Final CoCv2 Practise Game

This was another practise game with John using the new 2nd edition of Chain of Command (CoCv2) before starting the Caesar's Camp pint-sized campaign.  Also, to get a bit of a feel for the 1940's forces we opted to actually use the 2nd scenario from the campaign, "The Seaforth's at Trois Foetus" (don't ask me how it got that name).  Anyway, the scenario map (north at the top) is shown below ...

... and this is our representation of it on the table-top (viewed from the west).

The broken blue line represents the German deployment area in this 'Flank Attack' scenario and the green arrows indicate the two sides from which the Allies may enter the table.  The hedge running along the southern edge was just to mark the limit of the playing area.

As I don't have any early war forces, all the terrain and troops, in this game (and in the forthcoming campaign) are from John's 15mm collection.

For support John had opted for: an adjutant, an additional infantry section and 2" mortar team; a Vickers MMG; and a Char B1 tank for a total of 16 points[1].

I chose a tripod-mounted MG34 and three entrenchments for a team (6 points). 

Our rolls for Force Morale saw me with a Force Morale of 10 to John's 9.

The Patrol phase was fairly predictable as the Germans can deploy their Jump-Off Points (JOPs) anywhere in their deployment area so, it was fairly easy to rapidly lock down all my JOPs before John's could get anywhere interesting.  The resulting JOPs are shown below.

The game started with John deploying a scout team from the JOP in the cornfield (counts as light cover for stationary troops).  The small counter next to the team is a unit ID marker as 15mm troops can be harder to distinguish from each other.

I hadn't expected this but immediately realised this was intended to pressure me into deploying early.  Meanwhile, the local in the cornfield, just looked on with a knowing grin on his face as if he'd seen it all before and knew how it would end.

It was clear I was going to have to keep an eye on this team but I wanted to delay deploying until I could inflict significant harm on as many of the attackers as possible.  Consequently I took no action in my phase.  I was however hoping to collect as many CoC points from my command dice while holding back from deployment (needless to say I was to throw not a single '5' until later when I did finally have to deploy my troops!).

The next phase saw John's scout team move tactically so as not to offer themselves up as an easy target; it was clearly going to be some time before they had to be dealt with at this rate. 

Also, in this phase more British deployed; a section in the large wood and an entrenched Vickers MMG nearby.

The Brits were starting to show their hand, but I deemed it was still too early to show mine so I continued to pass.

In his next phase John brought on a senior commander who put the Vickers onto Overwatch.

He also brought on another section from the JOP in cornfield to back up their scout team; their junior leader instructed them to go Tactical. 

Sorry but no picture of this, and as the action heated up pictures became very few and far between so the rest of this AAR will be very broad-brush.

I decided enough was enough, and brought on my third section (with an old MG08 in place of their would-be MG34 - they were second wave troops) and an entrenched MMG, a tripod-mounted MG34. 

While the MMG took on the scout team the section with its MG08 targeted the rest of the section in the cornfield.

DUMMKOPF!!!  I had overlooked the fact that neither of the targeted troops had moved so gained soft cover from the cornfield, which, with their Tactical posture brought them up to Hard Cover!  As a result, this only killed one man (in the section's Bren team IIRC) and put one shock on each target.

John's Vickers on Overwatch targeted my section then in his phase (only inflicted shock), to pile on the pressure, deployed a section on the northern road and another on the eastern road.  Also deployed was a 2" mortar which successfully dropped smoke to protect the section in the cornfield from my MG34.

In my phase, deciding I didn't want my section caught in a firefight with an entrenched MMG their junior leader removed their shock and withdrew to seek cover.  Meanwhile my entrenched MG34, unable to fire at the section in the cornfield by the smoke continued to engage the scout team which lost a man.

John then thew a double phase for the Brits and decided to make most of it; deploying a section to advance down the northern road and advanced the section in the wood.  The section advancing down the northern road receiving cover from a 2" smoke road landed one the road ahead of it.

In my phase I countered by deploying a MG34 armed section in and around the Green Farmhouse; the MG34 in an entrenchment out front and the rifle team in the first floor of the house behind it.  An overview of the situation at this point can is shown in the photo below.

My newly deployed section (in, and in front of, the Green Farmhouse) mainly piled shock on, and killed one of, the Bren team of the leading section advancing alongside the northern road.  Also, the MMG MG34 put another point of shock on the scout team who were now teetering the edge of being pinned.

John then threw another double phase!  This time he concentrated in both phases on laying more smoke and trying to eliminate the MG34 team in front of the Green Farmhouse with his Vickers and HE from 2" mortars.  The latter only inflicted one casualty and three shock as shown below (I use the brown puffs of dust to indicate shock).

The photo above shows the MG34 team as pinned, we realised shortly after this that this was a mistake and the rest of the section were just behind them in the house (at this time one the ground floor as I had foreseen the need to reinforce the MG team).  My initial actions in my phase were to rally off some shock and fire again at the scout team hoping to pin them this time.

I only have one photograph showing the overall situation at this point but it's not great (my old camera struggles taking detailed photos of these smaller figures and this photo was particularly bad for some reason).

What the photo does at least show is the extent of the smoke, a speciality of the British who can link together individual smoke bombs within 6" of each other to create a wide screen.  Also, shown is the now pinned scout team - another error very quickly rectified as in inflicting two shock took it beyond being pinned to break.  The resulting 11 on the 2d6 (+6") for a routing team saw them leave the table, but the Bad Things Happen (BTH) test left the British Force Morale unchanged (the last good throw they would ever get on BTH table). 

With all the Brits now deployed (only their French tank support remained to deploy), I sent my section sheltering behind the Green Farmhouse back to their previous position to take on the Brits coming down the northern road and deployed my final section with my last two entrenchments in front of the Red Farmhouse ...

... to take on the section advancing tactically along the eastern road.

I can't recall exactly what this shooting achieved as the section had already taken some hits earlier in the game.  In fact, as the photos dried up about here, I'm having to rely totally on my hazy memory for the sequence of events.

John's response was to immediately bring on his French Char B1 up the eastern road to take on the entrenched section by the Red Farmhouse.  Killing one and inflicting a point of shock.  He also extended the smoke screen further to the north-west.

I then moved my section out from their entrenchments away from the tank's line of fire while elsewhere inflicting losses on his sections coming down the northern road.  I also transferred all the rifle team in the Green Farmhouse to the MG34 team as it was clearly going to struggle to survive otherwise.

John then threw a treble 6!  This removed all his smoke left him unable to do much else with his first phase.  The photo below shows this situation (note the German section that abandoned the entrenchments by one of the ruined barns at the bottom right of the photo, and the British section that they had fired at on the eastern road has got off the road to avoid their fire and obstructing the tank behind them).

The next British phase saw a fair amount of shooting but what hits they did score only translated to a few points of shock and even fewer kills.  Also, the Char B1 drove flat out down the road, why I am not sure but I suspect that moving flat out was designed to lower the chances of my off-table Flak 36 88mm gun from taking it out (I had completely forgotten to even try this in my previous phase).  

Anyway, at last it was my phase and I spent the two CoC points to activate the off-table '88' engaged the tank needing 6 or more on 2D6 to hit; I rolled 3!  never mind, with smoke gone it was time to punish John's infantry.  The section in the cornfield had it's Bren team wiped out and the rest broke, fleeing off the table leaving behind their stunned leader.  The two BTH tests for the stunned junior leader and the broken section both caused the British Force Morale to drop by 2 points, falling from 9 to 5.  Just not quite enough to start the 'Final Countdown'.  However, the furthest advanced platoon coming down the northern road was then hit, taking enough shock to see it pinned while the senior leader was wounded.  The latter saw the British Force Morale drop a further point to 4 at which point it lost a Command Dice and I elected to start the 'Final Countdown' (to last 4 phases as that was John's Force Morale value).  

This sorry state of affairs can be seen in the final photo taken in the game.

The return fire in John's phase was much reduced by the losses, pinned units and appalling dice throwing with just the odd casualty and point of shock spread across the German units.  Final Countdown = 3.

So, with things now going my way it was now going to be simply a case of continuing to pour in as much fire as possible.  And just to make life even easier threw two 6's for a double phase!  In the first phase I couldn't do much with my command dice but did spend a further two CoC points to fire the 88, only needing a 5 on 2D6 now the tank was no longer moving; I rolled another 3!  Final Countdown = 2.

In my second phase my off-table '88' I finally hit the Char B1 inflicting a net 2 hits, for 2 shock and wounded commander.  The BTH test for the wounded commander dropped the British Force Morale down to 2 which triggered a 'J Rating' event - a withdrawal to a JOP.   As John had a 2" mortar near a JOP that fell back to the JOP; this seemed a very underwhelming result (see discussion of the 'J Rating' in the wrap up).

All of this was soon moot as the next team that fired killed one of the British senior leaders and their Force Morale collapsed to zero and they retreated from the field - GAME OVER.  

POST MORTEM

The key point to emerge over a cup of tea was that we had made no significant mistakes and now felt we were ready to tackle the Caesar's camp campaign in earnest and scheduled that for a fortnight hence.

Of the rule changes in v2 we felt they all added to the game and removed some 'super weapons' like the previous mechanics for mortar bombardments.   We especially liked the use of CoC points as well as CoC dice.

In terms of new rules, we are unconvinced about the Final Countdown and Ticking Clock as they have seemed irrelevant in our practise games with forces being defeated before the clock could bring the game to an end.  They seem a lot of mechanic for little effect, but maybe they'll prove themselves in future games.  

The J rating however seemed a waste of time as the player can choose which unit withdraws to a JOP and in our case this was just a 2" mortar team that were already close to one.  Why that team would withdraw when there many others units further forward and under fire seems counter-intuitive.  We also questioned whether a pinned section could be selected as the unit to withdraw in this way but decided that seemed wrong as it made 'J' event an ideal way to extract a unit from a bad situation, i.e. a benefit rather than a penalty for failing morale.  Anyway, if anyone knows whether we got this wrong do say in the comments.

Notes:

[1.]  The points costs were used as in the campaign guide which, preceding CoCv2, has slightly different point costs for some items.

Chain of Command (2) Trackers

The new edition of Chain of Command (CoC.2) has changed the impact of Force Morale falling to 5 or less.  This time it's not the same for all platoon types and nationalities so the peg-boards I made to track morale and CoC points and dice had to be replaced.

The new ones, just completed, are shown below.

The boards are two layers of foam-board cut to size with the design printed onto A4 label sheet which is stuck on and folded over around the back.  The holes are made with an awl and I use pegs from the Mini-Mastermind game to track Force Morale and CoC points and dice.

The three columns on the right are used to indicate at what Force Morale level (less than or equal to 5) Command Dice and the Red Die (if one in use) are lost; and, where the 'J' effect (again only if in use) happens i.e., a section must withdraw to a JOP or surrender.

The back also has a quick reminder of what CoC points and dice can be used for.

They should get their debut in a game organised for three days hence.

Figure Mods - another WiP Update

While the rank and file were held up waiting for new drill bits the trial figure was finished and the command figures painted, only their gloss varnish to do now.

First, the trial figure.

The Officer (not my favourite).

The Drummer (my favourite).

And finally, the standard bearer - you'll be able to see how 'impressionistic' (messy?) the painting is in gory detail in the close up if you click on the photo.

The rank and file have all now been re-headed and are being painted, so hopefully not too long now.

CoC v2 - New Rules vs Old - Questions?

This was my first game using the new (2nd edition, or 'v2' for short) Chain of Command (CoC) Rules.  The table / scenario was covered in the previous post but for clarity the table is shown again here with the names used to describe various features.

The Set-Up

The Force Morale dice favoured me with a starting value of 10 while John was unlucky to only start on 9.

I felt the patrol phase went badly for me, with John (German) getting a jump of three moves before the phase started.  That, the large amount of cover, and the fact that defender jump-off points (JOPs) have to be at least 12" in from their base edge saw all three of mine constrained to being in and around the buildings; two of them looking quite exposed in the farmyard.

The German JOPs were well advanced and more handily placed, two either side of the road leading to / through the buildings and a third over on the German's righthand edge of the table - see composite image from the German viewpoint below.

This meant John's panzergrenadiers were going to start pretty close my JOPs and have a good head start on their right to get a team to my base edge.  This game would've been over pretty quick under the old rules, where exiting a team off the defender's base edge was all that was required to win a Probe scenario.  The new victory conditions for this scenario require the attackers to capture a JOP in addition to exiting a team off the enemy's table edge; there's also a turn limit to put the attacker under time pressure.

At this point I forgot (D'oh!) to place my barbed-wire entanglement (1pt.); my other support options being a Vickers MMG (3pt.s) and an additional 2" mortar team (2pts.s) for a total of 6 support points.  Unlike my last game, this time I treble checked my sums and so didn't end up deploying more than the allowed level of support.

John's chosen support options were: a tripod mounted MG42 (3pt.s); a mortar bombardment (4pt.s); a sniper (2pt.s); and, a Red Command Die (2pt.s), for a total of 13 support points.

The Game

John as the attacker took the first phase and immediately decided on a left-flanking and right-flanking approach to prevent me concentrating against a single line of attack.  To this end he brought on two sections: one from his far right JOP heading towards my unprotected left, and the other, plus a senior leader, from the orchard JOP moving towards the Compressor Building.  These can be seen, viewed from the British perspective, in the top left corner and middle right of the image below.

My Command Dice didn't allow me to bring on a section in response, although at this stage I wasn't sure I was ready to commit one.  I was able to deploy my lieutenant (senior leader) in the upper floor of the Derelict House with a 2" mortar team behind it.  The lieutenant immediately directed it to fire HE against the German section on their right flank but to no effect.  The Germans continued their advance on both flanks and this time I responded by deploying a section in the Compressor Building (but not yet in a position to fire out).  Also, I deployed my PIAT team in the ground floor of the Derelict Farmhouse (why I did this I can't think[1]), and a second 2" mortar behind the farmhouse.

The deploying 2" mortar immediately lobbed HE at the left flanking German section inflicting a point of shock (the photo also shows the appearance in the next German phase of the FO controlling their off-table mortar battery.

This was all looking rather threatening, but with a section in Compressor Building and my 'massed' 2" mortars I was feeling a little more secure.

That nice warm feeling was quickly shattered as the German FO (see previous photo) called in a mortar bombardment targeted against the Derelict Farm (the red Pin Marker being used to denote the aimpoint).  Even worse the bombardment came in on target and immediately fired for effect.  Luckily not a 'Devastating Bombardment' but bad enough, especially for my exposed mortar teams (4 dead and two shock), one being wiped out (British Force Morale dropped to 9).

Even the section in the Compressor Building (one dead and two shock) ...

... and the PIAT team in the Derelict Farmhouse[2] (one dead) were not safe!

Now I was starting to panic!  The only good news was that the Germans approaching the Compressor Building were caught 'Danger Close' and so needed to stop for the duration of the bombardment.

In my next phase, my senior leader rallied the shock off the surviving mortar crew and the section in the Compressor Building advanced up to the end of the building to be able to fire at the German left-flanking section[3].  As they couldn't all fit in the extension at the end they still suffered from the next bombardment phase (one dead and one shock); elsewhere the bombardment only managed to kill one 2" mortar crewman. 

Next in line to fire at the section in the Compressor House was the panzergrenadier section facing it[4].

This was all at close range, even for the Obergefreiter's MP40, but, thanks to the hard cover, it only inflicted five shock, which left them teetering on the brink of being pinned (8 figures with 8 shock).

At the same time the German left-flanking section continued to advance ...

... and a third section, followed by the second senior leader, deployed in the woods heading towards the farmyard.

If I was panicking before, I was bricking it now, which probably explains my forgetting to take photos for the next couple phases.  

In my phase the section in the Compressor Building fired back at the panzergrenadiers outside and, despite the large amount of shock, did inflict some damage as the Germans were in the open.  Realising this was not going to be enough I deployed my Vickers MMG team by the Compressor Building on the side away from the road (the photo is one taken from a later phase but is just as appropriate here).

This inflicted a lot of casualties on the panzergrenadiers, without photos I can't recall the numbers but wiped out one section causing German Force Morale to drop to 8.  

The next German phase was the final phase of their mortar bombardment which, apart from pinning the British section in the Compressor Building with a couple of shock, was curiously ineffective - a sign of things to come?  However, the left-flanking panzergrenadier section inflicted a hatful of shock on them and they broke (British Force Morale dropped to 8), a lucky low die roll seeing them stop just short of leaving the table.  

Also in this phase, the central German section in the woods advanced to the wall surrounding the farmyard, perilously close to my two JOPs (actually only one team made it to the wall the other being a few inches short.  

My next phase was a double phase; this was heaven sent!  With no '1's on the other Command Dice, I was unable to fire the Vickers MMG against the now depleted left-flanking panzergrenadiers.  But, more importantly, I needed to do something about the section threatening my JOPs in the farmyard and I still had a section in reserve.  But where could they usefully deploy?  Could I line the wall the Germans had just come up to?  Deploying so close to enemy troops did not seem something likely to be allowed in the rules, or so I thought, but we both searched long and hard and could find nothing prohibiting it![5]

So, that's what I did, deploying my last section, and my platoon sergeant (senior leader) to man the wall for some point-blank firing on the enemy[6].

John immediately used his available CoC die to interrupt and fire first - I was hoping he'd forget, but he didn't.  The shooting was at close range with one team at the wall firing at me in the open, and the other being further back having to afford me hard cover.  The resulting 16 fire dice was catastrophically bad, only resulting one shock on each team and one dead Bren gunner!  

In reply my sergeant ordered up a couple of grenades (both hit) before unleashing 13 fire dice at close range against a target in the open - it was pretty ugly with their junior leader going down stunned dropping German Force Morale to 6.  

The next phase gave me a CoC die to end the turn[7].  The section at the wall now finished the job, wiping out both teams (German Force Morale drops to 4 losing one Command Die and their Red Command Die!), and at this point I picked up the camera again.

The junior leader survived as he was stunned in the first phase's fire so escaped being a casualty in the second and then recovered as it was the end of a turn.  We have always played that leaders with no troops left under their command leave the table (removed).  Once again, we searched the rules but could find nothing covering this situation so played it that way anyway.

HELP!  If this is wrong, please correct us and point out where in the rules it says what does happen in this situation.

Also in this phase, I deployed another section in the Compressor Building vacated by my broken section, and the Vickers cut down even more of the Germans facing the Compressor Building but with a surprising lack of any shock.

In the next German phase, John decided his depleted section should double away from my Vickers MMG to get out of what was an increasingly one-sided fire-fight.  Unfortunately for him, their movement dice did not allow them to disappear into the depths of the orchard and safety.

Next was John's third attempt to deploy his 'hesitant' sniper, which again failed with no senior leader off-table to chivvy on the men.

In my phase I got my second CoC die which again had to be used to end the turn[8] and this time start the 'Final Countdown', which with John's Force Morale at only 4 it would only last four phases. 

With John pulling his forces back to reorganise for a second attempt I, believing the final countdown to be just that, relaxed and focused on rallying off any shock.  

John then, finally, deployed his sniper, missing my platoon sergeant but killing one of the riflemen in the farmyard ...

... and continued to advance his right-flanking section, shown here with some shock from my remaining 2" mortar that had replenished from a friendly JOP.

It was now, as the final countdown ended, that I found out it was anything but final, as the game continued!  I really should've read this bit of the rules more thoroughly.  So in my next phase, to provide more protection to my JOPs, I brought my section in the Compressor Building across the road to the farmyard.  Unfortunately, the Bren team didn't make it all the way across the road.

In John's next phase the depleted panzergrenadier section that had fallen back from the Compressor Building were now in position to fire down the length of the road and promptly wiped out my Bren team caught short crossing the road.  A lucky roll of '1' on the 'Bad Things Happen' table left my Force Morale unmoved and John's four Command Dice did not allow anything else of note in the phase.

My next phase saw me roll three '6's to end the game, a win for the plucky (or should that be lucky) Brits.

That all took longer than I had anticipated as we were doing a lot of rule checking, as in retrospect more had changed than I'd realised - I'm obviously not good at reading rules cold.

So, OLD vs New - what do I think!

I can't think of a single change that wasn't (IMO) a better representation of the action represented.  The mortar barrages and limits to British 2" mortar ammunition are much better.  

The contents list and index are much improved; the sequence is probably better laid out but being familiar with the old set did see us looking in the wrong place a few times.

Storm of Steel for the weapons we used worked well, although I hate the name and have concerns (untested) about it being used for any small arms.

The deployment of heavy support weapons coming with entrenchments seems much better as these would be unlikely to deploy out in the open.

The changes to the Force Morale tables, such that different units lose Command Dice at different levels didn't seem to offer much in our game, but maybe in other games, who knows?  That said, my peg-boards tracking Force Morale, CoC and Command Dice, now need to be redesigned and re-made.  The same goes for my platoon orbat trays as both the British and German standard infantry platoons have changed - still it's better than re-basing figures.

The use of CoC points as well as CoC dice is useful giving more ability to react in an emergency and varying the cost of these actions is an improvement.  

Overall, on one play through, I think the changes are an improvement, but we've decided we need at least another game before diving into our next campaign.

What do you, if a CoC-player, think?

Notes:

[1.]  The only utility I can imagine I saw in this was being able to use it to fire at any Germans taking cover behind the wall around the farmyard as the lieutenant was in the building and could direct them to do so.

[2.]  As mentioned in previous AARs I don't put figures in my building (no removable roofs) but place them off-table on card floor-plans the same size as the buildings.

[3.]  Being in what, we agreed, was a substantial building of two or more stories, the section in the Compressor Building was not pinned by the bombardment.  Also, while the extension at the end nearest the Germans was only single-storey it was out of the bombardment zone and troops getting there could fire out and be fired at.

[4.]  My barbed wire (1 support point) can be seen just peeping in the right-hand side of the photo.  As I forgot to place it at the right time we put it somewhere out of the way - and this fleeting glimpse is its only contribution to the game.

[5.]  I have since found the rule that allows you to deploy into close combat (section 9.1.2).

[6.]   The wall, as a medium obstacle, allows the active player to choose whether or not to enter close combat if within 4".

[7.]  In accordance with the Probe scenario rules, any CoC die gained by the defender must be used to end a turn.  After the second turn is ended in this way the game starts to draw to a close placing the attackers under time pressure as the next end of turn will end the game.

[8.]  My broken section didn't leave the table recovering to pinned status as I had rallied off some shock since they broke.

 

Ready for my CoC v2 Debut

Before embarking on our next Chain of Command campaign, John and I need a few familiarisation games with the new, improved, second edition of the rules, or CoC² for short.  

Today I set out my table based on the 'Probe' game scenario from the TooFatLardies' Kampfgruppe von Luck 'Pint-Sized' Campaign (pdf) - see the map below.  

My best attempt to replicate this is shown below, viewed from the German's side of the table.

In the campaign description the road from the Y-junction up to the farm is a sunken road.  As I couldn't easily recreate that I opted for high banked bocage hedge either side of the road which will both provide good cover and obstruct movement (especially vehicle movement).

As could probably be inferred from the map, the scenario sees a German Panzergrenadier platoon, from 21st Panzer, attacking a British Airborne platoon just after D-Day (D+1).  As I don't have any airborne troops I'm using a regular British platoon in its place, and giving them an extra 2 support points to compensate for their lower platoon force rating.  This gives the British 6 support points against the German's rather scary 13 points given they only need to get a team to the British baseline to win the game.  However, if the game is over pretty quick it will give us a chance to re-set and play again, as after all the name of the game is practise.

The game is in a couple of days' time but the AAR will be along eventually.

Figure Mods - Waiting for Bits

I wasn't planning on another update this soon but I broke my last decent drill bit for my Dremel rotary tool so thought I'd post some more on the command figures while waiting for some more drill bits[1] to arrive courtesy of Amazon (hopefully today).  

My last post saw the three command figures largely dismembered; the ensign needing a new head, the officer a head swap, and the drummer a head and arms swap!  So, after crafting another solder hat for the ensign, here they are put together and starting to take on their final appearance.

Since then, all I have managed is a bit more filing and some final detailing added with greenstuff as going near them with a soldering iron at this stage would undoubtedly see any solder on them revert to a shapeless blob. 

So, with still some tidying up of the greenstuff still to do, here's the officer, ...

... the ensign, ...

... and, the drummer.

I'm quite pleased with these, especially the drummer as he looks quite natural despite being a fairly extreme cut and shut job.  The officer and the ensign will both have boots, the ensign some nice tight ones that can just be done with a paint job.  I'm not sure whether the ensign would've worn a bicorn but I didn't want him in a round hat or competing with the officer's cocked hat.  Anyway, I think he's turned out okay and I like the tilt to his head that looks like he's paying attention to what he's doing with the colour.

Notes:

[1.]  Good drill bits are essential for drilling holes into the heads and torsos of figures having head-swaps to allow a steel wire to be inserted in both to provide a robust joint.  Without one I can't get on with all the rest of the planned head-swaps.