First ever game of Chain of Command, some thoughts

 

My first ever game of Chain of Command (or how I lost my Big CoC cherry)

There maybe elements of Carry On humour in this piece which I am obviously mortified if you are offended by 😆

I posted some pictures of the wonderful France 1940 table by Joe Bilton which I had the honour to play on at Ebor Lard recently. I posted some pictures of the game last week, this post is about the rules we used and my thoughts and feelings on them. It's not a review of the rules (or an excuse for everyone to tell me what I did wrong 😆).

Regular listeners and followers will know that I generally stick to sets of rules because I don't game that often and when I do it tends to be on the large side so I don't have the time or the inclination to try new sets of rules all the time. I stick with rules I know or as folk in Yarkshire say "I knows what I bloody well likes". Change lives in your trouser pockets.

But when someone else is doing the hard work, I don't mind joining in. Before hand I was a bit worried I'd spoil the game for everyone else who were experienced in the ways of the CoC but I shouldn't have been worried. I had a rough idea how the Chain of Command Dice worked and watched a video by Alex Storm of Steel Wargaming on movement, so I was good to go, so long as I didn't have to fire at anything !

The game had six players, 3 French and 3 German and the game was simulating a French attack on the railway station at Montcornet. The French had two companies of infantry plus supports and a third Command of mixed armour. I didn't see the German forces other than those that came on the table. I took one of the French Infantry companies to minimise the damage I could do.

The objective was two fold, we were playing Big Coc (no I don't know the difference !) The French had to capture a "phase line" at which point the game reset and the French had to capture the railway station.

Now having never played the game this probably wasn't the best way to learn. I was on the same side as Alex and Neil, both really experienced players, both were great guiding me through the rules, even when it got confusing with conflicting advice 😆

The game starts with a Patrol phase where each side manoeuvres counters on the table to gain ground and determine their jump off points. It's something I'm vaguely familiar with as it's a mechanic used in the later O Group rules. It's a game within the game and can be very important as it determines where you deploy your troops. Its abstract for sure but it does give a good representation of small groups of recon probing the enemy with their Big CoC.

With that done it was time to bring the troops on and roll some dice. The activation of troops is done using a set of dice (5 in our case) each one allows you to activate a team, section or leader. 5s build towards a Command Dice (which gives you additional actions) and a 6 which in multiples allows further actions.

I love a bit of friction in my games and I found the Command Dice mechanism really good. I didn't get to fully understand the Chain of Command dice but the basic activation system was really good. It made you make choices with the options you have and sometimes that's not very much ! I have played games where the friction is so restrictive that you can't do anything, this isn't one of those games. In the morning I played I found myself choosing between options rather than doing everything I wanted but I was always able to do something and the joy was in choosing which actions were most important of the ones I had available.

The best test for me was the times when I knew what I wanted to do (having commanded people in real life) but rather than my usual method of shouting, pointing and swearing, I needed a tabletop solution 😎 Alex and Neil where both great at helping me choose how to use that turns Command Dice to get my objectives completed.

After an hour or so I was pretty much commanding my own stuff and just checking on how many dice I threw or the numbers I needed. I managed to push my infantry forward and get into the houses that formed the 1st phase line and after the reset we only had a short time to go before the game ended, but we managed a glorious charge into the train station initiated by Alex and enthusiastically supported by me.

So, thoughts on the rules. I'm no expert, I played for 3 hours in a game which was probably a bit big to start with (like I've never done that before 😆) but I honestly enjoyed it, great company and a great table definitely helped but this is a post about the rules. I have ditched rule sets after one game but these wanted me to play more and I hope to have another go in the near future.

Negatives, not many. The main criticism I see of CoC is that it just degenerates into a firefight. I can see how that can happen and I think it did a but in our game, but that wasn't the fault of the rules, it was the decisions of the players and to be honest that happens in any set of rules.

The patrol phase is an abstract concept and its a quick way of getting a game started and getting into the action early doors, I quite like it and can see it's benefits. The jump off points are a harder concept to get my head around as reinforcements and supports can appear at any of them but I can see how it eliminates a lot of fairly pointless suffling of figures around the base line and the wargamers magic eye seeing reinforcements moving on and obliterating them before they come on when in reality they wouldn't have been seen.

I think it's also a rule set that would benefit from more and more play time and playing regularly as well to get the best of it. I tend to not game that way and move from one unfeasibly large project to another every year or so. I'd definitely like to try it again and who knows this maybe the blue pill that starts Mega Big CoC 😉

Regards Ken 

December 2020 - Yarkshire Gamer Wargames Update

This months update video on the Utubes bring you up-to-date on the Yarkshire Gamer world just prior to the Vallejo Flow begins with the Analogue Hobbies Winter Paint Challenge, will I finish my 1:20 28mm Republican Roman Italian Allied Legion in 3 months ? Looking at them piled up on the desk with 200 shield transfers to do the answer is no ! But lets give it a go.

The new units featured this month are

Some 28mm 1st Corps Punic Cavalry, some 15mm WW2 German Infantry 

And some 28mm WW1 Indian Cavalry 

Some new Sweeney inspired Cops and Robbers mini Project vehicles

And one massive Castle !

Merry Christmas from Yarkshire Gamer, may Santa fill your sacks full of lovely toys !

Boxing the Italian Wars - Wargame Figure Storage

 

Over the last few days I've put a couple of videos up on the Utubes (links below) covering my method of figure storage. The features are aimed mostly at those new to the hobby but there are tips for all including the patented Yarkshire Gamer (TM) "Upside down box method".

I managed to get a slack handful of 24.5 l boxes (hopefully avaliable in imperial measurements soon 😎) and have added 2 mm MDF bases to the lids. 

The picture above shows Box 4 for the Italian Wars Project and in the first video I cover setting out the base of the box to fit the various units in.

Box 1 with my Italian and Swiss Pike with supporting shot, room for at least another Pike Block in there.

The Condottiero Box currently has 10 x 6 figure units with room for another 6, better get painting.

And finally the Light Cavalry box with Stradiots etc and a rogue Swiss Polearm unit. Space for 3 more light Cavalry Units here.

Also on the Utubes is an introduction video to the storage. Thanks for watching.

15mm WW2 Russian Buildings - From Box to Table

 

I have been working on some forces for WW2 Kursk and usually terrain comes last in my priorities but this time I thought I would try and get ahead of the game and get some done. After a search of the tinterwebnet I found some suitable candidates at Empires at War, a company I was familiar with after building lots of their 28mm Italian Renaissance buildings. 5 buildings for 35 quid, I'm in.

I will hold my hand up and admit I find terrain a real chew, don't get me wrong I love a good looking table and enjoy having great looking buildings etc, I just have zero enthusiasm for actually building or painting any !

So if I can find some easy build MDF buildings that are pre coloured that you literally put together and plonk on the table I'm pressing the "Add to Basket Button" right away. I've done a Unboxing (or sunbathing in this case 😁) video and built one of the buildings live on camera, so if you want to see my wonderfully agricultural modelling skills have a watch of my Utubes video.

For those who prefer the written word below are some pictures of the 5 buildings.

The buildings are nice and easy to put together even for a clumsy modeller like myself, they come with some nice straight forward instructions and all I used to put them together was a modelling knife and some Bostick Glue.

The buildings can be bought direct from Empires at War on the link below,

https://empiresatwar.co.uk/product/15mm-russian-rural-village-set/

My only query on these is the scale, they do seem rather big for 15mm, I'm sure it will be to do with the strength of the parts, it's not something which is going to stop me buying them but something to be aware of.

So there you are, some great buildings to grace to your Kursk games or even your Borodino games. Later in the week I will have a look at the forces I have built up for the initial Kursk games.

Lighting for Gaming Photos and Videos - Neewer ZC-10S Review

 

Everyone likes a good photo on a blog, Insta or the Twitters and a good well lit video on the Utubes is a bonus too.

I was very fortunate to have Mrs YG buy me some lighting for my photos recently and after a few weeks use I thought it would be an idea to share them wider and illustrate their use for gaming related photos.

Below is a Utubes video going through the contents of the Neewer ZC-10S set and their operation.

Link to purchase on Amazon

I've added some photos below to give you an idea on how the lights work.

The first photo is taken in my games room, it might time so their is no external light source, the room is well lit with a high power "cool" strip light.

The second photo is taken with the one high, one low set up shown in the first photo on this post,  it's easy to see that the light levels have increased dramatically, however it can be very easy to have too much light and "white out" a picture.

Shadows can also be an issue if the intensity of the light levels are too high, look at the shadows from the flags on the buildings in the bottom photo.

Looking in the next set of photos, I will look at a bit more detail, the above "control" photo is simply taken with no additional lighting.

Followed by full intensity with both lights.

The next photo is also full intensity but the lower light has been moved to the front of the subject to light up the faces, note how the rear building is whitened out and the flag shadow is very prominent.

With the lights in the same position I've dropped down the intensity by 3 on both and things are starting to get better.

This final photo would be my choice, both lights dialled back by 6 from the strongest, the buildings are no longer standing out, the shadows on the figures are adding to the level of detail, possibly too dark for some but we are now in the area of personal taste rather than definitely too dark or too bright.

The lights also make a great portable paint table illuminator as well, I used them recently whilst on holiday.

Hope that's been useful, see you for the monthly update next week.

28mm Modern Roads for The Sweeney and beyond

A quick look at some new additions for my Sweeney inspired Cops and Robbers mini Project, mostly an excuse to share the little fun video above, don't forget to turn the sound up before playing.

I've a decent collection of both figures and vehicles now, I'm looking at building up my terrain for the games which is quite intensive as most scenarios take place in built up areas. I discovered a source of buildings a couple of months ago and they feature in the action pics in this post, link to the post on the buildings below,

https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2020/06/o-gauge-model-buildings-for-modern-28mm.html 

After a search on the tinterwebnet I located a potential source of roads at Sally Forth, a company I was aware of but had never purchased from before. A couple of clicks and the said items were on the way to YG HQ.

The road sections are made of MDF and are supplied unpainted. There are a number of selections avaliable to make up whatever road combination you want. All the different sections are avaliable in UK markings or for those who drive on the wrong side of the road alternatives are avaliable.

I painted the road very simply, covered them with Grey model primer first and then oversprayed them with Matt Black spray. The black was sprayed over the roads from a distance to give a uneven tarmac type effect which worked quite well.

The pavements come seperately and once painted up (I just sprayed them grey and washed them with black ink to pick out the pavement slabs) you glue them onto the MDF roads.

Rather cleverly the pavements cover over the holes which are used to join the roads up neatly hiding the tabs from the other road sections.

I think they look great and with the buildings the backdrop for the Sweeney stuff is looking good. There's a link to purchase the roads below.

https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/epages/950003459.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950003459/Categories/"Buildings%2C Castles %26 Bridges and Roads"/Photorealistic_Wargames_Terrain/UK_Style_Roads

For a visual look at the roads there is a short review on this months update video.

June Yarkshire Gamer Video Update

Things remain locked down at Yarkshire Gamer but units have been rolling off the paint table, so here is a second video review of the goings on here last month.

A group of 7tv Scientists.

Purple Bob's Hobbies Card Buildings.

 

7tv Baddies

28mm Crusades Mounted Sergeants 

Fingers crossed there might be some gaming going on towards the end of the month, thanks for watching.

O Gauge Model Buildings for Modern 28mm Wargames

I've been tinkering around with a 28mm Cops and Robbers mini Project during the lock down and got the vast majority of the figures done. Let's face it for a historical gamer 30 figures a side doesn't really count as a Project.

So this got me to looking into terrain and vehicles, both vital to getting a game like this, often played on a small table, to look good.

Vehicles are sorted and as they appear on eBay I pick them up. The 1/43 scale cars and vans are the best scale for the figures and when you leave the immaculate boxes collectors stuff alone, you can pick up some rite bargains.

So that brings me to the buildings. Just by random I came across  O Gauge Cardstock buildings for Model Railway layouts. Now that as it turns out was a good idea. Video below, text and photo explanation underneath that.

I found a company called Purple Bob's Hobbies, liked the look of the photos and ordered the Factory you see in the picture above, the rest is history and a tube of PVA. Link to purchase the kits below,

https://purplebob.co.uk

Above is a picture of the contents of one of the models, this is for a double fronted terrace. The printing is high quality and very realistic, also included is a detailed set of instructions and some clear perspex for Windows.

Above shows the finished Pub model, I think they look brilliant. They are quite time consuming to put together but very rewarding. Here are my top tips to get them looking something like,

1) Follow the instructions, they are quite long but very detailed and getting things out of order can be difficult to put right.

2) When you cut parts out of the card, it will leave a white edge, always paint that edge before you put the pieces together. One great thing about being a gamer is that you will have shed loads of paint lying around.

3) Some parts are very fragile when cut, the 3d parts on the doors and windows especially and I ended leaving them off (best explained in the video) but the model still looks great without them.

4) When complete they are quite sturdy for a card building but these are designed for sitting at the back of a Model Railway layout not for gaming where they will get a bit more handling so I recommend a MDF base.

The above model is the Pub named after the one in my home village, I can still visit the Pub (in normal times) and sit at the table my Grandad used to do his A Level homework. I still need to sort some curtains out for the upstairs windows. The downstairs rooms are a fully fitted bar and snug, I couldn't get a decent photo of it but if you watch the video the detail is on there.

The Factory model (about 17 quid, the Pub is the same price) is huge, 20 inch frontage in the photos above and below are some 28mm figures for scale.

The bottom picture shows the MDF base, cut from an old bit I had lying around, I'm not sure I'd like to try and move the building without it ! I've ordered some roads from Sally Forth which I've been waiting on for a couple of weeks, once I have those I can decide what I am going to do with the pavements on the Pub and Terrace house models.

The buildings aren't the normal 360 buildings we as gamers are used to, they are made in what's called half relief. Not something that all gamers would want but I plan to use them as a background to the game and boy do they look good for that.

These are the backs of the models, just for your information, I will probably put an Artist Mounting board backing on them to give a little more strength.

Price wise they compare well with MDF models and if you are looking at covering a big area with buildings they are ideal. A factory the same size for Sarrisa or similar would be at least 50 quid. On the down side these have taken me a day each to make, they are not quick but you have to remember that other than a bit of edging they are already painted, they are also quite flimsy compared to the MDF alternatives.

So there you go. I don't think card Model Railway buildings are a replacement for traditional gaming buildings but they are very useful tool to have in the box.