Back to Karelia part 2 - Captain Castroulius striktes back

We have managed to run few more games using the Chain of Command rules as well as our campaign amendments. Things are working out quite well. The campaign is afoot.....

If one look at game board the latest scenario looks quite a bit like the last one. There is a main road as well as a bridge that divides the battlefield. There is also a ford that counts as good going. We used the dice to decide the number if fords and their relative position along the river. The dice said that there was only one. 

In this game the bridge was not a objective. It is however an obstacle on the battlefield and will force the two combatants to decide how to divide their forces in the comming battle.

The Battlefield

We decided to cut down on the heavy tanks. We are running big battle Chain of Command, but we do wish to have a game of combined arms, not a Tank duel. Thus only T-26 and BT-5 were used. Finally we decided that the Russian who had the avantgarde of the river Ford would have one disadvantage. The Russians tanks would enter the field from one of the edges of the main road. Konf of player knew which side. The exact entry point would be random(using a dice to decide). The Finns on the other hand would be able to enter their T-26 from any position on the Finnish edge of the battlefield. This is a deviation from the basic CoC rulebook.  There are two reason behind this scenario feature:

A) to simulate a lack of tank and infantry coordination on the Russian side

B) to simulate the diffrence in technical reliabilty between the T-26 and the BT-5

The Choakehold - the Russians must face the Finnish Ambush before being able tu support Russian units on the other side of the River

We may or may not have exagerated the diffrences in combat effectivness between the BT-5 and the T-26, but at least the Finnish side considered the BT-5 to be mechanically a less reliable tank. 

Finns hiding behind a barn...waiting for the right opportunists to jump forth

In this game the Finnish side brought the main body of their force to the right side of the river, while the Russian tanks entered on the road from the left side. There where however some Finish infantry with anti-tank Guns in the woods near the Russian entry point. There were also a sizeable Russian infantry presence on the left side of the river. So the at the beginning of the game both side faced tanks with their infantry and vice versa. That meant that both sides needed to break through the infantry obstacle before they could face the other sides tanks.

Russians waiting for their Tank support

The Finns eventually managed to send some T-26 to support their infantry on the left side of the board. That created a choakehold. The Russian tanks were stuck on the left side and their infantry and jump-off points on the right side of the battlefield were outnumbered. Gradually this tilted the scale in order to favor the Finnish side.

A Finnish tank is brewing up....this scenario took it's toll among the AFV

 This was the first victory for the Finnish commander - a character named Captain Pentii Castroulius. He gained a new ability after this battle. He will be given a free medic to his units. From the start he was given the ability " The General's Nephew" and thus given +1 when it came to force support. The Russian side also gained a fe more abilities, but I will have to return to you about that in comming battle report.

The Russians stuck in the choakehold.....this spellt  the doom of the Russian infantry