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Tonight I played another frustrating game of Chain of Command, and had great fun doing so! The scenario was "A delaying action" with an American platoon trying to press forward against a hard-pressed volksgrenadier platoon during the Hurtgenwald campaign.
As I don't have enough trees for a full table of trees (yet) I have had to compromise. The area behind the tape measure counts as entirely covered by trees. Thecentre of the board represents a firebreak, which were very common obstacles in the Hurtgen.
The Americans got off to a great start, their patrol phase went well and they had a clear plan of action (flank attack across the firebreak supported by 2 squads on overwatch in the treeline and a forward observer). They then got 4 consecutive phases!
The dramatic American advance on the flank which overran a jump off point and looked to threaten the main objective too forced the Germans to launch a counter-attack in the woods, which was promptly squashed by the forward observer who called in a danger-close barrage.
Most of the rest of the game involved the Americans carefully advancing to avoid unnecessary casualties, using the barrage as cover. The Germans were very limited in how they could respond, although they got very luck with their leaders as only 1 was hit despite 14 casualties.
The finale of the game saw the American flanking squad charge into combat with a HMG and 2 senior leaders. Normally I wouldn't have done this as it wasn't sensible, but as I haven't used the melee rules in CoC yet I wanted to give them a go. It did not go well...
The chargers were wiped out, but in turn they wiped out the renments of a team, knocking German force morale down to 3 for the Americans 7. At this I called the game an American victory as it was only a matter of time. I think I'm getting to grips with the American style of...
... play but I am struggling with the green volksgrenadiers. It's my own fault, I just can't seem to get them coordinated on the table. I keep playing them like they're regulars, but I think I need to expect less from them and stop exposing them to risks.
