Big CoC BatRep: Advance on Niscemi; Sicily 1943

Last Saturday was not only another game of Big Chain of Command with Bernhard and Max, but it was also the last big test for TaToCon to see if our line-ups including the fixed support work and if the terrain fits.

Max and I will be presenting CoC on 28 September at TaToCon, a nice smaller convention in Puchheim (near Munich), and of course hope to encourage people to play along with us.

The plan is that interested players will lead a platoon of infantry and Max and I will play with a squad of light tanks, but mainly support the players with the rules.

On the allied side there will be a US Airborne platoon (regular), supported by 3 M5 Stuarts, while the Italians will oppose with a Bersaglieri platoon, reinforced by 3 M13/40s.

There is also support on both sides in the form of PaK and HMG/MMG.

And now to the game report itself, where Max led his Italians into battle, while Bernhard led my US Airborne and I tried to suppress the Italian counterpart as best I could with my 3 light tanks.

The battlefield as seen from one ...

... and the other side.

One of my M5 Stuarts pushes forward to the village and can force a M14/40 to withdraw from the battlefield ...

... but suddenly a previously camouflaged Italian PaK appears and turns the M5 into a lump of smoking scrap!

However, the Italians' jubilation is short-lived, as the two M5s in the village decimate the PaK crew to such an extent that they have had enough and flee from the hail of HE grenades and MG bullets.

Two squads battle it out across the open valley ground with losses and shock mounting at an alarming rate on both sides.

The 2nd Airborne Squad, which had entrenched itself in the village, tries to rush to the aid of its hard-pressed comrades at the last minute.

But too late. After the squad has not only lost its leader, its LMG team and many comrades, their morale finally breaks and the fate of the HMG team, which continues to hold the position, is determined too.

The Italian commander had skilfully managed to build up an immense superiority and, with the concentrated fire of three squads, the defeat of the isolated Airborne squad was only a matter of time.

The remaining two M5 Stuarts were only able to cover the retreat of the surviving paratroopers: a Bersaglieri squad was almost wiped out by their concentrated fire ...

... and one of the two remaining enemy tanks was forced to retreat and Pinned before the American light tanks also withdrew.

Conclusion:

A great overview by Max, who built up a local fire superiority that the isolated Airborne squad could not withstand for long, and thus the Bersaglieri could add a well-deserved victory on their flags!

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Terrain: In vino veritas - flexible vineyards built

One type of terrain that I really wanted to build were vineyards, because they are so typical of the Mediterranean region and can be used in France, Italy, Sicily as well as the Levant.

However, I didn't want a stationary terrain piece where they were built into a hill, but rather built in such a way that they could be flexibly adapted to the terrain.

Some of my attempts to tackle the subject have failed, but now I have found a workable way - even if I will do things differently again for the next vineyards.

‘Learning by doing’ is my motto, especially when it comes to terrain building 😎

And here are the completed first 3 pieces of vineyards:

Size comparison - works for both 15mm and 28mm

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CoC BatRep: Operation Husky or Holidays under palm trees, they said!

Our next CoC game was also the test setup for the TaToCon on September 28th at Roll-the-dice as far as the terrain is concerned - looking good so far and beside some minor addons like gardens for the houses, now only the vineyards are missing.

The Battle

After the failure to recapture Gela, the Axis forces are in retreat and offer stubborn resistance to the advancing Americans.

A platoon of the 4ª Divisione fanteria ‘Livorno’ under the command of Tenente Ludovico Spadaro is ordered to reconnoitre the surroundings of an inconspicuous village which, however, controls an important branch of a road that follows a valley further into the interior of Sicily.

Unfortunately, the Allied high command had the same idea and so the Italians (Force Morale 8), slightly disillusioned by the retreat, came up against a highly motivated platoon of the 2nd Armoured (Force Morale).

The field of battle ...

... and seen from the side of the Italians

The US Boys advance resolutely and are able to secure the village from the Italians and from here advance against the Italian positions in the plantations with an LMG squad and a squad of infantry.

Another squad of Armoured, reinforced by the platoon's 60mm mortar, takes up position in an olive grove opposite the Italians. A medic has also joined them.

Tenente Spadaro gives orders to his 2nd Squad to bypass the enemy in the olive grove and attack its left flank, as a frontal attack across the open road in the valley would be suicidal - in a sprint, the road is crossed under cover of the forest, out of sight of the Americans.

He personally commands the 1st Squad, which takes up position in a orchard of date palms.

In addition, a forward observer takes up position and reports any enemy positions detected to his own artillery battery.

A few minutes later, the first volley hits the enemy and is immediately on target - medics and 60mm mortars fall victim to further artillery strikes shortly afterwards.

A real blow to the morale of the Americans!

However, the 1st Squad of the ‘Livorno’ platoon is coming under increasing pressure and the Armoured are using their dreaded ‘Marching Fire’ tactics relentlessly

Fortunately for the Italians, they are better able to absorb losses due to their mass, especially as their officers and NCOs are spared, while on the American side one leader after another is either injured or even killed.

And when the 2nd Livorno Squad finally appears at the edge of the forest and is able to join the battle, the morale of the Armored collapses for the day and they retreat ... After all, tomorrow is another day.

A really damn exciting game that swung back and forth, which is why I can't show as many photos this time - I'd mostly just forgotten about it because I had to concentrate so much on the action on the table

Incidentally, we swapped sides for this game - Max played my Armored and I played his Fucileri; the latter require a very unique style of play, but I really enjoyed them!

The downside is that now I want to paint Italians 😂

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Tutorial: How I make unpaved roads from Fake Fur

Here is another little "How To" from me - this time how I make unpaved roads using fake fur again.

And remember:

There are countless techniques to achieve the same (and better) results, but this is the one that:

a) works best for me

b) is a good compromise between effort and time

I would recommend testing different techniques, as I did, as this is the only way to find the technique that suits you best. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• It is advisable to wash the fabric thoroughly beforehand to remove any residue that could prevent the colour from sticking to the fabric later.
• Each layer of colour must be applied repeatedly from all sides and then always brushed in immediately. It is better to repeat this several times than to apply too much colour at once, because then the hairs of the fake fur will clump together!
• The colour must be allowed to dry between the individual layers, but the time can be shortened with a hair dryer.
• Take your time and don´t rush through the needed steps.

But now without further ado:

The required tools: shaver, scissors, various brushes and combs in different sizes, rolling pin, various spatulas.

My template to ensure that the connections between the roads fit together smoothly - I settled for 1cm for each of the two road banks and 6cm for the track itself, that´s 8cm in total (works for 15mm and 28mm for me).

Cut the fur to size and then gradually trim it to the desired length using a shaver, in case of the road banks i settled for about 9mm. Finishing trimming with a scissor so the banks don´t look to regular in height.

The base colour is applied - only apply a little colour at a time, comb it in immediately and repeat this step from different directions until satisfied with the look.

Highlights added - I wanted to achieve a rather dusty look for the roadsides and added yellow and sand tones accordingly.

As soon as everything is dry, the acrylic caulking is applied thinly with a spatula and then pressed firmly into the fabric. Both of these steps are extremely important to ensure that the acrylic holds well later and does not crack!

Then sprinkle on a sand mixture and carefully smooth with a damp roller - you can now press tracks into the still damp mass as desired using an old vehicle/tank.

Next step is a thinly applied Brown wash ...

... followed by drybrushing with different tones of brown, ochre and sand.

The final step is a drybrush with a pure sand-coloured tone, as I want my roads to have a rather dry, dusty look, as is typical for unpaved roads in the Mediterranean region.

And here are a few pictures of the final result after following the above steps so far:

As you can see, the transitions between the individual segments of my roads are hardly noticeable.

I hope this little guide is helpful for some of you to make your very own version of flexible unpaved roads. If there are any open questions, I will be happy to try and answer them.

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Big Chain of Command BatRep: "Hell on Wheels" attacks

Another game of Big CoC putting my US Airborne platoon supported by a platoon of Shermans from the 2nd Armored versus 2 enemy platoons - one of Italian Bersaglieri played by Max supported by German Panzergrenadiere played by Alex.

And the first game where the terrain I built over the last few weeks was used for the first time 💪

All platoons rolled high on their Force Moral so bot Axis platoons started with a FM of 10, while my Airborne with a FM of 9 and my tanks at FM 10.

The Battle

Having repulsed the Axis counterattack at Gela, Shermans of the 2nd Armoured now advance to support an Airborne platoon holding an advanced position and wrest from the Axis a small village that controls the road to a valley that is vital to the American advance.

A small village surrounded by orchards full of date palms, apple trees, olives and citrus fruits together with wheat fields and meadows. Morning dawns ...

Just a few houses, barns and gardens.

Panzergrenadiere hastily take up positions behind waist-high stone walls ...

while Bersaglieri, still drowsy, quickly occupy the village itself to give the Americans a ‘hot’ welcome!

And their well-placed fire is really putting the paratroopers under pressure: the casualties are piling up!

Meanwhile more Bersaglieri try to turn the right flank of the attacking Yanks ...

and a German PaK 40 gets ready to turn the approaching Shermans into smoking scrap.

But suddenly more Americans appear in the citrus orchard on the hill and a mortar salvo forces the German panzer grenadiers to take cover as quickly as possible and keep their heads down.

And suddenly it is the Bersaglieri who suffer heavy losses and have to retreat from the occupied houses after the Yanks have used a flamethrower.

Bersaglieri, who have occupied the villa, fire barrages (Cover Fire, so the US Boys get a -1 on their shooting) at the American positions on the hill.

But after the Shermans have survived the gunfire from the PaK 40 and taken it out with their return fire using HE, nothing and nobody can stop them and the Bersaglieri have to abandon the village.

Retreat!

An entertaining and exciting game that once again showed how well CoC works in the multiplayer variant Big CoC and in which the terrain I built in the last few weeks had its first big entrance 😎

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