Chain of Command - Fighting Withdrawal Campaign Game Three

Having failed to hold back the German tide the British now find themselves trying to hold the outskirts of Risquons Tous.

Again I had only six points of support whilst the Blitzkrieg had twelve and the objective of getting off my table edge.

The big white building is a "hospital". I found an image online of a part of the sanatorium in the area that sort of looked a bit like that (albeit made of brick) so this building from TT Combat was what I bought. It'll come in handy as a Chateau or Hotel de Ville in future games.

We played out the patrol phase with Martin getting a good head start. In the end we were pinned down as shown.

I ended up with one JOP on the table edge at the end of the road. I intended to use this as last ditch defence if needed. I had one just behind the bunker - ideal for dropping men into either the bunker or the hospital.

The other was in the graveyard on my right.

Unfortunately the Germans were able to push their JOPs quite a long way up each flank.

Martin began with a double phase and wasted no time  in getting a squad on to my left, heading as fast as possible across open ground toward the road.

I deployed a section in the graveyard intending to catch the Germans in crossfire. Unfortunately my shooting was a little lacklustre.

The Germans responded with a StuG! And shells began to fall in among the graves.

I deployed another section in the hospital (though you can't really see them). Unfortunately a preliminary barrage meant the Vickers failed to materialise for several turns.

The StuG reaped a nasty toll on the plucky Tommies.

Martin rolled quite a lot of 5s, allowing him to build up a CoC dice quite quickly meaning he could push his JOP up my right flank.

Germans poured more fire into the British in the graveyard and then a second squad clambered over the walls and finished the job.

I was already considering my position when the arrival of an infantry gun plus some deadly shooting into the hospital wiped out the rifles on that flank.

The game was up and the badly mauled British slunk away.

That went quite badly for me. On paper it looked like the Germans had a tough job ahead of them with strong defensive lines in place but the weight of fire, the brittle small British squads and the fast moving Blitzkrieg meant I was rolled up quite quickly.

What's worse is the number of casualties taken. I have one full platoon left but the other two barely make a full platoon between them - and I have to win at least two games if I'm to halt the German advance!

All good fun though and it looks great. Looking forward to the next one.