Kampfgruppe Commander III

Kampfgruppe Commander maintains an emphasis on command and control, but uses entirely new, and fast-playing, game mechanics. We have built in a great dea of historical flavor with rules that foster constant back-and-forth action. At conventions, Kampfgruppe Commander has consistently played in half the time of other rules sets. Our local gaming group of a dozen people runs evening games that start at 7:30 and end at 10:00 sharp. These rules allow large battles to be fought to a decision in two-and-a-half-hours.

Kampfgruppe Commander emphasizes aspects of World War II combat typically left out of, or not given enough emphasis in other rules. Tired of the same old line-them-up-and-shoot- them-down tank-to-tank battle? Kampfgruppe Commander has placed just as much thought into infantry, artillery, and support asset tactics as it has armored combat. Because of the command system, units of all arms have personality. And infantry gets into the action just as quickly as the tanks. The rules also represent flanking fire tactics, scouting, falling back to reduce casualties, the creeping barrages of Soviet artillery, Force Morale that decisively ends games if one side has become too battered, and much more.

Scales: One height level equals 50 feet; one turn is equivalent to 30-60 minutes. In base scale, 1 inch represents 100 yards. This scale is used throughout the rules. However, Kampfgruppe Commander can also be played with an "ex-tended scale” at the players’ preference. The base scales work for figure sizes from Micro to 10mm. Some players, however, with large tables might want to use the Extended scale for 15mm or 20mm figures.

Kampfgruppe Commander organizes a player’s forces at two levels.

1.Units: are typically made up of two to four stands each. In most cases a unit corresponds to a historical company. Generally, a unit consists of a number of stands equal to the number of platoons in the historic company. However, this guide line is frequently relaxed to accommodate units that are over- or under-strength. A unit’s stands need not be kept touching each other. At all times, however, each of a unit’s stands must be within 2” of another stand within the same unit. Assets do not count as unit stands.

2. Formations: all units must belong to a formation. This formation’s commander is used to activate actions of units belonging to his formation. Each formation has one stand to represent the commander. Formations typically correspond to historical battalions.