Earlier this month Andy, Phil and myself played the Probe scenario from Chain of Command 2 with Jack umpiring to get some practice in doing that before Winter Wonder Lard VI...
The Probe is quite a tough scenario for the attacker having to get a section off the board and defeat the enemy with a countdown kicking in after two (mandatory for the German when they got six Chain of Command points) turn ends.
The British (Phil and I) deployed two sections on the right, with a third on the left. With no sign of the Hun, the troops moved cautiously forward...
The 2" mortar laying down a blanket of smoke in front of the farmhouse to the British front.
Armoured support coming in the form of a Universal Carrier!
The Germans, commanded by Andy, deployed...
Though their visibility was hampered by the smoke laid down by the British mortar.
As the third British section began to move up on the left, Andy rolled a sixth Chain of Command point signalling a Turn End.
Amongst the effects of that one is that all smoke dissipates and the lovely British smoke screen immediately disappeared leaving the advancing troops suddenly very visible to two German sections (each with an MG42) and an MG42 MMG in the farmhouse!
The British fired one of its remaining smoke rounds to try and recreate the cover but the German Machinegewher characteristic, combined with the Storm of Steel attribute allowing them to re-roll sixes was devastating.
The impact of the Turn End and the removal of the smoke screen effectively killed the game - and to be honest I'm unsure of the logic around this happening. Chain of Command is lauded about "playing the period not the rules" but this is a very gamey mechanic and I am not sure what it is trying to recreate. I get smoke screens might gradually thin and dissipate but why should they suddenly disappear leaving advancing troops exposed as happened?
The other issue is the amount of firepower the defenders bring to the table. In this game the Germans had three MG42 lmg's (though only deployed two) plus a tripod mounted MMG one - covering an area of 160 metres, which by historical standards seems generous(?). Once the smoke disappeared with the British now exposed it was impossible to move forward as it was a killing ground.
The way the game ended was extremely disappointing as until the Turn End it had been quite enjoyable with the British beginning to move forward under the cover of their smokescreen and the Germans trying to create lines of fire to target the advancing enemy.
Finally Chain of Command fans often trot out that it is better when games are played as part of a campaign not just one off games as players need to minimise casualties as troops will be needed subsequently. This may well be the case but not everyone has time (or inclination) to play campaigns. Maybe there should be some penalty on the defender (in this case) forcing them to take this into account, such as casualties potentially impacting their Force Morale?
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