A Gallipoli scenario for The Great War

by Gripping Beast (as featured in Wargames Illustrated)

For the last few years, Gripping Beast have put on display games for our chums at Warhammer Historical at shows such as Salute and, of course, Games Workshop's own Games Day events. In the past we've taken Arthurian, Shieldwall and Byzantium based games and the massive Punic Wars Battle of Zama but this time Rob Broom (GM, Warhammer Historical) was keen for us to highlight the new Great War rules and this seemed like an ideal time to get our Woodbine Design Company Gallipoli range out on the table-top. We decided upon a scenario based upon the fighting for Chunuk Bair, a crucial hilltop in the Sari Bair range, during the August Offensive 1915. It is part of a linked series of scenarios that we have been tinkering with along with army lists and special rules to give the forces that Gallipoli flavour.

The History
The unimaginatively named August Offensive was the brainchild of British high command on the Gallipoli peninsula and was designed to re-energise the campaign that had been a virtual stalemate in the ANZAC beach area since the landings in April 1915. It began on August 6th with new landings to the north in Suvla Bay of the British IX Corp and the ANZAC assault of the Sari Bair hills. The plan was for the assault to capture the high ground thus relieving the pressure on ANZAC beach and to link up with the Suvla Bay forces. Overall command for the break-out from ANZAC was given to Major-General Alexander Godley, a man with a reputation in some quarters that would have made General Melchett blanch. Godley tasked the New Zealand Infantry Brigade with taking the key hill of Chunuk Bair and the Australian 4th and Indian 29th Infantry Brigades with tackling the neighbouring Hill 971 and Hill Q. All hills were expected to be in allied hands by dawn the next day.

Approach to Chunuk Bair was made via Rhododendron Spur and while three of the battalions earmarked for the final assault were finally in position around 4.30am, the forth, the Canterbury Battalion, was lost somewhere on the gully ridden spur. Despite the fact that the Turks had only a few men on the next part for the hill, known as The Apex, and that the knoll beyond the Apex known as The Pinnacle (which pretty much marked the top of the hill) was undefended, the New Zealand Rifle Brigade's commander, Brigadier-General Johnston, gave the order to await the arrival of the Canterbury's before launching the next assault. Perhaps his decision can be explained by the fact that he was officially 'ill' at the start of the assault; or, as some of his staff have put it 'fighting drunk,' and that by 4.30am the 'spirit' was wearing off with all that that entails......

Nevertheless, by the time the Canterbury Battalion was in position at 8am, all chance of an easy assault were over; the German commander of 9th Turkish Division, Lt Colonel Hans Kannengiesser, had arrived and the defence was organised. In fact, the New Zealanders had already begun to come under accurate fire from the hastily prepared Turkish trenches. So, with his troops exhausted from the night's climb and facing re-enforced and well led troops, Johnston received the order from General Godley to begin the attack. First into the breach were the Auckland battalion and it is their attack that the scenario follows.

Apex to Pinnacle; The Auckland Assault
7 turns plus variable game length rule

ANZAC Objective
To achieve a minor victory, the Auckland battalion must secure the Pinnacle, the key to Chunuk Bair. To do this they must at the end of the game have a scoring unit (see Great War Rulebook) on the Pinnacle. There must be no Turkish scoring units on the Pinnacle. For a major victory, the Aucklands must occupy the Pinnacle with a scoring unit and there must be no Turkish scoring units left on the table.

Turkish Objective
The Turks must deny the Pinnacle to the ANZACs at all costs. If they can keep the ANZACs at bay then re-enforcements can counter-attack and sweep the invaders back off the Sari Bair ridges. For a minor victory, the Turks must prevent any ANZAC scoring unit from ending the game in sole control of the Pinnacle. If the Turks destroy all ANZAC scoring units by the end of the game, then this is a major Turkish victory.

ANZAC Deployment
The hill at this point is very steep and it was possible to approach to within 20 yards of the Turkish defenders. This means that the ANZACs start the game quite close to the first line of Turkish defences. Units maybe placed anywhere within the extended deployment zone.

Turkish Deployment
The Turks may deploy anywhere outside the ANZAC deployment zone. They must deploy at least one platoon in the front-line trenches.

The Auckland Battalion

The Auckland Battalion is drawn up using the ANZAC in Gallipoli list and consists of:

Battalion Command (Colonel + 4 riflemen)

First Company
Command (Captain + 4 riflemen)
First Platoon (12 riflemen)
Second Platoon (12 riflemen)
Third Platoon (12 riflemen)
Bomber Platoon (12 riflemen equipped with bombs – see Gallipoli Special Rules below)

Second Company
As First Company

HMG Section

ANZACs in Gallipoli Special Rules

Stubborn:
ANZAC units were renown for their stubbornness during an assault - nothing would stop or slow their advance. As long as they are composed of 5 models or more, a unit described as Stubborn may re-roll any failed Morale test. This does not apply to Pin tests; these may not be re-rolled.

ANZAC Bombers:
When Britain entered the war there was only one type of grenade available to the army and that was the suitably named Mark 1. However, as with the machine gun, High Command had not foreseen the importance of grenades and so supplies were extremely limited. In Gallipoli, where trenches were particularly close, troops developed a home-made solution; the 'Jam Tin' bomb. Made, appropriately enough, from jam tins and other such containers, they were packed with gun-cotton or dynamite and scraps of metal, nails etc. Fuses were poked through a hole made in the lid, each inch of fuse giving about 1 second of delay. Although not as reliable as the German grenades used by the Turks, both sides used these Heath-Robinson contraptions in great numbers and both developed a catapult delivery system for use in trenches. The Auckland battalion are considered to have access to Jam Tins only and so their bombers are not as effective as the Turks.

Special Attack instead of firing rifles (Page 63 of The Great War rulebook)

8" Range; S3
4 + models = d6 hits on enemy unit
Less then 4 models = d3 hits on enemy unit

Models not throwing bombs may use weapons as normal or the unit may choose to assault.

Battalion Command Group

A Battalion Command Group consists of an officer and two soldiers (aides, staff, messengers etc).

Special rules: Stubborn
Colonel Strategy Rating: 1, 12" command range
Equipment: The Colonel is armed with a pistol. The soldiers are armed with rifles.

 

Infantry Company (1 of 2)

An Infantry Company consists of a Company Command Group, three Infantry Platoons and one Bomber Platoon.

Special rules: Stubborn
Equipment: The Captain is armed with a pistol. The soldiers are armed with rifles.

 

Infantry Platoon (1 of 3)

Special rules: Stubborn
Equipment: The soldiers are armed with rifles.

 

Bomber Platoon (1)

Special rules: Stubborn
Equipment: Rifles and jam-tin bombs.

 

HMG Section (1)

Special rules: Stubborn
Equipment: Heavy machine gun (Great War rulebook page 40) plus pistol and knife.

 

Turkish Defenders of The Apex

To represent the defenders of The Apex, we have given the Turkish player a battalion from following specially devised list. We could have given them a German Advisor to represent Lt Colonel Hans Kannengiesser but as TWDC have yet to do a suitable figure so we decided to give the Turks a Battalion Colour Party instead, especially as Bill 'Musketeer' Thornhill had just converted one up!

Battalion Command (Colonel + 4 riflemen)

First Company
Command (Captain + 4 riflemen)
First Platoon (12 riflemen)
Second Platoon (12 riflemen)
Third Platoon (12 riflemen)
Bomber Platoon (12 riflemen equipped with bombs - see Gallipoli special rules below)

HMG Section
HMG Section
Trench Catapult

 

Turkish Army 1915 (Gallipoli) Special Rules

Resilient:
Turkish troops in Gallipoli were very difficult to dislodge when they are holding their ground. To represent this, when entirely deployed in a terrain that provides a cover save of at least 4+, any unit described as Resilient may take Leadership tests by rolling 3D6 and discarding the highest result.

Turkish Bombers:
The Turks had access to German made grenades and bombs but supplemented these with similar home made devices to the ANZACs. As a result, Turkish bombers are more effective.

Special Attack instead of firing rifles (Page 63 of The Great War Rulebook)

8" Range; S3
8+ models = d6 +2 hits on enemy unit
4 - 7 models = d6 hits on enemy unit
less then 4 models = d3 hits on enemy unit

Models not throwing bombs may use weapons as normal or the unit may choose to assault.

Trench Catapult
Both ANZACs and Turks developed very similar catapults for lobbing bombs into each other's trenches.

Treat as Light Mortar (See page 39 in The Great War Rulebook)

18" Range; S3; Support Weapon
Pinning, Indirect Fire, Large Blast Marker
Scatters 2D6

 

Turkish Snipers:
You may deploy the snipers anywhere on the table outside of your enemy's deployment zone. They are merely indicators of sniping activity, and we assume that they had days to select the best positions available, and are perfectly hidden. Once set up they may not move for the rest of the game.

Each turn the sniper may make a shot and IGNORES the normal targeting rules. Range 24''.

On a roll of a 3+ he then rolls on the following chart:

1-2 Take Care! The units must either lose one model (owner's choice) or Go to Ground.
3-4 'I think Bob took one': The unit is Pinned unless it loses one model (owner choice). At the start of its next turn, the unit must pass a Ld test or remain Pinned.
5 'Headshot': The unit is Pinned and loses one model (owners choice.) At the start of its next turn, the unit must pass a Ld test or remain Pinned.
6 'Big Guy's been shot down': The unit loses one model (Sniper's choice, it can be an Officer) and is Pinned. At the start of its next turn, the unit must pass a Ld test or remain Pinned.

To target a sniper he must be the enemy's nearest target. The enemy may not use officers to change targets.

For each unit that targets the sniper, measure the range from the nearest figure to the sniper. Then roll 2d6 and multiply the result by 2. If the total is equal to or greater than the distance between the firing unit and the sniper, the sniper is simply removed.

If during the game any artillery template touches the sniper he is removed.

If an assault is declared against a sniper simply move the assaulting unit into contact with the sniper as normal then remove the sniper. There is no need to roll to hit/wound. The assaulting unit may consolidate as normal.

Battalion Command Group

Special rules: Colonel and Colour Party are Stubborn
Colonel Strategy Rating: 1, 12" command range
Equipment: The Colonel and Colour Party are armed with a pistol. The soldiers are armed with rifles.
Colour Party: When within 6” of the Colonel, add 1 to Colonel's Leadership and his command radius is increased to 18".

 

Infantry Company (1 of 2)

An Infantry Company consists of a Company Command Group, three Infantry Platoons and one Bomber Platoon.

Special rules: Resilient
Equipment: The Captain is armed with a pistol. The soldiers are armed with rifles.

 

Infantry Platoon (1 of 3)

Special rules: Resilient
Equipment: The soldiers are armed with rifles.

 

Bomber Platoon (1)

Special rules: Resilient
Equipment: Rifles bombs

 

HMG Section (1 of 2)

Special rules: Stubborn
Equipment: Heavy machine gun (Great War rulebook page 40) plus pistol and knife.

 

Trench Catapult Section (1)

Equipment: Trench Catapult (treat as a Light Mortar (Great War rulebook page 39)) plus pistol and rifle.

 

Sniper (1 of 3)

See sniper rules

At Games Day we were very pleased with the amount of attention the game received and we were never short of enthusiastic dice rollers. Questions about Gallipoli, The Great War rule-set and historical gaming in general came thick and fast and I'd like to think that along with the other historical demo games there, we 'did our bit for the cause!'

So how'd it go? Well, during the day we managed to play through the scenario twice and both were very close. In the first game the ANZACS were repulsed and never quite made it through the Turkish trenches. After a fortifying lunch the ANZACs attacked again with renewed vigour, this time managing to make it onto the Pinnacle and routing the Turks on the final turn.

Back in 1915, when Johnston finally ordered the assault, the Auckland battalion came under withering fire. Of the 400 men who attempted to cross The Apex, only 100 made it to The Pinnacle where they desperately dug in. Johnston then ordered the Wellington battalion to press the assault but their commanding officer Lt Colonel William Malone refused, saying that he would seize the Pinnacle under cover of dark. During the remains of the day, the Aucklanders hung on and the Wellingtons were reinforced by two battalions, one of the Gloucestershire Regiment and some pioneers from the Welsh Regiment. After a massive naval bombardment, the Wellington Battalion and elements from the Gloucesters secured the Pinnacle and the rest of the summit with little resistance, the trenches were not deep enough to withstand the barrage. But by 5am the Turks were counter-attacking and hand-to-hand combat raged as the defensive positions began to clog with bodies. All day the Wellingtons held on. Malone himself was killed when allied shells fell short. Eventually, that evening, the remains of the Wellington battalion were relieved. Of the 760 men of who started out, 711 had become casualties. The Gloucester and Welsh battalions too were badly mauled. 350 men including ALL the officers from the Gloucesters and The Welsh 417 casualties.

Two days later a massive counter-attack under the direct command of Colonel Mustafa Kemel swept through the Sari Bair and reclaimed it for the Turks.

The board we used had been made especially by Chum Mike Hobbs using drop-on trenches from Ironclad Miniatures, trees and scatter from the usual sources. The figures were quite naturally from The Woodbine Design Company and were painted by Chum Mike Hobbs, Chum Bill “Musketeer Miniatures” Thornhill, The Beast with rum ration and kit inspections provided by Lord S.

Further Reading:
Gallipoli by L.A. Carlyon
Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead
The New Zealanders at Gallipoli by Major Fred Waite
Defeat At Gallipoli by Nigel Steel and Peter Hart
Ordered To Die by Edward J Erickson
Soldiers Of The Prophet by Lieutenant-Colonel C.C.R.Murphy
Handbook of the Turkish Army 1916
ANZACS at War (1917) available on-line at the excellent http://www.diggerhistory.info/

 

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