In the Trenches: Through Mud and Blood

In the Trenches: Through Mud and Blood is the third game of the In the Trenches series. Designed by John Gorkowski, this series enables players to game historically accurate simulations of tactical operations from the Great War. ITT challenges players to move and fight with company-level formations made of separate platoon-sized units during five minute, impulsed-based turns. The historically accurate maps are scaled to 100 yards per hex. This approach recreates WWI command and control problems and inspire historically accurate play without forcing decisions. In the Trenches: Through Mud and Blood includes seven operations. "Balkan Brawl" takes place in Macedonia, "Schneiders at Juvincourt" pits French tanks against German infantry, "The Lost Battalion" and "Go to Hell!" depict the battles of the 308th US Infantry Battalion in the Charlevaux Valley, "War of Machines" and "Combined Arms" involves British and German tanks on the Western Front, and "Kaiserschlacht" depicts trench fighting between the British and Germans during the last German offensive of the First World War. Included in In the Trenches: Through Mud and Blood are five 11.5" x 8" maps, 264 die-cut counters, one rulebook, guides for all seven operations, one reference card, and two D6s. (source: Grenier Games website) Maps: Maps are single-sheet 11.5" x 8" and printed on stiff, glossy cardstock. The featured five maps are: "Hill 06" covers a piece of territory near Lake Doiran in Macedonia "Juvincourt" features the village of that name, and the nearby countryside "Charlevaux Valley" contains the battlefield of the Lost Battalion, "Open Ground" leaves a clean playing field for the tanks (and perfect for make-your-own battles), "Racecourse Redoubt" features a network of trenches on the Western Front. Scenarios: Balkan Brawl To break the stalemate at Salonika, the Allies planned to strike the Bulgarian centre. As part of a larger effort, the 11th Worcestershire Battalion, 78th Brigade, 22nd Division aimed to capture "06", a strongpoint of the Bulgarian 9th Division on "Pip Ridge" just east of Lake Doiran in Macedonia. At 2145, after days of intermittent shelling, the preparatory barrage ceased and the officers' shrill whistles rose from the din. British troops filtered down into Hana Ravine just before bounding up the slope to "06". Schneiders at Juvincourt As part of the Nivelle Offensive, Commandant Louis Bossut led five "Special Artillery" groups of 16 Schneider tanks each into German lines near Berry-Au-Bac at 0600. Groupment Bossut crossed the first German trench line with infantry against light resistance. But nagging artillery fires and mechanical failures began to nibble away at his force. Four kilometers later, Bossut swung northward to cross the second German trench line with his 60 remaining tanks and the 151st Infantry Regiment. After crossing around 0900, Bossut split his force sending two groups north toward Juvincourt, two more west toward Mauchamp and one south toward the Aisne. The Lost Battalion On 2 October 1918, elements of the U.S. 77th "Liberty" Division from New York attacked north into the Argonne Forest. Major Whittlesey's force of two battalions from the 308th Infantry and two platoons of the 306th Machine Gun outpaced neighboring American units by penetrating a full kilometer into German lines. At dusk, Whittlesey's men dug in along the north slope of a valley between a road at the top and a stream at the bottom. Company K of the 307th joined the following morning. Seeing that this force had outpaced its flank protection, the Germans slowly encircled the "Lost Battalion", in a pocket about 500 meters east of Moulin de Charlevaux. At 3 PM on October 3, the Germans launched their first attack. Go to Hell! After 5 days of siege, the Lost Battalion was out of bandages, drinking from the Charlevaux Brook, and coughing on the stench of the rotting corpses that surrounded them. the Germans sent an American POW back to his comrades with a letter offering to accept an American surrender. According to legend, Major Whittlesey spat back, "Go to Hell!" Kaiserschlacht The Kaiser's Battle began at 0435 with an unprecedented artillery bombardment of gas, smoke and high explosive rounds. About 9,955 tubes of all sizes rained over 1,100,000 shells across 40 miles of frontage. At 0940 the firing stopped; Stosstruppen immediately sprang from their shell holes as German regulars emerged from trenches close behind. Near Grugies not far from St. Quentin, Germany's 238th division slammed into Britain's 36th Ulster amid dense fog and lingering smoke. The recently arrived Ulster men had just taken over French positions and had yet to fully implement the new defense in depth doctrine. War of Machines During the Second Battle of Cambrai, British troops of Byng's third Army broke through the Hindenburg Line to "the green fields beyond." Leading the way, tanks of the 12th Battalion helped XVII Corps capture Niergnies. Just east of the town, Captain Roe's tank, L16, paused at Mont Neuve Farm. there he spotted four MIVs coming his way from the east. C Company - he thought. Combined Arms After Ludendorff's Operation Georgette bogged down in the north, he made a thrust for Amiens. At dawn on April 24th, thirteen German tanks lumbered forward over a gloomy moonscape with infantry close behind. After plowing through Britain's 173rd Brigade, they covered 4,000 yards to reach the Cachy Switch Line, a stitch work arrangement of incomplete trenches between Villers Bretonneux and Cachy. At about that time, Captain Brown led three Mark IVs to the Cachy Switch Line with orders to hold at all costs. (source: user's description)