Well it’s finally here. After almost 6 months of pondering, mulling over ideas, hunting through forums for tidbits of a hint of shadow, we finally put figures on the table and played a game of Chain of Command in an ultramodern setting, using forces from the ChargeReal setting I’m working on.
And oh boy, we had a brilliant time.
Before we get into the game, there is something I need to say first – I’m not attempting to make Fighting Season word for word. That ruleset is someone else’s baby and focused on a very specific time period and setting. In contrast, I want my tweaks to be usable for anything from Special Forces operations to COIN operations and all the way up to platoon on platoon in a war where jammers are turning the airwaves into so much electrical noise. For this reason, I’m abstracting things, smoothing down edges and removing some of the detail that might be needed to be 100% accurate in favour of a game that evokes the feelings without being too bogged down. Although ChargeReal is fictional, it’s heavily inspired by the modern day and I’m loath to abandon reality in favour of making it simpler – the reason I play ultramoderns is to understand current events in a way you can only get through simulation. Even if you have changed all the names and setup unique political situations.
I also have to once again thank the various rulesets, modifications, lardy articles and PDFs I have found online in the process of assembling this first version we played. Without them, this compilation of ideas would have taken much MUCH longer to get together.
My resources were:
- Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies – a core game so enjoyable and gripping I doubt I would have tried to do this otherwise. Much like my beloved Skirmish Sangin, I am yet to have a bad game of it.
- Fighting Season by Leigh Neville – They may not be out (still waiting for the eternal Easter) but from the mentions and little drips of information (as well as a random general question a few years ago), it really fired up my brain to think about Ultramoderns in platoon scale rather than merely a skirmish.
- Chain of Command: DMZ and Chain of Command: MOG by Jason Sendjirdjian – These two supplements were my first stop when it came to updating, in order to see what else people have been up to. Features like the Team Leaders would not exist without these addons.
- The Longest Yomp by Ioan Davies-John – Although not quite the modern day, this article was a good inspiration to think about how to update Chain of Command without completely overhauling it making “Another Game but with Command Dice”
With the setup out of the way, lets get on with the game!
In the last 8 hours, tensions between the Bazi Empire and the Albion Commonwealth have reached a breaking point. After an overnight exchange of artillery fire and close air support, Albion Commonwealth forces (and their allies) have begun an advance into disputed territory inside the Bazi Empire.
The Republic of Cynerice, a former Albion territory that broke away in the Civil War, has elements of it’s forces to assist their ally. With F18s and F117s striking targets deep within the Emirate of Bazistan, the 18th Division has begun it’s advance to claim all land between the Nahr and Buhayra rivers.
One of it’s leading elements, after dealing with an ambush by Bazistan forces in the night, has begun it’s advance into the Nahr district, moving through an area that is believed to house an artillery battery and was the target of counter-battery fire during the previous evening. It seems deserted initially, but the appearance of concrete barricades and enemy forces means that the recce elements have stumbled into an enemy force, with the forward patrols engaging with enemy sentries as the rest of the weakened platoon arrives.
So what does that all mean? Well, seeing as this was the first game with a cobbled together ruleset, we decided to play a force on force, regulars vs regulars game. The COIN ops can come later. Additionally, neither force would receive any additional support choices – I was roughly attempting to get a feel for the balance in this game with basic platoons and support lists will come later once I sit down with the Coculator.
But first, the forces. With a surprise last minute guest appearances from the Creative Regular Opponent (who obviously managed to finish cleaning the ghosts out of his gaming room), I decided to sit back to GM and explain the rules, splitting the forces up between my two most frequent opponents.
Cynerician Army
The Dastardly Regular Opponent received an understrength Cynerician platoon, roughly patterned after the US Army Infantry platoon. Due to errrrr “supply issues” (I didn’t have enough figures), the Cynericians only has two of the usual three infantry squads, with the supporting Medium Machine gun squad only able to provide a single team.
However, even with these limited numbers, the Cynerician Army is able to throw it’s weight around. Each rifle squad is split into two fireteams, each with Team Leader. This addition to the regular CoC rules (pulled from CoC:Mog and DMZ) I think really shows the flexibility of a modern professional army – when activated by their Squad Leader or on a 2 Command Dice, the Team Leaders have enough initiatives to command use of the UGL or other support weapons while directing regular fire down. With the right command rolls, you can also end up being able to activate the Team Leaders individually, leaving the Squad leader to clear shock and keep them in the loop. Each Squad leader also carried a radio, allowing a link back to the Platoon Commander (and his signaller) with a platoon NCO assisting. Weapon wise, the usual mix of M249 SAWs and M203s abounded, with most soldiers carrying a Carbine (shorter close range but offering more firepower than the toned down assault rifle in the new rules.)
Even better, each platoon in the ChargeReal will reccive a selection of “upgrades” to show how advanced they are. Being a modern force, the Cynerician have a whole collection of additional rules – body armour, optics for every infantryman, personal radios in each section and excellent comms (to prevent single 6s being wasted). However, not all these upgrades are positive – because of the weight of all their gear, the platoon is Heavily Laden and can not choose to advance At The Double.
Emirate of Bazistan Defence Forces
The Creative Regular Opponent was in charge of an Emirate Defence Platoon. A fictional arrangement, this platoon combined three squads of Bazi Emirate Infantry with a pair of local police squads. The Bazi troops had numbers on their side but suffered from a lack of flexibility. The regular army troops were arranged into sections with no fireteams underneath, all built around a PKM (with no additional crew members so with a reduced firepower stat) and an RPG with only three rounds. The police squads, although smaller, were split into the rifle equipped Patrol team (complete with a team leader) and the Command team (with the Junior Leader keeping a close eye on the RPG and PKM). Leading them was a Force Commander (Ranking Senior Leader), his Right Hand Man (Senior Leader) and a Medic to make up for the lack of training elsewhere.
The Bazi’s had body armour and excellent communications (they are a functioning nation state after all) but also had a major flaw – “Questionable Marksmanship”. Inspired by a rule often mentioned in discussions on Fighting Season, a force with this “upgrade” always counts as firing at Effective range when it comes to scoring hits even when technically within close range (they do gain any firepower bonuses based on distance). However, forces of this style do have a habit of being somewhat heavy on the trigger, letting them fire full effect while moving rather than the usual half, ideal for causing shock but less likely to cause kills as the target counts as having gone tactical.
The exact mission was Scenario 4 from the Chain of Command rulebook, Delaying Action. With the Cynerician forces on the advance, this forward element was attempt to find a weak point in the Bazi Emirate’s defensive lines. This semi-urban area is comprised of multiple family compounds in various states of disrepair, a situation not helped by a misdirected counter battery strike.
As an aside, I’m actually kind of impressed how good these Sarissa Terrain Tiles look on the Geek Villan matt. With some actual painting and texturing, adding just enough scrubby green pieces, they should look pretty damn great.
Of course, the Bazi Emirate is actually holding this position in an attempt to block this MSR. With no friendly forces forward of them, the Bazis have dropped two concrete barricades across the road and prepared defences (including stopping a civilian vehicle that attempted to rush through without being checked).
After some chat through the rule tweaks and getting the force morale rolled up (the Cynerician forces with 9, the Bazis with 10) we started off one of the best parts of Chain of Command – the Patrol phase! With the Defenders starting spread out, the Bazis were able to move along a wide front, advancing faster than the single entry of the Cynerician attackers. The forward patrols met about half way down the board allowing for the Jumping Off Points to be placed.
Here, you can see the Bazi Jumping Off points. With the target Jumping Off Point back by the white pickup, the Bazi forces had plenty of defensive depth. A second JOP in the rear most compound held the far edge but the absolute steal was getting the JOP up behind the white minivan. Having forces close to the central compound would be a pain in the ass for the Cynerician advance.
The Cyernic jumping off points were strong pointing the gatehouse compound, with a pair in the main structures. The final JOP was behind the small building in the foreground, just off the road and ready to threaten the central intact compound.
With game on, the Bazi Forces took immediate action and didn’t mess around. The first rifle section piled out of the white minivan and took up defensive positions, going tactical.
Behind them, the first Police squad deployed and setup on Overwatch. The RPG gunner would not be able to fire from this position but covering the rear of their infantry allies would be very handy.
The phase switched and the Cynerician forces deployed, taking full advantage of the double phase. One squad moved up along the road, while the GPMG team took up position on the gate house before going into Overwatch.
In a move that had myself and the Creative Opponent looking at each other with concern, the Cynericians also deployed their second squad into the front buildings of their compound. This now meant almost the entire force was on the board in the first phase.
Moving onto the second part of the phase, the team on the road moved into undergrowth on the side of the road. Thanks to the weight of their gear, this movement slowed them slightly, having to pick through the undergrowth.
A tweak I’ve added is around Overwatch. By default, Overwatch is declared for a specific arc. However, in a game that will soon have you dealing with snipers, insurgents and more, I decided to add an option of all-round security at reduced firepower – ideal when strong pointing a building or setting up in hostile territory. Another tool in the toolbox!
However, something that came up in Fighting Season articles was an “enhanced overwatch” concept. Not having the playtest rules in front of me, I started thinking about just what could be added to make the professional forces standout. I eventually settled on an upgraded Overwatch, letting you combine the best features of the options (all round security + full firepower + going tactical) in exchange for additional command initiatives (useful for when you have a team leader). In terms of visualising, this is a squad/section commander taking the time to setup his squad in a position, working out how best to deal with incoming contacts. It takes some time to setup and once activated it still disappears. We found it a nice way to differentiate between the highly professional and those lacking flexibility, the better trained more easily being able to setup and keep an eye on areas of the battlefield.
In fact, Enhanced Overwatch seemed to be the aim of the game here, with plenty of eyes setup and cover taken care of. Having talked to the Dastardly Opponent after the game, a lot of this came down to concern over how limited his force was – with only two sections (and a GPMG team), every movement would be protected as possible.
A new phase and the Bazi infantry setup in all round protection.
The right move, seeing as the first team of the Cynerician platoon paused at the opening to the compound, narrowly avoid setting off Overwatch.
Popping smoke, it filled the gap between the buildings, making it safe for the infantry to advance.
First team and Junior Leader through, second team (and Senior Leader) moving on behind.
The first team moved in close to the wall. There was some discussion about entering the rooms, but realising that they would be at risk of both Overwatch from two sections AND frag grenades being posted in the windows left them outside
Instead, they started the grenade part early, throwing a pair of them high over the building before landing among the Bazi infantry. One soldier took the hit, but another had his body armour save him, turning the casulty into two points of shock.
In response, the second Police squad deployed on the roof top of the compound, ringing the walls with their support weapons and shooters. However, this action put them within line of sight of the GPMG team and pointing at the Overwatch token, the Dastardly regular opponent started rolling.
As you can see, a withering hail of fire based on the dice rolls.
As well as the normal shock, more hits to the body armour caused a stack of suppression to appear
As the phase shifted back to the Cynericians, we got our first taste the of sheer horror of a fireteam unleashed. At close range, with a SAW and four Carbines, the fire team and junior leader dropped a colossal 18 dice to hit. A lot of these managed to, delivering a metric ton of suppression that broke the squad. Worse, they also caused a Casualty among the police team.
From reading accounts, you realise how important body armour is. Able to take a lot of glancing blows and shrapnel that might over cause major injury. In my tweaks, you roll for body armour with each kill. Most of the time, the body armour takes the blow and delivers two points of shock. However, it is still possible for a direct kill or having to deal with a critically wounded Casualty.
Casualties count as additional shock that can only be cleared once the turn ends. When this happens you really want the casualty marker to be on a team within the casualty collection radius of a jumping off point or board edge. It’s handy to have a medic nearby or, like the Cynerian troops, have combat lifesaving as an upgrade; this is because when a Casualty is removed you roll on the Bad Things Happen table. Do well on the roll, or have positive modifiers, and the casulty is evacuated safety with no morale effect. Do poorly, or worse leave them unattended outside of the evac zone and it can cause a major drop in your force morale as the details trickle down the line or back to command.
Although maybe not as gritty or realistic as some rulesets, this system requires you to deal with the situation (an important part of warfare in the modern day) while still using systems that Chain of Command includes.
As you might expect, the unit broke, fell back off the board (narrowly avoiding running through their own comrades) and then disappeared off. The first blow to force morale had been struck.
Some more relocation, and a phase where the Bazis managed to go onto the next level of Overwatch, soon led to a Command Roll that led to a double phase. With a Chain of Command dice in hand, we saw a pretty amazing play. First step? Relocate forces using the smoke for cover.
Step 2 – End the turn. Overwatch is removed. Smoke is Removed.
Step 3 – Advance and open up at close range (although not quite fisticuffs). Cause a literal pile of shock that pins the enemy section due to the multiple assault rifles and the SAW. (Ignore the figure with the DMR, we were just using them as Carbines for this game).
Step 4 – While the enemy senior leader attempts to clear off the pinning amount of shock, move the entire squad into fisticuffs range.
After an incredibly bloody (and incredibly close with both sides rolling similar dice) close combat phase, the Cynerican troops were victorious, wiping the enemy from the position. After rolling for the two leaders engaged in the fight (the junior squad leader and the senior NCO) both were unharmed, leaving them to be captured. The intel boys would have a field day with them. It was also a massive blow to the Bazi Force Morale, losing a section AND two leaders very quickly
Unfortunately, this was not all one sided – the attackers took one KIA in the end and unfortunately it was the Squad Leader. As we found out later, losing half your Junior Leaders would make Command Rolls later on a pain in the backside.
(This situation was a bit messy – we’re going to take another run through at this and work out what really should have happened)
Seeing a close quarters fight going down, the Bazi player pushed another squad into position, taking cover in the shrubs to cover the road between the compounds.
After using a Chain of Command dice to move the JOP forward, the victorious section did some reorganisation. Dropping prisoners off at the JOP to be pushed to the rear, the rest of section took up position in the building and behind the white minivan.
This however set off the police squad’s overwatch. From inside the building, the PKM and 5 assault rifles opened up at the shadows flittering in the building across the field.
The team in the heavy cover of the building were able to blow off the fire but the sheet metal of the minivan dented, caved and then was sent spinning around shrapnel. Two of the fire team behind the van were taken down and became casualties.
At this point, the Bazi player dropped a Chain of Command dice and ended the turn. Because these two casualties were away from the collection point, only the combat lifesaving skills of their teammates were able to minimise force morale damage.
On the northern side of the board, the other section saw where the fire was coming from and moved to outflank the Bazi unit in the shrubery.
Another phase saw the Bazi Army and Police open up on the Cynerican section hiding in the recently cleared compound. Despite the building being heavy cover, a mixture of RPG rounds and suppressing fire started pocking the heavy cover with holes. Even at effective range, this was a lot of incoming.
The troops inside were actually really starting to get pinned down, a situation made worse when another soldier was lost to incoming fire an became a casualty. Even worse, it was one of the Team Leaders, causing another drop in command capabilities.
After some horrible dice rolls, the two teams eventually managed to withdraw, taking the casualty with them. And just in time, as the turn ended with them well inside the casualty collection zone.
Using their activations, the team leaders of the two pairs reformed into a single team.
At this stage, my Dastardly Regular Opponent made a smart observation. Was this a campaign, he would have chosen to fall back. With only three fireteams (and a machine gun as support) and a lack of junior leaders, it would be very hard to achieve the objectives. Seeing as his force was the recce of a larger push (and having captured two command figures), we agreed that although not a complete victory, it would at least assist in the advance in this area.
We agreed the next game might be playing this map but tweaked – open up the flanks and deploy a full platoon with assets to properly assault this semi-prepared position.
One thing I agree with Too Fat Lardies about is the importance of a campaign system. It’s very easy to produce a key set of rules but you lose some of the background for your actions in a single one off skirmish game. By running in a campaign, you think twice about frittering away your troops or wasting them in an unending battle. It’s very easy for the wargaming red mist to descend and forget the setting of the game or that you’re controlling people.
I’m already thinking about how ultramodern would work with the rules in “At the Sharp End” – I’m tempted to add additional reactions to your results (other than your men and your CO). Having to balance the political and media fallout of your actions will definitely make players think carefully about what they do.
Some of this may also come as a GM running a campaign – listening to players attempting to explain how their failure of a mission was actually a success in disguise will be amusing.
Of course, this is a playtest. And so, after agreement from high command/the Creative Regular Opponent, I traded a Chain of Command dice for an additional asset.
With a rumble, a JLTV arrived on the board. With a .50cal in the turret (and relatively high armour), this as a good chance to see how a vehicle might affect the game. It’s also a cool model and much more at home in a platoon level game vs most skirmish games.
Naturally, it’s suddenly arrival didn’t stop one of the RPG gunners taking a pot shot at it from 5 range bands away in the following phase. It naturally missed and the .50cal in return took him out.
On the northern side, the second Cynerican section managed to take up positions in the ruined compound and unleash hell on the enemy who were still re-arranging themselves after falling back from the scrubs. Their fire dropped a huge amount of shock on the squad in the first phase (enough to pin them) and then in the next phase added enough to cause them to break and retreat, reducing the Bazi morale down to 1. We did notice that at close range, if you managed to unleash your fire first, you would usually get the enemy pinned very quickly.
With Bazi morale at 1 (and with time ticking on) my Creative Regular Opponent decided to withdraw his forces. With only one command die and a whole host of possible casualties coming up, it made sense to fall back and preserve what was left. The Cynericans had take the field, and I assume the Platoon commander was currently radioing in about the complete lack of enemy artillery in the area.
Overall, I’m calling this game a success. Both players mentioned how much they enjoyed it – with only a few changes, the game had a very different feel to the WW2 game while still being familiar and with many of the same pleasing systems. Both players also immediately start theory crafting around the systems, thinking about how other forces and support options might play, excited at the possibilities.
I personally was very happy with how little extra stuff it felt like was added. There wasn’t whole diversions into pages and pages of rules for minor things. Movement, shooting, close combat all the core systems have remained true to how Chain of Command plays.
Of course, the rules are nowhere near ready for prime time (playing in the campaign with the rest of the group). Outside of writing all the various forces and creating support lists, we need to add rules for dealing with both irregular forces and special operations teams. Insurgency rules I think will be a big change – you need to make a force that is on paper incredibly weak be as threatening to the enemy as possible through lots of other soft effects. That said, I’m very excited to see what can be done – Chain of Command has such a glorious collection of systems that with a few tweaks and pokes can play entirely differently.
