At last! My first game of Chain of Command courtesy of chum Steve who was kind enough to stage the game last Sunday evening at the club. Not only did he guide me through the rules (which are truly superb!), he also provided all the miniatures and scenery! Thank you my friend :o)
Anyway, here's the table, a sleepy farm somewhere in Normandy, Summer 1944... I chose to lead the Germans and Steve led the British. At this point we've completed the Patrol Phase (an igenious idea) so if you look carefully you can see my jump off points on the left, in the wood, behind the crops and behind the house, whilst Steve's are behind the barn, on the road (top right corner) and one out of shot on the right.
We used basic forces with no support options. The Germans had a slight advantage in Morale, which was useful as we were playing the Patrol scenario. Here I've deployed one of my sections behind the house.
To be able to move, fire, perform actions, etc, you first need to roll a set of Command Dice. Each score allows you to do something different with a section, a leader or a team, or the scores can adjust the phase sequence. A very good mechanism indeed!
My initial dice rolls were kind and in the pic below you can see that I now have all three sections of my platoon on the table before Steve has brought any of his troops on.
A slightly closer pic of the Germans deploying in the shelter of the small, walled building.
Here come the brave Tommies! Steve's chaps take up positions behind the fence and (out of shot on the right) in and behind the barn.
Steve guided me through the rules brilliantly - he's clearly both knowledgeable and very keen on this game. The rules give a dramatic ambience to the action and seem to flow really well.
The battle develops as more British arrive and the Germans press forward. On my right flank (out of shot) a section is hedge-hopping towards the barn but only taking very light casualties as much of the British fire is directed at the sections near the walled building.
The left-most German section is being surpressed by covering fire on the walls so they break cover (amazingly taking only very light casualties!) in order to take the fight to the British. The other section follows the wall in order to bring as many guns in to close (or is it "effective"?) range as possible. That section's more robust cover gave them the edge over the British behind the fence near the barn.
The British 2-inch mortar shows startling precision to obscure the view of the MG42 team and thus give the chaps behind the fence some relief.
Here you can see a wider view of the battle. The British right flank (on the left in this pic) has taken a real beating mainly from the MG42 team on the road by the building. On the German right, the section is closing in on the barn where a British Bren team had taken up a commanding position.
That's all the photos I took as I was having so much fun and was so engrossed in the action!! The British were coming under severe pressure and then their officers started getting killed or wounded which had a significant effect on their morale. With more British falling, shock points accumulating and morale dropping, the game finished as a solid win for the Germans. Beginner's luck methinks!
This was one of the most enjoyable, engrossing and dramatic games I've played - ever! Absolutely top notch fun, on a lovely table with a splendid opponent. Again, many thanks to you Steve.
Chain of Command is a superb set of rules and I have already ordered my own copy!
Anyway, here's the table, a sleepy farm somewhere in Normandy, Summer 1944... I chose to lead the Germans and Steve led the British. At this point we've completed the Patrol Phase (an igenious idea) so if you look carefully you can see my jump off points on the left, in the wood, behind the crops and behind the house, whilst Steve's are behind the barn, on the road (top right corner) and one out of shot on the right.
We used basic forces with no support options. The Germans had a slight advantage in Morale, which was useful as we were playing the Patrol scenario. Here I've deployed one of my sections behind the house.
To be able to move, fire, perform actions, etc, you first need to roll a set of Command Dice. Each score allows you to do something different with a section, a leader or a team, or the scores can adjust the phase sequence. A very good mechanism indeed!
My initial dice rolls were kind and in the pic below you can see that I now have all three sections of my platoon on the table before Steve has brought any of his troops on.
A slightly closer pic of the Germans deploying in the shelter of the small, walled building.
Here come the brave Tommies! Steve's chaps take up positions behind the fence and (out of shot on the right) in and behind the barn.
Steve guided me through the rules brilliantly - he's clearly both knowledgeable and very keen on this game. The rules give a dramatic ambience to the action and seem to flow really well.
The battle develops as more British arrive and the Germans press forward. On my right flank (out of shot) a section is hedge-hopping towards the barn but only taking very light casualties as much of the British fire is directed at the sections near the walled building.
The left-most German section is being surpressed by covering fire on the walls so they break cover (amazingly taking only very light casualties!) in order to take the fight to the British. The other section follows the wall in order to bring as many guns in to close (or is it "effective"?) range as possible. That section's more robust cover gave them the edge over the British behind the fence near the barn.
The British 2-inch mortar shows startling precision to obscure the view of the MG42 team and thus give the chaps behind the fence some relief.
Here you can see a wider view of the battle. The British right flank (on the left in this pic) has taken a real beating mainly from the MG42 team on the road by the building. On the German right, the section is closing in on the barn where a British Bren team had taken up a commanding position.
That's all the photos I took as I was having so much fun and was so engrossed in the action!! The British were coming under severe pressure and then their officers started getting killed or wounded which had a significant effect on their morale. With more British falling, shock points accumulating and morale dropping, the game finished as a solid win for the Germans. Beginner's luck methinks!
This was one of the most enjoyable, engrossing and dramatic games I've played - ever! Absolutely top notch fun, on a lovely table with a splendid opponent. Again, many thanks to you Steve.
Chain of Command is a superb set of rules and I have already ordered my own copy!
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