Swings and Roundabouts – Burma, 1944

Ivan, a relatively new member of the HKSW, had been interested in getting into Chain of Command, and after a couple of prior games – a Big CoC run where we shared a British platoon on tha attack, and then a 1v1 with him borrowing a German platoon to play on the defence – he got his first taste of the Far East setting on Friday evening. This time he'd take a British platoon on the offensive, while I'd be defending as the Japanese, on Mission 3: Attack and Defend.

Ivan got 12 support points, which he spent on a Stuart (5), a Universal Carrier (3), a pre-game bombardment (2), and an extra 2" mortar (2); while I spent my 5 points on a 47mm gun and an entrenchment for it. Both of us started at a full 11 morale, meaning this would likely be a fight to the death.

The Game

The state of affairs at the end of the Patrol Phase: Ivan seemed to be concentrating on his right, with a forward but uncovered Jump-Off Point. My own position was a little awkward. Barrier growths for the Far East are only minor obstacles for movement, but obstruct line of sight beyond 2" as though medium obstacles, so my middle point was not really supporting my right very much.
(Apologies also for the mess at the back – we've been reorganising the game room!)

Ivan's opening moves had proven quite effective, partly due to good mentorship from James (whom I last played against in this game) who popped by for a bit on his way home from work. With his Stuart laying down covering fire, Ivan had repeatedly frustrated my attempts to deploy against him, and a number of 5s rolled early in the game for him, versus next to none for me, had allowed him some confidence with which to push forward knowing he could hit the dirt for extra cover any time I fired on him.

With a smoke grenade further weakening my LMG, the British advance seemed more or less unstoppable. Shortly after this, I would find myself taking four casualties including my corporal getting wounded, and three points of shock on each team.

So, rather than try to stop it directly, I used what few CoC points I had to reposition my battered section and then had it run behind the next JOP, leaving the now 8-man section at 8 Shock, just shy of being pinned.

In one of those rare moments, Ivan rolled a quadruple six, which resulted in a random event that also gave him an additional morale point. For my part, it also ended his barrage, which would finally let me reliably deploy to my remaining positions.

I believe James left us around this point, expecting that Ivan would comfortably carry the day. Sure enough, with three sections on the field and both of his armoured vehicles deployed, my position was looking increasingly dicey.

But with a bit of luck the situation began to reverse. With a fresh rifle section and the grenade dischargers out in the field (a safe 4" apart) I was able to start laying down fire on the lead British section, which after a succession of extremely unfortunate cover rolls had lost seven men.

Moving aggressively to cover the emerging gap to his front, Ivan sent up the Stuart. At this point, however, I had banked up six CoC points, allowing me to ambush with my AT gun...

To predictable results.

Nevertheless, the situation was not straightforward. Ivan's rearmost section was still managing to lay down covering fire on both of my fighting units, leaving the AT gun the only weapon still firing at full effect. Nevertheless, the lack of effective return fire from the British allowed me to rally off most of the shock from my first section. Nevertheless, I did take one major loss when the corporal of my second rifle section was killed.

For the last few Phases of the game I brought the first rifle section back into action, whose LMG began raining fire on the second British section at the corner. Although I conserved the fire of my grenade dischargers while the suppression and smoke penalties were in effect, that was still a fair amount of firepower from the two rifle sections that Ivan was simply not going to be able to deal with, and neither was his additional Bren team from the carrier doing very much against my AT gun.

Ivan belatedly brought his third section out of the wood, but it was really too little too late. His second had already lost seven men like the one before it, and while he had both his mortars out in the field they had few infantry left to assist.

The point of view from the British side at the end.

Reflections

We both concurred afterward that Ivan had overcommitted on the left and failed to consolidate before advancing. The position at the corner was one that was exposed to fire from several angles, and sending two sections into it to be shot to pieces one after another was not the wisest move. The Stuart was unlikely to survive even a frontal engagement with the 47mm gun so its loss was really to be expected, but the carrier didn't really do much of note when it might have been used to cover the advance of the third section, which instead came in far too late to rescue the collapsing British line. I had been lucky in getting my first section to safety in such a way it could spring back into action, but the reality was Ivan had forced me into a very tight space and could have taken his time to prepare the coup de grace.