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Combat Command 2: Desert Rats

by Jim "Bismarck" Cobb

Article Type: Review
Article Date: December 17, 2001

The wargame genre of games is a construct of niches. No one genre alone could keep gaming marketable but the combination of all keeps the hobby vital. With his Close Combat 2: Danger Forward, David Erickson filled part of a niche for World War II grand tactical games reminiscent of board wargames. The first part of the series concentrated on the Mediterranean and European theaters from 1941 to 1945. As one good episode deserves another, his Close Combat 2: Desert Rats (CC2DR) goes to North Africa during 1941-1944. The question is how this system handles the brilliant tactical sweeps of Rommel as opposed to the landings and grimy slugfests of the first product.

A Short Recap

Peter “Zhukov” Pawelek did such a fine job of describing Close Combat 2: Danger Forward in his review that a detailed description of game play and mechanics is not necessary here. CC2DR is still company-level grand tactical. Units are rated for quality and suffer dispersion before eliminations. Many pop-up reports provide information on status, movement posture, chain of command and supply although most of the vital data can be seen on the unit counters by cycling through with the TAB key.

Terrain is 500 m per hex and turns usually represent two hours. These turns are broken down into movement, opportunity and direct fire and assault phases with the computer handling the different checks and showing results and probabilities. The player is relieved from many tactical considerations such as line of sight and must focus on cohesion and communication. Like most games in this niche, calculation supersedes intuitive panache in play. Every fact necessary is clearly laid out in the fifty-nine page manual. This game is played with premeditative efforts and sobriety rather than with chemically induced verve.

The British order of battle at Sidi Rezegh can be seen clearly via a report screen.

Sea Change

So if the games are the same, why is this product a stand-alone, full-price release instead of an expansion pack? The reasons of this lie in the realms of game philosophy and psychology instead of the usual design considerations. The first installment provided a range of environments and situations. Paratroop drops on Crete, landings at Anzio, those terrible World War I-like battles in the Fall of 1944—all have different strategies, troop types and terrain. Those scenarios present a sampler, if you will, of World War II fighting in the West.

CC2DR concentrates on one theater of operations and force types. The North African theater was fairly confined and the opposing forces evolved together. Oh, there’s variety. The Americans, Italians, Indians and French are present in many scenarios and there’s a mix of meeting engagements and set-piece assaults. However, the shadow of the genius of the Desert Fox and his tenacious Commonwealth foes looms over the game. The 15th Panzer will strike like a Cobra and the Aussies make the Germans pay for every rock and wadi assaulted.

Players become caught up in this ambience from scenario to scenario, creating the feel of a new game system. Critical to this phenomenon is the excruciating research that goes into the force make up of the scenarios. The greenness of the American troops against the grizzled German veterans is simulated very well.

The vast expanse of the desert is shown at Sidi Rezegh.

Two British recon units plus air are selected to assault a German company. The Germans repulsed them.

Another factor in creating a new feel is the graphics. The desert is depicted as vast with some wadis, trails and stations as references. Gamers feel that they can attempt the grand flanking sweeps that characterizes desert war. The freedom is in contrast to the claustrophobic circumstances in Europe and on Mediterranean islands. The rules on communications and supply actually foster this. Supply lines can be cut anywhere and lack of command contact only penalizes attack coordination. Hence, a few units can get into the enemy’s rear and sit a few hexes away, weakening supply. An attack by them would be weak but they don’t have to attack. Such moves run the danger of counter-attacks but those kinds of risks made the Desert War what it was. The activities described here replicate Rommel’s “Dash to the Wire” and his actions at Gazala. Of course, the decisive action requires command control to succeed, a fact Rommel sometimes forgot when he decided to play junior field officer. The answer to the question posed above is that the system needed a new set of parameters to gain the right atmosphere for what it did.

Crack German troops take advantage of inexperienced GIs at Djebel el Guessa.

Rolling Your Own

Of the seventeen scenarios, thirteen are after the Torch landings and one deals with the dicey Oran landing itself. This emphasis on the later phases of the campaign promotes balanced scenarios and a variety of nationalities. The legend of the Desert Fox, however, was created in 1941 in the classic “Benghazi Handicap” operations between the Afrika Korps and Eighth Army. Romantics would like to see more from this period. They can with a few Orders of Battle and CC2DR’s strong and powerful editor.

The map uses the very friendly “layered” concept where the player chooses a bases then adds a multitude of features handled through click-and drag. Weather and many other factors are managed in the scenario data module, The only unfortunate things about the editor is the hex side features such as streams must follow hex patterns instead of being draw like roads and the lack of an “undo” feature for the click-happy among us.

Force creation is so flexible that creativity is required as well as encouraged. Headquarters, infantry, armor, anti-tank and artillery are the basic unit types (air and off-board supports are handled by assigning points in the scenario data). Clicking on them brings up a generic unit counter and a pop-up factor box. Setting the factors tests the skill and knowledge of the scenario maker. A Pzkw Mk III company doesn’t simply appear; designers must choose nationality and set “one” points to set relative standards for the work. For example, one might judge a Stuart a tad less effective than a Mk III, thus the German vehicle might get a “6” on attack and the Stuart get a “5”. What would happen though if the Germans crew had been at the front so long they were losing their edge? Their quality could be rated lower or their aggressiveness can be altered in scenario data. Quantifying intangibles is what distinguishes wargames from weapon platform simulations and CC2DR gives user-designers ample opportunity to strut their stuff. If a kick-start would help, the values of the pre-existing scenarios can be viewed with the editor.

The unit box in the editor is incredibly versatile.

Of Graphics and Command

The Close Combat 2 series has taken knocks in the mainline press and forums. The most common of these is that the graphics are not fancy enough. First of all, the graphics have been upgraded and Danger Forward graphics can be upgraded with patch 1.03. The changes are nice but not garish. Secondly, do splashy graphics make a game? No, they should facilitate play, no more. The graphics of Sudden Strike make it a nice RTS but not a serious wargame.

In the context of CC2DR, the more popular style graphics would only get in the way. Thirdly, Ron Dockal, another designer who takes lumps for his graphics, points out a trade off reviewers over look. Graphics take RAM; the better the graphics, the more RAM. For every byte of RAM taken by graphics, that much is not available for AI. If players want solitaire play (and players who want to simulate historical simulations D0) then anything that sacrifices AI should be anathema. Suffice it to say, CC2DR’s AI is cunning although PBEM and TCP/IP Internet play is also available.

The Huertgen Forest as pictured in the original Combat Command 2 graphics.

The Huertgen Forest as pictured in the updated Combat Command 2 graphics.

The second loud complaint against the series is that units close to their headquarters can be out of command. Let’s turn to the algorithm in the manual and check this out. To be in command, a unit must roll less than a rating on a 100-sided “die”. In command range and with a well-functioning headquarters, this check will always be passed. This perfect situation, however, never occurs in war. Radios malfunction, rookies slip up on paperwork and commands are vague. Thus, an HQ with the rating of –1 may miss the subordinate next to them with a roll of over 90. Terrain is often misunderstood. A change in elevation over a distance of 1000 meters can put communication at some risk (a negative 10 percent) but a good HQ staff can easily overcome this. A quick look at the negative (disruption, enemy presence, bad terrain, bad leadership) and positive (fortification, good leadership) command factors clearly show that this series simulates the friction of war in World War II. Players and reviewers alike should do the math and research before complaining. At worst, command effects can be turned off.

CC2DR has irritating elements. Using a pop-up menu for movement takes some getting used to and this may well frustrate beginning gamers. The AI takes its own sweet time making a move on a large map, sometimes over three minutes. These things are soon forgotten, however, when delving into the various exciting issues this game poses. Had Rommel been able to simulate his moves with this game, Tobruk may have fallen the first time.








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