First 10mm WW1 platoons ready for Trench Hammer

I have been trying to play WW1 for over 10 years, even finishing and selling off a 20mm project because I just did not have the space to store everything.

Recently, I was privileged to be able to collaborate with Ivan from Nordic Weasel Games on a tactical set of rules for the Great War called Trench Hammer, available here at Wargames Vault.

It is aimed at games roughly the size of Through the Mud and the Blood from Too Fat Lardies (1-2 Platoons per side), but fast play (1 hour-ish) in the spirit of One Hour Wargames.  If you have any interest in the Great War whatsoever, buy the Too Fat Lardies' rules, and supplements!  They are a wealth of information that will get you started reading on this fascinating topic.

So... I playtested everything with empty bases and have finally gotten enough painted up for a game. I wanted to go with Baccus 6mm, my preferred range for everything not 28mm Pulp at the moment, but while the range is great looking and ideal for large-scale games, they do not have the range of specialists I need for the tactical game I am aiming at. (Sorry Peter, but don't worry, you'll get your hands on more of my loot soon...)  So I decided to go with Pendraken's 10mm WW1 range.  It is perfect, I can get all the wacky specialists like rifle grenadiers, flame thrower teams, etc., still using a small scale.  And the small scale will let me paint units quickly and easily and fit into my playing space.  The cost was also very attractive too, for 2 basic platoons, it was about $40 to the US shipped, and when it is all said and done, I'll be able to to do 2 platoons per side, with some tanks and support weapons for $80 total.

Units in Trench Hammer maneuver as squads and take hits until eliminated.  No need for figure removal, with hits being actual casualties, stress, suppression, etc. so no need for individual figure removal.  But, I did need to be able to identify special weapons.  So I went with this basing scheme:

• Squads are Two 40mm x 20mm bases, each with 3-4 figures.  This minimizes the number of "things" I have to move around the table, speeding play, but allows some articulation of the squad to conform to terrain, as the bases may be placed in line or one behind the other.
• Heavy weapons like MG's and Mortars on 20mm or 25mm circles
• Leaders on 15mm circles.

Here is what I have painted up so far, Click to enlarge:

British Rifle platoon circa 1917 - mid-1918 with 4 specialist sections:

A typical German Rifle Platoon.  The Germans had HUGE latitude so I can reorganize the bases to reorganize the platoon.

 Extra Germans, Stoss Troops or Trench Raiders that can be used as Assault squads are intermixed in the rifle platoons.  Plus a handy Flame Thrower team.

And here is how much storage space this all takes...

Next up I have more troops to paint, including British Trench Raiders, enough extras for 2 platoons per side, and minenwerfers.

And of course Two Mark IV tanks and an A7V tank...

Next time, going to try to get up a play by play example of the Trench Hammer Rules.  Until then, good gaming!