Operation Martlet Campaign - Games 1&2

Today we have started a new campaign for Chain of Command using Operation Martlet, the latest pint-sized booklet published by TooFatLardies a few weeks ago. Martlet was the prequel to operation Epsom in Normandy and put the players in command of the element of both the 49th Division and the 12th SS Hitlerjunged Division.

We had the opportunity to play 2 games, the first an outright victory for the British and the second for the Germans when the British decided to retreat. A main historical issue in this campaign was the effect of the morning fog in the deployment of the British units, which is treated by the campaign and had a clear impact in our performance.

Game 1
The first game corresponds to a scenario 2 "The probe" of the main rulebook. To achieve victory, the British must exit at least one unit through the German tactical edge. The power of the patrol phase to win a game was demonstrated today, when we won the game in two activations thanks to our performance in the pregame phase.

The table from the German side

Episode 1 - Dragones in Crisis...

As regular readers of the blog know, a group of members of Club Dragón planned several months ago to attend Crisis in Antwerp, one of the most recommended wargames events in Continental Europe. As the dates also coincided with a long week-end in Madrid, we extended the trip to 5 days in total, intending to visit some of the famous battlefields around: Waterloo, Arnhem and Bastogne/Ardennes.

Crisis is organised by a local wargames club (The TinSoldiers of Antwerp) and 2015 marked the 20^th anniversary of this event. The theme of the show this year was... Waterloo!! (surprise, surprise)

The show occupied two quite large former store buildings in Antwerp harbour, and despite the large crowd of wargamers and traders attending, there was enough space to walk around... nothing like the oppressive atmosphere I felt in 2012 in London’s Salute.

We arrived just 15 minutes before the official opening and a large and long queue was already forming. I was having nightmares remembering how long it took me to enter Salute, but to my surprise it was quite efficiently managed and by 10.10 we were inside (kuddos to the organisers!!)

Almost all usual suspects in the hobby were present there (nothing to envy to Salute in that respect) and it was also a good opportunity to meet some less well know manufacturers that offer good quality niche products  at competitive prices too.

Back from Crisis 2015

Long hiatus in the blog, but more than justified as I have been out travelling around Belgium and Holland after attending Crisis 2015 in antwerp. Just landed last night and obviously have lack the time to start organising even my thoughts, not say the photos (over 700 taken...)

I plan to write several posts on Crisis, each of the battlefield visits (Waterloo, Arnhem, Ardennes/Bastogne) and about the Military Museum in Brussels.

Be patient, please...

Ramps Down!

I could not make to the club today but have been in an email exchange  and being sent several photos from the Pacific Theatre game played this morning. It was a test game of "Ramps Down!" the seaborne invasion supplement for the incoming Second World War close combat skirmish rules "Rattenkrieg" written by my friend and owner of Barrage Miniatures, Alf Comps jointly with (my also friend) Alejandro Lozano.

These set of rules have been in an extended testing phase since early this year; but according to my proprietary sources :-) they will be released before Christmas. You can download an excerpt of the rules here.


Although the focus of Rattenkrieg is urban close combat fighting with infantry and armoured support, the game this morning was aiming to test the core mechanism using a larger amount of troops and in a sea-landing environment.  The first results look promising, although some tweaks will be needed as well as incorporating other extended support options.

"5th Platoon" - A CoC Arnhem Campaign #5 and Final

Fourth and final game of 5^th Platoon, the Arnhem Campaign for Chain of Command published in issue 74 of Wargames,Soldiers & Strategy magazine. As expected, a straight win for the British, given the really bad state of the German forces after three consecutive lost games.

This final game was an “Attack on an objective” scenario of the main book, and the British had to take the crossroads in the east side of the map. The map shown only two ways to approach the crossroads:  north of the road, totally open flat terrain, likely to be a suicidal attack; south of the road, hopping from house to house until reaching the line of German defense… guess what route the British players chose.

Operation Martlet - New Campaign Supplement for Chain of Command

Operation Martlet was published this week, a new 28 pages campaign supplement for Chain of Command in the "Pint-Size" campaign series. This operation is the prequel to the better known Operation Epsom in Normandy (June 1944) and involved the British 49th Infantry Division and elements of the German Hitlerjugend Division. The supplement will last between 6 and 11 games and contains the maps, army lists and support necessary to play.

As usual, the booklet includes lots of interesting historical stuff to put in context your games. The unrivalled cost (GBP3.6) is the cost of a pint of beer in the pub frequently visited by Richard Clarke in his home town St Albans... a shame he does not live in Spain, where beer is significantly cheaper.

"5th Platoon" - A CoC Arnhem Campaign #4

The game of the “5th Platoon” Arnhem Campaign for Chain of Command published in Issue 74 of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy played this morning, concluded in a third straight defeat of the German forces. With only one more game to go and the moral rating of the Germans at worrisome low levels, I believe it will be difficult not to say impossible, to stopping the British in the final scenario.

The German players decided to use his first wild-car option and to launch a counterattack. This wild-car allows the Germans to roll "2d6+6" support points only for one scenario which together with the difference in rating between the German regular and the British paras elite, provided a good bag of additional forces.

As we were playing “Big CoC” in this campaign, we ended up with 40+ points, enabling to buy 4 infantry sections, 2 Jagdpanzers IV and a couple of 250/10 armoured vehicles (armed with a an MG and a 20mm gun).

Plenty of useful stuff but being regular not too many command dice to manage as effectively as one could wish all these forces; with the moral levels already low from the previous games, the risk of falling into the red area where you start losing additional command dice and jump-off points was already high... as it finally happened.