Game Markers for Chain of Command

The publication of Chain of Command v2 inspired me to tackle a project I've been mulling over for a while now. I've been trying to come up with game markers that reduce the amount of clutter and blend in more with the figures and table. With that in mind, I've created a few alternatives to the markers I use currently.

In recent years, I've been using the set pictured below. They are certainly functional and I've done my best to blend them into the table (more about how I did that in this post). 

They are made from 3mm thick MDF, which makes them quite chunky and, despite using them for several years, I still find them a little obtrusive. I think it doesn't help that most are larger than they need to be to serve their purpose. That's certainly accentuated when playing in a smaller scale, like 20mm.

That said, the Overwatch marker does serve a very specific purpose, as it defines the 90 degree firing arc.

What became apparent quite quickly was that, because each has a unique shape, we didn't need to read the words on the marker to know what they represented. That then begs the obvious question, why did we need words on them at all? Perhaps I can blend these into the table even more by relying on shape alone? I then took it a step further. 

I have a lot of spare figures amassed from various projects. Many are from the Plastic Soldier Company, either left over when I replaced them with metal AB Figures, or surplus to requirements from one of their gun or tank sets. That's given me a lot of excess tank and gun crew figures. Many of the poses include figures pointing, or looking through binoculars, perfect to theme an overwatch marker. 

It remained important that any new overwatch markers continue to define a unit's arc of fire. That would still determine their size and shape. I cut a suitably sized piece from MDF, using a 90 degree angle to indicate the arc of fire. 

It was then just a matter of adding ground material to match my usual basing style. Of course, it's not necessary to put a figure on them, but as I had so many spare it seemed a shame not to do it. These below are British gun crew figures from Plastic Soldier Company sets.

I've produced something very similar with German figures (once again, these are all surplus Plastic Soldier Company figures).

I think these make for a much more visually appealing game marker. They should work in nicely for the game report photos.

Ironically, they are slightly larger than the original overwatch markers. Time may tell if they need trimming down a little. Nonetheless, I think they certainly look the part.

Having addressed infantry overwatch, I thought I could do something similar for vehicles. This was inspired by a blog comment made a few years ago. In short, the writer was saying, why go to all the effort of doing a nice paint job on a Tiger I, only to stick an ugly MDF marker right on top? 

Well, they did have a point. In my defence, I've since broken the habit of sticking these right on top of vehicles and now place them at ground level. 

That's not an ideal solution and, frankly, I don't know why it's taken me this long to address it. As with the infantry overwatch markers, I've wanted to come up with something that blends in more with the vehicles and the table. In this instance, I've gone for a much smaller shape (as it happens, they are just the MDF offcuts from the infantry overwatch markers). Each is painted in the base AFV colours that I use for their respective nationality.

The idea is to place them at ground level, beneath the main gun, to indicate the direction of the arc of fire.

The triangular shape works well, because it can define both a 90 degree arc of fire, or, as is the case with the Sherman's fast turret, one of 180 degrees.

The T34/85 has an average turret speed and the marker works just as well to indicate that arc of fire.

Of course, the Hetzer doesn't have a turret. However, the shape of the vehicle defines the arc and the marker is simply that, something to remind us that the gunner has been placed on overwatch.

I could place these on top of the turret. That's certainly not my preference, nor is it always practical. That said, it does look much better than the previous markers.

Although perhaps a little top heavy in some cases....

Of course, I don't need to put figures on any of these markers and I do intend making some generic ones, although, having said that, I suspect there are enough spare figures in the boxes to give me what I might need for most of the nationalities I collect. Tragic really.

When it came to considering tactical markers, there was no particular reason for any specific size or shape. 

Given a tactical stance represents units finding better cover, I thought the best solution was to mark this with a piece of terrain. These don't even need to be based, but I wanted to ensure they could be distinguished from other pieces of scatter terrain.

They were straightforward enough to make. The logs are twigs from the garden; the bricks are cut from cork floor tiles; the large rocks are pieces of tree bark - all sourced from my terrain 'bits and pieces' box.

These are certainly larger than the markers they are intended to replace, but I don't have an issue with that. They will be used to represent better cover for a section of up to ten or eleven figures, so they need to tell their story visually. 

To mark shock, I've been using micro dice in themed dice frames. For now, I can't think of an easier way to do this that serves its function better. 

Originally, I used 7mm dice on a square base.

Now, I've gone one size smaller with 5mm dice on a round 20mm base. A bit fiddly at times, I must confess, but less intrusive on the table.

That then left me wondering how best to represent pinned and broken markers. Once again, the aim here is to minimise markers and table clutter. Both pinned and broken status come about as results of excess shock. Currently, I add a second marker to indicate that.

In the case of this small group, that makes for more clutter than I really want.

So, I questioned if I really needed to devise new markers for pinned and broken. Could I not combine this into a single marker, one that covered both the level of shock and the status it imposed on the unit? One idea was to create single sabot bases for the shock dice frame markers, one version for pinned and another for broken. Then I could simply put the shock base into the sabot. I've done something just like this to mark my wounded junior leaders.

I think the solution I'm going to try, is to use different coloured dice in the shock markers. This would eliminate the need for any additional marker or sabot base. Currently, I use black mini dice to indicate shock. When a unit becomes pinned or breaks they remain at that status at least until a turn end, so it's not a status that changes back and forth. As a result, changing the colour of the shock dice to indicate a change of status could achieve my aim. I will use grey for pinned and red for broken.

If nothing else, it sees a drastic reduction in the need for markers.

I don't intend changing the way I mark wounded junior leaders. The leader figure is placed in a discrete sabot with a medical kit to indicate their wound. 

A stunned leader is marked in a similar fashion, except the medical satchel has an 'S' painted on it.

The issue I do have, and it's one of my own creation, is that my senior leaders are on more irregular, rectangular bases. It achieves the objective of distinguishing them from junior leaders and other ranks, but the wounded sabot bases don't work. Up until now I've been using a variation of the wounded markers but mounted on a separate 20mm round base.

I've come up with two solutions. If the leader is stunned I will use one of these prone figures as a marker and place it alongside the leader's figure. If he's wounded and loses Orders, I will replace him with a casualty figure, where I have one. Again, the spares box has helped me out here.

It's been an opportunity to do a conversion and a tiny bit of scratch building. The American leader below is from AB Figures. I have several armed with Thompson SMG and more than I need, so I removed the head and replaced it with one of the bandaged heads from the Plastic Solider Company German set.

The British leader below is also from AB Figure. In this case he was already bare headed and all I had to do was sculpt the bandage from Milliput. Once again, I have more British figures with sten guns than I need, so this was a good use of a surplus figure.

The figure in the middle is another from AB, but he comes from their Aid Station set and required no additional work, given he's already perfect for the role.

As always, the true test will come when playing a game and I'll soon know how practical all of this is compared to the current system. No harm in trying something new and it's always good to give those figures in the spares box a new lease of life.

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.