CoC - Western Front - Martlet Map 3 Game 6 report

[Romark]

Lovely looking game 👍

[gamer Mac]

Great looking game really captured the feel of the tight confines of the bocage
Not having played a lot of games with tanks, how do you get to activate them so much?
The last time we played my tank came on then didn't activate very often

[Digits]

It could be a problem for sure….but having three tanks meant one of them was assigned troop leader so he activated on a four as a senior leader….the others on threes.   Further more, using the radio net, he could command another tank to move or fire using one of his command initiatives.

The alternative would have been big CoC but that would have been very unbalanced.

Like all games designed to give both players an equal chance at winning, the games are typically more balanced than reality would have been.  The allies were able to overwhelm the Germans with weight of numbers. 

I suspect that in order to represent this, especially when using armour in this fashion, I would be inclined to add a pair of different coloured dice to the allied roll each phase.  Any natural threes (or a 1&2 combined)  being immediate assigned to a tank, ignoring all other
Results including fives and sixes.

That, or simply allow tanks to activate on a two…..but they only get to either move or fire?

[vodkafan]

That did look most interesting. I bet you could play exactly the same scenario 3 times without changing the starting forces and not get the same result. The first couple of paragraphs I thought this was going to be a US win. 

[Digits]

Indeed!  When I pulled the first section out I immediately kicked myself for allowing the Americans to get into overwatch positions!  Then, when the pak team took a couple of kills and a batch of shock, I thought it was over. 

Fortunes however can change very rapidly in CoC!

Once I’ve finished painting up the last few SS supports, I will eventually turn my hand to painting the British paras.   It will be interesting to play them against German armour!

[Shahbahraz]

Thanks for the pictures and write-up, very tasty looking game. More please.

[Littlearmies]

Have you considered the Pint Sized Campaigns? Several of them cover actions in Normandy - "29 Let's Go" pits inexperienced US infantry versus run of the mill Germans, "Scottish Corridor" and "Operation Martlet" depict British / German actions West of Caen, whilst "Kampfgruppe von Luck" has British paratroopers against the panzer grenadiers of the 21st Panzer Division - so you can add Unix half-tracks and Lorraine Schleppers to your forces. Playing mini-campaigns probably highlights the best of the CoC rules IMHO. And at £4.75 they're great value.     

[Shahbahraz]

yep, what he said, the CoC Pint Sized Campaigns are really wargaming at its best IMHO. And even if you don't play Chain of Command, the scenarios and maps are worth the price alone.

[Digits]

Yup we have played and are going to play more campaigns…fear not!

Cheers

[Digits]

Thought I’d share this.  Jamie painted me a French SOMUA taken into German service.

Lovely little tank.  I need to do a head swap on the commander before adding him.



Just picking the brushes and applying them to up a few more troops to bolster firstly the SS….

[has.been]

Jamie does great work, but please don't distract him from
doing our AK47 map.

[vodkafan]

Very pretty. Aim the anti tank gun at the upper/lower hull join...

[has.been]

Very pretty. Aim the anti tank gun at the upper/lower hull join...

"But Sarge, I can't see where that is,
it's too darn well camo painted!"
 

[Digits]

Apparently as it was a cast hull, it was considered well armoured but then also expensive to maintain. 

Don’t worry, Jamie painted this a little while back, I’ve only just got round to posting it.

[flatpack]

Nice job Jamie.