SMH, SMG - Chain of Command AAR

This past weekend was the Springfield group meetup, where I once again ran Strength & Honour. After swapping out the dice (which have been appropriately designated as "cursed" and thrown into the garbage), it seemed like everyone had a good time. I'm pretty confident in my ability to run the game now. 

I stayed for the afternoon game and got a chance to play in another of Jeff's Chain of Command games, this time set in 1943 during the Battle of Kursk. Two players (myself and John) were commanding two Soviet platoons, while our opponents (Walt and Dave) controlled two German platoons. 

This was a meeting engagement, with both sides at maximum morale (11) at the start and with full command dice. 

The Soviets had a SMG platoon, which I was playing with, and a Motorized Rifle platoon. The Germans had two Pioneer platoons. Both sides had tanks in support. 

My two Jump-Off Points were located in the woods dominating my side of the table. I brought in an SMG squad and the platoon's flamethrower team. Walt wasted no time in deploying both his pioneer squads, with a flamethrower team as backup. 

One of John's JOPs was on top of a hill, and he deployed two rifle squads into cover. 

Unfortunately, doing so made his squads a target for concentrated German fire from the two opposing platoons. 

With visibility between in the woods limited to 12", both sides slowly crept forward, hoping to get the first strike. 

The advantage, however, seemed to be in the German's favor. The pioneer squads were equipped with 2 LMGs each, which could pour out dice when shooting. Supporting them were multiple SMGs, which weren't terribly effective, but added more dice. It also didn't help that Walt got a double turn. 

My SMG squads could fire up to 4 dice at 6", but only 2 dice at 12", and only 1 die each if they were moving at that. 

Lined up along the bank of the stream, the Germans opened fire and wiped out most of my first SMG squad. 

I quickly deployed another squad to block the German advance. 

Things weren't going so well for John, either, resulting in an... ad hoc method of camouflaging his SU-76 from the guns of three German tanks.

Walt's squads kept advancing, laying down withering fire into my SMG squads and supported by a pair of panzers. 

A couple hours into the game, the German's had mostly halted at the river, but only because it was the best spot for their Soviet-themed shooting range. John's SU-76 was destroyed and none of the three T-34's could land a decent hit on the German armor. You can see Dave's Germans up on top of the hill in the top right. 

Meanwhile, my second SMG squad was being chewed up, and I lost my flamethrower team to an CoC dice interrupt. 

With the second squad breaking and running, and my T-34 forced back, I only had one more SMG squad left, along with the platoon's Senior Leader. 

We decided to call the game there. I didn't catch John's morale value at the end, but mine was all the way down to 3. Neither Dave not Walt had taken any hits to their Force Morale, making this a conclusive victory for the Germans. 

While a fun game, John and I came away thinking that the scenario was a bit stacked against the Soviets (although we had gotten our asses handed to us, so we were a little biased!). The German advantage in machine guns was such that approaching them, even in the woods, was a death trap. If the scenario was supposed to be somewhat equal engagement, then the Soviets needed something to close the gap, like an LMG or two in their squads or smoke from mortars. 

History Repeats Itself - Strength & Honour AAR

This past weekend, I ran a game of Strength & Honour at the monthly SJGA meetup. I'm planning to run this scenario at the Springfield meetup this upcoming weekend (and have volunteered to also run it at Cold Wars in March), so I needed some refresher games to get my head around the rules. John commanded the Romans, while Chris commanded the Pontics. 

The Chaeronea scenario refights a major battle of the First Mithridatic War. Three years into the war, Lucius Cornellius Sulla found himself and his 30,000 strong army facing a Pontic army twice its size, led by the Greek nobleman, Archelaus. 

John set his legions up on top of the heights of Mount Thurium, with his cavalry behind the Roman shields. Chris' pike blocks were flanked by lighter infantry and cavalry, with archers and skirmishers out in front. 

Chris moved aggressively, his massed ranks of pikemen rolling forward and the Scythed Chariots attacking the Romans' Greek allies. 

John began maneuvering his cavalry to swing out to the flanks of the Roman lines. 

Unfortunately, the Scythed Chariots failed to do any damage, and were instead pushed back and destroyed (any Push Back result against Scythed Chariots automatically destroys them, but it only costs a Setback card and doesn't force a Rout result). Buoyed by the victory, the Thureophoroi surged forward to attack the Pontic Cavalry. 

John pushed hard on the left flank, with his Raw Roman Legion joining the Thureophoroi to push back Chris' flank, exposing the line of pikes. 

In the center, legion met phalanx and skirmisher fought skirmisher. 

On the far right, you can see John's Light Cavalry ranging out in a flanking maneuver. 

With Chris' flank tied up, he could only watch as the Roman cavalry turned and prepared a charge into the open side of his pike phalanxes. 

Chris' Thureophoroi had also been caught by the fast moving Roman Light Cavalry. Of course, it didn't help that the Thureophoroi had refused to move for several turns.

At least Chris' attack on the Roman left flank was going better. Two pike phalanxes, supported by the Pontic Light Cavalry, were pushing back two of John's legions. 

With the skirmishers on both sides chased out of the line of battle, the Roman legions and Pontic phalanxes continued to clash. 

However, the Pontics were in a precarious position. With the legions to the front, and flanked by cavalry, Chris' Veteran Phalanx was automatically Disordered. And his Thureophoroi ended up fleeing the Roman Light Cavalry... right into his phalanxes' other flank!

Being stuck between two enemy units in Strength & Honour (really, in any wargame) is pretty disastrous, although I did mess a few things up. There probably shouldn't be this many Disorder markers on the phalanx the Pontic general is attached to, or on the skirmishers. But by this point, Chris had accrued enough Setback cards that, when John called Haemonculus Est, they were well above the Pontic break point of 20. 

Chris and John were great players, and I really appreciated them helping me out.

Later that very same day, I then went up to Ted's and replayed the game with him, Chip, and Steve. Steve and I played the Romans, while Ted and Chip played the Pontics. 

I won't get into the full details of the game, but it seemed like the Romans' luck had turned sour, and we were gathering Setback cards left and right. However, a reversal of fortune from the Pontics gave us the momentum to win some important combats and give the Pontics enough Disaster cards to barely eke out a win. 

Chip was a major help in figuring out several rules that I had misread or misapplied, which will be great for this coming Saturday. And it's a reminder that I shouldn't play in games I'm also trying to teach! It does my head in trying to do both at the same time (although already having played the game once, and not sleeping all that well the night before didn't help).

All that aside, I'm definitely more confident in running this scenario. I do think I need to "pretty up" the tale a little more. I do need to make the stream that the scenario mentions (which is entirely fordable and doesn't impact the battle), and maybe toss down some green tufts for small groves of trees.