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By Jonas While the desert forces on both sides expanded last year, there were still some pockets in the chain of command support lists that remained missing. An enjoyable part of collecting a force for CoC is to gradually paint up different support options as you go. So while play time has been restricted, I took the opportunity to jump in on one of Shirty's orders from the Perrys, and get me some more Fallschirmjäger support options. I wanted to add something that would be specific for the Fallschirmjägers. In North Africa they fought without almost any heavy support, and suffered for it. Even though they didn't fight using air drops in the desert they lacked heavy support, as they were meant as a light but well trained infantry force. This uncluded using the 7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 instead of the much heavier le. IG 18 gun (145 vs 400 kg). While using similar ammunition to simplify production, this recoilless gun was both possible to airdrop and lighter to drag along when trucks and cars were unreliable. Since Perry makes this kit I decided to include it in my force, even though rules-wise it's treated the same as the IG 18. At least it's not just characteristic enough, but also allows us to double up on anti-infantry guns in a multi-platoon battle. Then come two much needed weapons: a light mortar and an anti-tank rifle. These two options were an almost critical failure of my FJ collection, as I've included them in the mandatory platoon structure they kept during the North Africa campaign. While in practical terms, especially the Panzerbüchse 39 were at times ditched by the troops for practical reasons, it felt wrong to have to use the DAK versions of these weapons. I painted up enough aiming troopers to be able to field a FJ sniper team, but a proper sniper team was included in the set with the mortar and AT rifle: A long time ago I found out that Shirty had a heavy anti-tank rifle (2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41) sitting around from a FJ project that never, well, took flight. I got it from him to paint up, but it has been sitting unpainted for a very long time. This small FJ batch was the right time to finish a second copy of this kit, though I'm not sure we'll ever need two on the table at the same time. Finally, Zach had heard my complaints about the lack of ammo crew for our DAK LMGs. He kitbashed some for me. I also found a random unpainted FJ with a semi-automatic rifle. Anyway, they got a lick of paint as well: That's it! A short painting project over the Holidays, where I managed to paint up most of my remaining Germans for the desert. Now everything is ready for some FJ vs Allied action in 2021. Cheers!
By Jonas While no doubt iconic, halftracks were overall much rarer in reality than in German propaganda movies and pictures. Nowhere was this as pronounced as in North Africa, where the difficult logistics of crossing a hostile Mediterranean mad these rare beasts indeed. With halftracks restricted to HQ:s or for recon troops, the vast majority of the infantry part of the Panzer divisions moved by whatever trucks, cars or motorcycles they could get their hands on. As far as I can find source, the entire 15th Panzer Division (which I'm using the division markings for) could muster maybe a dozen or so infantry carrying halftracks at best. With so few available they'd be far too valuable to be used for mounted attacks by infantry, a tactic that was adopted by the panzergrenadiers later in the war. That said, what wargamer has ever restricted themselves to only reasonable additions to their collection? Halftracks look cool, and while far too weakly armoured to be truly scary they can still theoretically cause a headache in a game of Chain of Command if your opponent has managed to lose his anti-vehicle weaponry or even worse, left it at home. My halftrack Zug represents a recon team, zooming through the desert in search of the opposition. The actual models are from Shirty, who handed them to me far to long ago, asking me to paint them. The short one is a Sd Kfz 250, just big enough to fit the driver and MG gunner as well as a single LMG team. It's a resin model from Blitzkrieg Miniatures with crew from Perry Miniatures. It's flanked by two Sd Kfz 251, bigger vehicles that can fit an entire section (2 crew plus ten men) if they are squeezed real tight. The models are plastic kits from Warlord GAmes. I used some random stowage to keep them from looking identical. It's a mixed feeling painting the crew for hours... only to squeeze them into a small space, where you barely can see most of them! That said, I really like how they turned out, and it gives the vehicle a ton of character. I can really see myself field these guys, no matter how bad they might be on the tabletop. The vehicle was given a basic coat with an airbrush, and then washed, highlighted by brush and finally given some streaks and grime using streaking effects, a kind of thick enamel wash. It works great for giving desert vehicles a bit of character. Putting decals on helmets is another great way to give that extra detail that pulls your eyes to a model and make you want to explore it. The bigger vehicles might not have as exciting a crew, but I think they'll look real nice on a table. The fit of the MG in the gun shield is so snug that the crew is actually not glued in place. I did an attempt at using pigment powder to create sand, but it didn't really pay off. I tried to use pigment fixer, but it mostly had the effect of eating through both varnish, paint and primer on the places where I put it on too thickly! Take that as a fair warning. With trucks and halftracks in place, our DAK Germans are ready to launch overconfident flank attacks all over the desert. Now we just need some tanks...
Cheers! Jonas By Jonas
Well here it is, fifty pages of desert warfare!
We were planning to playtest this campaign book this Spring, but unfortunalely a certain virus got in the way. So instead of keeping it on hold even longer, it is now available for download. This means that there might be some more issues with it than we'd like, and it might get revised later on. On he upside, it means that you're free to try it out and give us feedback on it. What's in the book? The main bit is a bunch of platoon lists with mostly historically accurate support lists for playing Chain of Command in the North Africa desert in spring of 1942. It is based on the battle of Gazala, but it's more or less usable for El-Alamein as well. So if you want to play games set in the middle of the North Africa campaign, this book will probably be useful to you. There's also a complete Order of Battle for Gazala in case you want to collect a very historically correct force, down to what support options you'd have around. There are also rules for a modifided version on the official At the Sharp End campaign rules, using a permanent support pool, separate tank battle ladders and some other extra spice. These are general campaign rules that can be applied to any AtSE campaign, no matter where it plays out, if you want some variation. The book has a new scenario, "Outnumbered!", where a smaller force has to fend off two attacking platoons. We also try out a way to customize your platoons a bit using a twist to the National Characteristics. This is both a way to give some personality to your force, and a way to try out new tactical challenges if you've seen the same platoons meet many times already. What if these New Zeelanders are actually good at scouting and throwing grenades instead? What if these Germans light infantry are very tenacious close combat fighters? Some of you might like this, some of you might not, but it's there to try out. Finally, we also have a set of optional house rules that you can try out at any Chain of Command game. So overall we hope that the book has at least something interesting for all CoC players, be it historical background or new ways to play the game. We'd love to hear feedback from you for revisions of the book or any further campaign books. By Jonas Spring CleaningIt's quite natural that you'll find yourself with a whole bunch of spare minis after you've made a couple of wargaming forces. I had quite a bit of odds and ends taking space in my cupboard from both our eastern front Germans and the previous DAK platoons. Instead of letting them gather dust a few more years, I decided to dig out as much German infantry as possible, and paint them up for Africa. Some of these are not made specifically for DAK, but as long as you paint them up in beige, khaki greens and greys they'll still do just fine on the tabletop. The most important addition is the four extra MG34 teams. With them we should be just fine doing bigger games with double LMG sections for the Germans. I haven't counted yet, but there might be enough troops now for a whole company (three platoons) as well, though probably not with all double LMG sections. That requires a crazy number (18) of LMG teams. But it should be close. More Deployment PointsWhile painting the platoon, my clubmates started planning a Big Chain of Command battle, with two or three platoons per side. With a deadline suddenly appearing, the DAK painting took priority. But I also wanted to have some more thematic deployment points. I dug through my bits boxes and found some rather unwell Germans and some supply dumps for the Allies. These would do nicely. With everything painted up, it's off to war! For the German Deployment Points I imagined a water run that got ambushed. Jerry cans dedicated for water would have a white cross painted on them. The casualties are from Artizan, while the soldier calling for back-up is from Warlord. We already have three Allied Deployment Points with supplies, so colours were used to easily tell them apart. Where the other ones are mostly painted green, these got blue/grey fuel barrels and some tufts with orange leaves. That way the Allied players won't risk getting their deployments mixed up. These Black Tree Designs LMG teams will match the ones I've previously made on combined bases, making that platoon more consistently based. These LMG teams are from a mix of Warlord's oldest (now retired?) kit and the Blitzkrieg kit. I decided to use decals for the helmet insignia and I think it made a difference for the overall look of these leftover minis. More Warlord mixed minis, this time section leaders. This time I put leader minis on bigger (25mm) bases. Partly because some of these were already based and I feared I'd damage them, but also to make them stand apart from the grunts. Given our huge glut of officers, DAK player can now choose if they prefer their leaders to have the same base size as the rest of the platoon or not. Senior Leaders, this time from Black Tree Designs. The wounded guy was a left-over as well, he might end up crewing a weapon or something. There's always a need for more crew members! The last Black Tree riflemen. I think I got these to bulk out the two first platoons if both were to be fielded with just a single LMG team per section. Finally, a mix of all leftover Warlord riflemen I could find. All of them from the old, frankly quite bad, kit. They'll serve just fine in North Africa!
It's a great feeling to paint up minis that just gunk up your storage space. Just mount them up for a big batch paint job, and get it over with. Here are the pics (and some extra), click for bigger size. By Jonas With more time to spend at home the last two months, it was a good time to clean out some minis that have been resting in the proverbial wardrobe for a while. When looking into my miniatures pile of shame, I realized that one of the smaller portions of it was German WW2 infantry. In fact, with a small batch painting effort, I might be able to paint all German infantry that I have at home. A cleared backlog - what an utterly insane idea! So I primed almost all the Fallschirmjägers I had left, and it was a mess. Let's dig into them. So these are a bit random since they are leftovers from when I painted up the actual sections. First out are some FG42 automatic rifles from the Warlord Plastic sprues. These guns are more likely to be used when our forces duke it out in Sicily or the Italian mainland, rather than in Northern Africa, so I didn't prioritize them earlier. Next are some more light machine guns, MG42s, flanked by two riflemen. I've already used up the ammo carriers for these, which makes them pretty useless. I wish more manufacturers would make three man LMG teams, or even better that I could buy just ammo carriers separately. I'd love to just buy 6-7 of them to fill out my current force. I already painted some radio guys, but well... the Black Tree Design blister came with a lot of them! So here's the entire Luftwaffe Ham Radio Club. Including some other odds and ends - I think those are meant to be newly landed soldiers. I have no idea what I'll use them for to be honest, which is kind of a theme of this blog post. If you like SMGs, get hype! I got a range of various automatic weapons, a mix of leftovers and a blister of FJ with looted guns from Warlord. Thompsons! PPShs! I have no idea how they looted both at the same time, but they're ready to use them. There are also some Warlord plastics in there. Finally, the big guns. We already had a 75mm le. IG 18 for the eastern front, but none painted up for Africa. I decided to make slots in the base to fit crewmen instead of gluing them on, so that the same model can be used for our DAK and FJ platoons. The crew are plain DAK crews but painted with the FJ splittermuster camo, which looks good enough for me. The minis are from Warlord Games. I also got an additional MMG from Warlord. These have a rather less exposed profile than the previous one I painted, and I think I like this one more. With these done, I only have a small handful of Fallschirmjägers left. I still miss a light mortar for them, and I wouldn't mind getting maybe the larger recoilless anti-tank gun they got later on. And maybe some engineers. But other than that, they are becoming a pretty complete force with lots of support options.
Finally, here's a gallery with the pictures if you want to see them in larger format, as well as some extra pics. Cheers! By Jonas With the basic troopers covered in part 1, it's time for the first support options to show themselves. While we already have a lot of support options painted up in plain DAK uniforms, I wanted to have some dedicated troops for these Fallschirmjägers. Even if that means doubling quite a few weapons, it'll look nice on the battlefield. Those extra support options can come in handy in larger battles and multi-platoon games as well. Some of these are a bit on the cheating side, simply using DAK miniatures and painting the jacket in the Splittermuster camo. A rivet-counter might notice it close up, but at a distance they blend in well enough for me. A Medium Machine Gun team is always a good start for a new force. The German double LMG sections already pack a lot of punch, and if you deploy one of these next to a section you can badly punish any Allied infantry opposition unless you're at a terrain disadvantage. The team comes from Black Tree Design, and can be supported by generic ammo mules to get up to the proper five-man size. I painted up a metal Warlord Games Raketenpanzerbüchse 54, or Panzerschreck, team as well. Far too early for Gazala, these were developed based on the bazookas that Germany faced for the first time in Tunisia in early 1943. So it never saw service in North Africa, but could be used at the very end of the Italy campaign or if using these models for a very dry summer battle in 1944. Another Warlord addition, this time the 2.8 cm heavy panzer rifle, or schwere Panzerbüchse 41. These and other weapons that could be moved by hand were an important part of the FJ arsenal, as they could be carried into difficult terrain and used when trucks and halftracks were not available. While not designed to deal with the heavier armour employed in WW2, they remained in production until 43 and saw widespread use in Gebirgsjäger and Fallschirmjäger unit as well as in motorized divisions throughout the war. I don't field flamethrowers that often, but I wanted to have the option available anyway. And with the huge amount of buildings Shirty has been building for North Africa, this Black Tree Designs flamethrower could come in handy in upcoming city fights. I used to paint the flames with a more red and black flame, but looking at pictures from WW2 as well as reenactors, the flames looked more yellow bordering on white, so I tried it an I think I like it this way. Sniper teams are a simple addition to a Chain of Command force, as they're basically just one or two extra riflemen. These Warlord snipers help each other spy for targets as they try to hide behind a small bush. Another simple addition is a mortar spotter team. Thes two Black Tree Design radio operators will do, calling in barrages on their enemies.
The Fallschirmjägers are now ready for the tabletop, though still a bit reliant on borrowing in troops from the DAK collection. After getting used to painting the camo I feel like getting even more troops for this little project. Maybe some more metal minis to upgrade the plastics and add variation? I'll definitely look into some nicer LMGs, and maybe some extra generic crewmen for PaKs and other support weapons. I'd love to hear if you have some ideas of other support options you'd like to see in a FJ force. Cheers, Jonas By Jonas Fallschirmjägers in North AfricaGerman Fallschirmsjäger forces fought across several Mediterranean battlefields, starting with the successful yet incredibly costly capturing of Crete in 1941, to the back-and-forth warfare of North Africa in 1942-43 and finally the dug-in defensive battles of Sicily and Italy in 1943-45. After the Pyrrhus victory that was Crete, the Fallschirmjägers did not fight in large formations as air-dropped troops in the Mediterranean, but rather as an elite force of infantry, often without much heavy equipment. Their most famous battles, like the battle of Monte Castillo, had little to do with parachutes. As our first North Africa campaign is set in Gazala 1942, fielding Fallschirmjäger troops becomes a counterfactual choice. In the Spring of 1942 the German paratroopers arm was still reeling from the huge losses they suffered at Crete. The Germans didn't dare to try to use them as airdropped troops in large scale attacks against dedicated defenders again, and were left wondering how to use these elite troops, especially while still needing to reinforce and equip them. A solution was to send a smaller force, led by Generalleutnant Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, to support the struggling Axis forces in North Africa. This brigade of four paratrooper battalions, a parachute artillery regiment, a tank destroyer battalion and a parachute pioneer battalion was intended to arrive in North Africa in time for the battle of Gazala, but was delayed. Instead it arrived just after, and took part in the drive towards the Suez canal and eventually both battles of El-Alamein. While the Ramcke Parachute Brigade eventually surrendered in North Africa in the general surrender of the German Panzer army in May 1943, Ramcke escaped to Germany. A fanatical Nazi supporter, he would both lead German attempts to seize Italy after their surrender to the Allies and the defence of Brest after D-Day. He remained an unapologetic defender of Hitlerism even after the war, defending various parts of the German military (including the SS) and refused to admit to the war crimes committed by his peers. Painting Tropical FallschirmjägersI decided to try collecting Fallschirmjägers mainly because of their tropical camouflage style. The look of their sand-coloured loose pants and helmets, combined with the long splittermuster patterned coats is very striking, and I had at this point managed not to stray outside single-coloured uniforms for WW2. The project started when I bought a few plastic sprues of FJ from a Warlord Games sale. Their FJ kit is clearly aimed towards the later part of the war, with a heavy emphasis on MG42's and semi-automatic FG42 rifles. While I definitely wanted to build a force that could be used in Sicily and Italy as well, and I've found sources saying that the FJ got equipped relatively early with MG42's, the plastics didn't quite fill all my needs. On top of more rifles, I also wanted some dedicated support options for this platoon instead of just fielding generic DAK support. So these plastics needed some company. First out, I dipped into one of Black Tree Designs recurring sales, and picked up some extra LMGs, a MMG team and some of the officers and NCOs that the plastic sprues didn't cover. as well as some odds and ends including radio operators (which I can use as mortar spotters) and a flamethrower. Secondly, I lucked out and grabbed a few Warlord metal blisters in another seasonal sale at a local Swedish hobby store. This netted me several nice additions, including a bunch of metal riflemen, some infantrymen with looted allied SMGs, a sniper team, a MMG team, a panzershreck and a 2.8 cm sPzB 41. So there it was, my own bargain bin Luftwaffe troop! Next up was tackling the camouflage painting. The main advice I can give you, if you are also new to camo, is to not give up! My first, second and third test models turned out quite bad, but after that I started to get results that I was happy with. I went back and forth between a rather beige and a more grey base. In the end I think both look ok, but I think I prefer the grey version. If there is interest I can write a more detailed tutorial, but basically I painted the entire smock in Vallejo's Deck Tan, then washed it black or brown, and went back with a deck tan highlight. After that I painted and highlighted the brown patterns, making sure to leave "paths" of deck tan. Finally I added the green parts, highlighting them as well. Keep in mind that you don't want to try to paint an exact replica of the pattern, as that will be hard to see on a 28mm scale miniature, but rather recreate the feel of the camo. I divided my discount devils into two big lots. The first one included the basic platoon structure as well as enough support options to be a playable force. The second one consisted of extras and a lot of the late war weaponry. In this post I'll show the basic platoon, and then I'll cover support options in the next post. Platoon StructureJust like many other parts of the German war machine, especially when reinforcements were hard to secure, you have some leeway when it comes to how an actual platoon were organized on the battlefield. To enable as much variation in gameplay terms as possible, I decided to make enough infantrymen to be able to field the force with either three or four sections, each with either one or two LMGs. Initially I'd have to rely on MG42s, but later on I want to get enough MG34s to field them with them instead. By 1942 the FJ platoon would look very much like a mechanized german rifle platoon, and I plan to field them as regulars rather than elite as to represent the majority of the best trained members lost in Crete. While still an elite force, many were not yet veterans when they deployed in North Africa. Platoon CommandThese are from Black Tree Design. The Oberleutnant keeps watch with his binoculars, while the others carry SMGs, pistols or rifles. The extra leaders can command sections or weapon teams. Four NCOs with SMGs. The first three are plastic Warlord miniatures, the last one with the stolen Thompson is a Warlord metal miniature. LMG teamsA lot of manufacturers make too few ammo carriers for the LMGs. In Chain of Command, you want two ammo carriers for each LMG gunner. When looking at pictures of Fallschirmsjägers, it's clear that as many other riflemen as possible would carry extra ammo belts as well. That's why I ordered some more LMG teams from Black Tree Designs, to bolster these teams. Each section comes with two LMGs, so that's six LMG teams for the platoon, and eight(!) if I want to be able to buy an additional section as support. The Warlord plastics are pretty servicable, and form the bulk of my LMG teams initially. The Warlord metal LMG teams are nicer though. The blister includes two prone teams, I hid them in cover behind some desert bushes. The Black Tree Design ammo mules were sorely needed to get enough LMG crew. RiflemenWhile LMG crew takes up a lot of the platoon when you roll with double MG42s, there are still a lot of riflemen. These are also a mix of Warlord plastics, metals and Black Tree Design metals. Again, the Warlord plastics are perfectly ok. Not their worst kit, but probably not their best. However, these Warlord metal minis are just plain nicer overall. I can really see myself gradually phasing out the plastics as I'm bound to get more metal minis, either from Warlord or other ranges. So that was the rank-and-file of the platoon. Next up we'll cover some support options. Cheers!
/Jonas By Jonas Cape Town Highlanders vs. FallschirmjägersBefore we embark on our Gazala campaign, it's time to do some playtests. This is useful whenever you have new platoons, but most of all new terrain, as it's not always clear how they will affect your tactics. In one-off games you can try out new things in a more casual environment than in campaigns. I have spent a lot of time painting the Fallschirmjägers, so it was really nice to get a chance to command them for the first time. Marcus was eager to get a game in as well, and chose the Cape Town Highlanders. Instead of rolling for scenario we went with one that we have not played that much: Delaying Action. This meant that the stout South Africans would be defending a small village at a road crossing somewhere in Tunisia. One of their Jump Off Points would be within a designated area at the back of his table edge. A small kampfgruppe of Fallschirmjägers of Ramcke's brigade with some attached DAK forces would try to get through the Highlanders and seize the JOP, and thereby the village, to seize victory. Patrol PhaseIf you are unfamiliar with Chain of Command, the patrol phase is where you'll jockey for positions from where to deploy your troops. In this scenario, the Allied defenders start with four markers within an area at their part of the table, while the attacker enters at a single point at their table edge. The Germans come in along the road. Shamefully enough we have neither custom Cape Town Highlanders nor Fallschirmjäger markers. The Highlanders decide to push forward and the German scouts are quickly stopped. This means that the South Africans can place their deployment points quite a bit forward on the table, between two of the houses at the crossroads. The Germans have to settle for Jump Off Points in the palmtrees and the small park on either side of the road. Finally, the objective JOP is placed by a house at the back of the Allied table. The Germans AdvanceTasked with taking the village, the Fallschirmjägers decide to quickly march towards the crossroad. They make sure to use the cover of palm trees, while a Panzer III aufs J slowly approach the village. It comes to a standstill once it can see the crossroad, and wait for a target to appear. Suddenly, a burst of heavy machine gun fire spews out of what looks like an abandoned café. A team of Highlanders in a forward position unleashes their Vickers, claiming first blood - killing a FJ rifleman and wounding the NCO in the closest section. A lone Crusader tank rolls into the village, ready to take on the approaching Pz III. The Highlanders start to deploy, as a deafening roar of small caliber fire echoes across the streets. The Fallschirmjägers recover from the surprise attack from the Vickers, and returns the favour. The single Allied gun team makes a bold stand, but the team is quickly overpowered once the two German sections can combine their firepower. Soon an eerie silence settles. The Allies AdvanceEager to avenge their friends, the Highlanders advance on both sides of the road. One team starts to move up the café alone, while the other moves behind the Crusader by the gap between two buildings. The German attack stalls, as they hunker down in overwatch to keep the Highlanders from moving up their flank. A brief spurt of machine gun fire is not enough to stop the Allies who soon wade through the oasis covered from line of sight by the small park. The Tank Duel BeginsThe Crusader also moves into sight of the Panzer III and begins to throw shells into it. It is greatly helped by the platoon light mortar that previously covered the Panzer with smoke, forcing it to move around to gain line of sight instead of shooting. The Panzer takes several hits, badly shocking the crew. Soon the men in the tank are teetering on the brink of bailing out, with their driver killed by fragments bouncing around the hull. A DAK PaK 38 deploys to help the Panzer, but the South African mortar team quickly sends a few smoke rounds towards it, blocking its view of the Allied tank. The remaining two Highlander sections are ready to defend the crossroads, hoping that the Crusader will keep them safe. German CountermovesWith their attack completely stalled and in a useless position, the Fallschirmjäger platoon leader divides his forces. One section is sent to run behind the Panzer III, around to the PaK, to defend it from the approaching Highlanders. The other two sections is sent forward, one to attack in the gap between the houses and one to make its way through the larger house itself. Neither Germans nor South Africans dare to advance through the smoke-filled park, afraid to walk into the view of each other's machine guns. The building turns out to be a complicated compound, a veritable maze or rooms. As they make their way forward, the Germans can hear commands shouted in English within the very building. A South African section has rushed into the building as well, forcing a deadly stand-off. With two of his three sections just holding their positions, the Fallschirmjäger platoon leader urges his last section forward. The Crusader is big, but has rather bad anti-infantry weaponry. Defying this beast, they rush forward and into firing positions next to it. Here a deadly shoot-out begins, with the section's two light machine guns against the mortar and a single Highlander section just a few metres between each other. There Can Only Be One (Tank)By now both tanks have been badly mauled, but neither has been able to finish the other. The Pak38, covered in smoke, make a heroic push as the crew raise their gun and quickly roll it forward into view of the tank (rolling two 6's for distance when they have to discard the highest dice!). The NCO manning the gun turns out to be less prone to panic than the panzer commander. While the Crusader is focused on its prey, the anti-tank gun fires a rapid succession of shots. It's unable to destroy the tank outright, but after a few hits the Crusader crew has had enough and bails out of the vehicle. A Battle of AttritionWith a killed driver, the Panzer III is unable to become a threat anyway. And with both flanks locked down, the centre is now where this battle is going to be settled. The Highlanders, supported by their light mortar, bravely dig themselves in behind a row of rocks by the road. But the Germans unleash hell, using two belt fed light machine guns against the lone Bren gun of the South Africans. It's an uneven fight, and soon the German firepower tips the scales in their favour. The mortar team is the first to bail, after the loader falls to a German shot. After that the remaining Highlanders are eventually pinned, and then quickly break and fall back. The remaining South Africans can't hold on any longer, and fall back back. DebriefingFirst of all - that was fun! My first Chain of Command game in probably a year or so. It reminded my that CoC games with relatively small amounts of support (in this case 10 points for the Germans and 8 for the South Africans) are great, and that you're well served playing other scenarios than patrol. While I could have played it boringly and just tried to win this game on force morale, I did try to push towards the objective. In the end it was force morale that decided it anyway, but it felt much more fun to go for the actual objective.
As for the Allied force, Marcus really showed what you can do with a simple light mortar with smoke grenades. He efficiently screened not only my Panzer III but also my anti-tank gun, which meant that his tank survived far longer than it had any right to do. If it had been a tank with either more armour or more firepower, that duel could have ended differently as he had my tank on the brink of bailing out not just once, but twice! For the Germans, this game yet again showed me how deadly a section with two belt fed LGMs can be. Even when effectively put at a tactical stand-off on both flanks, I knew I could trust my single remaining section to simply push through the center with brute force. Marcus learned the hard way what happens when you try a "fair" fight with them, first with his Vickers gun and then with the section in the middle. The amount of dice they can throw your way means that you should avoid them like the plague unless you have a massive advantage in firepower. Finally, I think it was a mistake to move the Allies towards the Germans at the start, though the deployment positions didn't give them too many other options. If the tank duel had gone otherwise, they were in a good position to add the Crusader to any of the tactical stand-offs. If so, the double LMGs would probably not have been enough! Anyway, it's good to finally get around to play with all the minis I've been painting and all the terrain that my clubmates have been making the last year. I'm already looking forward to the Gazala campaign and those last minute additions to both the Highlanders and Fallschirmsjägers that I might be able to squeeze in before the campaign start. Oh, and I need to make some proper 3" smoke markers for the Allies. :) Cheers! /Jonas By Zache Our friends over at Scattered Dice Gaming have also decided to go play in the desert. And made an excellent tutorial for making an orchard. Here is my attempt at an orchard: I decided to make the walls from gravel which I built up in layers using PVA glue and then painted.
I also added some scatter to the ground made from ground up dry leaves (Finally a use for that olive tree, dad!). First I sprinkled the leaves, then using a brush I cleaned up a bit. Then everything was fixed in place with scenic glue. The trees are made using Woodland Scenics armatures and Polyfiber. I glued their bases to the baseboard allowing you to remove the trees for better access. |
Mediterranean
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