10th May 1940

Last week saw the first game in a mini-campaign I've started with Keith (of Armies Army fame).  We're using the excellent Chain of Command rules from Too Fat Lardies to fight out the German invasion of Belgium.  Why?  Well, mainly because we had the figures handy but also because the early war period is a fascinating one...not overpowered with supertanks and with some interesting underrated armies like the French and Belgians.

Keith has done all the legwork in getting the campaign planned out using the TFL 'At the Sharp End' campaign kit and is playing the invading Germans.  My plucky Belgians are hoping to try and last more than the 18 days of the real campaign.  The rules encourage you to name your officers and follow them as the campaign unfolds so my forces are led by Lieutenant Remi, Sergeant Brel and Sergeant Evil named after my favourite Belgians...Georges Remi, Jacques Brel and... erm... Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies (who knew he was Belgian??!)

The first scenario saw the Belgians responding to reports that Germans had been sighted in Belgian territory near the border with Aachen.  Both forces patrolled out, using the Patrol marker system in CoC which, unsurprisingly, meant we clashed near a small village in the centre of the table

Nether of us had arrived with our full complement of troops.  One of my sections failed to turn up completely and annoyingly I also misplaced my Grenade Launcher section...at least that way they couldn't get shot at!!  The Germans also lost some troops but still looked pretty threatening.  Our sections engaged each other at close range from opposite houses and although the Belgians took some early losses from this and from mortar fire, concentrated Belgian fire broke a German section although another quickly took it's place. 

At this point some of our support choices arrived.  The Germans deployed a PzII which was a bit worrying as I didn't have any anti-armour capability other than LMGs.  I chose to bring on a Forward Observer who managed to call in a barrage on the German mortar with pretty devastating effect.  In CoC once a barrage starts in continues until a player manages to end the round by using Chain of Command points which accumulate (if you're lucky) during the game.  I was able to walk the barrage onto the remaining German sections which piled on more casualties.  One of the Belgian officers was wounded and left behind when his section broke but displayed conspicuous bravery by calling in the mortar strike on his position while lying in a pool of blood!  

The combined effect of the mortar barrage and fire from Belgian sections forced the Germans back off the battlefield  but reports now indicate that there have been further incursions along the border.  At least my casualties were pretty light with only 1 section taking a real pasting so I should have a fairly strong force for round 2.