Case White Flag - Chain of Command AAR

This past weekend was my last proper SJGA meeting before my big move out of the area. I ran a game of Chain of Command, using modified platoons to match the provided collections (my Germans and Sam W's Poles) that had originally been used in our Invasion of Poland campaign for Chain of Command. 

Sam and I had ran a test game a few weeks ago, which had been a straightforward "fight-until-someone's-morale-breaks" that had largely been a firefight between the two sides' MMG teams. 

I changed the scenario to Blitzkrieg from the 1940 handbook (with the Germans attacking). I also added a small building, field, and hedgerows in the middle of the table to break up the wide open area.

Sam B was commanding the Germans (with some tactical advice from me), while Sam W and Rob played as the Poles.  

The Poles deployed their MMG and light mortar in the woods opposite the field, commanded by their platoon leader. Their rifles squads were setup in and around the village, waiting for the Germans. 

The Germans set up a similar firebase with their MMG team and light mortar commanded by the platoon sergeant. Sam B also took a Panzer III (the earlier A-C version) and a 221 armored car (proxied by a 222) for his platoon support. 

The two platoons skirmished through the village, using the hedgerows to cover their movement. 

The Poles took a huge Force Morale hit when their MMG team broke and ran, dragging their wounded Lieutenant off the table. This dropped their morale from 8 to 3 in a single phase!

The the German advance bogging down in the village, Sam B brought up the armored car (which had taken a critical hit from the Poles' anti-tank rifle team and could only drive Flat Out when moving) and the Panzer III in support. 

Two infantry squads blazed away at each other from their respective hedgerows. 

And two other infantry squads laid waste to each other in the spaces between the village houses. 

To help save his infantry, Sam B drove his Panzer directly towards the Polish infantry. With no dedicated anti-tank weapons, the Poles were forced to pull back. 

Unfortunately, we had to end the game due to a lack of time and didn't come to a conclusion. The Poles were still a Force Morale of 3, but had accrued 9 pips on their Chain of Command dice. The Germans were sitting fine at a Force Morale of 8, but hadn't managed to get any units off the opposite table edge. Had we more time, I'm not sure which way the game might have gone.

Still, the players enjoyed the game, and I'm glad we got a chance to make use of Sam W's extensive Polish collection before I left. 

Painting Update - Napoleonics

Well! It's been few months since I talked about the Napoleonic project. While I had to take a slight detour to work on finishing two Strength & Honour armies for Chaeronea, I've delved back into the Napoleonic project with the Russians. 

The first unit I finished this year were Russian Dragoons, specifically the Finland Regiment. Likes all of the cavalry so far, these are from AB miniatures. 

They're the only regiment so far to carry a flag, which from what I've been able to find was relatively rare for cavalry units during the Napoleonic period. 

I also finished a unit of Hussars, the golden-boys of the battlefield. These striking uniforms belong to the Alexandria Regiment. 

To command the various cavalry units, I painted a trio of commanders for the Russians. These are from AB Figures, like the rest of the cavalry. 

Here's the first Russian infantry battalion, flying the Mourmansk muster colors. They're Hamilton figures from Viking Forge. Not overly detailed, but they're cheap and paint up quickly.

Let Me Be Flank - Chain of Command AAR

After a slight break, the group met at Ted's to continue the "29, Let's Go" campaign for Chain of Command. 

This was the third scenario of the campaign, "Flanking St Germain‐du‐Pert", which takes place on the flank of the prior scenarios. 

After losing a Sherman in the prior scenario, the Americans have realized that advancing any further with mobile anti-tank guns on their flank would be a disaster, so a platoon has been dispatched to capture the town of St Germain‐du‐Pert and drive off the German defenders. 

The Americans had 19 support points for the game, but 12 of them had to be spent on a pair of Sherman tanks. We opted to bring a medium machine gun and a light mortar. 

The Germans had a fresh platoon, but no support options outside of the pair of Marders that had fired on the American platoon in the previous scenario. 

With little terrain on the approach to the town, I had Steve push one JOP way up the table edge, which allowed him to deploy an infantry squad close to the church's stone walls. 

I deployed a second squad to cover the town in case any Germans showed up. 

Ted deployed an infantry squad in the Church and managed to score a few hits against the Americans. 

Despite the German fire, the Americans pushed towards the cover of the stone wall.  

With the support of a Sherman, the Germans were eventually forced to retreat from the church. 

The appearance of American armor warranted an escalation from the Germans, who brought on one of their two Marders to counter. 

The two vehicles were stuck in what any American trooper would recognize as a high-noon duel down the dusty road of a mining town. I wonder if there's a German equivalent? Two knights preparing to charge at one another? 

To secure the Church, Steve brought on a second infantry squad. 

Chip and Ted did try to ambush the Sherman with the German platoon's Panzerschreck, but the anti-tank weapon missed and the team was killed by American overwatch fire. 

Thanks to a double-phase, the Americans rolled up and knock out the first Marder. A second German vehicle (a StuG standing in for a Marder) appeared and tagged the Sherman with a hit, driving it back.  

Taking offense at the attempt to drive them off, the Americans pulled their Sherman back up and promptly knocked out the second Marder. 

By this point the Germans were reeling, but they did score a hit against the Americans by deploying a squad, firing the squad's panzerfaust, and destroying the Sherman that had carried most of the American attack. 

Unfortunately, that German squad was then targeted by the other half of the American platoon that had been waiting for a target. The resulting casualties were enough to force the Germans to retreat, landing a solid victory for the Americans who took limited losses. 

This was a tough scenario for the Germans. Losing the church early took away a good defensive spot, and losing both Marders to a single Sherman also hurt.  

We're going to take a quick break from the campaign and try out a game of Big Chain of Command, since Ted has enough in his collection to run two platoons each of Germans and Americans. That should be interesting!

BAR Fight - Chain of Command AAR

With a desultory showing from the previous campaign game, the Americans sent in a fresh platoon with extra support in an effort to dislodge the Germans from their defensive position. 

This time, I had Steve and John commanding the Americans alongside me, with Chip and Ted in charge of the German platoon as usual. 

After last game's poor performance of the support options, I wasn't going to bother with any off-table units or snipers. We brought along two Shermans, an HMG team, a MMG team, a light mortar team, and extra BARs for each of the rifle squads (which Ted had painted up over a couple week gap between the last campaign game and this one. Thanks, Ted!). 

I got very lucky during the Patrol Phase and managed to get a Jump Off Point up behind the hedgerow that the Americans struggled to even reach in the previous game. This helped immensely, and we deployed a rifle squad straight off. 

Ted and Chip countered with a MMG team in the same building, but the American squad escaped without any casualties. We followed this up with a second rifle squad deployed further back and the HMG team, which did take some casualties.

The Germans also deployed a reduced infantry squad to bring another machine gun to bear on the Americans. 

However, the amount of direct fire the Americans could bring to bear (at this point in the game, it was two rifles squads with extra BARs, the HMG team, the MMG team, the mortar team, and a Sherman) was fairly deadly. We concentrated on the German MMG team in the building and broke it, sending both the remnants of the team and the Germans' Senior Leader fleeing. 

We also made better use of Covering Fire, keeping the other German unit from hitting on anything but 6s. 

The Americans failed to capitalize on the retreating MMG team's lack of cover, which gave Ted and Chip the chance to remove all of the shock from the team and keep them from breaking. 

Facing a storm of lead, Ted and Chip also pulled back their infantry squad, rather than keep it in line-of-sight of so many American units.

With no other Germans shooting at us, I decided to order the lead American infantry squad over the hedgerow to put them in a position to move forward. 

That plan was immediately dashed to pieces when Ted revealed an entrenched MMG team off to the side of the building, which opened up on the advancing Americans. I got lucky again and escaped back behind cover with only a couple points of shock. 

Unlike last time, the Americans were pouring onto the battlefield. I deployed a second squad on the advance JOP, and called up the third squad to meetup with the rest of the platoon. I also asked Steve to bring a Sherman forward to support the infantry. 

In the top right of the above picture, you can see John's firebase of the two machine gun teams, the light mortar, and the platoon lieutenant directing their fire. 

Regrettably, the Germans had more surprises for us. Apparently there were a couple of Marders in the next town over, keeping watch on the Americans approach. As Steve brought the Sherman out from the orchard, the tank took a direct hit and was knocked out! Luckily for the infantry it didn't blow up. 

The game ended rather abruptly with a string of bad luck for the Germans. Chip and Ted were trying to pull the infantry squad back from the courtyard, which placed them near the entrenched MG team. They had also brought over the German Senior Leader to give the MG team more chances to fire. In one round of American shooting, however, the Germans lost a rifle team, the infantry squad's Junior Leader was killed, and the Senior Leader was injured.  

With three knocks to their force morale and an infantry squad lost, the Germans decided to retreat. 

The dice were definitely with the Americans for this game, and having the Jump Off Point further up the table made a huge difference. It was still a long-range firefight, but the Germans did manage to delay the Americans for a turn. We'll see how the next scenario unfolds. 

Hit the Breaks - Chain of Command AAR

Once again the group convened at Ted's place to continue the 29, Let's Go! campaign. 

In the second scenario, "Delaying Action at Arthenay", the Americans need to capture a specific Jump Of Point, which Chip and Ted placed in a courtyard between the two buildings in the far edge's center. 

John and I were commanding the Americans.

With the Germans bruised but not completely beaten in the first scenario, they had to regroup into two squads. 

The Americans started with two rifle squads rushing for a far hedgerow, covered by an attached .50 cal machine gun, an off-board mortar team, and a sniper team. 

Unluckily, they quickly discovered that the town was defended by multiple MMGs hidden in the buildings.

And John's poor luck with the movement dice left one squad out in the open, accruing shock like it was on clearance. The platoon lieutenant was yelling at his men to get them up and moving (à la Dick Winters in Band of Brothers at Carentan) to no avail. 

I joined John in the muck with my own poor dice. The sniper seemed incapable of causing any damage, and the HMG was only able to chip away at the German defenders. 

The off-table mortar did manage to call in a smoke barrage, which brought a moment of reprieve for the Americans. John ordered one squad up over the hedge to try and make it to the next, and hopefully we could bring up a Jump Off Point to deploy another, fresh squad (turns out it was too far anyway. D'oh!). 

Chip and Ted used one of their CoC dice to end the turn and the smoke barrage, while deploying one of the precious German infantry squads. 

This forced John to quickly retreat back into cover. I brought on the one Sherman we had in support next to the hapless sniper team and managed to break one of the two German HMG teams. 

The constant fire from the remaining German machine guns was able to place more Shock on the one American squad then the sergeant and platoon lieutenant could remove, and ended up breaking the squad. 

With one squad down, the Germans shifted focus on the other isolated American squad and broke it as well. Chip and Ted then ended the turn, and the resulting loss of multiple Leaders wiped out the American morale. 

What a reversal! Chip and Ted ran a great defense, sparing their core platoon units with a couple of support options. A delay this early may be disastrous for the Americans. We'll come back again in a couple weeks with extra support points (and a court martial for the sniper team) to try again.