Chain of Command Eastern Front campaign - week 2

As the Axis forces failed to break-through last week they were forced to undertake a second Probe mission across the same terrain as week 1. However the higher echelons were not so generous this time with their support and they only had a single panzerschreck team for assistance.

Long view of the table

For this week's game the Finnish player unveiled a special rule that allowed the Finnish patrol markers to operate independently and not keep the usual 12" from another. As a compromise we allowed two of the five patrol markers to be Finnish. This was to have a massive bearing on the outcome of the game.

The game began with the Finns able to manoeuvre their patrol markers  to within about 6" of the table edge, which with the heavy cover meant they had two jump-off points with one or two moves of the base-edge. As the objective is for the Axis to exit two teams from the table they began almost in a winning position.

Finns in the distance occupying the woods

The only chance for the Russians was to quickly deploy their maxims and hope to pin the Finns as they dashed across the small piece of open ground between them and victory. Lady-luck intervened again for the Axis though, giving the Finns 4 phases in a row due to some very helpful initiate dice. So the Soviets first phase of the game saw one Finnish team already off table and a further two ready to exit.

Maxim deploys into the fields

So the Soviets deployed some troops to try and pin the marauding Finns but focused their effort on making life tough for the Germans. Significant amounts if infantry and the mighty KV-1 were deployed to ruin their day. The Germans quickly found themselves knee-deep in Russians and their panzerschreck team failed to find their mark.

The Soviets pour fire into the Germans

 In the end though the Finns got the dice they needed and strolled largely unhindered from the table. So a success Probe for the Axis.

The Finns snatch victory from the jaws of ...er...victory

The Finnish special rule on patrol markers is a bit of game breaker in most scenarios, especially when playing on a larger table. In many games it would be tough to prevent them deploying straight into a winning position. So we have decided to dump it for future games but reclassify the LMG to be 6 dice vs 4, so the same as the Russians.