Objectives, Replen Points and Line of Communication Markers for Chain of Command

Chain of Command v2 introduces a couple of new mechanics that need marking on the table - the Replen Point and Mission Objectives. So, it goes without saying, my mind immediately started ticking over, thinking about how I might want to represent these. Aside from the fact that I just enjoy making stuff, I see them bringing a strong narrative element to the table. What more excuse did I need?

Replen Points, once placed, remain in that location. They can supply the first unit that calls for them immediately, plus they can also supply another two types of ammunition to other units. In the meantime they run the risk of capture if contacted by the enemy. As a result, their position needs to be recorded. It just calls out for suitably themed markers. Once again, it was a chance to sift through the spares box and give unused figures a new lease of life.

I had in mind something not dissimilar to the way many people theme their jump-off-points. To differentiate them, I used a small square shape rather than the 40mm rounds I use for my jump-off-points. The figures and ammo boxes all came from the spares box. In the case of the Germans this is a figure from the Plastic Soldier Company heavy weapons set, for the British it is an AB Figure carrying 2" mortar rounds.  

The American figures below are both from Wartime Miniatures (now Simon's Soldiers) and are part of a set of supply figures. I had used them for a jump-off-point originally, but decided they're better suited to this sort of marker.

The US 60mm mortar has a Replen Point automatically assigned to it, in effect giving it an initial six rounds of ammunition (assuming it doesn't move away from the Replen Point before needing to replenish). I had a spare figure from an M1 81mm mortar set and, although he's equipped with ammo for that mortar, I felt he would come close enough to what I needed. Given this sees the 60mm mortar with more ammo than most similar support weapons I thought it might be easier to keep track of ammo use by including a small mini-dice on the base. 

I gave the die a repaint to match the colours on the mortar rounds. Hopefully that make it a little more discrete, while keeping it easy to see.

For the Japanese I've used more of the Airfix figures that came with their Jungle Outpost set. They were sitting in the spares box until I thought a few of them would work well together to make a Line of Communication marker (see more below). It wasn’t much more of a stretch to see how a single figure with pack horse would work equally well for a Replen Point.

When it comes to Misson Objective markers there's a lot of scope and much depends on the situation you are gaming. The objective is usually on a key piece of terrain, like a crossroads or a bridge. You could easily use a wrecked vehicle or something similar.

Another option could be a supply dump of some sort.

The only issue that needed a bit of thought was how best to deal with confined spaces, particularly inside buildings. Chances are the defender will want to garrison this key terrain, so I needed a marker that wouldn't demand a lot of space. The idea that sprang to mind was a map, the sort of map the attacking commander may well have consulted when setting objectives for the platoon. 

There are several web sites with 1:50000 period maps, particularly of Normandy.  I found these below showing the area around Caen and thought they would be perfect. I reduced them in size, before printing and then mounting them on squares of MDF.

I went with two different sizes to give me flexibility with placement. I think these might be a good solution when space is at a premium. They achieve one of my key aims of not taking up too much space, there's no reason why figures cannot be placed directly on top of them, if need be.

While not a specific feature of the Chain of Command v2 rules, the CoC Far East Handbook includes Line of Communication markers, which serve as potential objectives for attackers in that theatre. I covered these in an earlier post, but thought it worth including them here again given their link to the new objective marker rules in CoC v2. 

While playing the Driving Charge campaign set in Malaya, we represented the British Line of Communication marker with a model of a truck. 

That worked well enough, but I thought it could benefit from a few figures to add more life and so I repurposed a few AB Figures desert tank crews.

Given that normally the LoC marker is placed on a road, it made sense to base the figures to match.

Generally, the Line of Communications markers are more a feature of the early part of the war, to reflect the way the heavily mechanised allied forces were so dependent on roads. However, that changes as the war progresses and the allies shift to the offensive. That’s when the need for Japanese LoC markers arise. 

The first one I created featured a team of pack horses. These are a blast from the past for me, as they are figures from the old Airfix Jungle Outpost set. I thought they might also come in handy as a target for Chindit raids on Japanese communications. While the poses of both horses and soldiers is repetitive, I think they make for quite an atmospheric group.

I built a Hasegawa model of an Isuzu TX40 fuel truck for use as scatter terrain, or another objective for Chindit raids, but it will also work well as a LoC marker. The addition of a figure adds more to the narrative and brings the setting to life. This figure comes from the Orion Japanese tank crew set.

Together with my recent attempts to created new game markers I've enjoyed putting these together. No doubt a few will make an appearance in our ongoing Scottish Corridor campaign.

New additions including some love for Airfix

Something of a British theme happening at the moment on the AFV front. I'm filling various gaps in the collection and in the process working my way through a lot of green paint. 

I started making Airfix models a very long time ago and it seems I'm still doing it. I was given their Churchill Bridgelayer as a gift one Christmas. It wasn't something I could see an immediate need for, in fact, I wasn't sure if a time would ever come when I would use it in a game. Despite that, I always intended to make it. The kit is basically the old Airfix Churchill, but comes with additional sprues to omit the turret and convert it into the bridgelayer. 

It's possible to make it without permanently attaching the bridge component, so I've deliberately left that so I can remove it. There's probably more chance of the bridge appearing on a game table than the whole bridgelayer itself, but, you never know.

As it has always been, the road wheels are a fiddly and troublesome part of the kit. Although I did discover several years ago that the wheels are spaced exactly on the sprue to match the chassis, so it's possible to glue those parts before removing the wheels from the sprue. I wish I'd known that when I was ten years old.

I picked up the old kit of the Hasegawa Daimler armoured car. It's not quite the same vintage as the Airfix Churchill, but it's not too far off. The kit looked very basic when I opened the box, but it actually builds into a very presentable little version of the armoured car. All I've added is a crew figure from one of the Plastic Soldier Company sets.

If the Hasegawa model is of 1970s vintage, then this PSC model of the Humber is 50 years its junior.

This one I've marked for an Indian armoured brigade in Burma to run with the recent batch of Sherman Vs that I painted. 

Despite the age difference between the two armoured car kits, I think the old Hasegawa model holds its own.

Playing a platoon level skirmish game like Chain of Command means heavy artillery pieces have no place on the table top. If they do, they are more often than not an objective. However, when I came across images of a 5.5" gun firing over open sights at the walls of Fort Dufferin in Mandalay, I had second thoughts. Perhaps there could be a role for such a heavy artillery piece?

Further investigation revealed that wasn't the only time those guns were used in this way. I know of two other cases, both during the second Arakan campaign, where they were brought forward and used in bunker-busting roles. Naturally that led to me to consider another venerable old Airfix kit - the 5.5" and Matador. Coincidentally, recently re-released as part of their Vintage Classic range. No need to guess what happened next.

This one also brings back many memories and the kit holds up a lot better than I expected, given its age. While I may use the gun for scenarios set in Burma, I simply used the decals that come with the kit for the Matador, which I believe, are marked for a unit serving in Italy.

The gun will need a suitable crew. AB Figures do a lovely set for a European setting and currently their only crew for a weapon in Burma is a set for a 3" mortar. Lovely as those figures are, their poses are quite specific to their weapon. One option would be to mix up both sets, as the figures for Europe are mainly working in shirt sleeves and could be passed off for the Far East. That's a project for another day.

So, what with Airfix and Hasegawa, you'd think we were living in the 1970s! Although it would be fair to admit, the me of all those years ago wasn't anywhere near this good at painting. I'd like to think he'd be very happy to know what he might one day achieve. 

If Airfix and Hasegawa were state of the art for their day then Vespid, a relatively new entrant to the 1/72 plastic kit world, brings us right up to the 21st century. This is their Comet Ia, an absolutely beautiful kit, that went together like a dream.

It's definitely a modeller's kit, complete with photo etched detail, but it looks the part. A couple of AB crew figures set it off nicely.

That now gives me three distinctively British tanks for the late war. The British designed and built Cromwell and Comet, as well as the Sherman Firefly variant with the 17 pounder gun.

I think with the Cromwell and then the Comet, you can start to the see the design evolution that would lead to the Centurion tank.

I've gone a bit overboard with aircraft lately, but I've been enjoying making something different and found companies like Academy, Hobby Boss and Airfix produce affordable kits that are quick to build. I've been looking for a Vultee Vengeance for Burma, but unfortunately, a reasonably priced model has been hard to find, so instead, I've opted for a P47 Thunderbolt. The RAF chose to use these only in Burma, where they performed a very useful ground support role. This is the Academy kit.

I was sorting through a small stash of half completed aircraft kits that I had started making several years ago and came across a built, but unpainted, Airfix Hurricane IIc. I have one from Hobby Boss that I painted for use as a marker for Hurribomber attacks, but was never happy with the paint scheme I'd used. As I had a set of Hurricane decals for Burma it was an easy decision to paint it while doing the Thunderbolt. 

As is often the case, I have no immediate plans to use any of these in forthcoming games. I think it's driven by two things. One, is the completist in me, I like to think if I need it one day, I have it ready and waiting. Second, it's what's driven me along ever since my very first Airfix kits, I like making models. Always have.

More Armour, More Aircraft

Chain of Command is at heart a platoon level game and I often tell people who are just starting that they really don't need too much in the way of armour and other supports. Why is it then, I ask myself, that I always seem to be adding more and more to the collection? 

Frankly, I think it says a lot more about me and my completist tendencies than it does about anything else. It's a disease, I tell you, but I'm in no hurry to find the cure.

Sometimes the additions are planned and sometimes they are serendipitous. When I was visiting the Tank Museum at Bovington last year I came across a boxed set of PSC 1/72 M4A4 Shermans in the gift shop. These have been hard to track down of late and I've been eager to add more to my collection for the late war in Burma. The PSC models are sturdy gaming pieces, but that comes at a cost of chunky detail. I addressed some of that by drilling out the lifting hooks; replacing the bow MGs; drilling out the 75mm gun barrel and adding aerials.

The decision to purchase this set was partly influenced by the release of sets of decals in 20mm for Indian armoured brigades by District Miniatures. My only other Sherman for the Burma theatre made use of a few decals I could find in the spares box. 

After the initial base colours had been applied the new decals were added, before I moved on to painting details and weathering.

It has allowed me to draw on the inspiration from this book and have appropriately marked Sherman Vs for Burma.

If all that didn't make my decision easy enough, I had painted a set of AB tank crews for other vehicles in Burma and had several spare figures left over looking for suitable mounts. With the crews and stowage added, the tanks were complete.

I find I can be very productive with the airbrush when painting in batches. I've had a couple of PSC StuG III primed and waiting to be painted. As I'm playing the Old Hickory campaign at the moment I thought it wouldn't do any harm to have a few more StuGs to hand. I tried to give these quite a worn look and paid particular attention to making the side schurzen look chipped and worn.

The addition of foliage made from rubberised coconut fibre and model railway leaves gave it a particularly suitable appearance for German armour in Normandy.

When 172 Scale Miniatures had a 50% off sale I found it hard to resist the urge to fill a few gaps. It didn't help that I was playing a game in the Driving Charge campaign for Chain of Command and my opponent surprised me by taking three Type 97 Chi Ha as a support choice. I didn't have three of the early variant, I had only two of the old Airfix Chi Ha and one of the 172 Scale later model Shinhoto Chi Ha, which proxied for the missing earlier model. 

The sale at 172 Scale Miniatures was the perfect opportunity to make good this deficit. I knew the Airfix Chi Ha at 1/76 scale was unlikely to match those from 172 Scale Miniatures so I ordered three early model Chi Ha and then added another two of the Shinhoto versions to give me three of each type. Excessive? Probably, but I think it guarantees I'm covered should a similar situation arise.

Anyhow, did I mention I can be particularly productive with the airbrush when painting in batches?

The distinctive yellow lines over the Japanese camouflage was a feature of the early war and was no longer in use after 1942, so the Shinhoto versions I have painted in a late war three colour scheme. 

While I was researching the Saipan scenario for CanCon that I ran earlier this year, I discovered that quite a few Shinhoto tanks were used during the Japanese counterattack against the beachhead, so I didn't really need any convincing that this should be the subject of my scenario. Everything happens for a reason (at least that's how I convince myself all this makes any sense).

The colour scheme for the early model Chi Ha retained the yellow lines. From what I understand Japanese tanks were not repainted in the field and any tank still in service after 1942 was quite likely to retain those earlier markings, so that even if these were to appear in games set in the late war they wouldn't look out of place.

While painting those, I also completed a couple of diminutive Type 97 tankettes. These are from S-Model, plastic kits from China and a manufacturer who's products I like a lot. With two kits in a box they offer value, as well as a high degree of detail for a quick build model. 

This particular set comes with decals for the Chinese PLA which used captured versions, but I've painted them as Japanese with decals from Skytrex.

While air support does exist in Chain of Command, it is abstracted in the rules. There is no need to actually represent it on the table with models. However, that's never stopped me. Even since I built the Airfix Stuka to use in the AARs for our Many Rivers to Cross campaign I've wanted to find a way to incorporate models on the table to remind us that the effects of air support are in play. 

In the Far East I did something similar for the Zero Attack! for the Japanese.

And the Hurribomber for the British.

It goes without saying I was keen to do it for other forces. If nothing else, I find making aircraft an enjoyable diversion. While the Pacific Handbook for Chain of Command has yet to be released I find it hard to imagine the US Marines won't have access to some form of air support. I've always found the Corsair F4 an attractive looking plane, there is something quite elegant about the gull wings. With little encouragement needed I picked up an inexpensive 1/72 kit from Hasegawa. 

As I've done with the Zero I've modelled this without the propellor blades so that it doesn't look too static. I did experiment with discs of clear plastic to represent the spinning blades but they ended up looking like, well, discs of clear plastic. I think the impression of movement is just as obvious with nothing there.

While I was in the model shop I spotted a Mustang P51A, the earlier version before the bubble canopy was introduced. This kit from Italeri came with decals for the 1st Air Commando of the 10th Air Force, a unit that flew close support missions for the Chindits in Burma. That was just too tempting. I have written a campaign for the Chindits that exists in draft form, it may be that I need to revise that to introduce an element of air support now that I have a suitable aircraft.

Are any of these likely to see the table top in the near future? Quite possibly, but then I'm also a modeller at heart so I never need much of an excuse to add something new, even if there is no immediate need for it right now.