Great War Spearhead

WWI Rules

Review By Bill Rutherford

Great War Spearhead (GWSH) is the newest supplement in the Spearhead (SH) range of rules and scenario books, and addresses the WW I era with supplemental rules covering the 1912 and 1913 Balkan Wars. You need the original SH rules in order to use GWSH. What you get in this 80-page (not counting covers) loose-leaf (that is, binder-ready but no binder) supplement is: two pages of introductory and designer’s notes; 18 pages of WWI-specific additional rules; 9 pages of additional rules to allow trench warfare scenarios to be played; a page of Balkan Wars rules; six pages containing three scenarios; 21 pages of organization charts detailing 14 nationalities’ armies; 14 pages of data charts for those armies; and two quick reference sheets, one for the main game and one for trench warfare. OK, then, what do you get?

The basic rules additions describe WWI organizations and how they affect the game, i.e., the basic stand of troops now represents a company rather than a platoon, though support weapons may still appear in platoon strength. The regiment or brigade (depending on the army in question) is not the basic maneuver element, rather than the battalion (which has fallen into the same limbo that the original SH’s companies fell into…) The ground scale is 80 yards per tabletop inch and the time scale remains as in SH. Fresh flank march and order change charts are provided, now addressing the WWI combatants. New reconnaissance rules replace the original rules and several rules basically clarify or slightly alter rules in the original SH, and occasionally discard them.

More rules describe brigaded and on-board artillery (former get their own FOs), gas (icky variable-effect, variable-length, artillery-like way of obliterating or suppressing troops). Aircraft appear in a manner similar to SH but the aircraft types are simplified and its effects are limited. Other rules address Stosstruppen infiltration tactics, machine gun barrages, and various situations that show the evolution of weapons and tactics over the course of the war. The trench warfare rules include extensive artillery rules that cover multi-day preliminary bombardments and a three-page example of how a multi-day trench warfare game should play. Basically, a trench warfare game involves the attacker trying to pound the defender into oblivion over several game-days with artillery and then commencing a “normal” infantry attack.

The three scenarios are quite complete, each including notes, special and deployment rules, and victory conditions, as well as somewhat rough but functional maps. The two mobile scenarios are division-sized and can be played out in a matter of a few hours, while the Somme scenario is a good illustration of a trench warfare game, with a reinforced British corps attacking a German division… The organization charts are similar in style to those in SH and cover the Austro-Hungarian, Belgian, British, French, German, Russian and American armies, as well as seven others… The equipment charts provide statistics for every stand, gun, or AFV used by any of the 14 armies. The two quick reference sheets summarize everything except for the unit statistics that a player would normally need to look up…

GWSH takes a simple, fast playing rule system ideally suited for BIG battles and mates it with a war that specialized in BIG battles, to good effect! If you like SH or if you like WWI, give these a look! Available for $24.99 from your local game shop or, failing that, directly from Wargames at Box 278, Route 40 East, Triadelphia, WV 16059-0278, or at their website at http://www.speartorifle.com/.

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