THROUGH THE FIELDS
A Chain of Command Game
I have been playing quite a few Chain of Command (CoC) games of late and decided that it was time to report on one. I have been using the maps from some of the scenario books up to now but wanted to try a design of my own and this is the result.
TERRAIN: In this scenario the yellow areas are fields giving light cover. The hedges are NOT hedgerows and provide only light cover but troops further back than 2" from the hedgerow cannot be seen nor fired upon. The grey lines are stone walls and give heavy cover as do the buildings. The white line is a fence giving light cover.
SCENARIO: This will be the Flank Attack scenario from the CoC rule book. The Germans can set 4 Patrol Markers (PMs) within the red dotted line and the US starts 6 PMs, 3 set up on each of the two blue dotted lines. The Germans will place 3 Jump Off Points (JOPs) based on the result of the PM movement and a 4th JOP somewhere within the town. The US as attacker gets free PM moves, the number determined by a D6 roll. The US will place a total of 4 JOPs.
OBJECTIVE: The US objective is to force the Germans off table, either through the loss of Force Morale or by the German player opting to retire.
The US got 2 free PM moves and moved up one PM from each stating point. The following PM moves are shown above with the Germans opting NOT to move any PMs during move 3 - 8.
The final JOP placement was as shown below along with German placement of their two minefields:
FORCES: The US force was a basic Rifle Platoon with a Force Rating of 0 and 10 Support Points. The German force was also a basic infantry platoon with a Force Rating of 0 and 5 Support Points. Both forces started with a Force Morale of 9. The forces:
THE GAME: The US started by bringing on two Squads, one on each side of the German position.
The Germans placed a unit in Building 5 (Note the numbers on the buildings and terrain pieces are to identify which model they represent for ease of matching a map to the table top).
The two German forces in the building and in the wood are able to bring an effective cross fire against the US Squad in the center. The Jr Ldr with them is kept busy trying to keep the shock down and finally the US has to commit a Sr. Ldr to that force. Just in time, it turns out, as the Jr Ldr. is killed dropping the US Force Morale by 2. The US moves the left hand Squad into the building which can now bring fire into the central woods, though its not very effectively.
The Germans brought their third Squad into building 8 and exchanged fire with the US Squad coming in from the East. That US Squad threw smoke grenades and started a tactical advance across the field. Meanwhile the attrition of the US Squad in the center continued, 2 wounds to the Sr Ldr causing a loss of another 2 points to the US Force Morale. One more loss and they would loose a command die!
The US had to "go for broke" and brought in their tank from the east and their 4th Squad on the west behind building 1. Why not bring in the tank from the southern road, you ask - well the Germans had a CoC die in hand and the US felt that the Germans had a better chance at ambushing the tank if it came in there. In any case the tank was able to bring 75mm fire on to the German unit in the central wood which now had to endure 3 fires! The German commander retreated that unit to the fields behind his initial position.
Now the US was able to move up to the wall in the west in a position to assault the German position in building 5. The Germans used their CoC die to pull back the JOP in the field and started a general retreat toward building 5. It was then that the Germans (Dick White) decided that they was in a no-win situation and retired from the field.
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| The first Us unit arrives from the East |
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| The second US unit arrives from the South |
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| German and US forces exchange fire for a phase then the US brought on their third Squad (on the left) and the Germans bring in their second unit in center woods. |
The Germans brought their third Squad into building 8 and exchanged fire with the US Squad coming in from the East. That US Squad threw smoke grenades and started a tactical advance across the field. Meanwhile the attrition of the US Squad in the center continued, 2 wounds to the Sr Ldr causing a loss of another 2 points to the US Force Morale. One more loss and they would loose a command die!
The US had to "go for broke" and brought in their tank from the east and their 4th Squad on the west behind building 1. Why not bring in the tank from the southern road, you ask - well the Germans had a CoC die in hand and the US felt that the Germans had a better chance at ambushing the tank if it came in there. In any case the tank was able to bring 75mm fire on to the German unit in the central wood which now had to endure 3 fires! The German commander retreated that unit to the fields behind his initial position.
Now the US was able to move up to the wall in the west in a position to assault the German position in building 5. The Germans used their CoC die to pull back the JOP in the field and started a general retreat toward building 5. It was then that the Germans (Dick White) decided that they was in a no-win situation and retired from the field.
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| The dire straights of the US central Squad, Jr. Ldr dead, Sr. Ldr with 2 wounds, both teams pinned and only 4 shock each away from routing. |
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| The final positions |
