Chain of Command and The Great Crisis of Frederick II

Another bash with CoC today using our 15mm kit and another scenario from the 'Scottish Corridor' Pint Sized Campaign again as a standalone scenario.

This one was 'Encounter At Le Valtru' which has SS (Stephen again) against Scots (yours truly) in a patrol/probe type encounter both with 16 support points.

I added a Churchill, 2 x MMG Teams and an Entrenchment. 

Germans had a Tiger and a 75mm Howitzer dug in and an off table Adjutant.

Patrol phase saw Krauts gain a central table line whilst Scots had a lonely jump off point at village edge whilst others were 'forced' back to cornfield.

Huns managed to form a bit of a strongpoint in buildings with a full section (with the nasty 18 dice for 2 MG42s) later assisted by the Infantry Gun, which managed to break a Vickers team I had deployed.

Added injury was one volley that saw Huns inflict a single kill which my attached Senior Officer decided to absorb and I lost 3 Force Morale (I started with lowly 8 to Hun 10)

I did bring on my Churchill to engage said strongpoint but was soon engaged by Tiger but survived, indeed I later hit the Big Cat with 4 hits (pretty good from 7 dice) and he only saved 3 so he took shock and driver 'stunned'.

But losses mounted elsewhere and further broken saw me dip to a single Force Moral and therefore just a single Command Dice and then a Turn ending use of a CoC Dice ended game as a unit Routed and Morale evaporated.

Another fun game with CoC (we are warming to it) and great to again finish a game, albeit a smallish affair.

As ever not a lot to see in pics as low unit density on table

Germans have deployed on central locations

Scots MMG and section deploy around stream and get punished (it was here the Senior chap to rear bit the dust).

Huns pushing on their left

Strongpoint forming (75mm IG later appeared in front of wall)

I also obtained another board wargame (on bit of a binge at present after a hiatus) with arrival of 'The Great Crisis Of Frederick II' from VUCA Simulations which is a light game on SYW in Europe (certainly compared to 'Clash of Monarchs' which is much more in-depth, detailed and complex) and is a hybrid of Chit Pull with Point to Point movement and Tactical Cards 

Only just set the game up and am perusing the brief rules but its another eye catching game from VUCA chaps.

Chain Of Command - another play of 'Attack on Mouen'

Had another bash with Chain of Command today with Stephen using the same 'Attack on Mouen' scenario (but this time as standard not Big Battle version).

I fielded the Scots and Stephen the SS and it was another interesting and fun game.

With less units (only 1 Platoon each) and supports (but still a bloody Tiger !) the game played much quicker than Saturdays 'big' version.

It was indeed a much different game as Stephen not known for rolling only 1 save out of 11 ever :-)

He got several extra phases early in game allowing his infantry to press forward before Scots could intervene, and then when I did get a phase my Command dice were pretty poor (1 x 6 1 x 5 and 3 x 4 is not ideal). 

The various options and combos of dice are a real feature of system and we both find them fun (or frustrating !) and easy to use in practice.

SS firepower superiority showed much better in this game as they were able to pour on continuous fire onto my chaps causing lots of hits which I then obligingly converted into multiple kills and shock.

A Tiger appeared which I did get the jump on with a 6pdr but only managed a single hit which was treated with due disdain and I had to place smoke from 2" mortar to stymie its effect.

I also had a pop with a Piat team on Ambush but again failed to scratch the big cats armour.

Meanwhile on my right I had 2 Sections broken and a turn ending use of a CoC Dice saw me lose my remaining 5 Morale (started on 8) due to loss of Junior Leaders.

Enjoyed CoC again and great to complete a game in reasonable time with minimal rules issues (only a couple things we were unsure off but found answers in rules or FAQ pretty easily).    

We did discuss the issue that had put us off CoC before ie the use of Mortar Barrages which do seem pretty powerful (not an option in the Scottish Corridor scenarios) but I can now see ways to mitigate (at least potentially) their effect in game mechanics.

We used our 15mm kit and whilst not ideally based for CoC it was easy enough to use 'change' for casualties and suchlike and the ranges do look better than larger scales in imho.

Fuzzy pic of German progress on their left

Two Scots sections Pinned and about to Break under deluge of fire

Tiger appears on central road

Ulster Wargames Society - Chain of Command game played

Monthly club meeting today and I partook in a game of Chain of Command run by Jeremy D and Mr Smylie, using 15mm kit (which visually suits the ground scale).

Been a long time since I played CoC but this was hugely enjoyable and easy to pick up with Jeremys umporing and rules knowledge.

Remembering when Sections count as Sections or as separate teams in relation to Shock effects was only confusing aspect as most other stuff pretty intuitive and the Dice activation/Command system works very well. Having teams reduced to 2 or 3 figures but still able to fire at full firepower (unless shock effects) took a bit of getting used to but certainly works in system overall.

Scenario was from 'Scottish Corridor' Campaign pack and was 'Attack Into Mouen' but bigged up (double OOB I think ?) using Big CoC rules (minimal amount of added complexity) to allow 2 players a side. Walls and Hedges were classed as high so this fairly cut down fields of fire unless in buildings.

So it was attacking SS (commanded by Other Jeremy and Mr Smylie) against defending Scottish heroes (led by Dave T and moi).

Patrol phase saw Scots pretty much pushing forward on right (Dave T) and holding around Mouen on left (yours truly) with Nazis mostly pinned back (there would be further hampered in deployment first two turns by our Close Support Barrage), being denied easy access to farm on our left.

Sure enough we pushed forward on right and I consolidated on left and this worked well as we inflicted some early casualties on Hun.

However once they did deploy the SS sections put out tremendous amount of firing (19 dice ) with their 2 x MG42 teams compared to our sections with their single Bren and rifle teams(12 dice) and Dave started to take hefty casualties and shock and began to fall back but his push forward had slowed SS advance on that flank..

On my flank SS arrived piecemeal around farm (some unlucky command dice rolls) and I was able to deploy my entire Platoon unmolested along hedgerow to continually inflict pain. The SS concentrated a lot of effort on our HMG which deployed in a building (and was eventually destroyed). 

SS deployed a Tiger (!!) and a PzIVH, we had a 6pdr selected as support (but never got to use it as fields of fire not conducive.

We did have 2 Piat Teams and use of my team was highlight of game for me.

I managed to roll a required 1 to deploy it onto a Jump off Point and had a second Command dice roll in hand (as I had rolled 2 sixes) so I placed it in front of the advancing Tiger. The SS had a COC Dice in hand so used this to Opp Fire but only failed to break the Piat team (1 kia) so I fired and indeed hit the Tiger but the shot bounced (Piat rolls 7 dice needing 5-6 the Tiger has a whopping 11 armour dice). However I then rolled new Command Dice with my second phase and rolled another 1 so got another shot off a Tiger and although I barely managed to achieve a hit I scored 4 penetrations and the Tiger on managed to save 1 (out of 11 dice needing 5-6 !!) so was ko'd and then very obliging exploded causing numerous hits on two nearby Hun sections. Huzzah !!

Sadly the nasty vengeful SS wiped out these heroes soon after so posthumous gallantry awards.

Dave T also used his Piat and managed to hit the PzIV which was crossing a wall and whilst not damaged it was forced to retire. 

This along with several other losses caused SS to declare they would quit the field

Great days gaming with a rule set I have neglected but which worked pretty well for scale of game its set at (nominally same as IABSM but feels bit more 'skirmish' level)

Overview from Scots left after Jump Off Points established

Dave T uses his JOPs to deploy well forward on Scot right

SS were denied access to farm but did start to deploy around its environs

My Platoon begins to deploy along hedgeline 

Scots use smoke to protect from the massed MG42 deluge of fire

Big cat appears

As does its PzIVH running mate

Tussle for farm (SS have taken several losses here)

But they eventually consolidated in the orchard

My Platoon is now fully deployed pouring fire at any enemy that appeared (as remnants of one section is broken and retreats)

"THE TIGER IS BURNING !!" (thank goodness)

Also at club (it was a 20th century day) were games of Battlegroup and another Team Yankee (believe these chaps are practicing for a 'mainland' competition next year).

Did not see how these played or turned out ?

Team Yankee, I think it was Warsaw Pact Czechs vs British and West Germans

Battlegroup game with Adam and Dave Ps lovely 20mm kit. Think this was an ad hoc set up rather than a formal scenario (?)

Another Big Cat in the mix

And the not often seen Buffaloes about to have artillery dumped on them I think

Lasalle 2 at the Ulster Wargames Society

First meeting of Ulster Wargames Club in Belfast today since Februrary 2020.

Stephen and I brought along his French and my Prussian forces for another game of Lasalle 2 using Scenario 5 'Hold Your Ground' with French in defence.

Good old slog along a river line with my Prussian Grenadiers managing to take one of the two town objectives but my Line units failing to take the other despite 6 separate assaults !! got nowhere near the third objective in French rear area.

My Skirmishing dice were very poor all day even when I had 28 vs initial French 18 and I only won one phase outright, with 2 drawn (I did get Initiative on those 2) and lost other 5 phases.

Pretty much a toe to toe scenario this one as French can line river with initial forces and tough nut to crack (the extra MO needed to move/charge across river is a real drain) even before French reserves arrive.

Another fun and slick game with these rather enjoyable rules despite (or maybe because of) its abstractions and broad brush style.

Was great to get back to further normality and see people in the flesh as it were instead of via Zoom. I hope to get to Elimination club as well in due course (just have not had a free Friday evening this month)

Besides our game there was a Field Of Glory Renaissance game (Ottomans Turk vs Venetians) and a Chain Of Command game (British vs German).

Prussian right wing attacks  

As Grenadiers and Russian support attack on left

A solid line of French defenders (several Elite Battalions to the fore)

Disorders start to accumulate

Prussian cavalry are across river

First assaults on town are repulsed

Russian suffering on my left as Grenadiers threaten an unoccupied town

French cavalry have appeared to counter my mounted units (we both lost a unit each)

Grenadiers about to take the town (Prussian high water mark)

The 'two Davids' and Paul with the FOGR clash, I tried to take a pic of the rather excellent flags on display but photo does not do them justice.

The 'two Jeremys' and yet another 'two Davids' and Phil (a newcomer to the fold) battle it out on western front with CoC i