Our group has encountered a problem enforcing the simultaneous movement rule in COMMAND DECISION. One of our players, whom I shall call Pokey to protect the guilty, plays all games very deliberately. Opponents frequently take naps during Pokey's move. To our amazement, Pokey proved to be an unbeatable genius at CD. Pokey's secret was that he moved most of his units after everyone else had finished moving. It took Pokey so long to measure out the moves of his unit that every one else had already finished before Pokey. Since the Cautious Advance Order (needless to say Pokey's favorite) allows a unit a great deal of flexibility in the movement phase. Pokey, after viewing his opponents move, could move his units into flanking positions, or dart threatened units out of danger. Each time Panthers advanced on Pokey, his Shermans would dash out into flanking positions and lay waste to the German heavies. Pokey wasn't trying to cheat - he just simply moved s-l-o-w-l-y. Commanders of burning German Panthers were, however, unable to see this subtle distinction. Soon they began to copy Pokey's tactics. They always moved the least important units first in the hope that in the meantime the Allied commanders would move his more important units. Our Command Decision games became a nightmare to referee as both sides, playing well within the rules, began to compete for the honor of the last moving unit. Eventually both sides refused to move, causing WWII to end in a premature armistice. Oddly enough we realized that the effect of Pokey's slow down tactics were in fact historically justified. Our club had been attempting to recreate the Lorraine Campaign battles between the veteran Fourth Armored Division and the green German Panzer Brigades. In our early games the Panzer Brigades inevitably crushed the out gunned Shermans. Since historically exactly the opposite happened, we concluded that Command Decision (like almost every other system) could not be used to recreate these battles. Pokey, however, provided the one exception to this frustrating situation, as his veteran Shermans would crush the befuddled green Panther crews. We realized that Pokey's units were behaving like veterans. They wisely executed their orders After the intentions of the clumsy green troops were clear. Inspired by this insight, we enacted a movement priority rule. Units MUST move in this order, GREEN, TRAINED, EXPERIENCED, VETERAN and ELITE. If both sides have troops of the same type, the referee shall decide which side will win ties and move last. For instance if trained Germans and Americans are in the game, the referee might decide that the overall command structure for the Germans is better, and that their untrained troops will move after the trained American troops. Under this system each order is revealed and executed one by one as the referee calls out that troop type. Once units of a given type have executed their orders, the referee calls out the next troop type, and players reveal and execute orders for that type. This procedure continues until all units have moved. We also require that any interrupting Opportunity Fires to be executed before the next order is revealed. Occasionally, units wish to move before other units, say to seize a nearby building; so we allow troops to reclassify themselves as a lessor troop type to move first if they so desire. Formally stated the rule reads as follows: X.0 ORDER EXECUTION WITHIN THE MOVEMENT PHASE At the start of the Movement Phase the referee calls out the lowest troop type on or entering the battlefield that turn. Units of this troop quality are now Active. The side without Initiative becomes the moving Player and reveals an executes all orders of the Active units, subject to interruption by Opportunity Fire. After all active Units of the side with Initiative becomes in turn the Moving Player, and reveals and executes all orders for their active units, again subject to interruption by moving fire. The referee then calls out the next highest troop quality present, and the side without Initiative once again becomes Active, and reveals their Orders, and executes any Movement. The players repeat these steps until all units have revealed and executed their orders for the turn. X.1 Prior to the start of the game the referee designates which side has the Initiative based on the overall strategic position, or upper level command structure of the force. The referee may change the side holding Initiative during the course of the game if the factors used to determine Initiative change due to the results of play. X.2 Active unit reveal and execute their orders one by one in any order that the controlling player wishes. However once a player finishes moving a unit, and turns over the order chit for the next unit. he may not return to a previously moved unit and alter its position or facing. X.3 Units which wish to execute Opportunity Fire to interrupt enemy movement must announce this intention as the target's orders are being executed. Once a player reveals and executes another order his opponent my no longer use his Opportunity Fire during the Movement of any prior unit. Such units may be still be fired at during the Opportunity Fire Phase, but all fire will be based on the ending position of the targets movement, and not along the actual path of movement. X.4 After a player reveals an order, but before the order is executed, an opposing player who has either units with better troop quality ratings, or if his side has the Initiative, units of equal ratings, may interrupt the revealed order, and reveal an order for on of their units. This process of overide can be continued as long as the unit revealing the order is of a higher troop quality. If this happens, the procedure will be temporarily reversed, as the units with the highest rating will move first, till all units which have revealed their orders have carried them out. Play then is carried out in the normal manner, with the Moving Player picking his next active unit. This rule is designed to allow troops of a higher rating to move first if they so wish in order to carry out their operations. Remember however that these units, though moving out of order, are still subject to Opportunity Fire. Even for groups with no "Pokey's", I strongly recommend this system of movement. It has provided an ideal way of recreating battles where troop quality proved more decisive than numbers or equipment superiority. Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #2 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com