Combat Commander from GMT

Remember-OWS- · **Remember-OWS-**

Any one know, or have played this game:

Combat Commander - Europe by GMT
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AAM Scenario Creator, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,

Okie · **Okie**

I haven't played it but have heard it is real good! Very Happy

Okie
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NjCo · **NjCo**

I own it and have played it a handful of times. Here's some thoughts:

Components
You do get what you pay for with this game. The components are quite good. You get 5/8" counters for Germany, Soviet and US armies along with about as many 1/2" counters representing smoke, wire, mines, weapons and a variety of other markers.

You get 6 double sided maps. Each map is used for a single scenario. The maps are not designed to be used in combination with each other. They are also made of paper and are not mounted.

An integral part of the game are the country specific decks of cards. Each country has a deck of about 70 cards which drive the game. They contain multiple elements including orders, actions, events, random locations on the map, die rolls, ammunition etc. Every aspect of the game is integrated into the cards.

You get quite a few player aides and a nice full color rulebook. Be prepared to print out the latest version of the rules from GMTs website since the rules have quite a bit of errata in them. There are plenty of examples of play to help you understand the many unique mechanisms that are present in the game.

Scale
The game covers tactical infantry combat in both the Eastern and Western front of Europe. Hex scale on the maps is 100 meters per hex. Each map is 10 x 15 hexes. Each unit represents either an individual leader, a five man team or a 10 man squad. There are no vehicles in the game. The largest weapons are infantry guns and small howitzers.

Scenarios
The scenarios cover small unit actions and range in size from a half dozen units on a side to about 20 or so units so the number of counters on the map at any one time is fairly small.

Rules
The heart of the rules only cover about 15 pages of the 23 pages in the rulebook. They are well written and full of examples. The first time through the rules might leave you scratching your head a bit but overall they are not very complicated to grasp. Many concepts found in other hex and counter war games are present here so there is certainly a degree of familiarity if you are familiar with these types of games. However, there are a number of key aspects to the game which are quite unique so previous experience with war games isn't necessary and might actually hinder your understanding of the rules.

Gameplay
Combat Commander is certainly a good game. Overall I rate it about an 8 out of 10. The rules are fairly easy to grasp and the average scenario can be played in 2-3 hours so this is a game that can easily fit into an evening. The number of units a player has to keep track of is small so that keeps the number of options open to a player to a very manageable number.

While there are only 12 scenarios they are infinitely replayable. The way a player accumulates victory points is so varied that a single scenario played a half dozen times in a row will not play the same each time. Victory points are gained by eliminating enemy units, exiting units off the map and also through the control of objectives. The objectives are random however. Each map has five locations marked that represent objectives and each scenario specifies which objectives will be in play. Some are the same every time, some are randomly chosen. Sometimes the random objectives are secret so your opponent won't know which objectives are important to you.

Another unique aspect of the game is the cards. Each player gets a hand of cards specified by the scenario. The cards drive everything that happens in the game. A player may not issue orders to his troops (move, fire, rally etc.), initiate actions (opportunity fire, hand grenades, dig in, smoke etc.) or trigger events (air support, reinforcements, heroes etc.) without playing a card that has that ability. This makes for a game with lots of variety and it does speed up the game a bit since a players options on any given turn are dictated by the 4 to 6. cards in his hand. However, this does create some rather unusual and frustrating situations. I have played games where I was unable to do much of anything turn after turn while I watched my opponents troops stroll right up to my defenses. If you don't have a card that lets you fire then NONE of your units can fire. If you don't have a card that lets you move then you can't move. Orders are generally played to allow leaders to activate all units in their command radius so you generally can only activate a subset of units on any given turn. This creates some very nasty situations all in the name of the designer essentially saying that war has a lot of luck and shit happens in combat! While I must admit that's true, it doesn't create a very enjoyable experience in a game. Luckily this doesn't happen all the time.

Anyway, overall a nice enjoyable game that I'm glad I have. There are many expansions and entire stand alone games in the system. I own both the original game and the Pacific theater version. If you like tactical infantry based combat games then this is one of the best. The lack of vehicles is a sore point for many players but apparently the system just doesn't accommodate vehicles very well and major portions of the rules would have to be reworked to allow them. If you enjoy having tanks and half tracks roaming around with you infantry squads then I would recommend Conflict of Heroes which is an excellent game of tactical small unit combat on the Eastern Front.
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Updated 10/2/09

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Remember-OWS- · **Remember-OWS-**

WOW.. NJCO.. thanks, exactly the kind of explanation with example the will open my wallet again for another nice game.

You've mentioned Conflict of Heroes!

I would also like a analysis of this kind if you do not mind! Wink

Watch for a new thread, two games, two threads.
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AAM Scenario Creator, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,

NjCo · **NjCo**