Westfront
Westfront - Tabletop Game for the First World War Westfront is a company to battalion level game for WW1 forces¸ designed for 1/72¸ 15mm or 10mm miniatures. Smaller scales could also be used. Westfront is designed with simplicity in mind¸ but since it represents communication issues¸ orders from above¸ random events like units becoming lost¸ as well as the actual movement and attacking of the various types of forces¸ it can become quite in-depth. Westfront has a fairly free-form army list composition; allowing players to choose infantry¸ cavalry¸ vehicles¸ various types of artillery¸ fortifications and barbed wire at their will. Units behave historically¸ and 4 different theaters are available to play in. Some will have a higher chance of poor weather¸ and if the entire tabletop is mud units like armored cars simply wont be able to function. Thankfully season is determined before players write their army lists¸ so they will know ahead of time what to expect. Westfront covers the evolution of the war and the changes in doctrines and units involved; Early war (1914 - 1915) will have only the most rudimentary artillery usage in preliminary bombardments¸ and only the basic units available (no tanks!). Mid War (1916) will see the standardization of the creeping artillery barrage (which really works in-game: artillery provides cover as troops advance¸ and causes enemies to keep their heads down if it explodes near them)¸ indirect machine gun fire and of course the introduction of the first Mk.I tanks. Late war (1917 - 1918) will see advanced infantry tactics like Germans advancing machine gun teams through creeping barrages to set up in no mans land¸ and the introduction of more refined tanks and German anti-tank rifles. Westfront provides army lists for the Allied forces and the Central Powers¸ covering most of the units available. 3 qualities of infantry and cavalry are available (sup-par¸ regular and assault/veterans)¸ and artillery is broken into 4 categories: Trench mortars like the minenwerfer or stokes mortar¸ flat-firing field guns like the 37mm maxim¸ and the various 77mm German guns (these have varying ranges depending on the specific gun)¸ howitzer batteries like the 18-Pdr or 15cm SFH¸ and heavy howitzers like the 42cm Mörser or the BL 12-Inch. Fortifications are covered¸ with shallow and deep trenches¸ dug outs and pillboxes all available Westfront aims to give fun games around 2 hours long and to give a WW1 feel for the players. Much research has been done based on the accounts of actual combatants¸ attempting to implement some of the important features for those on the ground. For example a forward unit on the attack may start to run low on ammunition¸ so could send a runner back to request supplies¸ but the runner may get killed along the way... Another example might be a friendly unit capturing an enemy trench¸ only to get shelled by friendly artillery controlled by H.Q. They desperately send a runner back to their lines to tell the barrage to stop¸ but it will take a few turns for the order to get through... Find us on facebook for photos¸ battle reports and updates https://www.facebook.com/westfrontgame