Käthe Kollwitz and Two Photos of Flanders Fields

I accompanied my wife today on a trip to the Museum of Modern Art to see several shows, one on the work of Käthe Kollwitz, the artist-activist (1867-1945).  

Self portrait 

She went from fine art to black and white work (easiest to reproduce in quantity) that supported her socialist views. Like many other socialists, she was inflamed by nationalism and supported the Army at the start of the Great War, soon dispelled when her 18-year-old son Peter was killed at the front in October 1914. Poorly trained young troops of Reserve corps were thrown into attacks at the first battle of Ypres. The photos below are likely of that battle. The first photo is a true rarity, showing both defenders and attackers in the same shot. Looking at the attackers in the distance, you can see that one of them is mounted, an officer, no doubt. In the foreground the British Expeditionary Force riflemen wait for the word to open fire. Note the dense formation of the attackers. This photo is from John Keegan’s Face of Battle.

The second photo shows what I believe to be the aftermath of that same attack, from Volume 1 number 8 issue of Purnell’s History of the Great War. Note the dead horse and officer, along with a number of dead infantrymen. If I’m right, the photographer had moved to his right after the attack was repulsed to get closer to the center of the action. It is likely that Käthe’s son was killed during such an action. The lack of shell holes indicates there was not a preliminary bombardment worthy of the name.

 

Käthe Kollwitz narrowly avoided being sent to a concentration camp during WWII, in part due to her international reputation. She died shortly before the war was over, having fled bombed-out Berlin for Saxony. She outlived her husband Karl who died of disease in 1940 and her grandson Peter who was killed in combat in 1942.

Sometimes I struggle with the background colors. This is one of those times. Sigh. 

Camden solo test with Valour & Fortitude, no mods

After coming up with (untested) AWI period modifications for V&F, I decided to run a solo test game with RAW (rules as written), no mods. I intend to run a face-to-face game this coming Saturday adding in a few of my mods. Camden is my go-to test game for the American Revolution. Horatio Gates’ historical deployment should lead to a British victory, barring foolish mistakes. I once binned a set I was designing when the militia easily routed the British early in the game. 

 

I have most of the correct units for this, except not quite enough militia. Some Rhode Island Continentals are mixed with some Loyalist militia, and British Light Dragoons stand in for Tarleton’s horse. They’re closer than my mounted militia in rifle smocks. The 1^st Maryland Brigade (a battalion-sized unit) is rated as state troops since they were newly raised. The Continental Light Infantry is down-rated to state troops and Armand’s horse are down-rated to militia since both had been roughly handled in the preceding nighttime clash with Tarleton that saw Porterfield, the Light Infantry CO, killed.

 

V&F are true fast play rules. Many make that claim, few deliver. Valour tests are unit morale tests. Fail one, the unit is gone. Fortitude tests are brigade level morale tests, fail and bad things happen. But none of the latter were triggered in this game, in part because all the actual brigades (i.e., De Kalb’s division) are fairly small. V&F has card play, with cards giving special events of varying importance. I didn’t use them as I find it one detail too far when playing solo. It’s enough to take photos and note how much time elapsed. I think you should be able to follow the action entirely from the photos below. As always, click on any for a larger image. 

I first had Tarleton's Dragoons beat the NC Militia and force them back. Checking the rules, I saw the Militia should rout. The headstrong Dragoons then had to charge into the American camp, 

I’m not going to use all of my suggested mods in the next game, just a few. I noted that militia really can’t maneuver well at all, a good thing. Firing, melee and Valour modifiers are all adding or subtracting dice, with 4+ being a success. Activation and Fortitude modifiers are to the number needed on the single die rolled. I got a little confused before the game on this. Organizing a force using the points system, the only artillery I would get is light. If you aren’t planning to sit off and bombard, having artillery that can fire canister and move in the same turn is priceless. Perhaps there should be a limitation on how much movement they have. Perhaps there is and I haven’t noticed it. Wouldn’t be the first time.

 

Being a solo game, it was broken up by lunch and several visits to the building laundry room. Playing 9 turns in ~142  minutes is quite good. The last-man-standing thing is partially a product of my scenario. It needs a couple tweaks. But the game rocked along just fine.