Return to Fort St Blaise

[Lardy Rich]

Morning all

We had a smashing game of Chain of Command on Tuesday night as The Traitor McKipper ran another game of his Metz 1944 campaign.  So far my yanks have crossed the Moselle and cleared out the Luzerailles farm but failed to turf the Goetz von Berlichingen defenders out of Jouy aux Arches where, in truth, we got a bloody nose.  My problem is that until a bridge can be thrown over the Moselle, I cannot get armoured support (other than some long distance fire from the heights opposite, which is fine for a bombardment but no good for close support. 

With my numbers reduced, I have left an armoured infantry platoon defending the bridgehead and pushed up the hill with my infantry platoon to try to capture Fort St Blaise, an old German fort built after 1871 and maintained by the French from 1918 onwards.  Now back in German hands, the Fort controls the river and our Engineers cannot build a bridge until the fort is neutralised.

Last week I attacked the fort and came within an Ace of blowing the back door and storming in, but the shifty Germans played a CoC dice to rob me of victory.  So, this week I went back and tried again, feeling pretty confident that with some additional engineering resources I could take the fort. 

You can read all about our game here:

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=7020

What we all enjoyed was how games like this can give a real understanding of historical events whilst also being challenging and fun to play. 

Anyway, here's a couple of snaps as a warm up act. 



 
Hope you enjoy it.

Rich

[arget8]

Lovely game Rich. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Gunnar

[Truscott Trotter]

Methinks Rich maybe contemplating a Churchill AVRE or Croc for the next go at this scenario 

[jamesmanto]

Very cool game.
Also helped me understand how those embrasures and ditches worked.

[LordSpode1879]

Absolutely fascinating phase of the war on the Western front and one rarely explored by gamers. Awesome looking game too 

[Marine0846]

Well done.
Love the story.

[Lardy Rich]

Sadly we are having a week off this campaign as I need to test a scenario for a magazine article.  But we will be back next week for another try.

I have to say (and I am not being crass enough to plug my own game here) that campaigns really bring a wargame to life. Knowing that your force is needed for multiple games really puts you under pressure to keep the men alive and enthusiastic.

Keeping the campaign limited to a pretty short duration keeps everyone interested and really adds an extra dimension to proceedings.

Cheers

Rich

[LordSpode1879]

Sadly we are having a week off this campaign as I need to test a scenario for a magazine article.  But we will be back next week for another try.

I have to say (and I am not being crass enough to plug my own game here) that campaigns really bring a wargame to life. Knowing that your force is needed for multiple games really puts you under pressure to keep the men alive and enthusiastic.

Keeping the campaign limited to a pretty short duration keeps everyone interested and really adds an extra dimension to proceedings.

Cheers

Rich

Without wishing to appear sycophantic but I heartily concur with the sentiments expressed concerning campaigns.  As varied and enjoyable Chain of Command games are.....playing them in a campaign setting elevates the whole experience.  As wargamers we can at times be rather profligate with the lives of our little lead and plastic troops but campaign games remind us that we must husband our resources. 

As a ruleset Chain of Command urges the player to use historical tactics to get the most out of the game.  Proper usage of cover, smoke and suppressing fire....actually planning your whole advance/defence or retreat? Further to this the campaign rules act as an antidote the wargamer-ism of the traditional last turn kamikaze 'all in' charge.

[Elk101]

Definitely agree. We played an AWI Sharp Practice campaign and a homebrew rules Napoleonic campaign and you could see players' attitudes change over the course of several games. One player in particular had a very singular, aggressive approach (I.e. Attack, attack, attack!) and was severely punished for it. It was quite amusing listening to the umpire tell him it was his own fault he was so badly outnumbered.

[Marine0846]

Rich, was looking again at your game.
Which I love.
Are you US guys Empress Figures?
Really like the look of them, well painted.

[Lardy Rich]

Yes mate.  They aren't my figures, they are a mate's but they are very nice indeed.  i have great hopes for Empress going forward. 

Rich

[DintheDin]

What an exciting AAR! Great board and figures! A game with great suspense! Love it!