Chain of Command 2 – Home Front

 

This was the first Scenario from the excellent (free!!) Pint Sized Campaign, from Bad Squiddo Games, “Home Front”. The fast moving German landing forces, are pushing down toward Romford, after landing near Clacton. Scenario 1 sees the German platoon attempting to push past a weak Home Guard screening force.

The Home Guard were controlled by Simon and Phil. The German platoon was controlled by Rob & Dave. Support rolls were average, with the Germans electing to take a Red Dice, an armoured car and a shabby Nazi trick, of 2 nuns concealing an LMG team! The Home Guard had rather more support points to play with (the platoon rating being -4), so they took a pillbox, a roadblock, some milk churn mines, some Land Army reinforcements and a Beaverette car. This all proved to be a mistake, with only 4 Command Dice to play with!!

The Germans opened with the Nuns walking down the road, shadowed to the South of the road, by a section of infantry and to the North of the road, by the Riflemen of the section who’s LMG team were disguised as Nuns. The German armoured car, skirted around the North of the woods flanking the road, in order to engage and neutralise the pillbox.

The Home Guard, only having 2 pre-located Jump Off Points, were forced to deploy a section to contest the Jump-Off point just West of the orchard. While Sgt Wilson waited, the Germans slipped through the hedge at the far side of the orchard and crawled forward. As soon as the Germans crawled into view, the 8 Home Guard rifles opened fire, inflicting the only casualty suffered by the Germans in the entire game (the Germans being in light cover & Tactical). The return fire from the MG34 and 5 rifles, was rather more effective and shock & casualties soon started to mount, but Sgt Wilson’s section was made of stern stuff and they grimly held on, delaying the German advance.

The German disguised Nuns, after a short detour into the woods (for no clear reason!?), infiltrated down behind Sgt Wilson’s section and pulling the MG34 from beneath their robes, opened fire on Sgt Wilson’s section, from the flank! Dirty tricks indeed!!

However, the Nuns had been spotted and the Platoon Sergeant had sent out a section, to escort the Nuns to safety. However, as these brave lads moved out to help the ladies, the German armoured car hosed them down, as they ran for the woods, fortunately only inflicting some shock!

These brave Home Guard lads burst out of the trees, behind the Nuns, only to discover that they were really Nazi machine gunners! The horrified Home Guard lads surged forward, to capture the traitorous Nazis!

Back on the North flank, the Platoon sergeant called forward the Boys Anti-Tank rifle, to deploy into the Estate buildings. This managed to get a couple of hits on the German armoured car, but to no serious effect and the deadly cannon fire soon silenced the Boys.

The German commander was by now getting frustrated, so he personally led the third German section, at the run, down the entire length of the road, not even bothering to hide! Hearing the jackboots closing on their rear, the Home Guard troops on the road, ran back to man the road block, but the Germans were too close on their heels. The Germans caught-up with the Home Guard lads at the roadblock, and the brave Home Guard lads were forced to surrender!

An interesting game and I would recommend the Bad Squiddo PSC. Production quality is excellent and there are some nice ideas in there. Having only 4 Command dice was a killer for the Home Guard, especially as the Germans had 6 (with their Red dice). Next time, the Home Guard need to take more incorporated support options, or more support options not needing Commands!!

As a fill-in, we then decided to use the same table layout, for a spot of early war What a Tanker. The Germans had a Panzer III, a Panzer II and the Panzer 38T. The French had a Char B, a H35 and an R35. The Germans quickly lost the Panzer III, to a flank shot from the H35. The Char B played a game of ‘squash the Panzer II’, in the central wood. That left the Panzer 38T playing dodge with all 3 French tanks! Eventually they managed to box it in, at point blank range and finish it off!

Sharp Practice 2 - ACW Railhead Raid

 

Union forces had pushed a railtrack up from the coast, but their protective covering force have been decoyed away from their task of protecting the railhead. A Confederate raiding force moved toward the railhead, intent on destroying the buildings and the supplies accumulated there. The Union forces, realising they have been decoyed, were moving back up the rail line, to protect the railhead & the supplies there.

The Confederate forces would win by either driving the Union forces from the table, or by burning down two, of either; the railhead supplies, the station, or the Water Tower (each with a Task Roll of 11). The Union forces would win, by either driving the Confederate forces from the table, or by preventing the Confederates achieving their objective.

The river & marsh areas count as ‘Heavy Going’ and the supplies area counts as broken ground, but provides Light cover for foot troops within Supplies area.

The Confederate forces were led by Mal and the Union forces led by Dave.

The Union forces opened with a bold cavalry move, straight up the road, while their infantry moved up the road and rail track, to provide a covering force. The Confederates pushed their main infantry column up the road, while the cavalry, skirmishers and second infantry column moved along the river bank, directly toward the railhead.

The Union cavalry very quickly reached the supplies area and were feeling pretty pleased with themselves. However, the main Rebel column surprised them, by equally rapidly moving up the road and then smartly deploying into line! The Union cavalry promptly sheared off the road, trying to take shelter behind the cross-rail fence, to the North. However, the cavalry didn’t manage to get out of the Rebel volley firing arc, only managing to dismount and take cover behind the fence. However, this did them little good, as the massive volley from the Rebel line killed 4 of the Union cavalry.

Back at the railhead, the Rebel skirmishers and 2^nd column were closing-in on the station building. Sadly, the rapid movement of the main Rebel column, left the Rebel cavalry in a bit of a predicament, being blocked to their front by the main infantry line. Before they could unravel this mess, the Union skirmishers rather roughly handled the Rebel cavalry, shooting into their rear.

As the shocked Rebel cavalry retired behind the main Rebel line, one group of Rebel skirmishers moved up to the station building, to try to fire it. Sadly, it seemed rather unclear as to who had brought the matches!?

The other group of Rebel skirmishers started to exchange fire with the Union skirmishers, much to the annoyance of the commander of the 2^nd Rebel column, which by now was deployed in firing line, but their firing blocked by their own skirmishers!

After a bit of stumbling, eventually the Rebel skirmishers cleared the Rebel firing line and a couple of good volleys sent the Union skirmishers scurrying back behind their own infantry firing line. Both lines then started to blaze away each other, but it was the Rebels who were suffering most!

Back on the supplies side of the track, the Confederate main line was now trying to wheel around, to bring the Union infantry, located on the road, into their firing arc, but it was all happening too slowly. The Union line, supported by a flanking skirmish group, was plucking big holes in the main Rebel line.

Back at the station, the Rebel skirmishers, now aided by the second Rebel skirmish group, had fired the station, now they were moving into the supplies, to fire them too. This left a rather ‘target rich environment’ for the Union forces, into which they sent ball after ball!

The Rebel skirmishers, sheltered by the supply crates, were not faring too badly, but the main Rebel line was suffering. Realising that he could no longer win the fire-fight, as his left flank group was now retiring, the Rebel commander called for his troops to join the efforts to fire the supplies. These supplies were then quickly burning.

Having achieved their objective, the Rebel forces were now retiring, if not ‘in good order’, leaving 14 dead on the field, but they had won their victory, if at rather a high price!?

A Fight for the Fords - A Midgard Saga

Two opposing armies lined up to see who could control the river crossings. With the Fatamid Egyptians in the North and the Crusaders in the South. The Fatamids moved forwards with the cavalry advancing to take control of two of the fords.

Leaving the infantry to contest the third ford. However they were moving at a snails pace.

The Crusader knights charged but were halted by a shower of javelins from the Fatamid cavalry.

The Fatamid light cavalry pushed on past the ford and charged into a Crusader spear unit. Was this foolhardy?

 The Crusader knights charged again.

 and destoyed the leading Fatamid heavy cavalry.

Meanwhile on the other flank another unit of Crusader knights took the ford as the Fatamid infantry were taking their time getting there.

In the centre things were looking a bit sticky for the Fatamid light cavalry.

 
resulting in them being pushed back across the ford.

On the left flank the Crusader knights charged the Fatamid infantry, pushing them back.

With the Crusaders controling all three fords and the Fatamid personal morale shot the game was called, with a resounding Crusader victory.

Swamp Fox - Game 12

Situation

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Horry was once again dispatched to seize Loyalist-owned cattle and destroy boats along the river near Waccamaw Neck. During their raid a slave was captured but then freed by one of Horry’s Captains who knew the man. Almost immediately, the slave reported the Rebels to a party of Queen’s Rangers who immediately set off in pursuit. In a slightly humorous incident, some Rebels were captured when they mistook the Ranger’s hunting horns for an actual hunt and stopped to watch the sport. Little did they know that they, not a stag, were the quarry.

The Rebels win the game by moving a wagon across the table and leaving by the Eastern (right-hand) edge. The Crown forces win the game if they can capture the wagon of beef.

The Crown forces had three deployment points (depending on a die roll); the two orchards and the farmhouse. The Loyalist militia were first out of the bag and deployed in line from the the orchard in the south-western corner. This might slow the rebels down a bit.

The Rebel verteran militia deployed next, heading south, hoping to outflank the loyalists.

The Loyalist rangers deployed into the other orchard and Captain Harper Francmont wheeled the milita. Unfortunately he stepped in something nasty, dropping his command ability by one. This was the start of a run of bad luck for the Loyalists.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Horry opted to get his fire in first

The Loyalist miltia returned fire and caused some casualties. However, in a brief momemt of madness, they decided to advance towards the enemy thus bringing them into close range. This wasn't going to dend well.

Meanwhile, Captain Crampton Clamper slowly advanced the Loyalist rangers towards the fence line.

However, the Rebel militia beat them to it.

The cavalry had arrived by this time and charged towards the militia column on the road, which they wiped out. However, the second group of cavaly lost their fight with the veteratn militia and were forced to retire.

The first cavalry group somehow managed to stop before they exited the table. The sneaky rebels then shot them in the rear forcing them to retire from the field. The Loyalist militia were also being forced back.

At this point the Loyalists decided to retire from the field leaving the way open for the Rebels to bring on their wagon of meat.  

Swamp Fox - Game 11

Situation

After the encounter with Cornet Merrit, the Queen’s Rangers retired on Georgetown where they met a mounted group of Loyalist militia under the command of Major Micajah Gainey. These forces now combined and rode off in pursuit of Horry and his men. On the Black River Ferry Road encountered Horry and his men at their camp. The Crown force attacked immediately.

The British win the game if they can burn down the plantation house where the Rebels are staying. The Rebels win if they break the Crown Force Morale.

The Crown forces deployed first, with the militia heading straight down the road and the cavalry moving across the countryside.

However, the Rebels also managed to deploy all of their forces in the first turn. The Crown forces weren't looking too happy about their ability to burn some buildings.

The rebels advanced north to hopefully prevent the cavalry from outflanking them.

The cavalry cantered through the woods and over the fence.

Unfortunately, the officer's horse pulled up almost throwing the rider. The Crown militia deployed into two groups and poured fire into the rebels, causing casualties. 

With the cavalry rapidly advancing towards the rebels

The rebels advanced their best troops towards the fence line and hoped to hold off the cavalry. Unfortunately, the cavalry failed to close to contact.

A devastating volley by the Rebels forced the cavalry to retire.

With both of their leaders knocked out, things weren't going well for the Crown militia.

A unit of the Crown cavalry were soon brought under control and were heading to outflank the rebels, hoping to charge them in the rear. Unfortunately, the Crown militia were falling back due to the Rebel firepower.

At this point the Crown morale was such that they retired from the field, whats left of them that is. Leaving the Rebels victorious.