Wyre Forest Club Day: A First Look at Chain of Command 2

Sunday was club day and an opportunity to dive into Chain of Command 2 after a few years away from the rules having been playing larger games using Bolt Action with elements of the original Chain of Command I was keen to see what had changed and what has remained.

We played through one of the pint sized campaign games - Scenario 2 from Operation Martlett the 49th Infantry division's push against the 12th SS.

While the foundation of Chain of Command remains solid, several refinements most certainly elevate the experience on the table, the revamped rulebook is an improvement over the original looking through the rule book, rules for similar mechanics are now grouped together, making it easier to find specific information. The comprehensive index is a welcome addition, significantly cutting down time spent flipping through pages.

It's good to see elements of the previous expansions like Blitzkrieg 1940 and Far East make the rules. Light Mortars feel more situational rather than a default option to poor fire on the enemy, the limited rounds make you think hard about when to deploy them.

The Armour damage is a lot cleaner, eliminating reliance on multiple tables while preserving varied outcomes even if I was on the wrong end of a Pak 40.

Herr Fingerbob was not happy about losing their prized IV as soon as it come on the table.

The expanded National Characteristics give more tactical depth, allowing Chain of Command points to be used for special abilities rather than just dice management. 

Fire bonuses now influence tactics more dynamically, the Storm of Steel rules and exploding dice can make certain fire more impactful, the German double MG42 still throw a lot at dice at the advancing allies.

Germans are still mighty tough with Junior and Senior leaders in toe - put out loads of flying lead.

Whilst not used in our game on this occasion a couple of areas in the rules leap out.

• Anti-tank weapons such as mines, grenades, and rifle grenades are more viable, making tanks think twice before rolling ahead without infantry support.

• Suppressing Fire replaces Covering Fire with an expanded role, letting tanks pin down positions more effectively.

Bolt Action continues to give a larger 'game' but Chain of Command makes you have to think more as the commander on the ground would the commitment to authenticity is stronger than ever. New support options—like Mines in Verges for Germans and White Phosphorous Grenades for urban combat—add layers of realism and period accuracy and make fighting through France quite a challenge if it was not in the first place.

Perhaps the most intriguing change is in scenario objectives. Instead of merely draining Force Morale, battles now hinge on capturing objectives. Doing so accelerates morale loss and can trigger counterattacks, leading to more dynamic engagements. This tweak ensures that players focus on positional play rather than just surviving morale checks. It certainly makes you want to pick up the pace.

Final Thoughts: An Evolution, Not a Revolution

Chain of Command 2 doesn’t reinvent the game—it refines, enhances, and polishes it. The familiar platoon-scale tactics remain, but the improved rulebook, adjusted mechanics, and strengthened historical accuracy make battles flow more intuitively and have a more gritty feel.

For veterans of the system, this edition offers a smoother, deeper experience while staying true to its roots. If you're new to Chain of Command, the clearer ruleset makes it easier than ever to jump in without feeling overwhelmed. 

Looks like I might need to reorganise my forces yet again :-)

Richard the Lionheart - Footsore Miniatures

Real life seems to have gotten in the way of gaming and painting of late, the Outremer Campaign is hopefully a way of driving activity and clearing the never ending queue.

I have had this model of Richard the Lionheart tucked away for a number of months, the perfect model to ease myself back in this month. A cracking model full of character from Footsore Miniatures.

My leaning is towards the Third Crusade (1189-1192), where he led Christian forces against the Muslim leader Saladin. Motivated by religious fervour and the loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, Richard joined forces with other European leaders, including Philip II of France and Frederick I of the Holy Roman Empire 1, perfect if I wanted to create a multi player campaign with competing factions.

I have gone for the Hollywood Red, perfect for the siege of Acre or the Battle of Arsuf. Can miniature Richard capture Jerusalem we shall see?

A very useful cheat is the shield transfers from Fire Forge Games, they need a trimming to fit the shield but they do make the model, not something I fancied painting myself.

Next up yet more Crusaders.....

The original Dust Tears & Dice - Outremer Campaign - Turn 1

I was reflecting on where the original title of the blog came from. Back in 2011 when I kicked this blog off I had an interest in the British in the Sudan and the Crusades with a plan to run an online campaign at our local club - Ironically neither of these projects every made the table top or blog, roll on 14 years and the Crusades finally makes the table top and the Dust & Tears Campaign finally lands on the blog.

In the Cry Havoc supplement - Outremer in the back of the rule book was a very useful scenario generation system which it allows you to generate and follow a group of 'Pilgrims' as they travel from Antioch in the North to see wondrous sites of the Holy Land in the South.

I adopted the table to Lion Rampant to give me the potential force map up for each Pilgrim party, the idea being each party will set off in the top left hand corner and attempt to reach Jerusalem, as each party runs out of troops or money they are likely to have to stop to await further pilgrim parties to bolster their number culminating in larger games. (driving me to paint the rest of the plastic and metal.)

Lucky me I rolled on the chart and my first party is a Knight & Retainers I adapted the table to model the forces available within Lion Rampant ignoring the 24 point limit and basing it on unit types as the scenario dictates.

Each Hex on the map is 20 miles roughly one days travel. Each time the party enters a hex on a roll of 50% or less and an encounter occurs. More on the type of encounter in future posts.

No more than 20 miles on the road and a small cluster of buildings emerge out of the heat haze, horsemen ride out of the village to confront the party of travellers.

It's easy to get carried away in the first encounter with the following forces available on the first encounter, 3 Knights, 1 Heavy Cavalry, 1 Light Cavalry, 2 Spear Units, 2 Warriors, 2 Missile & 1 Skirmish unit. The Christian forces heavily outnumbering the Moslem defenders felt pretty confident in winning the engagement and sacking the village for potential loot and valuables to fund their onward march.

The Christian forces had enough for 2 commanders with circa 24 points in each wing. The Christian cavalry forces swept left to be countered by the Moslem light cavalry clouds of arrows peppered the heavily armoured Knights.

With a wild charges of the Christian Knights drove back the light cavalry who fired off their bows in a skirmish move dropping back out of charge range, but occasionally the Knights caught them before they could evade and the defenders were put to the sword.

In the centre the pilgrim foot advanced into the centre of the field. The aggressive warriors were ready for the fight.

The Moslem archers were unable to slow the charging warriors, they left off a single volley before the Christians advanced.

The first unit of Warriors crashed into the unarmoured missile men.

The archers fell backwards to be replaced by a wall of spears only for the warriors to charge again. The Warriors continued to win each melee but their numbers were thinning.

With the infantry pinned to the front the Moslem cavalry were unable to find a gap in the Christian lines and the boxed in with the mounted knights driving home their advantage.

The Moslems took flight leaving the small settlement in the hands of the Christians.

Losses 1 Light Cavalry & 1 Warrior Unit.

But already the loss of the sole light cavalry unit and one of the warriors might prove telling.

The Pilgrim's press on - 3 Knights, 1 Heavy Cavalry, 2 Spear Units, 1 Warriors, 2 Missile & 1 Skirmish unit. 

Next up Turn two and an overview of the Arab force generation together with details on upkeep and the hiring of mercenaries.

10mm Native American Tribes - AWI

The last post of May another batch of troops for the American War of Independence Project, I had a pack of Native Americans which might come in handy as scouts etc for campaigning North of New York.

Based for the Rebels and Patriot rules, Natives come in a unit size of 12 figures as a warband, they are not slowed by difficult terrain and may counter attack if charged by Infantry.

They only have a fire range of 12" in the rule set and my only Skirmish, not using the Fire action.

At a cost of 4 base points there is an option to increase their number to 18 for an extra point, you can also make them aggressive for a further point or taking them down a point by a point making them poor shots. So plenty of choice depending on the tribes.

Heading into June.... it might have to be yet more Crusaders as I still have around 7 units to complete the backlog, but with reading material for the Chinese in WW2 or Aztecs it might be time for a switch.... 

10mm American Colonial Buildings - 1776 Lexington & Concorde.

Limited game time but an opportunity to get some additional buildings on to the gaming table, a mix of Pendraken and Timecast Models.

The stone walls are from Timecast and will be useful for walling a few of the properties on the approaches to Lexington and Concorde.

Next up Hancock - Clarke House, the guys at Things from the Basement in the US have released a range of 15mm MDF models, which come with an historical reference for each. I have borrowed their paint design for my variants and their descriptions.

Based on The parsonage, located in Lexington, MA, was originally built for John Hancock I, the grandfather of the patriot John Hancock in 1737. Subsequently, the house was occupied by Jonas Clarke and his family. It was built on what later became Hancock Street. On April 19, 1775, just after midnight, Paul Revere arrived on horseback to inform John Hancock and Sam Adams that “the Regulars are out,” not the commonly known phrase, “The British are coming.” John Hancock and Sam Adams, leaders of the colonials, were guests at the Hancock-Clarke house at this time.

Hancock's House and Barn in the background. Next up Jacob Whittlemore House.

Located on the Bay Road in Lexington, in 1775 this house was home to Jacob and Elizabeth Whittemore as well as their daughter, Sarah, her husband Moses Reed, and their three small children. Neither Jacob nor Moses fought with the Lexington militia on April 19th, although Jacob had trained with it and Moses would volunteer for other Revolutionary War campaigns. Instead, Jacob and Moses carried Sarah Whittemore Reed, who was still recovering from the birth of her third child 18 days earlier, and her children to the relative safety of a nearby woodlot just before the battle reached their home. To the west of the house, Captain John Parker led the Lexington militia in engaging the retreating British Regulars. The Whittemore family lived in the house from the time of its construction in 1716-1718 by Jacob’s father, Nathaniel, until 1780 when it was sold by the family.

A selection of smaller huts and out houses, these were from the Pendraken Russian range but will be a useful addition to bulk out the table.

Next up AWI Woodland Indians.

10mm Terrain - Time Cast Models

It's terrain week, I had hoped to get a game in for Lexington and Concorde back in April but needed some more fields, walls and buildings to flesh out the table. But real life has conspired of late seriously hindering both game and painting time, so some quick wins sprucing up some of the Time Cast latex fields and marshes to day.

First up another obstacle for the British to cross a light bridge surrounded by swamps.

I had a bunch of static grass which when added to the swamp pieces gave them some density to the terrain piece.

US militia cross the bridge, by pure coincidence the basing for the units for Rebels and Patriots are fit the width of the bridge.

Next up a whole bunch of fields, two packs from Time Cast, some of them have plough rows whilst others are plain, I picked up some super sticky crops/grass from Geek Gaming Scenics these bring the fields to life a little and are not to high when compared to the figures. 

Not a bad afternoon's effort and some good extra's to bulk out the table and the extra buildings currently being undercoated.

A few more weeks and I should be game ready.

Black Hawk Down - Wyre Forest Club

Thanks to Andy from the Wyre Forest Club as guest blog writer this week and a HUGE Black Hawk Down game at our latest club all dayer.

This was only our 4th game with the rules so with a nod to Oriskany Jim of the Sitrep podcast and the QRS sheets he sent me and his two part video on you tube he posted up we were ready.

MISSION BRIEF.

DTG 03OCT93 1230L               
HUMINT  XXX Agency advises there is a EN Habr Gidr Clan Meet at possibly the Cultural Building (Code name MAIN TARGET BUILDING) on Hawaldig Road.

LAUNCH CODE WORD: IRENE valid till 2359L
Mission Template dictates a heliborne Delta Breaching team with 2 Ranger chalks acting as blocking force. Road convoy will pick up High Value Targets and Breaching teams and Blocking force and Exfil on road in the convoy back to MOB.

The Black Hawks Head into the Objective.

Tier 1 Breach Teams

2 MH6 Little Birds unarmed

2 DELTA teams, Delta team Leader TQ D12 Morale D12, 3 Deltas TQ D10 Morale D12

TASK FORCE RANGER

TWO CHALKS TQD8/ Morale D10

Chalk HQ, Off D10/D10, RTO, Medic, Pltn Sgt plus man

Aerial Support

2 MH60s with 2 Snipers each (can be set down if required) on constant orbital support)

1 CSAR MH60 Bird with 14 Men

4 Delta D10/D12, 6 Rangers D8/D10, 2 Parajumper advanced life saving medics  medics D8/D12

1 MH6 (with strafing attack) per turn TQ D12 check first to see if it arrives 

CONVOY

4 HUMVEE With 50cal 4 men each

1 HUMVEE with MK19 GLR 4 men

2 M939 5 ton Lorries 4 men each

The target building before the convoy arrives.

To add to the competition on the day both sides were provided with the following Victory Points.

Somali National Alliance KIA 1VP

Somali Warlord KIA 10 VP

Somali Technical Mission Kill 5VP

US Forces

Each HVT KIA -5VP

KIA TFR 10 VP

Serious wound TFR 5 vp

Lorry/ Hummer Mission Kill 5vp

The Convey sets off with it's prisoners

A slow start burning tyres and Black Smoke belched into the sky calling out across the city, Somalis were amassing and standing by awaiting the slow moving convoy.

First sign of trouble and the lead hummer blunders into a Somali technical, needing a high score, they rolled a 12, they knock out the lead vehicle. Disaster.....

The Convey rolls forward with Black Hawk and Little Bird Air Cover. Somalis we’re wiped out in droves, but every turn more we’re answering the call to the fight in reserve.

The reinforcements were hindered by the Air Support targeting the numerous technicals.

We have a Black Hawk Down....

The aircrew were jumped and wiped out less one pilot who was taken alive a national shame for the Americans.

A crew of 14 Deltas, Rangers and pars jumper paramedics were Set down away from the crash site on some sort of bizarre park and ride. The rushed to the crash site to find the crew gone.

Somalia militia rushed from the surrounding buildings a vicious fire fight took place where the search. And rescue team were. More American casualties were taken. The mass of fighters overwhelmed the defenders and another American was captured alive.

Mean while the convoy several blocks away took another wrong turn.

Another Hummer is taken out as Task Force Ranger lack of map reading proved fatal. By now we took stock of the game and called it. A bloodbath on both sides. 

If we had carried on I think the road convoy would have had to try and laager up and defend itself from a static place and call for external help to extricate themselves.

A great game on a great looking table with virtually all done from fresh since Christmas with a week to  go I made 52 foot of wall with foamboard.

Lessons learned as it was only the 4th game more rules questions rolled in which was inevitable, more civilian mobs we need on the table to create more uncertainty. The random choice of road direction made for a real challenge for the US Players.

By games end.

Somalis 106 KIA 

Two destroyed technicals.

 Task Force Ranger. 

5 KIA 

2 aircrew KIA 

2 Prisoners of war 1 Aircrew 1 Ranger 

3 Task Force Ranger seriously wounded

2 Hummers Destroyed