What makes Chain of Command so special - Part Two

Friction, Chaos, Command dice and Chain of Command points.

Clausewitz had this to say about Friction 

Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper.

Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.

It explains the countless minor, unpredictable, and compounding obstacles that make the simplest military action or plan incredibly difficult to execute in reality. Too much Friction and chaos starts to creep in and control can ebb away.

So what does any of this have to do with CoC? 

Well Clausewitz also had this to say 

Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.

CoC has several mechanisms that mean uncertainty and chance, and so by extension Friction, are always just a die roll away. This can be for good or bad in the game. (Luckily for us only our little toy soldiers have to deal with the danger and exertion.)

Command Dice

With each of the six possible die rolls resulting in a different outcome in game you can never be sure that you can actually carry out the actions you may have planned for any given phase, (and possibly been building up to for the last few phases) 

Roll                     Result

1                         Activate one Team

2                         Activate one Section

3                        Activate one Junior Leader

4                        Activate one Senior Leader

5                        Add one Chain of Command point

6                        Turn Sequence  

Typically each core platoon will start with five command dice, but the dice have no memory and so results will be random each phase.

Some example rolls

1x1, 2x2, 1x4, 1x5 -> activate one team, two sections, one SL, and gain a  CoC point.

1x3, 1x5, 3x6         -> activate one JL, gain a CoC point, retain being the active player for the next phase and grant the opponent a CoC point.

1x1, 2x2, 1x3, 1x5 -> activate one team, two sections, one JL and gain a CoC point.

None of the above rolls are better than the others without the context of the specific game underway. The second set of rolls could be very powerful as you now have the benefit of playing two phases in a row, however if you wanted to activate a team that has no attached leader you are out of luck. 

Chance and uncertainty leading to Friction. 

If you don't like this concept then CoC is probably not the game for you as in every phase this uncertainty is present.

Chain of Command Points

Chain of Command Points are another mechanism by which Friction can be created, but in this case typically by throwing a spanner into the opponents plan.

Spending six points allow you to 

• Interrupt an enemy phase, allowing a friendly unit (unpinned section team, or crew position) to move or fire.

• End the Turn, which sees the cessation of mortar and smoke barrages, the removal of Tactical, Overwatch and Suppressing Fire markers, and sees Stunned Leaders recover among other things

• Carry out an Ambush - this can be a very powerful disruptive action which I will talk about in a future post.

• Avoid a Morale test

• Move a JOP

As can be seen these are powerful actions which when used well will likely disrupt the opponents plans and cause them Friction. They are wholly outside of their control and wrest an element of initiative away from them often at  critical moments. In addition spending three points allows for either "React Fire" or "Hit the Dirt" during the opponents phase again disrupting their plans although perhaps to a lesser extent. The downside of course is that the points can only be spent once and so have to be built back again before these options become available again. 

We encounter Friction in our everyday lives - being delayed due to traffic, some piece of kit or equipment not working when required, being tired and making less than optimal decisions. The list goes on. For this reason I find it somewhat odd when some gamers complain that they dislike rules or games where they are not fully in control. CoC makes not pretence in this regard. You can lose control at a critical juncture and not regain it for sometime. You have to deal with this and make do. To me this is very true to life.

Two final quotes from our favourite Prussian

 War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty.

No other human activity is so continuously or universally bound up with chance. And through the element of chance, guesswork and luck come to play a great part in war.

Chain of Command, while only a game, gets very close to the core premise of both these quotes. You do not have full knowledge of the situation, you need to make educated guesses, and luck may favour you as the player or not. Exactly what I want in a set of rules and one of the main reasons I enjoy CoC so much.

Do you like the Friction the game creates or do you find it a frustration 

 Let me know in the comments.