RCW markers for Chain of Command/M&B games

[Wirelizard]

The excellent Chain of Command rules from TooFatLardies got a WW1 twist back in December when TFL released modifications to blend the best of Chain with the older Mud & Blood WW1 rules.

Chain has a really fascinating Patrol Phase mechanism to start the game, which needs Patrol and then Jump-off Point markers. You can use nearly anything, but the simplest thing is some sort of markers for each side.

To that end, I've done a small PDF with Patrol & JOP markers for the Russian Civil War, with Bolshevik & White Russian markers. I've also done up Imperial Russian and German markers for anyone doing Eastern Front WW1 games.

PDF is here at my blog: http://www.warbard.ca/2015/02/25/rcw-patrol-markers-for-chain-of-command/

[sepoy1857]

How well does Chain work for RCW? I love playing Chin of Command for WWII/Winter War - love most of the Lardies stuff actually. Nice graphics BTW!

[Wirelizard]

How well does Chain work for RCW? I love playing Chin of Command for WWII/Winter War - love most of the Lardies stuff actually. Nice graphics BTW!

I think it works well, but we have only had a couple of games with the system. I like how much faster Chain flows in the opening moves compared to M&B, with the JOPs eliminating most of the tedious "figures wander in from the table edge" stuff!

You do lose a bit of the flavour/colour that it was so easy to put into an M&B game with customized cards - named Big Men, extra cards like "Vodka, Comrade!", that sort of thing. Chain's national characteristics should be able to do some of this, but we haven't really explored those rules much.

The TFL Christmas 2014 Special's article on using Chain for WW1 doesn't really change all that much about the core of the game, just a few additions like putting cavalry and gas rules in and changing how both grenades and rifle grenades work, plus of course the new Force Lists.

I still haven't even started doing proper force lists for our RCW stuff. Sometime soon I need to sit down properly with Chain and the Xmas WW1 Special and start drafting up some sort of force/reinforcement lists for RCW.

[David]

They look great
Shame you have not done the Poles
cheers
David

[Wirelizard]

They look great
Shame you have not done the Poles
cheers
David

You know, as I was assembling the PDF and finishing off the blog post for these markers, I realized I could have included the Poles and Austro-Hungary and had a complete set of markers for everything that happened in and near Russia from 1914 to 1921!

A Polish eagle on a red-and-white background would look good as a marker. Not sure what to use for the Austro-Hungarians, a lot of their symbols are, like that empire itself, complex, unwieldy and hard to adapt...

I'll do a 2nd edition with Poles and A-H at some point.

[sepoy1857]

 Komuch and Siberian markers would be nice as well and Czechs.

[Wirelizard]

Komuch and Siberian markers would be nice as well and Czechs.

The Siberian green-over-white flag would be easy enough to make markers from. The Komuch flag of red over lime green (Wikipedia link) is... certainly distinctive but not hard to do.

What flag or symbol did the Czech Legion primarily operate under? I believe they used red-and-white sometimes, but can't find much about what symbols/colours/insignia they used in a quick net search.

In progress, the Poles & Austro-Hungary:


Both are basically circular cuts from the respective flags; the Polish eagle works nicely with the strip of red along the bottom to set it off. Just like the realm itself, the A-H flag is a mess compromise hard to do anything graceful with, but it's colourful, at least!

[sepoy1857]

Yeah those are outstanding! I wish i had the ability and software to do that myself. Komuch would be orange and black St. George colours (stripes horizontally I guess?), and the Czech's would be white over red I guess. Both major players in 1918 anyway.

[cuprum]

Also decided to draw something a little bit 
Propose a version of markers for the Siberian and Far Eastern theater of hostilities:



Komuch (the flag of that state education was red, but in the army often used flag having colors of St. George)




Siberian Government




Reds




Anarchists




Poles

[Wirelizard]

Cuprum, those are fantastic! I especially like the hammer and plow Red marker and the red and white check pattern in the Polish marker, which is from the Polish air force roundel, of course!

[marianas_gamer]

Cuprum,
Those are absolutely inspired 
LB

[levied troop]

Downloaded - thanks 

Will be interested to try out CoC with my RCW stuff, liked it for the 1940 period so it should work well.

[sepoy1857]

Thanks! Outstanding!

[Wirelizard]

I am beginning to understand why the Communists fairly quickly abandoned the hammer and plough (plow, for the Americans present...) for the much more famous hammer and sickle - because the damn thing is hard to draw and looks like a lumpy blob even when drawn carefully!

I'm making an attempt at my own version of Cuprum's Red symbol above. Screenshots later, if I don't abandon the attempt!

[Lardy Rich]

Cor, lovely job!  Really nice graphics.

Rich