupting their ability to move supporting units.
Undoubtedly the most famous British development was that of the tank, a weapon that had many
advocates during and after the war but which, with the limitations of technology at that time, proved
itself to be little more than a reliable destroyer of wire which on occasion could also provide limited fire
support. Despite the fact that British tanks were destined to spend all of their war firmly in the mud and

blood, never quite getting to the green fields beyond, they were undoubtedly valuable when deployed en
masse to support an offensive. As a weapon of defence, however, they were relatively useless; indeed in
the Spring of 1918 many British tank crews were deployed without their tanks as Lewis gun teams and
parcelled out to strengthen the line when German forces threatened to break through.
In an attack a section of three tanks would normally be deployed to support four platoons, the tanks
advancing through the wire and the platoons following on behind in columns or irregular “worms”.
Advances in artillery tactics were not confined to any one nation, and the British were as quick to
recognise the battle winning potential of this arm as quickly as anyone. They led the way in some
techniques, such as sound ranging to identify the location of enemy batteries, however in other areas they
were behind the game. In 1914 the BEF went to war armed almost entirely with Shrapnel shells and no
heavy explosive rounds. This proved to be effective during the early open battles, but particularly
ineffective against an entrenched enemy. This was also true of the 13 pounder guns of the Royal Horse
Artillery, whereas the 18 pounder of the Field Artillery proved to be a solid gun throughout. The following
table will give a guide to the development of British artillery tactics and availability of hardware.
Method Notes
Piled Up Barrage January 1916 onwards, lifiting 10” per turn until August 1916 then 6”-8” per turn
Creeping Barrage Attempted at Loos 1915, but generally July 1916 onwards, lifiting 8”-10” per turn
until September 1916 then 6”-8” per turn
Lifting Barrage January 1917 onwards
Tear Gas July 1915 onwards
Chlorine Gas September 1915 onwards
Mustard Gas August 1918 onwards
Smoke Shells August 1917 onwards
Instantanous Fuse November 1917
In 1914 and early 1915 the British should have the Mad Minute card to reflect the firepower of the BEF.
The “Up and at ‘em” card is restricted to large attacks in 1917, such as Cambrai and then to all British
forces in the role of attacker from June 1918 onwards. A rally card should only be included in the deck
for troops of very high morale quality. The Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians stand out for a
mention here, but they were by no means alone in maintaining an aggressive spirit to the very end. Many
home grown British units should qualify for this as well if their morale is considered very high for that
scenario.
Troop Quality
The BEF of 1914 should be considered a Veteran force with Good morale, with this dropping off to
Reasonable morale in early 1915 and by the middle of that year most units will be Regular with
Reasonable morale. In 1916 many units will qualify as Green with Reasonable morale. As the war
progresses British morale remains reasonable, with some units falling briefly to poor during the German
offensives of 1918, but that being unusual and largely restricted to Gough’s 5th Army. Some elite
formations, Guards, ANZACs, Canadians and superior British formations, such as the 9th, 16th, 19th, 25th or
36th Divisions, may retain Good morale throughout.
Force Limitations
• A BEF force may not count as a Veteran target, whatever its actual experience level, until
September 1914 onwards.
• High quality units may be considered Aggressive troops when attacking.
• Up until April 1918 at least sixty percent of any force must be deployed in the front line trenches.
After that time at least fifty percent must be deployed in support trenches.

The United States of America
The United States of America entered the war in 1917 as a co-belligerent, an Associated Power as their
government termed it, rather than an ally of France or Britain, and this spirit of independence was to
remain constant throughout the rest of the war.
Up to 1917 the United States Army had been a small force with limited experience of modern war since its
own Civil War some fifty years before, nevertheless it had a professional officer corps and was imbued
with a sense of national self-belief. At the time of the declaration of war against Germans the regular
army was a mere 127,000 men strong and entirely unprepared for a war in Europe, but like Britain had
done in 1914 it set about enlarging and training to ready itself for war.
Both the British and the French, desperate for manpower, offered to take raw recruits from the United
States and train them before incorporating them in their Divisions as separate US units but firmly under
the command of Entente commanders. This would have served to get US units into the front line within a
very short period, certainly by the summer of 1917, but would have seen a disjointed US Army emerge
with little or no experience of staff work at senior level and no real structures in place to operate as a
coherent national force. This solution was undoubtedly appealing to the British and French, but quite
unacceptable for the US administration which insisted on US units fighting only under American
commanders. To that end General John Pershing was appointed to command the American Expeditionary
Force with a clear brief to maintain the independence of his command. No man could have fulfilled that
brief better than “Black Jack” Pershing.
Training was initially undertaken in the US, with British and French instructors being employed to bring
the recruits up to speed with what was happening on the Western Front, however this proved to be a less
than perfect arrangement. Pershing was clearly of the opinion that victory would be won not in the
trenches, but rather in open warfare, where the natural marksmanship and tactical abilities of the
American rifleman could come to the fore. He saw all other support weapons, including the machine gun,
the tank and artillery as subordinate to the infantry and, more significantly, largely superfluous as he
expected the rifleman’s speed and agility to rapidly outpace these supporting arms. In that respect
Pershing was promoting the kind of war that he wanted to fight rather than the one that existed, however
fortunately for his fellow countrymen he never set down his opinions as a set of tactical instructions and
the various commanders, left with only the out of date Infantry Drill book of 1911 and the Field Service
Regulations of 1914, were left to develop their own tactics at grass-roots level. Some attempted to follow
Pershing’s lead, but experience rapidly saw the abandonment of idealist theories and their replacement
with tactics that were much more in line with the training they received from their British and French
instructors.
Once committed to action US forces performed with undoubted bravery which was tempered by the same
tactical naivety that the British had suffered from in 1916. Like the British on the first day of the Somme,
or the French and Germans in 1914, the new American army was beginning its learning experience, and
with every action there was opportunity to learn and develop ideas. Had the war dragged on into 1919, as
all the participants were still expecting as late as August 1918, then the US Army would undoubtedly have
fulfilled the promise that it had shown in its first encounters. As it was America’s entry into the war had
created the strategic circumstances that forced Germany to gamble on success in 1918, and the failure to
do so created the circumstances in which the British and French were able to finish the job before the US
Army was fully ready to fight on its own.

An American battalion was comprised of 1,027 men split into a headquarters company and four rifle
companies. Each company was commanded by a Captain who had a headquarters section of twenty men,
whilst the four platoons were each commanded by a Lieutenant. Six men made up the platoon HQ, with
four sections, each commanded by a Corporal below that. By comparison with other nationalities the
sections were large, reflecting Pershing’s desire that each sub-unit be sufficiently strong to accomplish its
mission, regardless of casualties. The first section was made up of twelve bombers, the second section
had nine rifle grenadiers with three VB launchers, the third seventeen riflemen whilst the fourth, the
automatic rifle section armed with four Chauchats and, in the very last days of the war, the Browning
Automatic Rifle, had fifteen men. This was, of course, highly theoretical, in practice these numbers
dropped rapidly and a section of eight or nine men seems to be the norm in the field.

Even before the input of their French and British trainers the US Army was expounding the importance of
combining fire and manoeuvre in battle. The new structure allowed this to happen effectively, with the
rifle grenadiers and the automatic riflemen putting down the base of fire, and the riflemen and bombers
acting as the manoeuvre element.
Bombers
Lieutenant
Automatic Rifle Section
Rifle Grenadiers Sergeant
Riflemen
Support
Support was provided at Regimental level with one Machine Gun Company being equipped with sixteen
weapons, normally the French manufactured Hotchkiss rather than the Browning. Additionally a Heavy
Weapons Company had four “one pounder” 37mm guns and six mortars to act as close support.
For early actions the French often provided artillery support, whilst later US gunners were equipped with
French weapons, the 75mm gun in particular but supplemented with the 155mm howitzer. For availability
of support the French table should be used.
A high quality US force, such as the US Marines, should have a Rally card in the deck. US forces should
never be hesitant and may have a Heroic Leader. They should generally have Dynamic Commander and
may have air support in any scenario.
Troop Quality
American troops will retain their Good morale throughout their time at the front, whilst most units will be
Green, and better units such as the US Marines, qualifying as Regulars.
Force Limitations
• An AEF force before September 1918 may be considered a Green target, whatever its actual
experience, particularly in its first action.
• US forces may be considered aggressive when attacking.
• Largely conscripted, partially trained troops, the United States artillery was less accurate than
that used by their Entente partners. To represent this any friendly groups who come within 24” of
the barrage must dice for any under-shoots and friendly fire casualties that occur. If within 6” of
the barrage a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-5, if between 6” and 12” a group will take 1D6
hits on a roll of 1-4. If between 12” and 18” a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1-2. If between
18” and 24” a group will take 1D6 hits on a roll of 1. Other rules apply for Shorts as per section
9.1.3.

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1 Introduction

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 1 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

2 DULL BUT USEFUL STUFF .......................................................................3

3 LEADERS & THEIR FORCES ......................................................................3

5 TROOP TYPES .....................................................................................9

8 INFANTRY WEAPONS ........................................................................... 15

10 OFF-TABLE SUPPORT ....................................................................... 23

12 CLOSE COMBAT ............................................................................... 28

14 WIRE & ENGINEERING........................................................................ 31

Supplementary Section One: Great War Artillery………………………………………………………. 38

Supplementary Section Two: National Guidelines …………………………………………………..… 45

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 2 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

2.2 Time Scale

2.4 Rounding the Dice

2.5 Wind Direction 1

3 Leaders & their Forces

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 3 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

These cards are as follows.

4.1 The Cards

4.1.1 What Do The Cards Mean?

Big Men Cards

Sentries & Outposts

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 4 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

The Blank card

National Characteristics Cards

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 5 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

4.2 Big Men and Initiative

STATUS DESCRIPTION INITIATIVE LEVEL INFLUENCE RANGE

Big Men may do the following for one Initiative

4.3 Commanding Larger Formations

4.3.1 Musical Commands

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 6 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

Whistles & Bugles

4.3.2 Chain of Command

4.4 Isolated Big Men

4.5 A Group’s Turn

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 7 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

For example (at left) Group A may reposition itself, deploying

4.6 Troop Types

These are as follows:

CATEGORY HIGHEST NORMAL LOWEST

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 8 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

5.1 Specialist Roles

5.1.1 The Rifleman

5.1.2 The Bomber

5.1.3 The Trench Cleaner

5.1.4 The Rifle Grenadier

5.1.5 The Sniper

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 9 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

5.1.6 The Pioneer

5.2 Other Duties

5.2.1 Sentries & Outposts

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 10 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

6.1 Hidden Movement on Blinds

6.2 Tabletop Movement

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 11 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

6.3 Terrain Effects & Obstacles

6.4 Movement in varying Terrain

6.5 Changing Facing

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 12 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

6.7 Carrying Awkward Things

6.8 Unit Integrity

Through the Mud and the Blood Page 13 www.toofatlardies.co.uk

TARGET LOCATION/DISTANCE 0-9” 9-24” 24” AND OVER

Mud & Blood

Mud & Blood