Big Chain of Command AAR: The Fight for Pozillo

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.

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Chain of Command AAR: Clash of Patrols at Ponte Olivo

Saturday was our monthly CoC game, this time as an introductory game for Stefan, a CoC newcomer.

Max took over a Platoon Bersaglieri, Stefan led my US Parachute Infantry into battle and I took on the role of game master and was on hand to answer Stefan's questions about rules and tactics.

First of all: I didn't have to give many tips.

At dawn, the platoons of US paratroopers and the Italian Bersaglieri meet on the outskirts of a small Sicilian village.

Surrounded by vineyards, orchards and date palm fields, the terrain offers both cover and tactical advantages. Both sides are initially on patrol and try to outmanoeuvre each other.

The Bersaglieri advance skilfully and are thus able to secure the village and take cover in the buildings on the outskirts.

The paratroopers advance on their right flank and take up positions on the hills at the edge of the village. Two squads take cover in the vineyards and orchards, while two 60mm mortars take up positions behind the hills.

And here are pictures of the US Boys looking towards the village (these two pictures were shot by Stefan):

Supported by the two mortars and a bazooka team, which is soon eliminated by the Bersaglieri, the US soldiers concentrate their fire on one of the three Bersaglieri squads entrenched in one of the buildings on the edge of the village.

This concentrated fire puts the Italian troops in dire straits.

The first Bersaglieri squad quickly loses several men when grenades explode in the houses. The squad's sergeant is wounded several times and finally killed.

Shortly afterwards, the commander of the Bersaglieri platoon is also seriously injured as he attempts to take command of the battered squad and restore order.

After the loss of two commanders and the ever-increasing losses in their ranks, the survivors of the Bersaglieri squad lose their nerve, break and run away and shortly after the whole platoon has to beat retreat.

The US paratroopers were thus able to capture the village and secure a strategically important point on the edge of their beachhead, which could make a direct Axis attack on it more difficult or even impossible.

Conclusion:

The US paratroopers were able to decisively weaken the Bersaglieri through concentrated fire, even if they themselves also suffered considerable losses. However, these losses were distributed among their squads, which did not significantly weaken their fighting strength.

Max once again underestimated the unpredictability of CoC and, trusting that he could hold out for one more phase, did not take the battered squad out of the firing line ... Unfortunately, this was followed by a double phase for the US Boys.

Stefan played cleverly, focussed his fire to achieve maximum effect and also had the ‘Pabst in his pocket’ (i.e. some really incredible luck with the dice) like this burst with one of his LMGs 😎

But the most important thing was: he had fun and this was his first, but not his last game of CoC - a perfect day for us too!

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Chain of Command AAR: Reconnaissance-in-force

Max and I used our monthly CoC game last Saturday to further refine our self-designed scenario.

It is roughly based on a reconnaissance-in-force in which a central object has to be captured - in our case a farm dominating an important crossroads.

A normal patrol phase is played, followed by a reconnaissance phase of variable duration in which only light troops, scouts and motorised squads may be deployed, the number of which is secretly determined by both players (but the more troops are deployed, the more difficult it becomes to bring reinforcements into play).

All other troops then appear in the normal game following this phase.

Max took over a platoon of US Parachute Infantry (Elite), which was reinforced by a squad of Goumiers and a 57mm Anti-Tank gun.

Opposite them was a platoon of Fucilieri of the ‘Livorno’, reinforced by a squadra esploratori, a squad of Brixia mortars, a FIAT 3000 and a SPA AS.37, in which one of the Livorno squads embarked, and I had also allowed myself a Red Dice ... 2 wasted support points, as it turned out ...

The farm that needs to be secured

The Battlefield, the Italians will enter it from this side.

Just another small village on Sicily.

My squadra esploratori could enter the farm first even though it had to take its first losses.

First squad of the US Paras take defennsive position at the edge of an Olivie grove.

While a squad Fucilieri disembarked from their transport and entered some buildings within the village and not to soon, as just a few moments later a squad of Goumiers appears.

Suddenly a bazooka team of the Paras appears and the transporter turns into a smoking wreck.

After another squad of Paras is deployed, devastating crossfire hails down on the isolated squad of Italians in the farm and the losses take on disastrous proportions.

My squad of Brixia mortars ...

... in combination with a squad of Fucilieri was able to distract one of the enemy squads and inflict heavy losses on it,

but could not prevent the attack on the few remaining defenders of the farm by the other squad of Paras.

The Paras try to mitigate the fire of the mortars with smoke grenades.

The farm has been captured by the Paras, the commander of the Italians has fallen together with the defending squad and the rest of the platoon is now hastily retreating from the battlefield.

Conclusion:

The Red Dice failed me completely, only once it showed a usable two - otherwise the whole game only fives/sixes, exactly the two numbers that don't count with it ...

Above all, however, I made some fatal mistakes and therefore deserved to lose:

I should have let the motorised Fucilieri squad disembark at the farm instead of sending them into the village.

This would have allowed me to better mitigate the losses and hold the farm together with the scout squad, but above all it would not have been completely isolated there, as was the case in the village.

Because of this isolated position, I was forced to activate the squad in the village at all times - on the one hand to reduce shock, which accumulated over time, and on the other to be able to return fire from the Goumiers and the bazooka team.

And in the end, it were exactly these orders that I lacked elsewhere, for example to bring my reinforcements into play.

Max, on the other hand, played it smart, focussed his fire on the few defenders in the farm and therefore deserved his victory.

Congratulations!

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Chain of Command AAR: Counterattack on Piano Lupo

Saturday was the day again: we met for another game of Big CoC at my home - the scenario was ‘Attack on an Objective’.

Max took over a platoon of the 2nd US Armoured ‘Hell on Wheels’, which was supported by a troop of 3 Shermans.
Opposite them was a platoon of the Italian ‘Livorno’ led by Daniel and a troop of Semovente 75/18 led by me; the company commander had also assigned us an FOO from an 81mm mortar battery.

After the Allies had landed, the US Armoured were able to take up position in a small village near Piano Lupo and waited for reinforcements to be able to hold the approach to the landing zone.
The ‘Livorno’, on the other hand, had orders to clear this village at all costs to enable the troops following them to attack the landing zones at Gela.

Both sides sent patrols ahead (Patrol Phase), during which the Americans succeeded in pushing the ‘Livorno’ off one of the roads and confining it to a fairly small part of the battlefield.

The battlefield in the early morning

A US patrol enjoys what the cellar and fruit trees have to offer (Jump Off Point)

One of the Italian squads begins its advance from the small farmstead ...

and the FOO wants to use the ridge to direct the fire of the 81mm mortar battery ...

Unfortunately, he is discovered and a few explosive grenades from a suddenly appearing Sherman later he pays for his carelessness with his life.

However, the crew, including the squad leader, cannot boast of their success for long - the approaching Semoventis take him out with a few well-aimed volleys.

All that remains is a burning wreck

Italian infantry on the advance, supported by Semoventes.

The apple tree orchard protects the further advance of the Italians from the LMG salvos of the Americans from the village.

In the firefight between the 3 Semoventes and the remaining 2 Shermans, the latter lose out - while the Semoventes suffer only light hits resulting in some shock, from which the crews quickly recover, another Sherman is blown up and the other has to retreat from the battlefield at all..

The Americans try to alleviate the growing pressure on the village by advancing on the Italian flank.

While the infantry squads of the ‘Livorno’ prepare to encircle the village.

The Semoventi split up - 2 support the attack on the village by firing explosive grenades at the occupied houses, while another Semovente, together with the squad remaining in the farmstead, takes the US infantry advancing on the flank under fire.

As a result, the losses of this squad rise sharply and its advance comes to a halt.

After the remaining bazooka team has also been taken out by the Italians, the commander of the US Armoured Platoon orders his troops to evacuate the village and retreat - with no way of stopping the Italian assault guns, defeat is only a matter of time now.

This brought an exciting game to an end, in which Daniel was able to bring his Italian infantry forwards with excellent coordination and put Max under pressure again and again with his US Boys, without any major losses of his own.

And this despite the fact that he has only played a few CoC games!

To be honest, we also had luck on our side - while the Shermans mostly only managed to score ‘equal hits’, we had ‘the pope in our pocket’ when rolling the dice and his Shermans burst like his hopes of victory 😅

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Big CoC BatRep: Battle for the Crossroad

Our last game for 2024 and of course this had to be Chain of Command - Big CoC, to be precise.

And on this occasion we wanted to test v1 of an home grown scenario:

A centrally located object must be conquered and secured by an advancing infantry platoon, which is supported by a troop tank.

Both sides secretly declare teams and/or squads in advance, which are allowed to act directly on the table after the patrol phase has ended, for a pre-determined number of phases, until the remaining troops are allowed to join the battle.

On one side was a US Armoured platoon, which was supported by an M3A1, a squad of Goumiers and a troop of Shermans.

Opposite them was a platoon of Fucileri, reinforced by a scout squad, a Canona da 47/32, a squad of M35 Brixia mortars and a troop of Semovente 75/18.

Early morning somewhere near Gela with the important crossroad in the centre.

A few houses surrounded by orchards, wheat fields ...

... and a small farm with vineyards in the background.

The Goumiers rapidly move towards their target, the crossroad ...

 ... but the farm dominating the crossroads has already been taken over by Italian scouts.

A M3A1 moves in to support with another Squad - in this case US Armored Infantry.

In the meantime the Goumiers suffered badly from the fire of the Italians and had to retreat.

A troop of Semoventes arrives.

2 squads of US Armoured occupy the hedgerows of a plantation and take the farm under constant fire, but despite horrendous losses the Italian scouts stubbornly refuse to give it up.

And more Armored Infantry close in from the viallge.

The Squad deployed from their battle taxi ...

... just in time!

But support is on the way - a troop of Shermans!

As usual, it was a close game, but the decisive factor was that the US boys ran out of time, as the Italians were credited with 2 victory points for each round (3 sixes were rolled twice, and one round was ended by a CoC dice) in which they were able to hold the crossroads.

We have made some changes to the scenario, which we will then test in the new year.

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