United States 4th Armored Division (September 1944) for Command Decision Test of Battle

If you click on this link: 4th armored division 1944 you will find the full divisional organization of the American 4th Armored Division for September 1944 (the encirclement of Nancy) for Command Decision Test of Battle. There are deviations from the Light Armored Division organization presented in the Command Decision Test of Battle Stars and Stripes book. These are mainly due to deeper research into the organization of American Light Armored Divisions and the unique organization of this division. If you are interested in the organization of an American Light Armored Division in some detail, I highly recommend Yves J. Bellanger’s U.S. Army Armored Division 1943-1945: Organization, Doctrine, Equipment. I got my copy from Amazon.com (see: https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Army-Armored-Division-1943-1945/dp/1445738953/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1546982677&sr=8-2&keywords=Yves+J.+Bellanger). I got my copy on sale for less than the $50 price, so keep an eye on the link as Amazon.com does seem to put things on sale now and then.

1st Panzer Division Organization for Command Decision Test of Battle

I have been looking at several possible campaigns for Command Decision (a reworked Stolberg campaign and a Nancy 1944 campaign). This got me looking at some of the Command Decision books for other periods to see how the game now represents units. In looking at the 1940 campaign book, Blitzkrieg Legions: Fall of the West, I noticed some things that didn’t look right to me in terms of the German organizations. So I decided to check a specific one, the 1st Panzer Division. You can download my revised organization for that division here: 1st Panzer Division 1940.

I used to do these organizations for the Command Post Quarterly and enjoyed doing them, so expect a few more in the future.

Organization Chart for 5th Light Division for Bill

I’m not sure if the signal unit is 3/1139th or something else.

Command Decision Test of Battle: Allied Order of Battle for Market Garden (updated September 2019)

I have still been swamped with work and family obligations, but along the way I thought about doing some sort of Market Garden Campaign (1944). I looked at all of the 1 stand = 1 company rules, but I’m not so sure that they are at the level I am most interested in. Instead, I’ve been thinking about trying Command Decision: Text of Battle. In the past I have played a lot of games using the first and second editions of Command Decision and a few games with the third edition, but not many with the Test of Battle edition. Here is the Allied Order of Battle for the Market Garden Campaign in terms of Command Decision: TOB organizations. I have roughed out the German Order of Battle, but that still requires a lot of work given how chaotic the German organizations were. This is a big file (50+ pages), so you can see where my little free time has gone over the last couple of months.

CD TOB Allied Market Garden web

This is a slightly updated version of the OB.

Sam Mustafa’s Rommel

Sam Mustafa is working on a new World War Two rule set, Rommel. It is designed to fight really big battles, like division and corps. You can learn more about it via Sam’s podcast at: http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/2017/01/honor-podcast-9-rommel/. It sounds very interesting and what I’ve been looking for. Here is one of the Ops Files he mentions in the podcast:

Sam will post more at his Honour Games website: http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/.

The game will be available later this year in September, and I plan on buying a copy (I still haven’t had a chance to play Blucher yet, but maybe soon).