How to get started with 1918: Spring Offensive and WW1 miniatures
The First World War was the first industrial war: an endless clash of artillery barrages and unceasing machine-gun fire.
1918: Spring Offensive is a snapshot of the final months of the war, following the final German push as their forces left the safety of their trenches in a doomed attempt to break nearly four years of deadlock.
But with nearly the full range of British and German forces active on the Western Front during this period available - from the British Mark IV Tank to the German 7.7cm Field Gun - it can be difficult to know where to begin.
Some people start with the 1918 Core Rulebook, which is the perfect field guide both to the history of these final days and the men who fought and died during them, and to the rules of our game. This weighty 224-page hardback presents four full nations: the British, Germans, French and American armies, offering unique special rules for each side - as well as complete rules depicting the warfare of the period. The ruleset covers everything from the embryonic platoon-based infantry combat that dominated in 1918, to the huge, rumbling tanks which were suddenly making themselves known. All aspects of the late war are covered, including the artillery and machine guns which typified the whole war, as well as gas attacks, snipers, cavalry, flamethrowers and all the rest.
Your other option is the 1918 Starter Set. This is our latest release, designed to introduce people to the game with two small, balanced infantry forces. It contains 36 miniatures: two sections of German infantry and two of British, plus their respective field commanders, as well as a starter rules booklet and enough tokens to begin playing at once. The miniatures are sculpted with their heads on, unlike most of the rest of the Warfulcrum range, so they’re very easy to get onto the table right away. The rules aren’t dumbed down: they contain all the full information for using infantry in games of 1918, teaching new players how the game works before they expand into the core rules.
Of course, the core rulebook is another great place to start - but it puts the onus on the player to build an army from scratch. That’s perfectly possible: you’ll want to start with either a British platoon box or a German platoon box. These are historically accurate both in terms of the gear and the numbers: both comprise four sections separated by specialisms, including LMGs, bombers and rifle grenadiers, as well as an HQ section to command each side. Once you have your infantry core in place, you’ll want to back them up with reinforcements. For the British, that could mean a Vickers heavy machine gun, an 18-pounder field gun, or even a Mark IV tank. For the Germans, there’s the MG08 machine gun, the 7.6cm light minethrower team, or perhaps the colossal A7V.
The beauty of this approach is that it’s organic. The rulebook includes a number of typical formations fighting during the Spring Offensive, including specialists like the German Stormtroopers and the U.S. Marine Corps - and it’s possible to build them all (or it will be, when the French and Americans are released - hopefully by or before early 2027).
For now though, check out the new 1918 Starter Set - available now from the Warfulcrum Games webstore.
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