Bring up the Piat!

Here are the narrative and photos of my Normandy Chain of Command game with Craig at my house on Thursday.

The mission: British glider borne paratroopers had to capture and hold the bridge over the river and await the arrival of their armour. German mission: to counterattack and take the bridge and prevent the allied armour from crossing. Rules Two Fat Lardies – “Chain of Command“.

Glider landed safely – area decided by dice roll, could have been nasty if it had landed in woods, built up area or river. Craig rolled well and his troops began to disembark.

Johnny Frost used his fox hunting horn to rally his troops.

And move off towards the bridge. It would take 4 phases before the Germans – Alex (Kurt Steiner) could react; but excellent rolls by Craig (too good really) ended the turn early.

This meant the Germans could begin reacting more quickly.

A Hanomag was activated as was an SS infantry platoon.

Some of the more fleet footed paras reached the bridge and village.

As more Germans began approaching – although they were a bit piecemeal.

Craig shouted “Bring up the Piat!”

It fired and missed and then dashed off into the woods after receiving shock.

Meanwhile Frost was fortifying the village with the troops that managed to reach it. The Paras had received several casualties and handed some out on the dash!

The Germans were using what cover there was to advance closely.

Supported by their panzers.

Craig managed to accumulate 2 chain of command dice (you need to collect six 5s on a die roll) this meant he could bring on his Shermans.

The Panzer IV struck first.

Blowing up the lead Sherman.

However the Paras had held out.

And therefore won the game.

This was the first time we had played this scenario, but it worked quite well. If Chain of Command is something you are interested in, it makes for a decent evening’s game – but best to have sections of the table where the fight is 1 player vs 1 player.