Last Game of 2013

Its taken me a few days to get this post up, but it's here now so prepare to be less than enthralled.

On the last Sunday of 2013, the Chuckadice gang got together at Zob's for our seasonal all-day gaming extravaganza. Chain of Command was the order of the day this year, followed by Zombicide for a light hearted evening game.

The CoC game was a bit different, with 3 players a side and based on a hypothetical history.  What if France fell, then Britain lost the Battle of Britain and the Germans invaded.  We had two camps, with the nasty Hun/Italian types commanded by Colin and Zob, ably supported by the Fascist British commanded by Panjo/Pingu.  The had an understrength German platoon (2 squads of regulars), a British Fascist Platoon (1 regular squad and 2 green squads) an independent squad of Italian regulars, a mighty L6 light tank, a captured 18pdr gun and a tripod MG.  They were also awaiting the arrival of reinforcements in the shape of another 2 squad German platoon with an armoured truck and a Panzer 38 in support.

Nasty Germans (Zob, Colin and Panjo)

The gallant defenders of British sovereignty  had 2 mixed platoons each with 2 regular and 1 green squads.  There support consisted of 3 ex-Polish tankettes and a HMG armed steam tank.  They were also awaiting reinforcement by a mixed platoon with 1 regular 1 green infantry squads, a mounted yeomanry squad, an armoured steam truck with an mg and a Rolls Royce armoured car.

Andy and Nathan, Defenders of the Realm

Another change was in the command dice used.  Each individual commander only had 2 command dice, but the CinC had an additional 4 to be split as he saw fit each turn.  No commander could have more than 5 dice though.  So ten dice between 3 commanders, which led to some mutterings about the division of spoils.

The game played well, with the British forcing their right flank in an attempt to circle around the town.  The fascist British seized the town, but were largely kept away from the main British attack by the attentions of a single squad of British Local Defence Volunteers behind a hedge, supported by the single cannon armed tankette.  This was exacerbated by the fact that the German reinforcements also came on on that side of the table.

Nathan finds Germans in the wood

That building is infested with Highlanders

Andy's flank guard of LDV types

This left Colin's 2 squads of Germans, supported by the Italians, the tank and the gun facing off against the remaining 5 British squads, supported by the steam tank.  A risky move by Colin left one of his German squads isolated and outflanked.  I am sure the German soldiers were inspired when their commander legged it and left them to the tender mercies of the advancing British.  The statement "They have too much shock, nothing I can do" was heard from Oberstleutnant Edgecombe as he left them.

The massed British advance, WW1 style

The fascist British look for the pub

The Germans "didn't like it up 'em!"

Armoured(ish) support for Andy's LDV

Italians leave the barracks, ready to be confused

As the game progressed, both reinforcement platoons began to arrive at the same time.  The Germans reinforced the out of position British fascists, while the British came on in position to prevent any easy reinforcement of the outnumbered Germans.

British reinforcements arrive

As do the Germans, under Unterofficer Zobski

Cavalry support the advance

After much ineffective fire the German CinC was last seen running towards Torquay harbour, while the Italian squad wondered what was going on and the British fascists celebrated holding the pub.  The British won the day, although Andy's platoon was close to breaking.  Everybody seemed to enjoy it and the special rules from the Spanish and Home Guard lists were a welcome innovation.

The evening game was Zombicide, continuing our games of Prison Outbreak.  Things did not go well, with almost everybody getting munched and being zombified and horrible.  Damn and blast.

Looks ok, lets get going folks.

Where the hell did all those zombies come from?

All in all it was a good days gaming, which was what was needed before the sad day of Gus' funeral on New Years Eve.