CoC Blitzkrieg Part 2

Here is part 2 of my Chain of Command Blitzkrieg playtest.  I'm planning on running a few CoC games at Little Wars this April, so I needed to get my feet wet over the holidays where I finished one turn and a few phases.  See here.  

Turn one was a nailbiter. The Germans came on hard and we're very aggressive, but the Senegalese and their French supports seemed to come on just at the right moment despite the Stuka attack and Nazi shabby trick.  The Senegalese also rolled lots of 5s which really help to end the turn and end those dreadful Stuka strikes.

Turn 2 began with the Germans exploiting the open right flank of the Senegalese, with a clear path to another deployment point.  Again a Senegalese groups de combat deployed into close combat.

A bloody fight. Senegalese are aggressive and aren't penalized for moving. 

Germans got the worst of it with a pinned team and wounded junior leader.  This hurt German force morale now down to 3.  Ouch!!

Senegalese win but are down to four men. The last fresh shutzen squad moves in for the kill.

Senegalese pull back to find some cover

French motorcycle groups de combat on the left moves to engage Germans in the center. One team at a time. Each team has a LMG however.  Note: I later noticed the support option is only a team, not a squad or French Groups de Combat. However the entire Gdc only fired once and only one team did the bulk of the fighting, but they did have a junior leader.

Shutzen moving into village with little to oppose them.  One four man gdc and a pinned gdc on the other end of town. There's another weak gdc in the town but is facing Germans on the other side.

If shutzen can get the pinned Senegalese to break it might turn the game.  Maybe get close enough for handgrenatten.

Pinned Senegalese opposite had two leaders keeping shock from building and even retired fire on occasion. The problem for the Germans were down to 3 dice and 5 and 6s were taking from their actions although they finally got a CoC die, the Senegalese got one too.

French motorcycle team moves to engage small shutzen squad in center of the village.  Germans move an HMG team to engage them.  Eventually they eliminate the shutzen team but not any of their leaders, both senior and junior.

From above. You can see the pinned Senegalese squad on the left. With a junior leader and a lesser senior leader ( the French 1st sergeant act as junior leaders but can influence everyone in the playroom like a senior leader) they were able to keep the shock off from the shutzens fire.  Being pinned they were in light cover but shot at half and couldn't move.  The french could've ended the turn and in pinned them, but they're right next to unexploded ordinance of the Stuka strike.  The shutzen were trying to hopefully kill a leader and get close enough for hand grenaten.  You can see at the top the motorcycle Gdc has now moved behind a wall to hide from the German HMG.

Then the Senegalese and French got a perfect di role of a 4, two threes and a two. They could activate all of their units in one phase.  First the small team left in the center of the village charges the two German leaders isoy after their team was wiped out. I checked the rules and couldn't find anything about leaders fighting by themselves so I figured the routes or surrendered.  This hurt the German morale and the had to use a CoC die to prevent a morale test.  The other hit two points and they lost a deployment point and morale was down to one.

Get and finally get a CoC die but their morale is at 1.

Small Senegalese Gdp emerges from the house to put more fire on the shutzen.

Germans decide to charge the four Senegalese and their leader. If they can win and knock out a leader they can turn the tide.

Not going the Germans way. Almost eliminate the Senegalese Gdp but their leaders were impervious all game.

Germans forced to retest and junior leader wounded. Gemans morale has broken.

Arial photo. Senegalese still hold the town, but Germans took a deployment point andf won the final combat would have cleared 2/3 of the board and exited the last shutzen squad, thus winning the game.  Very close.

Very close game. It was fun getting my feet wet with the Blitzkrieg supplement and new rules with the Stuka strike and the new scenarios.  I'm definitely going to need to make some ruined buildings.

So that ended my solo warmup for Little wars. Now I'm working on  my scenarios and get a few playtest done as well.

Thanks for looking.

Jim

Big Chain of Command: Battle of Rots June 12, 1944

CoC Blitzkrieg Part 1

The call is out for Little Wars and the Midwest Lard toofatlardies group is looking for some games.  I can throw together some Sparp Practice 2 or my Chain of Command Canadian v. SS game, but I've been really interested in the new CoC Blitzkrieg supplement.  

I've been painting up some early war 15mm French and German platoons and supports for a game or two for Little Wars. While I'm researching potential battles I decided to start playtesting while I have some time over the holiday.

Instead of making something new I went for the Map 2 for the There are too many Rivers campaign in the 2018 Lard magazine.  I recently made some new hedges you'll see which saved some time. And my daughter Cora even lent a hand setting up.

Here are my new hedges I made from landscaping foam, a lot of which fell off my trees, glues to bases with tacky glue. I threw some leftover pieces from various buildings I've constructed to make gates. Some of the larger pictures here could allow vehicles to pass.

It's hard to see but there's a small gate made from a leftover door.

Here are the patrol markers and the deployment points for the Germans. This was a 'hasty defense scenario' from the 1940 Blitzkrieg supplement. The Germans have a Scutzen  platoon with a Nazi shabby trick, Stuka attack, sniper, hmg team and a motorcycle squad for support. The Germans need to clear 2/3 of the board and exit a unit off the edge, or break French morale to win.

Here are the french deployment points. The french have a Tirelleaur Senegalese platoon with only a motorcycle squad  and Anti aircraft artillery for support.  The french motorcycle sqades have 2 lmg's so seem potentially strong support for only 2 pts.  We'll see. The French were lucky and we're able to deploy on both sides of the board.

Here's the effects of the Stuka dtrike. Several buildings catch fire and one bomb is unexploded but may blow up later. This also limits the French deployment and causes shock to deploying French unis.

Right away Germans shutzen come on quick.

A motorcycle squad comes on to try to flank the French.

French role lots of 5's and deploy the VMB team off to protect the French right flank.

Shutzen squad takes on the VMB team and quickly wipes them out.

Shutzen team rushes the center. No french besides the VMB team have deployed due to the Stukas.

German hmg team deployed.

Senegalese squad finally deloys in the village and begins a fire fight with the nearby shutzen.

French motorcycle team finally deploys after several phases. There was a German fifth columnist holding up this point.

Now they put some hurt on their fellow motorcyclists.

3rd shutzen squad deploys in the center.

Under fire, German motorcycle squad decides to dash for the center for a quick win and clear 2/3 of the board. Only 6" away from french center deployment point 

Nope! Senegalese squad delpyes and goes into close combat. Senegalese cause 1d6 shock before combat and are aggressive. Apparently Nazis don't like to fight close up with black men.

Motorcycle squad breaks but puts some hurt as well.

French get a CoC die to end the turn but ends up causing casualties when several buildings collapse. French morale down to four and the German at 6. 

So that wraps up Turn 1 which ends up being quite a nailbiter which I post next time