Chain of Command game (Or the Paras get a stuffing)

Friday is becoming an almost regular game day now, which makes a nice start to the weekend.  Gus and I travelled over to Nathans to give Chain of Command another go.  Nathan took the Germans and Gus took US Paras.  This time we used support, with the US attackers having 9 support and the Germans getting 4.  Gus' Paras took an extra squad (to give them 3) and a Sherman, while the Germans took a tripod MMG and a minefield.

The table set up by Nathan

 The table was pretty closed, with very few open lines of fire.  Plenty of hedges, walls and buildings meant the fighting would be all at close range. 

The US started off in a poor position due to Gus' placement of his jump off points.  All 3 were close together and in the middle of the table.  This gave Nathan the confidence to leave his flanks unprotected as the US would have to set up in the middle of the table.

US Paras ready to advance

Initial US troops took up position on a stone wall, looking to advance towards the river.  A sniper covered them, but had little effect on the game.

Germans hold the river crossing.

The Germans brought all 3 squads on quickly, looking to seize the centre of the table and force the Americans to pull back.

Some sustained fire from the MG42s soon killed off the Paras bazooka team, a bad start to the game for the Allies.


More US troops came on, including the Sherman.  It advanced cautiously, very conscious of the danger of Panzerfausts.  As it pulled into position behind a hedge the Germans fired off 2 Panzerfausts, hitting with one and taking out the hull MG.  Shaken by this the Sherman fired its 75mm gun, hitting nothing.

The US split up.

Gus moved his 2nd squad off to the right and his 3rd came up to threaten the left and support the Sherman.  His 1st squad moved into the farm beside the Sherman, where it came under heavy and effective MG fire from 2 sections of German grenadiers and their supporting MMG.  Despite the cover the section sergeant went down with a nasty wound while the rest of the squad cowered in the building.

Its all gone wrong.

The LT did his best to rally the 1st squad, but the continuing hail of MG fire was too much and, as casualties and shock mounted, they broke and ran taking most of the force morale points with them.

Things we learnt from the game is not to put all your eggs (or jump off points) in one area, don't split your force up and never, ever get within fire arc of 3 belt fed machine guns.

We had another good game though, enough to make me base up my own US Paras, German Grenadiers and Falschirmjagers to use with this set of rules.

In other news, not much happened.  I have done some painting and lots of basing, I have done the necessary things that SWMBO has asked me to do and I have even managed to watch the Exeter Chiefs beat London Wasps on ESPN.

Keep rolling those dice and I'll be back after tomorrows games are done.