Chain of Command 2 First Game

I had lots of good games with Chain of Command, many of them with General Ballroom. In fact I was rather surprised that a second edition was coming out - I thought the game worked just fine and what it needed if anything as more scenarios or campaign packs to open up new theatres of the war.

However as I like the game and TFL are good chaps deserving of support I did indeed pick up a copy of the game at Partizan earlier in the year. It took some time for the starts to align and other distractions to pass by but eventually General B. and I were able to get together for a game.

Following the advice in the new rules we went with scenario one - Probe.

In the previous rules, counter-intuitively, scenario one  wasn't necessarily the best game to start learning with, however the updated version limits the troop types available and adds in a new victory condition that makes it more appropriate for a first game.

I took a 1944 US force, to which I added both mortar and MMG, whereas the Germans had added some tooled up Fallschirmjagers!

The pictures aren't great and don't really capture the action all the well TBH - we were both a little busy getting used to the rules and the changes to the rules.

My Yanks were soon taking some shock from the many German MMGs.

A bold rush saw one of my JoPs captured early on, which was something of a blow!

I deployed the MMG and started putting fire on the Germans.

However flanking attempts saw me reposition the gun into the woods.

I tried using marching fire to crest the hill and hit the Germans, but poor rolls meant I was stuck behind the ridge

I was more successful at occupying the woods.

Though shock was a problem.

However a bold assault on the woods was thrown back with considerable shock on the attackers.

The Fallschirmjagers were lurking menacingly.

Bold use of Marching Fire saw me catch some Germans in the open.

And with several Junior leaders falling victim the German morale dropped to the point they lost a dice and victory was mine!

Good, tense learning game. At first the new options with the CoC dice seemed an unnecessary complication but by the end we were better in to the swing of it - it's really just a couple more decisions to make. Lots of the other bits of the rules are tidying up rather than big changes, though close combat was less bloody but easier to resolve.

Overall a good fun game nad we're going to (as the rules suggest) play through the other scenarios in the book before embarking on another Pint Sied campaign. 

Mead Price at Sutton Hoo

I am rather behind with blogging - this post records a weekend at the end of July...

For the second year running I accompanied James to Sutton Hoo for a weekend of showing National Trust visitors the joys of wargaming. We were joined as last time by Pete and James' son but also this time had the estimable Annie from Bad Squiddo games along for the ride.

It was a great weekend of gaming with loads of people having a try at our version of the Battle of the River Idle. James had tweaked the scenario this year to include a hill fort that's been identified in the supposed area of the battle - perhaps the Northumbrians used it to defend themselves from the Anglians' attack?

What follows is a lot of eye candy. Scenery by James and models by James and me.

As well as gaming Chum Andy who works for the National Trust also organises painting sessions where visitors can paint and take away their own models.

Gripping Beast very generously supply the Saxon models. Annie also provided some from the excellent Bad Squiddo range.

Here they are all undercoated and ready to go.

An example painted model on the terrain.

Another painted example.

Billy Blue Boots was painted at the first of these events three years ago. The young lady who painted him bought him back last year and again this to join in. She's also painted up several of her own models too in the meantime.

We played the game through more than twenty times with numerous families joining in - including one group from France, who i think were at least entertained by my attempts to explain how to play in Fench.

Looking forward to next year already.