The Scenario
This was a one-off Chain of Command (CoC) learning game for a friend, Colin, who had only played one game of version 1 some time ago and was interested in trying the second edition of the rules. Offered the choice, Colin opted to defend with a German platoon; I would attack with the Brits.
I based the game on an Attack-Defend scenario from the Operation MARTLET pint-sized campaign (the attack on Fontenay), but swapped the German SS Panzergrenadier platoon for a Heer Infantry platoon to give Colin some practise with rifle groups as well as machine gun teams.
The table set-up looked like this:
As per the campaign scenario, each of the German sections was down by one man and they received a Panzer IV in compensation, plus 8 support points. The Brits had 16 support points.With my 16 support points, I opted for: 1x M4 Sherman (6pt.s); 1x Vickers MMG Team (4pt.s); 1x PIAT Team (2pt.s); 1x 2" Mortar Team (2pt.s); 1x Adjutant (1pt.); and, 1x Replenishment Point (1pt.). Colin plumped for: 1x Mortar Bombardment (4pt.s); 1x Senior Leader (2pt.s); 1x Medic (1pt.s); and, 1x Adjutant.
The Patrol Phase
We both rolled a starting Force Morale of 10, so as the attacker I started the Patrol Phase. The Brits start with 4 patrol markers on the road where it enters their baseline. The Germans, who opted for 3 patrol markers, start anywhere up to 18" in from their baseline and may be spaced out (but within 12" of each other).
With their head-start and fewer patrol markers, the Germans penned the Brits back around Home Farm; the photo below showing the patrol markers and two of the three German jump of points (JOPs - the small Cross markers).
The other German JOP was in the Derelict Farmhouse, and the British JOPs were in Home Farm, the Tractor Shed and the Orchard.
The Germans then placed two objectives, marked by abandoned artillery pieces.
The Game [1]
1BR(3,4,4,5,6): I never like to bring on my senior leaders too early so I settled for just deploying No.1 section in the yard of Home Farm.
2GE(2,3,4,4,6): Colin passed to wait and see what I intended.
3BR(1,1,1,3,5): allowed me to deploy a 2" mortar team in the farmyard, the Sherman on the road, and No.2 section in the orchard from where they put down suppressive fire on South Wood. The JOP in the orchard can be seen in the photo below just behind No.2 section (with a scenic cover on top of the JOP marker).
4GE(2,3,3,5,5): Colin had seen enough at this point, and deciding that attack was the best form of defence, deployed his tank (PzIV) and III section along the hedge running down the road.
He also deployed I Section in the Derelict Farmhouse from where they fired at No.2 section in the orchard, inflicting one kill on the Bren team and one point of shock on the Rifle team.
5BR(1,2,3,3,6): rattled by such an early, and aggressive response before I'd started to organise my attack, I withdrew No.2 section deeper in into the orchard to escape the fire from the Derelict Farmhouse. No.1 section advanced from behind the Tractor Shed to line the nearby hedge and my Sherman fired h.e. at III Section advancing along the roadside hedge. The h.e. was an immediate success inflicting one point of shock on the MG42 team and wounding III section's obergefreiter, the junior leader, which caused German Force Morale to drop from 10 to 8!
6GE(2,3,5,6,6): our first double phase, which Colin used to tactically advance III section along the hedge while deploying a Medic to attend the wounded obergefreiter.
7GE(1,2,5,5,5): for three CoC points leaving Colin only wanting one more for his first full CoC die. I, as the attacker, had started with 2 CoC points but was now left trailing on only 4 CoC points.
Colin used the '2' for the Medic who treated the obergefreiter, restoring him to full fitness for the following phase. And, with the '1' he deployed a forward observer (FO) with a battery of 8cm mortars on call - the aiming point was placed to embrace both my section in the orchard and some of those in Home Farm. Luckily for me the dice came to my rescue and the first aiming round from the mortar battery landed unobserved, who knows where.
8BR(1,1,2,3,4): if I was rattled before, I was definitely panicking now, and No.2 section's corporal rallied off the point of shock and moved his men as far from the aiming point as possible, albeit still within the orchard[2]. Also in a funk, No.1 section promptly dashed for cover into the Tractor Shed. The 2" mortar team was just outside the threatened area so were left in place while the Sherman again fired at III section behind the roadside hedge - to no effect.
9GE(1,3,3,3,5): and Colin got his first CoC die. The '1' was taken by the FO, who moved the aiming point to take in the entire Home Farm complex and the M4 Sherman. This time the aiming round was spotted, but fell 13" short in North Wood! Phew, that wasn't even close. Elsewhere, things were moving quickly, as the PzIV advanced flat out ...
... and III section doubled along roadside hedge.
10BR(1,2,3,5,6): finally realising the mortar bombardment could come down anywhere, the 2" mortar team was moved into Home Farm, while the Sherman again engaged III section with the bow MG and high explosive. The MG was completely ineffective but the h.e. killed two and inflicted a point of shock, all on the MG42 team - now down to just one man.
11GE(1,2,3,5,5): and at the third time of asking the mortar bombardment came down on target and with immediate effect. But with everyone taking cover in buildings only two points of shock were inflicted on No.1 section's Bren team.
III section rallied off a point of shock and moved to cross the road, but didn't get very far, and the Medic doubled across to the Derelict Farmhouse.
Frustratingly this tempting target was unavailable to my Sherman which was within the mortar bombardment area.
12BR(1,2,2,3,4): and my platoon sergeant deployed in the Tractor Shed, to rally off shock[3]. Overlooking No.2 section in the orchard, I thought everything, except the Sherman, was pinned by the bombardment. So, all I attempted was to move the Sherman out from the bombardment to fire at III section crossing the road. But with only a 2" move from the dice it failed to get clear of the bombardment zone.
13GE(1,1,2,2,4): and the second bombardment phase proved more deadly, killing two riflemen in the Tractor shed and inflicting a point of shock on both the rifle and Bren teams there. The 2" mortar team in Home Farm also lost one man killed and one point of shock. Ouch!
III section now completed their movement across the road, advancing out of danger and reaching the edge of the North Wood. I section started to leave the Derelict Farmhouse, the rifle team on the ground floor moving outside while the MG42 team came down the stairs. They were joined outside by the platoon's commanding senior officer, the oberfeldwebel, as he deployed from JOP inside the building. Alll this can be seen in the photo below.
14BR(1,3,4,5,6): the Sherman escaped the bombardment zone[4] this time and engaged III section in the edge of the North Wood, killing one rifleman and inflicting a point of shock on the rifle team. Meanwhile the platoon sergeant rallied off more shock and I deployed a PIAT team in the orchard to deter the PzIV from advancing on that flank.
15GE(1,1,4,4,6): and the final round of the mortar bombardment killed a Bren gunner and inflicted a point of shock on the rifle team of No.1 section in the Tractor Shed. The oberfeldwebel ordered I section's MG42 team out of the Derelict Farmhouse and their rifle team to advance to the North Wood. He went with the rifle team, and on arriving at the wood, rallied a point shock off III section. The feldwebel, the support senior leader, also deployed outside the Derelict Farmhouse at this point. Finally, the PzIV driver put the tank in gear and moved off towards the road.
16BR(2,2,4,4,6): time for another of my MISTAKES - I forgot the effects of a bombardment last until the end of the phase following the end of the bombardment so, my platoon sergeant rallied off some shock and moved No.1 section out into the yard. He also ordered the 2" mortar team out into the yard, but as they were not pinned this was permitted.
Now being fixated by the approaching PzIV I passed on doing anything else. I really was below par in this game.
17GE(2,3,5,6,6): and now as if to punish both my mistakes and poor play, the Germans have a double phase just as the tanks are about to meet. And yes, the PzIV did advance out onto the road so I spent my only CoC die to interrupt and fire at it with my Sherman. So the question now was where do I interrupt and fire? While it's presenting its flank, or after its fully emerged from behind the building but is facing me? I opted for the former. What an idiot! I should know by now that if there's one dice roll I always seem to have trouble with, it's hitting AFVs, and yes I missed!
As this was going on, the German III section moved deeper into the North Wood.
18GE(1,4,5,6,6): a triple phase! Surely my Sherman was a goner now. The PzIV fired and hit the Sherman and rolled five armour penetration hits. Luckily I saved all but one and only took a single point of shock.
In the North Wood the oberfeldwebel removed three points of shock from III section.
19GE(3,4,5,5,6): and the seemingly inevitable destruction of my Sherman by the PzIV (it didn't blow up) saw British Force Morale fall from 10 to 8.
At the same time the oberfeldwebel now advanced the restored III section up to the hedge at the edge of the North Wood and fired at No.1 section in the Home Farm yard.
Cue another of my MISTAKES as I forgot to halve the number of fire dice for moving and firing. Fortunately, I had spent my last three CoC points to Hit the Dirt so I only suffered two points of shock from nine hits.
20BR(1,2,3,3,6): and Colin had to leave shortly, so we agreed we'd each play just one more phase. First, I deployed my Vickers MMG to fire at close range against his III section in the North Wood. Ten fire dice at close range against a target only in soft cover; but to no effect! Colin used some of his rather plentiful CoC points to React Fire causing one kill and one point of shock. The 'kill' wounded my Platoon Sergeant and British Force Morale dropped from 8 to 7.
Then as it was a learning game and about to end, I decided to show Colin how Close Combat works and deployed my last section (No.3) directly into a close combat against his III section in the wood. This proved an excellent lesson on how not to do it, as the benefit of cover offset my numerical advantage. This, combined with some lop-sided dice rolls saw me inflict one kill and one point of shock while taking three kills and three points of shock. In this exchange of fire, Colin lost his oberfeldwebel who was killed (German Force Morale fell from 8 to 5), and my No.3 section's corporal was wounded (British Force Morale fell from 7 to 6). Then, as the British had BADLY lost the combat, the resulting Force Morale tests for losing and then breaking saw British Force Morale sink from 6 to 5, and then from 5 to 4! The Brits were now only on four command dice - on the bright side this was their last phase in the game. The routing section, with all their accrued shock, can be seen in the photo below (although by my count they are one shock short).
21GE(2,2,3,6,6): and just to rub it in, the Germans got another double phase, albeit we'd agreed to end the game after Phase 21. There really wasn't much of interest here, just some desultory firing and units moving up, before the end of game was called.
Just out of curiosity, Colin threw his command dice for Phase 22 and got: 1, 5, 5, 6 & 6, for what would've been another treble phase - it clearly wasn't my day. He did roll for Phase 23 but only rolled: 1, 1, 3, 4, 5.
Post Mortem
Colin enjoyed the game and despite some concerns about how JOPs work in the rules is keen to play again - so key objective met.
Otherwise, the story's a bit less positive. I'm still making silly mistakes, and I played poorly, being almost entirely reactive and letting Colin seize and keep the initiative for the whole game. Colin deserves the credit for this as he did decide to go on the attack and throw everything at me; I was just so shocked by that I never really got going.
In retrospect, I think applying the 'game set-up' from CoC v2 except where the campaign scenario explicitly stated something different was why I found my JOPs hemmed in by the defending Germans. The campaign scenario starts the defender patrol markers 18" in from their edge, instead of 12", and the attacker's in one spot as opposed to spaced out along their table edge. But, in CoC v1 (for which the scenario was developed) the defender has four patrol markers, not three and the attackers get 1D6 free patrol moves before the start of the patrol phase. All of which would likely improve the attacker's JOP options.
It seems the pint-sized campaigns really need to be adjusted to allow for some of the changes in CoC v2.
Better luck next time? We'll see ...
Notes:
[1.] Each phase description is labelled with the phase number, active side and the scores of the command dice. 1BR(3,4,4,5,6): is the first phase, the British are the active side and their command dice rolled 3, 4, 4, 5 & 6.
[2.] This was foolish as at the next attempt the FO could place the aiming point where desired so could easily follow my section if that was what was wanted.
[3.] I could find no mention of whether deployment into a mortar bombardment was allowed, so as it was not listed as an effect, we allowed it. PLEASE, if anyone knows different point out where it is in the rules.
[4.] Again, I could find nothing that about AFVs in the 'Danger Close' zone around a bombardment, so we compromised and applied half the effect of being in the bombardment i.e., one d6 which was ineffective. AGAIN, PLEASE, if you know the correct rule let me know in the comments.
