Good chum Mike and I got together for a long overdue game of Chain of Command in the North African desert. It's December 1941 and Rommel's men are cunningly withdrawing before the onslaught of Operation Crusader. With Allied supply lines being stretched thin, the Germans decide to make a stand at the abandoned village of Marj-Areen ...
Mike kindly set up a table before my arrival, and then produced a delicious pizza, artisan bread and plenty of tea before we set to. Here's the table after the patrol phase.
I have JOPs behind the two ruined buildings and the hill on the far left, whilst Mike has JOPs behind the two hills nearest his baseline. I was impressed by the rugged sandy hills on Mike's table, covered in rocks both large and small. When many people think of the desert they think of endless sand but much of the North African desert is rather different. Mike has been there (following in the footsteps of his Dad) and it's very rugged terrain as these photos will show.
Right, on to the game; it's scenario 3 Attack & Defend. I had 5 points of support and Mike had 8. He opted for a Crusader and a Sniper team whereas I took a second Senior Leader, an AT Rifle team and entrenchments (for the AT rifle). I was tempted to blow all 5 points on a Panzer III but the second SL proved a sound investment.
Mike began by bringing on a few teams which I countered by making a strong central fire-base amongst the buildings.
We agreed that the rocky tops of the hills would offer hard cover so they became almost like mini-fortresses. A few turns in (yes, Mike and I kept rolling triple sixes!) and the allies are beginning the attack.
Jerry launches a flank attack. A double turn affords me the opportunity of deploying troops and then getting them to leg it in to a good position.
Mike's chaps take up a good position on the rocky dune and let rip on the Germans amongst the ruins ... taking out the Obergefreiter. But fortunately this had little effect on my Force Morale.
But, using a '2', my chaps dealt out a world of pain to another British section on a rocky outcrop.
They fell back on their Platoon Sergeant to rally and regroup.
All this meant that Mike's Force Morale took quite a beating.
The next pic is a bit of jump... Mike brought on a Crusader which used its machine guns to wreck the German squad in the central ruined building. They ran out of the back door and used the ruins as cover to help mount a flank attack on the British hill.
And foolishly pressed their 'advantage'!?
Mike's Sniper did well and twice narrowly missed taking out one of my Senior Leaders.
The Crusader threw up an interesting situation. I brought on an AT rifle team and a few lucky shots resulted in the tank being forced to reverse off the table. We checked the rules but eventually agreed that it went back in to reserve, so a few phases later it returned. We felt that this seemed more fun.
Alas, no more photos as we got rather caught up in the excitement! Mike's chaps doggedly refused to give up. I really had to take the fight to the British to try to force a result and Mike played on brilliantly. My initial gains were almost blunted by Mike's stubborn refusal to retreat. Indeed, one good round from his Sniper and the Crusader might have carried it for the British, but in the end Jerry pushed the Allies back.
Crikey! What a splendid game. Even on a morale of 3 Mike's chaps were fighting hard and might yet have won the day. My thanks to an excellent host for a lovely lunch and a marvellous afternoon of gaming.
Mike kindly set up a table before my arrival, and then produced a delicious pizza, artisan bread and plenty of tea before we set to. Here's the table after the patrol phase.
I have JOPs behind the two ruined buildings and the hill on the far left, whilst Mike has JOPs behind the two hills nearest his baseline. I was impressed by the rugged sandy hills on Mike's table, covered in rocks both large and small. When many people think of the desert they think of endless sand but much of the North African desert is rather different. Mike has been there (following in the footsteps of his Dad) and it's very rugged terrain as these photos will show.
 |
| Visiting Hemeimat |
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| The remains of a sangar on Ruweisat Ridge are clearly visible |
Right, on to the game; it's scenario 3 Attack & Defend. I had 5 points of support and Mike had 8. He opted for a Crusader and a Sniper team whereas I took a second Senior Leader, an AT Rifle team and entrenchments (for the AT rifle). I was tempted to blow all 5 points on a Panzer III but the second SL proved a sound investment.
Mike began by bringing on a few teams which I countered by making a strong central fire-base amongst the buildings.
We agreed that the rocky tops of the hills would offer hard cover so they became almost like mini-fortresses. A few turns in (yes, Mike and I kept rolling triple sixes!) and the allies are beginning the attack.
Jerry launches a flank attack. A double turn affords me the opportunity of deploying troops and then getting them to leg it in to a good position.
Mike's chaps take up a good position on the rocky dune and let rip on the Germans amongst the ruins ... taking out the Obergefreiter. But fortunately this had little effect on my Force Morale.
But, using a '2', my chaps dealt out a world of pain to another British section on a rocky outcrop.
They fell back on their Platoon Sergeant to rally and regroup.
All this meant that Mike's Force Morale took quite a beating.
The next pic is a bit of jump... Mike brought on a Crusader which used its machine guns to wreck the German squad in the central ruined building. They ran out of the back door and used the ruins as cover to help mount a flank attack on the British hill.
And foolishly pressed their 'advantage'!?
Mike's Sniper did well and twice narrowly missed taking out one of my Senior Leaders.
The Crusader threw up an interesting situation. I brought on an AT rifle team and a few lucky shots resulted in the tank being forced to reverse off the table. We checked the rules but eventually agreed that it went back in to reserve, so a few phases later it returned. We felt that this seemed more fun.
Alas, no more photos as we got rather caught up in the excitement! Mike's chaps doggedly refused to give up. I really had to take the fight to the British to try to force a result and Mike played on brilliantly. My initial gains were almost blunted by Mike's stubborn refusal to retreat. Indeed, one good round from his Sniper and the Crusader might have carried it for the British, but in the end Jerry pushed the Allies back.
Crikey! What a splendid game. Even on a morale of 3 Mike's chaps were fighting hard and might yet have won the day. My thanks to an excellent host for a lovely lunch and a marvellous afternoon of gaming.
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