Command Decision: Mortain Part 1

This past Saturday we were hosted by the inestimable Kevin Serafini at his new digs and tried out Command Decision, a battalion level WW2 game. In attendance were Kevin and John Brock as Americans and Roy Bartoo and myself as the Chermans. Kevin and John had both played the game at cons before. I am not sure if Roy had played, I had not.
The game has a lot of rules, but they are well written and easy to assimilate. Orders in the form of chits, or counters, are assigned to each company each turn and kept hidden from your opponent. Some orders include Hasty Move, Normal Move or Overwatch (among others) which allows elements to defensive/opportunity fire at moving targets or fire first if not moving. Initiative determines who moves first. Each element, or stand of dudes, has a fixed amount of firepower and ROF; terrain and other circumstances can affect this. The first photo is of the battlefield of Mortain France as two reinforced battalions on each side clash in a meeting engagement. The Americans must hold the chateau and take the village and vice-versa for the Germans. Many bocage edged fields and woods lie between.


The German heavies roll through Mortain. Two Panthers with a Recon HT out front race to claim the high ground dominating the center. The battalion commander sits (stands) in his kubelwagon and directs traffic like a bad George C. Scott movie.

The Americans enter. The Shermans are in for a nasty surprise and they are fresh out of mine dogs!

Roy's battalion schlepps along the road. His STuG III 75L's engage a few M-10's. I didn't get any pictures of that for some reason but it ended with alot of smoking olive drab vehicles.