Squad Battles -- First World War -- Attack on Pope's HIll

On and off for the past several months my friend Charles and I have been making our way through the Gallipoli scenarios in the "Squad Battles: First World War" game from John Tiller Software.  It's a grossly underappreciated game including a remarkable number of scenarios across the entire span of the war and which clearly had a designer who thought about the effects of technological evolution on the course of the conflict.  The Gallipoli scenarios, though, are a very grim business.  Take these notes from the latest:

1915 May 19, Gallipoli Front. 0900 hours.

Size: large (battalion)

In the early morning hours of the 19th, ANZAC forces were awoken to the sight of a massive Turkish attack along the whole of their perimeter, an attack that the Turks intended to as a decisive blow that would drive the ANZAC into a the sea.

In the Pope's Hill sector, at the northeastern tip of the ANZAC line, the Turks advanced under the light of flares into an Australian force that was ready to meet them.

MISSION:

(Allied Powers) Hold our forward trench line at all costs! Fall back to the strong points (bunkers) if necessary, but do not let Turkish forces advance through our position to the west.

(Central Powers) Capture the enemy forward trench line and, if possible, break through to the west. Doing this will overrun their front line in this area and will cause their whole ANZAC position to collapse.

NOTES:

*Historically the Turks advanced bravely and were shot down en masse. In a couple of hours, the Ottoman attack along the whole front line had failed, with over 10,000 dead and nothing to show for it, although Pope's Hill came under serious threat of overrun.

*Allied forces in the campaign had no hand grenades because high command did not plan on any trench warfare occurring. The Turks on the other hand had a seemingly endless supply of hand grenades, which they constantly lobbed at allied lines. In the ANZAC sector, there was nothing to be done by to try to throw the grenade back before it exploded. Allied forces met this threat by making improvised hand grenades which they called "jam tin grenades". These improvised grenades were made from ration cans of jam, explosive filler and any steel fragments they could find.

I honestly don't know if the the Turks can win this one -- I try never to judge a scenario in which I'm getting pantsed for fear of being accused of "Fox and Grapes".  That said, my boys are having it handed to them:  I am far more likely to be elected Pope than I am to get to those VPLOCs at Russell's Top.

We're actually doing a good deal better here at the spot labelled the "Bloody Angle" (what is it with battles and bloody angles?) but my casualty levels are so high (I'm at -190 VP) that seizing all the ground in the world isn't likely to make much of a difference.