I have a new project about to start

It is in 15mm again and it is WW2. Here are a few teaser pics;

As you can see there are British and Indian infantry in Tropical KD uniforms, enough for two platoons and a variety of support options and there are also three vehicles, undercoated in Russian Uniform green. 

Can you guess what theatre I am going to do? The colour of the vehicles and the large one in front should be clues.

The figures are all Peter Pig 8th Army and the vehicles are 3D prints from Butlers Printed Models. These are my first venture into the world of 3D printed and I have mixed feelings. The striations from the printing are pretty noticeable which is annoying, and the models needed a lot of cleaning up when they arrived, but I think that they'll do on the tabletop. I added in the Carrier drivers from some leftover figures from my spares box.

You can just see the armoured car's turret behind the body of the vehicle.

These are for Chain of Command. Hopefully, I'll have them pained up pretty quickly.

Chain of Command - a lockdown AAR

Last weekend I persuaded my partner to play What A Tanker! After the game, I persuaded my helpless hostage to play Chain of Command on the same table, treating the WaT! game as a precursor to the main action.

The scenario was that the British would attack and the Germans defend. The British had 7 points of support and the Germans had three. The barbed wire and minefield from the previous game remained in place, together with a couple of brewed-up British tanks.

I was the German player and my partner the British one. British Force Morale was 9 and German was 8. As supports, the British took a Carrier Section with a JL and a pre-game barrage and the Germans took a green infantry section. I decided that these were Osttruppen, Russian POWs who had been conscripted into the German army to serve in Normandy.

The pre-game barrage was a constant thorn in my side as I was repeatedly unable to deploy anything. Meanwhile, the British advanced quickly on my left flank.

Soon, they were closing down and capturing one of my JoPs,

Once I started getting tiny boots on the table, I moved to capture the ruined buildings to close down my right flank from another sweeping flank attack.

This was fine, but it meant that the British had pretty much free rein in the centre and on my left.

Smoke from the 2" mortar kept my troops from targeting the British too often.

Having secured a foothold in the village at the church end, I was being threatened on both flanks. Losing the JoP had dented my FM, but worse, it had restricted my deployment options. I had the green section of Osttruppen in the walled vegetable garden, basically being no use at all. However, the recce section and one rifle section got past the white house and set up a firing position behind a line of bocage. A firefight with German troops behind a wall at the eastern end of the village ensued, with both sides firing across the minefield and taking casualties.

I ended a turn using a CoC dice, meaning that the smoke lifted and allowing me to target a British section trying to cross the open ground in the centre.

Getting two phases gave me the chance to fire at them in successive turns. They were hit very hard, but the platoon leader Lt. Binkie Huckabuck survived.

As the sun began to set, the British on my right began to advance behind smoke to occupy the buildings that I had pulled back from.

The Osttruppen finally started to get involved, firing at the British recce troops and a rifle section stick behind a length of bocage.

Elsewhere, the British were closing in on the ruined buildings. My infantry were pinned back in the eastern end of the village.

Although both sides were losing troops fairly frequently, German morale was down to 5 and my grip on the village was slipping. We decided that the British had partially achieved their objective, which was to push the Germans out of the village and secure the road. Bearing in mind that it would probably be easier for the British to reinforce their position, the Germans decided to slip away as the sun slowly set in the west.

Although N had never played CoC before, she made her own decisions based upon the options I gave her. The chance to get carriers and troops across the table at the western end of the village was hers, and it turned out to be decisive, seeing as she captured one of my JoPs before I even had any troops on the table. That pre-game barrage was a real curse for me. In hindsight, I should have taken the hit and ended the Turn to end the barrage and accept the loss of the JoP long before it was forced on me by N rolling three sixes and ending the Turn.

More from Winter Wonder Lard - Blowing the Bridge

I've already blogged an overview of the day, but I wanted to write a bit more about the game I put on at BIG Winter Wonder Lard. I'd played this scenario a few times in the past at the club, and it seemed to provide a challenging game, but I wanted to give it an extra dimension. Big Chain of Command seemed a good idea for how to do that. I set up a long table, designed to give both sides the chance to get forward during the patrol phase and try and grab the advantage.

In the day's programme, my comments about the game were;

"D-Day was nearly three weeks ago, but the British have still not managed to capture the city of Caen. Now, Operation Epsom is about to begin. 

It is essential that armoured troops get moving into position before the operation commences. However, a vital bridge over the River Lardienne is still in enemy hands. Divisional intelligence believes that the Germans will destroy the bridge over the river before 7th Armoured can seize the objective. The RAF has mounted several sorties using Mosquitoes and Typhoons to try and drive any defenders away and now a mixed force of infantry and tanks is being sent to drive off any Germans who are still around and secure the bridge itself."

The game was played along the length of the table. The River Lardienne ran along most of the length of the table, beginning near the British edge of the table and exiting at the German end, with a bridge placed in the final third of the table. The river could only be crossed by using the bridge. There was a road from the British end of the table, exiting at the German end. A junction took the road across the bridge.

The British have advanced across relatively flat countryside, lightly wooded away from the river, and with fields and hedges closer to the water. Craters crossing the table diagonally show where RAF ground attacks have been targeted.

All British  troops are classed as Regulars. The forces available are;

  

Command 1

1 rifle platoon (HQ (1 x SL (force commander, ranking SL – 4 CIs), 1 x SL (ptn sgt), Bren and 2” mortar teams) plus three sections). 

1 recce section (3 Universal carriers, 1 x JL, 1 x Bren team, 1 x PIAT team, 1 x 2” mortar team)

Note that the force commander has taken a Bren team from the recce section and given it the platoon PIAT in exchange.

 Command 2

1 tank troop (3 x Cromwell Mk IV tank, 1 x Sherman Vc, each tank has 1 x JL apart from one of the Cromwells, which has a SL)

Having suffered heavy losses since landing in Normandy, 7th Armoured has become somewhat risk averse and is classed as being Hesitant, and the tank commander will only roll 4 Command Dice.

The German force available is a small ad hoc Panzergrenadier group;

                                                                                                                                              

Command 1                                                                

1 standard Panzergrenadier Zug; HQ 1 x SL (force commander, ranking SL - 4 CIs), 1 x 2-man Panzerschreck team, plus three sections, (each section JL has 2 x Panzerfaust 30s which can be used by any member of the section). 

These troops are classed as Regular and Aggressive, rolling 5 command dice. 

1 x MG42 tripod-mounted MMG with 5 crew                                                                                                                             

Command 2

1 x SdKfz 251/9 with 7.5 cm KwK37 low velocity gun

2 x SdKfz 251/22 with 7.5 cm PaK40 anti-tank gun

1 x SdKfz 250/9 with 2 cm KwK 38 and co-axial MG42 and 1 x JL

1 x SdKfz 250/10 with 3.7 cm PaK37 and 1 x SL

                                                     

1 x 5-man demolition engineering team (without a leader), carried in a halftrack without weapons (but with a driver who stays in the vehicle). Their role is to plant charges, not fight. 

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

I was expecting two players per side but one didn't show up, leaving a gap on the British side, which I filled as the player in charge of the tank troop.

Following the patrol phase, both sides took up a fairly aggressive stance with at least one JoP in a forward position.

The game began slowly, with both sides keen to gain a positional advantage before any actual fighting took place. The Panzergrenadiers began to push down the table on their left flank.

Meanwhile the German vehicles pushed towards the bridge on the far bank of the river, with a single SP PaK 40 on the road on the other bank.

The British infantry came under fire and preferred to wait for the arrival of the tanks before attempting any aggressive moves, although eventually both the platoon sergeant and the platoon commander were deployed into the ploughed field furthest away from the German positions. This was to prove crucial later on.

Unsurprisingly, the British used both 2" mortars to get as much smoke laid down as possible, but not before the German Panzerschreck knocked out the 7th Armoured's lead Cromwell. Having four command dice really hampered the tanks. Quite often only one vehicle could be activated, but later on the troop commander became more active.

A fierce shooting match between the Panzergrenadiers and the British Rifles took place along the road, with both sides seeing the butcher's bill mount slowly. It looked as though the defenders might prevent the British from taking the bridge. However, that was soon going to change.

As the British tanks moved along the river bank (the 'Schreck team having been dealt with by a couple of applications of H.E.), their guns were able to neutralise the SdKfz 251/9 with the short 7.5 cm howitzer and a shot from the 17pdr Sherman immobilised the engineers' halftrack, forcing them to bail out at one end of the bridge.

Once the hapless engineers were on the bridge, the British used directed Bren fire and the machine guns of the tanks to hose the bridge down, whittling down the number of engineers and inflicting shock on the survivors.

Finally, the last engineer succumbed to a hail of MG fire, leaving none left to demolish the all-important river crossing. 

With the loss of the demolition team, I called a halt to proceedings awarding the victory to the British.

I think that we all agreed that it had been an entertaining game and I thank Simon, Mike and Stephen who took part in the game.

This is definitely a scenario that is worth playing again.

All figures are my Peter Pig 15mm Late War British and Germans, and the vehicles are all Plastic Soldier Company.

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.

A bit of CoC action

A couple of Sundays ago, I ran a game of Chain of Command for two new club members who had never played the game before.

I put on a basic encounter game with a British Rifle platoon facing off against a Heer Zug. Rolling for supports, the British ended up with an additional Rifle section and the Germans gained an additional Senior Leader. The table was reasonably cluttered, as befits Somewhere In Normandy in 1944. The Germans would be approaching from the upper right of the picture above, with the British entering from the opposing side of the table. The British half of the table was slightly higher, representing a ridge.

The scenery belongs to the club and all the figures are from my Peter Pig 15mm Late War collection.

I gave the new guys the choice of sides and they chose the Germans. I was happy to take the British for a change.

After the Patrol Phase, which was naturally a bit confusing to the new guys, we began to deploy, with the British platoon sergeant and 2" mortar team getting some smoke laid down in front of the Germans. As in many things I did in the game, this was as much about showing Mike and John how the rules work as it was about my tactics.

I pushed the British forward aggressively from their JOPs, but the Germans were also taking up position behind the hedges lining the roads. I was giving Mike and John suggestions about what they might want to do, to keep things moving along.

The Germans were deploying on both sides of the road, with the extra SL helping them get into useful positions quickly.

I was more concerned about explaining and keeping the game alive than taking photos. However, this section below had taken a lot of casualties from the central German section across the road from the cornfield when the it charged into melée against the German rifle team within 4" at the crossroads.

The British did manage to win the fight, forcing the rifle team to break, leaving a weakened MG42 team behind.

The section on the German left moved along the lane towards a more central position. 

Meanwhile, the British were consolidating in a central position. I explained to Mike and John that my plan was to drive a wedge between the German flanks and push on to control the central crossroads.

We played out a few more phases of play, but it was becoming apparent that the extra section had given the British the advantage, despite having two sections take a severe mauling. As casualties and shock began to reduce the Germans ability to fight back, Mike and John pulled their remaining troops back to their starting point, leaving the British in control of the crossroads.

This was an interesting game. I like showing new players what Chain of Command is all about and how it forces players to think about the problems that are thrown up in terms of what their troops can do and how to use them to their strengths. I stressed to Mike and John that the MG42 team in each section was the most important component, especially when the Germans are defending, which was essentially what they were doing in this game.

I'd stressed that although this was nominally an encounter between two platoons probing forward, what the British needed to do was secure a road along which armour might advance, while the Germans were essentially seeking to delay the British and stop them getting across the table, rather than trying to grab an advanced position that would be difficult to defend in the future.

Happily, both John and Mike liked the game, so hopefully I've Spread A Bit More Lard.