Understanding Chain of Command: Fire and Movement

A lot of people seem to think that Chain of Command is a game of long range gun fights. In fact recent reviews have said the same thing; that a game degenerates into a shooting match. However, within the rules are a number of tools that will help you get your men moving across the battlefield to gain an advantage over the enemy. In this video I take a look at how that can be achieved.

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[ashley-r-pollard]

Yep, nailed it. Most players don't know how fire and movement works, and generally games don't account for how punishing it is to not use fire and movement. Great stuff.

[theDexMcHenry]

Excellent. So key takeaways are that movement is variable, not random, and understand the chances of being hit or hitting, and the likely effect. Combining this awareness allows you to actively capitalise on the options available to avoid firefights and, instead, move to achieve a tactical advantage. Play the period. Good one Alex.

[tabletopcp]

Moving is possible and effective with all of these tactics, tedious and slow, but possible. I think a bigger problem is that aside from the probe mission there is no reason to move as objectives are pointless if you can just blast your enemy off the board and drop their force morale. I like the addition of the defender being able to use two CoC dice to end the game, that gives the attackers a real reason to move. I think that should be an option in every game.

[johnmichael]

Really a well done video, even after playing CoC since it came out I learned a couple of things. I agree 100% that covering fire is generally under utilised.

[oldschoolfrp]

Good overview of rules & tactics — would make a good article for one of the bigger magazines, especially when 2e gets closer to release

[Oleg-dpfh]

Fantastic video, Alex, looking forward to more tips.

Also the production quality is outstanding! Writing, flow, narration, visuals - very well done!

[BelteshazzarBaumbruck]

12:00 This where it gets really interesting: When to use covering fire + tactical movement rather than just overwatch.

[WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Jump off points is huge. This part always overwhelmed me. Frankly, CoC never synced with me because I was pretty much out run every time. Out gunned, flanked, and doomed.

I never could get my feet under me and always felt behind. Instead of learning anything, I was just crushed.

More a problem of player morale and ability than game design.

[mrlion]

Great video. It highlighted some rules that need to be reread on my part. Hadn't thought about when tactial stance begins regarding to overwatch.
Good work and great tips. It isn't easy, and sometimes it can be tempting to just try to lay still and fire, hoping that the dice good will shine on you. Instead of doing some tactical sound movements.

[blpx]

great video! I have just started with chain of command and recently just opened a thread on the lardies forum concerning exatly these issues. I will try out these recommendations for sure and I am also looking forward to the new COC2 rules, which might also be a further improvement in this regard.

One question: in the video you mention that smoke means -1 to hit rolls. As far as I understand smoke totally blocks line of sight, so no fire is possible at all.

[Jim-ykif]

Who doesn't like a video with probability charts! *goes off to review Scout rules*

[joehudgens]

This is such a great video. I love CoC because it’s hard! Er. Wait. 😂. It’s not easy, there’s loads to account for before you even factor in not being able to predictably move…my favorite set of rules by far. My Dad, a Vietnam combat marine with no gaming bone in his body, thinks it’s brilliant to convey the tactical challenges.

[neilcotton]

I've tended to find that smoke is incredibly effective. Always make sure we have a big bag of cotton wool on clubnight.

[denniscunningham]

Thanks for posting this excellent tutorial.

[infinite_array]

Good video, and a great resource for understanding CoC's movement.

I do wonder if anything may be tweak in V2?

[someporkhunt]

Great video and always love your stuff. I agree with the options available however quite often the shooting advantages far outweigh covering fire. (Covering fire doesn't cause casualties or shock, shooting does). This is not a crack but an observation. Referring to your "Blow the Burma Bridge" AAR video I can't recall covering fire or smoke being used. Overwatch was the primary Leader order given. The game pretty much revolved around a fairly static gunfight on a Japanese unit that was on the bridge. There was opportunity for covering fire and smoke to be used to extract the Chindit team that was caught and eventually pinned however firing on the Japanese was undertaken instead which was the key to the Chindit victory.

[andrewh]

A first class tutorial on movement in Chain of Command. One comment, you mention that when moving tactically with one D6, the unit only adopts a tactical stance at the end of movement and thus could be fired on in basic cover during movement. Is it also possible to deploy on table in tactical, and then movement is also in tactical?

[brucesutton]

Did this say that units can adopt a tactical stance without being ordered? We always play that it has to be ordered by a leader

[FelixstoweFoamForge]

So, basically do what real units actually did, if they were any good? Makes sense.

[normanwood]

Well made video but if i may I'll rise my head above the parapet to mention my impressions. I've played CoC several times. The ranges are too long with too high a chance of doing damage. Secondly I've noticed in the pint sized campaigns the terrain is too open. Most people on Youtube want to refight the campaign as it is nicely laid out but the combination of the ranges and the open terrain leads to long range shooting dice-off. As example i played as the German in the Bremen campaign. Sherman turned up and spent the entire game lobbing shells at me whilst sat on his baseline. Another example was Tabletop CP's recent Malaya game. Indians deployed and never needed to move the entire game, just fired away. All this may be realistic at a platoon level but as a game it is dull.