SOLO COMBAT COMMANDER SYSTEM V.1.

2
By Fardoche [email protected] August 18th, 2010

Disclaimer:
• I played this system and liked it enough to share it with other interested
people. If you are not part of them, so be it, but please refrain from bursting
my happy little bubble. Don’t make fun of those who believe in solo fun with
this game ☺
• I don’t pretend that my system will replace a face to face opponent in terms of
fun, suspense, tension, bluffing opportunities and so on. However, I still
believe that this game is genuinely enjoyable when no one is around and you
have the Combat Commander itch to scratch.
• I assume you know the rules and have a good knowledge of the possible
actions on the cards. Therefore, the content of this file will not explain every
bit of rules or their impact on the game play.
• I only played a handful of scenarios from the Europe module and, so far, it
worked out well. However it’s very possible that some special rules in other
scenarios will require some homemade tweaking of the following method of
play. Please feel free to point them out to me.

First of all, what I tried the hardest to address in this system are chronic issues in other
card-driven games as well:
• How to handle the “face down hand” of a dummy opponent without
resorting to false amnesia
• How to simulate an AI or some semi-intelligent robot to play against
• How to accommodate solo play while staying true to the rules, without
adding too many changes or fiddliness to the original game

More Combat Commander specific challenges also surfaced, which I tried to resolve as
best as I could:
• How to realistically be surprised by enemy op-fire and specific actions
• How to handle the initiative card

In this system, you play each side the best you can. It’s not a matter of you versus an
opponent but rather a bird’s eye view of a battle being fought below. If you can slip into
the mindset of a neutral actor-spectator, you will have a lot of fun playing this
system! You actually play a war scenario by controlling both sides to the best of your
capabilities. You can’t literally “win” in this system, but you definitely can improve your
tactics, decision making abilities and gain experience in the game. Hence, this system is
excellent to practice a specific scenario from both sides, to learn the game’s basics or
simply to see a “real-time war scene” unfold under your eyes, due to the incredible story-
telling potential of this game.
 What you will find next are the rules I had to modify in order to make the system
work properly. It may look like a bunch of scattered unrelated bullets, but just start
playing the game normally with the standard rules, including the following changes and it
should work fine. Comments in blue are my personal comments and rationale behind the
changes.

I also tested this system with the random scenario generator and it worked well.
However, I didn’t test it yet with the Pacific module or any of the battle packs, so it’s
possible that some more changes are required to accommodate these scenarios.

1.2 Card knowledge

- Both sides’ cards will always be concealed until it plays its own turn or an op-fire
action or a defense roll.
- When refilling a hand, draw cards up to the hand size without looking at them.
(see 5.4)

5.2 Action capability

- The active side can only play Actions on his turn.

5.4 Hand refill

- Unless having discarded, after a side has played Orders or Actions, reshuffle the
cards remaining in the hand into the draw pile, except Command confusion orders
(and Artillery request/denied Orders if no radio is in play) which remain in the
hand. The only way to get rid of these orders is by discarding (passing a turn) or
using their Actions. Then, refill the hand up to hand size limit without looking at
the cards.

This is important because it prevents the other side from knowing what the opponent
holds for his next turn. Reshuffling the remaining cards in the deck after a turn is also
crucial because if you discarded them, it would increase the rate of Time triggers due
to exhaustion of a draw pile.

It is also important not to reshuffle Command confusion Orders (and Artillery

- As in the regular rules, if the defensive side played Actions, don’t refill to full
hand size!
6.1.2 Advancement

- After a Time trigger, both sides are allowed to play Dig ins. After revealing the
hands, refill hands as per 5.4 above.

7.3.3 Open & secret objective chits

- If a scenario requires secret objectives to be drawn, don’t reveal them until the
end of the game.

This means that you won’t know the outcome of the “story” until the end.

- If a secret objective becomes open due to E.67 Reconnaissance, adjust each side’s
tactics accordingly: it should obviously become the prime target for both sides.

When drawing for secret objectives, I suggest putting them in a draw cup and pick the
number needed for each side. To prevent you from accidentally seeing the face up
side of a secret objective when drawing it, pick an objective chit, covering it partially
with a finger. If you see a red border, flip it on the white side. If you still see a red
border after flipping it, you have picked an open objective!

9.1 Re-roll *

- Only one re-roll per side per turn is allowed. Just use the initiative card the way
you would handle it in a real game, deciding for each side.

* Feel free to use this modified rule or stick to the original. I decided to include it in
order to avoid the defending side to overuse it by continuously swapping it to
accelerate time triggers. I also played without using this variant (in Recon vs Recon
scenarios) and it worked fine.

O16.4.1 Melee strength

- Ambush actions may be played when a melee occurs. Then refill hands as per 5.4
above.

O20.3.4 Fire defense roll

- When the inactive side is doing a Fire defense roll, reveal his hand and play any
useful defensive Actions, such as Concealment. Then, refill the hand of the
inactive side as per 5.4 above.

Of course, if you judge that the defensive side wouldn’t play any useful defensive
Action even he had any, then don’t even bother revealing his hand
O21.3 Opportunity fire and Movement

- When moving through hexes for which the other side has units with clear LOS
and range, ask yourself this question: “If I was the inactive side and I held a Fire
order, would I use it for op-fire now?”
o If the answer is no, active side keeps moving.
o If the answer is yes, look at the inactive side’s hand.
 If he has a Fire order, use it.
 If not, do nothing, unless there are some useful defensive Actions
to be taken. Note that since you revealed a side’s hand, you are
allowed to use its Actions at this time, as per 5.2 above.
 Then, refill the hand of the inactive side as per 5.4 above.

Remember that if the inactive side had a hand size of 5 and used a Fire
Order + a Sustained fire Action during the Op-fire sequence, he must
refill to 3 cards (he spent 2 already) and not to full hand size. Yes, this
means he could draw another Fire Order and be able to use it if the
active side plays another Move Order.

I hope you will find this system appealing enough to give it a try. Any suggestion
or variants to improve it are welcome! See my email address on front page

It is not impossible that I will modify it myself as I play more scenarios and find
better tweaks. I tried to be as explicit as possible, but if you have a hard time
understanding any part of it, contact me and I’ll be happy to clarify whatever is left
nebulous. Happy gaming!