One of the very first things I did when I cracked open the pages of Chain of Command, rather, jumped to the appropriate section in the tablet edition, was notice there are no points values listed for things like squads and the various support items. How can I build a platoon? How can I customize it to be a finely honed machination of death without points? Instead, there is a listing of what you get when you pick your nation. Maybe 2 or 3 choices for your platoon and off you go. So what do you get in your pre-determined list, and where did the points go for tourney play? Nowhere, they are cleverly built into the lists.
Just so we're clear, my experience with points systems is built upon the premise that each unit in the game, from soldier to tank has a point value. This allows the players to set a limit on points with which to purchase their army, or platoon on a smaller scale. The points are a way to make the meeting armies balanced. If you play a 500 point battle, than every figure you purchase, or group or however it's based, will deduct from your points. Much like my wife shopping after I get my paycheck. Then when you bring your forces, they are balanced because 500 points from one nation should be equal to 500 points from another nation's list. This is what allows some games to be played in tournaments because the format allows players that have never met to come to the table and have a fair chance at winning whatever scenario is to be played. That part of micromanaging and planning is missing. Or is it?
Let's start by talking about the lists in general. Each nation provides at least two choices for platoons. These are by their nature generic as this is the first iteration of the rules and allows a wide span of time periods to be played in WW2. In my opinion, it was this generic feeling that left me wondering how exactly do you build your platoon. Well, you don't need to build the platoon. These platoons, as basic as they are, are built on research to historical counterparts. In time, you will see more lists added to reflect specific units and additional nations. In fact, they recently added the official Polish list for 1939.
These generic builds seem to hamper at first your ability to create a platoon based on your individual needs. But really, there isn't a whole of building you need to do. Each platoon contains a leader element and the squads/sections used to support the leader. Each squad/section is then broken down to the required men per team or squad if there are no teams, I'm looking at you Russia.... It is around this core grouping that the platoon can be customized. Well, I lied. Some platoons give you the option to make them elite, or even less experienced if you feel the need to add more support to your platoon. So in essence, even thought the nation builds have those elements, they are all constructed differently.
What makes this a beautiful design element is that the platoons reflect national qualities and tactics used in the era. Too Fat Lardies claim to have researched the armies of the day to get a sense of their tactics. I do believe this to be true, please visit their blogs and read some of the work they put into designing the platoons to see how they reflect the tactics used by those nations. Quickly you'll realize that the points systems of other games have been spent for on your behalf from a "nation list" to arrive at your starting platoon. This makes starting your platoons and preparing for a game a wonderful and simple matter. You have an appropriate platoon created and ready to run just as quick as you can muster your minis together.
However, these platoons all look the same. So on the outside, one German platoon looks like any other German platoon. I am left with no customization's to make this platoon mine. I thought that at first when looking at the platoons. It wasn't until I learned about the support lists and how to use them that I really learned how this no points system works. Again, this cleverly designed mechanic allows you to customize your platoon quickly and easily without the need to micromanage points, and creates a balanced scenario. Let's see how this is done, because I totally botched it the first time I tried to create my platoons.
The first thing to do after picking your platoon is to read the force rating of each platoon. There you will see based on things like relative strength and size of the platoon how combat effective it is. A regular unit is not as combat effective as an elite unit, this creates a force rating deficit. For example, a regular Russian platoon has a force rating of -3. A regular German platoon has a force rating of 0. We'll have to spend another article describing how they came to these numbers, I have a theory on that. But straight away, we see that a Russian platoon should be at a disadvantage when engaging a German platoon in say a meeting engagement. So this next mechanic allows you to provide balance without the need of a points system. Each nation gets a support list broken into levels. So by comparing the force ratings, that deficit of 3 would allow the Russians to select one item from list number 3. As you go up in support list number, the more powerful the support item becomes. In one simple check, you have now balanced the platoons, customized your platoon and gave tactical depth to the game without a points system.
This gets even better. You can select multiple items from lower lists adding up to the deficit. So in this example, my Russian platoon could select something from list 1 and list 2. I have now provided two pieces of support all while maintaining balance. It really is balanced, even though the Russians are bringing in additional support. What you have to do is look at the platoons and what they are made of to see the balances. In the German platoon, they have teams built into the squads allowing for the flexibility to potentially issue more orders and use the command dice more efficiently. The Russian player needs to combine dice to ensure he can activate his squads which actually decreases the flexibility of the dice pool. The German command unit comes with anti-tank support while the Russian command squad is one guy. So as a Russian, if I'm lucky, I could bring a tank, but the Germans come with good anti-tank support from the command element. Well, what if the Russians don't bring a tank? Those same German anti-tank units can be commanded by a senior leader to target non-vehicle units. Guess what. They come as part of the senior leaders squad and so come with that ability to target non-vehicles to the table. So once again, we see how TFL have cleverly built balance into this non-points game.
Even if you were to play Chain of Command at a tournament, you could expect to play well and fairly as the math for points has been done for you. Once you roll for scenario and adjust the force morale totals to reflect what support lists you can purchase from, you know the game will be balanced. At least in my experience so far it seems that way. And even though the lists may seem generic for now in the book, we have seen that more specific platoons are on the way. For example, the official Polish platoon addon and its support lists are from 1939. There are fans creating other platoons for other times and units as well. This means in time, you can easily pick a platoon that fits what you are looking to field and then purchase your support to customize that platoon. So even though you may face a force rating of +8 with your -3 Russians, you're guaranteed to pick up lots of support to balance it out. I see tournaments for Chain of Command coming in the near future.
So please don't look at these platoon lists and be disappointed at the lack of points, they really are there. The work has been done for you to make a historically correct, balanced and tournament legal army. No more do you have to worry about TO&E minutiae. No more do you have to worry about how many rare or restricted items you can take without violating a club or tourney rule. Too Fat Lardies have put out an excellent primer on platoon construction that you can find on youtube. Check it out and see that lack of micromanaging points allows you to play the period and not the rules. See what I did just now?
Just so we're clear, my experience with points systems is built upon the premise that each unit in the game, from soldier to tank has a point value. This allows the players to set a limit on points with which to purchase their army, or platoon on a smaller scale. The points are a way to make the meeting armies balanced. If you play a 500 point battle, than every figure you purchase, or group or however it's based, will deduct from your points. Much like my wife shopping after I get my paycheck. Then when you bring your forces, they are balanced because 500 points from one nation should be equal to 500 points from another nation's list. This is what allows some games to be played in tournaments because the format allows players that have never met to come to the table and have a fair chance at winning whatever scenario is to be played. That part of micromanaging and planning is missing. Or is it?
Let's start by talking about the lists in general. Each nation provides at least two choices for platoons. These are by their nature generic as this is the first iteration of the rules and allows a wide span of time periods to be played in WW2. In my opinion, it was this generic feeling that left me wondering how exactly do you build your platoon. Well, you don't need to build the platoon. These platoons, as basic as they are, are built on research to historical counterparts. In time, you will see more lists added to reflect specific units and additional nations. In fact, they recently added the official Polish list for 1939.
These generic builds seem to hamper at first your ability to create a platoon based on your individual needs. But really, there isn't a whole of building you need to do. Each platoon contains a leader element and the squads/sections used to support the leader. Each squad/section is then broken down to the required men per team or squad if there are no teams, I'm looking at you Russia.... It is around this core grouping that the platoon can be customized. Well, I lied. Some platoons give you the option to make them elite, or even less experienced if you feel the need to add more support to your platoon. So in essence, even thought the nation builds have those elements, they are all constructed differently.
What makes this a beautiful design element is that the platoons reflect national qualities and tactics used in the era. Too Fat Lardies claim to have researched the armies of the day to get a sense of their tactics. I do believe this to be true, please visit their blogs and read some of the work they put into designing the platoons to see how they reflect the tactics used by those nations. Quickly you'll realize that the points systems of other games have been spent for on your behalf from a "nation list" to arrive at your starting platoon. This makes starting your platoons and preparing for a game a wonderful and simple matter. You have an appropriate platoon created and ready to run just as quick as you can muster your minis together.
However, these platoons all look the same. So on the outside, one German platoon looks like any other German platoon. I am left with no customization's to make this platoon mine. I thought that at first when looking at the platoons. It wasn't until I learned about the support lists and how to use them that I really learned how this no points system works. Again, this cleverly designed mechanic allows you to customize your platoon quickly and easily without the need to micromanage points, and creates a balanced scenario. Let's see how this is done, because I totally botched it the first time I tried to create my platoons.
The first thing to do after picking your platoon is to read the force rating of each platoon. There you will see based on things like relative strength and size of the platoon how combat effective it is. A regular unit is not as combat effective as an elite unit, this creates a force rating deficit. For example, a regular Russian platoon has a force rating of -3. A regular German platoon has a force rating of 0. We'll have to spend another article describing how they came to these numbers, I have a theory on that. But straight away, we see that a Russian platoon should be at a disadvantage when engaging a German platoon in say a meeting engagement. So this next mechanic allows you to provide balance without the need of a points system. Each nation gets a support list broken into levels. So by comparing the force ratings, that deficit of 3 would allow the Russians to select one item from list number 3. As you go up in support list number, the more powerful the support item becomes. In one simple check, you have now balanced the platoons, customized your platoon and gave tactical depth to the game without a points system.
This gets even better. You can select multiple items from lower lists adding up to the deficit. So in this example, my Russian platoon could select something from list 1 and list 2. I have now provided two pieces of support all while maintaining balance. It really is balanced, even though the Russians are bringing in additional support. What you have to do is look at the platoons and what they are made of to see the balances. In the German platoon, they have teams built into the squads allowing for the flexibility to potentially issue more orders and use the command dice more efficiently. The Russian player needs to combine dice to ensure he can activate his squads which actually decreases the flexibility of the dice pool. The German command unit comes with anti-tank support while the Russian command squad is one guy. So as a Russian, if I'm lucky, I could bring a tank, but the Germans come with good anti-tank support from the command element. Well, what if the Russians don't bring a tank? Those same German anti-tank units can be commanded by a senior leader to target non-vehicle units. Guess what. They come as part of the senior leaders squad and so come with that ability to target non-vehicles to the table. So once again, we see how TFL have cleverly built balance into this non-points game.
Even if you were to play Chain of Command at a tournament, you could expect to play well and fairly as the math for points has been done for you. Once you roll for scenario and adjust the force morale totals to reflect what support lists you can purchase from, you know the game will be balanced. At least in my experience so far it seems that way. And even though the lists may seem generic for now in the book, we have seen that more specific platoons are on the way. For example, the official Polish platoon addon and its support lists are from 1939. There are fans creating other platoons for other times and units as well. This means in time, you can easily pick a platoon that fits what you are looking to field and then purchase your support to customize that platoon. So even though you may face a force rating of +8 with your -3 Russians, you're guaranteed to pick up lots of support to balance it out. I see tournaments for Chain of Command coming in the near future.
So please don't look at these platoon lists and be disappointed at the lack of points, they really are there. The work has been done for you to make a historically correct, balanced and tournament legal army. No more do you have to worry about TO&E minutiae. No more do you have to worry about how many rare or restricted items you can take without violating a club or tourney rule. Too Fat Lardies have put out an excellent primer on platoon construction that you can find on youtube. Check it out and see that lack of micromanaging points allows you to play the period and not the rules. See what I did just now?
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