February 21, 1916. The German guns have resounded long through the night, and we're afraid that they will soon attack. Our forces are spread rather thin, and there seem to be a lot of Germans. My love to the children... may I see them again.

Randy has a lot of wargames and there are many of them he hasn't played yet. They Shall Not Pass is one of his more recent acquisitions; a relatively simple Avalanche Press game set in one of the most important battles of World War I: the Battle of Verdun. As Randy described the rules to me, he kept on remarking on how similar the rules were to many other wargames. This was not a disadvantage, as it allowed both of us to learn the game quickly and soon get into the action. (Yes, we were using the revised rules).

The box says 90-120 minutes. This may be true for experienced players; it was certainly not for us, as we played for about 3 hours and still had 2 turns left to play (of nine)! The game is still set up, however, so we'll finish it when I next have a chance to visit Randy again.

This session report records the first seven days (turns) of the German offensive and the French defense. I wanted to get them down now before I forgot the details.

The set-up of the battle had a very, very thin French line in the trenches with some artillery behind it and the HQ beyond that. Supply would become very important in this game, especially when the Germans began to break through our lines. (I played the French, Randy played the Germans). How long did it take the Germans to break through? Oh, they'd gotten through on the left flank on the first turn!



The turn sequence is fairly simple:
* german supply/reinforcements
* german bombardment
* german movement
* german attacks
* german breakthrough movement
* french supply/reinforcements
* french bombardment
* french movement
* french attacks
* french breakthrough movements

So, Randy would move his Germans up and attack in force, and then I'd be left with a battered and broken French line to worry about. Cool.

Randy was attempting to capture forts, villages and eventually Verdun, whilst inflicting as many casualties on me as possible. Casualties - not much of a problem. My French forces were inflicting very little damage in return. It took me the first two turns just to get a handle on what my tactics would be as it was very possible for Randy to get a 3 hexes:1 hex attack going, which probably meant a 6:1 unit advantage! Eep. With his superior artillery, it wasn't long before my forces were not just in trouble, but in *real* trouble. My artillery was coming under direct attack, and that wasn't a good thing. Oh, and supply was becoming a problem.



The left had crumpled; the centre was having supply problems, but the right was holding back Randy's Germans. I was having some luck, however: Randy was rolling terribly for bombardment and attack rolls, so that my artillery survived a turn more than it should have. Incredible!

I was beginning to gain a feel for how the French should work: hold up the Germans just enough and then fall back to the next line of trenches. Unfortunately, much of that knowledge had come too late for my troops who were now scattered. My real hope was for reinforcements.

Randy pushed some of his units through my lines and ran for the forts, but in so doing managed to cut himself off from supply. Supply lines were a mess, with Out-of-Supply units on both sides interfering with the other's supplies!



German units in French trenches were depressingly well-fortified. More troublesome were the German units in the centre of the map, who raced up to one of my Forts and destroyed it. This wasn't good; my HQ was in real peril, so I retreated it away. At last reinforcements came through, and I was able to halt the German assault: units protecting Vacherauville on the left and Ormes on the right were facing heavy attacks, but were holding on.

So went the next few turns, and my reinforcements came through in greater and greater numbers. Randy pushed forward into the centre, and I rushed units up to help defend. Strategic Movement (double speed, quadruple on roads) was very important, although I often was just short of where I needed to end up.



By the end of the seventh turn, Randy had pushed forward the attack in the centre to the third line of trenches, but no further. Ornes had fallen, but Vacherauville was holding out - barely. Randy's horrible rolling for his bombardments had continued: he'd rolled five 1 or 2s in a row! This was a relief, and his was now moving out of range of his better guns.

Counting up the VPs, I believe he has enough for a marginal victory, but there's only 1 point in it, and much depends on the casualties, of which I have many. What next? We still have two more turns (days) of this to go. I have reinforcements, but will they be enough to push back his advance anywhere and recapture some towns?

More to come...



They Shall Not Pass has been an enjoyable experience so far, and it'll be interesting to see what the final result will be. I've seen things I should have done better as the French (protect their artillery! fall back!) and I expect it'll be a game we revisit in future.