Friday 3 December 2004

Blitzkrieg Commander: first game

After posting on WWII ruleset [Blitzkrieg Commander](http://www.wargamesdirectory.com/html/bkc/default.asp) [before](/snv/ttm/archives/000028.html) and after [reading](/snv/ttm/archives/000041.html) it, we have now played a game with these rules and have turned into instant fans.

Alan, Graham K and myself played a Low Countries 1940 game the other day, pitting a German infantry battallion reinforced with some panzer companies and the usual regimental assets against a Dutch infantry battalion with some support in a fierce battle for the village of Nergenshoven. We used the "Advance" scenario from the [Errata document](http://www.wargamesdirectory.com/downloads/bkc/BKC-Errata.pdf) on the BKC web page, which involves the attacking side (the Germans in our game) trying to methodically capture most of the table, with the defender's aim being to prevent this of course.

I am happy to say (and the author will be pleased to hear, no doubt) that the game went swimmingly and smooth - after the first couple of turns, I no longer had to give directions to the player as to the rules, since they were running the game by themselves (I was umpiring, Graham played the Germans and Alan took his Dutch out for their first outing). Many rulesets claim this feat, but this is the very first one, especially for WWII games, where I have seen this actually happening. It helped of course that both Alan and Graham are experienced WWII gamers that know their mortars from their machine guns, but it is still quite impressive to see them playing the game -- correctly -- without reference to the rules whatsoever after only a few turns of play.

The command system turned out to be a hit as well. Both players were repeatedly asking themselves whether they should try one more order with a formation, at the risk of not only failure, but also catastrophic failure. In one quite amusing incident, a company of Dutch infantry spent most of a turn shooting at shapes vaguely seen through a high corn field, which of course turned out to be other Dutch (in rules parlance, a command blunder resulted in Dutch troops getting caught in the crossfire from other Dutch troops). It did seem a bit counterintuitive at first that a CO (the highest commander on the field) cannot issue orders to troops subordinate commanders have failed to order, but it does fit in the concept of the command system that way.

And I'm pleased to say that, despite my earlier misgivings, the combat system is a true pearl. It flows very smoothly, mostly due to the fact that there is no looking up of to hit numbers, and the distinction between suppression and falling back comes naturally when playing. The combat system succeeds perfectly in its intention (as stated by the author) of not getting in the way of the players and the game. Very well done!

There's one slight niggle though: the quick reference sheets were confusing to use, at least for us. Possibly because of layout restrictions, the various sections of the QRS belonging to a certain game phase seem to be spread across both sides of the sheet, resulting in quite a bit of confused flipping. However, this is a minor niggle, as experience showed that the players knew the rules after only a few turns of play.

To sum it up, both players bought or have arranged to buy the rules after the game. Enough said, I should think. BKC is an extremely good WWII ruleset for our style of play, possibly even the best out there.

Oh yes, the outcome? History repeated itself: the Germans captured the village of Nergenshoven and fulfilled their victory conditions. Alan's Dutch, befittingly for figures on their first outing, were soundly defeated.

7 comments:

  1. Good report, Bart, except for one crucial factual error in the last para. The Dutch were of course not soundly defeated, just marginally so, though I admit the 75 percent casualty rate was a bit high ;)
    Great game, definitely the best WW2 rules I have played. The rules are easy, no tiresome tables or silly discussions about how many dice or points you get for a Panzer 2 autocannon, etc etc. In fact, you can get on with the tactics of the game. I like the humourous touch created by the command system. Bart mentioned the Dutch firefight in a cornfield, their most successful endeavour of the game, but alas with themselves. But also on several occasions, faced with mass German breakthrough, the troops sat on the front line, paralysed.
    I ordered a copy of the rules from my old pal, and manager, Dave at Caliver Books. I think I might now invest in some 6mm figs, 1941 Russkies and some Jerries, and these latter can also compete against Bart's 1940 6mm armies when he gets them done.

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  2. I concur with Alan - a good report. There are a couple of rules that I think that we mis-interpreted, but I do not think that they made that much difference to the outcome. I enjoyed the game and have dusted off my old 1944 1/200 th and 1/300 th as a result. Spearhead has been binned and I am buying a copy of these rules.That said I wondered how much of the aesthetic appeal of the game came from the 15mm figures which were as pleasing as the rule system itself. I think the answer is that it will depend on the scenario. As a battalion action, scale and rules complemented each other, providing a more interesting game than RF would have done at small battlegroup level, and a less complex one than IABSM. I shall be interested to play something along the lines of a Goodwood/Epsom game in a smaller scale and see if it still holds up.Graham K

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  3. Being Dutch I'm interested in buidling a Dutch force for BKC. I find it hard to find correct figures. Can you tell something about the models you used?

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  4. Jan-Willem,
    we used 15mm figures, by [True North Miniatures](http://www.truenorthminis.com/). True North has recently started producing miniatures again, and some of their ranges, including the Dutch, are on sale at the moment. Alan can probably tell you more about the quality of the figures and how they paint up. Have fun!

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  5. Hi Jan Willem
    If you can find True North figs, they are superb quality. OTOJ, if you can't I can sell you some excellent painted Dutch ;)

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  6. Thank you, guys - glad you enjoy the game.

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  7. I'm a complete newbie to wargaming and BKC has proved a fantastic introduction. Fast, intuitive, and no wads of data sheets or record keeping that I was so afraid of. I'm so smitten with the game that I've just been and ordered 2000 points worth of 6mm Germans from GHQ. Rules this good deserve to be played only with the best miniatures..!

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