Chain of Command AAR : Solo Wargaming Demonstration | Storm of Steel Wargaming

[@chrismikucki9107]

I’ ve probably watched this five times now. I love your Square Bashing and IABSM solo games as well, but do want to vote to have you come back to Malaysia for another solo Chain of Command game. Very inspired by your order cards and other techniques. I also wanted to mention that after watching this, I went out and made my own jungle scrub stands with clump foliage on mdf - extremely visually appealing and a nice addition to any jungle/ tropical terrain kit. Well done.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thanks Chris! I am glad you enjoyed the video so much! Don't worry, as the lockdown is going to be on for while in UK I will return to Malaya soon enough! I'm glad I was able to inspire you for the jungle terrain! I bet it looks excellent!

[@richardb1815]

Superb video Alex... no only went through some great ideas for solo wargaming but went through the rules for chain of command very succinctly I have bought a 15mm Napoleonic dutch force for Sharp Practice and am now putting together and order of Japanese and US marines for CoC

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thanks Richard, I am glad you enjoyed the video! Sounds like you have a lot planned!

[@richardb1815]

@@StormofSteelWargaming always .. that is one of the challenges of this hobby.. always a plethora of new projects in the pipeline

[@SPCWargameCreations1]

Great video and really interesting solo play ideas. 👍🏻

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thanks Steve, have a look at some of my newer videos as well for those ideas put into practise!

[@Nobleshield]

I'm interested in doing some solo gaming in 1:72 scale, and Chain of Command is high on my list of potentials so this was a reallyy good video to get some ideas on how CoC would work solo. Still evaluating some other rules as well.

[@nirnman]

A great solo game that has given me lots of ideas. May I ask where did yu get your jungle round cover from and what figures are you using

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the game and that it has given you some ideas. The jungle terrain was scratch built, you can see how here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWmbaWyKqamUd68 and the figures are a mix of Peter Pig (Indians) and Command Decision (Japanese).

[@nirnman]

many thanks for the reply Commanddecision figures I hadn't come across before

[@dopplebockdunkle]

I really enjoyed this game. I really do think CoC looks and plays better in 15mm and I think that your solo modifications worked a treat!

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Cheers buddy. I dont have much choice as 15mm is all I got! But yes, I've played it in 28mm and I think the table is more suited to 15mm, it just feels right.

[@jekylthorn8969]

Got an idea on the Indian deployment. Rather than use the Indian blinds as their actual deployment location, you could instead use it as a deployment point, using the mortar deviation process to decide where in relation to the blind they deploy. That would add randomness to the actual final deployment location, and it would also mean that the Japanese are not forced to "trigger" an Indian unit in order to unveil them. Instead, getting within 12 inches of the blind would force the Indians to deploy in that area, but it would be within the nearest cover in the direction decided by the mortar deviation roll.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

That's a very good idea. It makes the blinds more like areas that the enemy could be. You can add as much randomness to the deployment as you want really, including randomising the actual type of unit that appears. It makes it a lot more interesting as the solo attacker.

[@jekylthorn8969]

Brilliant battle, and excellent video by the way. Loving it'

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

@@jekylthorn8969 thank you!

[@bernardgodfrey3499]

I'm not a wargamers, but that was really enjoyable. Great video.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Cheers! I am glad you enjoyed the video.

[@redmist1122]

Pretty cool! Thanks for sharing.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thank you, I am glad you liked it!

[@bonddizzle]

Love the 15mm scale, great gaming. Where are those buildings and roads from or are they scratch built?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thanks! The roads are all scratch built and the buildings came from Sarrissa and their far east range.

[@get_the_lead_out]

When you fired on the mortar team, the Japanese fire should have been halved since they moved. That’s a very interesting mechanic with using the order cards for the units - definitely need to make some of those up! Thanks a lot for doing these solo,wargaming videos. Any chance of doing a CoC game with some armour?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Yeah, TBH, the Japanese would have close assaulted them anyway in a following turn, so it didn't really make a great of difference. Thanks, it was just a way of making the game a bit more immersive from a Japanese POV. I will be working on more solo games in the next few weeks, CoC with armour is on the list, but I'll looking at an IABSM and Wings of Glory videos this weekend.

[@get_the_lead_out]

Definitely looking forward to the IABSM game for sure! Also interested in seeing how you do WoG solo.

[@SpringfieldFatts]

Nice video, fantastic table. For activation I use a regular deck of cards and just make a list of what's what on a sheet of paper. For example King Diamond = Infantry Squad, Ace Diamond = Tank, etc. Could do the same thing for the orders and then you just need to change the list of results for the game, not print out a bunch of different cards if you decide to use the same system for a medieval game next time.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Thank you! Yeah, this was a suggestion I said in the rough guide to solo wargaming video I made recently. I prefer the specific cards I made, simply because most of my games use units of similar names anyway so they are useful for most of my games. Anyway, whatever works for individuals is all good though!

[@tabletopgeneralsde310]

Good game and good job on the solo rules.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Cheers buddy! I am glad you liked it!

[@jenskiesewetter8474]

super great idea for a solo game. I myself am currently learning CoC and have to play alone. do you always use the same command cards? or are there variations?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

I only have these ones, but can easily make any new ones I want to. It would depend entirely on the scenario really.

[@jenskiesewetter8474]

@@StormofSteelWargaming Yes, I would find it interesting if you play the elsbe scenario again or something similar and the attacker has to react with the cards. You then take over the defenders live. Then you would definitely need other commands on the cards. Based on your idea, I would like to make cards for all possible scenarios in order to play different things as often as possible.

[@Number_Free]

Very good, though I have plenty more to watch! I dislike the order dice mechanism in Chain of Command, because it is too "stilted". I am keen on Fog of War however so I have wondered about using the Sharp Practice mechanism instead. That involves activating each leader in a random fashion, by drawing a card or a chit out of a bag. There are bonus 'flag' cards as well, and a 'Tiffin' card, which is like triple 6. That could work well for solo gaming I believe. I am not in a position to do much myself yet, so feel free to have a go! Thanks, Richard

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Cheers, I'm glad you liked the video. I play Infamy, Infamy and IABSM which both have that similar mechanic to SP2. I like it, but I also like (and prefer) the command dice in CoC.

[@jenskiesewetter8474]

How do you Made the Smoke Marker for the Barage ?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

I bought them from Frontline Wargames, they are in their 20mm ranges: www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/20ww2.html

[@jenskiesewetter8474]

Next I’ll look at the solo game Stalinggrad you put that in today, right?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Yeah, but that one is played straight from the rules, there are no extras, but you may enjoy it. Also check out the big Stalingrad game I played recently as well.

[@MegaSnegovichok]

Thanks for an excellent AAR! Just one thought though. Not using jump-off points as per the rules somewhat takes away most of “agonizing” decision-making that makes this ruleset so much fun. Not knowing when, where and who exactly is going to show up (in your variant the only thing you don't know is "who") creates most of the tension in the game, forcing the players to constantly adapt to the changing situation. Without it, you basically only use “command-movement-fire” rules from CoC, but not much else. I understand you wanted to play only one side, rather than both. But CoC - unlike many other sets of rules - plays so well solo without any modifications (“your” Japanese wouldn’t know what “your” Indians would do next, simply because you yourself wouldn’t know it) , that it seems a pity to “halve” the fun, no?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. In my defence this was an experiment and an attempt to show the use of order cards and hidden movement. If you have a look at my more recent videos, there are two CoC videos, one of which is a straight play of the rules as written between Soviets and Romanians and the most recent being another game between Indians and Japanese where I use the JOP for the Japanese but randomise which one the unit arrives at when they are deployed. Both versions worked perfectly well and gave enough fog of war to be playable as solo games.

[@MegaSnegovichok]

@@StormofSteelWargaming Great! I will certainly have a look :-)

[@jenskiesewetter8474]

You forgot the dice for the lmg in the assault fight i think 🤔

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Oh well, too late now.

[@godlaydying]

Would a random table be easier than a set of cards?

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

If that's what you prefer. However, the problem with a table is that is it fixed; with a deck of cards you can remove or add cards as you see fit and as the scenario requires it. A table only allows as many results as the randomiser (dice roll, for example) allows for, decks of cards can be infinite in theory. Also, on a personal note, I prefer the tactile interplay of drawing cards rather than looking at a table on a sheet of paper which takes me out of the game. But that's a personal preference.

[@gameon_ct]

Everyone is solo gaming these days :'( unless of course you can run this on a VTT.

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

They certainly are, that is why I thought I'd demonstrate some solo games for those that hadn't really tried them out before. Chain of Command is on Tabletop Simulator, but I don't like the platform, as I am not very good with working with it and my computer is a bit slow. But plenty of others really like it.