Lucius and I played this scenario bit ago, but I didn’t post it. We wanted to try out the sentry rules and raid scenario that Pat at Wargaming with Silver Whistle. We combined those with TFL’s Chain of Command, an absolutely brilliant ruleset.
The table was laid out with bits of terrain I had to hand. The Paras would come on the table from the right, while the German QRF would come from the lower right.
The village. The sentries were placed at the edge of the stone wall and the road, and then next to the old farm house on the far side of the table
Here is the scenario that Lucius drew up:
British
Situation:
Lieutenant,
Squadron Leader Vincent Brimble has had a spot of bother with the Jerries and made the unfortunate but lofty decent under his silk sheet. He has made contract with the resistance and has been moved to a safe house within close proximity to the frontline. Close to the Sqn Ldr’s safe house is the Jerries’ sector HQ. Resistance has reported that the German’s have one section patrolling and posted sentries. Resistance has also estimated that the Jerries’ have a mounted troop and armour stationed nearby that could potentially be called upon as a QRF.
Mission:
5 Platoon under Lieutenant Colins has been tasked to recover Sqn Ldr Brimble, and if the situation presents itself, destroy the German sector HQ.
ORBAT:
HQ Section
– PIAT team
– Sniper
– 2 inch mortar (to be held at LOD with weapons section)
1 Section
2 Section
1x .303 Vickers MMG (at LOD on over watch)
German
Situation:
Oberleutnant,
Due to the steely eyes of our triumphant Flakvierling gunners, an enemy Spitfire has been shot down and reports are that the pilot has bailed out in your sector. It is speculated that he is being held in the vicinity of your sector HQ by the resistance waiting to move him back across the frontline. As you know, your opposing you is the plucky Red Devils. Expect them to carry out operations in support of the local resistance to return the pilot to their lines.
Mission:
Locate the downed enemy pilot while maintaining positive control of your sector through patrols, road blocks, and sentry positions.
ORBAT:
3 x static sentries
1 x patrol, half-section with 1 x MG 42
QRF consisting of:
– 1 x Sd.Kfz. 251 with a mounted section
– 1 x StuG
I have long wondered why a feature film hasn’t been done on the St Nazaire Raid. There was “Attack on the Iron Coast” and “Gift Horse”, but both deviate significantly from the challenges and heroism of that day. A movie would be great! It would include all of the action and wait. Why not play the raid!
Initial thoughts:
Operation chariot
Scale: 15mm to reduce cost and increase play area Rule Set: Modified Big Chain of Command or IABSM by TFL Scope: The action taking place from 01:34 in the morning immediately after the ramming of the drydock by HMS Campbeltown to the destruction of the dock.
Special Considerations
Sentries: Roving sentries and security patrols. Rules by Pat over at Wargaming with Silver Whistle cover this nicely.
Civilians: Adapt Pat’s rules for sentries for the dockyard workers.
Naval Element: This would include the MLs and MGBs/MTBs so I’ll need to come up with rules for them. I think using them like tanks, each with a Junior Leader would be a good starting point. Getting a number of models, including one of HMS Campbeltown will be a challenge. This may be a good time to use 3D printing. I can come up with a rough outline of what Campbeltown looked like up on the dry-dock and go from there. The other boats will be a bit easier to source… I hope.
Terrain Set-Up: This is probably going to be the other hurdle and will take a lot of work. I’m thinking that terrain boards will be the way to go in order to model all the docks and caissons etc.
As you’ve already seen, I have many cunning plans. This one will be in the far distant future, but it does mean that I’ll keep my eyes out for useable naval elements and slowly start coming up with a proper plan. I’m sure you’ll see more on this in the coming years. If you come across and 1:100 vessels or drydock fittings that might be of use, please let me know!
Earlier, I had put forward some thoughts on TFL’s What A Tanker and I’ve taken some time to develop them a little bit. Essentially, my unhappiness with the rules centres around the luck and lack of skill required. The rest of the TFL’s rulesets are all about making command decisions, not luck. In order to improve the rules and really bring out the goodness in them, I’ve adopted a 2d6 concept as the math is simple and elegant. So here are my thoughts (you will likely see them in action this week):
Initiative is unchanged. On your initiative, you roll 2d6 plus/minus modifiers.
Modified Roll Result
2 1 action, -1 to next round initiative
7 2 actions
10 3 actions
12 3 actions, +1 to next round initiative
*On a natural 11-12, you gain a wild die. Wild dice no longer shift actions or add actions, but otherwise are unchanged.
Modifiers
+1: experienced
+2: veteran
+3: ace
-1: per point of damage incurred
-1: 2 man turret
-1: conscript
-2: 1 man turret
A conscript T-26 would have a -3, while a veteran Pz IV would have a +2.
All actions cost the same
This means that if you get 2 actions, you can move and reload. Or aim and acquire. Up to you.
Damage
Instead of losing CoC dice, you suffer -1 to your activation roll.
At a total modifier of -5 (including your training/tank layout) your crew bails. A poorly designed but tough tank may be hard to knock out, but easier to force the crew out.
Each tank card/sheet, will have a slider for activation modifiers vs Chain of Command dice.
That’s it! I think it’s a simple but effective mod to make WAT so much better. These changes should make the early war combat a bit more compelling as the Germans will be able to out-do the tougher French tanks much more easily, but the Germans will also suffer when up against better trained or combat experienced units.
Lucius and I tried our hand with TFL’s “What A Tanker” ruleset.
The rules looked good and fun, so we grabbed some 15mm armour, threw some basic terrain down and worked our way through two fights.
For the first one, we thought we’d be smart and use cm instead of inches to make best use of the table area. This was a mistake. It was really hard to move into or out of cover.
Nonetheless, I took a troop of Shermans (1 Firefly and 3 Mark Vs) and Lucius threw 2 Pz IVs and 1 Panther up against me.
Ready for action
The Firefly charged bravely out from cover to shoot the Panther… but didn’t get enough movement. The Panther responded, moved into the clear and brewed up the Firefly.
Big Cat charges forward and kills my Firefly…
Oh. My Sherman on the left moved up and missed, while the Pz IV on my right flank found a gap in the trees and brewed up one of my Shermans. Uh oh. My last Sherman on the right bravely raced (or rather crawled in cm) up past its burning compatriot and destroyed the Pz IV that had menaced my right. My remaining tank on my left engaged in a duel with the Panther, damages its optics, as my other Sherman lines up a long shot at the Pz IV on my left and blows it up too. Things are looking much better, but that Panther’s gun… misses. The cat is torched and my troop is victorious!
A swingy fight for sure, but fast and fun.
The second fight had the same forces but distances in inches. My Shermans engaged and hit both Pz IVs right away, but did effectively nothing. The Panther moved up to take cover beside a building and brewed up one of Shermans. My Firefly tries to return the favour and badly damages the Pz IV on my right flank. I move my forces to the left, trying to limit the angle the Panther has on me and concentrate fire on my right flank. The other German tanks move up as my tanks miss and another Sherman goes up.
Crap. My two remaining tanks pour 3 more rounds into the damaged tank, which forces it to withdraw a little but it stays in the fight with one activation die. The Panther moves up, shooting at the Sherman that is more exposed, but doesn’t knock it out over several shots. Meanwhile, the Pz IV on my left races up the flank. The Pz IV on my right takes even more hits (total of 9 hits from a Firefly and Sherman V) but somehow I can’t seem to roll high enough to do anything to it. The Pz IV on my left rounds the corner.
Uh… guys?
My Firefly traverses left and closes but I am unable to shoot for 2 turns (the way the dice work). My damaged Sherman keeps its glacis towards the Panther and puts two shots into the Pz IV, forcing it back up to the table edge. The Panther and the 2 Pz IVs hit the exposed Sherman, bringing it down to 0 activation dice, which we decide means that the crew has had enough and bailed. Game over. The dice were against me for sure, but the tank fight was fast again.
How did we find the rules? They were clearly laid out but the activation system left us both in position but unable to fire. It would be frustrating if you only had one tank, but playing with 2 tanks solves the problem somewhat. So not a campaign game or likely to supplant Chain of Command’s armour rules, but a fun pick-up game to be sure.
Lucius is a former armoured officer, and he says the speed and deadly nature of the fight is realistic. But… being restricted in what you can do – rolling all of your dice to move but not being able to fire when you have acquired and aimed is silly. Perhaps an alternate activation system is needed if this is to be a more serious game.
Chain of Command’s strength is that you have to spend your activation resources wisely, in this game it’s a crap shoot. An alternative would be rolling dice to determine how many actions you have and then deciding how to spend them. A simple solution could be a 2d6 system with a tank’s rating. Roll over the tank’s rating (lower rating is better). If you roll under you can do 1 action of your choice. Meet the rating, 2 actions. 3 or more over the rating, you have 3 actions. So you could acquire, aim, and fire in a round. Or move and reload. Or simply beat your crew into slewing the turret the right way. This would allow experienced crews a real advantage. While inexperienced T-34s are dangerous, they would not be able to react quickly to threats. A tank would start with a rating of 6 if a veteran, 7 if trained, 8 or 9 if conscript or with a smaller crew (early war French tanks I’m looking at you)!
