I've come out, I am still unconvinced about CoC.

 My son came over to play the next game or games in our Abbeville campaign, because he had won the last one he 'Blitzkreiged' on to the next map so as not to lose a turn, the down side was that he had to use the same force he had won the previous game with. The bad news for me is that despite getting some half decent support points these troops would not arrive until Turn 2, a dubious requirement in Chain of Command as Turn 1 can sometimes last all game, so I was at the mercy of the Hun.

German end of the table.

British end, who picked this?

Stewart was coming over some open ground with the odd hedge to give him light cover, I put down a couple of squads hoping to inflict some damage but, as we Scots say I did hee haw. My own squads were now shot to pieces. I decided I could not suffer any more casualties to I withdrew, I was so cheesed off with this game I forgot to take pictures. Stewart had come a long way to give me a game and the first clash took less time than it took to put the table together.

We quickly set up for the next game, which was one of my least favourite scenarios 'Going With A Bang' a real uphill struggle for the defender, I got one free engineer squad and had to buy another as one would not cut it. I decided to use my untested platoon as it was at full strength, Stewart did the same. I took a couple of MMG's and a Morris C9 armoured car, the Jerries brought an infantry gun, pioneer squad (15 men), and a mortar barrage.

I dropped an MMG in order to catch Stewart as he deployed, I had intended to back it up with a second but they had found a NAAFI canteen somewhere along with my mortar men, I also brought on a squad to take a nearby house before the Germans were fully deployed. Then the bad guys turned up, I unleashed Hell but did nothing but discomfit the birds in the trees. The huge squad a returned fire and my machine gunners began to die. More Jerries were now turning up and I deployed a second squad to catch them, nope, again I dealt out a couple of headaches but needed an undertaker for my guys from the return fire, "Make that four coffins."

Germans turn up and my men suffer.

The killing blow.

Stewart gets ready.

Soon this squad broke and ran, so I put my last squad in the line, the armoured car meanwhile did nothing, does the NAAFI do deliveries? Then in it came, the mortar barrage hit bang on target, the result of which was the destruction of my newly arrived squad, I had had it and called a halt, four German squads were now positioning themselves for the end of the barrage to attack anything which was left, I saw no way out. Once again I had been shot to bits.

Incoming!

Yes British 'armour' and I use the term loosely.

I looked at the next scenario in the campaign, basically a blank field with one building and a couple of hedges, what support the British had required the use of two, yes two, CoC dice to come on, the enemy could scupper this if the British ever managed to get two, by using one to delay further their arrival. The up shot of this was my men gave up and were looking for signs to Dunkerque. 

The disparity in losses, again.

So that is the third early war campaign out the window, each one has been a disaster for the defender, and yes I did win several of the games but only just. Some parts were unclear, perhaps I could have used armour in this one, but if I did and the Germans cannot get heavy support for the first several moves what would be the point of the game, no fun for the other guy. And the book scenarios are just rubbish, there I said it. I won't bore you with some of the other anomalies which turned up and there were a few.

Does anyone actually play test these before letting them loose? 

My biggest gripe and it may surprise players of CoC is that the five dice command system stinks. You very rarely get more than 2 dice to command the troops, both Stewart and I suffered from this in the games as have Matt and I, you might at best get 3 you can use, the rest are 4's, 5's or 6's or combinations of them all resulting in getting nothing from your troops. Sure they can help but if you are attempting a coordinated attack then forget it. Stewart failed repeatedly to get a 1 to bring on his support options, I was in the same boat, I got one support option on during the second game. I have to admit I have had more enjoyable games with Bolt Action than I have had with Chain of Command.

I have some ideas which may bring back some fun but I don't have time to go into them at the moment and to be honest I also don't have the inclination. 

 Elsewhere I finished my Sherman 105, my American armour is now complete.