| In Flanders FieldsRules and Guide to Play |
Contents
Organization, Troop Types, Figures, Basing, Scales, and DeploymentIn Flanders Fields is a simple, fast-play set of rules for conducting large-scale WWI miniatures wargames in any figure scale. It is a set of computer-assisted rules designed to demonstrate how computer-assisted miniatures wargames can easily help simulate the experience of battle in ways that are difficult, annoying, or impossible with paper and dice rules sets.
In order to keep the game simple, these rules make some assumptions about the game: it is based on late-war conflict on the Western Front. This means that some of the more "fun" aspects of the game (gas and tanks) can be included, and it also allows safe assumptions to be made about the strength of units and the general availability of machine guns. Ultimately, the simulation of western front warfare at this scale means that much of the game is focused on the use of artillery.
This set of rules allows any scale of figure to be used, from 6mm and 10mm (can't forget Pendraken's excellent line here!) on up to 25mm. Base sizes, playing surface, and table-top distances will all remain the same, regardless of figure scales.
It is the intention of these rules to allow players to recreate battles at the grand-tactical level, which, in WWI terms, means commanding divisions and brigades as the units of maneuver. In Flanders Fields is designed to simulate the experience of a general, sitting in a bunker well behind the lines. Tactical combat is abstracted, leaving decisions about how companies maneuver up to the computer. The computer simulates the confusion of this type of warfare, where communications were very spotty - frequently, orders will simply not be received, requiring troops to carry on performing orders that are dangerously useless or counterproductive. Information about troop status back at headquarters is also limited - players don't have real-time information about unit strengths, and so on, but must make decisions based on a vague notion of unit status. Artillery fire is difficult to control, and friendly-fire accidents are common.
The basic unit of maneuver is the division. An infantry division during the later part of WWI on the Western Front generally consisted of 9 battalions (12 for the Americans, with the MG battalions assumed to be distributed between the other units). Each infantry base represents a battalion of about 1,000 men. Cavalry is organized into brigades/divisions of 2 to 6 bases (regiments). Each division has attached artillery, represented by one or more units made up of however many bases of artillery are available. These are treated as separate units for purposes of play. Each base represents 16-20 guns, so a 48-gun divisional artillery is represented by 3 bases. Tanks are also usually fielded as brigades/battalions, with three or four tank bases representing the unit.
Units can be of a varying number of bases, according to the following guidelines:
Troop types are fairly straightforward: infantry, cavalry, field artillery (including light trench mortars), heavy artillery (including heavy trench mortars), light tanks (including armored cars), and tanks. Additionally, airplanes may be used to represent the abstracted concept of air power found in this game: provide a plane or two for each side, and move them to mark the current air state (see below).
Base sizes are 2" square, regardless of the number of models. Players are encouraged to make each base a "mini-diorama," since the number of figures is irrelevant. For 20mm or 25mm, two or three infantry figures, two or three cavalry, a single gun plus crew, or a single tank are recommended. For 15mm, add one to these numbers (except for larger guns and tanks if desired). For 10mm or 6mm, double the 20mm numbers for all troop types. Needless to say, the actual representation is completely up to the wargamer, as it has no bearing on the play of the game.
Units with Advance, Fire (including Start/Move Barrage and Ongoing Barrage), or Retire orders may be arranged in one or more ranks, but must always have a frontage of at least two bases. Ranks should be as equal as possible in number of bases. Bases should be faced in the direction of movement. Units with March orders must form a single column of bases. When re-arranging units to reflect orders, the total distances moved by each base should fall within the allowed movement for the unit. Note, however, that when dealing with required moves (Advance and Retire orders) at least one base must actually perform the maximum move entirely in the required direction. Facing changes on the base level are free. Bases must always be touching another base of the same unit along one full side, and share a facing, except that changes in faces may be made to accomodate terrain features such as trenches, roads, river lines, etc.
Game scales are simple and approximate: each turn represents half an hour; a mile is 18".
Movement depends on orders, troop type, and terrain. Terrain on WWI battlefields is somewhat tricky, because things such as forests and towns could be anything from a small pile of splintered wreckage to an approximation of what we think of as a forest or town, depending on how long the war had been waged in that area. Other factors such as mud also play a huge role in what battlefield conditions are like. As a result, the players or referee should indicate what the conditions are on the battlefield before play starts, using the following system.
"Open, clear" terrain is fields and similar that neither impedes movement nor offers significant cover. This is the basic terrain, and base movement rates assume a 1-to-1 ratio in clear, open terrain. "Rough" terrain includes deep mud, steep slopes, dense forest and tangled thickets, obstructing ruins, and similar. It includes any terrain that impedes movement, including fordable rivers. "Impassable" describes terrain features that cannot be entered or traversed by troops - sheer cliffs, deep rivers, etc. Other terrain types that actually facilitate movement are roads (including railbed) and undestroyed towns and villages.
In addition to the effect terrain has on movement, terrain also provides some degree of cover. Clear terrain offers no protection from enemy attack. "Cover" is un-improved cover, including woods, towns, cratered areas, and similar terrain that makes visibility difficult and offers some degree of actual physical protection from bullets and shells. "Trenches" are typical trenches, but do not include heavy concrete fortifications, "stollen", or similar. They may include improved cover, as in the case of a town that has been modified to provide more protection to troops. "Fortifications" include forts made of concrete, trenches with "stollen", and other emplacements. Typically, these can only hold a single base of troops.
Generally speaking, the open formations of troops allow them to clear normal linear obstacles such as walls and trenches quite easily. One type of linear barrier defies this categorization, however - barbed wire. It takes an entire move spent "advancing" to clear enemy wire. Retiring through enemy wire that has just been cleared does not cost a move; moving through friendly wire does not cost a move. Retiring through enemy wire that has not just been cleared does cost a full move, however. Tanks - including light tanks, but excluding armored cars - are not affected by barbed wire, and will destroy it where they cross it.
When heavy artillery starts to destroy trenches and crater the ground, it will also cut barbed wire. Any barbed wire touching a sheaf that is reported as creating craters will be destroyed and removed from play at the time when any unit receiving fire from that sheaf has its reaction reported. Further, the sheaf will produce a crater along its whole length, reducing trenches and fortifications to "cover", but providing "cover" in open where there is none.
The effect of terrain on movement is as follows:
Base movement rates are as follows:
Marching doubles all movement, except that armored cars may only March on roads in poor or good condition.
There are three types of movement on the WWI battlefield - moving forward toward the enemy lines, moving backward away from them, and relocating. To represent this breakdown, the following rules apply at all times:
An "Advance" must be as fast as possible, and at no more than 45 degrees to either side of a line representing a straightforward advance. The only voluntary exception to this is that an advancing unit may stop when it reaches an abandoned enemy trench line or fortification, or a friendly one, or to adjust speed to advance behind tanks being accompanied by infantry. This latter case requires an explicit statement that infantry will be advancing with tanks, and it requires that they advance at the same speed until new orders are given. An advance may halt in order to avoid moving under an artillery sheaf/gas cloud, but only for a single movement phase. After that, the advance must be resumed into the artillery sheaf. Advance movement is always halted by contact with enemy bases.
A "Retire" is an exactly similar move, except made away from the enemy rather than towards it, and it is not done in combination with tanks.
A March may include any number of direction changes, as desired, and is used to indicate the relocation of troops on the battlefield. Units may march along friendly trench lines, and enjoy the protection offered. Moves allow free interpenetration of troops, so long as moves do not involve co-location of units at the end of the move. When a March order is given, the entire path and end-point of the March must be described - when the end-point is reached, the unit will stop and await new orders. Contact with the enemy will always halt a March move and result in a combat situation.
It is recommended that all units be assigned to a stretch of front, which defines their "forward" and "backward". If the line of attack is drawn out on a map before play begins, then these lines of advance and retreat may serve as definitions for "forward" and "backward" rather than using the notion of toward or away from the enemy. These movement rules are meant to simulate the lack of tactical control experienced by generals sitting well behind the front, safe in their bunkers or chateaux.
It is typical to have two lines of trench, or more, on each side of noman's land. These will be connected by a series of "communication trenches". Fortifications may be dotted along the trench lines, or set up in between them, to offer yet another line of defense (this was a common defensive tactic on the part of the Germans). Trenches are generally fronted with barbed wire, but are assumed to be deep enough (and zig-zagged enough) to offer protection from any direction. Noman's land should be approximately 12" to 18" across. Note that barbed wire establishes a 1" nominal barrier between troops, so that advancing troops may not melee the troops defending trenches until they have crossed the barbed wire into the trench.
Because of the scale of the game, fire is heavily abstracted. Small arms includes machine guns, light artillery, bombs, and machine-gun fire (infantry units may have all three types of bases). Field artillery (75mm, 77mm, 13# and 18# and 4.5-inch howitzers) and heavy artillery (includes medium and heavy guns: 6 inch guns, 90mm+, heavy trench mortars, etc.) are treated separately, mostly because of their different effects on trenches and fortifications, and their ability to fire either HE shells and shrapnel, or gas.
When a unit commences firing, it is marked with wisps of white cotton along its front. Any unit that is within range and arc of fire, whether friend or foe, is considered to be taking small arms fire. The arc of fire for all units extends to 45 degrees to either side of the facing of the unit (if the facing is not straight, measure from every relevant base, and not just those on the edges), and to extend out to the small-arms range of 18". Undemoralized units may commence firing at any time during play, at the discretion of their commanding player.
Artillery fire - whether with shells or gas - is somewhat different. When instructed, the firing "sheaf" is placed on the table, and the computer will calculate deviation from the intended target. When firing ceases (that is, when an action other than firing is taken - not just when the order to cease fire is given), then the sheaf is removed. The sheaf is 4" wide and 1" deep for each base in the artillery unit. All of the sheafs from a single artillery unit must be contiguous in their placement, but do not need to form a straight line. The sheafs for HE/shrapnel should be made up of cotton balls colored brown/black (with possibly some orange/yellow/red explosions); gas sheafs should be bright green or yellow cotton.
There is another type of artillery barrage that was probably the most usual type during the later war - the rolling or creeping barrage. This technique came into common usage on both sides by the middle of 1916. It is easily manifested in this game by declaring, at the time the sheaf is placed, that the barrage will be a rolling one. The distance per turn, in inches, should be stated (3"-6" per turn is the typical speed, to match the speed at which infantry advance.) Further, a direction and end-point for the barrage must be stated. Each turn, when the firing artillery unit comes up and its reaction to conditions is reported, the sheaf is moved the stated distance, so long as the barrage is not ordered moved or otherwise interrupted. Units (friendly or enemy) between sheaf positions are marked with a single blob of colored cotton, which is removed after the effects of the artillery on the effected unit has been calculated. When a rolling barrage reaches its end-point, it will remain in that position and continue firing until moved or stopped. Players may wish to create markers that indicate the chosen speeds and end-points for barrages, so that this is not argued over after the barrage has been on-going for several turns, and the conditions on the table-top have changed. Note that once placed, the sheaf moves in the correct speed and direction, and the correct distance, but that the end-points are adjusted exactly as the initial sheaf placement is. Deviation from the initial placement of the sheaf results in deviation in the entire path of the rolling barrage, including end-points. Barrages may consist of HE/shrapnel or gas, as desired.
There is a special rule for the movement of troops advancing behind a rolling barrage: troops may restrict movement to prevent themselves from advancing into or through a friendly rolling barrage. This reflects the practice of units advancing as closely as possible behind rolling barrages to make sure that they caught defenders in supressed condition.
Artillery fire will affect any unit, friend or foe, that is touched by the sheaf (see "Play of the Game," below). The artillery system in this game is intended to simulate the tendency of WWI generals to come up with a fire-plan and to stick to it regardless of where it fell or how well it achieved its objectives. This is caused in these rules by the difficulty of accurately placing fire in the first place - once it is on target, it is easiest just to leave it there.
Note that there is no requirement for artillery fire to fall within line of sight of any friendly unit. It is assumed that a reasonably accurate picture of the enemy terrain already exists, from aerial reconnaisance, spotters, maps, etc. There are, however, some ways of improving the accuracy of artillery fire. The allies had developed sophisticated "sound location" devices for targeting enemy guns; the Germans performed ballistics tests on all their artillery before Kaiserschlact, and developed an ingenious system for determining fall of shot from calculations; in some battles, absolute air superiority was used to make reports on the effectiveness of artillery fire. In these cases, the scenario may specify up to 2" less deviation for fall of shot on all axes (right, left, long, short). And actual spotting may need to be taken into account, as when one side has a commanding position above the battlefield, in which case all artillery fire made within LOS of the commanding occupied position (behind friendly lines) can be given a -1" modifier on all axes. Generally speaking, however, visibility on a WWI battlefield was so limited by fog, smoke, and artillery blasts that very little could be seen. The referee should determine how the scenario will play, based on historical conditions. (Also, see Airpower, below.)
There are some other modifiers to deviation, as well: when a gun retains a single target, but changes from HE/shrapnel to gas or vice-versa, then deviation can be ignored. If an artillery unit is attempting to fire on a single target, but needs to keep adjusting to hit it, then each subsequent barrage change after the first will get a cumulative -1" deviation on each axis.
Note that direct-fire artillery weapons may fire at targets within LOS of the firing unit, and within 18". In the case of this direct fire, ignore all deviation rolls.
Small arms fire assumes that the target is within line-of-sight. (If you want to allow your Canadian troops to use indirect MG fire, then so be it...that's up to you!)
Ranges for indirect artillery fire are as follows:
A condition of close combat exists when troops are in base-to-base contact with the enemy. Note that close combat stops bases from being able to produce ranged fire, but that this only includes bases that are physically in contact with the enemy. Other bases in the unit continue to produce a field of fire. Artillery sheafs should be removed at the time of contact for all firing bases in the unit, however, until a fresh firing is ordered.
Artillery units may never advance into close combat, nor may any units with March orders.
Most of the fire and combat modifiers are self-explanatory. However, there are a few points which should be clarified:
Outnumbered 2:1 in close combat means that the unit's bases which are in physical contact are touching twice or more their number of enemy bases.
The number of firing bases includes each unpinned, firing infantry base which is affecting a base of the affected unit; it also includes every base which is in contact with a base of that unit. For each suare inch of artillery sheaf touching a base of the unit - whether HE/shrapnell or gas - count another base as firing. Pinned artillery cannot fire, but other types of pinned troops will generate fire at the rate of 1/2 of their bases, rounded up.
A Note About Small-Arms Fire: Any unit within 6" of a unit firing small arms will be screened by any bases between it and the firing unit. This does not apply to units more than 6" away from the firing unit. (This has to do with the elevation of machine guns, which produce the bulk of small-arms fire.)
A Note about Tanks: Infantry and cavalry units may advance directly behind tanks, light tanks, or armored cars (in base-to-base contact). If they do so, they are considered to be in "Cover," for any turn where they are in base-to-base contact when their condition is reported. (This rule simluates the lack of good coordination between infantry and tanks that was typical of the period, as these troops will be exposed half the time unless a very slow advance is made, indeed.) Note, however, that infantry and cavalry units are allowed to reduce their speed to match the speed of tanks such that they remain in contact with the bases of accompanying tanks, as described above.
As casualties are taken by units, a base should be removed for every 1,000 casualties taken (obviously, units of less than 1,000 men or man-equivalents will still be represented by a single base).
Airpower is an essential feature of late-war WWI battles. At the grand tactical level simulated by these rules, however, it was mostly important as an adjunct to artillery spotting. Artillery was rendered much more accurate with the services of artillery observation balloons. However, the spotters generally parachuted out of their balloons the minute they saw enemy aircraft approaching. To simulate this effect, there is a concept of "air advantage" built into these rules.
There are three basic states in terms of air superiority: Allied advantage, Neutral, or Central Powers Advantage. When the state is Neutral, then there is no effect on artillery fire. The game always starts with the Neutral State. When one side or the other gets an advantage, it trims 1" off of all artillery deviation, along each axis, for the duration of the advantage. The different states should be represented with a marker, or (better) with scale model planes, which are placed in no-man's land too indicate a neutral state, or are placed on the side opposing the side which currently has the advantage (the better to shoot down the enemy's observation balloons).
If players do not wish to introduce air power into their games in this way, then simply leave the air strength boxes blank when setting up the battle (or set them to 0).
In Flanders' Fields is intended to produce an extremely simple and fast-moving game. It certainly sacrifices some realism for the speed of play, but also relies on the computer to remove much of the complexity. A single reading of these rules should be enough to allow players to feel comfortable with the system. It is suggested that games employ a referee if possible, however, whose job it is to run the computer and make rulings in ambiguous situations.
The game goes in two stages: first, the order of battle must be entered (preferably by the referee). Second, the game commences, with each unit being called up in a completely random order. (This sounds pretty bizarre, but it serves to reproduce the unreliability of communications on the battlefield in a simple, effective fashion.) Once called up, the condition of the unit is reported to the computer, and new orders are given. The actions taken by the unit - based on the last received orders - are then announced by the computer, at which point the player moves, places sheafs for artillery fire, etc. Unlike other games, you do not announce your intent to move and then move the unit on the tabletop. Instead, you issue orders to move that may well never be received, and then hope that the unit moves the following turn.
While somewhat confusing, this mechanism produces the desired effect of sitting far behind the front in a bunker, watching your troops carry out or fail to carry out your orders in a disjointed manner, drinking a snifter of reasonable cognac (there is a war on, no?), perhaps enjoying a cigar, and thanking God you're not in the PBI!
The game units are created by pressing the "New Unit" button, and then filling out a series of dialogues and drop-downs for each unit, specifying name, type, size, quality, initial orders, etc. Once all of a unit's properties are entered, the "Save Unit" button must be pressed. Units can be deleted, and all properties except their names edited, but all changes must be saved before moving on to edit other units.
After all units have been entered into the game for both sides, the game can be played directly from the set-up screen ("Generate Game") or the game can be saved out for later play ("Save Game"). The latter approach is recommended.
While playing the game, all of the units in the game will appear, in random sequence, in the fields in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Their exact battlefield condition must then be reported, orders for the following turn indicated, and the "Done" button pressed. The results will be displayed at the bottom of the console.
When reporting the condition of troops, all boxes that reflect their situation must be checked: Are they taking small arms fire? Being shelled? being Gassed? In cover or trenches? When a unit is being attacked, the degree of cover it enjoys is determined by counting the number of bases actually experiencing the attack (under artillery sheaf, within small arms arc of fire, or engaged in close combat) and using the condition of the majority of those bases.
When a unit has been adjusted on the tabletop, press the "Next" button and another unit (in random order) will appear. At various points during the game, dialogue boxes will guide you through such activities as placing artillery sheafs, or will indicate that a turn is over. If you wish to view the rules at any point during play, press the "Rules" button, and a web browser should appear with the rules in it. If this does not work, open the file "FlandersField.htm" in the directory in which this game is installed by double-clicking on it.
Note that there is currently no capacity for saving out or reloading orders of battle once play has started. This means that all units must be entered for each game, and that you cannot turn off the computer without losing the game. (While this feature may be added in future, it is not currently available.) Players may wish to press "Show Units" on completion of a turn, write down what is there, and re-enter it at a later time to continue fighting out a battle on the tabletop.
This is a simplistic game, intended to illustrate how computer-assisted wargames can make it possible to deal with unusual wargames subjects cleanly. It makes no claims to being any more realistic than some paper systems, or even as realistic as some. What it does do is produce a clean, fast-playing game. The goal is to capture the ebb and flow of the large-scale trench battles.
With the ability to field entire corps with a reasonable number of figures, players are able to fight out actions as described in the history books. Because of the extreme nature of the battlefield, these games also lend themselves to attractive terrain that makes for good convention games. The computer handles enough of the complexity that referees can easily explain what little a player needs to know in order to get right into the game.
It was not unusual for attacks to successfully cross Noman's Land and capture a section of the enemy trench-line in the set-piece battles of the Western Front. Generally, however, the attack was unsupported, so that a counter-attack would succeed in knocking the attackers back. This dynamic has been the basis on which In Flanders' Fields has been created. Artillery is the key to successful attack or defense, and without solid trenches and fortifications, no one will withstand the artillery for long.
Mention should be made of how gas is represented in the game. While it would be impossible to represent early use of gas such as Ypres and Loos without having the wind moving the gas clouds about (in the case of Loos, back onto friendly lines), this effect was not a feature of the later war. "Persistent" agents sunk down into features in the ground, and tended to not move, but to await the arrival of the unwary. From Verdun on, this was typically either mustard gas or something even nastier. Even so, the soldiers likewise became proficient at avoiding the extreme effects of gas, and gas-masks were generally able to deal with what was thrown at them. Hence, gas is not reflected here as particularly deadly - it is merely another feature of the Great War battlefield, albeit one that does not particularly respect the existence of trenches or fortifications (making it well-suited for counter-battery work). It should also be pointed out that light trench mortar units are assumed to represent also the Levens projectors and similar German weapons capable of hurling gas cannisters into the enemy front lines.
While it was typical from 1915 through 1916 to start battles with long (sometimes multi-day) bombardments, this was often reduced to a few hours during the later period of the war (or no time at all, in the case of significant pre-registration or ballistics calculations), to maintain the element of surprise. While players may wish to precede attacks with a few turns worth of bombardment to cut wire and so on, the player on the receiving end is free to engage in counter-battery fire, and to move troops out of the way of incoming shells. Typically, an intensive barrage up-front for prolonged periods does not achieve much against a wary opponent.
The integral small arms fire of infantry, tank, and cavalry units is largely based on the capabilities of machine guns (mostly light machine guns during this period), which were at this point ubiquitous. Small-calibre artillery and light trench mortars were also very common. Close-combat is more effective than ranged fire against trenches and fortifications as a result of bombs, flame-throwers, and similar weaponry, also ubiquitous during this period.
The scale of the game abstracts the representation of the trenches themselves to some extent. During the later period of the war, the method of "defense in depth" had become standard doctrine in all of the major armies. This system involved a "forward zone" including a network of strong-points and listening points, sometimes backed up by a trench. This "zone" would typically be about 6"-12" in depth in this game. Behind this would be the "battle zone", as much as a kilometer or two behind the forward zone. This zone would consist of a trench line or two, also supported by strongpoints set outside the main trench lines to avoid artillery fire. The battle zone could be 6" to a foot in depth, or more, in game terms. Behind this would be the "rear areas," which in some cases were typical networks of trench systems, but sometimes remained largely unfortified (as with the British trench system - the "green line" - during the Kaiserschlacht). Artillery would typically be placed in fortifications separate from the lines - in the case of light trench mortars, these would be well forward among the strongpoints of the forward or battle zones. Other artillery would be further back, but always in dug-outs separated from the main trench lines.
For game purposes, it is assumed that each "zone" will be represented by a single trench line. Only heavily fortified points that hold significant numbers of troops should be represented as "fortifications" - a typical pillbox holding a single machinegun team is just part of the normal trench system. Players should arrange their defenses in one to three lines of trenches, connected by communication trenches, as dictated by the historical situation, with each row of defending troops representing a "zone".
This section covers the composition of the various national forces which concern us. This includes the French, British, American, and German armies. All Commonwealth troops - Canadians, New Zealanders, Indians, and Australians are classified as British (perhaps an injustice, considering the impact they had on the later war). Likewise, French Colonial troops (including Belgians) are considered French. Likewise, Portugese expeditionary troops are considered British.
Throughout the course of the war, the fighting spirit of the various armies fluctuated wildly. French troops that sacrificed themselves uselessly in the spirit of guerre a outrance in 1914 essentially mutinied over the same phenomenon at the Chemin des Dames three years later, although only half of the French army was so affected. Scenario designers should not fall into the trap of deciding that "The British army was veteran, and the Americans poor." Sources should be read with an eye toward the prejudices of the author, too, since appraisals of troop quality tend to be highly colored. (For a reliable description of troop quality in various offensives, and for general background - at least as a starting-point - John Keegan's The First World War is recommended.) Generally, however, troop quality varied from offensive to offensive, and army to army (that is, the British 5th Army could have a very different level of quality than the British 1st Army, based on duration at the front and the experiences there).
Some attention should also be paid to the size of divisions, reflected in their number of bases. In 1918, the French divisions averaged somewhat less than 7,000 men, while the American were four times that number. Again, this varies from offensive to offensive. Overall, however, the basic tendency was to increase the amount of artillery, and to make up for the loss of manpower with an increase in numbers of automatic and supporting weapons. By 1918, all combatants save the Americans had moved to a 9-battalion infantry division, from the earlier 12-battalion organizations. For the French and Germans, there will be a mix of divisional organizations. For the British, a more comprehensive re-organization took place somewhat later on in the fighting, just prior to the Kaiserschlacht, reducing a large number of smaller divisions - supposedly 12 battalions strong - to a smaller number of 9-battalion ones.
A typical German division late in the war - that is, after the shift to the nine-battalion division - can be represented by 6 to 9 bases of infantry, each representing 1,000 men. In support will be one or two field-gun bases and a heavy artillery base. Additionally, up to three trench-mortar bases may be used, with the second or third being a heavy trench mortar. Each artillery base will have a strength of 1,000 man-equivalents.
The Germans, when acting on the defensive, have the ability to detach up to three bases per division (operating as independent single-base units), and establish each individual base as a fortified or entrenched "bunker", which operates as its own 1,000-strength unit. This represents the 'defense in depth' which was so popular with the Germans late in the war.
At the corps level - which contains from 3 to 7 divisions - you may also have up to a single heavy tank base, from 2 to 6 bases of cavalry, up to 2 additional field guns, and up to three bases of heavy artillery (may be trench mortars). Artillery may be grouped into units with artillery of like type, but does not need to be.
French divisions late in the war tended to be smaller than those of other nations, having anywhere from 8 to 11 under-strength battalions. This is represented with 4-8 bases. Additionally, one or two field guns, and up to a single base of heavy artillery may be added. A trench mortar base may also be used.
Corps formations had from 2 to 6 divisions, and may additionally include up to three light tanks bases and/or three heavy tank bases, up to three heavy artillery bases, two to six cavalry bases, and one or two field artillery bases.
British divisions include from 6 to 9 infantry bases, two or three field artillery bases, and up to two trench mortar bases. Corps were made up of three to five divisions (sometimes one was a cavalry division: 4-6 bases of cavalry and a field gun), and can additionally have up to three light tanks and/or heavy tanks, and up to four heavy guns.
American divisions were huge, and may be played as two brigade units if desired. Each of a divisions two brigades would have 6 infantry bases. The division is supported by two field gun bases, and a base of heavy guns. At the corps level (from three to seven divisions) you can add an extra base or two of heavy guns, and anywhere from one to four bases of light tanks.