'Taking the Gembloux Gap' a pint-sized campaign.
Game 1, Scenario1 the 'Palm-off at Perbais'
This was the start of a new set of Chain of Command (CoC) games against my regular opponent, John, using his Early War 15mm collection for this pint-sized campaign from the Too Fat Lardies (TFL). The campaign runs for ten games during which the Germans have to win their way through five scenarios on the campaign ladder.
John chose to be the Germans with elements of the 3rd Panzer Division (3Pz) and I took him on with a platoon from the 1e Division d’Infanterie Motorisée (DIM), a French Motorised Division.
The Scenario
As ever John produced a fabulous terrain lay-down (as shown below, viewed from the German perspective) ...
... to match the scenario map, below (although the perspective in the above photo makes it look like the terrain is jammed up one end - it isn't).
John always adds interest with scatter on his set-ups as shown by the refugees attempting to escape to safety from barbaric Boche ...
I liked these little vignettes so much I made them part of the game, such that whenever either player rolled a single '6' on their command dice the two groups of pedestrian refugees would flee a further 1D6 along the road (after all they are pushing handcarts).
For the first time, we opted to use some of the campaign rules for the platoon commanders' state of mind and the opinion of him held by his men and his commanding officer (CO).
My platoon commander's outlook was 'cheerful' and his CO and men were neutral towards him (both at zero). The German platoon commander was 'secure' and his CO neutral (0) but his men were more positive about him (+1).
None of this affected the D6 we threw for Force Morale at the start of the game, which saw my French start on a Force Morale of 9 while the John's Germans started on 11.
With 7 support points to spend I opted for a 'Canon de 75mm M1897' with five gun crew and Junior Leader (the famous 'soixante-quinze') costing 4 points, and three entrenchments for a team (1pt each). My thinking here was that John was bound to try and exploit the cover afforded by the wheat field so the HE from the 75mm would negate that leaving him badly exposed. Elsewhere, my troops should, when deployed in hard cover (buildings and entrenchments) be able to win any firefight against the Germans who would only have light cover at best.
John, with 10 points of support, selected, in secret, a Stuka Strike (4pts); an le.IG18 7.5cm Infantry Gun with five crew and a Junior Leader (4pts); a Medic (1pt); and, a 'Shabby Nazi Trick' (1pt).
The final pre-game prep was a German D6 roll to determine how many CoC points they would start the game with; they got just the one.
Pre-Game Phases
Normally this would only consist of the Patrol Phase, but in this game that was preceded by the 'Stuka Strike' John had selected from his support options. The Stukas promptly swooped in ...
So as the dust settled the Patrol Phase kicked off, the Germans rolling a '6' to get 4 free moves before they started the Patrol Phase proper. As expected, John made a push to try and get a jump off point (JOP) as far across the wheat field as possible. In trying to deny him that I ended the phase with the patrol markers as shown below, one of mine being stuck on the table edge with no valid JOP placement options.
Because the Germans had managed to advance so quickly, all but one of my JOPs (the white stars) were too far back to be able to deploy at the first hedge - see below.
Two of the German JOPs were by the house at the edge of the wheat field with another providing a useful flanking option on the other side of the table (at the top of the photo below - viewed from the German left flank).
With all the preliminaries out of the way, battle commenced.
The Game
As the attacker, with the initiative and the higher Force Morale, the Germans took the first phase[1].
1GE(1,1,3,4,4): and wanting to make the most of any Stuka-induced confusion among the French they immediately started to bring their troops onto the table. First the platoon commander and senior leader, the Leutnant, deployed by the house with nr.I section covering the wheat field. At the same time the nr.II section deployed on the other flank on the railway line, and took up a tactical posture in case of any French fire in response.
2FR(1,2,2,4,6): and for once the single '6' was of some use as it allowed the refugees to move further from the pursuing Hun. Knowing any deployment would be 'hesitant'[2] I decided I couldn't risk delaying any response. First, I deployed my 'soixante-quinze' (in an entrenchment) together with my Lieutenant (the platoon's commander and senior leader). Both successfully deployed, the Lieutenant removing the 3 shock the gun took from the Stuka Strike, and the gun opening fire and killing 2 riflemen from the German nr.I section. This was a very promising opening.
Next, I activated an infantry section to deploy in support of the gun to prevent the German units ganging up on it. This section unfortunately failed to deploy thanks to the after effects of the Stuka Strike.
Apology: why so few photos you ask? I have to admit we were both so keen to get stuck in to another CoC campaign that we forgot about photos until Phase 6! Normal photo service will be resumed at this point. The above photo, and the one in Phase 4, were taken later in the game but nothing in these photos had changed since Phase2 and 4[3]. SORRY!
3GE(1,1,5,6,6): and a German double-phase, that's going to be awkward for the French while their deployment is so unreliable. The immediate German counter to my 75mm gun was to deploy their 75.cm le.IG 18 gun which immediately engaged its opposite number inflicting 1 point of shock and one kill. What's more the 'kill' was a hit on the Lieutenant who was wounded! The immediate Bad Things Happen test saw French Force Morale drop from 9 to 8. Ouch!
The other actionable die, a '1', was used by nr.I section's LMG team, but they failed to inflict any more harm on the 'soixante-quinze' thanks to the hard cover of its entrenchment.
4GE(3,3,5,6,6): and it's going to be a treble-phase for the Boche! With one of the two '3's. nr.I's junior leader took control of his LMG team to employ 'maschinengewehr; against my 'soixante-quinze', but despite some extra 'storm of steel' die rolls it was completely ineffective. The other German section (nr.II) doubled down the railway line, with the Obergefreiter, their junior leader, removing the resulting shock from his LMG team.
6FR(1,2,2,4,4): and the wounded Lieutenant tries to rally off some of the shock from the 'soixante-quinze' but before the words leave his lips he is interrupted by a shifty looking individual with "new orders from headquarters". It is a 'Shabby Nazi Trick', and the net result is that the Lieutenant's activation is lost as he is distracted dealing with this 5th columnist.
In the above the photo, the junior leader (combining a '1' and '2') can be seen rallying off one point of shock and firing back at the German 7.5cm gun and killing one of its crew.
And just as things were starting to look up another attempt to deploy a section from the platoon again failed its hesitant deployment roll.
7GE(2,4,5,5,5): and the Germans seem to breeding CoC points! The '2' sees nr.II section again run along the rail track reaching the edge of the hamlet (cue cigar music).
8FR(2,3,3,4,4): a good set of command dice, so hopefully I can get the French platoon up and running at last. The Lieutenant activates but achieves nothing, his time still being fully occupied by the insistent 5th columnist. Things are now getting desperate so the platoon sergeant (inferior senior leader) is called on to deploy in a combined activation with one of the sections. The sergeant arrives but glancing over his shoulder his men are nowhere to be seen (failed their hesitant deployment roll[4]).
With nothing else to command, the sergeant was at least able to run over to the 'soixante-quinze' to rally off a point of shock before its junior leader ordered it to fire. Unfortunately, both senior leaders are just out of shot in this photo.
This at least managed to put one point of shock on the German 7.5cm le.IG 18.
The final activation die, a '3', saw another failed attempt to deploy an infantry section - the Stuka Strike had clearly scared the bejabers out of my platoon!
9GE(2,2,4,6,6): and another German double-phase, how was I going to survive this. The German Leutnant rallied off the shock from his le.IG18 and directed it to fire at the 75mm killing another one of the gunners ...
... what he did with his other command initiative is not recorded so probably had no effect. Then the German Feldwebel (senior leader and 2ic of the platoon) combined the two '2's to deploy from the JOP on the railway line.
10GE(1,2,4,6,6): so it's going to be a treble-phase, I must've done something really terrible in a previous life. Again the Leutnant orders both the IG18 and nr.I section to engage the 'soixante-quinze' but thanks to a pretty poor set of firing dice they only manage to inflict one point of shock between them. But it is starting to build up at an alarming rate[5].
John then uses a CoC die to advance the JOP along the railway line behind nr.II section.
The Feldwebel is left wondering why John decided not to move the JOP before deploying him!
11GE(1,1,2,6,6): my Force Morale may be holding up but my personal morale collapses somewhat in the face of what now promises to be a quadruple German phase. The concentration of fire on the lonely, and sorely tried, 'soixante-quinze', sees two more points of shock and a 'kill' which hits the gun's junior leader leaving him stunned and the gun pinned (the pin marker is almost obscured by the hedge in the photo below; pin markers underneath leaders indicate wounds).
French Force morale drops from 8 to 7.
12GE(4,4,5,5,6): and the refugees get a little further away from the shooting as the Feldwebel runs to catch up with the JOP and his troops but only manages to cover 8". The Leutnant then directs the IG18 and nr.I section to pile another two points of shock onto the poor 'soixante-quinze'.
13FR(2,2,4,4,5): and I get my first '5' for a CoC point, but courtesy of all the points from the German double-phases it gives me a CoC die to end the turn! This time the Lieutenant finally recognises the 5th columnist for what he is, one quick pistol shot solves that problem and he spins round to remove shock from the gun crew. The sergeant similarly uses his command initiatives to remove more shock. Then in a catastrophic error of judgement I ended the turn with my CoC die. I had thought it was better to delay any further deployments until my next phase and avoid them turning up with shock from the Stuka Strike. What I had overlooked was that with both senior leaders deployed any deployment would still be hesitant so no chance to deploy should've been left untried.
End of Turn 1
At the end of the turn the effects of the Stuka Strike on my platoon have finally worn off, and the stunned junior leader on the 'soixante-quinze' recovers, and the gun, thanks to all the shock removed by the senior leaders, is no longer pinned.
Then it's on to testing all the unstable buildings to see if they collapse. Three of them do but luckily they are too far away from the 75mm gun to cause any problems. The refugees are not so lucky, and one group is caught within 4" of a collapsing building and the resulting dice rolls sees all four of them hit! War is Hell!
14GE(3,4,4,6,6): here we go again! The Feldwebel finally catches up with nr.II section and orders it to fire at the 'soixante-quinze' group but they all miss! The Leutnant with the 7.5cm gun and nr.I section do better, inflicting two kills and one point of shock. John then uses another CoC die to advance the JOP even further along the rail track and then deploy nr.III section from it to open fire at the much-reduced gun team. They manage two more 'kills', one being a gunner and the other being the junior leader who is stunned for a second time. This leaves the gun only manned by the stunned junior leader accompanied by the two senior leaders from the platoon.
The effect of the junior leader being stunned sees French Force Morale fall from 7 to 5. And now as I write this, I realise we might've missed the Bad Things Happen test for a team being wiped out - albeit I'm not sure if for support units the junior leader counts as part of the team. Either way it's not going to make much difference at this point in the game, especially as the Germans get the next phase.
15GE(1,1,4,6,6): again? I don't believe it! The German firing is now all targeted at the two isolated senior leaders and both are wounded. French Force Morale plummets from 5 to 2! At this point a French unit should withdraw to a JOP, but there are no French units left on the table! The Germans, now convinced the French offer no threat, send nr.III section over the hedge with a view to shutting down a French JOP ...
16GE(1,2,2,4,5): and nr.III section doubles towards a French JOP but with only 8" from 3D6 do not get close enough to shut it down. However, this is moot as the firing again inflicts a wound on each senior leader, killing both of them. This tragic end sees French Force morale sink from 2 to -2! Game over.
The Aftermath
The French platoon, apart from the loss of both senior leaders is intact as nothing else managed to deploy. But in the campaign this platoon is only used in Scenario 1 so, for the next game, Scenario 2, I will start with a fresh platoon. That platoon will start with its Lieutenant 'thoughtful, and with both his CO and men's opinion of him neutral (0).
The Germans only lost 2 Riflemen so will lose one permanently and the other will return after the next game i.e. in game 3. We don't believe in resurrecting the dead simply because of higher morale - a good job for the French as the German morale is unaffected at 11! The Leutnant is now feeling 'sociable', and the opinion of his men has risen from +1 to +2 and his CO's from 0 to +1.
Post Mortem
I don't think there's much to say here, the dice did it all. With only 4 phases to German's 12 and only one unit successfully deploying thanks to the Stuka Strike there was no way the French could've won this. I honestly think I did little wrong other than not trying to deploy more in turn 13, but even that would've been too little too late. In fact, if the Germans had not thrown so many poor shooting dice it could've all ended much sooner.
I think this game must be in the running for the most one-sided outcome.
A few questions did arise that we couldn't find authoritative answers for, namely:
1). Do units and/or leaders that activate simultaneously to deploy together roll separately for hesitant deployment or is just one roll for the lot, i.e. all or none will turn up? As you will see from the game, we assumed separate hesitant rolls.
2). Troops get soft cover in a cornfield if they don't move because they can't be seen so, if they shoot out from inside the cornfield they must be able to see out and therefore can be seen so get no cover? Also, if they go 'Tactical' (and stationary) in the cornfield is this now hard cover? We assumed no, and yes, albeit neither occurred during the game.
3). Can an LMG team, part of a fielded section, activate separately, even if part of the same group as the rest of the section. We went with yes on this as I've always played it that way.
A Final Thought
And what about the only French survivor, the stunned junior leader of the 'soixante-quinze'. Although no doubt taken prisoner, I'm sure the German's will treat him with respect for the defiant stand by his gun, all on alone against the might of the German army. I reckon he's a cert for the Legion d'Honneur.
Notes:
[1.] Each phase is annotated with the phase number, the active force (FR = French, GE= German), and the command dice scores; thus 12GE(1,1,2,5,6): is 12th phase in the game and the Germans have rolled 1,1,2,5,6 on their five command dice.
[2.] One effect of the Stuka Strike is that any deployment by their opponent in the first turn is hesitant and will only deploy on a D6 roll of 4+. What's more each team that does arrive will take 1D6 of shock.
[3.] For future reference when studying the game photos, John's senior leaders have a clump of red flowers on their base, and the junior leaders have yellow flowers.
[4.] We weren't sure about whether a combined activation like this rolls a separate hesitant deployment D6 for each activation or one for all of them. In the end we decided the wording in the rules implied they rolled separately - shame.
[5.] I use small clumps that are supposed to look like dirt being thrown up as shock markers - in this smaller 15mm scale they look more like small bushes.