Inspired by recent news of the forthcoming v2.0 for the stalwart WW2 ruleset Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies, a game was laid on at club to teach one of our newer members how to play. No matter that the rules will be updated soon, as the forthcoming changes are ‘polishing’ improvements and the core mechanics will continue in its current form. Despite both having 15mm forces on the painting table I wanted to dust off my own knowledge of how to play too, so we used my existing 28mm forces until such time as the smaller scale ones are ready.
I put together a Normandy style layout before going to the club, and took photographs to aid reconstruction. This gives me lots of time to try out different things when creating a table, and also speeds things up once I get to the club as I can just share the photographs with the other players and we all chip in to recreate what’s in the photo.
After the dark art of the patrol phase (I know it’s important, but I’ve never seemed to fully master
where to get my jump-off points to be most useful!) both the Americans and Germans had a good spread of deployment points across the width of the table, with the Germans having managed to push a bit further towards the river and therefore the centre of the table.
American paratroopers deployed on their right flank as the first unit on the table and put themselves into overwatch. An opposing elite Fallschirmjäger platoon hid behind a hedge to block their advance.
Whilst being on overwatch was initially useful in trying to spot a sniper deployed in the church, the sniper failed to achieve much from then on and the paratroopers sent - in vain - a scout team to try and rouse their opposite number.
In an attempt to find another route onto the other side of the table, the American players deployed first a machine gun team and then a mortar team into the centre behind a wall. Both became bullet magnets for German platoons deployed behind similar walls on the other side of the river.
With their superior output (2 x MG42 per platoon) the krauts soon reminded me why you don’t put support units out on their own. They broke and fell back, costing us morale points on the way.
With a few unfortunate rolls on the part of the Allies regarding injured Junior Leaders the game was over depressingly quickly. On the plus side Mark seemed to be picking the mechanics up remarkably well, so I had successfully taught him the game, just how to lose….
With a few hours ‘til hometime we decided to have a ‘do-over’. I positioned jump-off points without a patrol phase.
Trying a different tactic, we yanks tried a push on the left-hand side, deploying two full platoons there with a senior leader to whip them into shape, and a machine gun in the upper floor of the farmhouse to cover them.
In full acknowledgement that no plan survives contact the enemy we had to delay this to deal with an anti-infantry gun that had been placed on a hill and was trying to rain down hell on such a tightly grouped bunch.
To do this, a platoon of veteran paratroopers were deployed from the same centre point that had been the focus of fire in the previous game. Remembering the concept of suppressing fire, we managed to get the Germans to keep their heads down long enough to make a break for the gun.
Unfortunately they got stuck out in the open, with command dice failing to provide the pips needed to activate units to follow them. In the end they ran back towards the massed group of colleagues to try and lend weight to an assault on the American’s left side.
Fate was not on our side, and despite the Germans throwing an incredible five dice all showing four….
…it proved not to be the ham-stringing we had hoped for. There were two senior leaders on the table for the Axis, and they activated so many MG42’s that our force morale plummeted once again.
A brief showing of armour looked like getting a few morale points off the Germans when they failed to destroy our M10 on first hit, but the poor infantry lost heart in the end, faced by overwhelming automatic fire from the Germans. In short, we had our pride handed back to us again.
No matter! A new convert was made for the church of Chain of Command, I dusted off my understanding of how to play too, and everyone enjoyed themselves.