How to play 1918: Part 9: Factions and Army Lists

The First World War truly was a global conflict - what began as an argument between decaying European empires slowly but surely dragged most of the rest of the world into the fighting, with action in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and even Asia.

The classic, anglo-centric idea of the Great War, however, is the Western Front - which cut right across the entirety of Europe in a jagged line of muddy trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. This is the focus of our core rulebook 1918: Spring Offensive, which concentrates on the last year of the war - and in particular the fateful German push that couldn’t be sustained. Future expansions will cover other theatres of the First World War, and there will be more on that at the end of this article.

There were many forces fighting on the Western Front, formed into two large alliances - the Entente, consisting of Britain, France and Russia and the Triple Alliance of Austro-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire. But these were far from the only belligerents of the First World War. Belgium, whose territory was largely occupied by Germany in 1914, fought alongside the Allies on the narrow Yser Front, and Britain brought its overseas territories and dominions, with Australia, Canada, India  and New Zealand contributing enormously. The United States were drawn into the war in 1917, and a myriad of other nations would be drawn into the conflict - a truly global war.

Though we have plans - and historical research - for nearly all of these forces among various others, the Core Rulebook contains comprehensive Force Lists for four major factions: Britain, France, the United States and Germany. Our lists are derived from research - speaking to experts from academic institutions, divisional records, and dozens of other sources. 

Fighting forces in 1918 were organised at a Divisional level - an enormous organisational unit and far too huge to represent on the tabletop in 28mm - at least not without a small warehouse to play in. Instead, our game occurs at Company to Platoon level - one or two infantry Platoons supported by more specialised units assigned by Division, and led by a Captain or Major from Company Headquarters.

In practice, this allows for plenty of flexibility; whether you prefer to support your soldiers with far-off artillery, dashing cavalry or a heavy tank such as the Mark IV tank is up to you. Of course, there are also a handful of specialised formations. For instance, the Germans can field a Stosstruppe - a Storm Platoon made up entirely of elite Stormtroopers eager to overwhelm enemy trenches with brute close-range force. By 1918, the Germans had split their army into two bespoke divisions, the Intervention Division (Eingriefdivision) would be fielded as a specialised offensive formation - but also to conduct rapid and immediate counter attacks should the need arise, alongside the Position Division - which will be featuring in the upcoming 1918: Hundred Days book.

Most forces will include several similar elements. The HQ Section includes your commanding officer and his attendants, signallers and stretcher bearers The goal is never to fire a shot in anger - if your HQ gets into combat, it’ll be quickly overwhelmed. 

Your core element is usually a Rifle Platoon - which according to each nation’s combat doctrines. The British Platoon has its own HQ section led by a junior officer and sergeant, and four individual sections, each comprising seven to eight men. Two of these are simple Rifle Sections - seven riflemen and their corporal - while there’s also a Lewis Gun section (which throws in two light machine guns) - and a Rifle Grenade section featuring two primitive yet effective portable grenade launchers.

From there, you have plenty of options to expand. You might deputise a section of Raiders armed with bombs and shotguns for cleaning trenches, or a section of Cavalry to flank the field and charge your wavering foe in the rear. You will probably want to support your force with a Mortar Team or Vickers Heavy Machine Gun Team, while for truly heavy support you can add various artillery batteries (which we discussed last week). By using our Doctrine system, you can tailor your list to suit your preferred style - a Grand Offensive British list may feature Mark IV tanks, whereas a tactical defense may feature a network of pillboxes and field fortifications.

Each faction has its own equipment and structure - while similar they all worked subtly differently, which we’ve captured on the tabletop. Newly arrived in Europe, the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force may be less experienced than their British and French counterparts, but they are able to field larger formations of infantry - and it was the manpower of the U.S. that was sorely needed by the British and French forces.

In 1918, you won’t field a formation that wouldn’t have appeared on real battlefields and the majority of our scenarios are designed to emulate a fulcrum of a much larger battle. Envision your company as a small part of an enormous formation that stretches for miles. That said, we’ve put years of effort into making every force fun to play, and there are more on the way - Belgium is currently in playtesting, which is making for an interesting challenge. The Belgian army lost an unusually high number of officers in the earlier years of the war, which meant they were being led by NCOs and hastily trained juniors by 1918. Combined with much smaller rifle sections, they fought very differently to their allies - and we’re in the process of building lists that work this way. We’ll have more to share in due course and playtest versions of our upcoming lists will be available to Patreon supporters.

Belgium, and almost every other nation that fought on the Western Front in 1918, will feature in our upcoming expansion - 1918: Hundred Days, which contains dozens of new Force Lists, some new rules, and may even come with more miniatures…

That’s it for our nine-part How to Play series. Hopefully that whets your appetite for more 1918 - we’ll be back later in February with new miniatures and a closer look at some of our older ones. And there’s the small matter of our incredible, endlessly modular Trench Line kit, which is also on the way this month…

Stay up to date with 1918 by signing up to our newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.