Conflict of Heroes: Clear and Secure

I had my first look at Conflict of Heroes a couple of months ago, and finally got a chance to play it. Some games you put off playing because the set up is a nuisance, but Firefight 1 is easy. One small board, a summary sheet, a bookkeeping sheet, two control markers, three German counters, five Soviet counters. This is a solitaire scenario. Set up time, ten minutes or less; playing time, about an hour and a half for my first game.

It's Russia in May of 1943. The player-controlled German panzergrenadier platoon (three squads) has crept up from the south through a cornfield, and are now within striking distance of a village occupied by a Soviet unit. The Russians have a Maxim gun at the west end of town, a rifle squad and SMG squad in the big building on the north side of the village, a rifle squad just south of the main building and a final rifle squad in the woods at the southeast corner of the built up area. The German mission is to destroy the enemy and occupy the large stone building on the north side of the village within five turns.

Turn 1: Two Germans fire on the Russians in the woods, doing no damage; the return fire suppresses one of the squads. The third German squad charges the Russian unit, and destroys it in close combat.

Turn 2: The victorious German squad fires on the closest Russian squad, and destroys it with a lucky hit. The suppressed squad rallies and advances. The westernmost squad charges the Maxim crew, enduring machinegun fire on the way; they make it to point blank range unscathed but fail to knock out the Maxim.

Turn 3: The Russians win initiative and blaze away at the western squad, which is in the open at one hex range. They draw a Kill result and the German squad is destroyed. The remaining two German squads fire at both Russian units in the stone building; one is Pinned (can't move) and the other is Stunned (can't take any action except Rally).

Turn 4: Both Russians in the stone building fail to rally. Ranged fire puts a second hit on one, destroying it; a Panzergren moves into the stone building and attacks the other from point blank range, destroying it as well. The Maxim crew feels very lonely but moves to a position with line of sight to the stone building. They get a good hit, and the German squad is Suppressed (reduced firepower).

Turn 5: The heroic Maxim crew moves in close, but the Panzergrenadiers rally before the Russians can put a second hit on them and finish them off. The Maxim crew does Pin the Germans, but the Germans can still shoot, and do; the Russians take one hit. The second German squad fires across the street and manages a second hit; the Maxim is destroyed.

End result: the Soviets gathered 1 victory point for the western German squad; the Germans got 1 for each kill and 2 more for controlling both objective hexes, for a total of 7. Note however that in accordance with the Solitaire rules, most of the Russian never moved, just stayed in place and shot; the Germans would have had to work a lot harder in a two player game.