Chain of Command Campaign: Normandy Game 3

Game 3 was another nail-biter.

We played the Delaying Action scenario, with my Germans trying to delay the British so they can withdraw their forces south. For the terrain I took inspiration from the Teaser scenario in the latest issue of Miniature Wargames and laid out a table bisected by a wooded ridge.

Martin rolled low for force support and I ended up choosing a sniper team, thinking that I have enough cover on my side of the table to use him to good effect.

The opening moves of the game saw me quickly occupy the wooded ridge on either side of the road with one section each. I set up Overwatch and waited for Martin's sections to break the cover of the woods and a low rise.

Perfect killing zone... if only the British would oblige me by advancing into the open!

Martin on his part picked an extra 2" mortar team to lay smoke, plus a Forward Observer with a 3" mortar battery, and proceeded to pound my sections.

I held on to my positions despite casualties, but my MG fire failed to exact a similar toll on the British. Martin patiently waited for the artillerymen to do the work, and finally, down to an MG section per side of the road, I decided to withdraw to my secondary line of defence. My Force Morale has fallen to 4 and I now had only 4 activation dice instead of the 5 I started out with.

This was the moment Martin was waiting for; he pushed one section towards the ridge on his right, and deployed another to advance on his left, and was going to bring his FO and mortar onto the low rise to cover them...

Then disaster struck: his lead section movement roll left them just short of the cover of the wooded ridge. Just then I had the right dice and deployed my sniper team! Which proceeded to miss.

No matter - I had just the die roll to deploy the MG team from my last section with its section commander, who proceeded to direct deadly fire onto the British in the open... for three consecutive phases!

The British broke and ran for the cover of the low rise, and the commander redirected the MG's fire on to the British on the low rise, killing a Junior Leader.

Sniper! Four shots, one wound. Back to school with you!

Meanwhile, the British section on the left made it to the cover of the ridge. But with one MG team on their right and two to their front (if they dared to break cover), they decided to wait it out and withdraw under the cover of darkness (Martin spent a CoC die to bring his Jump-Off Point forward so he could withdraw them safely) - and frankly, at this stage in the war, the Germans were happy to let them.

Despite the success in the final stage of the battle (all but one of the British casualties were caused by a single MG team!), I still lost more men than Martin. My men now hate me so much, if I screw up again I am likely to be shot by "an enemy sniper, at close range, while in camp".

Martin isn't in a much better position either. He called for reinforcements but rolled low, meaning he will start the next game 6 men down. What's worse, two of his Junior Leaders are new and will have a lower command span and Command Initiative.

The final game will depict a German counter-attack on the British position. Hopefully I will roll high enough for force support to deploy more toys.