Combat Commander: Europe first impressions
So, this past Friday I made the trek from Lyndon to Williston to play a game of Combat Commander: Europe with Earl. CC:E is from GMT games, an excellent company that has put out, among other great titles, Command & Colors : Ancients. I've really been looking forward to giving the game ago, and despite the long drive I can say that I was NOT dissappointed.
The game is played with Chits on a hex-based (and beautiful) map, and is intended to simulate squad or platoon level combat in WWII. It's an infantry game, so if you're looking to run around with tanks, this game is not for you. The game is also a 'card driven' game, and has many similarities to Battlelore or Command & Colors : Ancients in that respect. However, there appears to be a lot more tactical depth to the game, and each card does a lot more... The basic actions are Move, fire, Assault, and Recover but below that are "events" printed on each card. In addition, the game is diceless, but each card has a pair of dice printed on the lower right-- When a die roll is required, you pull the next card in your pile, and the dice shown represent your roll.... This is pretty unique, but I liked it, and I believe it probably allows for a more even (or bell-curve) disribution of die rolls.
I found the game quick to grasp, and was playing on my own within half an hour... We played the first scenario, which represented a german and Soviet force clashing over a crossroads in the summer of 1941. The soviet troops are poor quality but numerous, fighting the much better but fewer German troops. Each side had a couple machine-guns but that was it. As Earl and I played, I found the game tense and dynamic, and really gave me a 'feel' for the action. As the game developed, the Germans held one objective, and my soviets agressively rolled it up; From there, the action shifted to the second objective, where the Germans were pressing the Soviets hard, but in the end my forces prevailed.... All told, the game took about 3 hours to play out, but two seasoned players could have done it faster. Earl had a good time, too, but was not pleased when I did the 'victory dance' after my sound win.
I am looking forward to playing this with the gang around here.
posted by Green Mountain Boy @ 5:10 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Most excellent!
I was wondering why you hadn't sent out an email to everyone, describing you experiences. I felt sure that you'd want to share your thoughts, but was perplexed by the seeming silence. :)
I figured maybe Earl had trounced you, and, clearly, residents of the tomb of the unknown soldier can't type.
And now I discover the cause. I'd begun to think less about the blog, given my inability to get comments posted and discussion going.... as much as I want both.
Sounds like a sweet game. and it's nice that it takes on a WWII theme. Devon and I played a quick game of Memoir '44 last Thursday (it's feeling a little luck imbalanced, short & thin), before we realized no one was coming and began WotR.
So... CC:E is a two player game... any ways to play with more? Do we need multiple copies? Do we need a night with just two or three people? What are your thoughts, as the now-resident expert/teacher?
Well, I would have to say that CC:E is JUST a 2 player game. I don't think I would enjoy it much, trying to strech it into a muli-player, and multiple copies won't help that. So, its a good game option when only a couple of people show up on game night.
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