There are so many new wargames each year it is really hard to play them all. However, it is always a good idea to come back to the great classics. In my boargame group it slowly becomes a tradition – in the Christmas / New Year time period – to always find a time to play Combat Commander Europe. Even if the rest of the year is dominated by other titles, in that period of time we will always find a while for CCE.

Some of our Combat Commander firefights (including Battle Packs):
#1 Fat Lipki, #3 A Midnight Clear, #4 Closed for renovation, #6 One Steppe Beyond, #10 Barbarossa Unleashed, #11 Hold the Line

This time we played super-short #8 Breakout Dance scenario.

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Initial set-up (click to enlarge)

The scenario presents the situation in 1941 – one of German divisions is encircled and cannot count on any support from outside. The order is clear – try to break out, in small groups, everybody for himself. In our game I was Germans, while Konrad tried to stop me with his Soviets.  I decided to put everything on one card – concentrating on right side of map. If I manage to break trough the top of the map – I will probably win!

Let us see how did it go!

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Situation as it unfolded during the scenario (click to enlarge)

Below detailed session report:

  1. My German units quickly moved forward; unfortunately, once I played “Move” twice, I virtually did not get that card for many turns
  2. Of course, Konrad’d Soviets immediately regrouped (although he also had weak cards for moves)
  3. A very intense firefight ensue, which causes 2 causalities on my side…
  4. But incoming Russian reinforcements are severely weakened by my fire…
  5. …and I managed to lure them for melee fight, where my Germans dispatched two Soviet squads! Unfortunately, Konrad’s counter-attack (in melee) killed all my units… We re-rolled multiple times, switching the initiative but in the end I had to accept defeat.

Result:

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Final losses on both sides (click to enlarge)

The plan was solid, but as usually, did not survived confrontation with the reality… Still, that was a gamble which could potentially win me the whole scenario. On a side note, I hope we will manage to play CCE still this Christmas Season!