1940 Meuse - The campaign fought

Michael and I got together last weekend to play out the 1940 Meuse - CoC Pint-Sized Campaign... yes the whole campaign! We managed to get three games in on Saturday and one on Sunday in the Trenton Gaming Emporium (it's amazing the amount of gaming two guys can get through when left on their own).

Rather than go through three AARs, it's enough to know that the French, commanded by me, went down in flames before the German onslaught, ably coordinated by Michael. Some memorable moments occurred, chronicled in the photo review below. It is also enough to know that I am now 0-15 against Michael when he is commanding 1940 Germans. I'm sure it has mostly to do with fatherly benevolence and scenarios unbalanced in favour of the dastardly Huns. Yes, I'm quite sure that's it!

One other note springs to mind: the apparent disregard for personal safety exhibited at the French platoon command level throughout the campaign. The original platoon commander was seriously wounded and captured, his replacement killed outright, and the second replacement routed from the table. C'est incroyable!

Scenario 1 - The Patrol

 German baseline at the top of the photo, French at the bottom.

The core French force.

The core German force (unfortunately out of focus).

German armoured cars make an end run for a French Jump Off point (just visible at the bottom left of the photo).

French AT gun and rifle grenadiers deploy to cover the German advance... unfortunately too late to stop the speedy German armoured cars (visible at the top left). This was mostly due to a German pre-game barrage that apparently completely disoriented the French commander.

Meanwhile, German infantry de-busses in cover at the centre of the battlefield and French infantry deploy to counter. As it turned out, these movements meant little to the final outcome.

A French R35 deploys to counter the German armoured cars. The foremost armoured car single-handedly dropped the French morale by four points by racing forward and capturing the French JoP and taking out the R35 with its quick-firing 20mm auto-cannon. Quite spectacular!

Scenario 2 - Probing Chaumont

German infantry and pesky armoured cars race forward to threaten the central French JoP in the woods. At this point, the French platoon commander was getting quite tired of the armoured cars.

A French S35 (painted many moons ago by Captain Dan from RedOverBlue) deploys to counter the armoured cars threatening the French JoP (again.... sigh!).

Some payback! The S35 brews up a German Sd222 armoured car.

Limited French success in the campaign deserves a second photo.

No photos from scenarios 3 & 4. Probably a good thing since there was nothing positive to report from a French perspective (who cares about the German perspective? ... certainly not me!).