A solo CoC AAR

OK, it wasn't supposed to be a solo game of Chain of Command, but my opponent didn't turn up at the club last Sunday. Still, these things happen, so I decided to press ahead and play solo, and although the game lacked an element of surprise, it was still a relatively interesting exercise with some useful maxims reinforced (see my comments at the end of the report).

The scenario chosen was No. 3 Attack and Defend, with the British attacking. They rolled a 8 for support options, thus giving the German defenders 4pts of support.

The Germans would be defending this fuel dump behind these ruined buildings and along the road towards the German right flank. With the 4pts of support, I chose a tripod mounted MG42, an excellent defensive weapon which rolls 10D6 when firing.

The British would be attacking from the relatively open ground on the left, across the cornfields. Withe 8pts of support, I chose a carrier recce section, one with a 2" mortar and the other with a Bren team, plus an additional carrier with a Bren, both choices with junior leaders.

Looking from the British side towards the German position. The carriers would deploy from the road entering from the table edge.

With higher Force Morale (9 to 8), the Germans rolled first, but I chose not to deploy, waiting to see where the British would be coming from. The first British section deployed in the trees on the British right, opposite the bombed buildings. The British had the next phase, after rolling 2 sixes, and proceeded to then get two more phases in succession. I got things moving quickly, getting more troops on the table and advancing.

A second section deployed in the trees in the centre, going onto overwatch, with the recce carriers moving up along the road.

Finally, the Germans got to deploy, getting a section inside the factory ruins. A decent start, I think.

 These were joined by the tripod MG42 behind the hedges at the road junction.

The British began to lay down smoke so that their infantry could get up close to the hedge. The rest of the Germans advanced to form up a firing line behind the hedges, note the line of craters, which I decided were caused by RAF Tempests in an earlier phase of the battle firing on some now-departed Germans.

With the German Senior Leader on the table, he was able to keep on activating the tripod MG42 which managed to wound the right-hand section's junior leader, taking British morale down to 7.

In the centre, the Germans began to pour fire across the road into the British behind the hedges. Using the Maschinengewehr characteristic, the junior leader of the right-hand section directed the section MG42, causing casualties and shock, even though the smokescreen was blocking line of sight for the rifle section.

On the German left, the British Platoon Sergeant was using two of his three command initiatives to direct the Bren gunner to fire at the tripod MG42's position. The Bren scored two kills and a point of shock, but the British were wary of advancing into the face of more MG42 fire.

The Germans played one CoC dice to end the Turn, removing the smokescreen. The British were then able to see their wounded corporal to return to the fray. The German Panzerschreck team got off a shot towards the carriers but missed. The platoon lieutenant then ordered the 2" mortar team to start laying down more smoke.

The British were getting bogged down. Accurate MG42 fire was suppressing them pretty well and a series of poor command dice rolls was stopping the carriers from getting into the action. Perhaps the British would have been better off with a tank as support?

The British rifle section on the left was really taking a pasting and began to move across behind the smoke to avoid more losses from the MG42 across the road.

On the British right, things were going from bad to worse. Shock was mounting, casualties rising, include another wound to the section corporal (reducing his command initiative to one) and the section was soon Pinned.

With casualties mounting and little chance of a breakthrough, it seemed a good point to stop. British force morale was down to 6 and the Germans were content to sit back and use their MG42s to suppress the British. Time to call it a day.

Here is the final position. Both the right- and left-hand British sections are Pinned and much reduced in numbers and the central section is stuck behind a cornfield with its corporal reduced to one command initiative. The largely ineffective carriers are stuck doing nothing of use, having been scared by one single shot from the Panzerschreck.

So, what did I learn from this game?

Firstly, MG42s are key to success for the Germans. Site them well and use the section Obergefreiter to direct their fire whenever possible. This cannot be stated often enough; the MG42 is an excellent defensive weapon with excellent suppressive fire abilities.

Secondly, when attacking a German defensive position, don't try and win with your infantry alone. You'll need a lot of lucky dice to make it happen. The way to win is to use firepower, either with a tank or, even better with off-table mortars. If the British had had a FOO and off-table 3" mortars, the Germans would have had a lot of exploding stuff raining down on them, allowing the British to outflank them on the German right.

Thirdly, when defending Do Not Deploy Too Early. Wait and see what the enemy are doing first.

Blow the Bridge - another game using this scenario for CoC

I wrote a scenario for Coc last year called Blow the Bridge. I wasn't completely happy with the scenario as written, so I tweaked it a bit to try and rebalance the odds.

Here is the scenario;

It is 1944, the Allies have broken out of France and are advancing towards Germany. The British are advancing across the relatively flat and open countryside of the Netherlands. A reconnaissance group  has been sent in front of a tank squadron to probe the German defences along a canal which is an obstacle to any further advance. Their objective is to capture a bridge over the canal, which will allow armoured units to cross and outflank the main German defensive line.

The British force consists of;

1 rifle platoon (HQ plus three sections)

1 recce section (3 Universal carriers, 1 with a PIAT team and a junior leader and 2 with Bren teams)

1 Cromwell Mk IV tank with a 75mm gun (this will only deploy on the 4^th British phase, representing the advance guard of an armoured squadron)

The defending German force is;

1 standard rifle Zug (HQ plus three sections)

1 tripod-mounted MG42

1 4-man engineer section, carried in a half-track without weapons. Their role is to plant charges, not fight. If fired upon, they count as being in light cover. They will initially deploy from the table edge as a team without a leader and once deployed can only be activated by the German senior leader or on a command dice rolling a 1.

The Germans also have two lengths of barbed wire and two small prepared defensive earthworks. These will be placed after the Patrol Phase.

 The Germans can also call on support from a single SdKfz 250/9 with a 2cm auto cannon and a co-axial MG34 in an open turret. This can only be deployed by using a CoC dice and will enter from the German table edge.

The British objective is to attack the bridge and secure it before the Germans can destroy it.

To win the scenario, the British must have neutralised the engineers, driven back the defenders and have at least one section on the bridge itself.

In the patrol phase the Germans will use three patrol markers and the British will use four (because they are attacking). The British will also have two free patrol moves before the patrol phase properly commences.

The game will be play across the width of the table. The canal will be down the centre of the table, with the bridge placed in the central third of the table. The canal can only be crossed by using the bridge.

The British will start the patrol phase from either the left corner or the right. (roll 1d6 1-3 left, 4-6 right)

The Germans side of the table will be in three sections left, centre and right To see where the Germans will start the patrol phase roll 1d6 (1-2 left, 3-4 centre, 5-6 right)

So, this time the British force is somewhat stronger, having some armour appearing during the game. The Germans have also been slightly strengthened by the addition of the SdKfz 250/9.

In this game, Brian was the defending German leader, while I was commanding the British.

The table was laid out like this. Clearly the RAF has been doing some bombing and there are craters and gutted buildings near the canal. You can see how the Patrol Phase ended in these pictures.

Our Force Morale rolls favoured the Germans, who had a FM of 11, with the British being somewhat less motivated at FM 8. The Germans wasted no time in deploying a section right on the edge of the canal, protected by an earthwork.

Access to the bridge was made difficult by two sections of barbed wire. The engineers began to drive towards the bridge, protected by a tripod-mounted MG42 behind an earthwork in front of the walled farm.

The recce carrier section was the first British unit to appear. The idea was to dash forwards to seize the bridge.

I also deployed a rifle section in the ruins close to the bridge, placing them on Overwatch. I had a JOP placed just behind the ruins, which I hoped would let me get troops forward quickly.

I got another section on the table, moving them tactically in support of the carriers towards the bridge.

The Germans by the canal began to open fire on the section I had stationed in the ruined buildings, causing both shock and casualties. Over time, this would be a real problem for me.

The second section closed on the bridge, but was unable to cross because of the wire. The carrier teams dismounted, leaving the drivers in the vehicles. The rifle section on Overwatch fired at the engineer half-track, causing enough shock to make it withdraw.  Unhappily, this drew a lot of fire from the Germans in response, inflicting both shock and casualties.

The Germans were also deploying across the canal, with a section in the trees near the walled farm. My rifle section in the ruins was having big problems from accurate fire from two directions, with the MG42s causing many casualties, finally causing the few survivors to flee. This caused my FM to drop to 6. Luckily, by this point, a tank from the lead troop of the advancing squadron made an appearance. I hoped that this would turn the fight to my advantage. So far, the engineers hadn't managed to start working. I had also deployed my remaining rifle section, close to where the other one had fled, but out of sight of the Germans. The appearance of the tank led to the withdrawal of the German engineer section. 

To the right of the bridge, the tripod MG42 was hitting the recce section, with extra fire coming from a German section in the trees closer to the bridge. Luckily, my Senior Leader had also arrived with the platoon 2" mortar. Smoke time!

The smoke enabled the recce sections to get back on board their carriers and they drove forward over the wire obstacles (shown here by them being removed from the road). The Cromwell was also firing HE at the Germans, with a liberal dose of co-axial MG fire too. This was beginning to weaken the defenders, but I was worried about Panzerfausts and the even more nasty Panzerschreck. The armour of the carriers proved to be an impermeable barrier to the MG42, which was firing at the recce section now holding the bridge.

The SdKfz 250/9 now appeared. This was more of a problem, as its 2cm autocannon was capable of defeating the weak carrier armour. Luckily the Cromwell's commander was able to direct fire at the half-track and drive it off with shock and a wounded commander.

Another cross-canal firefight developed and my rifle section took up station in the ruined buildings. Combined with HE and MG fire from the Cromwell, this section was much more successful and the Germans were suffering losses now, with shock building up too.

Things were now looking pretty impossible for the defenders. The British had the recce carriers on the bridge, with a rifle section just behind and a Cromwell tank ready to blast anything that might appear from the walled farm, especially the half-track full of engineers, so the Germans pulled back, leaving the British in control of the bridge.

Well, this time the scenario delivered a British win, mainly because of the armour.

I am still not fully happy with the scenario. The tweaks I've made seem to have shifted the balance towards the attackers, but possibly too much so. I have thought about this again, and perhaps the answer might be to give the Germans a second tripod MG42 or maybe a second Panzerschreck? 

Alternately, perhaps the answer might be to leave the forces the same but play the game along the length of the table, with the canal closer to the German end, leaving the British with more ground to cover? In that scenario, the Germans could deploy in depth, forcing the British to fight along a longer approach to the bridge, with more opportunities to delay them until the engineers could place charges and blow the bridge. Currently, I like this idea better.

Blow The Bridge - A CoC AAR

I wrote this scenario to play a game of Chain of Command with Craig at the club last weekend. Although Craig has the CoC rules, he'd never played a game before.

The British are advancing across the relatively flat and open countryside of the Netherlands. Their objective is to capture a bridge over a canal, which will allow armoured units to cross the canal and outflank a strong German defensive line.

The British forces available are;

1 rifle platoon (HQ plus three sections, as per the rulebook)

1 recce section (2 Universal carriers with Bren teams and a junior leader)

1 Wasp flamethrower carrier

The German objective is to defend the bridge for as long as possible, which will allow an engineer section to place charges.

The German forces available are;

1 rifle Zug (HQ plus three sections, as per the rulebook)

1 tripod-mounted MG42

1 4-man engineer section. Their role is to plant charges, not fight. If fired upon, they count as being in light cover. They will active as for a team without a leader or can be activated by the German senior leader.

The Germans also have two lengths of barbed wire, two prepared defensive earthworks and a single minefield. These will be placed after the Patrol Phase.

To win the scenario, the engineer team must be on the bridge to place the charges. Placing a charge takes two actions. Each time the team uses two actions while on the bridge, place one small dice on the bridge to represent a charge. Once four charges are in place, the team must withdraw to safety to blow the charge. The charge can only be blown by first spending a CoC dice. To blow the charge roll 1D6. If the roll is 1 or 2, the charge doesn’t go off. The German player can attempt to blow the charge again using another CoC dice.

The rest of the German troops must prevent the British from;

1) crossing the bridge

or

2) killing the engineer team

In the patrol phase the Germans will use three patrol markers and the British will use four (because they are attacking). The British will also have two free patrol moves before the patrol phase properly commences.

The game will be play across the width of the table. The canal will be down the centre of the table, with the bridge placed in the central third of the table. The canal can only be crossed by using the bridge.

The British will start the patrol phase from either the left corner or the right. (roll 1d6 1-3 left, 4-6 right)

The Germans side of the table will be in three sections left, centre and right To see where the Germans will start the patrol phase roll 1d6 (1-2 left, 3-4 centre, 5-6 right)

The table was laid out as shown below. The canal and bridge were my own pieces. The rest came from the club's stock of scenery and terrain. I am pretty sure that the Dutch-style buildings are by Hovels. Both sets of troops were from my 15mm Peter Pig late war collection.

The Germans would be defending from the side of the canal with the hamlet, with the British attacking from the other side of the canal.  

This shot below shows where the Germans placed the minefield, barbed wire and earthworks once the patrol phase was over. You can see the early deployment by the British player (me).

The carriers start to arrive. 

I deploy more troops. My aim is to secure the canal bank either side of the bridge, where I can enfilade the bridge itself. My plan is to hold the Wasp carrier back and then charge it at the bridge to force the defenders back.

Craig began to deploy the Germans, planning to get troops into the static defences quickly.

Elsewhere the tripod-mounted MG42 starts finding its range and causes shock and casualties on my right-hard infantry section. My plan is not going according to expectations.

The engineers get onto the bridge. I really need to start targeting them, but I am worried about that MG42.

I get a section up into the ruined buildings by the canal. Unhappily, there are defenders just across the water.

I deploy a Bren team from one of the recce carriers. My plan is to clear the German bank here, giving me a chance to shoot at the engineers.

I really need to neutralise the German infantry on my right, who are forcing me to withdraw. The answer is smoke from the 2" mortar.

I open fire on the Germans opposite the bombed-out houses, then hit them with more smoke. Worryingly, the engineers are getting on with the job of rigging their charges on the bridge.

One more activation sees them place the final charge, and I've still not managed to do anything to stop them. Craig has a CoC dice too.

He uses the CoC dice and rolls for the effect of detonating the explosives. With a roar, the bridge blows up. The Germans have won. 

OK, so that was really a pretty quick game. It would make an excellent start to a mini-campaign, but I think that the scenario needs tweaking to make it harder for the defenders. I think that only needing four charges made it too quick and easy. Perhaps it should have been six? Also, I think that once the CoC dice was available, the probability of the bridge blowing was pretty high. Maybe it should have required a 4+ to blow the charges? On reflection, I also think that the engineers should only have been deployed by using a CoC dice, rather than by the SL bringing them onto the table. I am thinking that perhaps they should have come on from the edge of the table in a truck.

Finally, I think I was too cautious. I should have sent the recce carriers hell-for-leather at the bridge to take control of it. Either that, or I should have taken a tank instead of the carriers. I reckon having a tank would have given me the advantage. A Cromwell with the 95mm CS howitzer would have been useful, or maybe just a Churchill IV with a 75mm could have tipped the balance, so long as I kept it out of Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust range.

PSC 15mm Universal Carriers

These were released by the Plastic Soldier Company fairly recently and I took advantage of the pre-release offer to buy nine models for the price of six. So, now I have nine Universal Carriers to make and paint. The Universal Carrier was produced in huge numbers and in several variants other than the basic Bren Carrier.

I started on a group of four with Vickers MMGs, which will work well with my 1944-45 British Rifle Company as a machine gun platoon for IABSM The remaining five will be made up as four standard carriers and one Wasp carrier, with a flamethrower. This will give me a three vehicle recce section and a carrier to act as an HQ vehicle, plus some scary support.

I will also be able to pick single carriers for use as support options in my 15mm Chain of Command project.

Anyway, here are the ones I've painted so far;

I've made them look pretty muddy, deliberately, because I rather like a weathered appearance to my vehicles.

They are pretty easy to put together, as are most PSC models and the sprues contain lots of options, so that you can make the basic carrier, two different flamethrower variants, an armoured observation post, a carrier with a 3" mortar (the mortar was stowed and had to be dismounted for action), machine gun versions with either the Vickers or a Browning 50 cal MG or a carrier equipped with a 2" mortar, which could be fired from the vehicle itself. So, lots of options, I think. 

This is a terrific addition to the PSC range of British and Commonwealth vehicles and is bound to end up in a lot of armies. With a change of figures, they would also be suitable for North Africa, because only NW European battledress ones are supplied with the kit.