With our eye on playing some late WWI actions in the near future, George was given his first experience of Chain of Command recently in a 1940 France game under Andy's auspices, with George taking command of the jack-booted invaders and me the brave defenders of La Belle France!
Wary of the mighty French army, the Germans advanced cautiously onto the field of battle...
Whilst after a nice vin rouge, the French do likewise.
Also deploying a Viven-Bessières (VB) rifle grenade team on their right flank to drop shells on any advancing enemy.
More Germans appeared, skulking behind a fence...
Before one Gruppe of the Infantry Zug moved tentatively forward.
The French Groupe de combat bravely manned a hastily constructed barricade to thwart the Nazi horde!
And deployed a second Groupe in the orchard to protect their left flank.
The Germans launched one Gruppe across the muddy field towards the orchard...
With a third on their left flank moved through a copse...
Before hiding behind a stone wall.
The Gruppe on the German right reached the orchard but came under French fire losing a couple of men and taking some Shock.
Meanwhile the brave defenders of the barricade came under fire from the German Gruppe in the centre, losing men and taking Shock! Nom de dieu!
The firefight in the orchard saw casualties and Shock inflicted on both sides. The German MG34 is a nasty weapon at this range!
But eventually the superior French fighting ability saw the Boche forced out of the orchard, their Unteroffizier having been wounded in the exchange.
Another Groupe de combat of French infantry then arrived to help secure the orchard and left flank.
Whilst in the centre, the Groupe de combat at the barricade suddenly got the range of their German opponents, unleashing a devastating volley of rifle and FM24/29 LMG fire...
This excellent marksmanship devastated the central German Gruppe, killing half of it, wounding the NCO and piling Shock on the survivors! Take that you salopards!
In the orchard the French Groupes started to gain the upper hand as the Germans tried to advance.
More excellent shooting from the central French Groupe de combat was directed at their Nazi opponents...
Who lost their MG34 and were barely hanging on.
The Gruppe on the German right also lost their MG34 to excellent French riflemanship...
Leaving the attackers at something of a disadvantage numbers wise.
On the French right the VB team was holding up the third German Gruppe...
Who despite hiding behind the stone wall were taking the odd casualty and some Shock.
Back at the orchard the Germans broke due to the superior martial prowess of the French infantry!
Whilst the survivors of the central Gruppe dived through the farmhouse window(!) to shelter from the unerringly accurate French fire!
On the German right an Oberleutnant arrived to put some backbone into the cowering soldaten!
Whose MG34 opened fire on the French VB team...
Killing three! The surviving caporal though stood his group and continued to shell the enemy.
His efforts being supplemented by a Mortar team that had just deployed.
Back at the orchard, the French bravely advance forward, despite the enemy having a support MG34 in the barn across the field.
They targeted the fleeing Germans who broke under a fusillade of French fire!
With the help of the Mortar, the surviving VB gunner decimated the remaining German Gruppe behind the stone wall.
At this point, with the German Force Morale in a tenuous position and his forces badly mauled, George called off the attack and radioed for some Stuka and Panzer support!
Overall another enjoyable game of Chain of Command, I'm sure it will take a few more games to grasp the intricacies of system, but the game plays well along historical lines and certainly poses challenges to attackers and defenders alike.
Vive la France! Mort aux sales Boches!
ReplyDeleteAnother great game.
ReplyDeleteNeil