There are Many Rivers to Cross-Turn 2

 

Yesterday, myself and Greg got together at my place to play the next turn in our Belgian Invasion campaign from the TFL 2018 Annual. It had been 3 months since we played the last turn so it was time to get moving!

The next scenario was table 3 which is based on the Swift to Support scenario from the 1940 source book.  

We both decided not to rotate out our platoons so went with the surviving elements from our first game. We went through the pregame process and came up with the below starting forces.

Chasseur Ardennais Platoon (FM 10)

Core

SL

GdC 1: Missing 3 riflemen

GdC 2: Missing 3 riflemen

DBT Lance Grenade Section

CoC Dice

Supports (9)

T-13a/b

Maxim MMG Team

Schützen Platoon (FM 11)

Core

SLx2

5cm Mortar Team

Squad 1

Squad 2

Squad 3: Missing 3 riflemen

Supports (15)

Fifth Columnist

Jean-Claude

Red Dice

MMG Team

Flamethrower Team

Schützen Squad

So off we went.......

The German approach

Patrol Markers with subsequent JOP's

I initially started my attack from my left flank. I placed a squad, MMG team and a SL here. This was not prudent as almost immediately my MMG got pinned and there only target was a CdG in hard cover. This was a losing battle.

The Belgian DBT gave me a lot of trouble, they were well back so were protected from anything I could launch at them. Most of their fireing was without LOS but their reducing cover to open resulted in a lot of casualties.

The main Belgian CdG unit in hard cover, I controlled them relatively well with almost continous covering fire but it was hard to cause loss with long range fire.

On my right flank I placed another SL, with a squad and a 5cm Mortar team.  Their target was the CdG in the light cover in the orchard.  A bit more success here.

The aforementioned CdG unit.

I decided that I needed a forward base so used a CoC dice to advance my rear most JOP forward, I had not done this before. It was effective but not withstanding the squad I placed here broke and I had to also withdraw the FT team as they were under heavy fire. I was waiting for a double phase so they could take out the troops behind the hard cover.

I sent in another squad to replace the breaking group with the left flank SL to help reduce shock.

They were able to pin the CdG in the light cover and with more fire they broke.

We were then at a bit of a stalemate but Greg, being the gentleman and tactician that he is, suggested that I advance a squad to take a JOP. By now the only Belgian squad that could see my right flank was the centre CdG in hard cover. They had taken lot of fire and were being worn down. I used my centre rifle team to lay down covering fire and in two bounds my right flank rifle team ran up and got within 4" of the Belgian JOP. At the same time 3 LMG teams and the MMG team where piling fire into the centre CdG unit, they were close to breaking. Greg withdrew. A German victory

The Summing Up

The ending force morale was 8 for the Germans and 6 for the Belgians. The Germans lost a JL and 5 riflemen while the Belgians lost 19 riflemen. So once we apply the post campaign process and the losses from turn 1 we have the following:

After 2 turns

Platoon 1: Germans 3 dead, 2 man missing the next turn. 1JL down 1CI (3" command range)

Platoon 1: Belgians 15 dead, 5 men missing the next turn.

Campaign Tracker

Germans

Commander's Opinion+2

Men's Opinion +1

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Droll

Belgians

Commander's Opinion-1

Men's Opinion -6 (-2FM, Sl 6" command range)

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Sad

  

This was an interesting game. I definitely was very lucky in respect to command rolls with 7 double phases while Greg I believe only had 2. In dice rolling, we were about equal, earlier in the game Greg certainly had lady luck on his side but as the game went on I caught up. As I noted in my initial post, it was going to be a challenge for me as I am naturally a defender. Greg was a real gentleman yesterday in pointing out the maneuver that won me the game. I certainly have learned a lot about tactics from playing with Greg. It is interesting to me that it is really quite valuable to play with multiple different players as there are so many approaches to playing CoC.