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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert to Trees

 Busy time coming up for me with a wedding, NHS appointments and a little late year break so possibly the last blog for a few weeks as again the Atlas is catching up with me and proving difficult to finish despite the end of the tunnel being in sight, just.

So this week I travelled the still horrendous roadworks on the M6, with no one in sight working yet only allowed to go at 50 mph, seemingly I must have missed the majestic sweep of a horde of wildebeest, neon signs told of 'Animals on Road' as once again I was slowed down for around 6 miles. I digress, as usual, I went to Matt's and had suggested something medieval, I found myself somewhere in southern Spain commanding an Arab army with some Christian mercenaries against another local Arab Emir. Another lovely set up with two fairly large armies, both mainly spearmen, light and heavy cavalry with plenty of archers, my heavy cavalry were Christians while Matt's counter were heavy camelry.

An oasis.

Good guys on the left, baddies on the right.

We played using Kings of War, well outwith my comfort zone but Matt likes them and ran the game well, giving me the odd advice when required. My first impression was that I would push my cavalry on both wings, especially my left as there was quite a bit of missile troops on that side and massed archery has a power of its own. My right I was trusting to my heavy mercenaries, I would wait and see what Matt did in the centre. He actually came on at a good pace and I decided to push everything into combat I could, a lot of the time I was fighting uphill but the way the rules played I only had a slight minus and I was prepared to weather the storm.

My left flank.

My left centre missile men.

My left flank light cavalry.

Here come the camels.

My right advances.

I was assaulted by the camels but held and it turned into a long to and fro combat, my heavy cavalry on the right could not be stopped and put paid to the enemy horse on that side and then charged some spearmen. On the left my cavalry again swept away the enemy which was lucky as both sides were equal on that flank. My tactic of letting the archers loose was paying off as Matt was slowed down and unable to close while his morale suffered.

The camels are knocked back.

Christians forward!

The camels about to lose.

We arrived at the crises point as my men routed the camels at last while my other victorious infantry closed in on the remaining beasts, it was all over and I received Matt's sword and then returned it as he had fought so gallantly, Mustapha Rest was delighted. Another superb game in the Dungeon, is there a period Matt cannot do, I doubt it and if there is I am sure it is waiting on his shelves. Due to us both having hols our next clash will be mid-September, the BEF might have got over their shock victory by then. 

The next game is in two days time against Erik who has asked to have another shot at Johnny Reb. I have set up a small, but interesting game based around the Reb flank march at Chancellorsville, once again one of Paul Stevenson's, I have found a file with all sorts of scenarios from years ago and most are Paul's, recommended if you ever find some. 

The above was played today, I offered Erik sides and thought he would jump at the Federals but he chose the Rebs, outnumbered with little chance of holding the crossroads objective however I could not stop him getting the wagon trains off the table, so it was down to an old fashioned firefight. We both managed to get our forces on with the Confederates setting up in the centre while I stretched my brigades to eventually take on the Secesh flanks. I had two battalions of Berdan's sharpshooters for the first time ever in a game I think and they proved pretty dismal, once failing to hit an enemy regiment full flank and get a kill.

The forces arrive for both sides.

The Rebs rush forward.

The Federals do the same.

Erik skilfully withdrew his troops and soon I was in a position to force the issue as my men closed in and a furious firefight began. Neither side suffered much at first and I launched my first charge as I was confident I had the numbers, win or lose. More charges followed from both sides while my less than stellar sharpshooters edged around the Reb left flank. Erik was now hemmed in as his line buckled, he threw some more charges in in a desperate attempt to gain time but it was not to be. The Confederate left and right were now in disarray with regiments fleeing and Union troops bursting the line and heading for his rear area.

The Yanks are ready to advance as musketry breaks out.

The Union left move into the woods.

The Rebel line in dissaray.

We called a halt at this but after he left I finished the few moving fires we had not done, these brought nothing new except the 4th Virginia which had stood like a stonewall (as they did at Bull Run) threw snake eyes for a loss of stand and fled, it really was over now.

The Confederates break.

The Rebel right.

The Confederate left.

The New Yorkers get behind the Rebs.

So another exciting game of Johnny Reb under the belt, I don't think either side would have got their objectives so it was down to a stand up fight and although Erik got some rather good morale throws he also got a couple of bummers, my own remained pretty average and that was fine.

I forgot I have one more game before heading for a break, after that it will be mid September before I pick up a set of dice again. 

I was dragged kicking and screaming to the Morecambe Maritime Festival which turned out to be a posh name for four or five groups singing sea shanties for charity. I popped in to the Winter Gardens building and spent a bit of time at a model ship section which had some beautiful models on show, the light was dodgy hence no photographs. I then bumped into an old salt who had his own mini Titanic travelling show, I took to him right away and we bantered about the Merchant vs Royal Navy, fair winds and calm seas old 'un.

Ouch, again

 Back to Chain of Command and the next game in our Abbeville campaign. I am now fighting to the end with this platoon albeit I do get reinforcements if required, which I am sure they will be as Matt can replace his platoon with a fresh one if he needs to.

For support I chose an A10 tank and a Universal carrier with a bren and a Junior Leader, I had plans to use this as a mobile pillbox. Matt went all Panzerwaffe again with a Pz 38(t), one of my favourite tanks, along with an extra squad. There would be two ammunition dumps on my side of the battlefield and I had to blow both or force the Germans to retreat, I received two free demolition teams for this but still felt it would be a hard one to win. I have played this type of scenario several times and have never been successful.

British end of the village.

German approach.

The Ammunition dumps.

I quickly put troops in an orchard which controlled the approach to the dumps while Matt had, as seems usual in these games, to come at me over open ground. I also brought on my tank and Matt parried with his, the armour would spend several phases duelling before my tin can exploded. Meanwhile the Germans built up a firing line and peppered the orchard, I reinforced the boys there and bullets flew between us, I had also backed up my men with the Universal carrier. Matt brought his usual French saboteur which I had to spend time to deal with, grrrr.

The saboteur makes a quick getaway.

So much for the British armour.

Matt attacks the orchard.

Things looked to be going my way and I got quite a few double turns, quite soon a couple of German squads were fleeing rearward, then I lost my tank, this gave heart to the Jerries and my guys in the orchard began to suffer from the steel monster. The game also picked up as my morale fell to one while Matt's dropped to three, Matt only needed a decent command roll to receive bragging rights. Then things went pear shaped for him, I got two good command rolls and ran my carrier into his line and captured a leader, I think I got something else during the round as the resulting Bad Things Happen test put the Jerries on zero, I had won. As I counted the cost it turned out it had been a Pyrrhic victory, my platoon had been cut to ribbons. I have yet to roll for reinforcements and I need something really high for that, I could have slunk off but where would the fun have been in that.

Pz 38(t).

Boom, got one, one more to go.

Game winner, for you Fritz the war is over.

We should of course have the Jerries fighting again on this table but to be honest with my losses and more Boche support points I don't think it would be worth it. I have now fought a couple of 1940 campaigns and have another going with my son, yes I know the Jerries should win but in a wargame the underdog should still stand a chance however slim, the next game may put the kibosh on things.

Friend Simon fixed my PC problem recently and had to return to install another drive, I took the opportunity to offer him a game here in the Bunker and he chose ACW. I found an old disc with my collected ACW scenarios from various sources and chose another of Paul Stevenson's, Harris's Farm. It is 1864 and the Union are running out of men in the East and have brought garrison troops and heavy artillery units in to serve as infantry, I believe this was their first real fight and they suffered for it. 

In the scenario the huge new regiments are split into three green battalions each and their officers are rated Poor so their command and control is almost non existent, on the Confederate side the troops are mainly veterans and many are elite albeit some are only 200 men strong. The Union must hold three farms and a crossroads while the Rebs need only to capture one along with the crossroads, a hard task for both sides.

View towards the Reb lines.

The Union in the distance.

I  took the Union and tried to move them to the front as quickly as I could but it was slow going, the Rebs came on quickly and my forward troops were swept away by the surprise attack. I did eventually manage to build up a decent battle line but had only managed to take one of the farms, I did however control the crossroads. It looked like my left was fairly safe but there were some furious firefights in the centre and the pressure was building up on my right. 

The Federals rush for the front.

Simon rushes his troops forward.

Although my lines was beginning to stabilise I was losing out in the firefights as my casualties were double those dealt out to the Rebs. As Simon now began to push forward against my right I got two guns up to hopefully chase him away and anchor my defences. It was not to be, the battery ran out of ammunition and one gun crew were shot down around their piece. I now tried to surprise the Rebs and threw three charges at them, I felt safe as I now had a line behind which could be a refuge if things went wrong, although it was still a desperate move.

Union right under pressure.

It turned out to be a disaster, all the charges were stopped and had to retreat, the resulting morale checks also put paid to my 'safety' line and as the smoke cleared my right was shattered. I called a halt, I had nothing left to hold on to the crossroads. Simon's luck was certainly in during this game, he won the firefights and several times dealt out devastating casualties (two sixes) which ensured the defeat of my charges. Having said that for green troops my boys held out quite well, but it was a struggle with only one order per three battalions to get them to do what I wanted before the Rebs hit. Nonetheless a good days fighting.

Union centre forms up.

More Federals make it to the front.

Some skirmishers are chased away.

Alas it costs me my right flank.

I have now finished my fourth American vehicle, a M8 Hellcat that I picked up at Claymore, it is a really nice looking tank and a lovely kit, I have some tank crew given to me by Robert and after I get this last squad done I will get on to them. 

Not a lot else going on, I have a wedding to attend in Scotland next weekend, a flying visit up and down in the one day, made easy by the fact I don't drink anymore. I have a couple of games sorted for next week but then a bit of a struggle as Matt is away looking at battlefields, lucky sod. I might so do some Italian Wars solo. 

The Atlas is still not complete, I suspect September now as  real life takes up more of my time.