Monday 18 May 2015

In the Bleak Mid Winter!

Two weeks ago I asked the guys at the club to do an introductory game of "Chain of Command" (By the Too Fat Lardies!) and I was delighted that this club meet yesterday they dis so. Now having played the rules I am an immediate convert to the rules! I thought they worked so very well. And here is what happened.

We used 28mm Winter War troops with the Russians attacking the Fins. All figures terrain and rules knowledge supplied by Dave who helped me with the Fins and opposed by Kev and Ian who had played before and had the Russians.

Once the forces were worked out both teams had a few extra points to spend given the scenario. The Russians bought a T26 tank and a Medium (80mm) Mortar. While we, the Fins selected a company runner (to help bring on reinforcements and issue orders, a sniper team (cheap option but quite handy so I was told), another T26 (To counter their tank threat) and a Chain of Command dice (In case they had a preliminary barrage and we wanted to end the turn quickly!) And that was all the points spent. At platoon level 1 tank a side is VERY generous as historically speaking the ratio during WW2  was 600 troops to each tank even in Battle of the Bulge and D-Day.

The Russians went first and rolled the command dice. The result was that they could bring on the mortar the T26 and a squad and get the next go straight away. In the second phase they moved the squad up and brought another squad onto the board as well as advancing the tank. We, Dave and me, had nothing on the board to stop them.
 And that is where the action starts and the Finns get a phase. And we get a good dice roll and can bring on the T26 (at the table edge) the sniper and a squad. Shown in the picture above. I got luck and the sniper fired straight away and managed to wound a Russian NCO. (I needed to roll 1 or less on d6 and rolled a 1).A pair of phases were played and the sniper managed to wound a second Russian NCO (Again needing a 1 on d6 to do so and getting it!) Mean while the Russians had brought on a 2nd and 3rd squad onto the board and we had managed to bring on 2 more squads an a platoon command as well.
 The two tanks started to fire at each other but with only minimal effect. they both suffered some suppression hits so were a little groggy an if either had mad a good (not even very good) dice roll it would have tipped the balance.
 The centre squad was taking a beating and the right flank almost open and flapping in the cold bitter wind. All the Russians had to do to win was exit one unit (Squad tank or Mortar) off the Finnish table edge and they would win. Dave and me had to stop them! The Russians stop firing at our tank and decide to machinegun my centre squad. Which exhausted and now down to just 2 men (My LMG team as it happens) are forced to withdraw leaving the centre wide open!

Meanwhile on the right Ian pushes his squad forward and tries to take the village hall.  Dave uses our command dice and I get a free opportunity shot at them in the open. This does enough and they don't make it into the village hall but are left in the open outside.
 Dave then shakes off enough of the suppression to move and fire our T26 and out of 5 dice rolls a single 4 with the rest as 5s or 6s. The Russian tank explodes. But I still have nothing in the centre and the right wing under attack. So Kev moves up in the centre, and Ian tries to push forward on the right but the dice are not good and he cannot move the squad outside the village hall as there NCO is wounded (sniper previously) and just cant get them to enter the building so a fire fight ensues with them in the open and my squad in the woods.
 As it in now "Squeaky bum time" I have to bring on my last reserves into the centre wooded area. So Kev being a good Russian commander charges and shows them some cold steal. Luckily this squad gets some opportunity fire just before contact and they break and run back to their own woods.
 Leaving half a suppressed squad of Finns looking bemused and confused and feeling very relieved. On the right with a wounded NCO the Russians were never going to win the fire fight standing in the open and trying to shoot my squad in the trees. So they also broke and fled back to the starting trees. As they poured through another Russian Squad it was also affected by their morale and became supressed.
 So the Attack on the right wing was stalled and the Centre was pushed back. But the left still had 2 Russian squads in it. But we Had a tank! (Ok and a sniper and a squad there as well. ) But the machineguns on the Tank did the business and they declaimed it a Finnish Victory. As they could not move across the open with a tank parked nearby and neither of those two Russian squads had any antitank capability!
 
Ok it is nice to get a win I can admit that. And this is the scale of WW2 games* that I like. It is small enough to seem personal and yet large enough that one lucky shot will not win the game. (Despite what I have said about or tank!) The rules worked very well and I WANT to play them again. Using dice to activate certain things means that you cannot activate everything in one go which means you have to prioritise what you want to do. The result is that in the game the Russian mortar only fired once and with no effect and I suspect in retrospect they would have chosen a different asset, but we are all learning and it did give them some indirect fire to which we could not answer.
 
Overall I did like the rules and I will be using them for a couple of projects. As well as WW2 I will want to use these rules for some "Back of Beyond" wargames shenanigans as at this stage I cannot find an acceptable Back of Beyond set of rules. So adapting these makes perfect sense to me.
 
Thanks For looking today I should (I hope) have something painted by Wednesday so hopefully some more news then. So until then, take care have fun and paint a figure or two if you can.
Cheers Clint
 
* The Winter war was just before WW2 but is close enough to count in my mind!

18 comments:

  1. The first thing that struck me about your batrep is that you need to ignore the name of your blog - Anything But A One! A most enjoyable read and well done on your victory.

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    1. LOL Thanks Bryan. Well I will not change the name for less than £1. So you may just have to put up with my "Miss noma!"

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  2. That is a great looking table and game. I do have the rules, but have never gotten around to reading them let alone play them. I really must.
    The Back of Beyond idea sounds intriguing, I hope you post up your plans?
    [I didn't like the Contemptible Little Armies rules, nor the Back of Beyond supplement, myself]

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    1. Thanks Roy. I have a few ideas swimming around in that dark murky mess of a brain of mine. I do not have the Contemptible Little Armies rules I am just going from what I do know and then adding some slightly less realistic elements for the interwar years in Asia. It's all a mess in there really but I know what I want when I get it. Or should I say if I get it!

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  3. The figures look great in that setting Clint. Good to hear you got together to play this and had a grand time doing it.

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    1. Thanks Anne. It was the first game I have really enjoyed this year.

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    2. That is sad to hear. I hope you find many more as good as this one.

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    3. Thanks Anne. I did even think about giving up wargaming for a while. But I think I am passed that now.

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  4. Great looking game Clint! Gòod to hear you had fun playìng it, that's what gaming is all about.

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    1. Thanks Bob you are of course right. If your hobby stops being fun you should give it a rest.

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  5. Wonderful stuff Clint. I own the rules but have never managed to paint the minis for a game sadly. You really sound like you had a lot of fun, and its good to see the dice with you for once. Thanks for posting :-)

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    1. Thanks Simon. There were several people round the table that commented on my dice rolling being more favourable than normal. It is a game that does not penalise low rolls or favour them, it is all about how you use the rolls!

      If you have the rules give it a try, they take some getting used to but they do work very well once the concept is understood.

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  6. Very cool photo's (lol). Great batrep.

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    1. Thanks Lee. The game could have gone either way. There really were some squeaky bum times!

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  7. I've always had TFL's various rules on my radar, but have never read any of them. It sounds as if you'd recommend them, I think?

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    1. Sorry for the late reply. I think I would recommend these rules. They are not perfect, what rules are? But they give an interesting balanced game with lots of thinking and easy mechanics. If all that sounds like your kind of thing have a look.

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  8. What a great looking pair of armies and the winter table looks fab. Not really tried any of the TFL rulesets but read good things about them.

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    1. This was the first TFL rules I have actually played and to my mind they worked very well. Other people may hate them. I have every intention of making a Pacific WW2 Travel set for these rules.

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