Chain of Command "29 Let's Go!"Game 7 "Home Run at Osmanville"

First game of the year and potentially the last one (if I won) of Gary and I's 29 Let's Go! PSC.

The Americans are facing a rather battered German platoon and, if they can take the German HQ at Osmanville, will burst through the German lines capturing the bridge at Isigny and isolating a large number of German units.

For this scenario the Americans have a mighty 19 support points with the Germans having 13. Given the difficulty of using armour so far in the campaign I chose a single Sherman, a HMG, a mortar, a flamethrower team, an extra BAR and a mine clearing team as it seemed obvious Gary would take a lot of entrenchments and defences.

The Americans enter from the left, the Germans from the right:

Set up didn't go well for the Americans with a low force morale of 8 compared to the German 11. The patrol phase resulted in a cramped area for the Americans to deploy hemmed in on their left  by minefields and on the right by wire and a very open field with Rommel's Asparagus in it stopping any armour from operating in the area. Two squads deployed together with the lone Sherman:

There is an immediate response from the Germans with a full strength squad deploying and opening up on the advancing American infantry:

The Sergeant deploys with the HMG and mortar to fire back at the Germans:

A German MMG arrives to support it's colleagues:

 American firepower is effective breaking a rifle team and forcing the LMG team to withdraw:

The American infantry squad has taken some losses while the Sherman moves up in support:

The Germans have been driven back from the hedge line:

 The Lieutenant leads the last American squad and the flamethrower team forward:

The Sherman creeps forward. For a while the mine clearing team has been attempting to clear the minefield on the left but has not succeeded. The American squad in the centre is sadly reduced in numbers:

The advance continues:

The first hedge line is reached:

The Germans deploy their slightly under-strength squad in the abandoned entrenchments and the MMG moves back up to the hedge. Several Americans are cut down but the flamethrower gets to fire!:

The German MMG is routed but return fire from the German squad forces the flamethrower team to flee:

Casualties are heavy on both sides and another German team breaks. Their morale is falling but it is a long way down from 11!:

The German Panzerfaust team had earlier hit the Sherman from ambush but remarkably it had survived. The Sherman was not so lucky the second time and exploded in flames. To add to the disaster the mortar team, HMG team and a nearby section all took losses from the explosion wiping out the section and killing several crew from the mortar and HMG:

Both sides have now taken huge losses, most of the Germans have fallen back to regroup and the Americans only have one viable squad, the one on the left that has seen little action. The mine clearing team have finally cleared the minefield but there is no one left to exploit it!:

The American squad moves around to take on the remaining Germans while sending a scout team to attempt to capture a German JoP and end the game:

The Germans gather their last few men in the orchard for a final stand. The Americans gather their last usable squad to make a final attack!:

The Americans use marching fire to close in following a lucky double turn (though they also had two CoC dice to use to interrupt if they have to). Firepower combined with a couple of well aimed grenades cuts down the Germans!:

With only a single man and the German Lieutenant left the Americans close for the kill and the Germans are routed. The breakthrough is on!

A bit of a bloodbath for the last game, the Americans lost 29 men out of 56 plus the Sherman yet only lost 3 force morale in the entire game. German casualties were also heavy and they showed their usual resilience and fanatical will to fight on, at several points especially when the Sherman exploded, I thought it was all over for the Americans.

All in all a really enjoyable campaign and we are already keen to do another one. I learned a lot over the campaign (especially the weakness of armour against late war German man portable anti-tank weapons!), how to use the Americans walking fire and semi-automatic rifles and how tough it is to crack a well thought out defence. It was certainly a costly victory for the Americans over the course of the campaign with numerous Sherman's being lost and several infantry platoons taking heavy losses.