Chain Of Command II

 Dave kindly put his aversion of lard aside for our weekly game to participate in a World War II game using the revised Chain of Command rules.

The field of Mars, the British lines are at the top of the photo. We would be playing the Probe scenario from the rule book, the British have to capture a German jump off point and exit a section off the German table edge.

I can’t prove it from the photo but that is Dave. As you can see despite Dave getting the first move in the Patrol Phase my markers were placed 12” in from the table edge and I was able to press forward and this ended up with Dave’s Jump Off Points in his own table half.

Now not having played a game for over eighteen months I was so engrossed looking things up and explaining things to Dave I neglected to take any photos in the early phases. Here the British 2” mortar is advancing under cover to put down either smoke or HE to support the attack. I didn’t deploy any Germans in these early phases so nothing to photograph anyway😂

You chaps run across that open ground into that cover, you didn’t tell us the ground was so soft and boggy Corp’ 🎲🎲

Look at Tommy strolling across that open ground shall we send them some metal Herr Gefeiter?

For some reason I failed to take any photos leading to the demise of the German section on the right, then they were gone, eek! The senior leader shouldn’t be there forgot to move with those below, the stunned Gefreiter is left to be captured later☹️

The broken section.

On the British right another section is brought on to support the chaps mired in the open, luckily for them the German fire isn’t very effective, duff or sabotaged munitions (that’s my excuse anyway)

Having removed the threat the British advance on the German right somewhat leisurely, those dice eh.

 The British capture the jump off point and the stunned Gefreiter, this brought the Germans force morale down to one, completely forgot I could have used my Chain of Command dice to avoid one of the morale checks. However with the remaining two sections tied up on the left the writing was on the wall down to two Command Dice (thanks Rob) we felt it was inevitable that the British would get a section off the table.

Well played Dave, I may convert you yet (the Patrol Phase not withstanding🙂)

Until next time………….KBO

Campaign Game Two

 George kindly agreed to command the German forces for the game via Zoom. A combination of German firepower and some less than kind dice rolls and a couple of tactical gaffs on my part saw the British once again compelled to withdraw and concede the field to the Germans.

Replacements will certainly be required for the next encounter.

I am currently painting some more 20mm Germans in winter gear, a lot of my recent games have been 1945 encounters and I think my summer clad Germans have been affected by the cold and coming second, that's my excuse anyway. Perhaps some warmer clothes will improve their fighting.

TTFN and KBO

More Solo Shenanigans

 With no sign of lockdown (being in Tier 3 is as good as) ending any time soon it was time to run out another solo game, I have decided to run a little mini campaign with my 28mm World War British and Germans using Chain of Command and the relevant bits from the At The Sharp End campaign guide.

First up scenario one in the rule book, force morale was high for both sides British 11, Germans 10. The Germans aggressive patrol phase saw the British on the back foot from the start.

The German table edge was at the top, their patrol markers starting between the culvert and the two roads as you look at the photo, the British started bottom left.

Of course the wheat will stop the bullets Hans

Come on lads the wheat will cover us

Maybe not.

If we can just work around their flank.

They will not move us from here now.

We are a bit hemmed in here Corp.

The failed flanking move section examine their shock

Although the British force morale was still high at eight to oust the Germans would mean losing too many men with one section already hors de combat the British withdrew leaving the Germans in control of the field.

The British core platoon are four men down now with three missing until scenario three. The Germans core platoon are two men down with one man missing until scenario three.

The British CO's opinion is down to -1 whilst the men's with four men lost and five wounded is down to -3 this will reduce their force morale result by one for the next scenario.

The German CO's opinion is +1 has is the men's this has no immediate effect on their force morale going into scenario two.

To be continued............ 

Until next time keep safe and KBO.

TTFN

A Place In The Sun

 I have recently completed my German platoon for action in Italy using figures the Perry Miniatures plastic and metal range.

Excuse the lack of captions, despite using the new format before it was rolled out with no issue, since then well that's Blogger for you, can never let well alone.

Now on with the American opposition

Keep safe and KBO.

TTFN

Chain Of Command - Solo en España

A solo outing today, for no reason other than to try out the new mat and roads as mentioned in the previous post.

I will not bore folk with a blow by blow account, here are some shots of the game with the odd caption. The game was a pretty static affair, which is probably a reflection of playing against ones self rather than the rules and command dice rolled.

 

Aerial Shot

The Hermitage

The Legion Deploy

The Other Section Work Their Way Towards The Opposite Flank

The Republic Prepare To Give A Hot Reception

The Legion Return Fire In Kind

The Flanking Section Advance Is Very slow

The Republic Deploy A Bilbao Armoured Car

The Section NCO Is Wounded

The Legion Repay The Compliment

The Flanking Section Receives Withering Fire From The Republic Section Deployed In The Wood 

Surprise, Surprise!

The Republic Take Advantage Of The Carnage And Advance To Contact

Supported By A Squad Of Dinamiteros

Contact!

The Legion Are Pushed Back

Although the Legion morale was relatively high their squads were too depleted to carry on the attack so withdrew.

Blogger is having one of its days again, can't get the spacing any better.

Quite pleased with how the mat looks with bits in place, the varying light conditions in Darkest Rawnsley do not give a true colour of the mat, but I think you can see the subtle colour variations.

TTFN

Solo Chain Of Command Part II

Action resumed last night, the Germans continued to pour fire into the British lining the opposite hedge row, the platoon sergeant deployed to bolster the worst hit section, no sooner than he arrived the section corporal was wounded. Traffic was not all one way and the German opposite number was also hit again reducing his command ability for the remainder of the game.

The sergeant moved the section out of line of site while the Cromwell moved up to engage the Germans opposite with the support of the 2" mortar. On the left the German squad and British section continued their private battle for control of that flank.

The section to support the Cromwell was not up yet but undeterred it engaged the German squad, the Germans seized the opportunity and the panzerschrek team moved up to try a shot. Luckily for the Cromwell it missed.

This attracted the attention of the 2" mortar team who dropped two bombs killing one of the team, machine gun fire from the co-axial also applied two shock which meant the team broke.

The fleeing German came running into the now deployed Zugfuhrer who rallied him and sent him to support the beleaguered squad at the hedgerow.

The British number three section which had now come up to support the Cromwell seized the opportunity to stream towards the apparently vacant building to find it was not empty at all, the Germans must have been surprised by this as although in the open the advancing British received some shock but no casualties!

Alas losses in the hedgerows had reduced the German force morale significantly, the rallied panzerschrek man took a shot, hit but it did not penetrate, merely stunning the gunner, the hull machine gunner and 2" mortar saw this further threat off. This reduced the German force morale to zero. Another win for the forces of good, it appears that evil will not prevail when I am in command.

I had not intended to play this game until later in the week, I had set up and duly played a game using Battlegroup Fall of the Reich with similar forces, this however ended in turn three!

Memo to self, when playing a game with low Battle Ratings tell the chit monitor to give me back any 4 and 5's that are drawn and I will draw again.

German Battle Rating - 11 

Three chits drawn - 4,4,5!

Hopefully unless we do a Leicester it will be a socially distanced face to face game over at GHQ  next.

Until next time, keep safe and KBO