COC - The Probe, part three

The first turn begins with the Germans rolling their five command dice:

The 6 we can ignore, it just tells us that the Brits will get the next phase.  With two ones the Germans could put two independent teams onto the table but they only have one - the Panzerschreck team.  They elect to leave it for now.  The two allows them to deploy a squad - they bring one on on their left flank.  The three would let them bring on another squad by means of activating its squad leader but they decide not to at this stage.

The British then roll:

The two fives immediately start them building pips on their first Chain of Command dice.  When this reaches six pips it'll be a valuable resource.  The two fours are ignored for now as the British player doesn't want to commit his platoon commander and platoon sergeant too soon.  The two is used to deploy a squad at the right flank jumping off point.

Play than swings back and forth for several phases with new units coming on and existing ones moving and firing. The two squads/sections on the right hand side of the table exchange shots at the limit of visibility through the trees (12").  Suddenly the British are taking casualties and picking up shock points.

The British platoon sergeant is suddenly right where he is needed.  He rallies two points of shock from the Bren gun team of the right flank section and has the whole section fire at the enemy squad inflicting two kills and two points of shock.

This is not enough to dampen the spirits of the enemy though.  Their left flank squad puts down fierce fire and wipes out the British section's Bren team!  British force morale falls from 9 to 8.

Knowing then that action is required, the British commander sends forward his 2" mortar team to support the right hand section whilst commencing a left hook attack with two of his four sections.  The 2" mortar fires smoke (off target) and the rifle team and section leader (all that's left of the right hand section) withdraw behind their jump off point.  Another section will be needed to drive forward on this flank.

But what's this?  The Germans roll four sixes!  The Turn ends, the Germans go first the next turn and there's a random event.  The Germans move their left flank squad into an better position, the 2" mortar smoke disperses, and it starts to rain, reducing maximum visibility to 18".  The last fact is pretty much irrelevant as the maximum visibility within the woods is only 12".

At the end of turn one the British have a badly mauled section on their right and two sections advancing through the woods in the centre of the table.  They are heading towards a single German section that's as yet untested.  Force morale stands 10:8 in favour of the Germans.