The random scenario generator in Combat Commander: Europe is perhaps one of the most underrated features of the game. It vastly expands replayability, offering new situations for seasoned players and newcomers alike. The rules are tucked into the back of the scenario book and you may have missed them or forgotten they are there—or maybe you simply haven’t had a chance to try them yet, perhaps because the prospect seems daunting. In the following paragraphs I’ll walk through an example to show you how easy and fun random scenario generation is. I will not re-explain all of the rules, but I have included the references so that you can follow along in your book.

RS.1

I flip a card with a 2 on the white die and a 2 on the colored die. I take the white die value and add 6 to it, giving me a total of 8, so we will use map 8. My opponent rolls a 1, so we check the map’s hex compass and orient the “1” side to face my opponent. This means Objective 5 is closest to my opponent and Objectives 1 and 2 are closest to me.

RS.2

My opponent tosses a coin and gets heads, so he plays the Axis. My opponent flips a card and adds both dice: 6, which on the accompanying table in the scenario book indicates I will play as the Americans and the year will be 1944.

RS.3

My opponent flips a card and adds both dice: 3, which cross references with 1944 on the chart to give a German troop quality of Elite. I flip a card and get 7, which on the American chart for the same date gives me a quality of Line.

RS.4

I draw an objective chit and place it in the center “open” section of the objective chits box. It is Objective X: elimination points are doubled. My opponent and I now each draw a hidden objective. Mine is Objective A: Objective 1 is worth a single VP.

RS.5

Now is my chance to make some interesting choices. I take the American Orders of Battle sheet, look at the colored “Quality” row just above the units, and find the columns marked “Line” (the quality of troops that I rolled in RS.3). RS.2 gave us the year as 1944, so I check the year row at the top of the chart and see that all of the columns designated as “Line” include that year, meaning I can choose any of them. Now I can look down any of these column, stopping at boxes with numbers in to see how many of that type of unit I would get if I chose that column. Or, if I know I really want to play with a certain piece or pieces, I can look for those and see which columns they are in. I like support weapons and want to play with a Light Mortar, so I check for a column that includes one or more of those. I don’t want too many pieces on the board so I’ll probably go with a Detachment, and I’d like to get some better-quality troops out there, which pretty much leaves me with the Veteran Rifle Detachment in the middle “V” column. I am now supposed to find the “V Det.” chit from the counter mix and after my opponent has also selected one, we reveal them together. If you trust each other and won’t forget what you picked, you could just verbally reveal.

After revealing, my opponent takes the VP marker and checks the Point Value row on the German Order of Battle table to see what the value is for the chosen OB (my opponent chose the SS Detachment or “B Det.”).  For the chosen OB the point value is 26, so the VP marker moves towards me 26 steps (landing on the “6” space with the marker showing the “+20” side). I now check my points, see I get 22, and move the marker back toward my opponent that many. It is now sitting on my “4” space flipped back to its regular side. Finally, we each take our OB Stats markers and place them as indicated by the charts: for me, it’s Line 3, and my opponent’s goes on Elite 3.

RS.6

My column on the OB chart says I get two leaders, so I flip two cards and look at the back cover of the scenario book. I consult the modifiers section and see that I don’t get any, so I’m just looking at the base number on the white die. Both my cards show a 4, so I discard one and draw again until I get something different—a 3. This gives me Sergeant White and Sergeant Buehler. My opponent gets a three and a two for his two leaders, and since his troops are Elite he applies the +1 modifier. This gives him Sergeants Esser and Ganz.

RS.7

The VP marker is on my side of the track, so I flip a card and add the dice for a 9, then consult that column of the American Support Table. Of the options available to me, I choose the Line squad, and move the VP marker the associated 2 spaces towards my opponent, leaving it on the 2 space. Since it did not cross the zero line, this step is now over.

RS.8

The VP counter is still on my side, so I will be the Defender and my opponent the Attacker. 

RS.9

I could choose to spend up to the total of my 2 VPs on the fortifications listed on the back cover of the scenario book. I consider some Hasty Entrenchments, but decide to keep the VPs instead.

RS.10

I get to set up my troops first, and can place them anywhere within the first 8 hex rows, counting from my side. I choose to set the bulk of them up in the middle of the board, taking advantage of the hills and trees as best I can, hoping to prevent the Germans from getting through to the Objectives close to my board edge. I place all my control markers in all the objectives.

RS.11

The Germans set up now within the first two hex rows counting from their side.  They form two groups: one that looks ready to make an attempt to flank me on the left, another headed almost right down the middle. They also place units in the Objective 5 hex, and flip the control marker to their side accordingly.

RS.12

• The Time marker is placed on “0”.
• Each of us gets 3 orders per turn, so the Sudden Death marker is placed on the “6” space.
• My opponent has the higher initiative value on the German Order of Battle and therefore gets the initiative card.
• After consulting our selected column on the OB charts again, I put my Surrender marker on the “10” space on my casualty track, and my opponent’s goes on the “8” space on the other side.
• There are no mines to place.
• Smoke and Blaze counters are ready for use.

RS.13

Both fate decks are shuffled. I draw 4 cards, my opponent draws 6. My starting hand includes a “Command Confusion” and an “Artillery Request”, and is overall not an ideal starting hand. Otherwise, I’m going into the game with a slight point lead, a comfortable defensive position, and a higher surrender level. The game seems like it’s mine to lose at this point.

RS.14

My opponent is the Attacker, and so takes the first turn. The game is afoot!

Concluding Notes

I find creating a random scenario to be an enjoyable mini-game prior to the main game. There’s a dash of luck and suspense, with a few important choices to be made. The scenario defender gets to make some real choices about how they want the game to play out and probably has a slightly more interesting role than the attacker does, but both sides still get some agency in selecting their troops. That decision is the biggest one of the process, but if you break it down, you really don’t have an overwhelming number of choices. And with the balancing steps built in, you can be assured that no matter what you pick, you should still end up with a fairly even chance of winning the game.

You could probably skip some of the randomness by picking the map together, agreeing on a year, and picking sides. From that point onward it’s probably best to determine troop quality randomly, though you could potentially even dispense with this step. Or if you REALLY wanted to take charge, it might be a fun experiment to agree on an amount of purchase points and have each player buy their own customized OB using the Support Tables.

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