Command and control provisions wander all over the lot. They range from the basic notion of tossing a 6-sided die in DBA and DBM, wherein every pip on the die toss permits you to move a group of stands, to some complicated command points mechanism, in which the force commander is assigned a number of command points, and he can activate his units by assigning them a specific number of his points.
Sam Moustafa's GRANDE ARMEE uses this last procedure. The commanding general, the Big Guy, gets a lot of command points, and he distributes them to his divisions... the number of points needed to energize a force depends upon the capabilities of its leader, and its distance from the Big Guy.
What's interesting about GRANDE ARMEE is that, as the points are distributed turn after turn, you don't know when the supply of command points will be replenished, so the army, if the points are spent liberally, may run out of steam.
About the silliest command and control rules I've seen are those which employ a magical and mystical aura around the commanding general... something like "...each turn, units within 12 inches of the general are deemed to have received their orders, while units outside the general's 12-inch range are considered out-of-command and cannot move." Or, if they can move, it's only for half-distance.
I've played in NAPOLEON'S BATTLES games in which on Turn 3, for example, the corps commander, situated right next to the division commander, gives the division commander his orders. The division commander fully understands what's going on, and moves his brigades out. And then, for some reason, he goes left, while his brigades go right, and on Turn 4, his units are defined to be outside of the division commanders control zone... all the brigade commanders are now stricken dumb, they are paralyzed, they are "out of command", and they are given a "no move marker'. They have completely forgotten what the division commander told them some 20 minutes before.
And, if you think about it, this is similar to the technique used in the DBA/DBM rules. On Turn 1, for example, you assign a group a pip from the command die toss, and it advances toward the enemy. On Turn 2, if you don't assign the group a pip, it remains comatose... it simply sits. Here's an example, therefore, of a group of stands, or units, directly in front of enemy troops, first told to advance toward the enemy (they've received their pip), and then, one turn later (15 minutes later?), still in the presence of the enemy, the poor group is pipless, and the troops are completely motionless (they've forgotten their orders?), waiting to be attacked.
Years ago, in response to the DBA/DBM Pip Theory, I espoused what I termed "Inverse Pip Theory" (IPT)... which says that once you give an order to a unit, it'll keep on performing as directed until specifically ordered to halt. And so even if it goes outside the magical and mystical range of the commanding general, or it's not assigned a pip, it'll still keep on as previously ordered. And so IPT says that once troops received their orders, there's no need to assign them further pips in the subsequent turns... it's only when you want them to stop that you need to assign them a pip.
For some reason, IPT theory was harder to swallow than the regular Pip Theory. In the games I presented, once units were sent on their way, and for some reason, the players wanted to halt them but pips weren't available, then units just kept going and going like the Durocell Bunny, producing a group of aggravated players. Much more aggravated than when, under regular Pip Theory, they couldn't start their units out for a lack of pips.
In some of my medieval presentations, I use a parameter termed a Control Factor (CF). Here, each Leading Knight controls his own retinue, composed of mounted knights, and foot knights and men @ arms and archers, and so on. And each Leading Knight is given a CF ranging from 50 on down to 30.
The Lord Knight, the Big Fellow, is also on the field, and he's given his own CF, but this ranges from 40 down to 20. When the Lord Knight calls on the Leading Knight's retinue, simply add together the Us of the Leading and Lord Knights, and toss percentage dice below the total.
If successful, the Leading Knight does as he's told. If the toss is not successful, then the Leading Knight has decided to go off on his own... we refer to a random movement chart, toss the dice again, and see if the Leading Knight leads his retinue to the rear, or moves to the right or to the left, or charges forward, etc.
During the battle, the Us of both the Leading Knight and the Lord Knight are reduced when they engage in combat, and so, gradually, it becomes harder to control the units on the field.
SPEARHEAD assumes that all units on the field (platoons) are within radio communication distance of their battalion headquarters and the headquarters themselves within communications range of higher headquarters. All platoons within a battalion must remain within a certain distance of their headquarters. But the rules book doesn't penalize units which stray outside the zone, other than to state that the errant units must attempt to rejoin their fellow units. Command and control requirements manifest themselves when orders are changed. Changing a German unit's orders requires the toss of a 6-sided die... 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 (anything but a 1), and the new order is fully understood. Changing a Russian unit's orders requires a toss of a 6 before 1943, and the toss of a 5, or 6 after 1943... anything else and the new order has not been received.
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