CoC2 + SID Italy 1944

 It is the Summer of 1944 , Cassino has fallen, Rome has been liberated and the Allies are pursuing the retreating German forces that are falling back to the Gothic line.

Elements of the British 8th Army are being forced to fight for every river crossing be it dry or wet against the rag tag rearguard German units seeking to delay them at every opportunity.

The British are advancing up the road that crosses a dry river bed over a small stone bridge that has been destroyed by the retreating German forces. Across the dry river a small farming hamlet sits beside the road which continues up between two small rises topped with forests. 

I played this battle using Chain of Command v2 alongside the SID solo rules by Geoff Bond. Before the game started I assigned cards to a variety of German units based around a Panzer Grenadier Platoon.

 

The cards are used in the SID system to determine if a certain unit will enter the game and take action as LOS happens between the British units and the Major and Minor Jump off areas defined for the German forces.When Playing against SID we ignore the usual points allowance and give SID a number of extra units thus increasing tension in the game. You just don't know if that Tiger is going to show up and spoil your day.

The British are advancing with a standard rifle platoon whose CO has upgraded his Pistol for an SMG with a couple of M4 Shermans to provide some extra punch. At the end of the patrol phase the Brits have two jump off points setup to allow deployment of units either side of the main road.

The German jump off areas are setup with a major area in the woods on the rises each side of the road with two minor points in behind the buildings across the river and  behind some under growth on the western flank.

The engagement started with the British deploying their 2" Mortar team right on the left flank JOP behind the cover of some undergrowth.

The first section also deploy's onto the road running parallel to the dry river but were spotted by a German Panzer Grenadier section who along with a second section opened fire causing shock and casualties on the British section.

Over on the right flank a second British section deployed into the wheat field in an arrowhead formation

They manage to do this without being spotted from the German Major JOP on the top of the hill.

The British Mortar succeeds in laying down a smoke screen.

And with the Platoon Sgt joining them the survivors of the first section are able to pull back into cover by the bridge house.

Over on the right flank the second British section have been slowly advancing into the farm yard establishing themselves in cover as one of the attached Sherman tanks begins to advance through the wheat field.

Over on the left flank a "What would SID do?" result saw one squad of the German Panzer Grenadiers advance forward to cover in front of the British smoke screen allowing them to resume shooting at the beleaguered British section again. 

They do however attract the attention of the British Sherman which has reached the edge of the dry river but the shell causes little damage.

The British section hunkered down in the bridge house again come under German fire.

On the right flank the British begin to advance over the dry river bed but come under fire from a third Panzer Grenadier section on the rise above the orchard.

Now committed to the right flank the third British section moves up through the wheat field and into the farm to provide Fire Support to the Second section in the orchard.

The Sherman moving out to cross the dry river attracts the attention of the German Commander mounted in hs SdKfz 251/10. An ineffective shoot at the Sherman is soon answered with the German Commander narrowly escaping from his vehicle before it blows

Sadly at this point I ran out of time and had to call the game.
Hard to say how this would have continued. The British have lost a section on the left flank but still have a Sherman in reserve that could deploy to anchor that flank alongside the mortar while the remaining two section roll up the right flank. However although all the German Panzer Grenadier Platoon are deployed and are being whittled down there is still the opportunity from the Major JOP's that German Armour including a Tiger 1 could be deployed .There are also still infantry assets available to the Germans. Ultimately the German mission was to delay the allied advance and cause casualties and in this respect they have succeeded. 

While the outcome was inconclusive the game again proved that CoC v2 combined with the SID solo system can result in a tense , challenging game and after months of not being able to get a game in due to some health issues it was an absolute joy to field the new British platoon I'd been painting up while i recuperated. on a side note I really need to try out the ASID varient that puts the Player in the defensive role.