04 March 2026

On to the Eastern Front

 


I have been wanting for sometime to play some Eastern Front games. There is no question that most of the TFL campaigns for CoC are for the Western Front with a significant focus on Normandy. All good....but playing the Soviets is always a challenge especially because of the significant changes in platoon organisation throughout the 2nd World War. Most of my gaming on the Eastern Front has been during the Winter War with large 14-15 man platoons with no team structure. Version 2 of Chain of Command which covers 1944-45 has significant changes with smaller sections and now broken in 2 teams. My previous post details some work on Russian buildings so I was excited to put them on the table. I offered to put on game with my William so we met at the l'abyss this past Saturday.

Scenario 3: Attack and Defend. Patrol Markers and JOPs. Soviet Attackers from the left and German Defenders from the right. The Objectives were the Oil Tanks and the Ruined Building.

Soviets (FM 9, Support 12)

V2 Rifle Platoon
Captured Panzerfausts
Pregame Bombardment
Entrenchment
Mortar Bombardment with Extra Phase
Maxim MMG

Germans (FM 10, Support 7)

V2 Grenadier Platoon
MG42 MMG
Ig18 IG
Adjutant


It was a good game, I did not take any photos until the end. The game was quite close with the Soviets capturing the Oil Tanks within a few phases. William was also able to land the Bombardment quite accurately which covered my MMG, IG as well as one Grenadier squad and the Rifle team in a 2nd squad. It looked like I was doomed but I was going into the end game with a good advantage in FM as the Soviets were a bit unlucky in their FM throws. I was able to Handgranaten the Soviets who had captured the Oil Tanks while throwing 3 grenades (I had 5 commands), this was enough to break the section but also rout several leaders. I was a bit lucky with my dice, it was an excellent tactical game with William aggressively attacking. 






My next CoC game will feature the start of a Eastern Front campaign with Graham, stay tuned.

02 March 2026

Russian Terrain

 

Here are 3D printed terrain pieces from the Russian collections of 3D-Print Terrain and Hartolia. They have been printed at 1/72 scale for some Eastern Front WWII gaming with Chain of Command. Aside from the church they were all printed recently on my Centauri Carbon printer. I think the church was printed on a Creality CR10 printer. Quality is like night and day!

Looking at photos from the early 20th century, it appeared that most building were unpainted so I went with this for the rural buildings. I airbrushed the wooden buildings with Dark Umber, followed by dry brushes with Khaki, Dark Grey, Light Grey and Deck Tan. I might go back with some white paint for the window frames but that would be about it.

The fences are mdf from Things from the Basement, they were airbrushed with Dark Grey and then dry brushed with Light Grey.









I am quite happy how they came out and they saw the table 2 days ago.