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!

Nimitz Royal Navy v Kriegsmarine 'Murmansk' campaign Part 2

Andy and I played the second part of or 'Murmansk' Nimitz campaign last week. When we left it the convoy had made it about half way and was still undiscovered but the Germans were closing in rapidly with an undetermined force which must be strong in numbers as they hadn't committed much in the way of ships yet:

Day four began with a German air attack on TF 9 containing HMS Implacable. Implacable managed to launch two Hurricanes which shot down one Me109 and a Stuka while losing one of the Hurricanes. AA fire then accounted for a JU88 but unfortunately the remaining JU88 managed to hit the Implacable causing some structural damage:

The British then attempted an air strike of their own from HMS Implacable of TF 9 on TFE (the main German fleet) but the British Skua's failed to find the target and returned to the carrier.

The Germans then successfully identified the convoy (TF 3) with a destroyer. To prevent the German main fleet attacking the convoy TF 6 engaged the main German fleet. Unfortunately the British lost the initiative and had to set up first. HMS York leads followed by Howe, Belfast (damaged in a previous air strike) and Rodney. The destroyers HMS Jervis, Khartoum, Kelly and Jackal form a second line:

The German TF contained the Tirpitz (Bismarck class); Scharnhorst; Scheer (Deutchland class); Nurnberg (light cruiser), 6 of the earlier German destroyers and 3 of the later Type 36A  ("Narvik" class) destroyers. A very powerful force indeed:

Initial manoeuvres:

The British concentrate on the destroyers while the Germans hit the larger British ships:

Several German destroyers are sunk or crippled:

The Germans lose three Destroyers sunk and two crippled. The British lose the Howe, Belfast, York, Kelly and Jervis! It's all over for the British with only the damaged Rodney together with Jackal and Khartoum escaping:

With nothing much left to defend the convoy the British admit defeat and concede the campaign. 

As ever with Sam's rules there is a lot to think about for future campaigns. It's apparent that I didn't pick a suitable force really (too many aircraft that I never used for example), my task forces were badly organised and in the final battle I both underestimated the abilities of the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and overestimated the dangers of torpedo attacks.

  

Our next campaign will be the Sicilian convoy scenario where my British will take on the Italians. I'll certainly be trying to incorporate the lessons from this defeat in my plan for the next game!

Nimitz Royal Navy

Just in time for some action tomorrow the Royal Navy ships I bought for Nimitz are ready for action!

Battleships HMS Rodney and Howe

Cruisers HMS Belfast, Hermione, York and Spartan:

Cruisers HMS Norfolk and Ajax

Carriers HMS Ark Royal, Implacable and Illustrious:

Destroyers HMS Jervis, Khartoum, Kelly and Jackal:

Destroyers HMS Cossack, Zulu, Mohawk and Eskimo:

Destroyers HMS Orwell and Offa:

Skua's for the carriers:

Fulmars for the carriers:

The mighty Sunderland flying boat:

Swordfish:

A decent force to play Nimitz with, though I probably got too many carriers and aircraft really. The ships are all 1/3000th from Davco, the aircraft 1/600th from Tumbling Dice and the carrier deck markings (which are excellent) from Flight Deck Decals who provide a great service considering they are based in the US which is normally awful to order from.

They were all well cast and easy to paint so another force which wasn't that much effort to produce and may well get some action in the future!

Chain of Command WW1 1914 French v Germans

A game for the never previously used Renegade Miniatures (mostly) WW1 French and Germans using unmodified CoC. Dave took the Germans while I had the French. Both sides had three 10 man rifle squads, two senior leaders, a MMG and a Field Gun which comprised almost all the figures I had!

The terrain was set up with a railway station and industrial area. The patrol phase went badly for the French and I ended up being stuck in a corner of the table by the railway station:

A German section and their MMG appear in the factory complex. The infantry throw a smoke grenade:

Another German section deploy behind the oil tank and throw another smoke grenade:

French infantry move into the station building:

The French MMG targets the factory complex:

A French section in the woods joins in the firefight:

The French Field Gun adds even more firepower:

The third French section advances to the left of the station:

The Germans are taking a pasting in the factory:

Casualties mount:

The Germans deploy their Field Gun to target the French MMG and Field Gun:

The German section in the factory routs, however they have inflicted quite a few casualties on the French facing them:

The German section behind the oil tank retreats to the hedge line:

The French section on the left advances but does not wish to cross open ground in the face of German fire:

The third German section deploys into the factory complex:

Fire from the newly arrived Germans and their Field Gun breaks the French infantry in the woods and the French MMG:

A single round of fire from the German Field Gun wipes out the crew of the French Field Gun reducing the French morale to zero and forcing them to withdraw. The Germans continue on towards Paris!

A fun game which was perhaps decided in the patrol phase where Dave successfully confined me to a corner of the table with few areas to deploy into and poor arcs of fire for the troops I did deploy. 

I thought it might be a bit different without any LMG in the infantry sections which might allow more manoeuvre but the table and patrol phase resulted in a very static firefight in the end. 

The fact that the forces were identical probably didn't help as well, the issue with that being that Renegade Miniatures which are very large indeed 28mm are no longer available (other than occasionally and expensively on eBay) and all the other manufacturers of early WW1 figures are so much smaller than the Renegade ones (the French Field Gun crew for example, which I think are Great War miniatures, literally look like children next to the Renegade figures). 

I might keep an eye out on eBay to see if I can add a bit more variety to the armies and also contemplate any modifications to the rules, the only published ones we could see were for 1916 trench warfare which isn't really what I want to do largely as I have no wish to make a trench system!