There are three types of units: infantry, support weapons, and vehicles. Each side usually fields a platoon of infantry and a choice of support options. The book contains eleven force lists for the US, Soviet Union, Germany and Great Britain, each with their own national characteristics. The Western Allies and each have lists for infantry, armored infantry and paratroopers, while the Soviets only have infantry and tank rider lists. Availability of support options is random, usually the attacker rolls 2D6 and takes options up to that value, and the defender takes options up to half that value. The costs range from 1 to 12. For example, a sniper team costs 3 points, and a Panzer IV H costs 7 points. There are six scenarios in the book, and those limit the choices in some cases.
The morale of each unit is tracked through “shock”. Shock is mainly gained through receiving fire, and it will have massive effects very fast. Each point of shock on a unit reduces it movement by 1”, and for every 2 points of shock one of the soldiers won’t fire his weapon. If the unit has as much shock points on it as it has soldiers left, it is pinned. If it has more than double as many shock points as members, it breaks. A pinned unit cannot move, but still shoot a little bit (but not much). A broken unit runs away and cannot be activated as long as it is broken. Shock can be removed by leaders during their activation, but that is a slow process.
At the start of the game, you have a patrol phase. Both player are moving around a number of markers determined by the scenario. If two markers end up within 12” of each other, they are now locked and cannot move again. This goes on until all markers of one side are locked, and the patrol phase ends.
Next, the jump-off points for both sides are determined. These are the points from which reinforcements enter the battle. Jump-off points can be anywhere in cover and outside of 6” from an enemy unit. There are some more rules about their placement, but these deal with special cases. During the game, you can capture and remove your opponent’s jump-off points, and you can move your own around to a certain degree to adjust to the tactical situation.
Activation of units during a turn depends on your command dice. This is a number of dice given by the scenario, usually 5. At the start of each phase you roll them, and the results determine what you can do. “1” to “4” let you deploy or activate different kinds of units. “5” and “6” are special results. A “5” increases your command points, if you accumulate 6 points, you can play a special action. For example, you can play an ambush, which allows you to immediately deploy an infantry team and shoot with it. So yes, a Panzerschreck team can just pop up behind your Sherman and ruin your day! If you roll a “6”, the next phase is your opponent’s. But if you roll two “6”s, it is yours again! Three “6”s indicate the last phase of the turn, and if you get four of them, it is the last phase of the turn, and you get the first phase of the next turn, you automatically gain another special action from command points and you roll for a random event – which includes the possibility of a morale boost because your troops found a stash of booze!
There is a mechanic that let you combine low results, for example you can use two “2” as a “4”. But the highest result you can add up to like that is “4”. Still a good way to not be completely thrown off track by a bad roll of the dice.
So you can see, the game is very unpredictable and everything can change with one thro of the dice. But somehow this feels way more realistic than the god-like control one has in other games.
Unit activation allows you to move, shoot, do both at a reduced effect, give covering fire, go into overwatch or rally. The order of activation form your dice is up to you, but every unit can only activate once per phase.
Movement in Chain of Command is a bit random, you use dice and modifiers to figure out how far a unit will move. But since the action is usually in a more compact space than in other games, this doesn’t really have a huge impact on your tactics. You can move “at the double”, but that causes a point of shock because your soldiers are more focused on themselves while running.
Combat is straight forward. The range of rifles is pretty much “if you can see it, you can touch it”, and only SMGs and pistols are limited in effective range. To hit, you roll dice according to the weapon (for example, each rifle is 1 die, a machine gun is 8 dice). You roll to hit depending on the quality of your target and for effect depending on cover and other modifiers. If the shot hits, it causes either shock or a wound.
There are also rules for throwing grenades (and for rifle grenades!), including the possibility to fumble it, something I sorely miss in a certain other game.
Vehicles and anti-tank weapons are very complex – for example, a vehicle commander has a certain number of orders he can give with his activation, like advance, aim, fire etc. If a vehicle is shot at, you use a different procedure that can involve a lot of modifiers. There armor values and armor piercing values, and much more that can make it look quite intimidating. Nevertheless, all of these factors make sense and one gets used to them quickly.
Of course, this is only a rough overview of the rules. In summary, Chain of Command is a funny beast. On the one hand, the rules are very detailed, and there a few situations that lead to discussions. On the other hand, it has a huge emphasis on randomness. But this is what makes it so entertaining. You don’t have to be aware of a huge amount of special rules and exceptions from them, and instead you can focus on what is going on on the table, and how to get an advantage over your opponent.
If you are less interested in the late war armies covered in the main book, there are plenty of supplements including the Blitzkrieg 1940 and Operation Citadel.
Available at Too Fat Lardies!
Next time, we will have a look at more finished transport vehicles.
