Hi all,
We had our first game of Chain of Command yesterday, using the theater specific rules for the Spanish Civil War. As it was our first game and seeing as we hadn't enough Morrocans for a full platoon, we made a few modifications. The fascists would be represented by Rasmus using a mix of regulares and legion, one section each, and organized as the regulares list.
They would go up against a Peoples Militia list from the POUM, augmented by a commisar, a flag, hardened milicianos, one LMG, one mmg, one mortar and a section of Asaltos.
After the Patrol phase, the setup was like this:
The red dots are the POUM positions, the blue the morrocan/legion JOPs. Both of the platoons started with maximum force morale.
The fascists promptly got the first turn, placing a large chunk of their force including all of the legion on the board. The legionaires took up positions in and around the Taverna, while the a single team of morrocans with an LMG was deployed with their junior leader at the church in the center, taking up positions at the low stone wall. Lastly a team of morrocans were deployed in the woods on the right flank.
It wasn't long before the POUM positions was located, and a Maxim opened up on the legion team moving down the center, supported pĺ the morrocan LMG.
The Maxim had little effect, other than forcing the legionaires to take cover in the taverna with their junior leader and LMG. There they quickly joined the fire from the windows pouring down into the milicianos at the barricades.
Together with the morrocan LMG team the started to mount shock on the center of the POUM, forcing the militia to deploy a mortar squad and put some smoke unto the fascist positions.
Negating the fascist fire, the Asalto section deployed on the far right flank of the militia and instantly started to put pressure on the legion position in the teverna. A mix of smoke and suppression kept the legionaires down while the Asaltos advanced over the open field.
A single squad of legionaires advanced around the taverna to engage the Asaltos in the open, going into the alley between the taverna and the field. The alley would later be known as the Alley of Death. The counterattack was met with a wall of fire from the Asalto section directed by the sargento himself.
The Asaltos made short work of the legionaries. Trying to regain the initiative, the Moroccans on the fascist right flank advanced through the woods, putting pressure on the militia section with the mortar hiding in the vineyard.
The asaltos were prepping the assault on the remaining legionaires, and so far they had avoided the worst of the retaliatory fire coming from the building and the Moroccans at the church. They had lost a single man and gained a few shock spread over the section, mainly because of the smokescreen provided by the mortar, and from a textbook maneuver of fire and movement. Then the opposition played their first chain of command dice, ending the turn, taking the smoke and tactical orders with it. As if that wasn't enough, Rasmus had rolled a double phase, giving him the initiative for the next phase as well. The Asaltos were now caught in the open with their pants down.
Facing the fire from both church and taverna, the casualties heaped themselves higher and higher, until the section broke and ran back towards the table edge, only stopping when the junior leader made sure the survivors was well in cover near the JOP.
The miliciano Jefe deployed to stiffen the resolve of the republican line, and managed to remove a lot of shock, however the fascists were now putting pressure on two fronts.
the professionalism of the legion and the regulares began to make itself known, as the two flanks systematically began to outflank the militia mmg at the barricade in the middle, forcing the last milicianos to deploy.
After taking a few more casualties that saw the Mmg team break, the POUM sounded the retreat, leaving the fascists to count the dead.
End Game:
Not the last game of CoC played at the club. We made a few errors, but the game is very smooth and feels just right for the period. Thanks for the read!