Hard Lessons Well Learned
Belleau Wood is famous for being the birthplace of the modern United States Marine Corps. The game covers the fighting in June 1918 involving the US 2nd division, French 167th Division, and several German divisions. This is much more than a tactical game. Besides including a realistic model of the interplay between rifles, LMGs, MMGs, mortars, and artillery, the game emphasizes the morale of individual units plus the efficiency of larger commands and their orders. The ground scale is 240 meters per hex, 20 meter contour intervals, with one hour turns.
A playtest of the Hill 142 scenario, showing the box barrage.
The game covers the key points of the month-long campaign, with a map covering the entirety of the relevant battlefield. It starts with the final German assault on June 3rd, continues with the main US attack on June 6th and the smaller actions on the following days, the July 1st assault on Vaux, plus a hypothetical German counterattack (which they did attempt but failed to adequately resource). The individual playing pieces are the historical companies and batteries, with the platoon pickets. These are organized into battalions, regiments, and brigades. The game operates at two levels – the small-scale tactical (moving, firing, hiding) and divisional command (ordering brigades and regiments, tracking their exhaustion, allocating artillery assets, and issuing new orders).
A six-step USMC rifle company without machine-guns
Belleau Wood 1918 is the third entry in the Rifle and Spade series. Belleau Wood uses version 2.1 of the series rules, a small change to the 2.0 version that will ship with Mons 1914. Version 1.0 was published with Gallipoli 1915: Churchill’s Greatest Gamble. The new 2.* rules have been significantly reworked for readability, simplicity, and faster play. Belleau Wood 1918 is in development, in playtest.
A German battalion organized defense, machine guns assigned to companies