Last Saturday, Daniel, Max and I met up again for our monthly CoC game, so we had another Big Chain of Command, which we also used as the final test for our self-designed scenario: Reconnaissance-in-force.
I'll post the scenario on the blog in the next few days, but here are a few key points:
- both sides roll 1D3+6 each for Force Support
- side with the lower number counts as Active Player
- Active player gets 1D3 free moves in the following Patrol Phase
- there is a Reconnaissance Phase where only Reconnaissance unit can act, the duration will be diced for
- both sides try to secure an Objective and at the end of each Turn the Force Morale of the side that doesn't control the Objective drops by -1 (so a ticking clock in the end)
The vanguards of an American and an Italian battle group clashed at Pozillo and both sides tried to secure the small village as a base for further operations, resulting in a fierce battle in which more and more troops became involved.
The scouts on both sides explored the terrain and occupied strategic points that seemed favourable to them, from which the advancing platoons of the two battle groups were to join the battle.
However, the Italians were caught on the wrong foot by the aggressively advancing Americans, who advanced into the village with vigour, denying the Italians even the strong position of the small chappel of Pozillo and thus also the opportunity to bring their platoons into the battle in a concentrated manner.
The battlefield with Pozillo dominating the area.
Pozillo itself looked on from the chappel.
A Scout Jeep accompanied by a M5 Stuart and later joined by a Halftrack-mounted Armoured squad are pushing forward to secure Pozillo.
While the Italians deployed a squad of Solothurn AT rifles into a field to deny the road leading from Pozillo (both AT rifles never fired a single shot though) and advancing cautiously with an AB41.
But the Stuart immediately stopped their advance with some well placed shots!
In the meantime my Armoured squad had dismounted, sneaks forward and occupies some houses to set up a defensive position.
A few shots later the AB41 is out of business.
The Italians deploy their Cannone da 65/17 and try to stop the M5 but to no avail - they later join the Fucilieri to fire at the lone US Armoured squad in Pozillo.
A full squad of Fucilieri deployed in the Olive groove and they soon break the US squad in Pozillo, but the US Armoured will deploy more squads and they can be never challenged to give up Pozillo in the and.
More Italians move up in support on the left of their comrades.
But meanwhile 2 squads of US Parachute Infantry can open up fire on the Italian Fucilieri ...
... joined by my Armoured LMG squad in Pozillo and the 60mm mortar behind the village.
The result: Cannone da 65/17 destroyed and nearly the complete squad of Fucilieri out of action including some leaders. So the Force Morale of this platoons dropped to Zero and they decide to leave the bttlefield to fight another day and with them the Bersaglieri have to withdraw too.
It was another exciting game in which Daniel's perfectly played patrol phase was ultimately the deciding factor:
The Americans controlled the village from the start, but at the same time had denied the Italians the chappel as a jumping-off point for many phases and were able to pin the Italians in their cover.
In addition, Max and his Italians had relied for too long on being able to drive the US Armoured out of the village simply by firing on with one of his Fucilieri squads, albeit very devastatingly, supported by the Cannone da 65/17.
