This article describes a WWII wargame, using COMMAND DECISION. The game had seven players (myself, Tom Edwards, Larry Haberkern, Tom Dew, Robbie McCloud, Kevin Carroll, and Craig Gephardt). Larry and Tom Dew were experienced with the rules and so took command of the U.S. and German forces respectively. The description of the action will be based on my own somewhat limited view of events. WWII is a new period for me; my major interest to date having been Horse and Musket. Therefore, many of my descriptions will doubtless seem crude to more experienced readers, but I hope you will bear with me.
We played the game in Tom Edwards' basement, in one of the best gaming environments ever: carpeting, good lighting, even heat. The table was 6'x8', with the terrain depicting a minor river line somewhere in Western Germany, i n 1944. Tom Edwards and I joined Larry as the Americans, with the otherfour beingthe Axis players. The scenario was three battalions of U.S. "leg" infantry, backed up by supporting hardware, defending the river line against a powerful SS Panzerassault. The names on the map are my own invention, for reference purposes.
After laying out the terrain, the German players sat down at the table to plan their attack; after they were done, we Americans went downstairs and set up our defence. While upstairs, Larry gave Tom and me a quick synopsis of the rules, and the capabilities of the troops. He gave Tom and me one battalion each, keeping the third battalion and the support equipment for himself. Larry also acted as our regimental commander, since neither Tom nor I had ever played these rules.
I spent most of my time learning about my infantry battalion, which consisted of: Three companies of infantry, each of one command element and three platoons. Each platoon received three rounds of bazooka fire. One bazooka platoon had unlimited ammunition. There were also one medium machinegun, one heavy machinegun, two 57mm anti-tank guns with light trucks for transport, one battalion command element, and one 81 mm mortar. Larry took my mortar and Tom's, however, and massed them to the rear with his.
Unfortunately, I had little time to spare learning exactly what Larry's support equipment was. All I really knew was that he had some Shermans, and that I could request indirect fire from a battery of 105 howitzers, or from the mortar battery. While this situation might detract from the game description, it did simulate the partial ignorance under which a "raw" battalion commander would probably be operating.
All I knew about the German forces came from snippets of conversation I heard from downstairs while they were setting up. The German players were muttering about Tiger tanks, Panzer IV tanks, and "armored infantry" (whatever that was). I knew pretty well what Tigers and Panzers were, but I'd never heard of armored infantry except in CHAINMAIL [Medieval Skirmish rules - ED.]. I was going to find out soon enough what they were.
The COMMAND DECISION rules use little order chits to denote how far and in what direction a unit will move. The players place these next to their units each turn. Movement and fire are simultaneous. Movement rates are generous (8" for infantry and 40" for halftracks, for example). There can be up to three fire phaes per turn, and many weapons can fire more than once per phase. My AT guns, for example, had a rate of fire of "3", meaning I could fire up to 9 shots per turn in the right circumstances. However, guns and tanks have limited ammunition. My AT guns had 15 rounds of fire, with 4 rounds of "HVAP" fire. The action is thus fast and furious. To simulate hidden movement with no referee, the rules use domino chips to represent each unit. Spotting is not always automatic. The observer must roll a die to spot a given chip (the rules use 10sided dice).
The victory conditions for this game called for holding the Pragnitz Heights, the Factory, and Kobelhoff. There was no set time limit for the game. I talked Larry into abandoning the Heights and concentrating our strength to defend the other two objectives. The Heights, being across the river, seemed to be an unrealistic objective. Accordingly, Larry placed my battalion guardingthe tree lines alongthe Plessbach, and holding the barbed wire between the tree lines and Kobelhoff. Perhaps this was a punishment for my brash suggestion about strategy. Tom was given the Wooded Hill and the river line to its west. Larry put his battalion in Kobeloff and atop Hobel Hill, with his support weapons in and behind the Factory. Once our chips were in place, we called the Germans downstairs and the battle was on. My sphere of attention shrank immediately to the ground my battalion occupied. As a result,my memories of the rest of the battle are a little vague. Again, this simulates the fog of war pretty well, but detracts from the overall narrative.
The Germans swept onto the table from the east with about three full boxes worth of domino chips, a sight to quail the stoutest heart. I had four dummy counters which I sent across the Plessbach, hoping they would look like an infantry company. I posted B and C companies i n the cover of the western tree line, with the machineguns and bazooka team to their rear. A company held the barbed wire, along with the AT guns. The river was only a minor obstacle to tanks and infantry, but was impassable to wheeled or halftracked vehicles.
Tom Dew, whom I faced, must have been in a cautious mood that day. He did not charge into the eastern tree line at once, but only advanced about halfway to it. My men spotted off a few dummy chips, and Larry's spotter atop Grabel Hill spotted a number of halftracks and passenger infantry. Apparently this was the armored infantry. Larry managed to drop some howitzer rounds into them as they rumbled forward, but did not do serious damage. By the time Tom's troops reached the tree lines, they had all been spotted. He had perhaps 15 halftracks and appropriate infantry.
Tom quickly spotted off my dummies and occupied the first tree line. B and C companies engaged the German first line in a firefight, with both sides calling in howitzer fire. I now discovered that armored infantry has a rate of fire of "2" (each platoon rolls two dice per fire phase). COMMAND DECISION represents a platoon by a single stand of two figures, rather like ON TO RICHMOND. A vehicle represents 4-5 actual pieces of equipment. Three hits would destroy a veteran platoon (all of ourtroops were veterans in this game), and two would force it back one move. Band C companies had to cut and run after only two turns due to the enemy's vastly superior fire, but did some damage in return. As the U.S. troops regrouped (well, routed, really), Tom dismounted his infantry and began crossing the Plessbach.
I formed a second line of defence halfway to Kobelhoff, setting up my MG's and turning A company to face the threat to their flank. B and C companies were in bad shape, with all platoons hit at least once, and C company was demoralized to boot. To add to the fun, a Panzer IV and Three Tiger I's suddenly appeared on the crest of Hobel Hill. The 57mm guns went into desperate action, pumping out all their HVAP and then some. By the end of the next turn they had been destroyed. However, their fire was better than I hoped; the Panzer and one Tiger had been knocked out, and a second Tiger was damaged.
During this same time, the armored infantry had little trouble forcing my infantry back into Kobelhoff. C company, in fact, kept right on going, and took no further part in the battle. The two Tigers punished A company with high explosive fire, causing me to yell at Larry for some smoke screen cover, while I tried to pull my troops together inside Kobelhoff. Larry obligingly dropped a smokescreen in front of the remnants of my battalion as it retreated. He might have saved his trouble though, because the enemy dropped a screen in the same spot, to cover the advance of their armor and infantry across the Plessbach.
A company occupied the easternmost building, with B company behind in the road. The two MG's and the battalion command hid inside the adjacent building to the north. Larry moved two dominos up from the Factory next to these buildings, but I had no time to look and see what they were. The reason was that two more Panzer IV's appeared over Graben Hill and began pummeling A company with HE. The infantry answered with their bazooka fire, including that from the bazooka platoon. After two more turns, poor A company had been shredded and was fleeing back toward the Factory. But the Axis paid, losing one more of their Panzer IV's.
By this time the Tigers,joined by a Wirbelwind AA tank, and supported by the armored infantry, were in position for their assault on Kobelhoff. All I had left was two MG stands (each with two hits), a couple of platoons from B company, and the bazooka platoon. Larry lifted his smokescreen and the Germans lifted theirs at the same time. I guess great minds think alike. This revealed Larry's dominos as a pair of Sherman 75's.
I opened up on the infantry with my MG fire and blew off my last rounds of bazooka fire. Larry hit the Tigers with his Shermans, plus direct fire from a 105 howitzer behind the railroad embankment. Both sides began dropping indirect artillery fire into the cauldron as well. The Tigers and the AA tank replied, helped by the remaining Panzer and by their infantry fire. When the smoke cleared, two turns later, the Shermans and the Tigers had been wrecked and a lucky bazooka shot had wrecked the AA tank. The armored infantry was weakened, and B company had hit the road to join its fellows back nearthe Factory. By some miracle, the two MG stands were still in action, having not suffered any hits.
The sight of all their best armor smoking in front of Kobelhoff gave the Germans pause. Larry added to their consternation by gleefully displaying a huge pile of dominos inside the Factory, still waiting. The final blow was a failure of a German infantry assault on Graben Hill. The Germans called off their attack, and the U.S. players were glad to take a tactical victory, holding two of the three objectives.
Nearthe Wooded Hill, Tom still enjoyed nearly full strength with his battalion. The Germans there had occupied the Heights but never seriously tried to cross the Plessbach. One of their armored cars on that flank had been wrecked, and they seem to have had orders not to go past the river. Whatever their reasons, the Germans there held pretty much the same ground for the whole battle.
It was a great battle, very enjoyable, despite having to watch the disintegration of my command. Such are the fortunes of war. Both sides made good use of smoke and infantry, two factors absent from so many WWII games. The Germans had rotten tank luck; statistically, they should have had little trouble from the bazookas. The rules were fast-moving, and the players spent relatively little time arguing over them. The fastest part of each turn was movement. The slowest was cross-indexing the numerous firing and spotting charts. COMMAND DECISION seems to be an excellent set of rules, but unfortunately there is no data for the Japanese forces, which seems to be a major ommision. Perhaps a later supplement will appear for the Pacific Theater.
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