Dead man's corner

Since the last bits for our upcoming What a Cowboy campaign are still on my painting desk, and we're taking a break from the Winter Storm campaign, we enjoyed a one-off scenario by William Thorpe for Chain of Command: Shootout at Dead man's corner.

Patrol phase was a bit strange (everything was locked down quickly) because the scenario put the patrol markers quite close together in their starting positions. Nevertheless, they were favourable for my Fallschirmjäger because they could deploy in the buildings.

With two LMG's per squad on overwatch, the Fallschirmjäger covered most of the approaches to the house.

My opponent's Screaming Eagles approached the house from the front and the side through the orchard.

Upon reaching the edge of the orchard, the German LMG opened fire from the attic window, causing casualties. The US medic ran forward to the sound of the guns.

Return fire from the paratroopers managed to wound my junior leader after a few phases however, despite the heavy cover provided by the building.

A double phase allowed me to deploy the two remaining Fallschirmjäger squads on the other side of the table. My plan was to flank the Americans. Counting on the team covering the dirt road on overwatch to keep the Americans away long enough for my Fallschirmjäger to cross the open ground.

My opponent cleverly countered this plan by bringing forward his squad of Americans in the orchard, triggering the overwatch and keeping the Fallschirmjäger in the house engaged while subsequently deploying another squad to fire at the Fallschirmjäger crossing the field.

Also the US mortar started firing at the Fallschirmjäger. This was bad news for the Germans. Their junior leader was hit and knocked out. Caught in the open without a leader to rally them, the Germans were being cut to pieces.

The other Fallschirmjäger squad moved sideways so they could fire past their own troops at the Americans. With a full Chain of Command dice I decided to end the turn to get both knocked out junior leaders back in the game. The downside of this was that my opponent could now deply his Stuart tank.

Although the American squad stopped firing at the exposed German squad and retreated into cover, the Stuart started pounding the survivers with HE.

Fortunately the Fallschirmjäger squad broke and retreated behind the wall before it was destroyed completely.

German attempts to knock out the tank with panzerfausts and a panzershreck all failed. German morale was going down faster than the American morale. After silencing the German LMG, the paratroopers advanced to close down first one and then two of the German jump-off points.

While the surviving Fallschirmjäger team was kept busy at the front of the house, the paratroopers entered via the back and defeated the German occupants in close combat.

Game over for the Germans.

Dispite losing, I really liked the scenario. The terrain invites lots of manoeuvring.

All American campaign: Last Ditch to Sainte-Mère-Église

After the US victory in the last game and my opponent winning the campaign as a result, we played the last All American scenario anyway.

Again, the Germans had to attack entrenched paratroopers. In order to win the Attack and Defend scenario, the enemy's force morale needed to be reduced to zero (or low enough for them to voluntarily retreat).

From the previous games, I knew this was going to be difficult for the Germans. Also the scenario offered little in the way of support (7 points for the Germans, 3 for the paratroopers).

I chose a Panzer, an adjudant and a medic as support options. The plan: entice the Americans to deploy their squads and then blast 'em with the panzer, hoping for some leader casualties and high bad things happen rolls.

patrol phase results

I deployed my panzer and 2 squads in the first phases of the game.

Soon the Americans responded by deploying their mortar team and second squad led by Sergeant "Bronco Bill" Walters.

Obergefreiter Graber's luck (he escaped a mortar barrage in one of the previous games) runs out when he is wounded, reducing his command intiative to 1.

Meanwhile the Americans deploy both their senior leaders, their first squad, led by sergeant Reno and start blazing away at Obergefreiter Graber's squad.

Panzer fire manages to wound the US lieutenant, but Graber's squad is losing men at an alarming rate (I should have pulled his squad back from the hedge to take them beyond LOS of the paratroopers).

Fortunately the German  medic is able to patch up Graber, But then he is wounded a second time (out of action for the remainder of the turn).

While his squad is dying around him, Graber recovers after being patched up again by the medic, only to be wounded a third time (again reducing his command initiative to 1) and a fourth time which proved to be fatal.

German force morale had taken a substantial hit, but the paratroopers were also losing men from the continuously firing panzer.

The blasts knock out sergeant Bronco Bill for the remainder of the turn.

With the US second squad in tatters and it's leader down I try to exploit the situation by deploying the final German squad under Obergefreiter Derrick and send them towards the US flank.

My opponent decides to withdraw his first squad from the entrenchments to put them out of LOS of the Germans. because of a low movement roll they are stuck in the open. An opportunity for the panzer to do some real damage!

But the dice gods have abandoned me for this one:

Obergefreiter Derrick and his squad succesfully dashed across the part of the field where they could be targeted by the paratroopers.

But Lieutenant Garret assembles the remnants of Bronco Bill's squad and the (now out of mortar ammo) mortar squad, and advances towards the Germans. Carrying the unconscious Bronco Bill with them!

The turn ends, Bronco Bill recovers and the paratroopers open fire at the Germans who are caught in the open. (We allowed the mortar men to fire their rifles. Don't know if this is allowed in the rules but it seemed fitting).

Derrick and his squad fire at the paratroopers, but to no avail. Derrick is wounded and shock is mounting for what remains of his squad.

The german medic rushes towards  Derrick and his men.

But it's too late: The squad breaks and my opponent uses one of his CoC dice to end the turn, removing the squad from the table.

His bazooka ambush with an other CoC dice fails to destroy my panzer, but with only one squad and the panzer left and a force morale of 3 I decide to withdraw. Victory for the Americans!

And so the campaign ends with an American victory. It was an exiting and tense campaign with the Germans having great difficulties to overcome the American defenses. I read on the ToofatLardies forum that in the current available version of this campaign the US paratroopers are rated as regulars instead of elites (I seem to have an old version). This would probably make the campaign more balanced. I found the paratroopers almost impossible to kill, even in the open (you need sixes to hit them). 

On the Leadadventure forum, CapnJim posted a link to a report of the real Battle for La Fière which contains a gripping description of the intensity of the fighting.

All American campaign: Battle for La Fière

 With a -2 on my force morale roll (men's opinion was -7, due to the casualties suffered in previous games), attacking across an exposed causeway, the Americans starting with 2 full Chain of Command dice and occupying hard cover buildings, this scenario was going to be challenging for the Germans to say the least.

Because of the mandatory 2 tank support requirement, the mortar barrage option was not available for the Germans. Trying to deny the Americans deployment with help of a preliminary barrage was also out (starting with 2 full Chain of Command dice meant my opponent could end the turn immediately, ending the preliminary barrage before it took place).

My plan was therefore to take an extra squad as support and try and advance the infantry while the tanks were blasting the Americans.

The patrol phase did provide the Germans with a foothold across the bridge which I used to deploy Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's support squad in overwatch

A slew of double phases allowed my opponent to deploy his 2 paratrooper squads and his support MMG.

Although they took some minor hits from the German overwatch fire, their return fire did more damage and wounded Obergefreiter Merkwürdig.

Not once, but twice! Knocking him out for the remainder of the turn.

It even got worse when the US mortar team deployed and started dropping mortar rounds on the German squad.

Lt Jesse James and Plt Sgt Henry McCarty directing fire

A bunch of useless German command dice rolls prevented deployment of support for Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's squad. Destruction was imminent.

Finally some decent command dice rolls! The Panzers arrive!

They start firing high explosive shells at the paratroopers, causing casualties and taking some pressure off the beleaguered German squad.

But of course my opponent uses his full Chain of Command dice to exploit the scenario ambush location under the bridge and a US bazooka team appears next to the Panzer!

And they miss!

Several times!

The Panzers move forward, but it is too late for Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's squad. They're gone and German morale is dropping.

The paratroopers now attempt to drive off the Panzers with machine gun fire. I deploy Obergefreiter Heines's squad behind the Panzer on the bridge, primarily to prevent another bazooka ambush.

Despite them taking cover behind the walls lining the bridge, accurate paratrooper fire quickly wounds Heines and destroys the squad to a man.

Inevitably a bazooka round finds its mark and destroys the Panzer.

We discussed the likelihood of the second Panzer being able to push the wreck of the first one off the bridge (I don't think it is in the rules), but decided to stop the attack. The Germans still had two full squads, but only 3 command dice left. Their chances of reaching the objective building on the other side of the table were slim.

This means that the Germans have lost the campaign (this was campaign turn 5; they had to win this game AND the next one to meet the campaign victory conditions). The US paratroopers have succesfully delayed them long enough. Post game bookkeeping saw the men's opinion on the German side drop to -12. Which means that Unterfeldwebel Kühn dies in mysterious circumstances...

In hindsight, my plan to have the Panzers advance across the bridge providing cover for infantry behind them was not the best option.

Using the foothold across the bridge to try and flank the paratroopers with the infantry while providing supporting fire with the Panzers from the causeway (forcing ambushers to fire at their front armour) would have perhaps worked better.