Wargaming the First World War

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A few book recommendations (not a comprehensive list!) with Amazon Affiliate links
Forgotten Victory, Gary Sheffield (amzn.to/45fdVXG)
Mud, Blood and Poppycock, Gordon Corrigan (amzn.to/3rEoKEQ)
The Western Front Companion, Mark Adkin (amzn.to/3RIH4aB)
Zero Hour, Z Day Vol.I (www.zerohourzday.com/buy-the-...)
Zero Hour, Z Day Vol.II (www.zerohourzday.com/buy-the-...)
Cambrai, Bryn Hammond (amzn.to/3tdjk43)
The Great War, Peter Hart (amzn.to/3trTt8A)
On the Dangerous Edge, Kenneth Radley (amzn.to/48FYYAQ)
Battle Tactics of the Western Front, Paddy Griffiths (amzn.to/3F5nFJv)
Stormtrooper Tactics, Bruce Gudmundsson (amzn.to/3F5FCHQ)
French Trench Warfare 1917-1918 (amzn.to/3rBJwoO)
British Trench Warfare 1917-1918 (amzn.to/3PO35ST)
Stemming the Tide, Spencer Jones (ed) (amzn.to/3RShvEa)
Courage Without Glory, Spencer Jones (ed) (amzn.to/48NLdQO)
At All Costs, Spencer Jones (ed) (amzn.to/3Q60p4a)
The Darkest Year, Spencer Jones (ed) (amzn.to/3Fat7KW)
Jack Sheldon's study of the German army on the Western Front (several books): amzn.to/3RQVLbD
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17 окт 2023

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Комментарии : 69

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

I'm aware the music may be too loud for some, I thought I'd set it lower in the mix, but I hadn't. However, there are auto-generated subtitles for those still struggling to hear.

@markanderson8188 9 месяцев назад

IMHO the music adds nothing, and is distracting from the video. I realize some might like it, and I understand trying to "spice up" the videos, but for me its merely a distraction from an otherwise interesting discussion.

@MiniatureAdventuresTV 9 месяцев назад

Excellent review of why the period needs more love from wargamers. My group has had some cracking WWI games over the years.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers Lee! It is an often unexplored period for a lot of wargamers isn't it?

@theDexMcHenry 9 месяцев назад

You've caused me to pull a couple of my volumes of 'The War Illustrated' off the shelf. Propaganda element aside they are a gorgeous visual reference but it is also curious how little trenches seem to feature in the contemporary record. Random extracts from volume three, August 1915 to February 1916, includes articles on Russia, operations in the Cameroon, the Serbian and Italian fronts, the march on Bagdad, Dardanelles, French testing of captured flamethrowers (being called flame-jets). The variety in just a few months is quite astounding. All interesting stuff. Another thought provoking presentation.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Great stuff! Glad you enjoyed the video!

@StatsScott 9 месяцев назад

Great overview. I definitely didn’t learn much about WW1 here in US; it might have been a couple days (< a week) which conveyed it as interesting solely in terms of its setting the stage for WW2. Lots of focus on the tangle of alliances with domino effect. Lots about repeated forlorn charges of Napoleonic-style lines marching across muddy no mans land against fortified enemy trenches, repeatedly ordered by out of touch generals far to the rear who had no regard for the lives of their soldiers. Then the war ended when us Yanks sailed over to show everyone how it’s done! :) I stumbled across a high-level overview of the war later on and learned how much of that was wildly wrong and saw how much more complex the whole affair was.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Thanks, yeah, a lot of what we were taught at school was very out dated historically. Things have changed a lot in recent years though.

@WargamesTonight 9 месяцев назад

I totally agree that WW1 is gameable! But I believe a new approach is in order. I think it would be fun (and better represent the period) to have two sets of players: One set must rely on maps and limited reports coming in from runners, telephone operators, observation posts, etc. to divine what is happening and then dispatch reinforcements and control the powerful artillery. Another set at, "the front" will play a series of more traditional wargames but the lack of timely and effective communication with the set to "the rear" will force them to stick to the timetable agreed upon before the game as closely as possible in order to take advantage of their own artillery. This would require a very hard working referee but it would be epic!

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

It's a good idea and would certainly work well for games set in 1915, but as the war progressed command was devolved down to the men on the spot, so artillery timetables became less rigid, for example.

@NapoleonicWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Interesting subject. Ive been working on a Black Powder varient for 1914, would you be interested in having a look?

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Yes, I'd be interested in it for sure.

@eternalgardens7016 Месяц назад

Some of the most fun I have ever had wargaming was playing Trench (1975) with my grandad

@StormofSteelWargaming Месяц назад

Good memories

@andydrb9673 9 месяцев назад

Brilliant video Alex. Succinct overview and great pointers for getting into gaming. And a decent reference list too to work through. 👏

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers Andy, glad to have been of help! I hope the books are useful as well!

@Questionablepainting 9 месяцев назад

Trench Offensive is quite a good game for sections. Also they are producing a Platoon game.

@Andrew-se4tg 9 месяцев назад

Ww1 in 28mm is something I would love to get into, only problem is finding decent 28mm vehicles/tanks...🤔👍

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

There are tons of them out there, plus you don't need that many as tanks were not a major feature of the war anyway.

@paulspaintshed3511 9 месяцев назад

Great video Alex really informative. Having played a lot WW1 games set in Africa i can highly recommend that theatre if the war.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers Paul, I have often thought about the German campaigns in East Africa, it's an often underlooked part of the war.

@ashercroy4982 4 дня назад

I’ve just been waiting for a company over the years to make a line of Bulgarian miniatures for the war. Our country is almost always over looked despite the role it played.

@StormofSteelWargaming 4 дня назад

Tru dat

@dougc2568 9 месяцев назад

the italian front is well worth investigating- if you know nothing about it you will be astonished.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Yeah, I have visited some of the sites many years ago.

@YarkshireGamer 9 месяцев назад

Im surprised you didnt have an American expert on 😉😆

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

I asked, but none were forthcoming... 🤣🤣

@YarkshireGamer 9 месяцев назад

That's a shame I would have thought one would be available for the last 5 minutes 😎

@andydrb9673 9 месяцев назад

@@YarkshireGamer 🤣you're a bad man.

@HexTableTop 9 месяцев назад

Can't disagree with anything you have said, Alex. It may be me being strange but I would love a company level game based on the day to day holding of a section of line. Manning, skirmishing, resupply, reinforcement, trench digging, sniping, raiding etc. It would be interesting to see which side could dominate No Mans Land. Great video as always, mate! 👍

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers, yeah that would certainly be interesting. It could be a co-op style game with an AI enemy.

@simonnorburn3518 9 месяцев назад

And one thing I have never seen modeled is LOB (left out of battle); the process of retaining a cadre to ensure the continuity of the regiment. Yes - having listened to about 1/3 of your video there were some very strong images created. I think that if you are going to do it a battalion level game would be better than a company; then the 10 days in the line with rotation could be better done but the key issues would relate around how pushy the colonel was and the tactical actions both defensively and offensively. In fact I think I am going to go away and rough out a model, for both the AI and the user.

@HexTableTop 9 месяцев назад

Could be something in the offing here...

@davidbenton8775 9 месяцев назад

Kudos to the Preacher Man. Spreading the gospel of WWI. 😅 A very interesting video, Alex, well done, sir. But, I think I know you aren't looking for garlands and awards here. You are looking for questions, and intelligent points. Well, I'll jump off my ACW soapbox and give you my Pickett's Charge worth. 😂 Sorry, couldn't resist the Gettysburg reference... Two main themes I'd like your take on Alex. Easiest first, it strikes me that WWI is more fertile ground for the skirmish level of wargaming, the opportunities for corps or army level gaming is far less than the vast array of options clustered around company and platoon level actions that you outlined. Fair point? Or do you disagree? Second, listening to your narrative of the war, one thing struck me from the overall view. Can you see the whole war on the Western Front as one huge four year long encounter battle? Let me expand. The early manoeuvre part is the initial clashes and dashes of the deployment phase...think Chain of Command. The war then reaches the meat of the game, units probe, and break through or are repulsed, troops slug it out in firefights with intermittent melees and most of the actual death and destruction happens. Finally one army runs out of morale points(or equivalent) and starts to break until finally victory is declared and the defeated army breaks. The innovations in tactics and weaponry can be considered a reinforcement schedule, albeit a complex one (We are talking four years here it's not linear more if a then b) and the whole battle line from North Sea to Swiss border is one huge table. What do you think?

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers, glad you liked it. I have a few ideas for how Corps and Army level gaming would work, but it would be more about the distribution of assets amongst players really. More like a worker management game.

@dekyras 9 месяцев назад

Great overview and has inspired me to look at WW1 again. Not so keen on the background music though ..........

@BattleMatt 9 месяцев назад

Great video mate. I've had the same dilemma you mention with Franco-Prussian War, where most battles were hundreds of thousands of men and which seems difficult to translate into small scale actions on the wargaming table. I prefer 28mm so I don't want to go down the 2mm path just for a battle with 1:1 scale, but on the other hand very small skirmish level also leaves out flavour and tactics of the period. I'm trying to find a happy medium too where the game is practical, large enough to be impressive, small enough to be doable, but doesn't lose the flavour of the period. When I read about massive battles like Sedan I don't think it's difficult to imagine a small action taking place as part of a huge battle. I think for some pureists it's etheir thousands of figures, like Napoleonics, or nothing but I think there's room for everything.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Thank you, yes, there is plenty of scope for smaller battles in the F/P war, as there would be tons of skirmishes happening all the time at the edges of larger battles. You could also just block out a smaller portion of the larger battles and concentrate on that. An example here, although not Franco-Prussian war is the attack on Hougoumont during Waterloo. It's a small battle in itself where it's manageable with many rules sets. Just a bit of rethinking is required!

@HexTableTop 9 месяцев назад

Wanted to ask, actually, which reading material you would recommend that provides really detailed information on how a unit would operate in the trenches? More of an Army operational manual rather than anecdotes from soldiers.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Tony Ashworth's Trench Warfare 1914-1918 still holds up as a good account of the general aspects of trench life and Andy Robertshaw's 24 Hour Trench (spot me in the photos) is a lighter account of the same, but explains a typical day in the front line. The references in both will be useful to follow up on as well.

@HexTableTop 9 месяцев назад

@@StormofSteelWargaming Fantastic! Cheers, Alex!

@dickturpin1964 9 месяцев назад

Good video. The Western Front offers many possibilities but few wargames rules do them justice, despite lots of good figure ranges.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Cheers, yep, I can count on my hand how many good historically based rules sets there are out there. And I wouldn't even need to use all my fingers...

@belyy_rusky 9 месяцев назад

Yeah I think this area is underserved. If there was a good WW1 wargame that captures the grittiness of the battles I'd have my favorite game for life.@@StormofSteelWargaming

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

@@belyy_rusky then try out Through the Mud and the Blood, by far the best researched set of rules out there.

@thejerk4478 9 месяцев назад

I want to get into wargaming but I don't know where to start. I don't really have anyone to play with though

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Look in your local area for gaming groups, that's the best place to start.

@EarlofChutney 9 месяцев назад

Ww1 would be quite hard to write a single set of rules for at any scale as there is a big difference between the post napoleonics of 1914 and the Strosstroop tactics and offensives of 1918. Then the different fronts are very different. I would expect you either have to define a very tight scope for the rules or be very clever.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

I thought id made that point? There was a century of military developments between the Napoleonic wars and 1914. Its a myth that the first year of the war was fought like the Napoleonic wars

@EarlofChutney 9 месяцев назад

Yes I’d made the comment about half way through watching. It was more a response as to why there are so few rule sets. I think it is a harder challenge than ww2 in some respects. Many rulesets are rather abstract and probably written by non experts. Often what gamers want is there idea of what a conflict was like. With ww1 you have to fix this and develop a system that brings out the tactics evolution.

@thewannabepainter 9 месяцев назад

Imo ww1 and napoleonic wargames had to be played at least in 15 mm or less. 28mm simply cannot catch the vibe of the time enough although there are some beautiful kits to build there

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

It depends what level you are gaming. I've seen plenty of great 28mm FWW games.

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 9 месяцев назад

After adding the base stats of the 1918 US army faction sheet(Yes I know starting with 1918 and the US but I have reseachered that kinda already and should not be that a hard to do.)to my simply deep game the universal company level one... I understand why no one else has tried to make a company level WW1 TT wargame before... What infomation you can easly find is etehir on the squad level or below or the brigade level or above... Like type in how are the US calvery organized in WW1? And even ChatGPT will shrug and say something to the effect of "The US cavlery bridgades saw limited use in WW1 due to chaging tech and were a few hundred men strong and were armed with 1911s, Springfeilds and calvery swords and dress as you thought..." Like I have 11 units a platoon each for the US AEF faction sheet while more then then what I have for the 1985 Late cold war US army faction sheet... It's not based on even half the stuff the other is... Like it's mostly it's asking ChatGPT, Finding the lone youtube video/website or looking at that Too fat lardies WW1 collection of their arctickles... What's next would be looking at recent video games for ideas but those two are etheir brigade or above or platoon level with the sole exception of a companies of heroes mod I guess also looking at what minitures exsit for ideas which even at my 3mm scale Pico armor has plenty of them... But yeah it's not easy today with ChatGPT so I can't imagine what it would be like other wise... Still I'll add the 1918 Imperal German army base stats next then do an update by next month hopefully.

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

I wouldn't be using ChatGPT for research purposes. Not when there are plenty of books on this subject. The American platoon (please don't call them Factions...) was essentially the same as the British one in 1918, as laid out in training pamphlet SS143, that is a rifle section, bomber section, rifle grenadier section and LMG section, which changed slightly with the updated 1918 edition of SS143 to be a bit more flexible. You can find SS143 as a PDF online. ASFAIK the American company was a square organisation, meaning four platoons to a company and four companies to a battalion. But of course that was a paper strength and not always reflected in action. Through the Mud and the Blood is a company level game, btw.

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 9 месяцев назад

@@StormofSteelWargaming I use Chatgpt as a way of speeding up internet search time and like Wikipedia he does site his sources which you can't say for every book... Which again is lacking the type of info I need most of the time if I can find them in print. And if I could I can't use them because reading books of pure text is extremely hard for me... Nore do I have the budget for them.... So I have to use stuff i can get online... Also what word whould you use to describe the The US AEF in 1918, The Roman Army 201 BC, The Galactic Empire Stormtrooper Corps 0BBY as the org you pick units from? Which thank you I littterly in a day of searching could not find out how companies were organized in WW1... Like I said Platoon and down or brigade and up easy to find info on but littlery the middle I could not find. Wait then why are you searching for a company level game if one exisits already? Like wasn't that a major point in this video?

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

I would describe them as a 'force', a faction is a political term and has only come about in gaming through people misusing it in Warhammer. I understand that reading can be difficult for some, so I suggest Google searching for SS143 training pamphlet and you'll find the American version of the pamphlet as a PDF. As for searching for a company level game, no, that wasn't the point of the video, the point of the video was to explain to people who don't play the First World War on the tabletop how easy it is to do so and people should consider doing it.

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 9 месяцев назад

@@StormofSteelWargaming Good point though it is common in video games, and fictional fandoms to use the term faction in this context... Which the only two reasons I won't use it for this game inperticular is... Somes groups don't like to be discribed as forces like the UN Peacekeepers and Force Sheet does not have the same ring to it as Faction sheet... But yeah your right. Which manuels can only get one so far and they are insanely had to find unless they are current and even then may not work... As they won't give you the feel of the war or even for exemple a uniftorm dressing manuel may only have one diagram showing the one thing you need in an unrelated part... Namely I was searching for how US army uniforms differ between being home and ddeployed and while the current manuel discribed it but only showed it latter when talking about something else. Though yes for seeing how companies are organized a maneul should work. Which thanks by the way!

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

@@GreenBlueWalkthrough here's the training pamphlet I was talking about: www.314th.org/numbered-documents/0613-instructions-for-the-training-of-platoons-for-offensive-action.pdf

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 9 месяцев назад

I'm happening to be developing two universal games at the moment that could get WW1 settings, armies, campaigns and one is division level as each unit my default is a platoon... and the other is anything you want it to be and I have a good amount of WW1 gear in it already for steampunk... But I could make a WW1 campaign where you command are a general a cornal and a sargent in different pahses which have branching events based on your and the other players/solo actions... Which most of the game is combating your limits and buying new tactics and gear with EXP while fighting the enemy and each turn is a year in WW1 so by the end you'll have no limits. Honestly... that sounds like it would be epic and fit my impossible evergame to a tee but would be so much work... As for the division level one that is simpler then chess but just as deep also has dice... Hmmm it would be hard but I could make it work and would be something like condising a part of the front into a bite sized match... I might have ideas... Which thanks for givining me work and letting me know about a gap I can exploit!

@StormofSteelWargaming 9 месяцев назад

Sounds interesting, but if you are playing divisional level games with platoons as the smallest element you are going to need a vast amount of platoons.

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 9 месяцев назад

@@StormofSteelWargamingOh right my bad by division I mean company and your a major for a typical match in the game right now which that game is a month and a half old and the other everygame is 4 years old which I can link the itch.10 page for both if you want... But yeah I may be able to get basic French verus German 1914(Or what ever year you think would be best to start with) working my the next update at the end of the month... I was kinda working on US army verus Soveit Army 1980s first as that is a period that got my interest(Also I know most about)... But I can do both like I said the system is universal and I've always been interested in WW1 so this will be just as fun to make.