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 Case Yellow Campaign Game 2 'Blitzkrieg' German v British

The second game in the Case Yellow campaign saw my Germans taking on Rory's BEF in a 'Blitzkrieg' scenario. To win the Germans have to exit two teams off the opposite table edge, reduce the BEF force morale to 0 or make them withdraw voluntarily. The British can win by playing two CoC dice to call up support before the Germans can achieve their victory conditions

The support roll gave me a mighty 18 support points and Rory an insignificantly less 15SP! Assuming that Rory was bound to take AA guns I didn't bother with the Stuka and went for the Adjutant (1), Jean Claude (1), 5th Columnist (1), Entrenchment (1), Pioneer Team (1), Pre-game Barrage (2), Red Dice (2), le.18.7mm gun (4) and StuG III (5).

Force morale started at an unhelpful 8 for the Germans and a as good as it gets 11 for the BEF (feeling confident after Rory had won his last two games!).

The Germans are attacking from the right, the British defending the left:

British JOP's with the German ones in the distance. A minefield was discovered at the crossroad:

The British deploy their mortar crew in the woods. Jean-Claude lurks in a hedge behind the British lines and takes a shot causing two shock on the mortar team:

Unfortunately a nearby Morris C9 AC spots him and promptly shoots him dead!

The first German troops deploy, the Red section behind a stone wall. They are accompanied by the StuG (just out of shot):

The British attempt to deploy an AT gun to take on the StuG. However, Captain Mainwaring (the 5th Columnist in disguise!) persuades the crew that now is certainly not the time to arrive and the gun does not appear:

The British have deployed a MMG and a section to engage in a firefight with the Red section. Despite the odds the Germans are inflicting more damage:

Yellow section deploys in the wood to add their fire commanded by Feldwebel Beckenbauer:

The StuG and the British AC have been exchanging fire. The StuG survives a critical hit from the AC then fires back and forces the AC to flee:

British resistance starts to crumble! The survivors of the MMG crew run for it:

The StuG moves up to add its HE shells:

The British mortar crew put up some smoke (the round counters) but it fails to block the German's view:

The StuG continues to fire:

The British section turns and routs:

The British deploy a 2pdr AT gun:

The StuG retreats to safety while the German infantry pour fire into the AT gun:

The fire is too much for the gun crew who take hits and shock:

Just as it appears everything is over for the British and the Germans will break through the British roll 4 sixes from their five command dice. This ends the turn (which is bad for the British!), signifies the fall of rain and, crucially, gives them a free CoC dice. As they already have one they can immediately end the game with the arrival of their support forces! Victory goes to the British.

For a while it looked like an inevitable German win but Rory's refusal to retreat saved the day. He only needed three more fives from his command dice anyway so it was certainly closer than it looked on the casualties (the Germans only lost two men in the game). Both sides found it hard to bring men on through pre-game barrages which probably affected the British slightly more especially once I deployed 'Captain Mainwaring' as the 5th Columnist! 

Oddly enough the men's opinion went up after this defeat having gone down following the first game's victory! The platoon is still  in excellent shape to continue the campaign next time....

Chain of Command Case Yellow Campaign Game 1 'Probe' German v British

Having discovered that, surprisingly, there is another club which meets in a café near where I live and play CoC campaigns I thought I'd join in one.

The campaign is a little different to our usual Pint Sized Campaigns in that there are several participants on each side and you can play as many games in each campaign phase as you wish given the time limit. This also means you (probably) won't play the same person every game. It's an interesting concept and should work well with a lot of enthusiastic participants.

The campaign is based on the German invasion of France in 1940. As they were short of German players I joined the German side using a 1st Wave Platoon which is strong in numbers but gives 4 extra support points to the opposition every game.

My first game was against Alex who used the British Regulation 1940 Platoon. With only 3 support points I chose an Adjutant, Jean Claude the sniper and a 5th Columnist. Alex had a small French tank (an R35 I think), a couple of minefields and some wire.

The scenario was 'Probe' where the attacking Germans have to get a team off the opposing table edge. The French countryside is initially peaceful:

The patrol phase sees both forces advancing towards the farm. The minefields and wire block (to some extent) the Germans on the right:

The Germans are pleased to get jump off points fairly far forward:

Two German sections deploy, both on overwatch:

The British respond with an allied French R35 tank. With only 3 support the Germans couldn't choose anything to damage a tank so it is almost invulnerable:

The German section by the barn moves along the edge of the minefields and wire:

While one German squad makes it's way around the minefield to the stone wall a third squad and the mortar team deploy to replace them in front of the barn:

The R35 fires HE at them and the first casualty of the attack takes a hit:

The Germans push on reaching the fields beyond the minefield with Feldwebel Beckenbauer urging them on:

Further HE fire from the Renault puts another German Landser down:

Rather surprisingly no British forces have deployed yet. Where are they?! The German section on the right continues forward into the fields:

The British appear to have left it too late to deploy, the Germans close down the only British jump off point on the right of the table. They do have the Renault to fire at any emerging Germans but will it be enough?

To keep up the pressure on the (still non-existent) British the 4th German section deploys on the left:

Led by Obergefrieter Mueller the rifle team make a dash for the table edge! The Renault fires it's MG but only manages to put one German down and wound Obergefrieter Mueller:

With a double turn and a CoC dice to use the German rifle squad makes it off the table to complete the mission:

Total losses for the Germans were three men, one of whom was killed with the remaining two missing the next game. As no British troops deployed at all and the Germans had nothing to hurt the tank not a single shot was fired by the Germans!

One of the more unusual games of CoC I've had, Alex felt he didn't have a suitable opportunity to deploy his British and relied on the Renault to stop the German advance. However, early war tanks are not that powerful at all (for example with few crew the Renault can't fire it's machine gun and main gun at the same time) so the Germans could just ignore it and accept the losses from it's occasional fire while crossing the table, admittedly with some nice movement rolls which helped.

My next game will be a Blitzkreig scenario against Rory's British in which I'll have a mighty 18 support points with Rory getting 15 so we should see plenty of kit on the table!