Chain of Command Americans v Germans

Last night saw the first game for my newly painted (finished that morning!) American force for Chain of Command.

Gary used a late war German list with 2 LMG per squad and we played the delaying action with Gary defending. I had a basic American infantry platoon plus a Sherman and a preliminary barrage.

For a change I brought along some Spanish/Italian buildings I'd got for SP but not used often and set the game in Italy with the Germans defending the town on the left and the Americans advancing from the right:

An American squad deploys tactically in the wood while the supporting Sherman goes on overwatch:

The second American squad deploys behind a hedge on overwatch:

The American movement brings on a reaction from the Germans who deploy a squad in a field and open fire on the Americans in the wood:

The third American squad deploys on the right with the Lieutenant and takes advantage of a double phase to rush forward:

The third squad reaches the hedge line in front of the Roman ruins:

No Germans appear so the third squad continues it's advance towards the village:

The Germans reveal themselves and expect to open fire first but the Americans interrupt using a CoC dice to get the first shot. Their fire is largely ineffective though despite being at close range:

The Germans open fire with much greater effect, three Yanks are down and they take 8 shock!:

The Lieutenant rallies the squad and returns fire, things are looking desperate for the Americans here:

The rifle team breaks and runs while the BAR team are pinned. The Lieutenant retires to bring up support (or runs away according to the Germans!):

The Germans assault the BAR team wiping it out though they take three Germans with them:

While the combat on the right was going on the two American squads and the Sherman on the left were gaining the advantage over the single German squad facing them and slowly pushing forward:

A panzerfaust squad ambushes the Sherman! The shot misses though and the Germans sneak off before the Americans can react:

The Americans continue to advance, the German squad opposite is reduced to only three men (though still fires with 14 dice as it has 2 LMG!) and German morale is starting to fall:

The Panzerfaust team pops up again and fires at the Sherman. This time the shot hits! It is looking bad for the tank when it takes 5 hits but the Sherman's armour saves 3 of them. The tank takes two shock and it's hull MG is out of action:

The American squad in the wood and the Sherman combine to wipe out the Panzerfaust team. The German squad reduced to three men is proving remarkably resilient and is holding on:

On the right the Germans fall back after wiping out the rest of the American squad facing them:

The Germans are determined to knock out the Sherman and deploy a second Panzerfaust team. The Americans are equally determined to defend the tank though and use another CoC dice to interrupt with the squad in the woods which shoots dead both crew. German morale is falling fast:

 The German squad in the centre has been wiped out and the Americans advance again:

The last throw of the dice by the Germans sees their final squad deploy and open up on the American squad in the open:

The German fire is very effective but the Americans quickly take their revenge blasting the Germans with both the squad in the centre and the Sherman:

The Germans are almost wiped out and their morale collapses giving the Americans a victory in their first outing:

An interesting game which could have gone the other way if the Germans had managed to knock out the Sherman.

The Americans certainly play differently, though they have larger squads than average their firepower is very poor (only 12 dice outside SMG range compared to 23 for a German squad!) which is mitigated to some extent by re-rolling any 1's when firing. The ability to move and fire is useful in some situations but, on initial experience, I think the Russians, Germans and British all seem more effective. One of the things I like about CoC is that you have to learn how to use each nation to it's best effect so I'll have to consider what went wrong, what went well and how to improve!