William Terdoslavich  - Jan 24, 2007 9:39 am (#16809 Total: 17114)  
I have a chapter in Eric Haney's "Beyond Shock and Awe," out now. "The
Jack Ryan Agenda is still available on Amazon.com. 

On the Table last night: Combat Commander: Europe. 

Played scenarios 1 & 2 in about 4.5 hours. 

As Soviets in the first scenario, I had to hold a small house on the
left while moving a larger recon platoon down the road on the right. A
German recon platoon (+) with five squads took up position in the center
while contesting my hold on the house on the left. 

Play was fast and bloody. Two German squads and a leader tried to push
out three Soviet squads from the house on the left. One got scragged.
Two Soviet squads counter-attack, but get wasted by adroit German
card-play, including Advance/Ambush combo for melee (deadly and bloody).
Soviets shift two more squads from right to left to retake the
house--unsuccessfully. Last combat had mutual assured destruction as the
melee resulted in a tied die roll--both sides lose everything. German
victory. Lots of dead bodies. 

Second scenario was a bocage fight. I had Americans. One company with
artillery spotting is ready to go forward. German company is occupying a
few houses in the center. Things went downhill quickly as the Americans
could generate no momentum. 

Germans had "luck" on their side. Surprise reinforcement placed a
weapons team and HMG on the American left flank, wasting one squad and
pinning the left position. At one point, artillery and firepower
threatened the German center. Quick reinforcement stabilized the
situation. Lack of move cards for the Americans prevented any
exploitation. Additional luck added foxholes and a FJ squad to the line,
so no breakthrough was going to happen. Major German victory. 

CC:E is going on my "to buy" list. Artillery played smoothly and
quickly. Chaos was rife, even if it was to my frustration. Learning how
to "play right:" never assign the elite troops to a secondary mission,
and always try to to 2:1 on melee if you want that victory objective bad
enough. If you aren't getting any firepower results halfway through the
scenario (?--that's a judgment call--?), maneuver, dammit. I tried to
build good combos of arty, move/fire and assault, but nothing ever came
up in the right sequence. Learning how to discard is an important
lesson, as the previous person posting noted. 


J. R. Tracy - Jan 24, 2007 10:40 am (#16810 Total: 17114) 
"I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - Milka
Duno, Le Mans 

Monster version of last night's events 

Bill Terdoslavich and I managed a couple games of Combat Commander last
night. The learning process was pretty smooth, though I had to unlearn a
couple ASL concepts in the process. We went from unpunched to playing in
about 20 minutes. 

Our first game, Scenario 1, was a very close match. The Open victory
chit made the building on the German right worth four points. As the
German, my secret victory chit made *all* victory locations worth an
additional two points. The setup meant Bill's Soviets would have at
least eight victory points in hand against my six at the end of the
first turn, in addition to whatever Bill's secret chit might add. This
put me in the unenviable position of going on the attack at 1:2 odds. 

I had somewhat better quality troops but Bill definitely had the
numbers, as well as better support weapons. I used three squads and the
better leader to secure and guard the three victory locations in the
center of the map, and sent my weaker leader, a squad and the LMG to the
right. Bill had three squads, a leader, an MMG and an LMG protecting
that building, with the rest of his forces in the woods on my left,
looking down the road. My attack on the right quickly ended in tears as
I fell back through the woods. I added a squad from the center and tried
again. This time I had more success - Bill eliminated one of my squads
and I lost my LMG to malfunction/elimination, but the surviving
leader/squad combo went on a tri-state killing spree, nailing all three
Russian squads and the leader in successive melees. Nothing like a
fistful of Ambush cards to help things right along. 

Bill was up against his casualty cap, but had to launch a counterattack.
It took him three turns to move a force over to the chunky VP building,
but by then I had assembled a friendly greeting of yet more Ambush
cards. We had a mutual annihilation result on a melee in the victory
building, leaving it in my hands and Bill over his surrender limit. 

Our second game was a bit of a laugher, but displayed much more of the
CC:E system. We played Scenario 2, US/German in the Bocage. I had a
handful of Conscripts and Volksgrenadiers (Volksgrenadiers? Normandy?
Well, we don't play CC:E for the history) amply supported by four
leaders, a couple HMGs and two LMGs. Bill's dogfaces were mostly Line
squads stiffened by a couple Elites, three leaders, a pair of MMGs, a
light mortar, and most importantly, 105mm artillery support. The victory
locations start in German hands so the onus is on the GIs to attack. The
open VC chit made every location worth two VPs, and my secret chit made
one building worth another two. I deployed with my strength in the
center (both HMGs and two of my three VG squads) with a leader/LMG/VG
picket on my left and my line extended to a leader/LMG/Conscript on my
right, and a Conscript playing sweeperback in my rear. 

Bill made a strong opening move to turn my right flank. He succeeded in
breaking and eliminating my squad on the right, but that was the high
water mark for the Americans. Unlike the relatively Event-free first
game, we had a cascade of Events in this one, mostly pro-German. First,
a new Open victory chit granted me an instant five VPs (one per location
in hand). The next event allowed me to cash in some of those on the
German support table - I rolled up a groovy HMG team and placed it on my
right flank, neatly blocking that route. I was able to get a
leader/HMG/squad over to the right as well before Bill could crack my
line, and a Foxhole action saw them swiftly dig in. That was probably
the key moment as Bill's 10-strength artillery missions made little
headway against the +4 foxholes, and he wasn't getting anywhere with his
rifles and MGs. 

Stoned on my right, Bill had some better luck on my left, using his
mortar to send some Conscripts packing from behind a hedge. He rolled up
a Hero as well, giving him some hope. I was able to pelt him with a hail
of HMG fire, however, and despite a string of Recover cards he just
couldn't get his brokies face up again before I killed them off. His
only meaningful events other than the Hero merely started blazes to seal
a flank and put Mines in the way of his advance! The final Event insults
were another instant five VPs for the Germans, closely followed by a
second trip to the support table which parachuted a Fallschirmjäger
squad right into the center of my line. Sweet! Bill mercifully finished
off his deck shortly thereafter for the final Time event, drawing the
scenario to a close. 

Overall my impression was favorable, but I wouldn't wager a kidney on
the outcome. The cards generate a nice narrative, including lulls in the
fighting where both players are flushing their hands looking for a
useful card. The events certainly spice things up but they also generate
a feeling the players are just along for the ride. It's almost like the
SASL engine crawled out of its box and joined the game as a third
player. While atmospheric, the Events also detracted a bit from the
gameplay. I was grateful for the HMG materializing in the path of Bill's
attack, but to be honest I was looking forward to seeing how his
flanking gambit would play out against my original forces and
deployment. In the first, relatively Event-free scenario, the driving
elements were maybe 70% players/30% game system, while in the zany
Bocage it was more like 50/50. 

Comparisons to ASL hold superficially in terms of look and scale, but
the better analogue is Up Front. The card-driven frustrations and
opportunities feel very similar. The complexity is about on a par. Where
the two games diverge is in the exogenous Events and the playing time.
We wrapped up two games in about four hours, while you could probably
get in five games of Up Front in that span. I find the playing time a
little long given the heavy element of randomness - I'm no control freak
but if the game system is going to take my fate from my hands, I'd like
it back in an hour or so. Fans of ASL, ASLSK, and ATS can rest easy –
this is no substitute. The chaotic elements can overwhelm player
decision-making, to the point of occasionally dominating the outcome.
The key to enjoyment is to not take it personally if you find yourself
absolutely screwed. 

In sum, CC:E is a fun diversion, mechanically light and clean if a tad
long in execution. Thumbs up, 

JR