Chain of Command "30 Days to Dunkirk" Game 2

Jerry and I played the second game of his '30 Day's to Dunkirk' pint-sized campaign last night. In this game the Royal Irish Fusiliers are tasked with retreating west around the village of Aspelaire while under attack from the German 37th Motorcycle Regiment.

The terrain consisted of fields, woods and a few buildings on either side of the road:

The patrol phase didn't go that well for the Irish with all their jump-off points being on the table edge. The 3rd Section deploys in the field and awaits developments:

Germans appear in the distance but due to the hedgerows and walls neither side has a clear view of the other:

The 2nd Section deploys while the 3rd moves towards the wall. A shabby Nazi trick in the form of a French civilian delays the Lieutenant's arrival:

More Germans move up over the road towards the fields:

The Irish mortar starts deploying smoke forcing the Germans to move to their left and blocking a German MMG which had deployed behind them:

The 2nd Section lines the stone wall while the 3rd covers their flank behind the hedge. The mortar is dug in and starting to lay more smoke to hold up the German left. The Lieutenant is still delayed:

The smoke is obscuring almost all the Germans on the right flank. Having left a small gap allowing the 3rd Section to target the German MMG rapid and accurate Irish fire soon eliminated the MMG:

The 2nd Section is slowly winning it's firefight withe the Germans opposite, being behind a substantial wall is an advantage compared to lining a hedge. To increase the pressure on the Germans the 1st squad deploys on the left and advances while Lieutenant Sadlier finally makes an appearance. German morale is starting to fall as they take casualties:

The German left flank section advances with little enthusiasm and is still blocked by the smoke to a great extent:

The 2nd Section takes a number of hits and is reduced to three effective men. The German's opposite have almost been wiped out though:

The last men of the 2nd Section are down and the 3rd section is under heavy fire from two German squads:

Lieutenant Sadlier directs the 3rd Section and the mortar:

The Germans have ended the turn to remove the smoke. This allows the Irish to gain support from a Bren Carrier from the Coldstream Guards though and the Irish mortar quickly replaces some of the smoke. Sergeant Ryan has also deployed to take control of the 1st Section while Lieutenant Sadlier repositions the 3rd Section away from the advancing Germans on the right:

The Irish retire to a more coherent position and await the arrival of the Bren Carrier:

One German squad starts a firefight with the reduced strength Irish sections. To try and reduce casualties one Irish section puts down covering fire while the other aims to kill:

 
The Irish keep taking losses and there are few survivors now. Luckily the other German squad is still  refusing to advance quickly and has not got into action:

It won't be long before they come into action though and the mortar squad is looking vulnerable. Luckily for them the Germans seem to have forgotten about them:

The Bren Carrier arrives and shoots up the German mortar team pinning them. German morale is close to breaking while the Irish, though morale is high, have very few men left:

Lieutenant Sadlier reduces his perimeter further. There are now almost as many Irish officers as men left!:

The Bren Carrier advances and wipes out the German mortar team together with a senior leader. German morale breaks and the Irish hold on:

Another close game which could have gone either way. I've got better at using the British and combining smoke, covering fire and careful deployment to try to compensate for the far superior German firepower.

In total the Irish suffered one officer casualty (Corporal O'Brien from the 2nd Section) and sixteen men, mainly from the 2nd and 3rd Sections. Considering their opening strength was only 28 men that's well over 50% casualties! I don't think the Germans lost so many, most of their morale loss was down to one section being wiped out, the support MMG and mortar team being eliminated and a number of officer casualties.

I find one of the weaknesses of CoC is that, while my objective was to cross the table, you can almost always win by ignoring your objective and just reducing the opposition's morale to zero. I guess the rationale is that once the German morale broke the surviving Irish would just slip away to safety.

The next scenario involves the Irish attempting to blow up a bridge across a canal before the Germans can capture it.