Since we announced Chain of Command was at the printer, a vast number of you have been contacting use asking the same question: “Can I field my favourite Army?” And naturally you nearly all have different favourites you want to field.
Naturally limitations of space occur when publishing any set of rules and as a result we had to make some hard choices about who to include and who to leave out. In the end Chain of Command includes Army lists for Britain, the USA, Germany and the Soviet Union and covers the war in Europe. We would have liked to extend that to cover the Japanese, but then the lists would have expanded out for Britain and the USA as we would have had to include additional lists for forces serving in the Far East and Pacific Theatre, and that in turn would have meant different support lists for different theatres, and the whole thing would have spiralled out of control as we attempted to cover all bases in one volume.
So, what are we going to do about it? Well, firstly, providing an Army List for any nation is a three part process. The first bit is the easy bit, and that is working out what is in the platoon. Most of use have had to do that at some time or other, and the internet makes that rather easier than it used to be. We tend to look to period manuals to provide us with book strength for forces, so that could be the German Kriegsstärkenachweisung, Soviet Shtati or similar.
The second stage is to look at what support could be available for that force and providing that. This is a little more time consuming as we need to work out all of the weapon stats, such as armour ratings for AFVs, H.E. and A.P. rating for guns and so on, before we tabulate that into a format which will allow you to select support for your platoon.
Finally we need to look at national characteristics. This is a more time consuming process as it involves significant research into the way that the troops were trained and fought. Only with this research can we allocate characteristics to our forces which are based on the way they actually fought, rather then on some rather dodgy stereotypes.
So, allowing for all of the above, we will be producing a whole raft of Army Lists for various nations. Starting with the Japanese and with French, Poles and other nations following on from that. Initially we’ll be looking at standard line units for those nations, and the going back to fill in the gaps were we can. Ultimately we’d like to be able to produce a wide variety of these with campaign or battle specific support lists. For example, Paras at Arnhem would have access to a very different range of possible support to Paras taking part in Operation Varsity. On top of that, we’ll also be producing some scenario supplements based on real actions and guides to running campaigns with Chain of Command.
What we’d like you to do is let us know what lists you’d like to see and we will try to respond as quickly as we can. If you fancy developing your own lists we’d be very happy to make them available as free downloads as well so people can benefit from your labours. So, why not drop us a line and tell us your favourite army and we can try to help.
Early Desert British for Chain of Command
This list covers the early part of the war in the North African desert and is suitable for the period from 1940 through to late 1941 covering the Italian attempts to invade Egypt in late 1940, the British and Commonwealth counter-attack of Operation Compass and then the German involvement with Unternehmen Sonnenblume and the British
31 thoughts on “Chain of Command – We’ve Got a Little List…”
I’d love to see lists for the invasion of France 1940, mainly the BEF and the variety of German units involved. I’m not sure if they are already covered in the book>
Yes, I would have to say British, French, German and Belgians for the 1940 Campaign too.
Since like myself many others will have fallen for the Perries tour into the Western Desert, lists for Brits, Italians, Germans and Americans in that theatre would be well received me thinks.
Cheers,
Tilman
1939 Poles/French and early war Blitzkrieg Germans please 🙂 ….
I’ve tumbled towards the Western Desert and Italian campaign, so Italians, ANZAC and Indians would be a great list. Although, I guess ANZAC and India would follow the standard British setup?
The Pacific and also the Winter War.
… so for the moment it looks like every nation that was involved 39-45 … as a starter for 10 ! .. after that I guess the list just expands !!
Rich – there should at least be a modest charge for these Lists as they will take some effort to produce … 🙂
Hi,
Are the lists included in the rulebook for the whole war in Europe or just for the late war (44-45) as in TW&T?
Planning to fight first some 42′-43′ Kharkov/Stalingrad battles so can I do that straight from the book or do I need to wait a bit/ do my own lists?
Cheers,
Ville
PS. Can’t wait to get my copy! Only 8 days left – who am I kidding, still 8 days left… 😀
I’d also like to see early lists for Germany, France, and Poland. It seems they’re very popular!
I’d LOVE to see a master “civilian” list for later in the war, with options to use it as resistance, partisans, Volkssturm, or uprisings. It would be a useful and versatile addition, and at this scale forces like that could really shine.
Rich, For platoon level rules , I’d love to see lists for Japanese, Chindits, USMC etc. These rules are perfect for small jungle actions. Folks at the local store were pretty excited-But maybe tthat is because I am in California where the Pacific Theatre is close to home with many serving.
Being a Kiwi I’d love to see some lists/scenarios featuring the New Zealand forces, along with our Aussie cousins, and the Canadians.
The drumbeat of blog postings leading up to the release of this set is great! Keep it going! Can’t wait for the release.
It seems like there are some really classic conflicts in WW2 that folks like to game. From the initial release info it looks like you’ll have the Normandy theater covered. I’d like to do the Poles on the Mace but I don’t think you’ll need lists to cover that.
Stalingrad is another one. I can’t tell whether your starting lists will cover that early, but if not that would be good to cover.
I’m not sure how to game North Africa in this scale but I’m sure folks would like to try. Again, I’m not sure how early your lists will go, but it would be good to get to them soonish. I’m thinking either Halfaya Pass or assaults on Tobruk would be in high demand.
I’m very happy to see such interest for Early War and the Poles as they are my main area of interest as well. I think the Polish players will be up for a treat once the list is released – there are some really cool things in the Polish army manual regarding small unit tactics 🙂
As an aside Rich, would it be possible for TFL to produce a blank ‘Army List’ Template document for download?
That way, while we may not all end up singing off the same hymn sheet, at least the hymn sheet itself will be the same. 😉
If the rules generate as much enthusiasm on release, as they have interest before, there will be quite a number of lists produced. At least I imagine that will be the case….
Finns, first for the Winter War, but later also for the Continuation War…
I would like to see lists for Italy and Canada, please
Finns, both for Winter and Continuation Wars.
Thanks
Koen
German Gebirgsjäger, and Russian Naval Infantry “Black Death”.
Definitely the Italians – the early war period to begin with.
Mostly been said already, 1940 Germans, BEF, French and Belgians, 1941 Western Desert (everyone), and Burma.
Rumanians please Rich!
Cheers
Gerry
Hi I would love to see lists for1940 armies of the west, France, British, German, Belgium, Holand.
Thanks for what looks to be a great game.
I second a master “civilian” list to include partisans and uprisings in late war, making it possible to field Armia Krajowa in the Warsaw uprising Aug – Oct 1944.
Cheers
Jan
I’d say finish out the late war (Finn’s, Free polish, Free french, maybe some axis minors) and pacific first.
Not sure if this is the place but I’ve got a couple of qs about the CoC Russian lists – I think there are a couple of typos or omissions?
Particularly – how many men in a 50mm mortar team? The 04/551 Shtat says 9 with 2 mortars but that clearly wont fit
Secondly – Tank Killer team – how many men and what weapons
Lastly – Commissar – what does he do?
Cheers
Spanish Civil War
Agree with Graham, Burma and 1941 North Africa especially.
I’d go with 1939 Belgians (even though the French list would probably be a good substitute), forces for East Africa (a la Ruddy Picnic), Norwegian Campaign, & Spanish Civil War.
Spanish Civil War would be great, regular forces, Guardia Civil, International Brigades, Italian CTV. Thanks!
I’d love so see Italians & Partisans
My suggestions are to step back and figure the way forward strategically… and you may have done so, I am brand new to COC, having played first game yesterday and this is first visit to the site. I’m coming from Flames of War.
Strategically meaning to put out books on campaigns or logical groupings, such as Normandy, Market Garden, Bulge, or the 1940 invasion of France and such.
That said, I’d love to see you do variants of the British Late War forces, Normandy-on. Canadians (where they are mostly the same, but with a few distinctions). Also Free Poles, Czechs and Dutch fought under the 21st Army Group. Partisans can be defined and organized, and then applied to all fronts (well I guess not North Africa). Germans had hard fights against Partisans in Russia, Greece, Yugoslavia and France.