Go East Young(ish) Man

Not a bad morning, not raining for a change albeit the clouds are pretty grey. Poured down last night on the way to the club and dark as well, as much as I like heat I do like it to be dark when it's supposed to be so no car washing or gardening etc. on light nights.

I digress, another round of Chain of Command on the Eastern Front, a leisurely combat again more for learning rules etc. than trying for an outright win, which is just as well because by the time we got sorted out it was 2000 hrs before a shot was fired. In future a lot of the faffing about at the beginning can be done before we arrive. The Russians were trying to delay the German advance, again I took infantry rather than panzergrenadiers and threw caution to the wind by taking in support an infantry gun and SdKfz 7/1 Quad AA halftrack and no tank. Simon took time deliberating between a KV or a 57mm A/T gun and MMG, thankfully he came down on the choice without the tank, although all my squads had one Panzerfaust 30 and the platoon had a Panzerschrek so I was not completely without anti-tank capability.

The terrain was fairly open with clumps of corn and a couple of woods giving some cover, very different from a Normandy battlefield. I brought on a squad in the middle and started them off to take the nearby wood, the Soviets countered by putting a squad in a cornfield, I met this with my infantry gun and started shelling the Reds, my rolling was very good and although I did not manage a lot of shock I did get kills, I also managed to wound the Junior Leader and put him out of action for the turn. Simon now brought on his 57mm A/T gun and another squad on my right, now was the moment I had been waiting for, my halftrack appeared and Simon's face went white, OK, an exaggeration but you get the idea. The quad autocannons opened up and dealt out several kills to the newly arrived squad, I also backed this up with an infantry squad and they too dealt death to the Ruskies, another Junior Leader took a hit.

 The wounded Junior Leaders meant the Russian command and control hit rock bottom and Simon had to bring on his only Senior Leader and this meant anything else had to make a die roll before turning up, this, allied to some bad command rolls really left his men floundering. I was not going to fulfill my scenario requirements because we simply did not have enough time however I was a lot more pleased with my choices and the way the game went for me than the last game where I never really got off the ground, the rolls were reversed this time.

I have put up the white flag and will start collecting Russians once my latest SYW battalions are complete, I might even get a tank between them, I am looking at 1944/45. The Russians kept their A/T rifles in use right up until the end of the war and after, I wanted at least one for a support team, the one I liked was the plastic Bolt Action figures but I did not want the rest of the troops from the box. Knowing that people usually had to buy extra boxes to complete armies I asked online and two gentlemen replied and have sent me a few rifles so that I can have my supports and am not restricted to just one either. Many thanks Paul and Michael. I have done the same in the past with decals and figures so perhaps no good deed goes without some reward, gotta love wargamers.

Commission from a new client arrived yesterday, a book on Australian squadrons in Europe in WWII, just three maps but hopefully a good start. Some War and Conquest gaming coming up on Sunday, Patrician Romans vs Normans and Seleucids vs Spartans, challenging games, especially the latter. The weekend after will be two days of Chain of Command with maybe the start of a campaign on the second day. Right, back to the drawing board.