COC – On Patrol In Romania 1944 – Part 3 Conclusion

Our group resumed play with Tim as German (Rick was away) and Brent as Russian, determined to end the game this session since game play is getting faster after getting the hang of the rules. Part 2 was paused for a week at the end of Phase 16 German which also ended Turn 1 with the following statistics.

Russian Force Morale is (10 - 1) = 9      Casualties = 9 men of 32 at start = 28%

German Force Morale is (11 - 1) = 10    Casualties = 5 men of 32 at start = 16%, 1 wounded JL

The Russian MMG and squad at the front of the church were checked for shock level and both will remain pinned for all of Turn 2. Here are the unit positions at the end of Turn 1.

Resuming:

Turn 2 Phase 1 - Russian Roll 6,6,6,5,4        CoC Dice = 6 + 2

Three sixes ends the Game Turn 2 at the end of the phase and the Russian keeps Initiative! 1 more pip to the second COC dice for 2. A pretty short Game Turn! Brent just activates the SL to spend 2 CI remove 2 shock from the squad by the church so the squad will unpin at the end of this phase and Turn 2. The SL spends the last CI to move himself close enough to the MMG to attach himself to it across the open field.

End of Turn 2, the squad by the church unpins.

Turn 3 Phase 1 - Russian Roll 5,5,4,4,2        CoC Dice = 6 + 4

Next phase is German. Second CoC dice is up by 2 pips to 4. With a 4 die, Brent activates the SL to remove 2 shock off the MMG and spends the last CI to activate the squad by the church to fire on the Flamethrower Team, causing 1 KIA and wiping it out. The Force Morale roll caused a -1 so the German FM = 9.

Then Brent uses the 2 die to activate the north squad to fire on the German squad in the hedge, causing 1 shock and a KIA on the Rifle Team and 1 shock on the LMG Team, missing the JR. End of phase.

Turn 3 Phase 2 – German Roll 6,4,3,2,1      CoC Dice = 4

Next phase is Russian. Tim activates the SL who uses 1 CI to remove the last shock on the PzSh Team, 1 CI to move the PzSh Team to the door of the building, and 1 CI to move himself into the building.

Then Tim uses a 2 and activates the squad in the south to fire on the Russian MMG causing 1 KIA and pinning the MMG. [Note: No test was done for a hit on the attached SL since he is across the clearing in the little woods and out of LOS of the firing German squad. According to the rulebook insert diagram on page 30 the SL cannot be a target if not in LOS.] Then a 3 die activates the now recovered JL with the squad at the hedge and uses his only CI (he is wounded) to have the squad fire on the north Russian squad, causing 5 shock! These two squads are slugging it out as a separate mini-battle.

Using the 1 die, the Rifle Team in the monastery activates and moves out the west door and along the wall to the north, ending the phase.

Turn 3 Phase 3 - Russian Roll 5,3,2,1,1     CoC Dice = 6 + 5

Next phase is German. 1 pip to the second COC for 5. Brent uses the 3 + 1 dice = 4 to activate the SL to take 3 shock off the MMG. Then he uses the 2 + 1 dice = 3 to activate the JL in the north squad to take off 1 shock (to 7), and fire at the German squad in the hedge causing 1 shock to each Team (3 each). The Russians play a CoC dice to end Turn 3 and the MMG becomes unpinned.

Turn 4 Phase 1 - German Roll 4,3,3,3,1      CoC Dice = 4

Next phase is Russian. Lots of good activation dice to work with. Tim plays a 3 to activate the JL of the south LMG Team who spends both CIs to activate and fire the LMG Team with 2 extra dice using the Maschinengewehr special rule. Then a 1 die to activate the Rifle Team to fire with them. Both fire at the MMG but that big fire only nets 1 KIA and 1 shock. The MMG is not pinned but down to reduced fire with only 1 crew left. [No leader hit test – out of LOS]

Tim plays a 3 die to activate the JL to have the squad by the hedge fire on the Russian North squad again, causing 1 shock (they are at 8 now). The 4 die is used to activate the SL who has the PzSh Team move into the building and then moves himself out the west door toward the monastery to bolster the main action in that area.

Then another 3 die activates the JL in the monastery to spend 1 CI to reduce the LMG Team shock by 1 and the second CI to move the Rifle Team behind the stone wall across from the church, ending the phase.

Turn 4 Phase 2 - Russian Roll 4,3,2,2,1     CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is German. No 5s so no change in CoC dice. Brent plays a 4 to activate the SL, spending 3 CIs to remove 1 shock from the MMG (to 0), 1 shock from the squad by church, and order the squad in the little woods by the church to fire on the German south squad, causing 1 shock.

Then a 3 die activates the JL of the squad in the north west woods to remove 1 shock (to 7) and fire on the German squad in the hedge, causing 2 shock on each of the Teams in the squad (both at 5), and pinning the squad! It is getting desperate for the German squad!

Brent spends a 2 die to move the squad by the front of the church back into the woods to give LOS from the riflemen in the other squad in the little woods to the German squad at the stone wall. They activate on the last 2 die, fire and miss the German squad in hard cover there.

The last die, a 1, activates the sniper for a shot at the German south squad but he misses again. Snipers are supposed to be hit and miss but in this game so far they are “miss.” End of phase.

Turn 4 Phase 3 - German Roll 5,4,3,3,1      CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is Russian. One more pip for the CoC dice. Tim activates the SL with a 4 to move at the double across the road toward the monastery and the squad in trouble behind the hedge. Then uses a 2 dice to have the pinned German squad in the hedge fire on the Russian squad to the north, causing 1 KIA (missing the JL).

Tim plays a 2 die and activates the JL for the monastery squad and spends 1 CI reduces the LMG Team shock to 0, the other CI has the Rifle Team behind the stone wall fire on the damaged Russian squad by the church, causing 2 more shock (up to 4) pinning it [The pin is an error. With 4 men including the attached JL and SL the squad would have needed 5 shock to pin.] Then a 3 die activates the JL in the south squad using 1 CI to remove the shock and the other to have the squad fire on the MMG, causing 1 KIA which wipes out the MMG! The Force Morale roll is -1 so the Russian FM is now 8. End of phase.

Turn 4 Phase 4 - Russian Roll 4,2,1,1,1       CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is German. No addition to CoC dice. Brent plays a 4 die to activate the SL and remove 3 shock from the damaged squad nearby. Then he adds a 2 and 1 dice together for a 3 to activate the JL in the north woods. One CI to remove a shock (to 7) and the other to fire on the pinned German squad in the hedge, dealing a nasty result of 2 KIA + 1 shock to the LMG Team (1 crew left with 6 shock) and 1 KIA to the Rifle Team (4 riflemen with 5 shock), but missing the wounded JL. The squad is very near to breaking! Finally Brent adds the 1 and 1 dice together for a 2 and activates the squad by the church to fire at the Germans behind the stone wall, missing them completely. The game is coming down to a real slugfest!

Turn 4 Phase 5 - German Roll 6,4,4,4,1         CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is Russian. No addition to CoC dice. Tim plays a 4 to activate the SL who spends 1 CI to move and attach to the squad by the hedge, and the other 2 CI to remove 2 shock from the LMG Team (to 4). Then he uses the 1 die to activate the Rifle Team behind the stone wall to fire at the damaged Russian squad, but misses. End of phase

Turn 4 Phase 6 - Russian Roll 5,5,4,4,4        CoC Dice = 6 + 1

Next Phase is German. 2 more pips on the CoC dice complete one and starts a second one. Brent plays the 4 to activate the SL. One CI to remove the last shock on the squad by the church, one CI to move himself at the double toward the squad in the north woods, attaching himself to them, and the last CI to have the squad fire at the pinned German squad in the hedge, missing it completely (pinned = hard cover). Constant firing back and forth there for the last few phases. Who will get a lucky fire first! End of phase.

Turn 4 Phase 7 - German Roll 6,3,3,2,2         CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is Russian. No addition to CoC dice. Suddenly, Brent decides to play his CoC dice to interrupt the German phase and activate the Russian squad in the north woods to suddenly fire on the pinned German squad in the hedge, causing 1 KIA. The roll for a leader hit is a 1 so a leader is hit! Since both the SL and JL are attached a dice roll reveals it is the JL that is hit, and the JL roll for effect is another wound. Since he is already wounded, the second wound is equal to his CI level, so he is KIA! The Force Morale roll results in a -1 so the German FM drops to 8.

The German SL is certainly in the right place now. Continuing with the German phase, Tim adds the two 2 dice together to make 4 and activates the SL to spend 2 CI remove 1 shock from the LMG Team (to 3) and 1 shock from the Rifle team (to 4), and with the third CI has the pinned squad fire at the Russian squad (LMG also at reduced rate), missing it. Tim then uses a 3 die to activate the JL in the monastery squad, spending 1 CI to move the LMG Team out the west door and north along the wall. The second CI activated the Rifle Team at the stone wall to fire on the pinned Russian squad by the church, missing it.

Lastly, Tim uses a 3 to activate the south squad to fire on the Russian squad in the east end of the church, causing 1 KIA and 2 shock. End of phase.

Turn 4 Phase 8 - Russian Roll 6,5,2,2,2      CoC Dice = 2

Next Phase is German. 1 more pip on the CoC dice. Brent uses a 2 to activate the squad in the little woods at the east end of the church. The LMG fires on the German south squad, causing 1 shock. The 6 riflemen fire on the German Rifle Team at the stone wall, and miss.

Then Brent adds the 2 and 2 dice together to make a 4 and activates the SL with 2CIs used to remove 2 shock and the third CI to fire on the German squad in the hedge, getting 2 KIA on the LMG Team and 1 shock on the Rifle Team! Since there is only one crew left in the LMG Team two KIAs mean it is wiped out even if the SL takes a hit on one of the KIAs! The Force Morale roll is a -1 so the German FM drops to 7. The SL must also roll to see if he is hit as well and the roll is a 1 so the SL is hit! The effect roll is another 1 so the SL is KIA! Another Force Morale test and Tim rolls a 6 which is the worst roll you could make for -3! The German FM drops to 4! A disastrous bit of dice luck at just the wrong time. End of Phase.

Turn 4 Phase 9 – German

Tim decides to end the game at this point by Withdrawing. He sees that his SL is lost, the pinned Rifle Team is on its way to breaking with no rescue, and his Force Morale is in the basement while the Russian Force Morale is still high. While he still has two squads, one is far to the south and the other at the monastery is very exposed to Russian flank attack with no SL support available. Best to order a Withdrawal and avoid further losses. Here are the troop dispositions at the end of the game.

Statistics:

                Force Morale    #Men

                 Start     End     At Start     Casualties       Units KIA

Russian      10         8          32             14 (44%)      MMG Team

German      11         4          32             13 (41%)      SL, JL, LMG Team, Flamethrower Team

Game Length: 28 phases taking 6-1/2 hours over 3 sessions (first learning game, lots of discussion)

Comments & Evaluation:

1. In Part 3 of the game AAR all the squads on the table mainly continued in a heavy firefight with their opposite enemy, with SLs racing to the hot spots. But it was the fierce firefight between the two western squads at close range that decided the game, with the dice favouring the Russian on key leader hits. Input from a veteran CoC player on the CoC Forum explained that squads pairing off and engaging in firefights until one side breaks is normal for a first game. He explained that concentration of fire and flanking movement tactics become more successful once players become familiar with how to use the JOPs to best deploy units at a location and at an optimum time in the game. So for our group's first game of CoC to just learn the rules and try things out, I felt it was pretty successful. The game is very engaging and we all quite enjoyed it.

2. However, while playing though the last part of this game we uncovered some situations where we feel that the CoC game mechanic falls short. I am somewhat reluctant to comment on these in detail since CoC is obviously a successful and well liked game. Miniatures game rules fit each wargamer's fantasy of simulation differently and one man's gold is another man's bronze. That's why there are so many rules systems out there, each with strong advocates.

On the other hand, I can't post this game AAR without including both the “plus and minus” comments from our group. So please take these observations with a grain of salt, they are the way we see the game. We do find CoC a worthwhile game, so if we can invent some house rules to handle them, then I suspect CoC will stay in our stable of frequently played rules.

These are some of our concerns, with ideas that we are considering (completely untested):

Big ones:

- KIAs don't cause shock. One would expect the death of a squad member or attached leader to be a significant morale blow to that individual unit. We'd like to try a game with each KIA in a unit also adding one shock to that unit and the KIA of an attached JL or SL adding one shock to the targeted unit he was attached to. [Edit: I've now shelved this idea. See my reply to Richard's (rim66) comment at the end of the post.]  

- Movement in LOS of an enemy unit can be done without risk. Overwatch covers this to some degree but does not seem to go far enough. If an enemy unit does not get the required die roll to be ordered onto Overwatch, then friendly units can move in their LOS with impunity. Additionally, it seems odd that a unit needs to be told to go on Overwatch again each time after it fires. We're interested to try playing with all units, without being ordered, allowed to Defensive Fire at half rate against moving enemy units in their LOS, once per phase (half rate to reflect spotting and reaction readiness).

Others: [Edit: After considering advice from veteran CoC players, I've put house rules for the points below and Defensive Fire above on the back burner for now. We'll re-evaluate their need after we have more play experience.]  

- No replacement for the loss of a JL or SL. Military command structure always makes provision for a more junior leader or veteran member of a unit to assume command if their leader is KIA. We'll try a game where if an attached JL is KIA the model stays on the table and a man from the attached unit is “promoted” to be the JL with a CI level of 1 for the rest of the game (still 2 wounds to eliminate). And if an SL is KIA his model is moved to the nearest JL. That JL is then promoted to SL (CI = 2) and the vacant JL position filled with a man promoted from his unit.

- Support Teams are only commanded by the SL. We feel that Support Teams should also be able to be commanded by any JL, with some conditions.

- A sniper can't shoot at a moving target. We'll try playing with a sniper allowed to have Defensive Fire at full rate (1D6) at a moving enemy unit.

3. On the positive side, things we really like about CoC are the Patrol phase with the JOPs for deployment, the command dice system for unit activation, the random movement rate for units, and the CoC dice for that extra flavour. So far we are looking forward to playing CoC again to explore it further, with some of our ideas thrown in.

4. One other interesting idea came up from a member of our group. The current dice command mechanic for activation is 1 - team, 2 - squad, 3 - JL, 4 - SL, with addition of lower dice allowed to total a larger dice. This makes the game a command driven game with more capability for Leader activation. If you wanted to make this a Team and Squad driven game, what if it were reversed? Like 1 - SL, 2 - JL, 3 - squad, 4 - team, still allowing the addition of lower dice allowed to total a larger dice. All of a sudden orders would become more scarce and therefore more valuable with less capability for reduction of shock. This would reflect more difficulty of command in the face of combat. It is an interesting idea for playing COC a completely different way. If we get the basic game sorted, then perhaps worth trying.

5. The four members in our wargame group rate Chain of Command with three 7s and a 6-1/2 out of 10. All want to play it again. I would push my vote higher if we can resolve our concerns with some house rules while keeping the game play interesting and exciting.

I hope you have found this AAR to be interesting and perhaps it may be of some help to those looking to try out Chain of Command.

Hmmm...    Not sure what game will be next or when the next game AAR will be posted. I suspect it will likely be Chain of Command and some sort of Attack/Defend scenario.

Until then, 

Gary

COC – On Patrol In Romania 1944 – Part 2

The little figures held their positions admirably in a time freeze for the last week and were relieved to “come alive” again. We resumed our game with the German side starting Turn 1 Phase 8. Both sides are still at their starting Force Morale levels of 11 German and 10 Russian. Here are the unit positions at the end of Phase 7.  

Phase 8 – German Roll 5,4,2,1,1          CoC Dice = 5

Russian phase next. CoC dice goes up 1 pip to 5. Rick and Tim use a 4 to activate the SL in the south. The SL spends 1 CI to order the PzSh Team to move up to the stone wall and contest the Russian JOP. Then another CI to also move the Flamethrower Team with the SL attached up toward the stone wall so the SL attaches to the PzSh Team as well. The third CI is used to remove 1 shock from the PzSh Team.

A 2 and 1 dice are added and the 3 is used to activate the JL in the monastery squad who uses 2 CI reduce 2 shock. The remaining 1 dice is not used.

Phase 9 – Russian Roll 6,4,3,2,2         CoC Dice = 5

Next phase German. Still no 5 so the CoC dice holds at 5. Will it hit 6 and allow Brent to move the JOP before it gets captured? Brent uses a 4 to activate the SL, spending 1 CI to put the MMG on Overwatch, and 1 CI to move himself to the south end of the little woods he is in, and the last CI to activate the squad in the same little woods to go on Overwatch to cover the JOP in the crop. Then a 2 dice activates the squad at the church wall to move into the church through the front door, which is safe since the German LMG in the monastery is in hiding while recovering. Seven riflemen and the JL make it into the north end of the church, but the LMG crew only gets to the front door. Lastly Brent uses a 3 die to activate the JL in the squad on the road who spends 1 CI to remove the last shock and the second CI to move them toward the woods. But luck is again bad with a 2 roll. These guys are tough to get moving! 5 dice to go 5 inches! End of phase.

Phase 10 – German Roll 6,5,2,2,2         CoC Dice = 6

Russian phase next. The last 5 pushes the COC dice to 6 and it is now available for mayhem! Tim and Rick add two of the 2 dice together to activate the SL. One CI is used to activate the PzSh Team to move and try and capture the Russian JOP, but they only move 3 inches and stop just short. No Overwatch fire from the Russians (perhaps knowing it will trigger return Overwatch fire from the German squad down south). The second CI is used to activate the Flamethrower Team and attached SL to move into the woods by the church to try for a blast at the Russian squad inside. The third CI order and the last 2 die are unused.

Phase 11 – Russian Roll 4,3,3,2,2     CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is German. Still no 5 so the CoC dice is not full. Brent uses a 3 to activate the JL for the squad in the church. One CI activates the squad to fire at the Flamethrower Team. Since only part of the squad and the JL made it into the church only the first two windows are available. At 2 men per window, 3 men fire rifles and the JL his SMG at close range. Amazingly, only 2 shock affect the Flamethrower Team.

Then Brent uses a 2 and activates the squad in the north woods to fire on the PzSh Team (only the LMG is in LOS) and it completely misses! But this triggers return fire from the German squad on Overwatch down south causing 3 shock on the Russian squad.

Next the squad stuck on the road activates on a 2 and really gets going moving, right into the nearby woods. Finally, using a 4 dice Brent activates the SL who spends 2 CI to reduce the shock on the nearby squad to down to 1 shock and spends the last CI to activate the MMG to move east along the forest edge. End of phase.

Phase 12 – German Roll 5,4,2,1,1      CoC Dice = 6 + 1

Next phase Russian. One pip on the second CoC dice. Rick and Tim activate the SL with a 4 dice. One CI activates the PzSh Team to Tactical Move and capture the JOP. The second CI reduces the shock by 1 on the Flamethrower Team so it gets full rate of fire. The third CI activates the Flamethrower Team to flame the Russian squad in the church. It's gonna get hot in there!

The Russian squad takes only two KIAs and one shock even with the flamethrower firing as if the Russians were in Open Ground. Plus only one six on the original hit roll so the church didn't even catch fire! Sheesh! There must have been some leftover asbestos in the shingles or something. [Note: The shock was edited to show doubled to 2 due to the flamethrower effect – also corrected in next photo until we remembered].

Lastly the Germans use a 2 die to activate the squad in the south woods to fire at the Russian MMG causing 1 shock. Then they add the both the 1 dice to make 2 and try to deploy the last squad. They need a 4, 5, or 6 because the SL is on the table. A 3 is rolled so the squad has to wait for the next German phase to try again. The Germans decide not to use the CoC dice to end the turn and initiate a Force Morale event for the captured JOP. End of phase.

Phase 13 – Russian Roll 6,5,5,3,2       CoC Dice = 6 + 1

Next phase German. Two 5s make a full CoC dice plus 1 so now if the Germans end the turn the Russian can waive the Force Morale roll for the lost JOP. Stalemate. Only a 3 and a 2 dice are available this phase for orders. Brent first activates the JL in the church who orders the 3 riflemen in the two windows and his own SMG to fire on the Flamethrower Team again, getting just 1 KIA, which misses the SL.

Lastly, Brent uses the 2 and activates the squad in the north woods to fire with the LMG on the PzSh Team in the crop, causing 1 shock (Tactical stance saved further damage). End phase.

Phase 14 – German Roll 5,4,3,2,1     CoC Dice = 6 + 2

Next phase Russian. Another 5 adds 2 pips on a second CoC dice. Rick and Tim use the 4 die to activate the SL who uses 1 CI to remove the last shock from the Flamethrower Team. The second CI activates the PzSh Team to fire on the church (hits are doubled if the Panzershreck is fired on a hard target), but it misses (does the expression “can't hit the broad side of a barn door” apply here?). The SL uses the third CI to try and move himself into the nearby building and distance himself from the Flamethrower Team so he is not attached to them. Unfortunately he rolls low and only gets to the outside of the door and is still within 4 inches of the Flamethrower Team so is still attached.

With a clear target, the Germans use a 1 die to activate the Flamethrower Team to fire on the Russians in the church again. This time the crewman got the range.

The Flamethrower Team inflicts 2 more KIAs on the Russian squad but no shock. However, double 6s on the hit roll sets the church on fire requiring the Russian squad to immediately vacate, which they do out the front door.

On a “hot” dice roll streak now, Tim and Rick use a 3 die to activate the JL for the squad in the south woods. He activates the squad to fire at the MMG, getting 1 KIA and 3 shock, pinning the MMG!

Using the last 2 die, The German side attempts to deploy the last squad from reserve. Rick rolls a 5 so the squad arrives behind the hedge in the west, immediately opening fire on the Russian squad in the woods to the north with more “hot” dice causing 4 shock!

End of phase.

Phase 15 – Russian Roll 6,3,3,2,1      CoC Dice = 6 + 1

Next phase German. No addition to the CoC dice. Finally a 1 die roll. There hasn't been a 1 command dice rolled since Russian Phase 5! With great excitement, Brent activates the sniper. He wants to target the German SL but since it is attached to the Flamethrower Team he must target the whole team and hope that if a KIA is achieved it will carry through to the SL (snipers have an increased chance of hitting leaders and shock is doubled). But Brent rolls a 2 and the sniper misses again (must have a bent scope).

Brent uses a 3 to activate the JL in the north west squad in the woods. The JL uses one CI to remove a shock so the squad is at 3 shock. The other CI orders the squad to fire at the German squad behind the hedge. Excellent shooting finally, with 2 shock and 1 KIA. The German JL is hit instead of a rifleman! A 2 die roll means the JL is wounded and cannot activate for the rest of the Turn. [Note: The red shock marker comes off at Turn end & the yellow bead shows one less CI from now on. We played that a 2,3 wound also limits the JL by -1 CI for the rest of the game – comment at end] The wound on a Junior Leader also causes a Force Morale event and Rick rolls a 3 for a -1 to morale, moving the German Force Morale down to 10.

Next a 2 dice activates the squad in the little woods by the church and the LMG fires on the PzSh Team causing 1 KIA and 1 shock, pinning the team.

This all leads up to Brent's main event. Brent wants to see how Close Combat works! First he uses a 3 to activate the JL in the squad just outside the front of the church, the one that had to evacuate, and has the JL remove 1 shock. The squad is not terribly healthy, down to 5 men and 1 shock, but they have had enough of the Flamethrower Team, so the JL uses the second CI to move the squad. They only need to get within 4 inches and Brent rolls high on the move roll causing Close Combat. The Russians have 5 dice from men (leaders don't count and LMGs don't count for the attacker), 2 dice from the JL's SMG and 2 dice from the JL's Initiative level for a total of 9 dice.

The German Flamethrower team has 2 dice for crewmen and since the SL is attached an additional 3 dice for his Initiative level and 2 dice for his machine pistol. Plus 2 more dice for the number of Russian dice used to move in for a total of 9 dice. So 9 against 9, causing a KIA on a 5 or 6, with 6s also adding a shock! [Goof up: we forgot to add for German defending in light cover which is 1 dice for every 3 dice you have so far. This would have added in 3 more for the German making it 9 Russian vs 12 German. But we played it with 9 each.]

The Russians rolled extra crappy only getting 1 hit and missing the German SL! The German rolled 3 hits, with two 6s for 2 extra shock, also missing the Russian JL. This reduced the Russian squad to 2 men plus the JL with 3 shock, and the German Flamethrower team to 1 man with no shock.

Since the Russians lost the Close Combat by a (3 – 1) = 2 dice difference the squad is thrown back 9 inches and must add one more shock raising it to 4 shock. The squad falls back behind the church where they came from and with only 3 men in the squad counting the JL, the squad is pinned! End of phase.

Phase 16 – German Roll 5,5,3,2,2       CoC Dice = 6 + 4

Next Phase is Russian. Two more 5s raise the second CoC dice to 4 pips. Rick and Tim add together the 2 dies to make 4 and activate the SL. With 1 CI the SL moves himself using a Tactical move toward the stone wall attaching to the PzSh Team. A second CI removes one shock from the PzSh Team, leaving only 1 shock. With 1 man in the PzSh team and the SL attached, the pin will be removed if the Game Turn ends.

The third CI activates the Flamethrower Team (one shot left) to boldly move up to the corner of the church with LOS to the pinned Russian squad near the main entrance.

With the last 2 die Rick and Tim activate the south squad JL. The JL uses 1 CI to activate the squad to fire at the Russian MMG plus spends his second CI to invoke the special German ability of Maschinengewehr which allows the JL to direct the LMG adding 2 dice. The already pinned MMG suffers 1 more shock, now at 5.

[Note: We goofed on two rules for this fire. First, to use the Maschinengewehr rule the JL needs to spend 2 CI on ONLY the LMG Team, leaving the Rifle Team not activated to fire. Or the JL can spend 1 CI to activate the whole squad as usual without using Maschinengewehr. To invoke Maschinengewehr and have the whole squad fire would need a 3 die to activate the JL & LMG Team and a separate 1 die to activate the Rifle Team. In this case the dice total went from 14 to 16 dice by mistake. Second, we forgot that pinned units get 1 level of cover added so the MMG was in the equivalent of hard cover instead of light cover. Oh well, previously we forgot to allow the German side 3 more dice in the Close Combat for defending in cover. So it all evens out, right? :-)]

The Germans assess their position now and decide it is a good time to to play a CoC dice to end the Game Turn, mainly because two Russian units will stay pinned for all of Turn 2. Play of the CoC dice results in the following actions.

- The German JL in the west hedge squad regains consciousness and recovers well enough to use 1 CI for the rest of the game. [comment at end]

- The captured Russian JOP is removed causing a Force Morale event and Brent rolls a 1 for a -1 to morale. The Russian Force Morale drops to 9.

- The German PzSh Team checks for shock level and is not longer pinned so the pin marker comes off.

- The Russian MMG and squad at the front of the church check for shock level and both will remain pinned for all of Turn 2.

- Overwatch and Tactical markers are removed.

End of Phase 16 and end of Turn 1 - I had hoped to finish the game this session, but the group had to head for home since the evening was getting late. Again we decided to put the game on “pause” and resume in a week. Once more the “cat protecting” sheet covered the little figures, time-frozen in place. Therefore this became Part 2 of the AAR recording of our game play up to the end of Turn 1. The forces on the table are shown below.

Russian Force Morale is (10 - 1) = 9 Casualties = 9 men of 32 at start = 28%

German Force Morale is (11 - 1) = 10 Casualties = 5 men of 32 at start = 16%, 1 wounded JL

Part 3 will resume with Turn 2 Phase 1 Russian.

Comments:

1. Yeah, we are playing this slow for sure with lots and lots of rule look-ups. Five hours so far! I think the game is about to break one way or the other so we should finish next session.

2. Leaders with SMG/Machine pistols are extremely formidable in Close Combat. Without the SL the Flamethrower Team would have only had two dice for men, two for Russians moving, and one for light cover for just 5 dice, almost outnumbered 2 to one on total dice. Of course there is always the risk of an SL being wounded or KIA as well. C'est la guerre.

3. I'm surprised the Force Morale for each side has not dropped more given the casualty levels of 16% German and 28% Russian. I suspect this may be normal at this point in a game with initial casualties needed to bring the unit conditions down into a range where the probability of a unit routing becomes high, triggering large Force Morale drops. Perhaps it could be interpreted, “They don't know what hit them yet.”

4. We felt that since a roll of 2,3 on a leader hit wounds a leader so severely he is not available for the rest of that Game Turn that he should also be -1 CI for the rest of the game, same as for a light wound on a 4,5,6. Perhaps this is our first house rule.

5. One of our group wondered what the motivation was to attack in the Patrol scenario since neither side can lose by not attacking. Most of the other scenarios assign an attacker to one side and indicate if the attacker doesn't achieve his objective, the defender wins. The only reason I can see to attack is that the Patrol scenario is designed to fit the CoC Campaign System where you are really fighting for advantage in the next battle, not the one you are in.

6. Our group agrees that the basic game mechanic for CoC appears solid and all the disagreements we have with rules so far are small enough to be handled with house rules. We like the command dice activation and for the most part like the way it plays. CoC is fun to play and certainly keeps your interest up.

Stay tuned for what MUST be the finale in Part 3!

COC – On Patrol In Romania 1944 – Part 1

All the buzz about the new WWII skirmish rules, Chain of Command, convinced me to give them a test drive. I actually pre-ordered the rules last summer, but hadn't got around to digging into them until lately.

My WWII miniatures preference is for 15mm since I like the scale on the table, and my favourite rule sets are those where each side runs about a reinforced company with a squad or team as the smallest stand. Interestingly, the base units for Chain of Command are still squads and teams, and while each man is accounted for, the accent is on command control and unit condition. Therefore CoC seems to sit part way between skirmish and company level which, for me, makes it worth investigating. And I'm always on the lookout for WWII miniatures rules that allow a game to be completed in under three hours. Could skirmish CoC fit the bill? In any event, our gaming group are veterans of many board and minis wargame rule sets and are always on the lookout for new ones we might like. Only one way to find out!

So I puzzled out a few solo games with my nose in the rulebook and got most of my initial questions cleared up with help from the Too Fat Lardies Forum. Then I introduced our gaming group to a “learning” game of CoC. We took it slow and after going through an overview of the rules we only managed to complete the pre-game Patrol phase and seven phases of Turn 1 before calling it a night. Lots of questions like “How do snipers work?” and “What do I hit if I shoot in this window?” However, we saved all the forces in position on the table and will be picking it up again next week where we left off. Therefore, this posting is called Part 1 with the rest to follow later.

Scenario

I picked the first generic scenario in the book called “Patrol” as our learning game. It is a meeting engagement where Russian and German platoons meet in No-Man's Land. As the rule book says, “...your mission is to deny your opponent this critical ground between the main lines of defense.” But I had to overlay some historical setting, so this scenario takes place in 1944 in Romania with both sides ordered to secure a small village which has already suffered artillery damage. The book calls for a 6x4 table, but I chopped it down to a 4x4 foot section on my table for this first game.

The Russian starts on the east side (top) and the German on the west side (bottom). A church and a burned-out monastery are the main buildings along with a couple of smaller ones. All the buildings and the three stone walls are Hard Cover (no penetration by small arms). The church bell tower is at the three story level while the walls and ground floor are all that remain of the monastery. Woods, hedges, crops, and garden are all Light Cover. The ploughed field and woods are Broken Ground, with the rest being Open Ground, including the gentle hill. Stone walls and hedges are Low so they, by themselves, do not block LOS and are Minor Obstacles.

Force Selection

Prior to the game I assembled the forces for each side. I wanted to do this ahead of time for two reasons, to save time, but also to follow the KISS principle. For this first game I wanted no artillery, or vehicles, just a pure infantry battle. For me the acid test of a rules system is how well infantry combat works.

The Patrol scenario calls for a die roll to determine the support options for each side's basic platoon. I rolled a 4 which allowed both sides to choose an option from Support List 2 (or 2 options from List 1). In addition, extra support for one side may be given if they have a poorer National Force Rating than their opponent. This is meant to try and balance the forces somewhat. The Force Rating for the German is 0 and the Russian is -3 so the Russian gets to choose additional support from Support List 3 as well (or from lower numbered Lists totaling up to 3). The Russian could add the List numbers together and pick one option from List 5, or one from List 4 and one from List 1, etc. but I wanted KISS. No anti-tank or artillery (including Light Mortar) so with 5 support “points” to spend I chose a Maxim MMG from List 3 and a Sniper from List 2.

Russian Force: Force Rating -3     Command Dice: 5

Platoon:

HQ: Leytenant, Senior Leader – pistol

Squads 1, 2, and 3, each with: Serzhant Junior Leader – SMG, 1x LMG (2x crew), 7x riflemen.

Platoon Support: 5 support “points” (options from List #s totaling List 5)

List 2: Sniper Team

List 3: Maxim MMG Team, 5x crew

For the Germans, the only suitable possibilities in List 2 that were not vehicle or anti-vehicle related were a Senior Leader or again a Light Mortar (which I didn't want for this game). I did play with the German Light Mortar in my solo games and I thought they pretty much sucked (production was terminated in 1941, gradually withdrawn from front line service by 1942, and mainly used by 2nd line troops later). I also passed on the Senior Leader since I wanted to see what just one Senior Leader could do first. Senior Leaders are very powerful for unit activation, special orders, and shock reduction. The relative power of the units in each List is quite variable. So I cheated and jumped to List 3 and chose a Pioneer Flamethrower Team as a counter to the Russian Maxim MMG and also 'cause I wanted to see how well they worked <grin>.

German Force: Force Rating 0     Command Dice: 5

Platoon:

HQ: Unterfeldwebel, Senior Leader – machine pistol + panzerfaust, Panzershreck Team (2x crew)

Squads 1, 2, and 3, each with: Obergefreiter Junior Leader – machine pistol, LMG Team (MG42 + 2x crew + 1 rifleman), Rifle Team (6x riflemen).

Platoon Support: 2 support points - Options from List #s totaling List 2 (mea culpa – I used 3)

List 3: Pioneer Flamethrower team (3 crew)

Logistics

I needed to sort out how to track the number of men in each squad and team. My 15mm figures are mainly based on stands in a group, except for just a few specialty figures and teams which I've put on individual bases. Each German squad has one panzerfaust assigned to it, so when picking figs for the German Junior Leaders I used an individually based rifleman carrying a panzerfaust as a reminder of its availability during game play. Since I am a long way from having individual basing for all troops, I decided to use a marker dice beside each stand to show how many men are in that squad or team. That way the number of figs on a stand doesn't matter. Leaders, LMGs, and hand-held weapon teams are on small bases, rifle teams and heavier weapons on medium bases or larger. The marker dice mess up the table a bit, and it is not as “pretty” of a show as with individually based figs, but they actually seemed to work pretty good in the game with less moving needs than for individual figures.

German squads have two separate teams, a 3-man LMG Team [error in photo below - should show 3] and a 6-man Rifle Team. Russian squads are all one big 9 man “team” with 7 riflemen and 2 LMG crew, that behaves like a squad.

When I bought the CoC rules I also got the bundled Game Token Set as well which has very useful oversize Chain of Command Dice and some neat Tactical and Overwatch markers. The Overwatch markers show the 90 degrees of coverage very well. The red Shock markers are pretty, but you will need a lot more for a game than the dozen included. I ran back to my game closet and pulled out my old Wound and Pin markers from I Ain't Been Shot Mom and used those for marking shock in our game. They worked great.

Pre-Game – Patrol Phase

Rick and Tim take the German side deciding to gang up on Brent who takes the Russians. My role will be to explain and moderate the game. Both sides roll for Force Morale and the Germans roll a big 6 for a Morale of 11, while the Russians roll a healthy 5 for a Morale of 10. Victory will go to the side that forces their opponent's Force Morale to go to zero while maintaining Force Morale level of at least 3. Since the German side rolled highest, they will place the first Patrol Marker in the pre-game Patrol Phase. I divided each opponent's table edge into three sections of 18 inches. On die rolls of 1-2 their Patrol Markers will enter in the south section, 3-4 the middle section, and 5-6 the north section. The Germans roll a 2 so start in the south sector. The Russians roll a 5 so start in the north sector (stars on map).

Then all the Patrol Markers (octagons on map) are moved, one by one alternating sides and jockeying for position, with both sides advancing hard on their individual right flanks until all the markers have moved to 12 inches of an enemy marker and become locked in position [See comment at end about 3 markers locking on 1]. Then the Jump-off Points (Xs on map) were chosen and coloured beads placed on the table to mark their positions, blue for German, red for Russian.

Game Start – Turn 1

With higher Force Morale, the German goes first. Both sides will always roll 5 Command Dice in this game.

Phase 1 – German Roll 5,4,3,3,2     CoC Dice = 1

With no 6s, the next phase will be Russian. The 5 advances the Chain of Command Dice to 1 pip, always a plus. Not being shy, Rick and Tim use both 3s to deploy two squads. The first squad deploys to the edge of the south woods and the Junior Leader (JL) spends his 2 Command Initiative (CI) points to put both the LMG and Rifle Teams on Overwatch looking north. The second squad deploys into the burned-out monastery with the 2-man LMG Team to the north end and the 6-man Rifle Team to the east side. The JL puts both teams on Overwatch out the north and east windows and doors.

Rick and Tim pass on using the 2 or the 4, holding the last squad and Senior Leader (SL) in reserve.

Phase 2 – Russian roll: 5,5,5,5,4     CoC Dice = 4

What a way to start! Already 4 pips on the CoC dice. Brent is thinking, “Do you spell Ambush with a capital A?” The 4 is ignored since the Senior Leader stays in reserve. No double 6s so next phase is German.

Phase 3 – German Roll 5,4,2,1,1     CoC Dice = 2

Next phase will be Russian. One more pip for the CoC dice. With no opposition showing up anywhere on the table, Tim and Rick decide to commit more strength to the south woods. Both 1s are used to deploy the 2-man Panzersheck Team and the 3-man Flamethrower Team. The 2 is used to activate the nearby squad and using a Tactical Move for improved cover, the squad advances further south in the woods at the tree line, ending up facing north. The 4 is used to deploy the SL to the south woods as well.

Phase 4 – Russian roll: 6,6,5,4,1     CoC Dice = 5

With two 6s the Russian will go first next phase! And one more pip to the CoC dice too. Brent just uses the 1 to deploy a sniper to the east woods to keep the Germans in the south on their toes.

The sniper fires but misses (not sighted in yet).

Phase 5 – Russian roll: 6,3,2,2,1     CoC Dice = 5

Next phase is German. No luck in getting the 6th pip on the CoC dice. Using the 1, Brent deploys the Maxim MMG into the woods at the north end with a clear fire lane down the road to the monastery.

The Maxim fires at the German LMG Team in the monastery window. There was some discussion at this point if the hits should be divided with half going to the Rifle Team further back in the building, but we decide the Rifle Team men would not be manning the north window so they should be excluded. [Note: We got this right since a team cannot be targeted if it is not in LOS of the firing unit] The LMG crew is hit with 1 KIA and 2 shock. The attached JL is missed so the LMG Team is now down to 2 men. Since the LMG is on Overwatch it returns fire with 1 less die due to shock, getting 1 KIA on the Maxim crew.

Brent then uses both 2s to deploy two squads into the small woods north of the church. All of the first squad and 7 men of the second squad are in LOS of the LMG Team in the monastery. One squad fires and misses completely, not even administering any shock. The other squad fires getting 1 KIA and 2 shock, missing the JL. The German LMG Team is in trouble with 4 shock and down to 1 crew, both causing reduced firepower (see photo in Phase 6 below). [Note: If the LMG Team was alone it would break, but since the 6-man Rifle Team is within 4 inches it can share the 4 shock among the whole squad of 8 men (including the JL) and not even be pinned]  

Phase 6 – German Roll 5,5,4,2,2     CoC Dice = 4

Next phase will be Russian. Two more pips for the German CoC dice! Rick and Tim use a 2 to activate the squad in the monastery and move the LMG Team away from the north window to hide in the corner out of LOS. The squad's JL and Rifle Team also reposition so the Overwatch is lost. The JL cannot reduce any of the 4 shock or transfer a man from the Rifle team to the LMG Team since he is not activated.

Tim and Rick then use the 4 to activate the SL in the south woods who spends 1 CI to activate and move the Panzersheck Team “At The Double” to the corner of the hedgeline, picking up 1 Shock. The SL uses his last two CIs to put the Rifle and LMG Teams in the nearby squad on Overwatch.

The last 2 is not used since the German side wants to hold the third and last squad in reserve.

Phase 7 – Russian roll: 6,4,2,2,2      CoC Dice = 5

Next phase will be German. Brent uses the 4 to deploy the SL to the north woods and activate the Maxim MMG to go on Overwatch since it has no current targets in LOS. Then he uses two of the 2s to activate both squads on the table. The first Russian squad moves out of the small woods up to the church wall toward the road. The second squad attempts to move At The Double across the road to the west and rolls three 1s, going only 3 inches and ending in the middle of the road with 1 shock! Then Brent uses the last 2 and deploys the third squad from reserve into the just vacated small woods, and with the LMG in LOS of the distant German squad in the south woods, opens fire with no effect. No return fire from the Overwatching German squad.

We had to halt the game at this point since it was getting late. We decided to put the game on “pause” and resume the game the next week, so the table was covered with my “cat protecting” sheet to patiently await our return. Therefore this recording of our game play up to the end of Phase 7 is called Part 1. The forces on the table are shown below (one German squad still off-table in reserve).

Part 2 will resume with German Phase 8.

Comments:

1. A question came up in the pre-game Patrol marker phase when three German markers moved to be 12 inches from one Russian marker so all three were locked and “closest.” How do you determine the Jump-Off Point (JOP) in this case? The question is not covered in the rules. Later I found the same question posted to the TFL Yahoo site and interpreted an answer that makes sense. Draw a line from the centre German marker though the Russian marker and extend it until the line is at least 6 inches from the Russian marker and in cover. Somewhere on that line is only location that satisfies both conditions for finding a JOP when separately considering the “right hand” set of two German markers and the “left hand” set of two German markers. It turned out that we placed the Russian marker pretty much on that line by coincidence.

2. It's too early to give any opinions on the rules, but the group is interested to finish the game which is encouraging. The big question for each of us is, “Do I like playing with this rule set?” As we all know, there is no “perfect” rule set, so hopefully the CoC rules will just have a few minor pecadillos. The main questions being “Can you live with them?” or “Do the rules work well enough to invent house rules where needed?” We haven't played nearly enough to answer any of these questions.

Stay tuned for “On Patrol In Romania 1944 - Part 2”, hopefully in about a week, unless my daughter-in-law blesses me with another grandchild in which case I'll be BUSY! <big grin>