Combat Command Wishlist

[thetourist]

I have always beena fan of the Combat Command. It's great as a starter set and as an expansion pack. I like the variety of vehicles in one package. You might get a couple vehicles in one that you wouldn't normally buy. So, the question is, if you could desing your own CC, what vehicels would you put in it? Keep in mind that most CC's have about 16 - 20 vehicles and some infantry.

[IRON FIST]

German, Polish, Russian armored trains.

[redleg]

I would spend every penny I have on artillery battery combat commands:

WW II & modern
SP & towed
rocket & cannon

Many different weapons, nationalities, time periods to choose from.

-Mike

[10mmACW]

Expand the combat commands to include 10mm and naval.
Have a ACW brigade box (union and reb)
A naval command with destroyers and a cruser or battle ship.

[jb]

How about Infantry companies in the correct TO&E.Line companies,and support companies...

[mmi80]

I agree with JB, with a caveat should include mechanised, light, airborne/airassault both WWII thru current for the major nationalities.

[Bull`s eye]

If it´s true, what i read, that the " box " is only 0.80 cheaper than to buy the individual packs, so for WHAT ? Only some rules ( rules can by downloaded on many place in the net ) and a storage box extra???
But indeed " package " seelig will increase in turnover
Just selling the same with another wrapping paper ?

A real starter box would be 10$ cheaper, so it makes the decision easier " ok, just have a look, and if it´s not my thing i haven´t spend too much money "

[Donald M. Scheef]

RE "Expand the combat commands to include 10mm and naval.
Have a ACW brigade box (union and reb)
A naval command with destroyers and a cruser or battle ship."

A combat command package with destroyers and a cruiser/battleship would be appropriate only for historical connections - such as the Japanese who used light cruisers as destroyer leaders. In most cases, groups of destroyers and a single larger ships seldom operated together as a 'combat command' When they did, it was usually the result of circumstances rather than planning.

I would suggest that a more likely packaging would be of a flotilla of destroyers. Most countries operated destroyers in flotillas of four, five, six or eight ships. Almost no one intentionally had groups of three destroyers, as in the GHQ packaging.

Also see the posting in New Item: Battle Box. I think that packaging the four ships involved in the Battle of the River Platte, for example, would be a real winner.

Although I don't game in this period, the ACW brigade box sounds like a very good idea.

[Cav Dog]

I would spend every penny I have on artillery battery combat commands:

WW II & modern
SP & towed
rocket & cannon

Many different weapons, nationalities, time periods to choose from.

-Mike

I second this. It would seem to be easy to do seeing as how most CCs have 3-4 packages worth of stuff in them. Take the G134 as an example, 3 packages of G134 s Feld Haubitze m.18 should give you 6 guns in firing postion and 6 guns in towing mode, plus six prime movers. Throw in enough gun crews to man them and a few C&C/ammo vehicles and the battery is ready for action. Well, once it all painted and such anyway.

[Mk 1]

redleg wrote:
I would spend every penny I have on artillery battery combat commands:

WW II & modern
SP & towed
rocket & cannon

Many different weapons, nationalities, time periods to choose from.

Cav Dog commented:
I second this. It would seem to be easy to do seeing as how most CCs have 3-4 packages worth of stuff in them. Take the G134 as an example, 3 packages of G134 s Feld Haubitze m.18 should give you 6 guns in firing postion and 6 guns in towing mode, plus six prime movers. Throw in enough gun crews to man them and a few C&C/ammo vehicles and the battery is ready for action. Well, once it all painted and such anyway.

I think this is a great idea, and a great example of how the Combat Command format can be of service to the buyer.

Making 4-gun and 6-gun batteries has always been a hassle. Getting the two or three C&C and/or liaison vehicles is also a pain. I would also add that many nations' forward batteries had a "security section" with a few soldiers and an MG or two as an integral part of the battery. Those might be included as well.

Of course for ol' hacks (like me ... and some I could name...), for our more developed armies we all have jeeps, trucks, halftracks, armored cars etc., and a few extra soldiers, sitting around in our "extras" boxes already. But for the guy who is new to Micro Armor, or the ol' hack who is building a new army, these are the kinds of issues that the Combat Command format really helps with. It provides extra value for the consumer at no extra cost to GHQ.

[ShortRound70]

I'll vote for an artillery battery as well. Of course I'd like to see USMC Vietnam, US Army Armored Cavalry Vietnam, Arab '67-'73, and Israeli '67-'73 Combat Commands also. For WW2, I'd like to see a US parachute infantry company or USMC rifle company. Santa, are you listening?

[pit]

I wish:

Pershing 2, GLCM, NATO Mobile War HQ and a modern flied hostital as combat comands.

best regards
pit

[xhrit]

I'd take a modern china combat command. I would prefer less each type but more different types. A few main battle tanks, a scout tank, some troop transports, some trucks, infantry, and a command vehicle.

The only issue i can see for GHQ is the layout ov the molds - I am no expert on GHQ, but most people's molds have several indentations for miniatures to come out. Assuming 5 to 10 impressions per mold, casting 1 HQ vehicle for 100 combat commands would be 10 or 20 runs. That is fine, but stick 3 tanks in each combat command and (assuming the same impression count per mold) there will surplus miniatures, no matter how many runs.

It has been mentiond that GHQ sells strange numbers ov miniatures in packs - I think the number in each pack equates to the number ov impressions on a single or perhaps half mold. The mold layouts are not produced for historical accuracy, but rather real world casting efficiency and mold integrity.

Having a bunch ov miniatures sit around that can't be packaged up - well it is just dead weight and is bad for business. Not only does it cost capital to store, but it costs capital to produce. So it is not all win-win for GHQ; there are some really important logistics issues with making new combat commands.

Not only that, but once the logistics are worked out, there is the market to factor. A lot ov people have said they want artillery combat commands. That would only be marketable to the 'hardcore gamers', not entry level players - artty is something that is not really interesting to new players. Its effects can be simulated by off board resources, so it does not have much impact on the overall gameplay - they would be far more interested in the front line combat units such as tanks and infantry to build up their forces.

I think the best idea so far is to expand the combat commands to include 10mm and naval.

[Pitfall]

I second the idea of "purpose-specific" combat commands. I like the idea of artillery, recon, or support groups in one package. Just as long as they are fairly TO&E-minded! I don't think the idea should be poo-pooed just because new players might not buy them. If that were the case, GHQ wouldn't have to print the advanced rules.

@xhrit, GHQ does produce combat commands with odd numbers. For instance, the 1941 DAK combat command contains three of several different tank types, but they have them sold individually in packs of 5.

I don't think the number ratio really maters when packaging becasue they all have to be taken out of the mold and packaged by hand anyway, so there's not extra labor. Plus, you're bound to have a few miscast pieces plus one or two dropped on the floor in the warehouse, so you'll need some extras on hand!

Of course, I don't work at GHQ, so I don't know how their operations work. This argument would make mores sense if the products were sold right off the line, but everything has to be repackage before the consumer gets it.

[jb]

I'm still for the correct TO&E on a company scale-specificly infantry-Arty batteries are a really cool idea.