Chain of Command "29 Let's Go!" Game 6 "The Radar Station at Cardonville"

Gary and I played our 6th game in the 29 Let's Go PSC, this time an American attack around Cardonville. The Americans can't afford to lose this game as, if they do, they will have lost the campaign

The scenario was an attack and defend. The map looked more positive than the previous ones for the Americans with less open space to cover. With 14 support points available I decided to go for a single Sherman this time, a MMG, a 3" mortar and an additional BAR per squad.

The field of battle:

The game starts well for the Americans with an FM of 10 compared to the German 8 and 6 free patrol moves! The Americans set up a fire base around the buildings with an infantry squad, the MMG and the mortar all commanded by their Sergeant. The Germans deploy one squad in the orchard in front of the intact house but are finding it hard to deploy due to a US supporting barrage from HMS Glasgow:

Having set up a fire base the US deploy a squad to advance on the German held orchard with some support from the lone Sherman:

A second squad deploys while the first moves up on the orchard. The Germans don't seem willing to expose themselves to fire and run back into the house:

As the first squad crosses the hedge the second moves up. The Lieutenant arrives to co-ordinate the attack:

The Sherman cautiously moves up in support. The American tankers are somewhat unnerved by their previous experiences with panzerschreks and panzerfausts!:

Both squads are across the hedge and prepare to assault the house:

The Germans respond by deploying some infantry in entrenchments and an infantry gun to the left of their house. They open a firefight with the fire base Americans but come off badly with two German junior leaders managing to get themselves wounded:

The Americans are happy to continue the firefight and inflict more losses on the Germans:

The view from the German lines. The entrenched squad and the infantry gun have taken quite a few casualties:

The Americans in the orchard advance on the house and open fire. Again luck is not with the Germans as another junior leader is wounded and they are out shot by the Americans:

The Sherman advances and adds to the hail of fire at the Germans in the house:

The Germans respond by firing a panzerfaust at the Sherman which hits, kills the driver and inflicts two shock. Return fire from the Americans cuts down more Germans though and they flee from the building:

One German jump off point has been captured and a second is at risk from the American squad advancing past the house. German morale is almost broken now:

The Americans take the second German jump off point breaking the German morale:

So victory is still a possibility for the Americans. In all honesty everything that could have gone wrong for Gary did, the Germans had two less FM, the six free moves allowed the Americans to get well up the table, the bombardment from HMS Glasgow was very effective and the German officers were bullet magnets throughout the game (out of 4 deployed one was killed and two wounded!).

Next we move on to the final scenario, Home Run at Osmanville, where we will be facing the rather damaged German platoon from the first two scenarios. If the Americans can win it will give them a major victory in the over-all campaign. With Colonel Goode's outlook now 'Troubled' they could lose the scenario and have a second attempt to gain a minor victory.

We have both greatly enjoyed playing the campaign, most of the games have been well matched and we are already contemplating what to play next!

Rommel "Operation Ochsenkopf" February 1943

Andy and I thought we would try playing some historical scenarios for a change and opted for "Operation Ochsenkopf" set in Tunisia in 1943. I took the Germans while Andy had the British.

The objective for the Germans was to hold 4 out of 6 objectives by nightfall (including 2 British objectives) and the force available were two infantry regiments (754th and 755th) plus Kampfgruppe Lang, an armored formation including a single mighty Tiger!

The British had three infantry brigades, the 11th, 128th and 138th with support from some Churchill tanks from the North Irish Horse.

Examining the map the Germans came up with the following plan:

Kampfgroup Lang would take the middle Allied objective while the 755th Infantry took the one on the right. The 754th Infantry would be available to support either as required. The initial set up:

Kampfgruppe Lang attempts to quickly overwhelm the Allied objective using the mobility of it's tanks and the single armored Panzer Grenadier battalion it possesses:

The 755th Infantry assault the other Allied objective held by some isolated units of the 11th Brigade. Speed is of the essence in both attacks before the Allies can reinforce the troops holding the objectives:

The 755th capture the objective while the 754th move up in support. Two attacks by Kampfgruppe Lang have been repulsed with heavy losses though:

Losses for the 755th are relatively light:

A second assault by Kampfgruppe Lang supported by the 754th Infantry almost but not quite captures the centre objective. Kampfgruppe Lang's tanks have taken a battering and will struggle to be effective in attack again:

The Germans fight on and a third assault captures the objective. They have taken heavy losses though while the Allies have not been damaged so badly:

The Germans holding the centre objective are now in a salient with only rear support. They are too weak to take the flank sectors and will suffer from being flanked by the Allies almost surrounding them:

The battle rages on with the Germans holding on for now and in a winning situation but night is a long time away and they are being whittled down:

On the left the 755th has had a quiet time since taking their objective. The Allies appear to be preparing for a counter-attack though:

Needing to hold on to their own objective the Germans have too few units available to support the front line of the 755th Infantry who come under attack from three directions:

The German position in the centre is starting to crumble with the Allies breaking through to the German baseline, isolating the 755th Infantry and threatening the artillery support:

The 755th Infantry are struggling to hold on:

 The German line has collapsed but they fight on:

The 754th Infantry holding the Allied objective are being overwhelmed. The remaining units of Kampfgruppe Lang supporting them are pretty much spent and unable to intervene:

On the right three so far uncommitted units of Kampfgruppe Lang make a desperate attempt to break through to the third so far uncontested Allied objective. They fail to overcome stubborn Allied resistance though:

The German position is falling apart, the centre Allied objective has been lost as has one German objective. The Germans have nothing left to counter attack with. Night will fall soon and the only question is can they hold on for a draw?

 The 755th Infantry in the left Allied objective desperately hold on:

As night falls the Allies launch one last attack on the battered defenders of the left German objective. The attack succeeds and victory goes to the Allies!

Another great Rommel game, the preponderance of infantry in the scenario made it rather different to our usual tank-heavy games. The scenario seemed very well balanced and swung from side to side with the Germans initially successful, the Allies counter-attacking and regaining the initiative leaving the Germans desperately trying to hold on for a draw.

Andy is a tough opponent and used flank attacks with great success to wear down my units defending the objectives. He also kept going with great determination right to the end and was rightly rewarded with a victory.

I made a number of errors I think, I spread my forces too thinly and became fixated on defence once I'd taken enough objectives which passed the initiative to Andy.

I wasted units holding objectives in my rear when they should have been supporting their comrades further forward in a solid line which would have made Andy's flank attacks harder to achieve.

Really looking forward to our next game and I've invested in Russians (it was inevitable really) so they might make an appearance in the New Year. They look like they will play differently to the Germans or Allies as they seem to have poor co-ordination between tanks and infantry, small formations and in the Mid-War period green tank crews. They do have a massive amount of artillery though this is limited by how they can be employed. I reckon this will require a different approach....

Fire and Fury Confederate Refurbishment

When I started playing ACW games in 15 mm over thirty years ago the first figures I bought were from Warrior Miniatures.

They were very cheap at the time in army deals that included numerous infantry, artillery and some cavalry so I bought one Union and one Confederate army pack. They were painted quickly and basically to get them into action and still make the odd appearance today!

A lot of the Confederate infantry were looking rather tired now, still gloss varnished (old-school!) and with rather dull bases so I thought I'd varnish them matt, do some new bases and improve their flags a little.

South Carolinian's:

Virginians:

Texans:

Louisianan's:

Alabamians (these are Essex figures):

Three newly painted artillery pieces:

All ready for more year's campaigning!

Chain of Command "29 Let's Go!" Turn 5, scenario 3 "Flanking St Germain Du Pert" - second attack!

Having failed in the first attack on St Germain Du Pert the Americans summoned yet another platoon and some more Sherman's to try again against Gary's Germans. At least this time they would only be facing a single Marder having destroyed one in the first game.

Having given it some thought the patrol phase went much better for the US this time with the Germans restricted to only two jump-off points and the US having one relatively near the church this time, albeit in the open:

The surviving Marder makes an early appearance for the Germans:

The Americans bring on all three Sherman's together with a platoon behind the hedges on over-watch in an attempt to discourage panzerschrek attacks on the tanks. The platoon sends out a scout team but this proves to be a mistake as the Marder fires on them and kills them:

With a double phase the US attempt to rush the church. They go all-in and deploy both remaining squads together with the Lieutenant:

One squad makes it to the church wall with the other close behind. One problem of course is that they have blocked any support fire from the Sherman's if the Germans appear in the church:

The Germans deploy a squad in entrenchments to the side of the church and open fire but don't do much damage. They also deploy a squad in the church but stay away from the windows and doors so the American infantry can't target them:

US firepower drives the German squad from their entrenchment. The Germans replace the departed squad with their panzerfaust team which inevitably knocks out the Sherman facing it. The Sherman troops commander responds with his top-mounted HMG but fails to do any damage to the pesky panzerfaust:

One Sherman advances together with the squad that was lining the hedge earlier. The American bazooka team deploys and attempts a very tricky shot at the Marder with little to aim at. Remarkably they score a hit but elation quickly turns to disappointment as the hit does little damage:

The Sherman's and infantry continue to move up but it is hard to see how they can easily target the Germans who lurk out of sight without exposing themselves in the open:

Inspiration occurs though and the Lieutenant orders one of the sections lining the churchyard wall to move across to the hedge line. This will allow the Sherman's to blast the church at point blank range with HE fire which will affect the German squad hiding inside:

The American infantry form a firing line on the hedge while the Sherman's blast the church:

The fire on the church pins the squad inside but fails to inflict many casualties. The German Leutnant and squad leader manage to stop the squad breaking by rallying them in between shots but they stay pinned. The final German squad deploys in the small orchard nearby to allow a panzerfaust shot at the nearest Sherman, luckily it misses. The rest of the squad fire on the GI's behind the hedge and inflict some losses and shock but suffer in turn from return fire:

The Sherman's switch their attention to the squad in the orchard and a hailstorm of fire hits the Germans:

 :
They break and run though their sacrifice has allowed the German squad in the church to rally. German force morale is down to 4 now:

The German squad in the church leaves while the other German squad opens fire on the thin line of GI's holding the hedge:

The GI's fall back from the hedge out of sight. As it was getting late by now Gary agreed to withdraw at this stage, with German morale so low they could have held out a while but would probably have been driven off eventually by the remaining Americans:

I certainly did better in the patrol phase this time and I think this was a better plan than the first one. Gary didn't expect me to be able to start so close to the church so that went well but, in fact, once I'd got to the wall it wasn't obvious what to do next, assaulting the church seemed suicidal and since the Germans would not come to the windows I couldn't shoot them!

We both wondered what would have happened if I'd assaulted the church when the occupants were pinned.

From memory Gary had 9 men inside with around 13 shock which would have been 8 dice for the men, 2 for the JL (10), 2 for me using 2 dice to move to assault (12), -6 for the shock (6), plus 2 for an SMG (8), plus 4 for an LMG (12), plus 1 per 2 for defending (18) halved for pinned to 9.

For me I had 10 men left in my squad which equates to 9 dice for the men, 2 for the JL (11), a possible 3 more if I had thrown the Lieutenant in as well (14), 2 for an SMG (16) plus possibly 4 more for the two BAR's in the squad (I think they count as assault rifles in combat but couldn't find where it said that) so maybe 20 dice in total or 17 without the Lieutenant.

Not bad odds but by no means a certainty!

The campaign now has two more boards to clear for the Americans to gain a major victory, any defeat for them will be a major victory for the Germans so the campaign is finely balanced. In the last game the Germans will have to use the battered survivors from the first three games so if the Americans can get past the next table a win could be on!