Battle Report: Games Day & Chain of Command 1940

Yesterday, the January PDX Historical Games Day and Vic's game night fell on the same day, so I packed in several hours of pushing toy soldiers around at Guardian Games.

British squads moving up to rush the German defenders.

 I did a demo of Bolt action using 15mm Flames of War figures that ended up being more of a game than a demo, as the other fellow had played before. I'd forgotten how quickly Bolt Action Moves, and also how quickly pinning markers can add up. It was British versus Germans in a simple attack scenario; the British (me) had to seize a couple objectives on the German side.

Both sides had similar composition: Command squad, three infantry squads, a supporting Sherman V or StuG III. The Germans were mostly Veterans, while he British were mostly Regulars but had a PIAT and a mortar to even up the points.

The Germans deployed first, setting up in the woods on their side of the table with their StuG watching the road. I dropped the British down with command, one squad, and the Sherman coming up behind a village on my left, and the other two squads coming up behind the village on the right.

Firefight in the village

 After that it was just a matter of marching forward and using cover, at least for the Brits. Unfortunately for me, I rolled some terrible command checks. My Sherman rolled double sixes on two activations, one turn after another, and thus fled the table, so it fell to the PIAT to deliver the killing blow on the StuG. On the right flank, my veterans advanced, but my regular squad kept failing to move forward. The veterans took a gamble and tried to assault the German position after softening it up for a turn with fire, but were cut to pieces by Hitler's buzz saw.

The British veteran squad's point of view.

 Over on the left, both sides contested the village across the little road, chipping away at each other until the British command squad was annihilated. It was at that point we called the game a German victory, as the British didn't have enough resources left to go after any of the objectives.

I was quite happy with how the game played in 15mm. We used the measurements for 28mm - movement and weapon ranges - and it felt like a good fit. It could use more terrain on the table, though.

Lion Rampant: After battle, knights and footmen still on the field.

 Over on the other two tables we had a couple games of Hundred Years War Lion Rampant going on. Can't say how they went, but they looked fun.

Lion Rampant: Forces fighting over a field...

I forgot to get any pictures of the Dragon Rampant game I played against Jared - my Circle Orboros vs his GW Beastmen - but it went well enough. Just a simple teaching game as it was my first, but still fun. I do find one reservation about Rampant, though: If you fail a couple activation rolls in a row, you can quickly find yourself on a downward spiral, which is... less than fun.

After the Game Day games, I sat down to take up the flag of France against the German invaders in Vic's Chain of Command game - two platoons of infantry each supported by a small tank squadron, battling over a patch of woods somewhere in France.

Chain of Command: French troops moving through the woods toward a German jump off point

This was just about everyone's first game with the rules set - there were six players plus Vic as the referee - and so, to be honest, there was more looking up rules than rolling dice and moving figures. Still, it seemed to give a pretty good game. The scenario restricted us to no more than 6" of visibility unless on a road, so there was a good bit of careful probing and advancing.

French FT-17s moving up to support the right flank

I took command of the FT-17 squadron and an infantry squad, and saw a fair bit of action.

Germans hold a bend in the road against French infantry...

... and with their little AT gun, incapacitate the FT-17 tanks.

 As seen above, the tanks attempted to zip along the road to support the French right flank, and were somewhat successful. However, the Germans were able to move their AT gun and cripple the squadron - immobilizing two tanks and knocking out the main gun on the other.

The center holds, for both sides

 Meanwhile, in the center, my infantry squad repulsed a German squad, twice. The game pretty accurately portrays rushing a machine gun as a terrible idea.

The German mortar pitches in too, but the AT gun has taken a few hits.

Over on the left flank, the German Panzer I tanks advance down the road and encounter a French AT gun

I left before the game came to a conclusion, but at the time of my departure it looked as if the balance was starting to swing toward the Germans. But not by much.