Chain of Command - Somewhere in Holland 1944

Just a few snapshots of a recent game of Chain of Command we had at my place. It saw an American advance column facing off against German Fallschirmjäger somewhere in Holland late summer 1944.
Both forces were regular and had minimal support, i.e. no tanks or other flights of fancy.
The Germans started off with a Force Morale rating of 10, where as the Americans had to make do with a mere 8.

The attackers table edge

The objective for the Americans was to exit on the opposite table edge, while the Fallschirmjäger obviously sought to prevent just that.

The American forces had opted for a pre-game barrage as part of their support options and thus, after the patrol phase was completed, managed to advance relatively far towards their objective before German troops even managed to arrive on the table.

German Fallschirmjäger deploy into the woods on the lower right table edge

But when the Germans arrived all went pear shaped for the American player. With their first action almost the complete American advance squad was wiped out while their Junior leader was wounded causing the first roll on the Force Morale chart.

American return fire was largely ineffective causing just two pins which were swiftly rallied off in the next German phase and the Fallschirmjäger unleashed hell once more upon the hapless Americans. This caused the already reduced American squad to first loose their leader and than break due to excessive shock. Causing two further rolls on the Force Morale chart.

Again American fire proofed to be largely ineffective against the Germans in the woods, causing a single casualty and a pin. A lucky command roll allowed the Fallschirmjäger to end the turn and thus causing the broken American squad to flee off the table causing a Force Morale roll once again.

With just three points of Force Morale it was just a matter of time till the Germans caused another roll on the Force Morale chart. But now the American commander pushed forward his Senior Leader in order to more effectively rally shock off his second squad which was facing heavy German fire in almost the same spot where their comrades had suffered at the hands of the Germans.
With most shock rallied off he thought ready to once more take to the offensive in the next turn and get rid of those stubborn Fallschirmjäger squad in the wood, which was still blocking the way to victory.

German reinforcements appear in the ruins

But alas it was not to be. A lucky German bullet killed said Senior Leader and another catastrophic roll on the Force Morale chart saw the American resolve finally crumble. The Germans had managed to blunt the American advance and had bought valuable time for their comrades to prepare better defensive positions.

Throughout the whole game the Germans suffered just two casualties where as the Americans lost a whole squad, a senior leader and a few more guys. But in the end it wasn't so much the casualties inflicted on the Americans but my opponents abysmal rolling on the Force Morale chart that had won the game for me.

It may read as if it was a pretty one sided game, but it definitely wasn't. If morale hadn't deserted the Americans, which were definitely suffering from the pretty bad pre-game morale roll,  they certainly would have had the necessary numerical strength to force a breakthrough.