With it seeming like we’re settling in for a long time of dealing with coronavirus-related limitations, I decided to attempt to get out and play some games. I’m not quite ready to risk playing at a club (mostly because I need to find a new one). However, due to being back in England and within a reasonable distance (40 minute drive) of my Dastardly Regular Opponent in York, we decided some socially distanced gaming was in order. After some careful prep/planning, we were able to play.
However, the question was what to play – both of us have collections we were interested in playing with. But eventually, we settled on some desert Chain of Command, 8th Army vs DAK in 1941. This, along with my Dastardly Regular Opponent reading up on the period, eventually mutated to a cunning plan… a campaign.
As my Dastardly Regular Opponent has been writing this campaign up, I’ll let him provide the details (you can see above). However, I’ll add that I decided to play as the Afrika Korps, rather than my usual British. Why? Well, I’m already incredibly used to how the British platoon works and wanted to try using the dual MGs, less integrated support. Even better, I’ll eventually get a hand on my some of the German Steel – I have already been sending him Flak 88 links so I have something to hammer his Matilda tanks.
So Mission 1 saw the British probing the Axis defences before eventually pushing through the first line of defences. Despite being the defender, I managed to be quite aggressive in the patrol phase but then remained static when the shooting started. Instead, I should have pushed harder, grabbing the centre and becoming a real threat to keep the carriers away. I was also pretty stuck with the lack of AT, which really hampered my attempts to keep them away. My single point of support was a bit of a kick in the junk!
So next time (in two weeks or so), I’ll have to deal with the British pushing into the suburbs. Hopefully, I’ll be able to lock them down more easily in a semi-urban environment and HOPEFULLY hold them off until the relief force (and its armour) arrives. Also hopefully before the British Matilda starts to roll around.
