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.
