Chain of Command 'Storming the Citadel' Scenario Three 'Panzer Marsch - the assault continues!'

As we had started early we decided to play another game with the Germans renewing the assault on Butovo.

Jerry elected to use the same platoon as in the last game and re-organised them into two squads after their losses. Leytenant Kravtsov reallocated some men to make his squads more even in numbers.

This time Jerry again got the maximum 15 SP while the Soviets were allocated only 6 SP. Presumably some of the support from the first attack had been reallocated to other areas!

Kravtsov decided to take a 45mm AT gun and three entrenchments, again it was a tough choice as if the Germans didn't opt for a tank as in the first attack the AT gun would be wasted. Without the gun though the Soviets have no answer to a tank so really I feel they have to take it.

The patrol phase went better for the Germans this time with the Soviets not having such good jump off points:

The Germans had obtained armoured support this time in the form of a Panzer IIIN:

They also deployed a squad in the broken ground with the HMG again and called down a mortar barrage:

Cursing his luck with the ZIS-3 not being available Leytenant Kravstov asks the 45mm AT gun team to deal with the Panzer. They hit the target but the shell bounces off harmlessly:

The Panzer returns fire killing two of the gun crew. The valiant survivors reload, aim carefully and put another shell into the tank. This time it brews up!:

The Germans are somewhat demoralised at their tank being destroyed:

With the tank out of action the second German squad joins its comrades in the brush. Apart from the AT gun the Soviets have not yet revealed their positions:

The German leader urges his men forward to assault the town again. After their last experience they lack enthusiasm!:

Both German squads are advancing:

They reach the fence unopposed. The German observer has moved the mortar barrage over to try to hit the Soviet AT gun:

With perfect timing Serzhant Davidov and the 4th Squad open fire putting down several of the fascists:

One German squad is almost wiped out. The second crosses the fence and tries to move up:

Three Sailors are down but the Navy men continue to fight on:

The 3rd Squad under Serzhant Novikov open up on the other German squad. German casualties mount quickly:

Leytenant Kravtsov directs the fire himself and the fascist dogs run for their lives.The second assault has been repulsed!:

The Soviets lost 3 men only one of whom was killed from the Platoon. The brave AT gun crew was wiped out but as a support unit they can be replaced. German losses were again substantial.

This time Jerry was unlucky that his tank was blown up by a rather weak AT gun. I think moving the mortar barrage to take out the gun was probably a mistake for the Germans, they would have been better off concentrating on stopping the Soviets deploying in front of their advancing men.

The Germans will now have to organise another assault. They have one platoon which took a fair bit of damage in games 1 and 2, a second which was all but wiped out in games 3 and 4 and an unused platoon they really need to save for later on in the campaign.

Leytenant Kravstov's men are holding on, slowly being whittled down but the men are optimistic and the Company Commander is pleased with Kravstov's performance to date. The Germans certainly can't afford any more defeats like the last two.

Chain of Command 'Storming the Citadel' Scenario Three 'Panzer Marsch!'

After successfully defending the artillery observation post before falling back from the minefields Leytenant Kravtsov and his men find themselves defending the village of Butovo.

This is the first opportunity for the Soviets to delay the German attack and they have a decent defensive position to defend:

Both sides rolled maximum for SP giving the Germans 16 SP and the Soviets 11. Kravtsov suspected that some German armour would appear this time so took a ZIS-3 AT gun, a sniper, a flamethrower team and three entrenchments.

The patrol phase went well for the Soviets giving them jump-off points in the town while the Germans were confined to the small area of scrub on the Soviet left. The Germans were using a fresh platoon so were at full strength.

The action opened with the Germans revealing a HMG and an artillery observer in the scrub. Serzhant Novikov deployed with the 3rd Squad and opened fire on the HMG:

Serzhant Suslov and the 1st Squad also deployed, successfully targeting the  fascist artillery observer and killing him with help from the sniper:

The 3rd Squad has finished off the German HMG for the loss of a single man, German morale is dropping quickly:

The Germans reveal a Panzer Grenadier squad which opens up on the 3rd Squad. Despite being in hard cover the remaining five men of the 3rd Squad are downed leaving only Serzhant Novikov to continue the fight!:

Another Panzer Grenadier squad joins the first:

Urged on by their officers the fascists advance at the run towards the brave Serzhant!

Reacting quickly Kravtsov places his 4th Squad in the entrenchments vacated by the 2nd Squad while the 2nd Squad takes position next to them. Both Squads open fire inflicting heavy losses on the Germans:

Leytenant Kravtsov personally directs the fire and the Germans are cut down:

One Panzer Grenadier squad is wiped out and the second breaks. German morale collapses and the attack is beaten off:

The Germans lost many casualties, total Soviet losses were 7 (3 dead, 2 light wound, 2 return to duty) all from the 3rd Squad.

I had the best of the luck in this scenario (apart from when five of the 3rd squad got hit in one go despite being in hard cover, 5 out of 7 dice came up '6'!). I had decent command rolls when I needed them and a couple of very useful double turns.

To my surprise Jerry didn't select a tank, instead having a preliminary bombardment, the 8cm mortar battery, a HMG and I think maybe a second senior officer. I only used the entrenchments and the sniper from my support though I tried to get the Flamethrower into action I couldn't quite manage it.

The Germans will have to regroup and resume the attack, They now have two weakened platoons while Leytenant Kravtsov's men are still a viable fighting force.

Chain of Command 'Storming the Citadel' Scenario Two 'Clear The Way'

As the first scenario in the campaign didn't take that long to play Jerry and I moved on to the second scenario, 'Clear The Way'. In this scenario the Germans have to clear 4 minefields to claim victory. If they win they get an extra patrol phase move in scenario three, if the Soviets win they get a free minefield for scenario three.

Jerry elected to use the same platoon he used in scenario one. The Soviets had two SP this time and again used them on entrenchments.

The patrol phase didn't go so well for the Soviets this time and they ended up pinned in one corner of the table defending a hill and a patch of rough ground:

A weakened German squad takes up over-watch in some rough ground:

Two more squads deploy near the minefield. One of them is down to four men but has two LMG so is still a threat firing:

Leytenant Kravstov deploys the 3rd squad in entrenchments to open fire at the Germans on over-watch:

The 2nd squad deploys on the hill again in entrenchments and attempts to wipe out the small German squad on their left:

One German squad cautiously advances through the gaps in the minefields. In the background a mine-clearing team attempts to clear one of the fields:

Both the weakened German squads open up on the 2nd squad. Despite being low in numbers having two LMG per squad gives them a lot of firepower. Serzhant Grekov, commanding the 2nd squad, is wounded and four of his men are down. They are forced to abandon the position:

Leytenant Kravtsov rallies the 2nd Squad:

Now Leytenant Kravtsov had to make a decision: withdraw now without having suffered many losses or fight on and hope to effectively wipe out the German platoon which had been further reduced in numbers in this fight while risking taking more losses which he could ill afford. Deciding to fight on for now Kravtsov deployed the 4th squad in the entrenchments on the hill:

The firefight went badly for the Sailors though with Serzhant Vaskov being wounded and then killed and three more of his men being hit:

At this point Leytenant Kravtsov decided to pull back. Having lost seven men and Serzhant Vaskov already he didn't want to risk further losses.

German losses in the two attacks would probably mean that their platoon would have to be replaced for the next scenario while the Soviets have not lost that many men from their single platoon.

This game showed the difference between a single game and a campaign game. When I withdrew my platoon was still in reasonably intact. I had one section left to deploy and two of the three German squads were in poor shape. If I'd fought on there was a good chance I'd have won the scenario but, having won the first one, I didn't think the extra losses would be worth it for a minefield and the German platoon was probably unusable for a while anyway.

Looking forward to scenario three where Leytenant Kravtsov and his men will be defending the village of Butovo.

Chain of Command 'Storming the Citadel' Scenario One 'Eye's Down'

Jerry and I started the 'Storming the Citadel' pint sized campaign last night. Unlike the 'Winterstorm' campaign we have been playing the scenario's in Storming the Citadel are linked with each affecting the next.

There are six scenario's in total with the Soviet aim being to delay the Germans as long as possible.The Soviet force consists of a single platoon of the 3/199th Guards Rifle Division which has to fight through the first five scenarios against three Panzer Grenadier platoon's from the Grossdeutchland Division (though the Germans can only use a single platoon in each game).

Having a single platoon to play five games against Panzer Grenadiers is a tall order for the Soviets. The massed firepower of the Germans means they can inflict heavy losses quickly so the Soviets will need to be very careful to husband their men and minimize losses in each scenario.

The first scenario, 'Eye's Down', sees the Germans attempting to destroy Soviet observation posts placed on a gentle slope with few areas of cover. The winner of the scenario gets to have a pre-game barrage in Scenario three which would be very useful for the Soviets. Looking at the map I felt it would be hard to hold back the Germans so my aim was to inflict as many casualties as possible while taking few losses before withdrawing to the next battleground.

Having only a single SP I chose an entrenchment for the Soviet's, hard cover is essential on a relatively open battlefield with little cover if I want to minimize losses.The patrol phase went well for the Soviets giving them some useful JOP's while the Germans were restricted to a couple of JOP on their left in cover and one in the open on their right.

Soviet observers move in to take up their positions. Two of the observation points are decoys, the real observers deployed on the left:

Two German squads deploy in light cover on the Soviet right on over-watch:

The third German squad deploys on the Soviet right in the open:

On the Soviet left Germans rush forward into cover. Leytenant Kravtsov had deployed his 4th squad on over-watch in a gully and, seeing an opportunity to catch the Germans moving, Serzhant Vaskov orders the 4th Squad to open fire:

The Germans lose men and take shock from the 4th Squad. As the Germans have divided their forces leaving the squad under fire isolated from the rest of the platoon Kravtsov deploys the 1st Squad next to the 4th and together they pour more fire into the Germans. A senior German leader is killed and the squad leader injured:

Under heavy fire the Germans retire to try to rally:

One of the German squads on the Soviet right rushes forward to support their comrades. The other squad remains on over-watch:

The German's continue their advance, the Kravtsov now needs to decide if he wishes to continue the fight and deploy more men or retire having inflicted some losses:

Kravtsov decides to fight on for now. The men in the gully come under fire from the German squad advancing through the scrub towards them:

Return fire inflicts heavy losses on the Germans in the scrub:

Hoping to finish off the Germans in the scrub Kravtsov places the 2nd Squad in entrenchments in the centre. Opening fire more Germans fall though the 2nd Squad also takes hits from the final German squad which had been on over-watch since the start of the game:

With two squads in deep trouble the Germans decided to withdraw without destroying the Soviet observation posts. Leytnant Kravtsov has carried out his orders successfully!

This is the first game of CoC I've played in a linked campaign and it certainly made me think more about how I used my force. 

Normally I've been very aggressive with the Russians but in a campaign I need to husband my resources for the future and it certainly made me more cautious in this game. Jerry went quickly onto the attack with the Germans, with three platoons available to him he can afford the losses more than I can.

I did consider withdrawing myself just before Jerry did but gaining a free pre-game barrage for scenario 3 was worth hanging on for. It ended up costing me three casualties (only one of whom was actually killed) but I think it was worth it having inflicted serious losses on the Germans and obtained the barrage for scenario 3.