Recently Andy set up a historically inspired Chain of Command game down BIG for Phil, Jenny and myself based around battles for the village of Stonne in May 1940 (the village historically changing hands seventeen times over three days of fighting between the French and Germans). In this game the French (Phil and myself), now with heavy armour support, attempted to recapture the village from the Germans (Jenny).
Conscious of the effect of MG34's(!) I adopted a cautious approach to the liberation of the village by deploying my first Groupe de Combat in a building...
Whilst Phil ordered his mighty Char 1B bis forward to root out the invaders!
I deployed one of my Groupe de Combat's FM24/29 LMG's at a window of the building I'd occupied...
Spotting some of the hated Boche trampling all over some poor housewife's vegetables!
I deployed my VB team...
And a second Groupe de Combat, pushing them up towards the German line.
The VB team gained vengeance for the trampled cabbages by dropping a couple of grenades on the German Gruppen in the vegetable garden, killing the MG34 team and inflicting Shock on the survivors.
My second Groupe de Combat came under enemy fire which saw them take some Shock and their Sergeant wounded.
Phil's Char 1B bis trundling slowly up to engage the Germans who had shot up the Groupe de Combat with his impressive 75mm cannon!
The exposed Gruppen survivors in the garden, having lost more men to French FM24/29 fire, managed to reach some light cover...
As did my second Groupe de Combat, who reached a small copse.
Phil then boldy decided to deploy his Escouade de Fusiliers Motorcycliste forward of the French Groupes de Combat...
Boldly or rashly? They immediately came under fire from the Germans who had engaged the second Groupe de Combat and an off-table machine-gun (which was labelled the magic machine-gun by the French as it was invisible and they were unable to target it!)
Whilst he could not target the off-table magic machine-gun, Phil's Char 1B bis could target the German Gruppen in the centre of the village...
And his mighty 75mm fired a shell into the building the Germans were hiding in, wounding the MG34 leader and inflicting Shock on the LMG team.
The off-table machine gun was wreaking havoc on the Escouade de Fusiliers Motorcycliste, wounding their commander...
And inflicting some Shock on the first Groupe de Combat in the building!
Whose Sergeant was then distracted by the appearance of a British officer... "Good moaning. I was pissing the door and I heard some shitting..."
The Germans then deployed a PaK 36...
And started taking pot shots at Phil's Char 1B bis...
Inflicting some Shock on it and amazingly forcing it to retire!
Conscious our advance was stalled I deployed the third Groupe de Combat near the Escouade de Fusiliers Motorcycliste in an attempt to seize the German occupied building on the French right.
Meanwhile the Sergeant of the first Groupe de Combat realised the British officer was a Fifth Columnist and shot him down (his French language skills were obviously too good for a Brit who would, of course, just speak English slower and louder to a foreigner!)
However it was now that Jenny sprung her trap, deploying her third infantry Gruppen...
And firing into the advanced third Groupe de Combat inflicting casualties and Shock on them...
And wounding the Platoon Lieutenant who was leading them!
More German fire poured into this Groupe de Combat with more brave Frenchmen falling dead to the ravaging MG34 fire!
This caused the survivors to flee past the VB team who attempted to engage the advancing Boche.
With the French Force Morale teetering the second Groupe de Combat, who had been carefully advancing through the copse, suddenly charged the PaK36 in an attempt to reduce the German Force Morale to zero before the inevitable occurred to their own...
En avant! The Groupe de Combat charged in killing the AT gun's crew and wounding it's commander. However this was not quite enough to see the German Force Morale collapse. Fortunately for the French neither did their own despite the Groupe's Sergeant dying in the heroic attack.
However it was a brief respite as the off-table magical invisible machine-gun opened fire on the retreating survivors of the third Groupe de Combat, shooting the wounded platoon leader in the back, killing him. The subsequent 'Bad Things Happen' roll saw the French Force Morale hit zero (apologies for the blurry photo, I was a bit shocked at the Germans/Jenny machine-gunning wounded retreating men in the back!!!)
Well, despite the valiant efforts of the brave men of France and the noble sacrifices of many, the village of Stonne remained in Nazi hands... Another enjoyable game, I was quite optimistic until Jenny sprung that third Gruppen on us late in the game. The least said about the off-table machine gun or the performance of Phil's Char 1B bis (retreat from a PaK 36!!!) the better... :-)
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