Chain of Command 2 - a few first thoughts

My pre-order bundle arrived yesterday afternoon.

The cover keeps the spirit of the original alive, while also looking all new and shiny. I chose the Veteran Resupply Bundle, which includes the book, a PDF of the book, two Force morale trackers, nicely printed on card and a set of MDF tokens;

I've already taken the opportunity to laminate the force Morale trackers, to ensure they have a long and useful life and the MDF tokens and markers are a nice update to the original set (of which I have two) and include a few new things. All in all, an excellent set of the important stuff. I've already got patrol markers, CoC dice and jump off points, but if you are a new player, you can get two other bundles that have the extra things you'll need to play.

I've spent a bit of time skimming through the book and, so far, the changes I've seen all appear to be improvements rather than things I don't like. I've played CoC2 a couple of times already and knew how some of the new things work but there is also stuff that I'd not seen, so I expect that there will be a period of adjustment ahead. 

One thing I really do like from an early dip into the book are the changes to Soviet platoons which give them a bit more punch and potentially make them a more flexible attacking force. I'm thinking that I'll be following in the footsteps of Comrade Stalin and reorganising my Soviet infantry quite soon. I may well end up with more Soviet troops than I'll ever be able to get onto the table. Looking at the cost of Supports, I still doubt that I'll ever see my T-34/85, SU-85 or IS-2 on the table.

I'm also looking at the German list and I'm now planning a Volksgrenadier force, which should be an interesting Zug to play with. Assault rifles are less powerful than in CoC1, but still pack a big punch and SMGs are also downgraded but have a longer range. Volksgrenadiers field a lot of firepower, especially at close range, but look like they might be pretty brittle once they start taking casualties and shock.

I really like the changes to the Panzergrenadier Zug too. Now, each squad is all about the two MG42 teams. There are no additional riflemen. Everyone in the team now supports the MG42.

I've not looked as closely at the British lists, but a third crewman for the 2" mortar makes sense. The Airborne platoon no longer has an embedded PIAT team, that is now a support option and the platoon structure has changed.

The new ways you can use CoC dice points is also great. I've had a chance to use it in practice and I like it a lot.

Finally, Elite status is no longer applicable, except in one specific case. I've never liked the idea of Elites. There are better ways of giving certain troop types a bit of extra welly, red dice, for example as introduced in the Blitzkrieg handbook.

So, it is looking good for the future of Chain of Command and now I'm going to have to visit the Peter Pig website and spend some money.

More 15mm vehicles - a British recce troop

More models I've had for a while and finally got round to finishing off.

This is a British recce troop, part of a Reconnaissance Regiment in a British Armoured Division in the later war period.

The Troop consists of two Daimler armoured cars and two Daimler Dingo scout cars. The Troop commander is in one of the armoured cars. The troop would probably have operated in pairs, each pair being an armoured car and a scout car. 

These models are from Flames of War and are nice and simple to put together and paint. The box contains options for 2 pdr guns with Littlejohn squeeze bore adaptors, but I left them off, because it appears that the squeeze bore shells provided extra punch even when fired from a standard 2-pdr gun.

These are a nice addition to my 15mm Late War British and I've already put them on the table in a recce force scenario, where the armoured cars suffered heavily from Panzerfausts fired by their Volkssturm opponents.
 

Four Soviet light tanks

I've had these four tanks for years, probably since 2021 or 2022, so I thought it was about time I did something with them.

These are a pair of T-26 light tanks, originally introduced in 1931 and staying in service in various variants until the end of WW2. These are (I think) the T-26 Model 1933 with a 45mm main gun and a co-axial 7.62mm machine gun. This was the most common variant produced and one of the mainstays of Soviet armoured units in 1939-41, by which time it was obsolete and outclassed by Germany's Pz.Kpfw III and IV tanks and was being replaced by the far better T-34 tank with a 76mm main gun. Some did stay in use for most of the war on some fronts and even featured against Japan in 1945.

Below are two T-60 scout tanks, which began production in 1941. Originally armed with a 20mm cannon, it was later upgunned with the 45mm gun used by the T-26 above.
 

The T-60 was too thinly armoured to be used in a front line role but was used by reconnaissance units until it was replaced by the improved T-70 light tank.

These are all Zvezda kits,  which are now quite hard to find because of sanctions against Russia. I bought mine at my club's tabletop sale from private sellers, so none of my cash went back to Russia.

Anyway, I'll be able to use these for CoC games set during Barbarossa and later.

Finally! A few more completed figures.

This doesn't mean the arthritis has gone, just that I've had enough time to get these few done, a slow and infuriating 10-15 minutes of painting a day.

 

These are all Copplestone Back of Beyond British troops. Above is a Lewis gunner and an ammunition carrier, who make a nice two-man team and below are two more Lewis gunners, who really need a couple of ammunition carriers to make useful teams, but unfortunately North Star don't sell those guys separately.

I'll probably swap the gunner in the top photo with the one on the left in the lower one in actual games, so that they are both in shirtsleeves order.

I'm probably going to have to buy a couple more of the Riflemen packs to create a platoon of three sections of 10 men (7 riflemen, 2-man Lewis team and NCO) and then use existing figures for a platoon HQ (lieutenant and sergeant, plus a couple of runners). A source of spare Lewis magazines would be great to add to the webbing of two ordinary riflemen. I shall have to look online.

A complete platoon would be great for some 1920s and 30s Chain of Command in Central Asia, but would also be fine for other settings too.

Finally got the camera and lightbox out.....

 ....so that I could photograph some completed things. Here are some tanks. First a really silly Soviet monster;

The T-35 couldn't be called a success in any meaningful way, but it has a certain WTF? quality about it. This is a 15mm Zvezda kit and I'm not sure how or when I might get it onto the table, except maybe as a broken down vehicle that could be an objective. I think I've painted it up a bit pale, the green really ought to be darker, but my excuse is that the factory that produced it only had a lighter batch of green paint available.

Now, three more sensible German AFVs;

From left to right there are: the Czech CKD LT vz. 38 which, as the Pz 38(t)  was a useful (and much needed) addition to the early war Panzer forces, the workhorse Pz Kfw III Ausf. G with the 5cm Kwk 38 L/42 and the Sd Kfz 222 with the 2cm KwK 30 autocannon.  These are also Zvezda kits and will work nicely for the invasion of the Low Countries and the Battle of France and also for Barbarossa.

Lots of 15mm scenic stuff

I've not posted anything for a few weeks, but I have been busy, mostly making and painting a lot of scenic stuff for 15mm games. Here are the results. Firstly a bridge and river sections to create a crossing point.

The bridge is resin. I bought it ages ago, at Colours, I think from The Square. It has sat around in a box under my desk for a few years but I decided that it was high time I painted it so it can become useful. The river sections are made from corrugated cardboard with taped edges and just textured and painted. There are more sections to make up a decent length of river;

On these final two sections, you can definitely tell what they are made from! Still, they will do the job on the table.

In total I have roughly 1.5m of river. It isn't perfect, but it was cheap to make and is a lot wider than most wargaming river sections you can buy.

I've also been working on terrain that is going to give me some marshy ground. There is a decidedly wet and dodgy piece and some straggly trees growing on boggy ground.

The trees are railway accessories that I picked up cheap at the club's Tabletop Sale last year and I have loads more left. The bases are once again card, tape and texturing. I'm pretty pleased with these.

Finally, I made a load of road sections, representing rural dirt tracks. I made loads of these about seven or eight years ago, but they appear to have vanished, so I've had to make more. They are cork floor tiles cut into 5cm wide strips and coated with PVA glue and railway modelling ballast. In total there is over 3.5 m of roads. If I ever find the ones I made before, that would give me another 2.4 m of roads/tracks.

All of this stuff is going to be great for Sharp Practice and Chain of Command in 15mm, but only time will tell how robust the cardboard-based stuff is!

I doubt that the bridge would be able to take the weight of armour, but it'll work fine for infantry and light vehicles.

My plans for 2024.

A few days ago, I looked back at what I had planned for last year. Now, I am going to look forward to the coming 12 months and look at the things I want to work on as my main projects for 2024, as well as note down a few things that I can work on in between if I'm feeling a bit bored with the main job in hand.

I have three big 28mm projects (the first two being the most important);

An Elven Army for Midgard which will also work for Sword and Spear Fantasy. I have all the figures for these. They are the excellent Oathmark Elves from North Star. I have Heavy and Light Infantry and the recently-released Cavalry. I've probably got more Heavy Infantry than I really need (I went for the original High Elf army bundle North Star released when Oathmark was first launched) but I'm sure I'll find a use for any leftovers.

A 1940 French Infantry platoon with various support options for Chain of Command. These are all Warlord Games. I've two boxes of infantry, a M1897 75mm gun and a Hotchkiss MMG. I'll have enough figures for an extra Groupe de Combat, extra crew members for the gun and MMG and probably a sniper team and some engineers. 

More 28mm Bloody Miniatures 17th century figures. These will be two more of the Foot releases as well as the recent release of Horse.

Another 28mm project I hope to get done is another Xenos Rampant force using the Wargames Atlantic Deathfields Bulldogs. I want to give these a real Weird WW1 vibe.

I've got things to complete from 2023 too. Top of the list are those 28mm Bicorne Miniatures pikemen.

At some point, I'll carry on with my 15mm Warhammer Empire themed army but I really needs to be in the right mood to work on this.

I will carry on working on scenic stuff too. I have loads of 28mm Sci Fi things to get painted and also some 28mm Renedra plastic buildings. I've also got various 15mm and 28mm odds and ends which I can work on in between the big projects. I also need to work on trees, river sections and other stuff. I might even get round to doing my long-planned but never started modular graveyard, complete with weird sculptures and other stuff. I've got all the bits I need. All I need now is the willpower and the time to make it happen.

I've also got the Bad Squiddo Community Miniatures figures to do. These will also be worked on when I need a break from Elves or French infantry.

Inevitably, I have Pulp/7TV figures to work on too, but that part of the backlog is slowly shrinking.

There are lots of other things I might get round too working on (late 19th century North West Frontier in 15mm, 28mm Bad Squiddo Soviet Women, various WW2 North Africa in different scales etc) but they aren't actual objectives.

I expect that this time next year, I'll still have things I never got round to finishing, or even starting! So it goes.

I bought this at the beginning of 2022 .............

............... and now, more than 21 months later, I've actually painted it!

It is a PaK 40 7.5cm anti-tank gun with five crew and a junior leader. It will be a deadly addition to my collection of German support options for Chain of Command.

The gun and figures are from Peter Pig, as are all my WW2 German troops. I decided to put all the crew on a single base and use a small dice to record casualties. Because of the size of the gun, I had to base it on a 6cm MDF disc, so putting the crew on the same base made sense. It gives the whole thing a smaller footprint than having some of the crew on separate bases, which is easier for removing casualties.

So, now I have a big A/T gun for my Heer. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it on the table in the not too distant future.

A break from the 17th century; more 15mm Soviet armour from Zvezda

I've been feeling the need to paint something different, so here are four WW2 Soviet AFVs.

So, above are two T-34/76 tanks. I already have one of these but I need two more for a game that is being arranged for some point in the future. The gun on the left-hand tank looks a bit droopy, but I've straightened it up a bit. To be honest, it looks OK in real life, so maybe it is an optical illusion? 

Next, something I bought in case I get around to playing some Barbarossa period games, a BT-5.

Generally outclassed by German tanks and anti-tank guns, the BT-5 was very common in the early war period, and remained in production until sometime around the end of 1941. Equipped with a 45mm M32 20K gun, it was able to penetrate the armour of the PzKPFW III Ausf. D, E, F, and G variants at a range of up to 1000m, although it was more effective at shorter ranges. It was at a huge disadvantage defensively because it was only lightly armoured and could even be vulnerable to the German PzKpfw II's 2cm KwK 30 cannon at relatively short ranges. During 1941, the BT-5 and the BT-7 were gradually replaced by the vastly superior T-34/76.

Finally, here is the SU-85, a tank destroyer designed in 1943 to use the chassis of the T-34 but armed with an 85 mm D-5T gun to provide better armour-piercing capabilities against the German Tiger and Panther tanks. Originally intended for use in the T-34/85 tank, the D-5T was replaced as the T-34/85's main gun by the ZiS-S-53 in early 1944 until the end of the war. Production of the SU-85 was ended in mid-1944 as the T-34/85 became more widely available. Around 2500 SU-85s were produced.

I like these simple Zvezda kits because you can buy them singly, they have very few parts and you can get them made, undercoated and painted pretty quickly. Without a great deal of effort, you can turn out decent-looking tanks that easily pass the 1 metre away visual test.

Winter Wonder Lard 2023

So, yesterday saw a disparate bunch of Lardy gamers, and Richard Clarke of TooFatLardies himself, head down to Bristol Independent Gaming in South Bristol for a day of Lardy Goodness, followed by beer and curry. I was running a 15mm game of Big Chain Of Command with four players in the morning and here are a few pictures from it;

The scenario was based around the fighting near Bréville-les-Monts in the aftermath of the D Day landings in June 1944. In this scenario, the fighting was concentrated to the south-west of the village of Bréville-les-Monts between elements of 9th Parachute Battalion's C company and troops from the Festung Grenadier-Regiment 857 supported by armoured assault vehicles.

The terrain was deceptive, a ridge above a road lower down the slopes with plenty of dead ground, low ridges, hedgerows and interrupted lines of sight, small wooded areas and a paddock (visible on the upper edge of the first photo. The German objective was the crossroads halfway along the road along the ridge. Unbeknown to the British airborne troops, the Germans had a pre-registered target for their limited off-table mortar support (only two barrages were allowed) and that target was the objective itself. 9 Para would also suffer from an unpredictable availability of troops due to the dispersed nature of the airborne and glider drops on D Day itself. 9 Para had moved to the area around Bréville-les-Monts on 7th June following the action at the Merville Battery where it had suffered casualties.

The game itself was pretty brutal for both sides and resulted in a German win. Of course, in real life, the fighting would continue for several days more before Bréville-les-Monts was captured and the German offensive was broken.

In the afternoon, I played  in a terrific 28mm game of Chain of Command set somewhere in Egypt between 8th Army and Afrika Korps troops trying to gain control of the Ark of The Covenant. This was amazingly enjoyable, and featured aggressive camels, mysterious men wearing fezzes, blasts of ancient magic, reanimated evil mummies, Indiana Jones (who perished at the hands of the Chief Mummy) and many more pitfalls, as well as normal CoC things. The game resulted in a British victory, but it went right down to the wire in the end.

Here are a few photos;

The day was organised by David Hunter, hosted by Jim and Ellen at BIG and the curry arranged by Andy Crow, who all deserve a huge round of applause.

Some resin scenic pieces

 These are all 15mm scale and were bought from The Square, who is a regular at most shows.

The piece above is a large improvised firing position, with the figures placed for scale purposes. It is large enough for a whole infantry section, I think, depending on base sizes. Below are two smaller improvised fortifications.

Next are three piles of rocks or rubble, which are bound to come in useful.

Finally, a more formal fortification, this time a concrete casemate with an earth glacis. The 6-pdr gun fits in rather well, I think.

These were all pretty quick and easy to paint and texture with tufts, flock and ballast. I did all the pieces in a single afternoon. The tufts are all from Gamer's Grass, who are stocked by Bad Squiddo.

My first completed work of 2023 - WW2 British Airborne in 15mm

I,ve spent all of January so far staring at these figures and finally painting them! There are a lot, so scrolling down is required.

First, some anti-tank support options for my existing Airborne platoon, a 6-pdr A/T gun with a jeep and an officer followed by four two-man PIAT teams;

Next a couple of Vickers MMGs;

Finally, a few extra officers, one pair can also be used as a FOO for off-table mortar support and a couple of Rifle sections;

All of these figures come from Peter Pig, as do the original platoon. They will be used for a game of Big Chain of Command (two players a side) I will be running at Winter Wonder Lard at BIG in Bristol in late February.

I am sure that they will also come in handy for possible Arnhem games in the future.

My plans for 2023

Well, I've been pondering what I want/need to get on with over the next 12 months, and looking at the metal, plastic and resin mountain to see what I really ought to do something about, even if it is only because the various things have been hanging around for ages.

There are things that fell off the bottom of my 2022 list that I will definitely work on, as well as others that might get done. There are also a few things that won't happen and one or two that might end up as something else.

So, here are the things I will definitely be aiming at getting done. The higher up the list, the more likely they will get an early start;

15mm WW2 British Airborne support options for Chain of Command (these will be my January priority).

15mm WW2 German support options for Chain of Command

Stargrave plastic box sets for Xenos Rampant armies

Various other plastic sets that will work for Xenos Rampant with head and weapons swaps.

28mm Spanish for Sharp Practice 

28mm Bloody Miniatures 17th century troopers

28mm 17th century Bicorne Miniatures Pikemen and Musketeers (these will augment my existing Bloody Miniatures figures to make up useful forces for various sets of rules)

15mm extra units for my SYW Honours Of War army, infantry and artillery mostly

28mm Wild West figures for Dead Man's Hand and anything else.

15mm Renaissance army for Sword and Spear Fantasy (with a Warhammer Fantasy Empire theme)

15mm Northwest Frontier Imperial and Afghan forces and buildings (this is a new project)

Continuing building up my scenic collection in 15mm and 28mm, including lots of 28mm Sci Fi scenics

1/285 scale 8th Army and DAK for O Group

Crossfire 15mm US infantry company

15mm WW2 1943-45 British/Commonwealth infantry for the Far East.

28mm Pulp figures for all sorts of things (I have too many of these in my leadpile)

Additions to my 28mm Perry plastic Renaissance collection

Silver Bayonet

28mm Soviet Women, also for Chain of Command (from the Bad Squiddo Kickstarter)

28mm Late Roman skirmishing and armoured cavalry, and cataphracts too.

15mm Romano-British "Arthurian" army for Sword and Spear Fantasy

The thing about all of the above is that I already have the necessary figures for most of this, apart from the extra units for my SYW army and more Perry 15th century plastic infantry, so the only thing stopping me from making a start on this list is my own laziness and habit of playing with the dogs, reading books and listening to music instead of prepping and painting minis.

Of course, there are lots of other odds and ends hanging around that might get worked on simply because I feel like a change. I've got lots of Fantasy stuff that I really ought to do something about this year, including a box of Wargames Atlantic giant spiders, which would definitely work for Xenos Rampant.

Far East Project - part four

Here is my final post for a while for this project.

Once again, these are all Peter Pig 15mm figures, mainly from the 8th Army range, apart from the radio operator with the FOO (on the left) and the sniper on the right. Those two are both later war figures, but in neither case does it really matter. They look fine as they have been painted and based. The Vickers MMG team is all standard troops.

These will all be support options for the basic platoon force. The sniper was wrapped in a small piece of butter muslin soaked in PVA glue before undercoating. You can just about see that he is wearing a cap comforter.

For this earlier period, I still have a couple of Universal Carriers to do, together with crews, which will also have dismounted figures. One will be a standard Bren carrier and the other will have a 2" mortar. 

I also have the figures for a later war platoon and supports dressed in the JG uniform which began to be introduced in 1943 and more widely adopted the year after. I am planning to paint these troops as Gurkha Rifles with a British officer. I haven't even based these up yet, so they will have to wait for a while.

Far East project - part three

This post covers a second platoon for my 1942-3 Malaya, Singapore and Burma project and that platoon is a Sikh one;

Above is the platoon HQ, plus a Vickers MMG support option. These are all, once again Peter Pig 15mm figures from their 8th Army range.

Next, the three infantry sections that make up the platoon;

The platoon is structured the same as a British one, with the HQ consisting of a Lieutanant, who is British, a Havildar (platoon sergeant), a Boys anti-tank rifle team and a 2" mortar team.

Each section is led by a Naik (corporal) with a SMG, a three-man Bren team and six riflemen.

Peter Pig does a nice selection of Sikh infantry with beards and wearing the dastār or turban, but sadly not for everything. Therefore, I have used some British figures wearing the Mk II helmet where necessary. Needs must etc.

As with the British platoon, I have put a radio operator on the lieutenant's base, but I didn't do this with the havildar, because his pose is different to the one I've used for the naiks.

I wanted to use troops from the Indian Army because they provided the largest part of the manpower of the formations that fought in most of the campaigns between 1942 and 1945, as also suffered the heaviest casualties.