A piece of paper makes you an officer, a radio makes you a commander.
- General Omar N. Bradley
This is probably the most important chapter of the Infantry Combat rules. Activating your troops through the activation of your leaders is the crucial point of this game. In combination with the command range the positioning of your command teams is the key to success - or failure.
Note that the terms "Leader" and "Command Team" will be used synonymously.
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Upon a leader's activation in the Command Phase, the leader may himself command any three friendly units. He may only do so if these units are not broken, in command range and have not yet been activated during that turn. A leader does not have to command any unit at all.
Commanding a unit simply means activating it. The activated unit is allowed its normal actions as described in . After all actions have been completed, choose another unit to command, activate it and continue until up to three units have been commanded.
After the leader has commanded (activated) up to three units he is allowed to perform actions himself. Note that after the leader has performed any action of his own (such as moving or shooting) he may not command other units any more. Commanding other units does not affect a leader's capability to perform any kind of action afterwards.
Regardless whether the command team actually performs an action of its own, it will count as "activated" as soon as it commands other units. It is marked accordingly. It may not be activated at another time during that turn.
A leader may not activate another leader nor may you play any other foul tricks to activate more than 3 units + 1 leader per command activation.
There is an example of play for more clarification.
The command range depends on the unit commanded rather than on the leader giving the orders. Normal command range is 10cm for Trained infantry or Conscripts and 15cm for Elite troops. You are allowed to measure up any command ranges upon the leader's activation.
| Skill Rating | Command Range | Rally Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Elite | 15cm | +1 |
| Trained | 10cm | none |
| Conscript | 10cm | -1 |
Have a look at the editor's notes on command range as well.
A leader is allowed a single rally action at the end of his activation. That means after the commanded units have performed their actions and after the leader has performed his action(s) he may rally broken units.
You may rally up to three units within command range. Again, command range depends on the rallied unit and not on the leader.
To rally your troops, first nominate which units to rally then roll a D6 to determine whether the attempt is successful (you are again allowed to measure up command ranges). If the roll succeeds, all designated units are rallied, on a failure all units remain broken. The basic target number for the rally test is 3+. This may be modified as follows:
| +0 | Rally 1 unit |
| +1 | Rally 2 units |
| +2 | Rally 3 units |
| -1 | One or more Elite unit among rallied troops |
| +1 | One or more Conscript unit among rallied troops |
The modifiers for skill rating will apply as soon as at least one unit of the respective skill rating is among the rallied troops. It is not cumulative but may cancel each other out.
Only leaders may rally other troops and broken units may only be rallied by a leader. Command teams themselves may not be rallied by other command teams - they may instead try to self rally.
A broken leader is allowed to self rally upon its activation. To do so, the leader has to succeed a basic rally test by rolling a 3+ on a D6. If successful the leader may act without restriction and command other troops, perform actions of his own and also rally other troops at the end of his activation. If the leader fails to self rally, he may not do anything and play passes on to the opponent player.
A broken leader may not perform any action of his own and may not command or rally other troops. A broken leader may only self rally and may not be rallied by another leader.
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If one side has more leaders than the other, the side with the fewer ones has the possibility to skip the activation of a leader. Skipping means that instead of activating a command team you pass on to your opponent and let him activate two leaders or even more in sequence.
You get as many skips as you have leaders less. For example if you have one leader and your opponent has three you would be allowed to skip the activation of your leader twice. Remember that the side which had the first activation in a turn will never have the last activation as well.
Leaders locked in close combat do count towards your total number of leaders. You do not get a skip activation for a leader locked in close combat although you are not allowed to activate him.