Chain of Command - Table Top Game

Hi All,

Chain of Command, produced by Too Fat Lardies is one of the many World War Two table top games currently on the market. While it does not have the following of Flames of War or Bolt Action, it is still a very good game.

Chain of Command Rule Book (image courtesy of Too Fat Lardies)

At this stage, Chain of Command only covers the main combatants of the European Theatre but there have been some efforts to branch out to the more esoteric with army lists produced for Japanese, Italians and Belgians.

Chain of Command varies a little from some of the more commercial games on the market in a few ways. Firstly it is partially without a points system. The core platoons are devised by actual structural organisation and training of that nation for that time period. Balancing in the game is then taken care of by 'support points' in which the nation with the weaker base organisation can take a few extra things to even up the battle. In reality these support points even up things a little more but unless you have a whole heap of them the nation with the lower organisation (force rating) will be up against it.

Chain of Command Army List (image courtesy of Too Fat Lardies)

Another unique thing about Chain of Command, somewhat unsurprisingly for the name, concentrates on leadership and command structures and puts a premium on leaders in combat. Basically the game takes place over a number of phases. These phases are generally taken in an I-GO-U-GO fashion, but dependant on the roll they do not have to. For instance each player generally has five 'command dice' (regular D6). Elite formations can have six command dice, while green formations may have four. In a phase, one player rolls their command dice and the results determine which troops can be controlled in that phase. This means that a green formation with four dice may not have enough action points to take advantage of all that support they had taken against a regular or elite opponent.

An example of play would a payer rolls 5 command dice and gets: 1,2,3,3,5. The 1 allows activation of 1 team (a mortar team, rifle team, machine gun or sniper). 2 allows activation of a section (could include a rifle and machine gun team). 3 allows the activation of a section with its leader - this means that the leader may improve firepower of the section, put the section on overwatch or covering fire or rally the men who are shaken. Different levels of leaders (junior or senior) have different point allocations so losing them in combat can be costly. The 5 is what is called a 'Chain of Command' point. This symbolises the platoon leader understanding and reading what is going on the battlefield - once six chain of command points are attained the player may do special things like interrupt an opponents turn or ambush with a unit. Rolling one 6 on the command dice is a waste for a player, rolling two 6's means the current player will have the next phase. I find this maps the timescale and back and forth of a battle quite well.

The scenarios, provided with the rules, generally have some kind of generic objective (i.e. capture that point etc) or can also be won by breaking the morale of your enemy (which can generally be done by destroying or driving enemy units from the table).

Seeing as I have waffled on at this point I will say that Chain of Command is quite a unique and interesting game which includes a lot of rarely seen mechanics, the patrol phase (which determines deployment zones) being another.

Chain of Command has quite a few mini (or 'pint') size campaigns currently released. 'At the Sharp End' gives you basic campaign rules for the pint size campaigns as well as the ability to make your own, which I may have somewhat foolishly attempted.

'At the Sharp End' Chain of Command campaign supplement (image courtesy of Too Fat Lardies)

My friend and I, devoid of suitable armies and terrain are attempting to organise and play a series of games based on Operation Mercury (Battle of Crete). I hope to bring you more details in coming posts.

Please let me know if you want any further information regarding Chain of Command as I appreciate the above is a very quick and disjointed introduction.

David