Intro to CoC2 - Probe in 1940 France

 Chain of Command second edition was released at the end of May, and I have spent the past month learning about the revisions in the new edition.  Today, Craig brought his 1940 French over for a playthrough of the Probe scenario against my 1940 1st Wave German infantry.  We picked the Probe as it is a smaller scenario, but unlike the Patrol, it includes an emphasis on objectives and the new Final Countdown mechanism.  

Before Craig arrived, I set up the table and diced for table orientation, getting lengthwise rather than across the width, and for support points, getting a 9 for the German attackers.  This translated into 6 points for Craig's French, including balancing for the difference in force value.

Here is the table.  Germans entered from the right, and defending French came from the left.  The woods in each of the opposite corners were considered badly obstructed, heavy terrain.  The stone walls are moderate obstacles and the wooden fences are minor obstacles.  Line of sight through the orchard in the foreground is lightly obstructed.  The rest of the table is open ground.

At the end of the Patrol Phase.  I don't have generic patrol markers, so we used my Op Husky markers for 1st Canadian Division and Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring.  Here are the final positions of the markers.  I'm getting better at the patrol phase, so I was able to place my Jump Off Points further onto the table than when I was brand new at this game.

The first German infantry move into the farmer's field.

The French infantry deploy to counter them.

More Germans deploy as their mates move forward.  A French franc-tireur managed to shut down the German JOP on the left for several phases - that was a well-chosen support choice by Craig!  The green 'trees' are a clever innovation that Craig came up with.  Each of the uprights can hold several markers - most importantly shock markers (white) but other colour coded markers include yellow (one for pinned, two for broken), green ammo used (for teams with limited ammunition like light mortars) and wound status (red for wounded, blue for stunned).  The two forward sections have moved at the double, which earned them two shock markers each, but each section JL rallied off of them.

A few more phases into the game.  The blue barrel JOP is finally usable.  Craig's FOO has called for a mortar barrage, with the white smoke marker showing the location of the ranging shot.  The nearby section in the orchard is pinned (yellow marker) by the ranging shot.  The section in the foreground is also pinned, but as a result of defensive fire from the French infantry.  As it turns out, we overrated the effectiveness of pinning from the mortar ranging shots, both with the distance from the ranging shot and how long it took the pinned units to recover.  They are only supposed to be pinned for the phase of fire and the next phase, but we ended leaving them pinned until the turn end.

This next event was unintended!  My German section advanced through the orchard but accidentally overreached, and ended up in close combat with the French!  The close combat worked out to be even odds, with 12 dice for each side.  Due purely to lucky dice, the Germans routed the French with 5 kills to 1.  The French rolled a 6 for leader, so he was luckily not one of the casualties.  Nonetheless, the French section broke and fell back 18".  V2 places a big emphasis on facing for individual figures, and the French had been focussed on the Boche across the field.

Here are the broken French.  The coloured wraps on the bases help to identify which team each figure belongs to, with the blue base for the JL.  Their 'tree' is visible, with two yellow beads indicating that they are broken.

By contrast, here are my Germans.  The LMG team have larger diameter bases, and the JL base is taller.  All of these have two dots on their bases, showing them to be in the second section (or gruppe, I suppose, as they are Germans!).

Finally, the dastardly boche open fire on the broken French squad.  This destroyed the squad, and the result was to bring Craig's force morale down to 0, giving the game to the Germans.  The d12 in the farm cart is tracking the remaining phases in the Final Countdown.  

I didn't get a good photo of the German sniper.  He must have had good camouflage!  His arrival was delayed by several phases by the franc-tireur, but once he arrived, he was a fair nuisance to the French, inflicting multiple casualties including a junior leader, as well as adding loads of shock.

I actually got so involved in the game that I forgot to take photos of quite a lot of the action.  The French mortar took several ranging shots before fixing a location he liked, and then wasn't able to get the '1' he needed to bring down the pain, so a lucky break for the Germans.  I also missed out on much of the activity in the farmyard.

There were couple of things we realised after the game that we missed.  In addition to the mortar rule mixup I mentioned above, we forgot about the new Storm of Steel rule.  Craig's V-B rifle grenades were very effective in the game, but if we'd remember SoS, they would have been deadlier!  Since SoS also applies to the German special maschinengewehr rule, it gives a good reason to use it more often. 

We had a great game, and are looking forward to having another one soon!

Movie inspired miniatures

 Back to blogging after a busy spring.

JTFM has released an M3 Lee, which of course I purchased right away.  Unlike many of the other multi-gunned, multi-turreted tanks (like the Soviet T-35, for example), the M3 was relatively successful, especially for a stop-gap that was just intended to hold the line until the M4 Sherman could reach the front lines.  

My version here is inspired by Lulubelle, star of the 1943 Humphrey Bogart film Sahara, and the 1995 Jim Belushi made for TV remake. In the movie, Sgt Joe Gunn and his M3 tank Lulubelle gather a motley collection of survivors of the Battle of Tobruk and escape into the desert.  The main action involves Lulubelle and her passengers defending an oasis from a larger force of Deutches Afrika Korps light infantry.

I didn't copy the passengers exactly, so I am notably missing the Free French caporal Leroux, the askari Tambul, or their prisoners, the German pilot and the Italian soldier.  

All the crew and passengers are magnetised so they can be easily removed for when the tank is 'buttoned'.

I've also added another character to my White Sun of the Desert collection, this time Comrade Sukhov with a Lewis Gun.

02h00 (Oh Two Hundred Hours) AAR

 After participating in my Black Ops game back in December, Gord has been on me to try out 02 Hundred Hours, a game designed to simulate WWII partisan warfare, commando raids and similar special operations and wet work.  Last night, we finally managed to fit in a trial run!

Arthur set up the board, a small Italian village, centered around the town square.  Naturally we decided to fill the square up with all the activity to be expected on a busy market day.

The jolly grocer tries to convince the grumpy signora that the tomatoes are genuinely fresca, but she does not appear convinced.

Musicians and dancers put on an impromptu performance.

Then Gord arrived, and pointed out that the reason the game is called 02h00 is that the action takes place in the middle of the night, and during wartime so we can assume that a curfew would be in place.  So all the townsfolk went home, and we adjusted the layout a bit to allow more streets for unauthorised mischief.  The mission for the Italian partisans is to capture a German officer, and extract him for interrogation.  There are three possible places that he could be - in this case, one of the two churches, or the garage (the white building with the two big doors).

The cat, however, ignored the curfew ;^)

I selected a group of partisans, including a hero of the resistance (the lady with the MP40), a radio operator (Noor Inayat Khan),a partisan sergeant (with the red scarf), and five regular partisans.  This selection allowed me to choose several special mission cards, that gave me bonuses for when the action kicked off.  In particular, one of the cards allowed me to examine one of the three possible locations in advance, so my search for the German officer would be made a little easier.

I used my free search to check the church, and found that the officer wasn't there.  This was great for me, as that would have been the most difficult place to search, and so Gord's sentry there didn't slow my search.

Germans on roving patrol.

German sergeant checks in on his sentry at the cardboard church.

The partisan hero sneaks into the square to check the garage.

She opens the door of the garage, but is too noisy and generates an alert token allowing the German sentries to search for her.  On the positive side, though, she confirms that the officer is not in the garage.

Meanwhile, over by the resin church, the partisan sergeant and his compagno prepare to take out a German sentry.

The sergeant sneaks up on him and silently takes him out.

He then enters the church and apprehends the German officer.

And the hustles him into captivity, with his fellow partisans providing cover.

The team that captured the officer managed to make some noise, and the German sentries started toward them.  The partisan hero, having previously shed the alert token that she'd earned earlier, now took action to distract the guards.  She played her distraction card, and opened up on the guards.  This naturally attracted a lot of attention to her, but had the advantage of removing the token from the partisan sergeant and his prisoner.  She was also pretty effective with her Schmeisser, taking out one of the three German sentries.

But the alarm was definitely raised, and the German hauptmann dashed onto the board.  He mercilessly gunned down the heroic partisan!  But her distraction was enough, and the other partisans escaped with their prisoner.

All in all, it was a good, fun, suspenseful game.  It gave a very cinematic result as the partisans snuck around trying to avoid the sentries.  Meanwhile, Gord was frustrated as my dice rolling worked out to my advantage.  Even though I had many partisans running around the town, I was lucky and barely rolled any noise results, and was able to cancel out the few that did come up.  I can see that it would be great for solo gaming, as the guards/sentries are mostly on auto-pilot until the alarm is raised, and even then they still need to locate the partisans.

The game does require lots of markers on the board, which is an aesthetic thing that I'd prefer to avoid, but that is offset by the relatively small number of figures on the board.  I'll be ready to try the game again.

I am getting into Italian partisan music - will be looking at building a soundtrack for my next game!

Partisan Raid - Black Ops Playtest

Inspired by reading SAS: Rogue Heroes, I decided that it would be fun to try a game based on partisan warfare (and, oddly enough, without any SAS in the game, although SOE might make an appearance).  And since I already have terrain and figures suited to Italy, it was only natural to set the game in Italy.  And so I invited Doug, Lisa and Peter over to playtest a scenario.

There are a few options for small-scale skirmish battles, but I chose Black Ops as that is the most appropriate one that I already own, although I haven't played in years.  This game was definitely a playtest, especially thanks to a series of crises coming along to distract me when I could have been preparing the game!  So thanks again to D, L & P for their patience as I winged things through the game prep.  

The scenario was designed to be light-hearted, inspired by the competition between the mind-boggling number of competing Italian partisan groups.  Lisa in particular dove into researching different groups, and helped identify three groups:  the Brigate Garibaldi, selected by Doug, either because of their communist/socialist leanings or simply because he liked their red scarves; the Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Freedom) brigade, chosen by Lisa; and the Roman Catholic/monarchist fiamme verdi, green flame, championed by Peter.  I played the Germans as game master - the initial reactions for the guards were directed by the reaction rules, and the main focus was to be the competition between the different partisan groups.

Arthur was very helpful and built a table for the game, based on 'The Compound' map from p. 39 of Black Ops.  Note the Top Secret cow mixed in with the herd in the foreground!  Regrettably, we did not find a way to incorporate the TS cow into the game, although the overall herd played a role in the game.

The official mission is for the partisans to rescue the scientist from the evil clutches of Colonel Klink and Stahl-Mask.  They are initially located inside the big villa.

A few guards were initially located on patrol inside the compound, with the remainder inside the barracks with Sergeant Schultz.

Doug's Brigate Garibaldi decided to brazenly walk up to the front gate, in the guise of Italian farmers celebrating some festival or other, along with their ox cart and mule cart!

Smoke markers were used as noise markers.  Each of these increased the chance that the guards would notice and raise the alarm.

Lisa's Giustizia e Libertà partisans went for a more subtle approach, but still managed to generate many noise markers!  Fortunately for them, the German guard remained oblivious to their approach.

Doug's Garibaldis attract the attention of the guard at the rear of the compound, who starts moving toward the front gate.

Lisa's G e L machine gunner silently dispatches the nearest guard in CQC, or Close Quarters Combat!

Meanwhile Doug's BG continue their increasingly noisy approach to the front gate.  The remaining gate guard is oblivious to the elimination of his colleague!

Nancy Wake leads the fiamma verdi in a much quieter approach.

Doug experiences a setback as his attempt to assault the gate guard fails, and the attacker is struck down by the guard!

Noise markers a plenty as the guard shouts to raise the alarm, while behind him the G e L machine gunner cuts down one of the other guards.

Still moving silently, the Green Flames continue their approach to the villa.

But the alarm has been raised, and Stahl-Mask engages the fiamma verdi outside the villa.

The BG burst into the compound, and leave the mule cart to block the gate!

G e L partisans engage the guards emerging from the barracks.  Sgt Schultz proves to be a much more resilient warrior than expected, as he outlasts and subdues many of the partisans through many rounds of CQC.

Partisans have the run of the compound.

Meanwhile, the German emergency response team rushes to the scene.

Lisa's surviving G e L partisans have hotwired the German staff car, picked up the fiammi verdi radio operator, and pulled their remaining partisans from their fight with the German guards.  Schultz is still standing!

Doug's and Peter's partisans are both on the ground floor of the villa, arguing over who will be first to climb up to the second floor, against Col. Klink and Stahl-Mask!  Unfortunately, their decision to shoot up the stairs results in the death of the scientist, and defeats the purpose of the raid :(

The German response team is busy clearing the compound of the partisans. 

Lisa's team pulls a bootlegger reverse with their stolen staff car and escape through the rear gate.  Other remaining partisans slip away into the woods, and the Germans strive to determine what happened!

I failed to keep track of the body count, but Lisa provided a summary for her Giustiza e Libertà band. She named all her team members, from the submachine-gun toting leader Maria through the whole team, and also the one who hotwired the getaway car.  Rocco the rifleman was the only survivor other than Maria.  Poor Vincenzo, Maria's lover, was beaten in CQC by the Germans, so likely was taken prisoner.  On the other hand, she rescued the fiammi verdi radio operator, plus one of their riflemen.  Overall, it was quite a bloodbath for the partisans, and the Germans were well known for summary executions of any captured partisans, as well as brutal reprisals against the nearby civilian population.

This game was an experiment.  Overall, there were some good elements, and also some room for improvement.  To make the next attempt better, I have a few ideas:

- Put more effort into identifying the factions and assigning each a unique objective, ideally conflicting with the objectives of other factions.  Lisa really enjoyed researching the various partisan groups, so I will definitely tap into her research :).  Distinct objectives will also allow more room for specialist figures to have meaningful roles, such as radio operators, drivers, explosives experts, snipers and more.

- Black Ops calls for different types of troops activating on different cards, with leaders, specialists and ordinary mooks each activating on a different card.  While it didn't really hurt the flow of the game, I don't think it helped much, either.  I think it would be simpler to have a card or poker chip for each faction, which would probably speed up game play.

- Numbers of troops seemed ok, with about 10 figures for each faction.

- Using the Civilian Response Table for the cattle reaction was fun and seemed to work well.  Some more thought is needed for the starting position for the cows.  However, with some planning, there is a great opportunity to provide a role for the Top Secret cow!