My copy of Chain of Command arrived earlier this week and has that lovely new book smell when I opened it to read. Now some of you may well be asking why I bought a set of WW2 rules given that this is not one of periods that I play? A good question indeed, and my answer is that I'm a rule junky. I like to read wargame rules that challenge my preconceptions and stretch my imagination and Too Fat Lardies publish fascinating rule sets that do precisely that.
My intention is to use these rules for Inter War games say for the Spanish Civil War, which I do have an interest in, or adapting them for WW1 games, and even stealing the mechanisms for Vietnam era games. Somewhere deep and dark I have an idea about using the command and control aspects of the game for a near future SF game involving power armour, drones and cybertanks etc. Muwuhuhahaha!
Anyway, after reading these, watching some games being played and hanging around with disreputable people talking all things Lard, I recommend that you just go and order this set of rules today. The book is just so chock full of ideas that it ought to have a waning label that says full of addictive fun rules that will make your head explode.
Interesting that you will use them for WW1, since they are evolved from the WW1 game Through the Mud and the Blood. The command and control mechanism is different, otherwise it's pretty similar.
ReplyDeleteMe and Thomas and Jocke has run several Winter War games with Through the Mud and the Blood, but will probably switch to Chain of Command for those now.
Another period that could tempt me is the Winter War, just for the period hardware if nothing else.
DeleteI've only had a skim so far, but I'm familiar with the basics from the Lardies' videos and looking over their shoulders at shows, and I think it's an excellent system for the sort of stop-and-go action that forms small unit tactics in this era. I'm particularly fond of the Patrol Phase.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about Great War -- I think the command feel may be too different (but I'm not an expert). Talvisota should be no problem at all.
The main place I wouldn't use it is in a close-up vehicle-centric game: a tank or a ship can keep moving even if the guy in charge is temporarily distracted or at a loss, and the relatively abstracted time in this system doesn't seem to me to deal well with different vehicle speeds. (On the other hand, if you went up to an all-radio (e.g. 1980s and later) tank battalion under central command, where individual tank platoons or companies are being given missions coordinated from a single point, it might work well again.)