Combat Commander After Action Report – Scenario 89 – Beneath a Steel Sky

Fresh off of finally playing Combat Commander on the table last Saturday, it was still nice to play an online game with one of my friends from the Combat Commander ladder.

It felt like a warm glove, familiar and practical, even though I was still feeling the thrill of having my hand out in fresh air as well.

Or something like that.

Wow, that was garbled. Sorry.

Anyway, welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament where snipers abound and men come back from the dead at the drop of a hat.

Run by the staunch Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame, the ladder lets you play one of the best games out there, at least once a month.

Maybe once a day if you’re up for it!

March’s scenario is from the “what if?” department, the Sea Lion battle pack with scenarios about the hypothetical German invasion of England. The German are attacking the British naval base at Porstmouth. A small force of stalwart British units is trying to hold back the German onslaught to give the British bombers time to destroy the facility and sink the remaining cruisers so they don’t fall into German hands.

I actually played this scenario with Eric Y back in February 2024, trying to guess what the next month’s scenario would be, and I really enjoy this one.

This month’s opponent was the esteemed Noel K, a friend who I have played a few pickup games with but this was our first time meeting “officially” on the ladder.

(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)

The British (tan – me) set up first, 10 hexes from the left side of the board.

The Germans (grey – Noel) set up last, 3 hexes from the right side.

After I see the German setup, I can then place the three Wire markers, which for some reason aren’t showing on the above picture, but will be there in the next one.

There are a few related special rules in this one.

First, after Time Track 3, all Snipers become bombing raid hits instead.

You don’t draw a random hex and choose whether or not to break a unit in or adjacent to that hex.

Instead, you draw a random hex and all units in that hex face a 10 FP attack, friendly or not.

Then, if it was a building hex, you place a Wire marker in it (removing all other fortifications). If it was an open ground hex, you place foxholes (removing all other fortifications).

After Time 5, the “All Exit Points Are Doubled” objective comes out.

Finally, the British molotov cocktails are plentiful, so when I use one, I immediately place it on the Time Track somewhere to come back out.

I enjoyed that one.

With that, let’s get started and see what happened!

Noel started by moving forward in the central building, assault firing at my guys in the south. I fired back at him as well.

Hence started our common problem of not being able to roll any high numbers on Fire attacks.

Noel then had the German Hero, Dietel (who had come in during my first opportunity fire), man the mortar and throw some smoke, enabling the central Germans to move down south.

I didn’t have a Fire card anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

Laurebach and company then advanced into the southern building, but Lauerbach found some tricky wire in that hex!

He was lodged in that for a long while.

With it looking like the main German thrust would be in the south, I started moving my lone squad in the background down to there. Maybe not the smartest move, but who knows?

I like to think of him as a Free Safety in football, roaming to catch everything.

Then the German advance in the north began, but Sgt Biermann stumbled upon a booby-trapped room in the dockhouse!

And, as is tradition with me, my Mines never seem to do any damage because I once again rolled terribly.

After some discarding, Noel discarded yet again, and I had drawn my Hidden Unit card!

Now suddenly a British Guards squad was down in the south, so my Free Safety could head back north.

After a bunch of ineffective firing and discarding, the Germans up north fired on Percival and his men in the central main objective building, and I promptly drew a Time trigger on one of my morale checks!

On Noel’s second shot, he drew a Time!

Big firepower, but two Time advances fairly quickly.

All of my guys were broken, but I had been holding on to a Recover card, so that was no problem.

I fired down south at Lauerbach with a molotov cocktail thrown across the street, suppressing him but a German sniper broke Percival again.

On my subsequent fire, though, Smythe (the British Hero) emerged from the building and promptly rallied Percival, which was good because I was out of Recover cards.

(This is kind of the way my luck went this scenario)

Especially because when Biermann moved out of the mines, my attack was again shitty, but a KIA event came out, which requires one broken unit to die.

Without Smythe, Percival would have been dead and my central defense would have been shattered.

In another bit of hilarity, this German move also produced the first of two Walking Wounded events, which of course don’t happen if there aren’t any casualties.

The German move also produced another German Time trigger, meaning we were beginning the British bombing runs (i.e. no more Snipers)

That, and my used molotov cocktail came back, right into the hands of the squad getting crowded.

More movement, a broken German squad that rallied, and then that squad moved around the back of the building in the north, moving into the Wire I had placed there.

That squad will become important later.

The British opened fire, including the squad with the newly-found molotov, but sadly nothing happened (except the 2nd Walking Wounded event)

The Germans fired back at the squad and it broke.

Feeling overwhelmed, even in its broken state, the squad ran back toward the central building, taking limited fire from the Germans on the Wire, and almost died!

But thankfully not.

An Advance order put him safely into the building.

The Germans up north moved (with the squad getting off of the Wire), and subsequent British fire caused another Time trigger! (And I forgot to shuffle my deck here, though I did before my deck would have run out).

I was able to draw a Recover, but sadly those Brits in the central building refused to rally, getting Suppressed again.

Now the Germans, all rallied and everything, tried desperately to kill that broken Brit, just to have something to show for all their firepower.

Noel rolled big, too!

It was a 19-attack against a 9 morale after cover.

If it hadn’t been for my two Concealment actions I had, which brought the firepower down to 13.

I barely passed that morale check, which made the play worth it!

The lone German squad moved again, throwing smoke out into the street, and then went out onto another road hex…and promptly stumbled into some Wire.

Really, this was the way my evening was going. Notice how I haven’t complained about luck at all?

Along those same lines, Noel started trying to concentrate on the squad on the northwest side of the building.

He actually got a good attack in, but I had drawn a Pillbox, giving me 2 additional cover.

Noel was finally able to Rout my broken squad (after numerous attempts by both him and me), and it went right next to the Objective 3 building.

Which was great, because I had an Advance card and could get him into cover (and prevent Noel from taking the building easily).

The German deck ran out, bringing us to Time 5 and now exit points would be doubled.

I had a 14-point lead and no easy route for my own exiting, so I didn’t think either of us would try that, even with the double points.

And I had finally drawn a Recover!

The squad quickly rallied and the one-on-one fight for two objective buildings would now commence.

Here’s the state of the map at that point.

Percival and his men fired on the northern Germans once again, breaking everybody and on the subsequent Rout attempt, I drew a Time.

The squad moved back and now we were on Time 6. One away from Sudden Death.

All the Germans rallied, so still nobody in danger of actually dying.

The German squad moved through British fire and into the foxholes caused by the British bombing.

I moved my squad adjacent to him so I’d have a good shot if he did anything.

I had been saving a Recover card for when Noel would finally be able to break somebody, but in yet another stroke of luck, said Recover card also had an Ambush.

Which was fortuitous because the German squad jumped into my hex for melee!

He had an Ambush, but so did I, so the strength was 2-2.

It would all come down to a die roll.

I drew a 10, which Noel couldn’t abide. He had been holding on to the Initiative with an iron grip all game, but it was time to use it.

I drew another 10.

Luck!

He drew an 8, which was also a sniper so could blow up some Brits, but it hit nowhere near anybody.

With Noel’s final chance to actually take the two victory point buildings (a 14-point swing and I had 17 points) going down in flames, he conceded.

There really wasn’t much else he could do.

Here’s the final map (not much different than the above except the absence of the German squad).

You know how I said that German squad would be important?

It was the only casualty this entire game.

That’s right, no other unit died at all. Not even died and came back with a Walking Wounded!

I love playing Noel. He knows his stuff (he reminded me of a couple of things I’d forgotten), he’s a great opponent, and also a great guy to talk to.

And we had a crowd watching us near the end too, which is always fun.

With that victory, I am 31-27 in my ladder career.

I have some cushion for the inevitable losses coming up!

Next month’s scenario is from the Leader of Men battle pack. Those scenarios are always interesting.

If you enjoyed this write-up, why not join us on the ladder, where you too can play a monthly game and also probably a bunch of other games as well?

I wasn’t kidding when I said you could play a game every day if you really wanted to.

My advice to you as I’m heading out is that Defend actions are good!

Combat Commander Ladder – After Action Reports

To see all of my Ladder After Action Reports since May 2021, go here!