A New Play-Test

On 23th April (national holiday in Turkey, for the first gathering of Grand Assembly during Turkish War of Independence) we played another play-test game of Trial by Fire, this time with fully painted models!

It was a very simple scenario; Ottomans (my friend, Ruhi Kucuk) was chosen to be the attacker and British (me) were defenders. Turks had twice the number of units and would attack the Inadequate Trenches of British around table center line. Also, half of the British units were put to Reserve. (they could not move or shoot until turn 2, passing turn 1 reorganising)

Objectives: Two trenches captured or the British battalion routed would mean an Ottoman victory. One trench captured would be draw and none of the trenches captured or Ottoman regiment routed would be British victory.

As I could not transport my dirt color table to the club, we played it on a green landscape and a fairly open table-set up to keep things simple. Also, it was the first time we used the tokens designed for this game. (thanks a lot Serdar Candan!)

Table set-up. British in trenches await the Turkish assault. Ottoman regiment focus on British right flank, leaving little troops on British left.

British game aids, regimental command tokens depicting Lord Kitchener on a visit to Anzac Corps at Gallipoli.

Ottoman game aids, regimental command tokens depicting Mustafa Kemal with his staff at Gallipoli.

Turkish regiment: 2 Regular Infantry Battalions with 4 Companies and 2 MG Squads each. 1 unit of Stormtroopers. 6-Gun Field Artillery and 6-Gun Howitzer Batteries.

British Battalion: 4 Regular Companies with 2 MG Squads. Cavalry and 6-Gun Field Artillery.

After Ottoman 2nd Turn, they roll wonderful command dices and move rapidly towards the British right flank. Entrenched British infantry is hit by Turkish artillery and MG Squads.

Turkish assault hits British trenches, British infantry and MG are "Under Heavy Fire" so they are not able to repel the assault.

Ottomans destroy the enemy and successfully capture trenches on British right flank.

British reserves try to form a defensive line to stop the Turkish advance. Cavalry dismount.

Ottomans in control of trenches.

After regrouping, Ottomans advance towards the British reserves. Again with successful command dice results, they reach the British and assault them.

Seeing their brethren capture the British right flank, two companies of Ottoman infantry rush for British left flank. But here, the assault is repulsed by MG fire.

Ottoman infantry make short work of British reserves in close combat. Losing more than half of their units, British battalion retreats and leaves the field of battle to the victorious Turks.

It was a simple but enjoyable game. Turks rolled superb for regimental command, in 5 of 8 turns, they rolled "Excellent Plan". Timely artillery hits pinned the British right flank and assaults were very successful. All in all, we decided that it was a fairly balanced scenario. The rapid Turkish advance decided the fate of British defenders and I would expect no less from a game that was played on Turkish national holiday!

Our work on game rules continue, but there is little to do left now.

Take care...