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Combat Commander/ Great War Commander

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15 Jun 2018 12:25 #275458 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 06: "Dead Man's Hill"
Another Verdun scenario, this saw my Germans take on Liam's French across another shellhole pocked moonscape. Liam's force was comprised largely of Territoriaux (reservists), leavened with a few Ligne platoons. All the objectives were known to be worth 2VP, so he had a lot of ground to cover in his setup. In the end, he set up the bulk of his forces- with 2 leaders- on Hill 295 in his rear; and the rest divided into small companies on Hill 265- this position protected by wire, and in the rear covering another objective. My setup was essentially pre-determined, since I had to deploy on my map edge.

My opening barrage was largely uneventful, and I began trying to suppress the French HMG with my own. I moved a company up on my right to outflank the wire protecting Hill 265. They received OpFire, broke, and didn't rally when I played my Recover, but an event gave me Reinforcements, which turned out to be a team w/HMG, which I promptly stacked with my Highest Ranking Leader and his platoon w/HMG. This meant I was firing twice each time my HRL gave the order, which soon resulted in the suppression of the French HMG platoon. Then I started dropping gas attacks with my artillery. The first one drifted off target, but the second one landed square on Liam's HMG platoon. Already broken and suppressed, it broke again, and was eliminated.

With Liam's HMG dealt with, I turned my attention to Hill 265 with my main assault company, equipped with a flamethrower. A broken French unit died by an event, then Liam drew High Command Meddling as an event. It turned out that he had to move. He played his Assaults Strategy Card (moving units and leaders may enter an enemy occupied hex at the cost of becoming suppressed), and moved his two platoons on the hill into my assault group's hex, winning the overstacked melee, and putting the rest of my company Out of Cohesion. Shortly thereafter, he followed up by exiting the remaining platoon and its leader for VP.

The VP Liam picked up there, plus some bonus VP he gained via the Battlefield Attrition event, left me looking for a surrender victory. I pressed forward with my HRL's company, and soon was two kills away from winning. Liam had a platoon and a leader in the open on his map edge; I had my HRL's HMG stack drawing a bead on them. I fired the first HMG. They broke, but Liam generated the Malfunction event, which naturally targetted my other HMG, so the opportunity to win was lost. Liam retreated, but I followed up with an Offensive, which was when the final time trigger came through, and Liam won comfortably on VP on the first Sudden Death.

This, I have to say, was the most frustrating of defeats. I didn't do anything particularly wrong, and pushed Liam right the wire. In the end, I was undone by time triggers, which seemed to come thick and fast. I'm confident that I could've forced Liam's surrender with another deck or two.

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22 Jun 2018 10:16 #276013 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 07: "Rush the Lines"
Another scenario fought over a 'moonscape', this game featured my Germans defending against Liam's French at the Battle of the Somme. I had a lot of wire, so I set this up as far forward as I could in a line from my left map edge. I set up my troops in two groups: one compamy on my left covering the wire- they were positioned far back enough to maximise the time it would take for Liam's forces to close to contact after entering the wire, while still being in a position to fire across the wire; and two mutually supporting companies on my right. Each flank had an HMG. Liam's setup was largely fixed since he was setting up on his map edge with enough units to cover the entire edge.

Liam's opening barrage was well targetted, and reduced a couple of my fortifications and broke two platoons. Liam's attack opened with an Offensive which activated his entire line. I replied with OpFire. The first company to get moving all broke, then my HMG jammed, so Liam was able to move up the rest of his troops unhindered. Liam rallied most of his broken troops, in the process generating a sniper which repaired my HMG. The game largely devolved into an HMG duel at this point. Liam was able to pick off a couple of my platoons on my right, but, and more significantly, I eliminated his leader on that flank, thus neutralising the threat of his end run around the wire. Meanwhile, Liam's artillery was targetting my Highest Ranking Leader with his HMG platoon in their pillbox: with 10FP this had a reasonable chance of downgrading the pillbox. Fortunately the pillbox survived, including one attack where it'd've been downgraded if it's vulnerability hadn't been 20 instead of 18.

At this point Liam did something very uncharacteristic of him, something which showed what desperate straits he was in: he played an Offensive without a Recover in hand. Sure enough, his troops all broke under OpFire, leaving his HRL exposed and vulnerable to my follow up fire. I rolled high, and Liam was now two leaders down, with many of his platoons broken and most of them Out of Cohesion. Standing at 20+VP behind, close to surrender, and with the wire in front of my intact HMG company still to cross, Liam conceded on time 7.

Victory at last! It has to be said that Liam was a bit unlucky. He only saw one Recover card in the entire game. There's very little you can do when the cards just don't fall for you in the CC system. Still, it also has to be said that I'd learned the lesson of my previous mistakes with wire, and this time put my stronger force covering the gap where I expected Liam to make his major attack. Next time, tanks!
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23 Jun 2018 13:39 #276081 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 08: "Iron Ladies"
Keen for more after his defeat, Liam turned up the next day for another game. The scenario was from the April 1917 Nivelle Offensive, and pitted Liam's Schneider tanks with a supporting force of infantry and artillery against my German defenders. The map featured trenchlines at each end, with a curtain of wire across the map on my side. I set up two of my three companies in mutually supporting positions on my left so they could use the command chain rules to fire both my HMGs with a single order. My third company went on the right to cover against any dash Liam might make for exit VP. Liam set up in a line so he could activate all his tanks with his Tank Leader.

Liam's initial bombardment was mildly effective, breaking one of my HMG platoons and reducing their trenches to foxholes, and clearing some of my wire. He opened by moving his tanks, against which I opened up with OpFire. This was largely ineffective against the functioning tanks, but one entered a shellhole hex, became immobilised, and was subsequently eliminated by my fire. A good start for me. Liam also moved up his infantry company. Then he brought down his artillery which, with its 10FP, and the disposition of my trenches, was a real worry because it could catch my whole line in one barrage and easily downgrade their fortifications: if this could pound away at my lines I could be in trouble. Fortunately for me, the initial barrage drifted two hexes away: it would need to be corrected twice before he could land it on my positions.

Eventually I rallied my second HMG, and the crossfire on Liam's leader began. Soon enough he was eliminated and Liam's initial force was left reduced, strung out, and Out of Cohesion. He did manage to get a tank adjacent to my trenchlines on the left, and opened fire, but an MG fire attack against my second HMG generated an event for me, which was Auftragstaktik: this allows the German player to displace a leader and all the units stacked with him into an adjacent hex. I opted to send my Highest Ranking Leader with his team and platoon forward to melee Liam's tank, a melee which I won easily. Liam now had no tanks left and was close to surrender because tanks count as two casualties for surrender purposes. This was a risky manoeuvre because it exposed them to Liam's artillery, but they were able to retreat back into their trenches before a further barrage came down. Later, I played Artillery Denied so that Liam's barrage was removed from the map: he would have to retarget it.

Undaunted, Liam came ahead with his reinforcements. He brought his new HRL up to bring his first company back into cohesion, but that brought him in range of my HMGs. Soon that leader was eliminated too. Liam was now 20+VP behind, and one casualty away from surrender, with his forces scattered and many Out of Cohesion. He conceded on time 4.

Two in a row! I can't remember how long it's been since I've beaten Liam in two consecutive games of CC. Looking back at the game, Liam was wondering how the French could possibly win this one, especially since, unlike our previous game, he wasn't lacking for the cards he needed. I suggested that he needed to give his artilery time to pound my lines, and he agreed that he could've been more patient. That said, this does look like a tough scenario for the French, even with their tanks. And as for those tanks? Well it has to be said that their first appearance was a bit of a damp squib. The terrain was difficult going for them, but what hampered them most was the 'Attack Doctrine' special rule, which effectively halved the range of their weapons. This prevented Liam from standing off and engaging my lines from distance. All that said, the tank rules did work just fine. They are a worthy addition to the CC system.

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06 Jul 2018 12:46 #277025 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 09: "Moulin de Laffaux"
Another scenario set during the Nivelle Offensive in 1917, this pitted Liam's St Chaumont tanks with supporting infantry and artillery against a ragtag German defence force- comprising just one platoon and three teams, albeit with two HMGs and a mortar- with random reinforcements. I had a curtain of wire across the map, as well as two lines of trenches to take cover in. I set up my forces in the middle of map in my rear trenchline on the assumption that Liam would make his usual play for the centre. I did consider using my forward trenchline, but declined to do so on the grounds that Liam would be able to set up his tanks adjacent to my troops.

Liam, of course, spotted the weakness in my position, and set up all his troops on my left, in a position out of LOS of my units. He started off by moving his tanks and infantry forward towards my board edge, signalling his intention to go for exit VP. For my part, I moved my troops along my trenchline as quickly as possible to get them into positions from which they could bring fire down on Liam's infantry and tanks. I did manage to do this, and even eliminated one of Liam's tanks which had got left behind due to being broken when the rest of his tanks exited the map. But it was all for naught. Liam braved my OpFire to move all his infantry into the corner of the map, then used two advances to exit them all to bring the game to an early end- there hadn't even been a time trigger- with him comfortably ahead on VP.

So much for three in a row then. Ah well. I lost this game in the setup, although, that said, I'm not sure which setup I would use were I to play this game as the Germans again. I suspect setting up the Germans' initial troops in the forward trenchline might be a better way to go than hiding them behind a hill as I did. This might at least discourage a French end run.
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06 Jul 2018 18:28 #277053 by Gary Sax
I don't have a lot to say, but do know I'm really enjoying reading all your reports.
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08 Jul 2018 10:43 #277106 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 10: "Over There"
Keen for another game, Liam turned up the following day for this scenario, which featured his Americans, supported by some Schneider tanks, attacking my Germans in a battle set during the Kaiserschlacht. My force of Landwehr were tasked with holding a village against a force which slightly outnumbered them, but which wasn't of markedly better quality. Faced with a choice- of holding in the village, or of taking up a firing line which enabled me to fire on the Americans in their deployment zone, but which allowed them to do the same to me too, naturally enough- I chose the latter. This was largely because I couldn't figure a better deployment in the village, but I was left with a bad feeling as I contemplated the amount of firepower the Americans could bring to bear without even having to move.

My bad feeling was borne out, and how. The firepower Liam's troops mustered was truly sickening, and even units in a pillbox and led by a command-2 leader broke easily under the withering attacks. Fortunately I was able to use an advance to retreat that stack out of LOS, but that firepower executed the same carnage elsewhere in my line. Meanwhile, Liam had brought up a stack including a French team with a flamethrower, and they were able advance in to melee my Highest Ranking Leader's stack while it was stil broken and win easily. Back on the front line, Liam had targetted his artillery, and his 10FP standing barrage- which could catch my entire line in its beaten zone because my troops were perfectly positioned in a nice neat row- pounded away at what was left of my force until the inevitable surrender came.

So, just as in history, the Yanks win their first battle. Just like the previous scenario, this one was lost in the setup. I knew what to expect from Liam's firepower and artillery, and that my chances of winning that exchange of fire was negligible, yet I put my troops in the line of fire anyway. This was largely because this setup, however poor, was easier to figure out than the logical alternative, which was to defend in the village. Not a mistake to be repeated.
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09 Jul 2018 18:41 - 09 Jul 2018 18:42 #277208 by JMcL63

Combat Commander: Battle Pack #6 - Sea Lion

Scenario 95: Lined in Chalk
Adam turned up today for another game of CC, so it was back to Blighty for this, the last scenario in the Sea Lion battle pack, featuring Adam's British attacking to recapture a battery of cross-channel artillery from my Germans. My force was heavily outnumbered, but enjoyed the advantage of some poorly placed trenches (their positions were preset by a scenario special rule, which left them in less than perfect firing positions) and some mines I could place as I wished. Numbers aside, Adam further enjoyed the advantage of quality and weapons: his squads were all Guards or Engineers, and he had satchel charges and a couple of flamethrowers to boot.

My setup was fairly simple: I just had to decide in which trench to place my HMG nest, and deploy the rest of my forces accordingly. I swithered a bit about this, but there really were no fancy tricks to be pulled, so eventually I went with my HMG nest in the centre- to cover Adam's attack on the primary objective- with my other two leaders and their squads deployed to the right flank, and assorted squads parcelled out along the line. For his part, Adam deployed two platoons to come up the centre, with two more platoons wide on each flank.

Adam began his attack on my right. With two Fire cards in my opening hand thanks to a special rule, I was able to OpFire and break some units, including that platoon's leader. My following fire was excellent, and though I had to use the initiative card to reroll Adam's 12, which would have left him suppressed, that broken leader was eliminated. A good start for me. My firegroups' attacks downhill were limited by the crestlines however, so, with careful- and fortunate- use of smoke, Adam was soon able to work his way up onto the hilltop with a fearsome stack including a flamethrower-toting Engineer squad. In the face of this threat, I had only one option: retreat, which I did, several times, using the trenches to prevent Adam OpFiring at me as I did so. In the end, I had my entire force bunched up into a single group on my right, with another flamethrower-toting Engineer squad coming at them from below.

There was a hairy moment as two of my units were eliminated by crossfire from below by a satchel charge, the flamethrower, and raw firepower, but I broke that Engineer, and Adam was forced to retreat it out of LOS. Likewise, his Engineers on the hilltop were forced to scurry back to the cover of their smoke to avoid the firepower I was now dishing out from my position. The game ended with a pair of quick time triggers: one from me during a fire attack, generating a total which resulted in two instant kills thanks to poor rolls on Adam's part (instant kill is the only variant rule we use in CC); and the second to suppress one of Adam's leaders when he tried to rally him. A couple of swaps of the initiative card later, and the game was over, leaving me victorious on 8VP.

Adam was a bit unlucky to lose this game. First of all, there were several time triggers which ate into his time. Second, and most important, I never lacked the cards I needed. I always had the Recover I needed; never lacked for a Move card to retreat when Adam's fearsome Engineers got within range to use their flamethrower, or to advance in for a melee which he could easily have won; and, by the endgame, my forces could all be activated with a single Fire card, so that I was never short of those either. Still, if it hadn't been for those two late instant kills, I'd've been nervous about Adam sneaking the win by grabbing an objective and eliminating a unit or two. A close game then.
Last edit: 09 Jul 2018 18:42 by JMcL63.
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13 Jul 2018 21:03 #277518 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Two games in two days again.

Scenario 11: "Flesh and Iron"
Fought over another 'moonscape' battlefield, this scenario featured Liam's Renault FT tanks with supporting infantry coming on as reinforcements attacking my positions. My defenders were reasonable in quality- Gardes and Pioniers at start, with a cannon and Strosstruppen arriving as reinforcements- but low in number. These initial forces were set up in a simple line across the centre of the map. I did also have two HMG nests, but these were placed randomly: they ended up adjacent to each other in a forward position which exposed them to early attack from Liam's tanks.

And so it proved. Liam's tanks ably negotiated the on-map shellholes and quickly came adjacent to my HMG nests. I was firing at them as much as possible, but, without the presence of a leader, my HMG fire was largely ineffective. By this time, Liam's first contingent of reinforcements had arrived, and were barrelling down my right flank in search of exit VP. My HMGs were still in play at this moment, and I was able to disrupt this manoeuvre with some OpFire. Over on the HMGs' flank, the inevitable Advance was not long in coming, and Liam's tanks easily won the ensuing melees. This left my main force splitting its fire between potshots at Liam's infantry and at the tanks. Eventually, I did manage to eliminate one of the tanks, which was vital to me because, by preventing Liam using his tank leader, and so restricting him to activating a single tank for every Move or Advance order, it severely limited the tanks' manoeuvrability.

I enjoyed a stroke of luck when a Scrounge event gave me one of my HMGs back, so that my final defensive line was quite strong, consisting as it did of 5 ML9 platoons, 2 mortars, a cannon, and an HMG. With the addition of my Strosstruppen on my left to block the easy exit path of Liam's tanks, it was a simple matter for me to run the clock out and win a comfortable victory on some 15VP.

There's not a huge amount to say about this game. Liam did made good use of his tanks- the best so far seen in our games- and the Renault FTs proved much better at handling the difficult terrain than the Schneiders and St Chaumonts seen in the previous scenarios. He was just undone by time triggers.

Scenario 13: "Devil Dogs"
Set in the famous Belleau Wood in June 1918, this scenario pitted my attacking Americans against Liam's Germans. The map was mostly covered by woods, and Liam's forces had to set up in the woods. Learning a lesson from my defeat in scenario 10, Liam set up his forces- including a fearsome four HMGs and five LMGs- out of LOS just inside the treeline. For my part, I set up a company on each flank, with my HMG and my cannon positioned in the centre where they could fire at any target that might present itself. My plan was to swing round each flank then use my Marines' superior melee ability to start taking chunks out of the German positions.

The pregame random bombardment went well for me, as it broke a stack of Liam's containing a platoon, a team, and an HMG and an LMG. After that I got off to a good start, moving up on each flank according to plan. Liam responded to this by calling down artillery on a platoon on my left that he could just see from his FAO. This landed perfectly for him and he was able to break fully half my company with the ensuing barrage. Fortunately I was able to rally them before the artillery came down again. My own attempt at calling in artillery was far less successful: it missed and scattered wide onto my own troops on my right, breaking two platoons in the process. One effect of this was to reduce a woods hex to shellholes so that my HMG nest/cannon could see one of Liam's units on my right, and I was able to pick that off for a couple of VP.

Meanwhile, I continued moving up on my left. Soon I was in a position to advance into melee, which I promptly did, winning two melees without any difficulty. I was ahead and in a strong position. Liam's response to this was to move the rest of his troops forward. My HMG nest OpFired at the ones coming forward to the edge of the woods, and they all broke, but on my right he was able to establish himself in a good position to interdict any attempt I might make to move forward myself. And if I tried to go round him, he'd be free to run off for a lot of exit VP.

The remainder of the game devolved into Liam's efforts to eliminate my HMG nest/cannon and an artillery duel in the woods. A combination of artillery and fire from two HMGs stacked with a command-2 leader soon put paid to my HMG nest/cannon. Then Liam turned his attention to my leader who'd done such damage on my left. Soon that stack too was eliminated. I was able to deny his artillery, but it was too late. My own artillery was already on target, and I was able to adjust it to bring it to bear on the stack which had done the dirty with Liam's own artillery, breaking most of them.

Then, with the game heavily in his favour, Liam unexpectedly conceded. He was tired and small mistakes- like not rallying his broken troops- were creeping into his play, and he just couldn't face playing out another four time triggers. So, an undeserved victory from nowhere, but another two in a row all the same. What else can I say?
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20 Jul 2018 13:42 #277974 by JMcL63

Great War Commander

Scenario 14: "Seizing Bouresches"
Another part of the June 1918 battle for Belleau Wood, this scenario featured Liam's American Marines attacking to seize the village of Bouresches from my German Gardes. Our forces were initially evenly matched numerically. With a couple of HMGs to hand, I enjoyed the advantage of superior firepower, plus I had a flamethrower in case things should get up close and personal. For his part, with the only command-2 leader in play, Liam had the advantage in leadership at the start. He also had a strong company of reinforcements arriving after three time triggers. My reinforcements were weaker, and due to arrive much later. With woods- in wihch I couldn't set up- on the outskirts of the village hampering my HMGs' arcs of fire, my setup was always going to be less than ideal, but I soon settled on three companies of three platoons each: an HMG company on the right to cover any attempt Liam might make to come down that flank in search of exit VP; another HMG in the centre to cover his inevitable attack up the centre or on my left; and a third company, with the flamethrower, on my left, to do the dirty should the Yanks get into the village. For his part, Liam deployed a company of three platoons to come down my right, while the bulk of his force was in a position to attack the village on my left.

With me not being dealt a Recover card in my opening hand, Liam's initial barrage fortunately did nothing but churn up some terrain. Then he opened by moving his company down my right flank. I had a Fire card, but held my fire in the expectation that he'd be moving on my left too. So it proved, and I was able to break several units with OpFire. These didn't rally, and my follow up fire eliminated two platoons for some early VP for me. A good start. Soon enough though, Liam had his units rallied and in position to start laying down fire on my HMG platoon in the centre. Eventually this fire told, and I lost that HMG platoon. I had an Offensive in hand, and used it to redeploy my HMG platoon from my right towards the centre, from where it rapidly refilled the position vacated by my HMG platoon eliminated earlier.

Though not overwhelming, Liam's firepower was sufficient to keep my HMG platoon under pressure, pressure which only increased when the arrval of Liam's reinforcements allowed him to fire twice per order. Soon enough, that second HMG platoon and its leader joined the first on the casualty track. I was still in front, but not by a large margin. As the battle on the outskirts of the village raged on, I enjoyed some good luck and some bad luck. The good luck was twofold. First, I got two Sappers events, which I used to place wire on the left flank to hinder Liam's attack on the village. And second, Liam fired at a broken platoon, which failed its defence roll, but with an event. The event was Hero, so I placed the hero in that unit's hex, rallied it, then played Probe to stop it from breaking again. The bad luck came on top of what looked like good luck to begin with. A fire attack from Liam broke my weak (ML7) leader on my left. Then an Auftragstaktik event turned up, allowing me to displace a leader and the units stacked with him into an adjacent hex. I had an Advance in hand, so I thought I'd do a sneaky trick, and moved the broken leader's stack back a hex, ready to advance into cover and out of LOS on my own turn. Unfortunately, Liam got a sniper, which just happened to pick the hex adjacent to that broken leader, a hex which wouldn't have been adjacent if I hadn't moved the stack back with the Auftragstaktik. Gah!

Meanwhile, over on my right, Liam brought his small company out of the gully in which they'd been lurking, and began their dash for the map edge. Fortunately I was able to bring them under OpFire from what remained of my company on that flank, and that fire was enough to slow them down. With two leaders dead, most of my units out of cohesion, the VP hovering around the zero mark, and my force only three casualties away from surrender, the game was now balanced on a knife-edge. Fortunately for me, Liam didn't see the cards he needed to exploit his strong position, and the game ended on the first time trigger. When the secret objectives were revealed, I won by a scant 4VP (which I got from the objectives by the way).

This game was really close, one of the closest we've seen in GWC. Key moments for me were the speedy redeployment of that HMG (I was lucky immediately to draw a Move to complete the manoeuvre without having to wait, and to have a Recover in hand to rally the stack in the face of the inevitable OpFire from Liam), and those Sappers events, which, along with a Hidden Wire, gave me a nice curtain of wire to hamper Liam's Marines when they finally did approach the outskirts of the village. Liam was also a bit unlucky with time triggers, of which there were several. Another deck or two and he could easily have overwhelmed my defenders. Still: three in a row. This is unprecedented!

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