Chain of Command 'Return of the 04:30 to Kotelnikovo'

Having failed in my last CoC game to destroy the 04:30 to Kotelnikovo I thought I'd have another go, this time using my newly painted Soviet Partisans. This time the opposition was provided by Jerry's German Panzergrenadiers.

With my experience from the last attempt this time I planned on setting up my force in the woods, weakening the Germans with mortar, MMG and sniper fire while using covering fire to reduce their shooting on my men and then charging in with the large squad to finish the job.

The train is brought to a halt by the Partisan barricade:

Partisans set up in the woods and go tactical awaiting any German response:

A second squad of Partisans sets up on the other side of the train, again going tactical:

No Germans have appeared yet. Achieving a double phase the Partizans throw caution (and my plans) to the wind and rush the train!:

Partisans run forward quickly and close down all the German deployment points. The train is unguarded apparently (or the Germans refused to come out) and is quickly under Soviet control:

So, a victory for the Russians without a shot being fired! This was mainly down to luck as I was able to deploy two squads in my first move, Jerry couldn't deploy anything in his first move and then I got a double phase with enough spare dice to move the two squads already deployed forwards. With poor movement rolls it could have gone badly wrong but the Partisans easily ran far enough.

While extremely satisfying for the Russians the game had taken less time to play than to set up so we reset for a second go.

As in the first game the Partisans deployed in the woods either side of the train. This time however the Germans managed to deploy two Panzergreandier squads very quickly:

The Grenadier squad facing the majority of the Partisans in the open lead a charmed life and despite taking numerous hits was barely scratched:

The smaller Partisan force on the other side of the train managed to pick off a couple of Germans though:

The larger group of Partisans has forced the Grenadiers opposite it to withdraw behind the train, though they have not had many losses. The Partisans have had the MMG and the mortar team wiped out and the infantry are much reduced in numbers:

Grenadiers move to outflank the smaller Partisan squad:

 The largest Partisan squad deploys but the leader is immediately knocked down by German fire:

Another Grenadier squad disembarks from the train and pours fire into the Partisans:

The Partisan Captain joins the largest squad of Partisans, they have already lost a few men:

The situation being desperate now the large Partisan squad is lead by their Captain in an 'Uzzah' charge which gets them into contact with the Germans defending the train:

Sadly the combat goes badly and the Partisans are wiped out. The attack has failed.

Both games were enjoyable (especially the first one!) and all three runs of the scenario have been a little different:

• German victory with heavy losses
• Soviet bloodless victory
• German victory with light losses

The amount of firepower the Germans can put down makes attacking them very hard, not helped by the difficulty the Soviets have activating their MMG, mortar and sniper (and these small teams lack of resilience against fire with little cover). 

Next time we will probably play the next scenario 'Kotelnikovo Station'. I've been working on some suitable buildings for the station and it will give the train another outing as well!