Chain of Command

Ziggy and I got to play a game of Chain of Command on Saturday. It's been a while since we played but since CoC is a great and simple rule system, it was easy enough to pick right up where we left off. We played scenario 6 - Attack on an Objective. I ended up as the attacker. I used a Regular Soviet Infantry platoon and Z used a Regular German Grenadier Platoon.

For support I took a 50mm mortar, a Matilda tank (used Valentine stats) and a Scout Squad. Zig took a minefield and a Panzerschreck team.

Here's the board from my edge.

The white markers are my jump-off points.

Another view. The small building in the back with the howitzer in it is my objective.

The early going. I've managed to get a squad deployed in the woods, the mortar team set up in the field and a Recon team making its way around the right side. Green yarn indicates that a squad is "going tactical" - being careful and using all available cover. Ziggy is deploying a Grenadier squad in the large ruined building - an MG42 covering the doorway opposite my squad.

The two squads begin trading fire. This would be a recurring theme for the game.

A second German squad is revealed within the tree line! Red squad is taking a beating from the MG42.

The mortar kicks up a lot of noise and branches around the newly revealed squad, but they suffer only a shock point.

The Matilda appears on my left flank. Red squad takes cover to try to reduce the effect of the blasted machinegun.

The Germans continue to pile on, getting within Assault range and adding another point of shock to my squad.

But then, the Soviets finally get their act together and throw another squad into the fray, firming up the center.

I then emptied the Chain of Command pool and used an "Interrupt" while the Germans in the woods were preparing to fire, resulting in a kill and four shock. The Germans went tactical. The Matilda lent the weight of its machinegun to the fray.

I ended up with a magical activation roll - 1,2,4,6,6 which allowed me to deploy all of my remaining troops and take a second phase immediately afterwards. I deployed the other half of the Recon squad, Yellow squad (on my right) and the Senior Leader. During my follow-up phase, the Recon squad and Blue squad decimated the Germans in the center, leaving just four of the Huns.

Moments later a rocket flashed out from the woods edging the road and stuck the tank square, brewing it up almost instantly.

The first turn ended. The fight for the woods was over.

The Germans continued to pound on Red squad until I backed them out of sight. I also shifted Blue squad out of sight.

A few moments later, the Germans burst from the building and deployed in a firing line which seemed suicidal. I went to fire my Recon team but was Interrupted! The German marksmanship was completely off the mark and failed to achieve anything. The return fire by the two Soviet squads was on the other hand, devastating, resulting in four KIAs and nine shock points.

We called the game there - Ziggy only had one functional squad to my three (Yellow, Blue and Recon) plus my mortar.

The fight in the woods was very tense and really could have gone either way. Only the fortunate appearance of additional squads and my Senior at just the right time kept me in the game. I learned that Panzerschrecks are just nasty - especially against out-of-date pine boxes. We enjoyed playing with additional toys and trying out the new goodies. Maybe next time Z will be able to put the StuG on the table. If you haven't tried it, Chain of Command is a fantastic game and it is well worth the price of admission.

This is probably my last post until Christmas, so Merry Christmas! I hope you and your families have a wonderful day. I'm getting a new lead and resin pile so I'll be busy for quite some time.