Chain of Command WW1

James came over for a game of WW1 Chain of Command. We played a version of WW1 CoC quite a bit at shows a few years ago (blimey eight years ago where does the time go?) but the Great War seems to be stirring a bit with James so it was time for a revisit.

Simple attack and defend scenario. We dispensed with the Patrol phase as the static nature of WW1 didn't really call for it. Just selected a few sensible looking JOPs and went for it.

The grim desolation of Flanders Fields in 1917.

The craters are Kallistra, most of the defences are from Amera.

The trees are made from twigs collected from the battlefield at Oppy Wood.

The game began with the German trenches under a barrage - I made the explosions many moons ago

 

James began cautiously with a Lewis section deploying on my right.

 

I passed for several phases, seeing no need to get my men in a position to be shot at until James showed his hand.

He began building a firebase on his own right.

Some serious artillery trained on my bunker.

 

As more men deployed amid the trees. These with rifle grenades.

Then a tank rolled on the the table. But shortly it bogged down, blocking part of the artillery's line of sight.

With still no Hun to be seen the British built up on their left ready to launch an assault.

Despite the sticky effects of Flanders mud they began to approach the wire.

Still the barrage pounded my trenches. I was in a dilemma. I had a CoC dice and could end the turn, lifting the barrage, but that would also give the British the chance to restart their tank. I quite liked it stuck in the mud.

Soon however the British were at the wire and I could wait no longer and removed the Barrage.

Fortunately I followed this by rolling a double phase!

As the British crept up their guns finally fell silent

And Germans rushed to line the trenches.

They'd bought a Maxim with them! Which barked death at the poor exposed Tommies.

Caught in the open my shooting was below average, but then James managed to roll poorly for the results and men fell and shock piled up.

Two phases of shooting, Junior Leaders getting wounded and British morale began to tumble. Forced to choose between returning fire and trying to get his men in cover James chose men's lives.

But to no avail, more bad luck including another double phase and both a Junior and Senior leader going down saw one section thrown back.

There were no dice available to activate the tank, so it remained in the mud.

Still the German shooting sluiced down on the British stuck on the wire.

The Lewis team tried to give support but another British section was soon fleeing back toward safety and morale was tumbling.

So far the Germans had weathered the storm.

Finally the tank freed itself and at last the guns of the British could target the Hun.

Shock began to pile up and a Junior Leader was wounded, however the Senior Leader arrived to steady the nerves.

The Germans continued to pour fire on the pinned British and it was only a matter of time before they too broke and the game was up

Although the British Behemoth remained functional the attack had ground to a halt and the British returned to their own trenches, leaving only bodies behind.

That was good fun and looked great. Chain of Command always gives an interesting challenge. James was unlucky a few times (or I was lucky) but then again assaulting a German Trench line shouldn't be easy.

Although we enjoyed it we are beginning to feel that maybe CoC isn't quite right for WW1 games. It's brilliant for the skirmish nature of WW2 but for the rather more linear nature of WW1 we may need to play something different.