Home Before the Leaves Fall - 1914 Western Front Campaign and Battle System

The game covers the opening campaign of the Great War in the West with the Germans carrying out the Schlieffen Plan and the French their Plan XVII. There are rules and counters for a map campaign but the heart of the system are the novel tabletop rules to fight either corps on corps or multi-corps battles in a few hours where the campaign will give context for the battle created by the campaign manoeuvrings.

We have also included a mini-campaign system where results from the previous corps on corps fight leads to later fights with ever more exhausted forces.

Contents:  52 page Gamebook, 3 x A4 set of coloured game counters, Timeline Chart, Off-Map displays for both sides, Day of Battle Card, Battlefield Creation Card for the tabletop battles, 4 sheets of Battlefield Tactical Cards, Battlefield Losses & POW Charts and a two-page Playsheet (one for the Campaign System one for the Battlefield). There are also 2A3 Campaign maps or 4 A4 Campaign maps (depending upon your printer).

SCALES & BASING

Ground Scale: 10” = 2.5 km 100 metres.  Movement is by width or length of the Playsheet. Artillery ranges are 2 or 3 lengths of the Playsheet so there is lots of space for manoeuvring into position and deciding the line of advance.

Time Scale: 1 Turn = 1 hour

Figure/Base ratio: 2 infantry bases = 1,000 bayonets, 3 cavalry or Jaeger bases = 1,000 sabres or riflemen, 1 HMG base = 6 HMGs, 1 artillery base = 12 guns. Figures per base according to pocket. We use Pendraken’s 10 mm figures with 3 infantry, 2 cavalry or 1 gun and 2-4 crew per base.

Game Length: 2 – 4 hours depending on size of battle