Chain of Command 2 Playtest 1

I got in my first game on Sunday. I played the Attack and Defend scenario from the main rulebook using my new scenario for Singling. It worked great. I used the historical forces for the US troops as the attacker but a full Panzer Grenadier Platoon for the Germans. That was probably a mistake. The US forces were the historical remnants of two platoons whose combined total was less firepower than a normal single paper strength platoon. The action ended up being a tank engagement as the scenario is designed for Big Chain of Command with each side having an armored unit and an infantry element on the table. I really liked the Final Countdown. I ended up using a shock marker dial for the final countdown. The game had fairly historical results with even fewer casualties. I miscalculated the German support points and short changed them a bit. I really don't think it mattered that much. I plan on running some more games on this table to get a full feel for it before finalizing it. But it was great to finally play a game again.

The primary action was between the armor. The US Infantry came close to the Jadgpanzer IV in the town center spotting it in the smoke. The armor then engaged it ineffectively causing it to retreat. Similar to the historical outcome. The US tanks never made it close to the courtyard with the horse dung. The US infantry siezed the objective marker in the church. One accomplishment that I had was getting to play with completed fencing for Building 28. The fences received a very basic paint job. I made a mistake with the metal work. I should have painted it black. Instead I did a silver and then put a rust wash on it. Not 100% happy with it but it will do.

In looking at it, I am not 100% sastisfied with the chimneys on some of the buildings. The ones where I just went with a black chimney, i need to revisit. I might brick them or at least paint some kind of stone work on them as they look off compared to the rest of the building. I also need to up my jump off point game. Using an unpainted wooded 25mm base just seemed bland. It worked but is bland. Overall, I am pretty happy with how this is turning out.

The last big part of this is the elevations. I am sold on the idea that the excersize mats are the way to go at this point. I have a 6'x 4' matt currently under this. I need two more identical ones that I can do surgury on them to get the look I am going for. The hope is that this will prove to give me flexibility to design multiple hill terrain options. The matts come with an edging piece so you don't have a puzzle piece look on the sides. This edging should be able to be cut as a slope to avoid an oddly stair stepped look under the ground cloth. It is still on the to do list.