The Road to Bremen, Table 2

Jamie and I managed to make time among the Christmas preparations to play the latest game of our Chain of Command campaign – The Road to Bremen.

This latest action saw my British platoon attempting to attack a small farm surrounded by low-lying, boggy fields.  Jamie, defending, had, I knew, a platoon of Heer infantry though I didn’t know what additional supports he might have chosen.

I’ll describe all the locations as left and right in terms of the view from my edge of the table (as per the view above).

The Patrol Phase saw Jamie well established on the hedgeline leaving me with only the doubtful cover afforded by the lateral road.  As they were slightly raised over the surrounding farmland, we decided that roads would give light cover to troops on foot but only if they were stationary immediately behind them.  I had a Jump-off Point reasonably well advanced on my left flank and Jamie had one rather in the middle of nowhere towards his left rear.

Jamie chose to put a minefield in front of the right-hand hedge and a run of barbed wire connecting the two hedges.

With 19 points of support available I decided to go for a tank (a Comet as we’ve switched the campaign round slightly to suit my 11^th Armoured Division collection), an engineer section, a medical orderly, the battalion adjutant, and a two-vehicle section of Universal Carriers. 

It seemed obvious to me that Jamie would need to defend the hedgeline in strength. My plan was to establish a base of fire near the centre of my baseline under the control of a Senior Leader. With the two MGs in the carrier section and the firepower of the tank, I could probably hope to gain sufficient superiority over troops at the hedgeline to capture it with infantry sections deployed from the advanced left hand JoP.  The platoon’s 2” mortar would help by screening off some enemy troops (probably those defending the hedge on my right) with smoke.

As he has in every game so far Jamie had rolled a six giving him a starting Force Morale of 11.  At least this time I was on a respectable nine points.

Jamie took the first phase and deployed a section behind the left-hand hedge, near the barn. Their NCO put them on Overwatch.

I then got a reasonable hand of dice and deployed my carrier section on the road and began to pour fire into the German section.  At this point I made a poor decision.  I realised that putting my 2” mortar next to the road on my board edge would mean it as in the open to fire from one hedgeline or the other.  I decided therefore to use the righthand JoP and put the mortar and the platoon Sergeant behind the lateral road.  They were able to put smoke in front of the enemy LMG but the SL was no longer where he should have been – near the central JoP and the road, directing the fire of my support elements!

At this point Jamie got the first of what would be a plethora of consecutive phases and used them rally off shock and pot away ineffectually with his first squad’s rifles whilst deploying a second squad behind the right-hand hedge immediately next to the road.

I tried to fire smoke to mask off the right-hand squad but it fell long. I moved my carriers forward slightly to improve their lines of sight and to keep them away from the board edge in case of forced withdrawals.  I also deployed Cpl Elliott’s section (down two men because of casualties in the first battle) to a position behind the lateral road to the left of the Bremen highway.

At this point Jamie got a second pair of consecutive phases.  He spent both firing causing two fatalities in Elliott’s section and killing one man in my 2” mortar team.

I decided I needed more firepower against the squad facing my left. I deployed Cpl Parker’s section from my left edge JoP and they inflicted a casualty and some shock on the Germans in front of them.

Jamie decided to pull back the squad on the left – exposed as it was to fire from the carriers and from two rifle sections (albeit Elliott’s section was now very depleted).  The other German section continued to fire at my mortar team.

The withdrawal of the left-hand squad allowed me to switch the carrier section’s attentions to their compatriots on the other side of the road.  The effect was impressive – two dead and the Junior Leader lightly wounded.  Unfortunately there was no reduction in Jamie’s Force Morale; still at eleven!

I deployed my mine-clearing team next to the remaining 2” mortar man in the hope that they would share the incoming fire and I reorganised Elliott’s section, moving one man from the rifle team to help keep the Bren firing.  Finally, I moved Parker’s section forward towards the extreme left end of the left-hand hedge.

At this point Jamie’s right-hand squad got their eye in.  A burst of MG42 fire killed the one remaining member of the 2” mortar crew.  Fortunately I too lost no Force Morale – still on nine.

Even more firepower needed!  I brought on the tank, deploying it off the road in the muddy field.  That way it had a clear field of fire past the carriers.  If I didn’t move it there would be no need to worry about it bogging down.

And of course Jamie now got a series of three consecutive phases!  This was getting silly!

The dice weren’t completely kind, though, with many fours and fives accompanying the multiple sixes but Jamie was able to rally off loads of shock and move his left flank LMG into a position where it could fire along the narrow gap between the hedge and the back of the barn.  We noted, though, that this put it directly behind the hedge and so once more targetable by my lads.

When I finally got to go again I had Parker’s section throw a grenade and fire at the newly visible LMG team killing one of its members.

And then Jamie rolled another double Phase (his fourth of the game so far!) and wiped out my wire cutting team.  My Force Morale fell from 9 to 7.  This left Sergeant Hill on his own, cowering behind the slightly embanked lateral road and too far away from the resto of the force to be much use.  Jamie also spent a Chain of Command die to move his left-hand Jump-off Point back to safety behind the farmhouse.  He’d learned his lesson after I captured all three JoPs last time out!

On my next Phase I finally completed a CoC die but more importantly managed to wipe out the LMG team in the left-hand German squad.  The German Force Morale fell from 11 to 10.

With the remnants of that squad looking vulnerable, I decided to launch Parker’s section into a close assault.  It was bloody!  The Germans were wiped out, their Force Morale falling again from ten to eight.  I lost five men killed (including the whole Bren team) and Lieutenant Lane received a light wound.  I spent my CoC die to avoid one morale check but still my Force Morale fell from seven to six.

With but a single Phase (for once) Jamie deployed his third squad by the Farmhouse in the rear, putting them into Tactical.

In response I moved Parker’s section and the lieutenant back behind the barn.  And only just in time as Jamie now got ANOTHER triple Phase, which he used to put down fire across my front, killing a member of the recently deployed mine-clearing team (I’d brought them on to beef up Elliott’s section) but conspicuously failing to hit Sgt Hill.  He also moved forward his third section.

My next phase saw me roll 35556.  Not what I needed at that time but at least the tank could fire. The hull MG put down covering fire on the enemy squad informant of my right and a 77mm HE round decapitated the squad’s Obergefreiter reducing Jamie’s Force Morale from eight to six.

At this point Jamie spent a newly acquired CoC die to ambush with his Panzerschreck team. The round ploughed harmlessly into the mud short of the Comet.

That Panzerschreck round probably passed a few inches over the head of Sergeant Hill who, by now, had managed to crawl to a position nearer to the central road.  At last he could now influence the main battle.  Under his direction fire from the tank and the carrier section devastated the wiped out the Rifle Team of the right-hand squad.  German Force Morale fell to five.

Jamie was now down to one squad and an LMG team on the table.  Fire from my tank and carriers, once again directed by Sgt Hill, killed a member of the LMG team and caused some shock.  I should mention here that I apparently got this wrong - an infantry Senior Leader can't activate a supporting tank.

In the same Phase I sent Parker and Elliott’s sections forward to the hedge in front of the barn.  Oh, and deployed the medical orderly who set off after the wounded Lt Lane.

You’ll not be surprised to learn at this point Jamie embarked on yet another triple Phase. Perhaps more surprising was that he passed through all of them; he rolled no ones and really wanted to have another go at my tank with his Panzerschreck team. 

More fire from tank and carriers managed to rout Jamie’s isolated LMG team but he spent a CoC die to avoid the resulting bad-things-happen check.

It was Jamie’s turn to roll again.  So of course he rolled double sixes!  One of the other dice was a 1 so the Panzerschreck team deployed and fired at the Comet.  A roll of 11 gave him a solid hit.  I rolled my eight armour-dice and was horrified to see only one save!  Fortunately, though, Jamie managed only three hits.  The Comet’s hull MG was knocked out and the tank took two points of shock.

In the second Phase Jamie's Command Dice again included a 1 so he went for the Schreck’s last shot but missed.

While the tank commander calmed his crew, the carriers opened up at long range at the routed LMG team.  Another rout saw them off the table and the German Force Morale reduced to four.

The next phase gave Jamie a chance to check the nearby JoP for more Schreck ammo.  There was none and he decided, it being dinner time, to withdraw his men.

So, victory to the British on this table.  After figuring the casualties, No.1 Platoon is now seven men below full strength but “Pudding” Lane has restored both the CO’s and the men’s opinion after the farce of his first action.

By the way, for those of you who haven't been keeping score, Jamie got four double phases and three triple phases.  I got none of either.