Last week saw the much-anticipated visit of Lard Guv’nor Rich Clarke to Lenton Gamers in Nottingham, so to commemorate this event, I pulled out a fun little street fighting in Crete scenario (you can read the full thing in Wargames Soldiers and Strategy 100 if you’re keen). I’d taken a trip to Crete in 2017 and done a battlefield walk around Heraklion, including the famous Chania Gate, where a force of Fallschirmjaeger broke into the town on 21st May 1941 before being driven out by the Greeks and Cretans. I was inspired by the massive Venetian walls to build a miniature version (admittedly undersized, more like 15mm than 28mm, but definitely good enough for a game). Anyway, enough terrain waffle, on with the story...
In our scenario for Chain of Command, we were pitching well-armed and trained Germans against some pretty fierce Greeks and Cretans, including soldiers, gendarmes and armed civilians, many themselves veterans of the Balkan Wars. So I elected to have the Cretans rated as regular and ‘agressive’, although armed with nothing more than rifles, a few captured MP40s, and a couple of Brens. The Germans were also rated as regular, but with an additional ‘red dice’ that allowed them more activations; they were topped up with rifles, MP40s, grenades, some MG34s and some heavy support- a Pak 36 gun, a 5.0cm mortar, and an 8.0cm mortar firing from off table (we used trench mortar rules from WW1 for this to represent a single mortar firing off shots, rather than a sustained bombardment).
The Greeks/Cretans had a significant terrain advantage, defending the Chania Gate and bastion (hard cover), and also had an extra ambush special rule, allowing them to spend a CoC die on ambushing enemy troops within 18” of a friendly jump-off point. With four jump-off points, including two right on the German flanks, and starting with a full CoC die, this gave the Greeks a distinct local advantage. The Germans, by contrast, had a mere three jump-off points set well back from the wall (I chose to have pre-set jump-off points for this particular scenario; likewise, German force morale was pre-set at 11; Greeks at 10).
The command dynamics were pretty hilarious - Rich and Sam took charge of the various Greeks and Cretans, accurately replicating the command and control issues experienced by the historical defenders of Heraklion. Genial disputes, frequent trips to the bar (mostly beer rather than raki) and frequent changes of plan all contributed to a chaotic, if spirited, Cretan defence. On the other side, the detached and orderly team of Mike and Matt hatched a sneaky German plan and carried it out with impressive focus! (Neither was absent at the bar at critical moments as well - Greek players take note!)
The Germans had to storm the gate to win the game, as the walls were unclimbable - definitely a tall order. They deployed their mortars and started shelling, with some early success - Sam put on a Greek unit inside the barracks on the Chania Gate, only to lose a junior leader with an unlucky early hit. The other Greeks and Cretans held back inside the gate, deploying into some kind of v-formation under Rich’s orders that was clearly going to win the game for the Greeks...
Mike and Matt then got part two of the German plan into action, sending a lucky squad of volunteers right up the Main Street on the left flank- and got pasted (possibly much quicker than the German command had hoped). Cretans popped up on the top of the bastion and peppered them with fire, which killed their junior leader and broke the unit.
By this time, a general advance by the Fallschirmjaeger was well underway on the right, hampered by duff dice rolls (how we laughed when the FJ rolled a 6 for a run move on three dice). With targets in the open, the Greeks threw in both their Bren teams and another rifle squad, and the Germans suffered pretty badly - but kept going. With support from the Pak 36, the mortars and the MGs, the Germans destroyed the units attacking them and broke Cretan force morale, eventually taking the gate.
It was a highly entertaining game with a very close finish, and definitely one we’ll play again.
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April 26, 2024, 02:37:14 PM
