Chain of Command - BEF v Germans

My second CoC game against Gary's Germans, this time we reversed our previous 'Probe' scenario game so the Durham Light Infantry of the BEF were defending and the Germans attacking. With a 10 support point difference in forces I chose an extra section, the Bren Carrier and a sniper team (after it's effect on the last game I agreed not to use the Matilda!). I didn't really think about what Gary would sepnd his 3 support points on at the time.

The battlefield was a little more open than previously with a number of hills, a T shaped road, some damaged buildings at the junction and sparse woodland.

As is becoming apparent I still have not got the hang of the patrol phase with the Germans ending up with more useful jump off points allowing them to occupy the buildings on the left immediately and to have good cover for all their deployments.

Initially the Germans deployed a squad in one of the buildings on the right.

A second squad appeared at the fence line aiming to take the relatively intact buildings at the T junction, the squad also had the German mortar and Feldwebel in support in the walled enclosure behind them.

The DLI deployed No.1 section and the mortar team with Sergeant Baker commanding behind a solid looking wall to dispute the buildings.

Further support was provided by the Bren Carrier which arrived on the road. Both No.1 section and the Carrier went on to over watch to cover any possible German advance.

The German squad on my right then made a dash forward to try to get into the damaged first building. Due to the hill and the building neither No.1 section or the Carrier could see them.

The Carrier started to advance cautiously to try to get a shot at the Germans before they reached the building but failed to get far enough forward.

On my left the DLI deployed No.2 section behind the hill in case the Germans moved out on that flank.

The action then began in earnest on the left flank! Firstly a German Armoured Car appeared on the road and fired at No.2 section of the DLI but with little effect. Then the initially deployed German squad in the damaged building rushed forwards to try and gain the small wood in front of them. Unfortunately for them they ended up stranded in the open, allowing No.3 section of the DLI (which had the Boy's AT rifle with it) to be deployed on the hill. The AT rifle took a side shot at the armoured car hitting it and causing damage which would slow it down. The rest of No.3 section fired on the German squad in the open causing some shock but not as much damage as expected.

The Germans were slow to react so No.3 section continued to fire into them, pinning the LMG team and putting a lot of shock on the whole squad.

The Boy's AT rifle also took another shot, hitting again and destroying the Armoured Car's main armament effectively putting it out of the game!

Finally the Germans pulled themselves together and reacted, though not before the LMG squad broke and ran in part due to the efforts of the DLI sniper team which picked off the NCO of the squad. No.3 section took heavy losses in men but valiantly stayed in the fight despite being reduced to 50% strength.

To try to rescue the remains of their squad in the open on my left another German squad appeared and advanced to support the first one. Again however they failed to gain cover and were left exposed in the open. 

No.3 section of the DLI retired over the hill and with No.2 section fell back to form another defensive line behind a nearby hedge.

The German force morale was now collapsing rapidly with No.1 section and the Bren Carrier engaging the second German squad in the open on the left at long range and the Sniper Team picking off the remaining members of the very depleted squad behind them it was apparent that the German probe had failed causing the Germans to withdraw from the field.

This game showed something which is becoming very apparent in CoC, the difficulty of attacking when as soon as you move forwards the defender can almost always deploy a squad opposite you and decimate you immediately. Even if you have covering squads on 'over watch' you still don't get to fire until the deployed squad has. In the last game I tried using smoke which worked to some extent to cover advances but that takes time. 

I suspect that if you can successfully attack in CoC it takes a lot of preparation, building up CoC dice first, laying smoke (though that's not an option for the Germans), moving tactically and perhaps deploying as much of your force as you can initially (which Gary did in this game) but in a three hour club night game how practical this is remains to be seen. I think there also might be more potential in the Patrol phase but I really have not got the hang of that yet certainly compared to Gary.

The DLI will be taking on Dave's Germans on Monday, will the "Mighty Matilda" make a return? Will an attack actually succeed? Find out next week!