Script: Company Challenge 3- British Rifle Coy (Patreon)

Phew. Played through, scripted, recorded and cut... just need to sort the footage out.

I did try to make this month's (next months?) bonus video last night by converting the scenario into CMFI and talking my way through it, but alt-tabbing between desktop, browser, explorer, CMBN and CMFI didn't record very well. So the audio exists, but you can mostly see the mouse moving around on the CMFI splash screen while I talk about things you can't see.

So... probably going in a different direction once this is out of the way.

***

Welcome back to our third entry into the Company Challenge, where we’re going to take the British rifle company out for a day at La Grande Hameau. This one is going to be interesting because the Brits weigh in at 506 points in Combat Mission’s force selector: significantly less than the German 44b Grenadiers at 704 and the American Rifle 44 at 761.

The Brits

This certainly tracks: the British rifle company occupies a kind of awkward middle ground between the Americans and the Germans, combining elements of both but without taking them to the same extremes.

So we have sections that are built around the light machinegun like the Germans… except the British LMG is the Bren gun and that simply can’t generate as much firepower as the German MG34 or MG42. Each section also has 8 riflemen, so we’re approaching the massed rifles of the Americans, though with bolt action instead of semi-automatic weapons leading to, again, less firepower.

What we end up with, in theory, is a halfway house where the section’s firepower is balanced between the LMG and rifles in a way where neither of them are that effective on their own.

Each British platoon also has an organic light mortar team, which we can replicate with the US by distributing the American 60mm mortars from their weapons platoon. But the British 2in mortar has significantly less ammunition: a fatal flaw for an indirect weapon that usually takes a few rounds to get on target in the first place.

Notably, the Brits lack organic weapons teams at company level. While the Americans have a weapons platoon and the Germans have a machinegun section, the British rifle company is all about the rifle platoons, with heavier assets concentrated a level higher with the battalion headquarters company.

Vehicles?

It does have a couple of unique elements though. The British army of WW2 was one of the most highly motorised and organic to the rifle company we have a truck, a jeep with a radio and a universal carrier.

These represent a pretty significant boost in points cost: with their organic vehicles, the Brits jump from 506 points to 627. But they don’t really represent an increase in combat power for the purposes of our test. We’re testing infantry companies against each other here: it wouldn’t be very helpful, or I think very sensible, to lead with the carrier.

But at the same time, they do bring important reserves of ammunition and that’s definitely a variable we’re tracking.

So what I’ve done is kept the basic points cost listed and added the points including vehicles in brackets. I’ve also gone back and done that with the American Rifle 44 company, because they have two jeeps in the weapons platoon that serve the same purpose.

Planning

With that little caveat out of the way, what does the British Rifle ToE mean for my planning in this scenario? Where do I get my firepower from and how can I deploy it to enable my troops to advance and destroy the enemy.

Well, we have that halfway house. Squad level firepower mostly comes from the Bren gun, though there are another 8 rifles in each squad backing it up. So when I want to mass fires, I effectively need to mass both Brens and riflemen.

But each platoon also has its 2in mortar, which is primarily intended to put down smoke. This is a very different enabler to raw firepower.

I do think I want to take advantage of it though. Looking at the left flank, we have a very narrow corridor, the exact kind of avenue of attack where smoke can be used very efficiently.

If I punch up that flank, I can get behind the objective and clear it out from the rear. That could prove problematic, because I think in smaller unit actions the Germans are going to have a firepower advantage, so I’m going to use the off-map medium mortars to keep them suppressed.

These are going to go in on a harassing mission through the middle of the farm complex that will last about 20 minutes. If I give it a 5 minute delay as well, I should have plenty of time to penetrate up the flank and get into position to exploit. With luck, the prolonged bombardment will have shaken the defenders up pretty well.

Kick Off

And I do seem to be lucky, at least to start with.

One Platoon is leading the way down the left with a scout team covered by a section and the platoon light mortar and they don’t get any kind of contact until they reach the edge of the first field. Here, a German infantry team behind the hedgerow on the right side of the centre left compound opens up on them.

That was a mouthful, so I’ve gone ahead and numbered all the buildings to make this and future runs easier to communicate. I’ll leave a link to the map in the description down below but in short, I’ve split la Grande Hameau into three sectors: Yellow at the top, Red on the left and Blue on the right; then numbered all the buildings, with the exception of the White House, which can remain the White House.

This should hopefully streamline things a bit: saying that the enemy are engaging from the Red 10 hedgerow is a lot easier than trying to describe the position every time.

In any case, I don’t really have a good way to deal with these Germans. I can put a little bit of fire out from the Bren team following the scouts, but the sections of 2 Platoon lining the opposite hedgerow in the centre left corridor can’t actually draw enough line of sight to take them under fire and I don’t want to waste precious 2in mortar ammunition.

At the same time, something blows up in the fields near my troops: it looks like there’s that panzershreck team at the end of the far left corridor again, so I need to get a move on.

Punching the scouts across the track on the left reveals that the enemy infantry over by Red 10 doesn’t seem to be able to cover that keyhole, so I can just bypass them and keep going, ordering 1 Platoon’s 2in mortar to start dumping HE on the Panzershreck.

Punching Left

With that looking suppressed, I bring up more of my lead section and close in on the corner of the next field over. If there’s one enemy team over by Red 10, this is a sensible place to deploy the other half of that squad.

Closing in to enfilade that chunk of hedgerow, 3 Section 1 Platoon immediately comes under fire. The section leader and one of the scouts go down and they’re quickly pinned. They get over it by the start of the next turn though and wipe the offending German fire team out with a couple of lucky grenades.

That’s good news… further back however, 3 Section’s Bren team is moving up to join them and the Panzershreck team nails them with a rocket. I’m steadily pushing more men down that left-hand corridor. Most of 1 Platoon is now in motion, accompanied by the company 2iC and sniper team, and clearly the HE from the 2in isn’t effectively suppressing the enemy.

I had intended to try and save that team’s smoke ammunition for crossing the road at the far end, but obviously I’m going to need it to close with and destroy that Panzershreck team.

The 2in does sterling work getting its first smoke round on target… but it only fires one round. Over the course of the next few turns, it refuses to fire any more. This is a bug that crops up every now and again with on-map mortars: the team is just cancelling the smoke order the instant the turn starts.

Which is, obviously, incredibly annoying- not least to the pixeltruppen at the other end of the corridor who now have to press on without any smoke. But at the same time, weapon failure is a real world problem. It happens. And when it does, it can reveal issues with force design.

In this case, I decided not to bring another 2in into the fight in case they suffered the same problem- I want to save them for later- switched 1 Platoon’s mortar back to HE and kept moving forward.

The Panzershreck team proves a pain to suppress. The sections up front struggle to find line of sight through the wheat and 2 section, back with the 2in, is 350m away and can’t really put down effective area fire.

The Germans take out two more men with another rocket, but not before the snipers advancing up the map edge take MG fire from Building Yellow 3. This has an enemy tripod-mounted MG in the attic, adding to the casualty list.

Despite that, I’m able to get the 2iC team and one section, minus its PIAT, up to the road, pop smoke and take the plunge.

Pausing at the hedgerow opposite instead of sprinting through was a big mistake: the smoke cover isn’t fantastic and 1 section loses two men to MG fire from an anti-tank gun contact near Building Yellow 10.

But they have lobbed another smoke grenade and a lucky supporting mortar bomb has landed in the middle of the road further down, throwing up a cloud of dust. I throw the 2iC team across on the next turn, taking advantage of the smoke and dust, and they manage to take out the Panzershreck team.

That’s great news: I’m now across the road, the far left corridor is secure and I can start working my way around the back of the objective.

Yellow 3

Next on my hit list is Yellow 3, with the HMG in the attic. In preparation for that though, I need to get more men across the road and clear out buildings Yellow 1 and 2. It’s easy enough to push the rest of One Platoon up, though I’m starting to feel like I’m running out of smoke grenades, but I keep the platoon PIAT back.

Getting fire onto Yellow 3 from the rear or flank is awkward: the best direction is from the front. 2 Platoon is starting to advance, but still has some men on the opposite hedgerow who can fire on the upper floors: the range is long though and that lacklustre section firepower isn’t going to be very effective.

So I send the PIAT team out along the track and take up a position on the closer hedgerow facing Yellow 3. Their line of sight keeps getting blocked by drifting smoke as I keep crossing the road, but when it clears they’re able to start putting PIAT bombs into the attic.

6 83mm HEAT warheads later, a couple of teams from One Platoon storm Yellow 3 from the rear. Most of the enemy HMG team are already dead in the attic, courtesy of the PIAT, and the lone survivor on the ground floor is quickly finished off.

With Yellow 3 secure, I have a solid foothold and can start clearing my way through the objective from left to right… if I don’t run out of time.

We’re now 28 minutes into the battle: twelve turns left, 8 buildings to clear and plenty of angry defenders to get through.

Clearing Woes

Some of whom are, of course, in the White House where they open fire from the upper floor into 1 Platoon’s teams behind the objective.

1 Platoon is starting to get a bit ragged by now: 2 Platoon has come up and they’re in position for me to start pushing them across the road to reinforce. I want to do this a bit closer to the centre and cut out the run around the back of the objective, but as well as the enemy AT gun sited at the end of the road on the right with its MG toting ammo bearer team, another enemy team opens fire from Building Yellow 6.

This complicates the clearing on the other side of the road: Yellow 6 is in defilade from the rear and the approach is covered by the ever stubborn White House. I can’t effectively suppress Yellow 6 with 2 Platoon because it’s got a bit of a keyhole down the street. The sniper team is taking potshots, but without any obvious effect.

What I decide to do to try and circumvent this problem is smoke the road, get some teams across into the Yellow 4-5 compound and knock the wall between them and Yellow 6 down with a PIAT. That way, they can take Yellow 6 under fire more effectively.

So, behind a load of smoke, elements of 2 Platoon make the dash. They don’t take any fire as they cross, but when they enter the compound the Germans in the White House open up on them: turns out they can see over the wall.

Even worse, not only does the PIAT team refuse to use their PIAT for urban remodelling, but one of the compound wall’s corners has already been knocked down by an 81mm mortar bomb. This has created a narrow, but effective keyhole for the antitank gun, which starts contributing 75mm HE shells to the party.

Meanwhile, 1 Platoon continues to trade fire with the White House without gaining any kind of advantage.

The break finally comes when 2 Platoon’s 2in mortar knocks down the compound wall with HE and exposes Yellow 6 to a new injection of firepower. At the same time, I have more men getting across the road to reinforce the attack and, critically, the enemy in the White House suffer a drop off in fire.

First, the MG42 stops firing to reload, then one of the supporting riflemen gets hit. The Germans are quickly suppressed and abandon their position at the upper window.

Rapidly trying to exploit, I push more teams up- including 1 Platoon’s HQ and their recalcitrant light mortar.

They’re able to get into position on the low bocage behind buildings Yellow 6, 7 and 8.

Now under fire from two sides, complete with the occasional 2in mortar bomb hitting the roof, the Germans inside Yellow 6 rapidly lose the will to fight.

There are now five minutes left.

I send a team to secure Yellow 6, but they run into a wall of MG fire. The enemy in White House are back up and running, having regrouped on the ground floor where they can enfilade the back door of the adjacent buildings.

Endgame

By now I do have more men on the bocage behind the buildings though and they’re able to quickly suppress the White House again.

With two minutes to go, I get teams into Yellow 6 and the White House where they find enemy soldiers trying to surrender.

But there are more across the street. German teams in Red 2 and Blue 1 open up as I start flooding the objective buildings. I’m not too concerned with them: not only because I just don’t have the time to deal with them, but because I need to sanitise the objective area and they’re not in it.

Despite that, the enemy rapidly crumbles. There are casualties on both sides, but evidently it’s all too much for them and they start surrendering.

With one final lunge, I manage to secure the PaK 40 and it’s two surviving crewmen sitting there with their hands up… then the timer runs out.

Endex

It’s a total victory for the British. I’ve managed to clear out the objective area, just.

In the process, I’ve taken 25 casualties out of 113. That’s 22% in raw numbers or 14% combat power according to CM. The Germans have lost 38 out of 60 men, including 12 POWs, which translates into 63% raw numbers and 54% combat power.

The Brits have maintained their ammunition and condition states above 70%, according to the game, and by the actual count they’ve got 74.75% of their starting ammunition remaining.

Leaderboard

So, where does this put the British rifle company on our leaderboard? For the most part, they slot right in behind the US Rifle 44 and German Grenadier 44b. They secured the objective, but took the highest and inflicted the lowest percentage casualties.

The only area where they buck the trend is in percentage ammunition remaining: the Brits have the most ammo left at the end of the battle. I wouldn’t necessarily class that as a positive indicator though: sure, the Brits are in a better ammunition state at the end of the battle, but that’s because they really struggled to put a lot of fire out and because I consciously bypassed enemy positions where I could.

So I think it’s fair to slot them into third place… exactly what their relative points value would suggest.

Qualitatives

But that’s all the quantitative stuff. What about the qualitative? This felt noticeably more difficult than the American or the German runs.

That likely has a lot to do with section level firepower and the fact that British rifle companies don’t really have anything to work with except section level firepower.

If we run our rate of fire test for the British section, we can see how they compete. Against the Americans, they simply have a lower level of firepower. Compared to the Germans, they have a more consistent level of firepower, which basically means they’re losing the firefight when the German LMG is up and winning when it’s down.

That certainly fits my experience with the Brits, both here and more widely. The best way to get fire superiority is to mass multiple sections against a smaller number of opponents… the problem with that is that terrain, fields of fire and the need to disperse make it hard to concentrate troops and firepower.

And we saw this right at the end trying to deal with the White House. I had almost all of 1 Platoon round the back of the objective, but the layout of the buildings, walls and bocage meant that I could only bring a few team’s worth of fire to bear on the offending German defenders.

Obviously everyone is dealing with the same terrain here, but the Americans have more firepower in their teams because they’re using semi-automatic weapons as standard, and half the German teams have much more capable LMGs. So far, the Brits are uniquely disadvantaged in that they their individual teams just don’t have that much bite.

That said, they still secured the objective. That German team in the White House still went down. But they went down after a ten minute firefight and definitely got their hits in.

Overall, this lower level of team and section firepower give the Brits a very different feel. In simple terms, they feel like they prevail by grinding the enemy down rather than by decisive action.

Considering that in the greater context, I think that fits quite well. My conclusion from the Unit Guide for the British Rifle company was that it is supposed to operate as part of a combined arms team. When you consider the British infantry as a find-and-fix element that enables tanks or artillery to destroy… they start feeling a lot more capable.

The obvious problem with this is that while the Americans and Germans can also fulfil this role in a greater team… they don’t have to to get by. The British rifle company really starts to struggle as an independent unit.

This has second-order effects as well. I specifically chose to attack on a one platoon frontage because I didn’t have confidence in my individual platoons to prosecute avenues of attack on their own. But this locked me in to reinforcing my lead platoon’s attack instead of expanding it like I did with the Americans and, to a lesser extent, with the Germans.

Other Weapons

Moving on from the infantry sections, the 2in mortars and the PIATs made important contributions.

The 2in mortar may well be a keystone weapon system. Things immediately got harder in the initial advance when 1 Platoon’s mortar crapped out and later on 2 Platoon’s mortar was able to consistently keep the main road smoked up in a way that allowed the attack to keep going.

Obscuring the enemy’s field of fire is always useful, whether you’re advancing, manoeuvring or just trying to cut out components of the enemy’s firepower and the British infantry can certainly benefit from exploiting the effects of smoke to overcome their firepower deficit.

The PIAT again proved that having a platoon level means of schwacking point targets with high explosives will always be useful. Trying to blast through walls with it didn’t pan out thanks to the TacAI not really understanding what I wanted it to do, but pelting the attic of Building Yellow 6 was equal parts effective and cathartic.

Finally, the company does have an organic two man sniper team, which I basically used these as extra scouts. They did exchange some fire with the enemy platoon HQ in Yellow 6, but came off worse. They are probably not that useful an asset in a company attack, but they certainly have a role in other circumstances.

Conclusion

So, that was the British Rifle Company. Pretty close to missing out on securing the objective this time: everything felt a lot slower due to that lack of firepower. They really need every advantage and maximum use of supporting arms to compete at the same level as the American and German rifle companies.

Speaking of needing every advantage… next up we have the Italians. They are actually not that far behind the Brits in Combat Mission points values at 489, but have a very different kind of force organisation and even more bolt action rifles. Definitely going to be interesting...

Hope you all enjoyed this one and found it interesting, if you’d like to support the channel and see these videos early you can do so via Patreon and Youtube memberships. Whether you do or not, thanks for watching and I’ll catch you in the next one.