Having been bounced in game 5 of the campaign the initiative now lay with the beastly Hun and, always ready to kick a man when he’s down, the rotter took advantage of the opportunity to launch a significant counter-attack.
I set up the terrain as you can see below. This isn’t the precise location where Game 4 was played, but it is a nearby route through the same rocky passes.
As the attackers the Germans rolled 8 for support, a good roll, and whilst that allowed me List 5 support (4 plus an extra one as my Colonel is still looking after me) I took the decision to fall back and not contest this battlefield. With the lack of terrain in the open desert, and having seen how badly a fighting withdrawal can go in a desert setting I left the battlefield uncontested and withdrew, falling back on the old German main defensive position around Sheik al Fak. I am now wishing that I had consolidated on that position once I first captured it as it would now present a solid strongpoint which Jerry may baulk at. But I hadn’t. In my desire to keep the enemy wrong footed I had pushed on.
Of course the Germans now have a decision to make as well. The position at Sheik al Fak is a strong one and if they attack it and suffer heavy casualties it could weaken them to the point where I then drive right over the top of them and seize the Oasis at Kharmal. However, if he were to take Sheik al Fak in style it may well spell the end of my campaign in that we have both had our only replacements for this campaign and every man lost now will be irreplaceable. My failure in Game 5 has presented both of us with some interesting choices to make. As it stands the initiative is with the Germans so I will just have to wait and see what he does.
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6 thoughts on “Wo Sind Die Engländer? Chain of Command Game Six”
Wise tactical retreat
Is there a minimum length of battle you have to fight before pulling out? Or could you just do a couple of phases, try to cause some casulties then pull out?
During a game you can withdraw as soon as you like, however you get no advantage from that. The game counts as a loss, your Colonel’s opinion is likely to be negative. Whereas if before the game is set up you elect not to fight you don’t count the game as a loss, rather you can argue that it was a tactical withdrawal. Your CO may still think you did the wrong thing, but he might actually agree with you and give you credit for that. So the decision to hand that stage of the campaign to your opponent will normally be made in advance. You can then just play the next game in the campaign.
Thanks for these incredibly enjoyable AAR’s, admitedly this was one of the slightly less exciting ones 🙂 …interestingly I was just considering this element of warfare after watching the Ken Burns documentry on the American Civil War; how often the tactical advantage was gained or lost by the choice of battlefield and yet its very rarely a decision we’re allowed to make in a table top game. Considering how important the battlefield maps will be in making these type of decisions, will the campaign suppliment have some scenario maps or will it provide guidelines how to create your own?
BTW Really looking forward to this release, when can we expect it?
Thanks for sharing the campaign. Its actually got me off my ass and out of my gaming hiatus. I have a question though about the campaign supplement. Is it going to be stand alone or is it a plug in for Platoon Forward?
I have enjoyed reading the campaign blog for North Africa. I am also very tempted by the Perry North African range but where are the army lists? I have the CoC book but it only has late war Europe lists.
Cheers
Neil