Scenario 2 Positional Defence (2)

A first outing for my ImagiNations inter war forces of Syldavia and Borduria. A low grade conflict between these two countries sputtered throughout the late 20's and early 30's, long before the involvement of an interfering boy reporter from Belgium. This scenario represents an occasion on which Borduria seized a mountain pass on the Syldavian side of the border, for complex reasons to do with the internal politics of the intelligence service, the ego of the local commander and the disappearance of his mistress's bichon frisé. Unsurprisingly, the Syldavians were quick to send a force to eject the invaders.

Using CoC Up, my modified (bastardised is more like it) version of Chain of Command, I'm calling each stand of figures a 'platoon', so that infantry units of 3-4 stands are 'companies' making each force: 

Borduria (Blue)

1 Battalion HQ (Senior Leader)
3 infantry companies (1 Junior Leader each)
1 stormtrooper company (1 Junior Leader)
1 tank squadron (2 Pz38t) (1 Junior Leader)
2 77mm batteries (1 Junior Leader)

Syldavia (Red)

1 Task Force HQ (Senior Leader)
5 infantry companies (1 Junior Leader each)
1 machine gun company (1 Junior Leader)
1 Jaeger company (1 Junior Leader)
2 tank squadrons (each 2 FT-17, 1 MMG armed, 1 37mm armed) (1 Junior Leader each)
1 cavalry squadron (1 Junior Leader)
1 105mm howitzer battery (1 Junior Leader)
Pre game bombardment

Given the force sizes, the traditional 5 command dice of CoC may make for a very slow and uncoordinated game. Now, slow and uncoordinated may be exactly the effect I am looking for in this period, but I might allocate 2-4 extra ‘red’ dice to each side depending on how things are going. (In CoC ‘red’ dice count for activation on a 1-4, but 5s and 6s which generate CoC points or extra turns are ignored.)

This is what the terrain is supposed to look like…

…and this is what I achieved. Wargamers of a certain age will recognize a small piece of Syldavia that is forever Belgium, which might explain that pesky boy reporter and his little dog….

Not much terrain for a 20th century battle, but that’s what tanks are for, right? The circular markers are ‘Jump Off Points’ (JoP), from which units deploy in CoC. They are placed following the Patrol Phase, a neat little mechanism that ensures battle commences quickly, rather than with long drawn out route marches from either table edge.

The Bordurians (white crosses on black) defend the northern table edge, with JoPs in the Belgian farm, behind a hill on the table edge and in the village. The Syldavians (green crosses on red) only rolled 2 free patrol phase moves out of a possible 6, so find their JoPs pinned well back. They do, however, start with a small advantage in Force Morale at 9 to the Bordurian’s 8. Clearly defending your homeland provides some motivation.

Turn 1

With most of the cover on the flanks of the battlefield, the infantry favoured those areas, with the centre contested by tanks and artillery. The Syldavians deployed the élite jaeger company on their right flank supported by a machine gun platoon while an infantry company made its way from the central wood to the hedge facing the farm, again with support from a machine gun unit in the woods.

Jaegers deploy!

In the centre the first tank squadron advanced towards the village, where it was met by a Bordurian 77mm battery. The Syldavian tanks, with the support of a 105mm howitzer battery in direct fire mode, got the better of the encounter destroying the Bordurian artillery. This dropped Bordurian Force Morale 2 points to 6.

Call that a howitzer?

THIS is a howitzer!

The preliminary bombardment required the Bordurians to roll 4 or higher on a d6 to successfully deploy units, an effect which lasted for the whole of the first turn. This severely hampered the wider defence, but by the time they had accumulated enough CoC points to end the turn, the Bordurians had managed to deploy infantry companies into the farm on their right and one in the village on the left flank. They also brought on their own tank squadron to face the Syldavian FT-17s and a second 77mm battery on the hill in the centre.

No time to loophole the buildings, but a pile of logs to use as a firestep (thanks Airfix!)

Turn 2 was much shorter, and more successful for Borduria. The battery on the hill destroyed the Syldavian artillery and in the tank battle the Bordurians knocked out the main armament of the 37mm armed FT-17, leaving Syldavia without an anti-tank weapon on the table. Borduria also deployed the Stormtrooper company into the village to counter the threat of the jaeger who were now preparing to outflank the position by occupying the woods overlooking the village.

Fire support for the jaegers.

Turn 3

Things began well for Syldavia with a strong fist of command dice allowing them to deploy practically all remaining units. On the right the jaegers were supported by 2 infantry companies while a third occupied the warehouse in the centre. On the left an additional infantry company and the cavalry squadron advanced to threaten the farm. The remaining tank squadron moved on to confront the Bordurian Pz-38t’s.

The Bordurian commander responded aggressively. The stormtrooper company assaulted the jaegers in the woods above the village. The melée swung back and forth for three rounds before the sub machine guns and grenades of the Bordurians drove the two lead jaeger platoons out of the woods. Meanwhile their tanks managed to knock out the gun on the other 37mm armed Syldavian tank, so Syldavia was without any weapons capable of taking on the Pz38t’s.

Bordurian stormtroopers about to discover what’s lurking in the woods

But before the Bordurians could exploit this success, things fell apart on the left flank. The jaeger Captain led the two platoons held in reserve in a charge through the woods and into the stormtroopers still recovering from the initial combat and under fire on their right flank from Syldavian troops lining a hedge. The first line of stormtroopers were thrown back, dropping Bordurian Force Morale by another point; but then, taking advantage of a double phase, the jaegers continued their headlong bayonet assault and routed the two platoons in support. This dropped Bordurian morale a whole 4 points, leaving it at a precarious 1.

Stormtroopers flee the woods, taking Bordurian morale with them.

(All those ‘shock’ markers are courtesy of the 3D printing of the Home Guard expert and all round top bloke PatG. Pat also reassured me that the FT-17s were not hopelessly outclassed by the Pz-38t’s by comprehensively handing me my butt in an online game of What a Tanker! at New Year, where he commanded the FTs and wiped out my command of Pz38t’s for no loss.)

With Bordurians armour on the prowl and their fair share of shock accumulated, the jaegers withdrew to the safety of the woods. But Syldavian command knew that only one more lost unit would tip the Bordurians into defeat. Infantry assaults on the well defended walls of the farm or village were too risky and would take too long, as those invulnerable Pz38t’s roamed the battlefield. A coup de main was called for, and who better to deliver it than the cavalry?

No one had blundered. Syldavian cavalry win the day!

Galloping across the open fields, they charged the Bordurian artillery battery like something out of the Crimean War. The Bordurian gunners, faced with a fast moving target, headed straight for them, were only able to inflict a little shock on their attackers, and then fled as horses and men, the latter firing wildly from the saddle, swept through the battery and claimed a victory for Syldavia!

Observations

Another fun game with a decisive result and so great to get my 20mm scenery and figures on the table. Those poor Bordurians couldn’t catch a break on the Force Morale rolls and knocking out the main armament of a tank may be militarily effective, but unfortunately doesn’t trigger a Force Morale roll. Maybe it should?

A well designed and properly tested set of rules, like Chain of Command, is a finely balanced piece of engineering. Mess with one aspect of it and you’re likely to throw off the whole structure. So unsurprisingly, my cackhanded upscaling definitely left a little to be desired. In no particular order, areas for improvement include:

 - Although the Command & Control system held up quite well. (I added extra ‘red dice’ in pretty quickly) things still felt a bit disjointed. Units sat becalmed for long periods of the game doing nothing, but also not being fired on. I’m wondering about using the TFL company level rules I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, which has card driven activation. That said, a good solution would need me to get clear about…

 - …Scale. If one base of 3-4 figures is a platoon, then is a single howitzer on a base a battery? If so, is the best way of resolving the battery firing on a single tank model (a troop) the CoC system which treats the model as a single vehicle? The result whereby all the 37mm armed FT-17s in the troop were neutralized by a single round of firing from opposing tanks (twice!) seems a bit odd in that context.

 - Infantry fire definitely needs some work. It was massively underpowered compared to artillery, with large volumes of rifle and medium machine gun fire having almost no effect on proceedings at all. Melée, by contrast, proved entirely decisive, which matches some interwar conflicts, but still feels unbalanced.

Conclusion

That’s two games in 3 weeks. At this rate My Year With Charles might only last 18 months, but I severely doubt I’ll maintain this pace. The Canadian winter certainly limits the number of alternative activities to gaming, and I ruthlessly exploited my birthday and a public holiday to shoehorn in time for myself. That won’t happen every month. Not to mention that Scenario 3 ought to require me to get an entire Byzantine army painted. Even if I go the Sassanian civil war route, I still have some 15mm ancient buildings to paint and some palm trees to base. And don’t get me started on the work required to do Scenarios 4 and 5. If I do Scenario 6 next, you’ll know why….