Here Come the Dogfaces

Greetings Dear Reader,
Here's my first Battle Report for this blog. A 20mm WWII game pitting a platoon of dogface G.I.s against a Damn Nazi, kampfgruppe. I played the Kraut's so the report will be from my point of view but I haven't written an AAR (that's an After Action Report for the uninformed!) involving Americans and the chance to throw in a bunch of typical US racial slurs is just too much for me to resist.

Unfortunately the opportunities to hurl Hollywood style insults at the Germans will be few a far between in this AAR - But I'll put them in where I can. So, I'll have to tailor most of my insults at the GI's using my best Hogan's Heroes derived, German linguistic skills.

The rules: Chain of Command.

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My opponent today was, once again. Chee. He chose the Americans. We set up a table and rolled a random scenario and got an Attack/Defend action. Rolling to check our Force Moral saw Chee gaining +1 to boost his Force Morale to 10.  That made him the attacker and me the defender in my first ever game of COC using Germans.

I set out my 4 Patrol Markers in accordance with the scenario. Chee rolled a d6, got a 6 and got 6 free moves before I was able to retaliate.

Chee locked down my patrol markers pretty quickly after all those free moves. As you can see mine didn't move far from their initial deployment.

Forces:

U.S. - Regular Rifle Platoon - Support: .05 cal, Adjutant, Medic, Pre-Game Barrage.

Damn Nazi's: Regular Infantry Platoon - Support: 5cm Mortar, SdKfz 250 with recce team & MG42.

Let's begin!

We placed our Jump of Points and then the game proper, started. You can tell when the game started because all of a sudden the photo colours became all washed out a'la Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers... Serious stuff indeed!

As, zee Cherman commander I vas surprized by zee pre-game barrache. I vas not exshpecting zat at all. It had a pretty profound effect too and really stifled my ability to react in a timely manner.

The first GI' Joe's to appear was the HMG team and a senior leader in the woods. They were in the center of the US line, on high ground in cover. A good position. 

What to do? I deployed my mortar team and droped a couple of shells on the .50 cal. killing one crew member. Not bad at all. First blood to my brave soldaten! I also tried to deploy a section to my right to take advantage of the buildings. However, the barrage stopped my troops from arriving. My runner was obviously held up taking cover from Yankee shells. But I did manage to deploy a section to my left flank.

The first Yankee squad appeared on my right flank. Right in the open and looking like a nice target for that MG34 that didn't arrive.  

Another squad arrived on the dirt road leading out of town. Both squads took up a tactical position. The HMG fired on the mortar and gave them some shock but nothing they couldn't handle.

I managed to deploy my tardy 1st section but they couldn't make it to the corner building where I wanted them. never mind they'll get there next time. The section on the left moved forward slowly, and my last section arrived in the center. 

The Yank's made a slow advance down the road and the section on the flank moved into cover behind a building.  I called my halftrack onto the road but the barrage kept it pinned down and unable to come forward.

Instead, my right hand section took orders from my senior commander with the MG team moving around the house to enter the door while the rifle team took aim and fired at the Yankee's marching down the road killing one Yankee Doodle Dandy (mit eine Cherman accent). The MG team moved too slowly to get into the building and got caught flat footed by the GI squad who reemerged from their cover. No doubt it was the barrage that was slowing my teams down.

Luckily the US shooting was ineffective and my MG team only took some shock. Certainly no cowboys in this platoon. My rifle section on the other side of the house wasn't so lucky. With the section leader being hit & wounded. 

I made more progress on the left with my section crossing the road and into the fields beyond. They couldn't be targeted by the .50 cal because of their positioning in the woods. I was hoping to get my men around and onto the gun's flank. Likewise my center section was moving forward but, once again too slowly.

I called for the halftrack again and, once more it failed to respond because of the barrage. I had a nice target with a Yankee section sitting right in the middle of the road, but no MG42 to shoot them with.

My MG team on the right managed to get into the cover of the house but the rifle team were too slow. All of my troops were moving slow. I can only have been a result of the barrage. As a result they got shot up again with Lootennatnt Chee using the US Marching Fire to good effect.

I really needed that SdKfz.

In the center and on the left my sections were advancing. The center section and mortar were consistently under fire from the .50 cal but it wasn't having much effect on them. They were also shooting back and slowly wearing the HMG down.

My left section moved up and took a position next to a pigsty close to the stream. They were getting into position to try an assault on the HMG.

Meanwhile on my right, the Yank's were getting ready to try and assault my MG34 in the house. I managed to get the rifle team back with them into the building, but they took more fire on their way, losing another man and, this time, killing the section leader. My moral wasn't looking too good.

Then things got worse... The last American section appeared and they were in the woods with the HMG. They opened up with all their weapons and shot up my troops near the pigsty. 

Then things got even worse... The GI's brought on their assault to take my beaten up team in the house. You can tell this was serious because things went from "washed out" to full on Black and White!

However, my troops put up a tenacious defence and threw the Yankee Doodles back with heavy losses (6 casualties and 3 Shock compared to my 2 casualties). Well done #1 Section.

Then, finally, the halftrack arrived and shot up the GI's on the road. They quickly took cover in a building opposite my senior leader (he was in the white building in the pic below).

In the center the .50 cal had enough. Several of the crew were dead and they had a bunch of shock so they routed casing some concern to Chee's force moral. But my morale was bad. A junior leader wounded and then killed. I'd lost the MG team on the left hand section. But it was the continued fire from the infantry section in the woods that did the trick. I'd been shooting at them but with very little effect. With one major blast they smashed the remaining members of my left hand section with a massive 13 hits!!!

I then proceeded to roll a bunch of 6's and 5's to really ruin their day.

Section wiped out. The section leader killed. Wham! My force moral was down to 3.

So, I ceded the field and lived to fight another day.

Mein Gott im Himmel! Vhere vas zat bloody halftrack!

HOGANNN!!!

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Conclusion:

Yet again is was a very enjoyable game, due to the rules and my opponent. We got a bit stuck on some rules here and there but worked it out in the end. I do get a bit confused between some of the COC and Battlegroup rules. It's not that they're all that similar it's more a case of recalling which rules belong in which game and I'm not yet experienced enough with either set of rules. Not major rules, just minor things for the most part.

I lost the game for two main reasons. 1 - Out patrolled and 2 - that damn pre-game barrage. It really stifled my deployment at crucial times. It was a good support choice by Chee. Having said that, it also added to the game narrative and as far as I'm concerned that''s a good thing. 

That GI section deploying next of the .50 cal - I completely overlooked it. I was thinking: "Come in on the flank, over-run the jumpoff point, assault the guncrew..." BLAMMO! they blasted my section out of existence. It was a chump move by me.

On the other hand, my center section was totally, 100% unscathed. Not even a point of shock even though the .50 cal had targeted them several times. One thing I did notice at time of writing is that I should have had one more point of Support because of the difference in Force Rating. This might have helped because I did actually want a minefield or wire on my right flank which would have been better than...

...That bloody halftrack! It just wouldn't come on. Three times and the barrage kept it out of the action. It must have been fated.

And here's a few extra photo's that I stole from the NWA Facebook page:

Two brave generals deciding their strategies.