Gus Murchie Memorial Game - Devon Wargames Group

Yesterday was spent in the company of the chaps from the Devon Wargames Group as we celebrated the end of the club year with one big game, this time using Chain of Command and their 1940 lists to recreate the battles that typified the German invasion of France in May 1940.

I took time out from actually playing to move around the six tables we had up and running to capture the day in pictures and video clips as we gathered at mid morning and played through to the end of the afternoon.

Days like this are special and great fun and, for those of us who knew him, a nice way to remember our old mate Gus who though not with us, was very much with us, enjoying all the fun and laughs.

If you would like to see a report of the day, then just follow the link to the club blog.

Gus Murchie Memorial Game 2019 - Devon Wargames Group

Chain of Command - 29 Let's Go, Game Nine, Home Run at Osmanville

Rearguard elements of the 352nd Division deploy to defend the former HQ at Osmanville

This week saw the ninth and final game of our Chain of Command Campaign recreating the battle by the US 29th Infantry Division to break out along the coast from Omaha beach and force a link up with US forces landing further west at Utah beach at the base of the Cherbourg peninsular.

The uniting of the two beachheads required the capturing of two important towns, Isigny and Carentan where it was hoped a link up could be established with the 101st Airborne Division dropped in the area to secure key crossing points.

From the German perspective, the battle was one of defence looking to delay and hold up US advances out of their beachheads to allow time for German reinforcing divisions to arrive from the interior to seal off further advances and to eventually allow a German counterattack to destroy the allied beachheads.

Planner map showing the position of the respective tables throughout our campaign

Thus far Ian's determined elements of the 352nd Infantry Division have been giving the 29th a real battle to press forward, and managed to inflict two defeats on the US troops with a corresponding delay on their advance.

However the US troops turned the tide in games seven and eight and now find themselves at the road junction outside the village of Osmanville on table 5, astride the main road to Isigny having driven the German forces back to their former HQ.

The area is held by a rearguard force hoping to join the rest of the division that, thanks to the two game delay, has fallen back over the key bridge at Isigny which they intend to destroy once this rearguard force has managed to push the Americans back and fallen back themselves securing an outright German campaign victory.

If you haven't followed the games played in this campaign, you can pick up the story in the series of links below covering events from game two onward and the final link to 'Welsh Wargamer in Devon', Jason's, our Gamemeister's, personal blog, where he neatly summarises the overall casualty rates and gives the umpires overview of how the whole series of games developed from his perspective.

Games Two (US Victory) & Three (Bloody Draw)
Game Four (US Victory)
Game Five (German Victory & Pushback)
Games Six (German Victory & Hold) & Seven (US Victory)
Game Eight (US Victory)

https://welshwargamesdevon.blogspot.com/2019/05/chain-of-command-29-lets-go-campaign.html

The question was, could the US troops snatch a small win out of the situation by destroying this rearguard force?

The map below illustrated the position outlined in the briefing with close country crisscrossed with low hedgerows and roads lined with drainage ditches. In the large northern field anti-glider poles topped with mines add further to the restriction on movement.

To reflect the surprise element of US troops rapidly moving up in the wake of their last win the German defenders will be deploying from the HQ building at the rear of their position after the US patrol markers have taken a D3 number of extra moves before they are able to react.

The  mission objective for the US troops was to capture the HQ building, by either occupying and holding it at game end or by breaking the German defenders in the battle that would facilitate the same outcome.

Our table recreating the map in the briefing

The picture below shows the position of the opposing Jump Off Positions (JOP's) at the end of the Patrol Phase.

US and German JOPs in position at the end of the Patrol Phase

With the dominance of mortar attacks in two recent games it was perhaps not surprising that both sides took medium mortars as an option and used them practically from the get go.

The cagey deployment by both sides reflected this anticipated troop type selection and the fact that both sides came with a poor force morale of eight for the US and ten for the Germans leaving little wriggle room to soak up bad events.

Down comes the mortar fire from both sides. The US Shermans are on and about to move up under the cover of this barrage

The Americans beat the Germans to the drop with the mortar barrage but only by one phase of play, by simply calling for an immediate fire for effect rather than taking the spotting round the German troops adopted, which with their follow up barrage, would have blocked the US observer from seeing the target area in the following US phase.

Thus the centre of the table and the forward most German JOP was engulfed in exploding mortar bombs.

The US made the most of this large display of exploding ordnance to move their tanks forward and in the wake of the two barrages to close on the German positions with a plan to advance the US JOP's closer as well to allow a close assault of the nearest German JOP once the mortar fire ceased.

The first units deploy, with the Germans hoping to defend their forward JOP (right). Whilst the Sherman burns in the background down by the stream

Needless to say the moves rattled by as the focus shifted to getting the armour up together with accumulating as many Chain of Command dice as possible and, by the time the turn ended, the US had a distinct advantage with three to one in accumulated dice.

When the mortar fire ceased the game changed completely as the US closely followed by the Germans lost contact with and further support from their mortars.

With a Sherman tank threatening the German position from the south close to the stream and having managed to bog itself, the Germans deployed a Panzerschreck that missed and was caught in the return fire causing it to break and seeing both sides move level with eight force morale points with the German reaction test.

Perhaps the standout unit in this final game, the trusty Sherman tank

With the German troops keen to defend the front of the orchard they were in and their forward JOP, that Sherman had to be dealt with and so with the failure of the Panzerschreck a Panzerfaust was turned to from a German squad close by and this time the German bomb found its mark, completely destroying the tank, but with the US force opting to burn a CoC dice with their lost vehicle and avoid the loss in force morale.

Then the German forward squad attempting to defend the orchard forward JOP was caught deploying by a US squad on overwatch in the nearby house supported by the remaining US Sherman.

The combination of close range HE, machinegun and small arms fire, quickly shredded the German unit and saw another two point drop in German force morale.

The battle was getting fierce and extremely tense as units started to deploy at close range and with little room to absorb losses both forces strove to keep in touch with the other by getting in damaging blows.

The German response to losing a section of infantry was to deploy a tripod MG42 in a dug in position that enfiladed another US squad close to the burning US tank and sheltering behind a hedge.

The German machinegun returned the compliment shredding the US squad which managed to hang on long enough to go tactical before becoming pinned, waiting for the other Sherman to come to the corner of a nearby house and fire on the offending German weapon.

The US rifle squad broke under the onslaught and this time the US force morale took a hit, but not before the American tank knocked out the German machinegun forcing another German force morale loss.

In response that daring Panzerschreck, now rallied, returned to the fray, firing off another rocket towards the lone Sherman peeking out from among the houses. The cover proved its worth causing the Germans to miss and this time the US tank finished the job, yet again, killing the remaining German operator and forcing yet more morale loss and lost command dice.

The US infantry advance across the road up to the hedge bordering the orchard. The forward German JOP has now been withdrawn to the back table edge near the HQ building

The battle was getting fiercer and more desperate reflected in the combined attack by another German tripod MG team firing on the US squad in the lane opposite the orchard and followed up by a second German squad operating in the orchard to come charging out of the trees to attack it.

Hand grenades heralded the German assault and, as always, close combat is often unforgiving to both sides, but in this case the US got the better of it, just managing to win and not break, but seeing the German section smashed with its loss and its leader killed dismantling the German force morale to within two points of breaking and reducing the German command dice tally still further.

The German squad in the orchard (top centre) is about to come forward to assault the US rifle squad lining the hedge on the lane by the houses. Note the German JOP bottom left soon to be approached by a US recce team.

The Sherman tank was being kept busy and the second German MG42 was dealt with by a quick round of HE and machinegun fire, which left one more German section still undeployed and so, to try and force the German hand, the third US quad, so far untouched and held in reserve amid the houses, sent forward a recce team towards the German JOP on their left flank.

The manoeuvre worked and the recce team were driven back amid a hail of German small arms fire but managed to only loose one of the two man team and were close enough to run back to the parent squad, sharing the shock and see the German section receive a return volley together with some tank HE as the Sherman brought its turret to bear.

The surviving US units at the close of a very bruising encounter

The US fire was enough to so badly hit this last German squad that the defenders broke leaving just one practically intact US squad, less one man and the remaining Sherman to mop up.

What a last battle to end our campaign on, with massive swings of fortune throughout and the US looking at times to be on their way out with low force morale, tanks burning and mortar support lost.

However as has happened a few times in our campaign, when the going has got tough it has been the trusty Sherman tank that has often proved to be the winning difference between the two sides often surviving anti-tank and mortar attacks to deliver knock out punches with well delivered HE rounds that has literally shot the US rifle squads onto the position and so it was rather fitting that they played such a prominent role in this final game.

Ian threw everything at the Americans to try and close out the ninth game that would have secured an overwhelming German win, but his forces did enough in the campaign to ensure that the bulk of their forces have survived to fight on.

We have really enjoyed playing this series of games and Tuesday nights wont seem quite the same, and from the comments I have received some of you have to, with many comments about wanting to play more CoC but not having quite got around to it.

All I can say is, that was me a couple of months ago, but following this series of games, I can highly recommend the time investment into these rules and I am looking forward to playing them again.

Thanks to Jason and his wife Tina for providing our venue for our gatherings and for Jason's tutoring and provision of some fine tables and figures that have really added to the fun. Thanks also to Steve and Ian for playing the games - great times.

I'm off up to Newark this weekend for our annual DWG Beano to Partizan 2019 as well as our usual gathering at Wargames Foundry for a pre show big game where we are planning to play Dux Bellorum again, so will aim to post on both those weekend activities, plus I have a book review from Mr Steve coming up so lots to come here on JJ's.

Chain of Command - 29 Let's Go, Game Eight, Cardonville Radar Station Attack!

US mortars blast the infantry onto the German position

Our Chain of Command campaign continued this week with a return to table 4, The Radar Station at Cardonville, following the US victory on table 2 last week and the German troops deciding to pull back from the Arthenay position astride the main road to Osmanville.

Following the US victory in our first game at Cambe on table one, we have charted the games played so far which can be followed in the links below.

Games Two (US Victory) & Three (Bloody Draw)
Game Four (US Victory)
Game Five (German Victory & Pushback)
Games Six (German Victory & Hold) & Seven (US Victory)

As the titles in the links suggest the US forces have have been given a hard fight with two crushing German victories in games five and six which caused the US command team to take a very close look at the tactics we were employing and to initiate some key changes to our attack methods.

Game seven and the aggressive use of the US armour changed the balance back to the attack with the US finding a way to overcome the German mortars in defence by advancing in the barrage and enabling US Jump of Positions (JOPs) to be moved up prior to a US infantry assault at close quarters.

The German defenders chose to pull back before the US infantry were able to close and so our battle has moved back to the Cardonville Radar Station (table 4) which held bloody memories for both Steve and I (See link to game five above) as we recalled how our infantry squads were decimated on the slopes of the nearby hill, unable to close down two German JOPs and without any support from HMS Glasgow which retired from our battle early.

The scenario is pretty much straight out of the rule book with an attack and defend scenario requiring the US to either break the German defenders or force them to retire from the position.

The map below illustrates the position and the start lines of the two forces prior to the Patrol Phase.

Because this was the second time US forces had fought over this ground, HMS Glasgow would not be on call in our support and with the German defenders having plenty of time to prepare the position we expected and found they had mined two positions close to the US start line, with the road bend and large house next to it heavily mined and booby-trapped.

The table below shows the position of the game after the US infantry had advanced from the JOP (top left of picture) onto the nearest German JOP in the small orchard near the house (top right of picture).

The US infantry have advanced behind a US mortar barrage that plastered the two closest German JOPs allowing them to take the JOP without a German soldier being on the table, and with the JOP captured US forces have just ended the turn using a CoC dice.

Whilst the attack was being pressed US tanks can be seen positioned at the back along the road (top left of picture) to give covering fire should the mortar barrage have ended prematurely.

In addition the position of the US FOO is indicated in the grey house with a senior US commander who has controlled the FOO and his barrage as well as directing an engineer team to clear one of the German minefields in preparation for moving up to clear the next one.

As the barrage ended to secure the German JOP with the ending of the turn, German troops immediately emerged from the next nearest JOP further up the road and, with US infantry moving among the orchard securing the position, immediately opened up on them with withering machinegun, small arms and HE from a dug in 7.5cm infantry gun.

US infantry securing the first German JOP

The German fire was massive in dice rolled causing just two casualties, both riflemen, but seven shock, and putting the whole US attack plan in the balance with only one German force morale point removed along with their lost JOP.

Some relief came in the form of fire from one of the supporting Shermans using HE and managing to inflict two shock on the German defenders, but the firefight was not in favour of the US infantry who could only go tactical and keep their heads down and hope to keep the shock under control with support from the second US commander who moved up to rally the troops.

The US officer commanding directs the engineer section to clear mines whilst also relaying commands to the mortar FOO in the grey house.

The Shermans proved valuable for their fire support once the mortar barrage dropped.

US infantry come under rapid close range fire from newly emerged German defenders - top right

The game had reached a critical point and with a second German section deployed next to the first with a plan to destroy the nearest US infantry squad in the orchard, radio link was re-established with the 81mm mortars and a satisfying marker round exploded ominously amid the German position.

Not only that but the US force had rolled a double six which allowed the fire for effect order to be issued immediately and the German position disappeared among smoke and exploding bombs.

The black plume bottom right marks one corner of the mortar barrage with red pinned markers sprinkled among German troops manning the hedges beyond

The mortar fire was not initially particularly effective in causing casualties and only a modicum of shock, but the fact that the German position was now pinned and masked allowed the US infantry to remove its shock and get into position to launch its own close attack with tanks moving up in support once the barrage lifted.

The whole German position, pinned, is laid out with both their two remaining JOPs, two sections and a dug in infantry gun squarely amid the explosion markers showing the boundary of the US mortar barrage. US infantry gather in the buildings beyond preparing to attack when the barrage lifts

However persistence started to pay off and successive mortar attacks with the Germans unable to end the turn and lift the barrage started to wear down the defenders with accruing shock and casualties, making their chances of resisting any US attack when the barrage lifted more and more unlikely.

The US squad that was badly hit when the first barrage lifted is now down to just one point of shock (red die) from the seven it had received and, having lost just two riflemen, is ready to reengage. The other squad has just entered the building to the right, facing the German position. The explosion marker shows the proximity of the US mortar fire keeping nearby German troops pinned and masked.

With their position becoming more and more untenable with each successive turn, Ian decided to order a German pull out and the US troops moved onto the position to mop up and secure it in the wake of the next advance.

US tanks rumble forward equally protected from anti-tank fire by the US mortar barrage

This was the first time our game plan worked as envisaged and saw the US force finally get their various units working together as an all arms combat team that took control of the battle early on as soon as the US armour and FOO deployed on turn one, seeing the barrage dropped on the German position within three turns and the German JOP captured within six.

In addition this attack differed very much from the previous one in that it was lead by the infantry, not the tanks and combined with the US mortar support gave a very different attack but no less effective, with even the engineers contributing with a cleared minefield.

Ian played the German position as well as he could given the circumstances, as we have all learnt to maximise our effectiveness from the experience we have gained since game one.

Each and every game has been very different even when played over the same table and Chain of Command has created lots of decision points for all players throughout. All you can do is hope to improve you chances of a favourable outcome by stringing periods of play together that shifts the game irrevocably in your troops favour.

Ian, Steve and myself have experienced the rollercoaster of emotions those game shifts create spanning the spectrum from utter frustration when the wheels of a plan fall off in a period of play to the satisfaction of seeing a plan move through the gears and take the game away from the enemy.

Anyway from a US perspective Colonel Goode, our boss is 'almost happy', with a US victory costing the loss of just two US riflemen and an advance enabled to the German HQ at Osmanville and a potential to breakthrough to Isigny and Carentan beyond.

Thank you to Jason, Ian and Steve for a very entertaining evening of play and off to Osmanville we go, next week, for our next game in our campaign.

Chain of Command - 29 Let's Go, Games Six & Seven, Pushback and Riposte

Following the US defeat on table four, the radar station at Cardonville, on the campaign map below, Ian our German commander opted to push the Americans back to table two thus delaying the US advance and forcing a refight on old ground.

The map below shows the position with the US troops having to get across a significant amount of open terrain to have any hope of getting into the German position and grabbing one of the German jump off points to secure a victory.

The battle for this table has proven a jump up the learning curve for all involved and hence the fact that I am posting about two games fought over this ground separated by the recent Easter bank holiday.

Game Six

The table below shows our set up for game six with three US jump off points (JOPs) at the top of picture tucked in behind the hedgerow to the left of the road, one in the orchard on the other side of the road and the third on the table edge, centre top of the picture.

The German JOPs were all placed mutually supporting in and around the buildings of the village.

German JOPs in the form of an Opel Blitz truck, supply dump and another truck amid the orchard

The US attack plan had become rather predictable in that we turned to using the tanks massed and held back, out of hand held anti-tank weapon range, ready to shoot up any spotted German positions as the infantry attempted to sprint across the fields, throwing out recon teams, as and when the opportunity presented, to force the Germans to deploy in defence of their JOPs.

US tanks massed in support with infantry close to their supply dump JOP, ready to cover the approach of the other platoons on the US left flank

In this game Ian applied the attack shattering tactic that is a medium mortar barrage catching our squads doing their best to dash into the German position before getting caught out in the fields beyond.

Still a lot of ground to cover and down come the bombs!

The mortar attack stopped the US advance before any other German troops had needed to deploy and, with our force morale shot up as badly as our squads, Steve and I called the attack off giving the German force a second victory.

Recon team forward, with the squad ready to move in in support just before all hell let loose

Game Seven

Ian chose not to follow up this win with an immediate counterattack but instead opted to carry on with the delay his two wins had imposed by holding table two, adding some field defences and forcing the US to have another go.

This of course forced Steve and I with some input from Jason our Gamemeister to seriously rethink our tactics if we were to avoid another defeat to similar German tactics.

US infantry tactics are built around the advancing fire ability that the M1 Garand offers their infantry squads allowing them to fire on the move as well as put down a significant amount of suppressive and covering fire.

However with the German mortar barrage, likely to be a feature, given the amount of ground needed to be covered before the proximity of US troops to their German counterparts limited the safe zone for such an attack, we needed to change the approach.

The table below shows the position of the respective forces when the game ended with the Germans opting to withdraw rather than carry on the battle.

Two thirds of the German force have deployed and the US armour together with the first squad of infantry are now up close to the village ready to press the attack.

The Germans opted to place a minefield on the US table end close to the road in an attempt to interfere with any similar US tank deployment as set up in the previous game.

Likewise they opted to position their JOPs similarly close in and around the buildings although Ian admitted that he should have put one of them in the orchard to the front of the position to allow rapid deployment in there as required.

The US JOPs were similar to the previous game except that the table edge location was shifted to the other side to offer a different approach opportunity.

German Pak 38, knocked out one Sherman but couldn't stop the advance on the other side of the village

The German plan followed the prediction with a quick deployment of an OP in the forward buildings, but were met with an empty battlefield except for three US Shermans rumbling across the table as mortar bombs fell among them.

Apart from an odd bit of shock the Shermans proved the best way of advancing on the German position using the cover of the mortar barrage to aggressively close on it.

The tactic worked in that the first troops to deploy were German with a section and a Pak 38 AT gun which eventually knocked out the Sherman command tank, although the crew baled out without loss.

The US commander then ordered up a mortar barrage of his own via a deployed FOO that got off one barrage before a double one caused the support to be lost!

The US tank commander's Sherman burns as the other tanks press on to the other side of the village

With an inevitable lull in the German barrage, the American tanks were able to push closer to the village, surviving another antitank attack from a rapidly deployed German section, lobbing a panzerfaust at long range in a desperate attempt to stop the forward momentum.

The advance of the tanks enabled the US to bring forward one of their JOPs and deploy a squad off it allowing both tank fire and small arms to start to soften up the closest German squad near to the most forward German JOP.

With the potential to bring on more American infantry close in to the buildings and with their tanks up in support, the Germans ordered a withdrawal.

The Sherman starts to shred a nearby German section as the newly advanced US JOP (the scout car) allows a US squad to deploy forward in support

Obviously Ian's platoon had done their job and imposed a two game delay on the US advance which works well for the German overall plan and thus a needless bloody exchange with the US troops at this stage with two more tables still to fight before the end of the campaign was wisely avoided.

The German section in the house was taking a battering from tank fire and US small arms when the order to withdraw was given. Note the JOP close by.

The US armour has been a significant factor in the games that the US forces have won and continues to be so, however this was the first time that events had forced a more aggressive use of them which proved their worth in open ground under fire that would have shredded an infantry advance across it.

The clever part of Chain of Command is that the rules really force you to think about the way you use your troops to deal with the challenges these scenarios are constructing.

I don't think I have played a set quite like them, other than Carnage & Glory, for a very different period, with both leaving a very satisfying feel when a plan works and a real hard think when it doesn't.

Thanks to Jason, Steve and Ian for a lot of fun and back to the Cardonville Radar Station we go.

Chain of Command - 29 Let's Go, Game Five

The 352nd looked relaxed after their win at Cardonville and having pushed the Amis back to Arthenay

This week saw our fifth game in our '29 Lets Go' campaign as US forces following their hard fought battle at St Germain du Pert now found themselves north of the Osmanville road as they were forced to deal with another German force threatening the US advance from that direction.

Thus our battle was on table 4 in the situation map below at the Radar Station at Cardonville supported by some naval gunfire in the form of a pre-bombardment of German positions from HMS Glasgow.

Feeling confident that the Royal Navy would allow our troops to make rapid progress across the table snatching German Jump Off Points (JOPs) as we went, both Steve and I planned our JOPs up on the hedgerow line ready to jump forward as the situation presented itself following the patrol phase.

The US plan of attack and the German defences (black boxes) encountered after the patrol phase

Feeling confident in our plan, things took a decidedly different course as the original intention had been to grab the house in the bottom left of the map as a position to turn the German flank; only to find that Ian had placed a section of wire in front of the hedge bordering the orchard together with mining the road and the house opposite.

Our JOPs were so positioned to allow our plan to be flexible and thus the house would be taken by a single section, whilst two sections together with two flamethrower teams advance up the hill and nearby road to clear the other flank, bringing on a single Sherman to be kept back to provide covering fire.

Our table with the gentle slope above the lower house (top right)

Again things changed almost immediately as our first die roll turned up three sixes that immediately ended the bombardment from Glasgow and meant that Ian would find it a lot easier to deploy his troops in response.

View from the German lines

However US fortunes continued to prove interesting as the three next turns provided double sixes to allow a rapid advance into the German position threatening two JOPs before a single German soldier appeared on the table, not to mention five pips on the US Chain of Command dice hopefully on the acquisition of a sixth pip to allow us to take those JOPs and end the turn before any response with all the bad stuff happens to follow.

Everything in position - just give me a five!!!

That was then the wheels fell off the plan!

Three German sections in the same field and a sniper close by, Where was HMS Glasgow when we needed her!

The next four turns saw not one five rolled among the twenty die rolls made by our team coupled with German troops turning out to defend their one remaining corner of the field with three sections and their MG 42's pouring out their hurt on the two lead US squads, causing one to rout and one left decimated with multiple shock.

Where there was once a squad there is now just a pile of shock dice. The flamethrower teams are on the road lower left trying to close up on the German position.

In desperation the other US squad did its best to fire suppressing fire from the lower house, and the flamethrowers tried to close up under fire from a German sniper only to see their half effect fire miss with all six dice.

The squad by the lower house did their best to bring some relief

The final throw came as the sole Sherman tank rolled on to the table to try and equalise the fire-fight by putting its HE into a field full of Germans but the situation proved hopeless and without the first turn ending the US morale broke under the onslaught leaving a return battle back on the main road at Arthenay on Tuesday as the Germans opted to push the Americans back to the road and let them try to take the position yet again.

I know lets try using the tank!

I have not played another game that generates quite the same sense of feeling a plan fall apart on first contact with the enemy quite like the one Chain of Command creates.

In the end you can plan and plan and hopefully more often than not those sequences of play you had prepared for come out in favour of those plans but sometimes there are aspects of the game you simply cannot plan for like rolling twenty d6 and not getting a single five - a bit like a real battle, but thankfully all our metal men get to fight another day.

So as things stand we are on to game six with three US wins, one bloody draw and one German win.

More anon
JJ