KG Klink in Greece, Fight #3

All,

Morning, 11 April 1941

Here we are, continuing Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece.  The first battle saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup take a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.  The fight saw the Germans infantry nearly eliminate the Commonwealth battlegroup, which fell back in disarray.  Captain Freitag pressed his advantage, immediately pursuing south down, where it ran into defensive positions manned by the remnants of the New Zealand 21st Infantry Battalion.  1st Schutzen then evicted the NZ 21st Inf Bn from its positions, forcing them to fall back.  Now we have 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving to secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, defended by the 27th MG Battalion.*

*For the record, I screwed up: it's supposed to be 2nd Recce's fight, not 2nd Schutzen's fight, but I transposed them, so this is what you get, sorry!

Overview, north is left.  The Germans will be entering from the north and attacking south, where the Commonwealth forces will be defending, able to emplace anywhere from their baseline up to the line of buildings at top center to the patch of trees at bottom center, just right of the river.  The road is improved (at least in terms of 1941 Greece), there is a small hamlet consisting of four stone buildings at top center, a few patches of trees scattered about, but the dominant terrain feature is the hilltops dotting the countryside (clockwise from left): Hill 110 (bottom left), Hill 218 (top center), Hill 225 (top right), and Hill 310 (bottom right).

I'm playing with very simple terrain so that I can lay it down and scrape it up as quickly as possible, to get in a lot of games as quickly as possible.

I'm playing solo using Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command, modified a bit.  I've bumped it up a level (using multi-based stands, not individual troops), I simplified fire and melee combat, and morale (5Core concepts, as always), as well as movement (I like dicing for movement, but it significantly slows things down for me).  I changed the CoC Dice so that it represents indirect supporting fires from Higher HQ, and I did away with the Patrol Phase.  I love the Patrol Phase, but it doesn't work for me playing solo, so what I do is designate an attacker and a defender; both sides start completely off table, using their Command Dice to deploy on table (as normal), but where it differs is that I basically give the defender a deployment area of half the table, and he can deploy anywhere in that area, even dug in, so long as it's at least 6" from any attacker.

If you're now wondering, then, why do I still call these rules "Chain of Command," it's because the entire game revolves around the use of Chain of Command's brilliant activation system (command roll/Command Dice), the use of leaders' command initiative, and the 'Force Morale' concept of declining Command Dice and morale to breaking.  To me, that's the heart of the system, and it makes for a fun game.

The opposing forces, with Germans on the left and Commonwealth on the right.

I'm playing these games in 10mm using figures from Pendraken and Minifigs UK, roads from Fat Frank, hills from Warzone, buildings from Crescent Root, rivers from Wargamers Terrain, and trees from Gunner at Signifer.

Battlegroup Ginter (AKA, 2nd Schutzen): consists of the CO stand (far left), two rifle platoons (a Platoon Commander and four rifle squads, each), a weapons platoon (Platoon Commander, two MG-34s, and two 80mm mortars), and a platoon of five Panzer IVs.

1st Lieutenant Ginter (new to the Kampfgruppe, seeing his first action)

3rd Grenadier Platoon - 1st Lt Ost 

1st Rifle Squad - Sgt Nader 

2nd Rifle Squad - Sgt Arndt (Iron Cross 2nd Class)

3rd Rifle Squad - Cpl Coulver

4th Rifle Squad - Cpl Rishel 

4th Grenadier Platoon - Officer Cadet Haas (IC2)

1st Rifle Squad - Sgt Kandler (IC2)

2nd Rifle Squad - Sgt Imhofe (IC2)

3rd Rifle Squad - Sgt Axthelm 

4th Rifle Squad - Cpl Hackl 

Weapons Platoon - Sgt Osswald
MG1 - LCpl Jorgensen
MG2 - LCpl Grun
Mtr1 - Cpl Vigerte
Mtr2 - LCpl Sondland

4th Panzer Platoon - SSgt Mangold 

Vehicle Two -   Cpl Rausch 

Vehicle Three - Sgt Graebner (IC1 and 2) 

Vehicle Four -  Sgt Kapp 

Vehicle Five - Cpl Progen

The Commonwealth force: 27th New Zealand Machine Gun Battalion
Commanding Officer: Major Saunders

1 x Machine Gun Platoon (Platoon Commander, 4 x Vickers MGs)

1 x Bren Gun Platoon (Platoon Commader, 4 x Bren Section)
Mortar Platoon (Platoon Commander, 2 x 3" mortars)

Anti-Tank Platoon (Platoon Commander, 2 x 2-pdr ATG)

Let's get it on!  As always, the attacker goes first, giving the defenders time and space to determine where and how to deploy.  3rd Grenadier Platoon (top left), 4th Gren Plt and Lt Ginter (far left), and Sgt Osswald's Wpns Plt (bottom left, atop Hill 110) all come on the table.

The Kiwis get froggy and come on early: the CO, Major Saunders comes on first, bringing the 3" Mortar Platoon, and setting up atop hill 310.

The mortars (bottom right) immediately take 4th Gren Plt (top left) under fire...

Though it's a bit short.

*I didn't roll to see where they would fall; as I said, I only do that for the attacker, figuring the defender has already stake it out.  No, instead I rolled regular firepower dice (2K, 3S, in this case), but they all missed!

With 4th Gren Plt (bottom right) getting all the attention, Lt Ost leads 3rd Gren Plt for the bridge.  Lt Ginter joins them.

And they are immediately followed by SSgt Mangold bringing his tank platoon into the fight.

With their infantry nearly over the bridge (top center left), the German mortars range in on the village (top right).  Right on target!

And immediately followed by the Kiwis deploying their Bren Platoon on Hill 218!

Where they immediately open fire on 3rd Gren Platoon...

Lt Ost and 4th Squad are suppressed, 3rd Squad is pinned, and 1st Squad is knocked out, with Sgt Nader lucky to only be lightly wounded.

Major Saunders then orders his mortars (bottom left) to begin pounding the bridge (top right)...

2nd Squad, 3rd Gren Plt is suppressed (red bead at right), as SSgt Mangold's tanks begin pounding Hill 218.

The Bren Platoon suffers two Sections suppressed.

Lt Ginter the German CO, wastes no time in jumping right in to rally 3rd Gren Platoon, and they're all good to go.

With Lt Ost getting them over the bridge posthaste.

Sgt Osswald (bottom left) gets his mortars and machine guns going on Hill 218 (top center)...

One Section is knocked out, while another breaks and runs (top right)!

*It occurs to me the Kiwis are suffering from not having many defenders on the board as of yet, which is allowing the Germans to concentrate their firepower.  My apologies, they've just had some pretty terrible command rolls.  After only a few games, I've ascertained that the worst Command Dice roll you can have is 6 (only one, which is wasted) and five 4s (only being able to use one of them because I only have one Senior Leader, the CO).

With the German tanks deployed, Major Saunders sees fit to deploy his Anti-Tank Platoon (bottom center), just below Hill 310.

The two 2-pdrs immediately begin firing into the flank of SSgt Mangold's Panzer IVs...

Cpl Rausch's tank is knocked out!  His crew bails out, dragging him with them; he's wounded badly enough that the campaign in Greece is over for him.  Two other tanks are pinned, being utterly surprised by one of their own being busted open and having no idea where the fire came from.

The Kiwi mortars continue to fire on the bridge...

But the rounds again land a bit short, suppressing Lt Ost.

Sgt Osswald's MG Section (bottom left) fires on Hill 218 (top right), pinning one Section and suppressing another.

As his mortars (bottom left) being dropping 80mm HE rounds on the NZ Anti-Tank Platoon (top right)..

Killing their Platoon Commander (costing them a Command Dice and a Force Morale point) and suppressing one of the guns!

Lt Ginter is again at the forefront, rallying the troops!

And Lt Ost gets his 3rd Grenadier Platoon moving again, turning towards Hill 218.

*3rd Gren Plt has been under very heavy fire from the Kiwi mortars and Bren Platoon, and Lt Ginter has been doing an absolutely amazing job of keeping them going, getting to the bridge, over the bridge, and now towards Hill 218.  Very impressive on the young commander.

SSgt Mangold pushes his tanks over the bridge...

Where he cuts right and fires on the ATG position, pinning the unsuppressed gun crew.

Major Saunders is a getting a bit anxious: he orders his mortars (bottom left) to stop "...those damned Jerries!" from reaching Hill 218, so they continue tossing 3" HE rounds at 3rd Gren Plt (top right)...

But again the mortar rounds are off target!!!

*This is quite significant: they've done no or negligible damage four rounds in a row, and that's highly unusual, with mortars having a pretty damn good shot at absolutely wrecking infantry platoons in the open.  Pure bad luck on the command and shooting rolls for the New Zealanders so far.

Lt Ost leads his platoon into the New Zealand trenchline!!!

Two Bren Sections are knocked out, as is the German 2nd Squad (though their squad leader, Sgt Arndt, is okay), one runs (top right), and the PC and last Section surrenders!  Lt Ost hastily re-forms his depleted platoon atop Hill 218.

*Brought to you by the poor marksmanship of the 27th MG Battalion's mortarmen! ;)

SSgt Mangold's tanks get moving again...

With two of them peeling off and taking on the Kiwi ATG position...

One crew remains pinned (yellow bead), but the other breaks and runs!

The Kiwis have got a CoC dice, so Major Saunders calls in arty support from a nearby battery of 25-pdrs, then directs his mortars (bottom right) to hit Hill 218...

It's only quasi-effective, generally on target but only managing to pin the last two German rifle squads.  Luckily, none of their POW comrades were hit!

The remaining ATG crew puts out solid 2-pdr shot as fast as they can load...

But they miss!  Lt Ginter (top left) rallies the previously pinned tankers (the two crews that were pinned when Cpl Rausch's vehicle was knocked out).

Before moving up Hill 218 to rally 3rd Gren Platoon. 4th Squad is okay, but Cpl Coulver's 3rd Squad actually gets worse, becoming suppressed.

SSgt Mangold's tanks fan out and move on Hill 310...

Firing point-blank into the Kiwi anti-tank position...

And they've had enough, coming out with their hands held high.

Which is enough to collapse the New Zealander's Force Morale, game over.  The remaining Kiwis head for the exits.

And the Germans push south, having taken the D3 bridge!

So, the German 2nd Recce (which I fought as 2nd Schutzen) holds fast and the NZ 27th MG Battalion falls back to D4.  The New Zealanders had bad dice, lost Command Dice early (owing to deploying the Bren Platoon too far forward), which resulted in the decision not to commit the MG Platoon (don't reinforce failure), which actually caused this to be a Minor Victory for the Germans, rather than a Major Victory (which is surely would have been had the MG Plt deployed and been whacked by the German tanks and heavy weapons), so the 27th MG Bn retains most of its combat power and didn't have to run for its lives, is still an effective fighting unit.  Conversely, the Germans were very lucky to break the Allied morale before the 25-pdr barrage came in, though it was aimed at the tanks and I can't see it having accomplished much, maybe knocking out one tank at best.

A short, sharp fight, mostly revolving around the Germans CO's seemingly being able to be everywhere all the time, and the NZ mortarmen being completely and utterly inept, with good work by Lt Ost in wresting Hill 218 from the NZ Bren Platoon.  Quick and lots of fun.

Casualties:

German losses: 25 casualties, 1 Pz IV knocked out

Commonwealth losses: 35 casualties, 20 captured

Characters:

Cpl Rausch, a veteran of France and Greece, WIA and out for the remainder of the campaign

Awards:

1st Lt Ginter, the Battlegroup Commander, is awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, for gallantry and leadership under fire.

1st Lt Ost, 3rd Grenadier Platoon Commander, is awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, for valor in leading the assault on Hill 218.

Next up, gotta do the Turn 4 map moves so we can see what the next fight(s) is.

V/R,

Jack