Chain of Command Case Yellow Campaign Game 3 'Swift to Support' British v German

Having missed a round in the campaign the only game I could arrange for this round was against a fellow German player, Will. As a result I temporarily changed sides and took a British Line of Communication platoon while Will used his 7th Panzer Division force.

The LOC platoon is not a usual choice but as this round represented the German attack on Calais and the LOC formations fought there it seemed a different option that might be fun. Made up from assorted drivers, storemen and cooks etc the platoon has only three sections with one Bren gun between them and a single senior leader. It is also rated as 'green' giving it only four command dice. This results in a remarkable -10 force rating which gave me a huge 28 support points for the game!

Given that in this scenario the British can't use any support troops until turn two (and with only four command dice the prospects of ending the turn by throwing three sixes or accumulating a CoC dice are limited) the initial aim is to delay the Germans as long as possible especially as they have a lot of support points too and are liable to bring a lot of armour. As a result a lot of my support went on defences and a pre-game barrage with only a Matilda and an MMG as support units.

The outskirts of Calais:

The view from the German start line:

JoP's deployed, the Germans are stuck in the top right corner while the British place theirs well back:

The British deploy four sections of wire, two minefields and a road block considerably reducing German lines of approach when combined with the buildings. The Germans begin by deploying a Panzer IV, a Panzer II and an infantry section:

The Panzer IV moves along the road while the Panzer II moves off to the left. Until the Matilda arrives the British have nothing that can hurt the tanks so they really need the turn to end!

Fortunately the Germans roll a turn end and the Matilda is able to deploy. Facing three German tanks (a Panzer 38t had also arrived) the odds are not in it's favour but with cunning deployment and use of terrain it might be possible to pick off the Germans one by one as, individually, the Matilda is a much better tank:

The Germans cautiously continue to advance:

British smoke obscures the Panzer IV's ability to shoot:

The Panzer II starts to move forward to close down the British JoP in the fields:

It is almost close enough:

The British deploy an infantry section behind the hill:

The Sergeant attempts to join them but is delayed by a 5th Columnist:

The Germans advance a JoP and begin to deploy more infantry:

The Panzer II closes they JoP down! However, the Matilda has been waiting for it's chance on overwatch and opens fire killing the Panzer's gunner:

The Matilda follows up by putting another shell into the Panzer brewing it up:

With the Panzer II down the Panzer III decides to try it's luck:

The Matilda forces the Panzer IV crew to bail out! The German armour has failed so an infantry squad advances to take up the attack:

In response the British deploy another entrenched section on the hill with their lone Bren gun:

The support MMG also deploys by the burnt-out Panzer II

Caught in a cross-fire the German infantry break and the Germans withdraw:

An interesting game with the very different LoC platoon. My plan to delay the Germans with wire, mines and the roadblock worked well allowing me to survive until the first turn ended and I could bring on the Matilda, without that the German armour could have driven straight over my men!

I think I was also lucky with the Matilda, I managed to acquire enough CoC dice to interrupt at crucial points to allow the Matilda to fire before the Germans could and Will couldn't co-ordinate the three tanks he had allowing me to pick them off one at a time.

The next game will see me playing the same scenario again, this time as the Germans defending against the French. I anticipate having considerably less support points but the same issue with having nothing to face armour until the second turn so probably a different plan will be required!

Chain of Command "30 Day's to Dunkirk" Flank Attack at Gorre

Another play test for Jerry's PSC set in 1940. This time I had the defending BEF while Jerry took the attacking Germans.

The 1939 BEF Platoon is rather small even at full strength with a mere 27 men in total. Here Lieutenant Sadlier leads his brave band forwards:

With 12 supports available I chose a Vickers VC tank, a 1pdr anti-tank gun, a pre-game barrage, an extra senior leader, some AA MG and a single section of barbed wire. Things started well for the Brits with an 11 force morale compared to the Germans mere 8. The British were defending the top left of the table with the Germans attacking from the right and bottom of the table:

A German section appears in the farm complex:

Another German section deployed from the fields and headed towards the town:

The Vickers VB arrives and opens upon the Germans as they attempt to cross the field. The Germans appear reluctant to advance:

A Panzer III takes a long range shot at the Vickers, hits it, but fails to do much damage:

The Vickers continues to mow down the advancing German squad:

The Germans make it to the town but the Vickers crosses the hedge and guns them down breaking the squad:

Unfortunately for the Vickers a Panzer 38t arrives and forces the Vickers crew to bail out:

Meanwhile a British section in the barn has been exchanging fire with the German squad in the farm, The Panzer III has advanced but well placed smoke has largely prevented it from firing:

The 1 pdr anti tank gun deploys and fires at the Panzer 38t. Despite hitting it several times the fire has little effect illustrating how poor the British AT capability is:

The British place more smoke to block the Panzer 38t as they will soon have the Panzer III to deal with:

A second British section deploys along the hedge behind the barn. Two German squads are moving up to engage them:

The British open fire on the German squad in the open. The results are disappointing and it is looking grim for the section:

The British mortar drops more smoke to block most of the Germans from firing:

The Germans launch a handgrenaten attack, the odds are heavily in favour of the British though especially after they interrupt the attack and fire on the Germans at point blank range:

Only one German survives and he flees leaving a wounded senior officer behind. The remaining two Brits and a wounded corporal hold the hedge but are pinned:

German force morale is now down to 2 but the British have taken heavy losses. Out of sight the Panzer III and Panzer 38t have pinned the 1 pdr anti tank gun leaving the British with no answer to the German armour. Despite the large force morale difference in their favour the British will have to hope to finish off the last German squad before the German tanks wipe them out:

The last British section and Lieutenant Sadlier deploy. Opening fire on the Germans opposite and with some help from the pinned section next to them they manage to kill the German senior leader breaking the German's morale:

The surviving Germans prepare to flee:

An interesting game with the British only just winning, even when Jerry was down to 2 force morale I wasn't confident of winning as I could do nothing to his tanks and I had very few men left. The Vickers VC did well to take down one German squad by itself, aided by their reluctance to move despite Jerry urging them forwards!

I think there is one more game in the campaign, if Dave and Jerry play it I'll be interested to hear how it went or perhaps I will play it.

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.