It’s not often we’ll be so direct as to ask “Do you prefer CoC, or the alternative?” but a very comprehensive review of Chain of Command and one of the alternative rule sets out there aimed at platoon level actions has certainly got people talking. You can read Trailape’s comments on his blog here: http://trailape.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/so-youre-platoon-commander-comparing.html
Now, we’re not making any claim for Chain of Command to be the biggest, best or anything else, but we do know that we all have a huge range of rule sets to choose between and often it takes a bit of a poke with a sharp stick to get us to jump in and try something new. So, we thought that now would be a great time for us to launch the Chain of Command Challenge to encourage those gamers who’d been thinking about giving Chain of Command a try but who hadn’t quite got round to it yet. For the remainder of September we are slashing 20% off the price of the rules in hard copy, PDF or tablet-friendly format making Chain of Command fantastic value and this the ideal time to make that jump and give them a whirl.
Of course, as Hans is telling us, we mustn’t forget that Chain of Command benefits from all sorts of nice free to download support products like the notes of bigger battles which can be found here: Big Chain of Command
But there’s much, much more than that. We are rolling out free Army lists which will eventually cover the whole of WWII as well as producing a range of scenario and campaign supplements to make your gaming even more fun. Why not check out Lard Island News and search for Chain of Command Free Downloads to see the whole range of what is already available, or even try one of our Pint-Sized Campaigns, a whole campaign for the price of a pint of beer!
To take part in the Chain of Command Challenge you can find the rules at this great introductory price on our web site here: Chain of Command Products. And just to make things a bit more fun, we’d love to see your reports on your blogs, Facebook or Twitter feeds (hashtag #spreadthelard ), on the TooFatLardies Forum or Yahoo Group, or simply post your comments in a reply to this post. At the end of October we’ll be presenting a great prize for the best AAR and review of Chain of Command. Why not take the Chain of Command Challenge today?
I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, the authors interviewed on the Roundwood Report
There can be few sets of rules that survive nearly ten years at the top, but I Ain’t Been Shot Mum seems to be a hardy perrenial. A recent poll on TMP rated the old black and white edition as the ruleset that gamer like the most ( see http://tiny.cc/PollTMP for more details). So, if you’ve got
4 thoughts on “The Chain of Command Challenge”
Great idea. When will we be able to buy “Fighting Season”?
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Hi Rich. Thanks for the offer! I’ll be taking you up on the Challenge shortly but likely won’t have the opportunity to read the rules and try them out until sometime next month. I run demo games for that “alternative” game, and I like it quite a bit, but I’m not a strict adherent of the rules as written and I very rarely play points based games or use the “canned” scenarios in its rule book. My chief allegiance to them is that they are fun, very amenable to my tweaking, and let me field a company sized game that can be played in an evening – that and the compensation I get from running demos, of course! I’ve been wanting to try out Chain of Command for quite awhile. Looks very interesting and will hopefully give me a game I can enjoy -without all of the tweaks! And I will definitely be checking out Big CoC too (I hope I don’t get in trouble with my wife for that. Ha!). Thanks again…will let you know what I think after I get in a game or two.
Thanks! This comparative review is really worth reading. The direction he is going in is clear from the outset:
“Now before I start I just want to say that I’m looking at the two systems through the eyes of a soldier (Artilleryman) of 33 years service (both in a pure training environment and operationally).
“Yes, I know they are both ‘Games’ and playability and pure enjoyment must sit at the top of the list, but some level of realism must in my opinion be evident, otherwise why not simply play Warhammer Fantasy?
“I’ve played about 5 games now of both systems and found both to be enjoyable and challenging.
“One system was however MORE challenging, realistic and for me personally, enjoyable.”
Whereas the other was… what?
A bit too much like a World War Two version of Warhammer Fantasy, perhaps?
😉
Not the kind of review you’re likely to read in ‘Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy’ any time soon, now that the Dutch publisher (rather than the British editor) has pushed it in an increasingly post-modern direction.
(Just because the Netherlands inflicted Frank Ankersmit on the world surely doesn’t mean _all_ Dutchmen have gone postmodern?!).
Still, the first serious warning sign was the hypocritical and dishonest article written by the British author of Bolt Action in ‘Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy’, Issue 61.
The only thing that has put _me_ off buying a copy of Chain of Command is _not_ the price, it’s the cartoon Nazis used on the artwork and publicity, like something out of ‘Commando War Stories’ comic books… now with cartoon speech bubbles in Gothic script!
Please would TFL go back to just using photos of (realistically proportioned!) models (without cartoon speech bubbles!) and / or historical photos – as with IABSM?