Chain of Command AAR: Battle of Route Nationale 66

British troops charge along RN66

Two posts in as many days. This must be some kind of record for me. Tomorrow I have to get stuck into the last round of assessments for my degree, so thought I should get another after action report posted before I descend back into the abyss. Over the weekend I had the chance to again get stuck into some play testing of the up and coming Toofatlardies skirmish level Second World War ruleset, Chain of Command. For those of you who may have missed it, my first AAR may be read here. After a couple of play throughs, the basic game mechanics are now all but second nature, and the game flows quickly and smoothly. If I had not kept stopping to snap photographs, this game would have taken less than an hour.

On a related note, the latest Summer Special from the Lardies has just been released. For those not familiar with the biannual specials, I'd highly recommend you to check it out. The pdf files offer a plethora of articles and scenarios on topics ranging from close air support in the Vietnam war to an excellent Sharp Practice amendment for the War of the Roses, courtesy of Pat of Wargaming with Silver Whistle fame. This latest special also includes a superb looking campaign for I Ain't Been Shot Mum by Lard-in-Cheif, Rich Clarke. The campaign is based around the Irish Guards battlegroup's attacks towards Valkenswaard during the initial stages of Operation Market Garden in
1944. The campaign breaks the action down into ten game able actions, with the british player racing against the clock and the overstretched German team struggling to stem the onslaught with their overstretched forces. I'm already planning to expand my forces to allow the local club to get stuck into this campaign. While designed with IABSM3 in mind, it seems that this would port easily to Battlegroup Overlord or Flames of War. Anyway, I'd highly recommend you check it out. 

Now, I was going to post an AAR, wasn't I? Without further ado, the battle of Route Nationale 66. I thought I might use a bit of a creative narrative this time.

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The Battle of Route Nationale 66, between Caen and Villers-Bocage, mid-June 1944. 

The battleground. Brits entered from the left

The 15th Scottish Division had only landed at Gold Beach four days earlier and already they were being ordered into action again. This time their objective is to sever  Route Nationale 66, a tarmac road which German forces have been using to link forces around Caen with troops facing the Americans north of Vire. At the afternoon's O group, Lieutenant Harry MacLeod of the 6th King's Own Scots Borderers had learned that his No.10 Platoon was once again to lead the company's advance. H-Hour was set for 0530 the following morning. A half troop from the divisional recce regiment was to support MacLeod's advance. Sgt Arthur 'Neddie' Seagoon's half troop comprised two Humber armoured cars, one a mark IV armed with a 37mm gun, the other a bren gun armed LRC. Both cars were fast, but would be up against it if Jerry had any armour or '88s in the area. 

Sgt 'Neddie' Seagoon atop his mighty steed

MacLeod ordered Sgt. Arthur Campbell, his veteran platoon sergeant, to take a small group and patrol the enemy position. Shortly after nightfall, Campbell led his men towards the main road, eyes peeled for the inevitable enemy patrols. The clanking of metal and hushed conversation in German announced that enemy were located in a ruined farmhouse across the road. Campbell was experienced enough to realise that Jerry had spotted his patrols as surely as he had theirs. Returning to the friendly lines, the sergeant informed MacLeod of the enemy locations, and with this information in hand the lieutenant decided on jump-off points for tomorrows action, locations where he knew he could safely feed his sections into the coming fight. Having done all he could, MacLeod joined his men in a night of fitful and restless sleep.

The men rose in the darkness and as the sun began to broach the eastern sky, the men formed up into sections and moved off towards their forming up area. MacLeod ordered Sgt. Campbell to take Cpl. James Robson's section up the dirt track and to seize the ruined house. As Campbell and Robson;s section advanced cautiously towards the house, Seagoon's Humber IV whirred down the road past them before halting in the middle of the tarmac road. Seagoon saw the German machine-gun team covering the dirt track down which Campbell and Robson were advancing. He traversed the turret traversed towards the building and opened up on the Germans with the 37mm and coaxial BESA. He saw 2 Germans go down hit by tracer, and then Campbell and Robson's section were around him. The rhythmic chatter of the Bren gun joined the staccato crack of his BESA coax as the section's bren team, directed by Campbell, laid down covering fire. Campbell led his rifle team in a charge across the road, but just then the sound of tearing canvas erupted from the church yard down the road. A tripod mounted MG42 ripped into the rear of Campbell's men, sending the survivors running for the cover of a nearby bomb crater.

Campbell orders Robson's section forward

The textbook British advance reaches the crossroads

MG42 team fires into the British flank

Seagoon edged his car closer, cutting down the German survivors. He could swear he saw the German gefreiter fall when from nowhere a panzerfaust round slammed into the hull. His ears ringing and coughing from the smoke, he soon discovered that Hitchens, his driver, was badly wounded. Exposed and under enemy fire from a newly appeared section, Seagoon chose to rotate the turret and keep firing.

The Humber LRC joins the fray

Harry MacLeod had heard the dull metallic crash as something had slammed into the armoured car, but after only a brief pause the rhythmic chatter of the BESA had started up again. The horrifying sound of a spandau came  from down the road to his left. It was wiping out Campbell's force by degrees, so he  ordered Corporal Bill MacLaggan to take his section, cut across the road into the churchyard, and to outflank the machine-gun position. MacLaggan, still recovering from his recent wound, led his section off through the fields to the left. 

Another German section is fed into the fight.

Seagoon was giving Jerry hell. A second panzerfaust had slammed the ground only feet from his car, and still the BESA chattered its death song at the German section. He glanced behind him to see that Cpl. Bluebottle had reached the crossroads with his LRC. Good, he thought, soon we'll have these Jerry blighters on the run. So elated was Seagoon at the prospect that he never even saw the panzerschreck team which, having crept around the flank of his car, fired the round that turned the Humber IV into flaming ruin.

The panzerschreck makes short work of Seagoon's Humber

MacLeod glanced down the dusty track towards the house. He had heard the explosion and say the oily black smoke trail which was the funeral pyre for Seagoon and his crew. Christ almighty he thought, why had that bloody armoured car gotten so close to the German positions. The battle was swinging against him. He could see Sgt Campbell trying desperately to rally down the tattered remnants of Robson's section, but they all remained hunkered down in bomb crater. Worse, the bloody spandau was still firing from somewhere down the road. Suddenly, Private MacIntyre, Robson's Bren gunner came staggering down the track, blood streaming from his forehead.
"Its bloody murder sir, they're gone, they're just all bloody gone."

Lt MacLeod grasps the nettle

 MacLeod tried to get more sense out of the man but he was too badly dazed, so the Lieutenant sent him back to the RAP to have the headwound seen to.

So Robson's bren team was gone now as well. The Humber LRC sat immobile on the crossroads. He had to take the initiative or his platoon was lost. He drew his pathetically underpowered Webley revolver as he rushed towards Corporal Angus Duncan.

"Duncan, get your section and follow me. You too Peters." Duncan and his section set off at the run, with Private Peters grabbing the 2" mortar and following.

Chaos reigns at the crossroads

Sgt Arthur Campbell was not having a pleasant morning. He'd seen the armoured car go up, and the air was thick with thick acrid smoke as the car burnt itself out. Jerry had taken up position in the walled yard of the ruined house and were laying down a relentless fire on his position. He glanced around the crater at the shaken remnants of Robson's section as bullets spattered against the earth bulwark. What good could three men do anyway, he thought as he peered carefully over the rim of the crater. The other armoured car was still sitting there, engine idling and now he could see more movement beyond the ruined house. If someone didn't plug that gap, he thought, Jerry was going to outflank their entire position. He could see a German section racing across the road, throwing a hail of grenades at the small barn, their dull crump carrying above the noise of the battle. Then from barn erupted with a hail of fire.

German attack moves in on the barn

Duncan and MacLeod lead the defense

Bloody hell, thought MacLeod as he reloaded his Webley, that had been close. He peered out the door of the barn to see five Germans. A grizzled looking veteran was moaning softly and holding his stomach, but otherwise the bodies were still. He spotted movement across the road. He saw the Jerry section split into fire teams and ducked back inside as the MG42 opened up on the barn. He could hear the crump of the 2" mortar shells as Peters tried to stem this assault, but the firing did not let up.
He looked around at Duncan's section. The first assault had taken it's toll on the men, Carlyle and Rogers were dead, and the rest were badly shaken.They couldn't hold much longer, his hands were shaking and he couldn't get the bloody rounds in the revolver. Just then Duncan's voice came reassuringly steady and strong.

The German Feldwebel lies severely wounded

"Right lads, lets get ready, they're coming again. I want rapid fire, we'll hold these Jerry bastards. Let's give it to them."
The enfields cracked a rapid staccato and the Bren took up it's rythmic chatter again. MacLeod glanced out the window and fired off his six rounds in the general direction of the movement.
To his left, the second armoured car had finally gotten moving again. He could see the commander, blood streaming down his face as he calmly fired into the German position, pausing only to reload the Bren with parade ground precision.

The LRC lays down a withering fire

"Sir" It was Duncan. "Sir, I think we've got them on the run. Might be time to have a crack at the ruined house don't you think?"
Gazing in disbelief, MacLeod saw the second armoured car race across the road and towards the enemy hedge line, Bren chattering all the while. These bloody recce blokes liked to live life on the edge. He turned quickly back to Duncan.
"Right you are Gus," he turned to the men. "Right lads, bayonets and grenades. Lets send the rest of these bastards scurrying back to Berlin. Collins, you see to that wounded German, take him back to company."

The Brits take the offensive

The attack moves in as the LRC siezes a jump-off point

He led the men across the road and towards the ruined house at the run. It all seemed to be in slow motion, he saw the grenades explode in the yard like dirty brown smudges, then they were hand to hand with the Germans, he could see men down on both sides, then he saw Duncan take a bayonet in the arm.

Hand to hand in the rubble

The positions at game end, MacLeod and Duncan rally their men in the bomb crater as German morale crumbles

 "Fall back lads, find some cover." The survivors ran back across the road, but they were not pursued by fire. He saw Duncan, the last out of the yard. He trotted over, his sleeve bloody but with a broad grin on his face. He held a Schmeisser out for MacLeod to take.
"There y'are sir. It's not exactly regulation I know, but better than that bloody pea shooter I suspect." The corporal looked across the road and smiled.
"Sir, have a look at that would you."
MacLeod followed the corporal's gaze, and through the smoke and haze he could see the last remnants of the German troops fleeing for their life.

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Well, that was the action. The German's eventually broke when the LRC captured a jump off point and they lost their gefreiter in the melee. The action in the other flank, where MacLaggan's section had been sent, comprised mostly of desultory exchange of fire between the Bren team and the MG42, while the rifle section took cover in the churchyard.

MacLaggan's assault moves (slowly) in

The patrol phase is a great game within a game, and played completely differently with this scenario, which was a probing attack. I also got a chance to use some of the nation specific rules, and these do add to the flavour of the game without being overwhelming. The German assaults on the barn were preceded by a hail of Grenades, causing a few casualties and some serious shock which very nearly offset their not quite getting to grips with the enemy. The British rapid fire rule gave that extra edge to the firing, enabling them to decimate the second German attack. The armoured cars were fun, in fact they seemed more useful than the lumbering Churchill in the first game. The diminutive LRC performed admirably, despite the commander being wounded by a panzerschreck round. Again, the Chain of Command dice proved very useful, allowing both the Brits and the Germans to interrupt their opponent's plans.

I've just finished my first section of British Airborne, and hope to have the rest of the platoon finished soon after i've completed this round of assessments. I've also got the blokes from the local club coming round to have a multiplayer Sharp Practice evening, so in between umpiring the game, i'll be endeavoring to snap some photos and get an AAR of this up.

For now, stay tuned for more AARs and updates in the near future.

Chain of Command AAR - Hedgerow Hell

I'm a married man! A few Saturdays ago (the 16th March to be precise), I married the love of my life Laura. The wedding went off without a hitch, Laura looks amazing, the rain staying away and a great night was had by all. Strange how after all the months of planning, the night itself flashed by so quickly - I didn't even get around to see all the guests, and we only had 70! I'll post some photos up once we get them back from the photographer - who also happens to be my very talented sister, Liss!

Laur and I then headed off to Bali for a week long honeymoon. We stayed out of the busy Kuta area, in a villa with a private walled garden and plunge pool. It's an amazing place once you get out of the tourist trap, and we both had a really relaxing time. Even managed to get a bit of a tan!

So, now I know I said last post that I'd be posting more BTH2 planes, and they are photographed and just waiting for me to post them up. However, in the intervening weeks i've had the opportunity to get involved in the play-testing of the up and coming Too Fat Lardies ruleset, Chain of Command.

Chain of Command is a platoon 'plus' level rule-set for WWII. As always with the Lardies, the rules include some great innovations, and focus on the role of leaders on the battlefield. 
Rich Clarke has placed some excellent taster videos over on the lard island blog, which explain the main rule mechanics and include a play-through. I do urge you to check them out, along with Neil Shuck's recent Meeples and Miniatures podcast on the rules.

The bridge and Nez Corchu

So, while I'm carrying on with the playtesting, i'll be posting up some After Action Reports, as well as some pics of units as I add to my WWII 20mm collection. For the playlist below, my British infantry platoon from the 6th King's Own Scots Borderers, with a Churchill Mk III in support, faced off against a platoon of German grenadiers from 21st Panzer Division, aided by a tripod mounted MG42. The Germans had to a bridge over a small river, snear the (fictional) village of Nez Corchu in the Normandy bocage country. For the commanders, I've used the characters I developed with platoon forward.

Without further ado...


Seize the Bridge at Nez Corchu, mid June 1944.

Patrol Phase 

British entry point

Chain of Command begins with a patrol phase. In this phase, markers representing pre-battle reconnaissance patrols advance from entry points until they are within 12" of an enemy marker, when they are locked down.


The British patrol markers entered from a single point down the main road to the bridge. Being the attackers, they got a number of free moves. Then the Germans began to move out. Eventually the markers were all locked down in the vicinity of the small village straddling the road to the bridge. The patrol markers were removed, and three jump-off points placed for each side. The Jump off markers are placed in cover back from the patrol markers. Think of it as the patrol markers representing the furthest point of advance, and the jump-offs as 'safe' points on the battlefield from which the force commander can feed uncommitted sections or fire-teams into the battle.

German and British patrols lock down

Jump-off points placed, and ready for action

Turn 1

So, with deployment sorted, the game proper began. Chain of Command plays as a series of phases, each making up a turn. Each phase represents 10sec or so of action. At the beginning of each phase, the active player rolls a number of command dice which allow them to activate sections, fire-teams, leaders or support teams. Turns are more considerable periods of time, and represent the ebb and flow of battle. Additionally, any 5s rolled accumulate on the 'Chain of Command' dice (more on that later), and 6s can affect the turn sequence, granting the player multiple active phases.

Cpl Robson's section set off towards Nez Corchu

British attack develops

Achilles II moves up. Slowly.

The British started the ball rolling, deploying a rifle section under Corporal James Robson. Robson's section soon headed up the bocage lined road towards the hamlet. A lucky roll on the command dice meant the Brits could take the initiative early, and so on to the table came a second section under Corporal Angus Duncan, along with the Churchill III, the mighty Achilles II under command of Sgt. Norman Dudley.

 The British plan was to send Robson's section down the main road into the village, clearing the way for the churchill. Duncan's section would advance through the bocage on the right, hopefully outflanking any defence of the village. Finally, Corporal Bill MacLaggan's section would go wide on the left, trying to bypass the village entirely and reach the bridge, cutting off the German
retreat.

Movement in the Boulangerie

The Germans chose to remain hidden, hoping to ambush the advancing sections at close quarters. Robson's  section moved more cautiously as they approached the village of Nez Corchu. this was a good move, as the Germans deployed a rifle gruppe under Gefreiter Enno Holzmann to their jump off point in the village bakery and opened up with their MG42 team, killing two men and causing shock to the unit. Had Robson's men not taken cover by adopting a 'tactical' stance, they may have fared much worse. As the Bren team fruitlessly attempted to silence the MG42, the British deployed their 2" mortar team and sent it scurrying down the road. When the bakery came into view, the team set up and fired a smoke shell, hitting the target and blocking Holzmann's line of sight.

Robson's section takes cover, as the 2" mortar moves up

Literally the next German command dice was three 6s, which ended the turn immediately clearing the smoke just laid.

End of Turn 1. The British attack develops, and meets resistance.

Turn 2

Robson heads for the house

The beginning of turn two saw Robson's section loosing men and gaining shock from the Germans in the Bakery. Holzmann's gruppe was exacting a heavy toll, and the German defence was firming up. the Platoon Feldwebel, Rudi Böhler, deployed along with a tripod mounted MG42 and a second rifle gruppe under Gefreiter Heinrich Baer. Fortuitously for the Brits, the 2" was activated again and again was smack on target with the smoke. Nonetheless, Robson's Bren team remained hunkered down on 'tactical', while Robson led the rifle team in a mad dash to towards the house across from the bakery from where they could better engage the enemy.

Churchill moves up.

The Churchill was taking its sweet time trundling up the road, as was Cpl Duncan's flanking section. Even the deployment of Platoon Sgt Arthur Campbell had not been able to counter some very poor movement dice rolls. McLaggan's section, on the other hand, had swiftly moved through the bocage and was poised to break through the last hedgerow and come around the German flank.



Just as McLaggan and his section emerged from the hedgerow, the Germans deployed their last uncommited rifle gruppe, under Gefreiter Willi Reiniger. Reiniger's gruppe opened up immediately, killing one man and lightly wounding McLaggan, but only inflicting one shock.

McLaggen's section emerges...

...Into the waiting muzzles of Reiniger's gruppe

Duncan's men attack with grenades

Meanwhile, on the right, Baer's gruppe moved up to the hedgeline and went tactical, just as Duncan's section reached the other side. I was unsure of how to treat this encounter (Rich has since clarified that these troops should count as in close combat - which makes sense). In any case, both Duncan's and Baer's sections avoided firing through the hedgerow and resorted to throwing grenades. This saw Baer's troops coming off much worse, taking several casualties and a few points of shock.

McLaggan's men turn the tables on their ambushers

Back on the left, the Germans activated Reiniger's gruppe to fire again at McLaggan's troops, when the British interrupted the turn using their Chain of Command dice. Instead, McLaggan ordered his men to open up on the Germans, and some lucky dice rolling saw the Reiniger's men suffering 4 casualties (including Reiniger who was badly wounded) and 5 shock, which sent the remnants of the section reeling back towards the bridge. With all German assets engaged, the platoon commander, Leutnant Andreas Dörpfeld deployed at the bridge and rallied the fleeing men, just as the turn ended again.



Turn 3

Holzmann's MG42 team switches targets

As soon as the smoke in front of the bakery cleared, the 2" mortar again fired dead on target. Robson lead his riflemen into the building across the road and engaged the enemy killing several of Holzmann's men. However, the remainder of Holzmann's men finally had a target. With one deadly burst from the MG42 team, Robson's rifle-team was decimated, leaving the Corporal with only one rifleman remaining.


On the right, Duncan abandoned the grenade-throwing and led his rifle team through a gap in the hedgerow and into hand to hand with the remnants of Baer's men. In the brutal hand to hand, both sides took casualties and shock, but when the dust cleared it was the outnumbered Germans who held the hedgerow. Duncan and the survivors fled back through the gap, past the uncommitted Bren team and ran straight into Sgt Campbell, who berated Duncan and led the men back back towards the hedgerow.

Hand-to-hand in the hedgerows

Baer's men hold the line

McLaggan's Bren team heads for the bridge

On the Right, McLaggan's route to the bridge was clear. He ordered his beefed up Bren team to move quickly towards the bridge and engage Reiniger's tattered gruppe, while he personally led two men to secure the nearby German jump-off point.

Achtung, Panzer!

Despite the British taking heavy casualties around the bakery and in the hedgerow fight, the game was almost up for the Germans. Their force morale had taken a hammering, and now the mighty Achilles II finally clanked its way into the battle. As the turret rotated to engage the tripod MG42, the Germans scurried back into cover. Baer ordered two of his men to take a panzerfaust and to stalk the iron beast, while he led the remainder of his section back to the new defensive line. The Panzerfaust hit but failed to penetrate, and the coaxial besa MG made short work of the two landser.

Better late than never.

McLaggan's men engaged Reinegger's small group, while the Cpl and his small team made for the bridge. 

Last defenders

As the Churchill lumbered up the main road, Holzmann's gruppe fired their panzerfaust down onto the passing tank narrowly missing. Another burst of coax severley wounded the Gefreiter, finally breaking the German force morale and, with their escape route blocked, the tattered remnants surrendered. The bridge was secured, but two of the British sections had suffered heavy casualties.






 SUMMARY

Achilles II heads for the bridge

So, that was my first game of  Chain of Command. Thanks for sticking with me this far, I know it's turned into a bit of an essay, but I hope it was a fraction as enjoyable to read as it was to play. I realise now that I didn't allocate enough dice for the Panzerfaust, and if used correctly there's a much higher chance that Achilles II would have become a flaming wreck, possibly tipping the scales in favour of the Germans. The game took about 2-3 hours, although it felt very fast indeed. Its a very immersive and engaging game, and playing it feels like you are watching an episode of Band of Brothers. The command dice system really does make you think about how you will allocate your limited resources, and the Chain of Command dice are extremely useful. If it wasn't for the ability to Interrupt Reiniger's attack, it would seem unlikely that McLaggan's path to the bridge would have been so easy.

I can't wait to have another crack at the rules, and as soon as i've finished the batch of commission stuff on my table, I'll be adding to my German forces, and then starting on some British paratroopers.