EARLY WAR Chain of Command

My mate John Warren came around my place today for a game of Chain of Command. I based the scenario from one of the WW2 campaigns out of the 'Too Fat Lardies' Summer Special with a few alterations to suit this game.

I gave John the option of which side he would like to play and even though the defending British were heavily outnumbered with about half the support points of the attacking German, he opted to play British, like the true patriot he is.  

EARLY WW2 GAME.

DEFENDING BOULOGNE 1940
A fighting withdrawal and the evacuation of Dunkirk.

SCENARIO FOUR: A DELAYING ACTION.
 Defending Boulogne
   
BRITISH BRIEFING



You have just arrived in Boulogne and marched

out to the edge of the town to take up defensive

positions there. It's been a long, hard day getting

everything into position and digging in.

Unfortunately you have neither wire nor mines to

strengthen your position, but your men are in

good spirits and ready to face the Boche.

Your orders are to hold Boulogne, but you have

insufficient men to really defend such a large

area. What is more, a lack of motor transport

means that if you are pushed back from your

current positions you will have to abandon your

anti-tank guns. You have been told that a British

Armoured force will be joining you tomorrow

from Calais where it is currently disembarking

and that a Rifle Corps battalion will strengthen

your defences. When they arrive this should be a

rather fairer fight!

Your force is as follows:
 Command Dice: 5

Quality: Regular


PLATOON HEADQUARTERS
Lieutenant, Senior Leader, with pistol

Sergeant, Senior Leader, with rifle


2” MORTAR TEAM
2” mortar with two crew


BOYS AT RIFLE TEAM
Boys AT rifle with two crew



Sections one to three.
 th3SECTIONS ONE TO THREE
Corporal, Junior Leader, with rifle


LMG TEAM RIFLE TEAM
Bren gun with three

crew

Four riflemen
 BRITISH SUPPORT LIST

LIST ONE
Medical Orderly

Adjutant
 Entrenchments for one Squad


LIST TWO
Roadblock
 Boys AT rifle Team, 2 men THREE





2 pounder Anti-Tank gun with five crew and
  Junior Leader

Vickers MMG on tripod mount, 5 crew
   LIST FOUR



Car
  The British used a number of French civilian

vehicles in Boulogne. One of these may be

pressed into service to carry one Team.

You have to spend one activation each turn to get the car started, rolling a 6, then 5,6 and so on.
 Roadblock
  Most of the roadblocks used around Boulogne

itself were improvised, being either piled up

furniture or disabled vehicles. These may be

cleared by any German Panzer pushing against

them and moving through them at the rate of

1D6 per turn during which time the AFV may not

fire or undertake any other actions. Infantry may

cross a roadblock by treating it as a major

obstacle

Mark VI and a Matilda Mk11 can arrive on turn 2

Mk VI has to arrive first.


 GERMAN BRIEFING
You have crossed all of France in the past ten

days! It seems that the enemy are unable to

stand before our Panzers and now you are racing

towards the Channel Ports to crush the arrogant

English who are falling back to the coast. If they

escape behind the "wooden walls" of the Royal

Navy they will always remain as a threat to peace

in Europe. You cannot allow them to escape.

Before you lies Boulogne. If you can capture the

port you will deny your enemy the escape route

he will so badly need. However, Luftwaffe

reconnaissance planes report that the enemy are

landing troops even now. If you delay for even

an hour the enemy will get stronger and the

reality is that your panzers are weak through

losses caused simply by break downs. You must

push on with all speed to seize the port and trap

the English!

Your force is as follows:
 Command Dice: 5

Quality: Regular


PANZER PLATOON HEADQUARTERS
Lieutenant, Senior Leader, with pistol

Feldwebel, Senior Leader, with SMGTRUPP


GERMAN PANZER SUPPORT LIST

LIST ONE
Medical Orderly

Adjutant
 LIST TWO
Le.GrW36 5cm mortar Team, 3 men


T THREE
Squads one to Four

Junior Leader, with rifle

LMG TEAM three crew

RIFLE TEAM six riflemen

Panzerbusche 38/39 Team, 2 men

Flamethrower team of three men

MG 34 on tripod mount, 5 crew

PaK36 36mm ATG with 5 crew and junior leader
  IST FOUR
Panzer I with Junior Leader


IST FIVE
Panzer III with Junior Leader

Pz.IV A with Junior Leader



Pz. 38(t) with Junior Leader

I have upped the support points quite considerably with the attacking Germans on double the amount. This gives plenty of options for the players but with only 5 x command dice each, it still limits how much you can control in a phase and loss of morale will still be the deciding factor.

For playability and a longer game, both sides have been given a force morale of eleven.

I could have played this as a 'BIG CoC' game with an increased amount of dice to control the extra support units but I think this would have given the attacking German player too much of an advantage with all those extra support points but this way he had the flexibility of units but had to keep an eye on his morale.

You will have to excuse the blurry photos as they were a bit rushed in trying to get the balance right in taking pictures and not slowing the game down. 

We carried out the Patrol phase and deployed our Jump Off Points followed by John then placing his road block and entrenchment on the table.

     
John had placed the entrenchment in front of the Chateau to take advantage of the open killing ground in front of him and had filled this with his first squad which he placed on 'over watch'.

I had started my deployment by bringing on some armour for my first couple of turns with a Panzer I and Panzer III on the German left flank.

 
I also had a Jump Off Point a good way up on my left flank and I was able to deploy my first infantry squad out of line of sight of the Brits on 'over watch'.

 The Chateau dominated the centre of the table and so John decided to deploy a second squad in its grounds.

   In the meantime I had deployed my mortar team, a second infantry squad along the hedgerow facing John's entrenchment and advanced my Panzer III up a little. These had all concentrated their fire on getting rid of the entrenched British squad but due to their hard cover, I was finding this a slow process. This gave John time to build up and get his first full CoC dice, which enabled him to end the first turn and bring on his Mk VI on the road in the beginning of the second turn.

 

 

  

John had positioned his Mk VI to cover his right flank and watch out for any German units that were tempted to pop their heads around the corner of the Chateau grounds.

I pushed my first infantry unit up along my left flank with the Panzer I in support and placed my LMG team in the entrance to the alley way so that they could fire down the flank of the Brits in the entrenchments.

 (I am quite pleased with the way the wet muddy flexible track turned out in the 2nd picture above. More of that in future posts.)

The Brits in the trench finally broke, with the junior leader being the sole survivor.

 I pushed my first infantry squad on and into the rear gardens of the Chateau but they could not advance any further at this stage as the Brits had a full squad in the upper windows of the building on 'over watch'.

Meanwhile, in the centre, my second squad crossed the hedge line and started advancing across the open ploughed fields, with the Panzer III giving support.

The Panzer III coming forward had the desired effect of the Brits deploying their 2 pounder ATG in the grounds of the church yard on their left flank and having a pop at the PanzerIII across the fields. Luckily for me, the shot went wide.

 
John also had another squad of British infantry in the church and his bren team opened up on the second German infantry squad that was in the middle of crossing the open field. Again, unlucky shooting for the Brits, with no casualties and I was able to get to the safety of the far stable wall by rolling a double six and getting two turns in a row.

     

I was able to concentrate my fire on the church with the mortar team and a MMG team that I had brought onto the table and was now lining the hedge. I also brought a third infantry squad on my right flank and advanced them towards the British ATG in the church grounds.

 
The German right flank, with the support of a senior leader and covering fire from the mortar and MMG were able to wipe out the crew of the ATG, drive out the remaining infantry from in the church and end the turn with a CoC dice to capture a British jump off point.

Meanwhile, in the centre, the second squad had advanced on the wounded British junior leader and captured him. The Panzer I had also changed direction and had moved across from the left flank and was now heading for the centre of the table.

 

The British squad in the chateau had also taken some casualties and decided to pull back and evacuate the building. This meant leaving their Jump Off Point, which the Germans were able to occupy and then again end the turn with another CoC dice.

The British morale was getting very low by this stage and they were down to just two command dice but they had also given the Germans a bloody nose with their morale now reduced to five.

 The parting shot from the British was destroying my Panzer III by hitting it in the rear as it passed a BOYS anti tank rifle team hidden in the hedgerow.

  It is the first time I have played an early war game and it was great fun, with the AFV's not being the all powerful battle winning tanks that you can get in the later part of the war. The Panzer I for example not having any AP capability, with only a couple of MG's and an armour rating of 2.