16/08/2026
Yesterday, Dave, Tim, and I fought a great game of Chain of Command set during the Sicilian campaign. On one side stood the might of the British 8th Army; on the other, the Italian forces defending their homeland.
The battlefield was laid out on a 6 x 6 ft table, with scratch-built buildings by Phil from Tinned Fruit Building and Tobruk Models. The hedges and trees came from The Last Valley, while the 28mm figures were mostly from Perry Miniatures and Empress Miniatures, with a few Warlord Games miniatures mixed in.
As the attackers, the British received 30 points of support. This included two M4 Sherman tanks, a Staghound armoured car, an additional rifle section, a Vickers MMG and a forward observer to call in mortar bombardments.
The Italians, fielded as regular infantry, received 15 points—half the attacker’s total—plus two extra points to balance the Force Rating. With these, the Italian commander selected an MMG team, a 20mm Oerlikon cannon, an M47/32 (I think), a Cannone da 47/32 anti-tank gun and, finally, a medic.
The game was played lengthwise along the table, allowing both sides to patrol aggressively. This led to some excellent jump-off point placements, particularly for the Italians, who moved quickly and positioned themselves well to cover two main approaches to the objective.
Once the JOPs were set, the British began their attack on the Italian defences. In the first few phases, they deployed two of their four sections, the Vickers MMG team and the Staghound. Fortunately for the Italians, the British commander revealed his main axis of attack earlier than expected, allowing the Italian commander to counter by deploying one section into a two-storey warehouse that formed a central strongpoint against the advance. Troops occupied both floors and were placed on overwatch.
With one Italian section deployed, the British commander shifted his axis of attack from a frontal assault to the right flank. He brought on one of his M4 Shermans to support the flanking section. To draw attention away from the move, he pushed a central section forward in a dash through the wheatfield near the Italian infantry position.
However, the Italian commander, a veteran of the Russian campaign, anticipated the British move and held his troops ready. They did not wait long. As the M4 Sherman crossed the Italian flank, the Italian commander revealed his anti-tank gun from ambush. Crack—boom! The first shot struck the Sherman’s flank but only forced the tank to turn towards the threat. Luck remained with the Italians: in the next phase, another hit struck the Sherman’s frontal armour, wounding the crew commander and inflicting two shock on the remaining crew.
With the flank attack under heavy fire, the British pushed their supporting infantry past the Sherman, moving them into position to rush the Italian anti-tank gun on the next turn. Unfortunately for them, the veteran Italian commander had not deployed his main anti-tank asset in isolation. He quickly ordered his MMG team to fire on the British infantry, catching them in the open and causing several casualties. On the opposite flank, he brought on another support asset, the 20mm Oerlikon, which soon poured devastating fire into the other British section.
Facing the sudden arrival of more Italian troops and seeing his deployed sections under heavy, accurate fire, the British commander committed his remaining assets: the second M4 Sherman, the last two infantry sections and a 3-inch mortar barrage. He also ordered the section under MMG fire to charge the gun. This proved unwise; the MMG was inside a building and repulsed the British attack with ease.
The attack began to bog down, especially when the planned mortar barrage failed to land on target. As the British attack started to lose momentum, the Italian commander brought forward his small self-propelled gun. This little beast proved highly effective, halting British infantry attacks on both flanks and even forcing the Staghound to seek cover.
Nevertheless, with British morale falling fast, the British commander finally found the target round and ordered fire for effect. The accurate mortar barrage, combined with MMG fire, quickly neutralised the Italian infantry on the top floor of the warehouse, killing nine men, including the senior leader. Even so, the Italians were not finished and still had more troops to bring forward.
In the final phase, the Italian commander deployed his last section straight into close combat with a British section that had already suffered hits from a gr***de dropped from the warehouse’s top floor. The result was grim for the British: the remaining infantry lost their Bren team and section commander. With British morale down to two, the commander called off the attack and withdrew his remaining troops from the field.
Thanks again to Dave and Tim for being such great opponents and for making it such an enjoyable game.
