Combat Patrol-- First Impressions

I have been a die hard Troops Weapons and Tactics fan for years.  I will occasionally play Chain of Command (which I playtested).  When I heard about Combat Patrol I wasn't too interested.  How many tactical WW II games come out with "realistic tactics but simple mechanisms".  I had purchased Mr Surdu's small craft ( Naval) rules and had not liked them.  Then I saw his two videos about Combat Patrol and became interested.  They are well done and really explain the system well.  I took the plunge!  Here is my report as always given with a background story and scenario.  (I had already played 3 skirmish scenarios to get the feel of it.)

The Americans were on the offensive in Tunisia!  Lt Powers' platoon was held back to exploit success once the main line was cracked.  Old Georgie Patton had learned a lot of the German way of war.  ( In Platoon Forward I rolled up a Breathrough scenario!)  His men had haftracks and armor to race 2 miles and capture a supply cache/HQ.  Powers naturally knew he was up for the challenge.  He hoped he could capture a German Colonel!

Cast
Lt Powers  Gr I leader  Cocky/technology    Son of a Senator
Sgt Kline  Gr 0  Bumbling/pleasure  (just joined the platoon due to Sgt Bustamanti's demise.)  BAR broke last battle and has not been replaced yet. 
Sgt Nolan  Gr I  optomisitc/position  (mechanic before the war)
Sgt Sawyer  Gr 0 Pleasant/ knowledge
1 Stuart, 1 Lee, 1 halftrack with 75mm.
All US forces are considered green.  (This makes a big difference in the game as it functionally gives you a column shift when firering.

Lead Stuart moving up the road.   Black markers are potential German positions.  HQ at top of picture

HQ

Americans rubble forward near a tin of dice

A German armored car fires from across the board.  It misses but infantry quickly dismount.  You can see everyone gets their own die.  At first I thought it would be annoying but I actually like it.  In big battles, like this one, I don't have to remember which German squad is the second vice first.

The US tank destroyer moves into some woods hoping to get a shot.  This game has a clever mechanism for vehicles moving across rough ground.  You use the (now familiar) fireing mechanism to attack the vehicle.  If successful it stops movement till next turn.

Germans move towards a house hoping to set up the ATR.

Part of second squad gets to the same house just a little faster.  The grenade rules work very well and are fast to resolve.  The US sends the German's packing back to HQ.  As casualties occur the unit acquires "morale chits".  When the unit is next activated it must resolve all of it's chits. 

Sgt Nolan enters a house just as German reinforcements show up.  The Germans roll really well and get a Stug and 2 squads with Gr I leaders.

An infantry battle erupts to the side of the HQ.  Here is Sgt Kline's men sans BAR team. The card/die activation system is more elegant than I thought. For example, you can add several blue cards to the deck if one side is generally more skilled.  I added two cards to the deck to represent the better training of the Afrika Korps.  Thus on a blue "4" only German troops can activate.  This came up a couple of times and German tanks got several extra shots off without being rated elite.  A truly simple approach to show differences in training/experience.

Sgt Nolan had cleared both buildings through melee.  Melee is interesting in that you break it down to individual combats and then "dice off" each one.  This  part is a little clunky and I might have to work on it.
Note the three pebbles in front of the building.  Those are those morale chits I talked about.  As a Gr I leader Sgt Nolan will remove one automatically and then have to take 2 morale checks.  Meanwhile Sgt Sawyer attempts to move up.  He received several pebbles from a German MG and his squad retreated.

The Germans attempt to storm Sgt Nolan's position but are forced to retreat.  Their NCO was killed thus the unit becomes pinned.  A pinned unit only can use black cards.  This is a nice way to simulate confusion until the unit sorts itself out.  I had a Pz III who had their leader incapacitated by a non penetrating round.  As they sat there pinned the American TD blew them up.

After the fighting.  The German LT gets hit pinning the Jerry LMG.  The other squad is down to 4 men.  Time to retreat!  We did get two truck loads of supplies off though.

Great game that played fast solitaire.  The platoon is inspired by Lt Powers so he gets a brilliant commander card.  This of course will make his head swell even bigger.  He does put Sgt Nolan in for a Bronze Star but it is denied by Capt Shaffer to show Powers who is in charge of the Company.  ( Maybe a skype session with dad?)

For those of you that want to try the scenario the Germans started out with 1 PSW 222, 1 squad with ATR and Gr III leader. (The captain).  Two trucks of supplies that will start to roll on turn three.
Reinforcements were a Stug and two squads with one Gr I and a Gr 0 leader.  They also get a Gr I LT.  I generated a random reinforcement ( Platoon Forward is never dull!) of a Pz III on turn 6.

I highly recommend Combat Patrol.  It really is fast and fun.  As you know I have never met a set of rules I haven't changed (except for Post Captain) so here are my house rules for now:
1.  At the end of the turn all morale chits are resolved.  ( Had several instances where we wanted to charge but had to wait around to see how their morale was going to go.)
2.German LMG always has 3 shots if fully crewed.  ( Only has two at short range.)
3.Half the scale for 15mm.
4. The Garand doesn't get two shots.  Make it one and they can re draw misses.
5.  Gr I leaders add 1 to their sequence roll.
6.  Gr II leaders add 1 to their sequence roll and shift fire one to the left.
7. Gr III leaders add 2 to their sequence roll and shift fire one to the left
8.  A unit without a leader of some type has an automatic sequence roll of "1".
9. Due to #5-8 we need to change the sequence deck.  It now has one "1" card ( instead of two), Two cards for numbers 2-5 ( no change) and three cards for number 6 ( one added).  So now better leaders have a better chance to activate more often.

It is a tribute to Buck's game that it can take these changes and still play smooth.  Thanks Buck for a great game system.  Happy to playtest anything else you have that is similar. 

Enjoy

Joe