Von Luck-Turn 1-Patrol on the Ring Contour

Two weeks ago, PY and myself started a new Chain of Command campaign. I had already played this once many years ago but I do not think that we finished it. PY is playing the campaign currently with Graham.

The campaign was written some years ago for CoCv1 but we are using as many v2 rules as possible and since this is a late war game we are using the updated platoon lists. Supports, however, are limited to what were listed in the original campaign, aside from those which are neutral in respect to what was available at that stage of the war. An example would be replen points. 

The first game is scenario one from the main rulebook, we are using the v2 scenarios: The Patrol. In this campaign the Germans with a Panzergrenadier platoon are attacking a defending platoon of British Paratroopers. The campaign uses an interesting mechanism where in the first scenario the Paratroopers are dispersed in the parachute drop so there full platoon is not available for the first game. 

125th Panzergrenadier

SL

3 Squads

Supports 5

Sniper

Red Dice

12 Para (Elite)

SL

Sniper

3 Sections minus Bren Team

Supports 0

The Game 

The usual great terrain by PY with the German approach to the right. I ended up pretty far back with my JOPs. while the Brits were well lodged in cover.

This was a very short game, as I made a ridiculous mistake early on. The photo is from the final phase before I withdrew. For some reason that escapes me, I brought on my SL when I only had one squad on as well as the sniper. This squad did some significant damage to one of the Para sections, but PY was able to bring on all 3 squads and the PZ squad got massacred. At this point, FM had dropped and it was time to get out of there. Victory to the Paratroopers Turn 1.

Summing Up

German Platoon 1

CO -1

MO 0

Platoon Leaders Outlook Content

Platoon 1- 3 dead, 2 missing

British Platoon 1

CO +2

MO +4

Platoon Leaders Outlook Affable

Platoon 2- 2 dead, 1 missing

+2 on FM roll

 

Von Luck-Turn 5-The Church on the Flank

We played our 5th turn in the Von Luck campaign this past Saturday, this is the 4th table of 5 and I had yet to gain a victory. I withdrew from the 1st table immediately as hardly any paratroopers had shown up from their drop points and lost table 2 and 3. I was able to initiate a Naval Bombardment at the beginning of Turn 3, so this was our 5th turn but really 3rd game. Mike decided to bring in his 1st platoon again and I had a completely new platoon which was for this scenario only.

Situation Post Turn 4
Platoon 1: Brits 9 dead, 3 missing for next game
Platoon 1: Germans 1 dead, 1 missing for next game

Brits: CO -1, MO -1, PLO Happy

Germans: CO +5, MO +8 PLO Affable

British Paratroopers (FM 11)

Fresh Paratrooper Platoon

3 Supports

2" Mortar Team
Entrenchment

German Panzergrenadiers (FM 11)

#1 Panzergrenadier Platoon (-2 men)
14 Supports

Adjutant
SL

FO

Lorraine Schlepper

So on to the game:

The table from the British end

Patrol Markers and JOP's

Mike brought on the Schleper, an FO as well as a SL with a PG squad in the upper right hand corner of the table in the first couple of phases. I held off for quite a bit as he bombardered the church and eventually destroying it. I did bring on two 2" mortar teams to lay down some smoke. They really had a problem with accuracy and even when smoke was laid down Mike would just move it so it could re-aim. Mike also broughton a barrage pretty quickly covering two of my JOP's. I then got sorely tempted by a squad he placed on his right flank and carefully brought on 2 sections one in the churchyard and one behind a hedge. I was able to kll 3 of his men but as things went the creeping barrage started to creep. I had by now lost one of my 2" Mortars to the HE from the Schelper and was startinto take some morale hits........

.........I then foolish brought on my 3rd section to take out the German squad in the open after ending the turn,thus removing the smoke and all markers (but not unfortunately the barrage as Mike had plenty of CoC dice). I was quite unsucessful and coupled with the fact that I forgot that I even had Snipers available until near the end of the game, things started to go downhill. By then the barrage had crept over 2 sections, the church and one building had been destroyed taking the 2 snipers with it and my 3rd section had routed from the 13d6HE the Schlepher puts out. Morale plummetting, it was time to withdraw. In retrospect I really played this one poorly and deserved to lose!

So another British Loss, now really quite hopeless as I have to win 3 games in a row on the last table to prevent the Germans taking Table 5 in 8 turns. This is made all the worse by the lack of clarity in the ruleset in respect to using snipers and open topped Armoured vehicles.

Situation Post Turn 5
Manpower
British Platoon 1: 9 dead
British Platoon 2: na
British Platoon 3:  Intact
German Platoon 1: Germans 1 dead next game
German Platoons 2,3: Intact
Command Status

Brits: CO -1, MO -3, PLO Affable

Germans: CO +7, MO +10 PLO Affable
Effect
Brits: 0 Supports, 0 FM
Germans: +2 Supports, +4 FM, SL 4CI 12"CR

Von Luck-Turn 4-The Corridor of Death

 

Mike and myself played out turn 4 in our Von Luck campaign yesterday. It was quite a complex terrain layout so we played at my place....just way too much to transport. The next table is much simpler so we will play at the Hobby Bunker, which is a shorter drive for Mike as he comes from RI and of course we like to advertise CoC whenever possible.

Post Turn 3

Brits: CO +1, MO +3, PLO Happy

Germans: CO +2, MO +3, PLO Happy

So on to table 3- Attacking the Corridor of Death.....

Mike had only 1 dead man so he went with the same platoon, I was missing a rifle team, a bren team and a 2" Mortar team from my original platoon but had two opportunities to dice for their return as 2 turns had passed and lo and behold, they all showed up. Since I had only 4 men dead, I decided to go with this platoon. I had a plan and it involved using scout teams, so I decided to remove the 4 SMG armed troops as my dead figures.

British Paratroopers (FM 11)

2 SL

Sniper

Piat Team
2" Mortar  Team

Section 1 (-1 SMG)

Section 2 (-1 SMG)

Section 3 (-2 SMG), Sniper

MMG Team
2" Mortar Team
Gammon bombs

German Panzer Grenadiers (FM 10)

Panzergrenadier Platoon (-1man)

Adjutant

FO

MMG Team
Werfer Pregame Barrage

Lorraine Schlepper

On to some photos....

The British end

I thought I did a nice job on the table

German Approach

The Patrol Phase....Mike got 6 free moves!

The JOP's

So the game started, my plan was to wait until Mike deployed, I was pretty convinced that he would take a Werfer Barrage, a FO as well as the Lorraine Schlepper, he had 20 Support points. He did deploy and I quickly built up 2 CoC dice but at  same time Mike had also accumulated 2 CoC dice! My plan was to break off a couple of scout teams armed with the gammon bombs in the hope that I could get close to the Lorraine Schlepper and take it out as it only had an armour of 2. The Piat was going to be difficult to get close enough even with an Ambush as I knew Mike would keep the vehicle back. I also had to get him to get his barrage down before I deployed. Well this sort of worked aside from the Scout teams, but what I had not predicted that Mike's plan was to destroy all the houses on my side of the table thus leaving with no Hard Cover in which to deploy, this also cleared his LOS to my right flank from his 2nd story buildings. He did lay down his barrage as you can see from above, fortunately I had no troops under it and it only took out one JOP.

Mike then deployed his 3 squads on the table as well as his MMG team in one of the 2 story buildings.

The Lorraine Schlepper is quite a weapon, Mike did a very nice job on the model. It fires 13 HE. .....

......as you can see he destroyed 4 of my 5 buildings. We played back and forth with his initial barrage, but I got a triple 6 on my CD and ended his first barrage as well as his Wefer barrage. I got set up in the forest and advanced my troops but then disaster struck as you can see above. Mike got a double 6 and his FO called up the barrage a 2nd time, he got a five, so it was available! With some miraculous accurracy of fire he was able to trap 2 full sections as well as a SL under the barrage. We both had 2 CoC dice, so when I ended the turn, he would use a CoC to continue the barrage. My troops held up pretty well for a while but Mike got another double 6 and they started to wilt so I withdrew. We ended both with a FM of 10.

Post Turn 4
Platoon 1: Brits 9 dead, 3 missing for next game
Platoon 1: Germans 1 dead, 1 missing for next game

Brits: CO -1, MO -1, PLO Happy

Germans: CO +5, MO +8 PLO Affable

So another victory to the Germans, it is starting to look a little hopeless although I have to say that the next table looks a little easier for the British to win. But of course, one would have thought that  with all that hard cover the Airborne would have been a little safer.

Mike really played a good game here, I have to admit that I never would of thought that of destroying all the buildings as he did thus removing all my hard cover that combined with a very accurate barrage made it quite difficult for me.

I suspect our next game might not be until late July. I am going away the 1st two weeks of July. Lots of gaming planned though. Moving on to the next turn of Too Many Rivers to Cross campaign Saturday week with Greg. Off to Montreal then, I have 3 games planned: A CoC 1940 game with PY, a GdA game with Iannick and then myself and PY are going to start the All American campaign at his place. I am quite looking forward to this as he has some beautiful figures and terrain. It will be also interesting to see how CoC plays in 28mm. Unfortunately myself and Tom appear to have great difficulties getting to game 2 in our Bloody Bucket campaign, very conflicting schedules!

Von Luck Redux

Hans Von Luck

Myself and Mike were able to restart our Kampfgruppe Von Luck campaign yesterday. We had messed up the supports as well as the terrain table in our first go and decided to replay both games. I had set up 2 tables in anticipation of playing the 1st two scenarios in one go but unfortunately Mike was running late so I decided to tear down the 1st table and call it an automatic withdrawal for the Brits and go straight to the 2nd table. As it turned out, I would have withdrawn anyway as none of my troops showed up for the 1st battle except 1 SL, a Piat team and Section 1!

Initial Platoon Ratings

Brits: CO +1, MO +2, PLO Happy

Germans: CO 0, MO +1, PLO Content

Post Turn 1

Brits: CO +1, MO +3, PLO Happy

Germans: CO +2, MO +3, PLO Happy

So on to table 2.....

British Paratroopers (FM 11)

2 SL

Sniper

Piat Team

Section 1

Section 2 with JL and Bren Team

Section 3 with Bren Team

FO

German Panzer Grenadiers (FM 9)

Panzer Grenadier Platoon

SL

FO

MMG Team

Halftrack

On to some photos....

The Patrol Phase went well for the Brits with the Germans isolated to 1 quadrant of the table.

Few photos were taken but we were bot able to get our FO's firing but theGermans got their Mortar Barrage  down first and my single intact section was rapidly chopped up. I have to say Mike had the most incredible luck with the dice getting multiple double phases as well as numerous 5's and 6's on his to hit dice, so despite my troops being elite my troops dropped like flies.....

.........I got 2 double phases one on my 2nd phase which was of little value and one triple 6 on the last phase which eliminated my Mortar Barrage just after I laid it down. I really had the most appalling luck with the die! So with both our FM at 8, I withdrew from the table. I believe I ended up with 4 dead and 2 missing while Mike had 1 dead and 2 missing. 

Post Turn 2

Brits: CO +1, MO +2, PLO Happy

Germans: CO +3, MO +6, PLO Affable

This moves the Germans to +1 in Supports and +3 on Force Morale throws

On to turn 3................

Naval Bombardment occurs preventing Germans from advancing on table 3.

Next game turn 4, Mike has 5 turns to achieve Victory by taking the next 3 tables. It is going to be a challenge.............for the Brits!

Kampfgruppe Von Luck-A Third CoC Campaign

Yesterday saw the start of my 3rd simultaneous CoC campaign. Back to Normandy and D-Day in this one, with action between British Paratroopers and the German Panzergrenadiers east of the Orne River.

In our campaign we see an attempt by the Germans to counterattack and capture 2 bridges across the Orne that the Allies are holding after their initial June 6th attack. The German troops are 3 Panzergrenadier Platoons from 125 Panzer Regiment an element of 21 Panzer Division. The British have 2 platoons from 12 Para and 1 Platoon from 13 Para. Unfortunately for the Brits, the men in 12 Para were dispersed after their intial drop so their platoon is incomplete for each of the early scenarios.

Anyway on to our game. The table follows and is quite simple with very little cover and played according to scenario 1 from the main rulebook.

Patrol Phase

Final JOP positions

Forces

Germans Regular Panzergrenadiers FM 10

Panzergrenadier Platoon #1
Supports (5)
Werfer Pre-Game Barrage
Adjutant

British Elite Paratroopers FM 11
SL
2" Mortar Team
#1 Section w/JL
#2 Section Bren Team, no JL
#3 Section Absent
Supports(0)

Scenario 1 Patrol on the Ring Contour

It was a pretty quick game, Mike used the Werfer Barrage to great effect and is was 4 phases before I got on the table. By then I think Mike had 3 squads in place all on Overwatch making it very tricky to deploy. The fact that he was able to get his north-most JOP so far east also somewhat stymied me. I was able to lay some smoke down from the 2"mortar as well as throwing a smoke grenade causing him to hit on -1. It quickly became obvious that I was not going to cause too much damage and I felt lucky to get my 1st section off with 7 causualties and a dead JL after taking a pounding fro 3 squads on a double phase. The Germans suffered a single casualty.

The Summing Up

Germans
Zero losses
CO Opinion +1
Men's Opinion +3 (+1 FM)
Platoon Leaders Outlook-Content
Started with 33 men ended with 33 men

Brits
3 men dead, 2 MIA, JL Section #1-1CI
CO Opinion +1
Men's Opinion -1
Platoon Leaders Outlook-Short Tempered
Started with 19 men ended with 14 men

Scenario 2 Probe among the Hedgerows
Well knowing that the 1st scenario was going to be short, I actually had clevely set up the 2nd table so we would be already to go. A rapid removal of the terrain mat and with a 15 minute rapid set up of table 2, it seemed we would be good.

Lack of sleep (I worked until 2am that morning and was up at 6am) and rushing however is sometimes very counter-productive. We played the whole game, I think we made a few minor mistakes in the game play and a fairly rapid withdrawal by the Brits (there is not much you can do with 19 men as I only added a 3 man Bren Team, a Sniper and the JL for section 3).

Unfortunately, I recognised after we finished up that we had played the Patrol Phase along the long axis of the table rather than the short axis as laid out in the scenario. This really changes the whole complexion of the game so we decided that we would replay the scenario. We will redice for supports but I will not redice to see which units I have available.

Hmm...there is something just not right here!

Forces for Game 2

Germans Regular Panzergrenadiers

Panzergrenadier Platoon #2
13 Support Points


British Elite Paratroopers
SL
2" Mortar Team
#1 Section Bren Team w/JL (1 CI)
#2 Section Bren Team, no JL
#3 Section Bren Team, JL and Sniper
4 Support Points

The good news is that Mike is going on Sabbitical for 6 months starting in a month so as I am off 2-3 days of the week, I am hoping we can get our next game in soon.