Chain of Command 2 – Entering St. Lambert, Take 2

This was our second trial game of Chain of Command 2, so we wanted to up the ante slightly. We also wanted to have a direct comparison with the original Chain of Command. Fortunately, not long ago, we had played Scenario 2, from the “Closing the Gap” PSC. This scenario had a standard Canadian platoon, supported by a Sherman tank, attempted to cross the river and enter the outskirts of St Lambert.

The town of St Lambert was defended by a standard German platoon, supported by a Panzer IVH. The Canadians also had 9 points of support (electing to take a 4^th infantry section and a 6lb A/Tank gun) and the Germans had 5 points (electing to take Pak38 and a 2^nd Senior Leader).

The Canadians were played by Dave & Mal and the Germans played by Rob & Steve.

Under CofC2, the rulebook scenario 4: “A Delaying Action” introduces an Objective around the centre of the table (in the red box). The German patrol markers also start quite well forward, so this was going to be a short Patrol Phase!! The Canadians gained one free move, but ended up a point down on Force Morale (FM), so really gained no benefit. However, they did secure Jump Off Points (JoP) out toward the woods on their left and a threatening JoP in the woods to the South.

The Germans managed to establish a JoP in the orchard to the North-East and one further back in the village, overlooking the river, to the South of the bridge. The Germans then elected to place their Objective JoP in the ruined house, just to the North-East of the bridge.

The Canadians opened strong, pushing the Sherman forward, to laydown suppressive fire on the central German JoP/Objective, while Red & Blue sections pushed through the woods in the North, toward the river. The Germans responded by deploying Red section in the orchard, while the Panzer IV moved up, to try to get a firing position on the Canadian infantry.

After an initial misplaced smoke round, the Canadians laid an effective smoke screen on the far bank of the river and pressed Red section across. However, just as Blue section was about to enter the water, the wind suddenly picked-up blowing away the smoke (The Canadians rolled a triple 6!).

Fortunately, the Canadians soon rolled a couple of double 6s and managed to scrabble Blue section over the river and into the woods. The Canadian Red & Blue sections then started to infiltrate through the North side of the woods. The Germans, realising that the Canadians were attempting to out-flank them, pivoted Red section round to overlook the likely line-of-advance of the Canadians, while deploying Blue section, to guard Red section’s left flank.

Another double 6 allowed the Canadians to change axis and move South to the edge of the woods. Red section, spying the exposed flank of the German Red section, fixed bayonets and rushed forward. Spotting the Canadians coming out of the woods, the German Blue section moved to support (being within 4” of the melee). The Canadians still had a ‘3’ in hand, so moved their Blue section up to support Red section and fortunately got a decent move roll, turning the melee into a one-on-one, section-on-section fight (this is another V2 change). However, the bigger V2 change is the melee result rolls. Now a 5 just causes Shock and a 6 causes a kill. Melees are far less deadly now, to both sides!

The net result of both melees was that both Canadian sections were both thrown back.

Back in the centre, the Germans deployed their Pak38 into the Objective ruined house, missing the Sherman with it’s first round. As the Sherman had been laying down effective fire on the German Blue section in the orchard, driving them back, the Panzer IV edged around the corner of the building, to get a shot at the Sherman. However, the Sherman struck first, severely shaking the Panzer crew, but, in turn the Pak38 then immobilised the Sherman! Realising 2 vs 1 was not good odds, the Canadians deployed their 6 pounder. Boom! One ex Panzer IV!?

In amongst all this excitement, the Germans had used their Chain of Command dice to end the second turn, thereby starting the “Final Countdown” (sneaky Rob!). This put the time pressure firmly on the Canadians!

The Canadian Blue section, led by Sgt Buchannan, saw their chance. Realising that the Germans, who had just defeated them in hand-to-hand combat, were now retreating further back into the orchard, the Canadian Blue section raced toward the objective (another double 6!), surprising the Pak38 crew and driving them out of the objective house. The Germans had felt safe, as they had deployed Yellow section, on the Eastern bridge approach, alongside the objective. These guys would normally have been able to quickly reinforce the Pak38 crew. However, the same double 6, that allowed Sgt Buchannan to storm the Objective, had allowed Lt Bowe to lead the Canadian Yellow section, over the hedge, onto the road and then a full 15” down the road, before finally charging over the bridge, into the startled German Yellow section!

The Germans briefly attempted to recapture the objective, using the depleted Blue section, but Sgt Buchannan’s men were having none of it, kicking them back out of the house, before rolling a double 6, on the first phase of the “Ticking Clock” to end the game!? Close run stuff!!

This was our second outing with CofC2. We wanted to try AFVs and were pleased with the results. AFVs are no longer hopeless white elephants, waiting for a spare 3! We hadn’t planned to exercise Close Combat, but ended up with 6 fights! Under V2, Close Combat is no longer the Section man killer it was. It is still decisive, with plenty ‘back & forth’, so a good improvement. I really liked the introduction of Objectives and the Final Countdown & Ticking Clock introduce some real cinematic jeopardy!? All-in-all, I like CofC2.

WW1 Chain of Command, “The Patrol”

 

As we only had Steve and Mal today, I took the opportunity to retry WW1 Chain of Command, using the “Cocking Up the Mud & the Blood” supplement.

Steve took the Canadian platoon and Mal took the German platoon. (Note, this was the first outing for my WW1 Germans, so I hoped things would go well for them?)

Without specific objectives, the Patrol Phase was a bit of a ‘land grab’. The Canadians managed to secure a Jump Off point in the ruined house in the SW and another in some shell holes, just South of  the old trenches. The 3^rd JOP was pushed East along the board edge, past the belt of barbed wire.

The Germans managed to secure a JOP behind some roadside earth banks, just North of the old trenches and another in the ruined Chateaux, out to the North East. The 3^rd German JOP was also pushed along a board edge, but to the North West, but not close enough to the ruined wood in the NW. This almost proved pivotal?

The Canadians opened by deploying Red section in the ruined house, on Overwatch. The Germans responded by deploying their red section, behind the earth bank, just North of the old trenches. Thus opened a long range firefight.

In order to try to break the stalemate, the Germans deployed Yellow section from the board edge JOP in the North, but instead of going tactical, then making a dash for the woods, Yellow section decided to join the long range firefight against the house!?

In response, the Canadians deployed Blue section in the shell holes to the South of the old trenches. With Red section in hard cover, working the German Red section behind the earth bank (soft cover) and Blue section working the German Yellow section, in the open, things were not looking good for the Germans?! Yellow section was quickly pinned down and after Red section lost their 3^rd MG08/15 loader, nobody else wanted to join poor old Hans on the LMG!

However, the Canadians then got cocky! They pushed the Yellow section bombers forward into the trenches and the Green section rifle bombers, wide on the Canadian right flank.

The Germans deployed Blue section into the ruined Chateaux, to counter the flanking move by the Canadian rifle bombers and Green section moved up to support Red section in the centre, in tackling the close range threat from the Canadian Yellow section.

The German musketry then kicked-in! The Canadian Green section was quickly pinned down and reduced to lobbing the odd rifle grenade at poor Hans. The Canadian Yellow section was reduced to 2 men and then routed. The Lieutenant called the survivors over to the ruined house, but the pitiless Germans mowed them down before they could reach the walls (-4 points of force Morale)!

Canadian force morale crumbled, just when it looked like a slightly rash German deployment had been their undoing!

WW1 Chain of Command is different to WW2. No rolling 20 dice for a Panzer Grenadier section. This is steadier stuff. It still turned out to be a long range firefight, but this was fairly open terrain and the ‘Patrol’ scenario does lack objectives, which tends to discourage movement from cover. A firm reminder that a good scenario needs objectives and probably even a WW1 table needs some LOS blockers!!  Anyway, WW1 CofC will return, especially as there are bigger toys to play with!!

Chain of Command – Closing the Gap, Scenario 2, “Disaster at St Lambert”

 

Lt Buchannan surveyed the outskirts of St Lambert with some dismay. This was going be a tough nut to crack! The river looked deep and he could see a Panzer IV nestled down behind a barn in the centre of St Lambert. OK he had mortar support, a Vickers MMG and call on a Sherman, but unless he could get across that river, unseen, this could turn into a bloodbath!

The Canadian patrolling did manage to establish a toehold on the East bank of the river, well North of the bridge, so the Canadians pushed red section across and started to creep Eastward, trying to flank to the North of the village. The Canadian red section crawled cautiously forward, until they could just spy the German red section, waiting behind a stone wall, to their front.

Sgt Bowe decided to throw caution aside and dashed the red section Bren team into position, behind the hedge and opened fire, hoping to silence the exposed German MG42. With both sides suffering, the Canadians then pushed the much depleted yellow section forward, hoping to flank South of the German red section.

However, Sgt Sumnur spotted the Canadians leaving the wood and rushed the German blue section from South of the road, into the house just NE of the bridge. But, as the Germans bundled into the building, one of them kicked over a stove (bl**dy  fours 6s on the Command dice!!). Soon the house the Germans had just entered, was a blazing inferno, forcing them to tumble back out onto the street, in disarray.

The Canadian Yellow section breathed a sigh of relief and seeing that the firefight between the two red sections was starting to go the Canadian’s way, called for blue section to deploy (from the moved Jump-Off point), to storm the German position behind the wall.

The Canadian blue section swarmed forward, through the orchard, to attack the Germans behind the wall, but even pinned down, the Germans threw them back, the Canadians also losing the section Corporal . To add insult to injury, the Germans then deployed yellow section, in support the depleted red section and the Panzer IV rumbled forward, to lob 75mm rounds into the orchard.

Even the normally gung hoo Sgt Bowe had to admit that it was time to abandon this attac! Across the other side of the river, the Canadian FAO frantically searched for targets, as did the Sherman that had just trundled up, but all they could see was the smoke from the burning house next to the bridge.

Canadian losses were 12 men, including the blue section NCO. German losses weren’t light, with 8 men down, but with a high force morale, these losses were almost immediately recovered.

Chain of Command 28mm PSC Sized Buildings

A quick shout-out to Warbases, for bringing out some lovely, very reasonably priced small 28mm buildings. These little buildings seem ideally suited to achieving many of the type of map lay-downs that appear within many of the Pint Sized Campaigns (PSC). My traditional 28mm buildings look great, but when compared to the indicative buildings in many of the PSCs, they are a fair bit too large. These Warbases buildings are simple, cheap and most importantly, have a nice small footprint. One other bonus is the small number of apertures in these buildings, also discourages infantry Sections from disappearing inside, to claim ‘hard cover’ from all & sundry!

From right to left, we have Dunne Steadings (Universal), Pike’s Garage (Industrial), Lyttle Cottage (Universal), Water Tower (Industrial) & Turnbull Cottage (Universal). The two sheds back left are Charlie Foxtrot, who also have a couple of small footprint buildings. I shall be picking-up a couple more of these little buildings at the next show.

Also great for ‘V for Victory’ and the smaller 4’x4’ table.

Chain of Command – Closing the Gap, Scenario 1

This game was lifted from Matthew Bona’s excellent Pint Sized Campaign, “Crossroads, Closing the Gap”. This is set in August 1944, with the Canadians pushing down, to close the Northern side of the Falaise Gap. Scenario 1 sees the Canadians probing (CofC Scenario 2) into the outskirts of St Lambert. The objective being for the Canadians to get a single team off the Eastern map edge.

The Canadians (Dave & Mal) elected to take an Adjutant, a Universal Carrier & an FAO with 3” mortar battery, as support. The Germans (Rob & Steve) elected to take an extra infantry action as support.

This was a cagey game, both sides seeking to minimise casualties (for a change!). The Canadians appeared to win the Patrol phase, managing to gain Jump-Off Points (JoP) in the field to the South East of the crossroads and in a house just to the West of the crossroads. The German JoPs were pushed back behind the hedgerows, well to the East of the crossroads.

The Canadians pushed forward with single infantry section, from behind the house on the West side of the crossroads. This section carefully edged up, across the road, North of the crossroads, then around the shed on the Northern table edge. As they crossed into the field, the platoon mortar deployed smoke, to cover their advance, while Blue section infiltrated into a covering position, behind a wall on the East side of the road, leading Northward from the crossroads. 

Expecting an advance from the field to the South-West of the crossroads, the Germans had deployed Red section behind the hedge, South-East of the crossroads, covering the field opposite. But, hearing the movement of the Canadians up to the North, the Red Section NCO deployed his MG42 to try to get a view up the road, from the crossroads. Finding his view blocked, he was forced to call-up Yellow section, to deploy into the fields on the North-East of the table, to block the Canadian Red section advance, along the Northern table edge.

A few bursts of fire from the German Yellow section, soon forced the crawling Canadian Red Section, to fall-back behind the shed on the road. However, this exposed the German Yellow section to withering fire from Canadian Blue section and Shock started to mount among the Germans. The Canadian Red section then crawled forward again, to add their fire, to that of Blue section, pinning down the German Yellow section.

This forced the Germans to deploy Blue section, to support Yellow section. However, the Canadian Lieutenant had spotted this build-up and called for his FAO to drop a 3” mortar barrage onto the German Yellow & Blue sections. Once the initial rounds started to land, the German Yellow section managed to scramble back, out of the barrage area, but Blue section was caught under the barrage and the effects of this and the sustained Canadian small arms fire, soon broke the German Blue section.

Sensing an opportunity, the Canadians deployed Yellow section into the field South-West of the crossroads. However, as they pushed forwards, the Canadian Yellow section came under fire from then German Green section, who had deployed into the field South-East of the crossroads, to support their Red section and the Canadian Yellow section were forced to fall-back there too.

The Canadian advance, initially so promising, now looked to be falling apart! Things then went from bad to worse, as the Germans rolled a couple of triple 6s, during which the Canadians lost their Mortar barrage and having it re-tasked elsewhere!

However, the little Bren Carrier had initially moved up to support Yellow section, but seeing them falling back and hearing the plaintive (and unanswered) calls for more mortar support, the carrier crew made a dash for it! The little carrier roared through the crossroads, narrowly missing a Panzerfaust, fired by the German Red section, then on down the road and off the Eastern table edge, right past a startled German Blue section leader (thanks to a timely Chain of Command Dice!). A narrow win to the Canadians.

Butchers Bill: Canadians – 6 KIA or Missing. Germans – 7 KIA or Missing, closing Force Morales were 10 & 9 respectively, so hopefully the platoons could face Mission 2 with some confidence! Very interesting to see players aiming to minimise losses. Quite a different & tactical game. 

Shoot Out @ Dead Man’s Corner, Chain of Command 1944

 An excellent little Chain of Command scenario, from Wargames Vault, with the Germans defending Dead Man’s Corner in Normandy, against an assault by US Paras.

Steve’s unusual pushing of a German Jump-Off point, well forward, into the orchard to the South-East of Dead Man’s Corner junction, turned out to be an unexpected stroke of genius! As the main para force pushed through the orchard, two ambushes launched from this Jump-Off Point, significantly disrupted the US paratroop advance. When the paras did finally reach the hedge line overlooking the house that Dead Man’s corner, the disorganisation caused by these ambushes resulted in the paras coming off worst from the long range fire-fight with the German MG teams occupying the House at Dead Man’s corner. While the US paras finally did manage to dislodge the German MG teams from the house, their own losses were too high, to allow them to press forward.

Even a more half hearted US flanking move, way around to the South-West, was thwarted by a single German Jump-Off Point, plonked right out on the West flank. In the end the paras simply had to pull back and await armour re-enforcements bigger than an M5 Stuart!  

Holding Out @ Neuville-au-Plain - Chain of Command

 Another excellent little Chain of Command 1944 scenario, purchased off Wargames Vault. This time with the US Paras are defending against a German counter-attack on Neuville-au-Plain.

The Germans opted for 5 infantry sections and opened with a bold, rapid deployment from the Southern table edge, into the field to the East of the church. These 3 German sections rapidly rushed forward to the hedge line overlooking the church, but then quickly got bogged down in a fire-fight with paras in the church and behind the wall to the front of the church. A rush assault by the Germans around the rear of the church then ran into a US ambush, with paras seemingly hiding behind gravestones! A vicious hand-to-hand fight developed, resulting the Germans being thrown back.

Hah, thought Lieutenant Altrik, at least that is all 3 US paratroop sections now accounted for and so he launched a flanking move around to the German right, through the open woodland, with the last two German sections. However, the paras had opted for a 4^th Infantry section as part of their Support Option, which deployed into the garden of the house overlooking the wood. Some pretty devastating fire from these paras quickly stalled the German flanking move. Realising that this attack was now just eating men, who could not be replaced, the Germans withdrew.  

Kampfgruppe Von Luck - Scenario 1

The much vaunted 21st Panzer Division tank crews slept, while their infantry took crawling through the cornfields, trying to work out where the Allies were!

After crawling a few hundred yards, Blue section was surprised, first by a vicious ambush by a British bren gun team, then by two infantry sections, one behind the hedgerow and one further back in the cornfield. Blue section sustained heavy losses, but rallied enough to return fire. After directing Green & Yellow sections to fire at the Northernmost Allied section, Lt. Altrich ran forward to stabilise the situation with Blue section. Pausing only briefly to yell, “It’s all your fault” at Sgt Bouue, Lt. Altrich screamed at the poor quivering FAO, to laydown a mortar barrage, which the FAO prompted did, but sadly on his own position!!

Lt Altrich rolled his eyes skyward and yelled again, at the FAO, to get him to roll the barrage forward.
The combined fire of Green & Red sections was too much, even for the stalwart paras and the Allied right flank section was soon streaming to the rear.

Meanwhile with the Allied left flank pinned under the barrage, the Allied commander called for a rather disorderly retirement from the field.

Phil