Command Cards 101

Command Cards 101

Command Cards 101
with Alexander Nebesky
Command Cards have added an impressive amount of flavour and variety to Flames Of War, representing a wider range of options than could be contained in a V4 Army Book. Nevertheless, Command Cards have raised a few common questions, and since it's my job, I thought this a good opportunity to tackle those questions...

Command Cards in Flames Of War belong to one of the three types below, illustrated in this case by examples from the Avanti Command Cards (because I'm a sucker for Mid War Italians):

Build: New Formations and Units
These allow you to build different organisations than those in the book
Build Unit: Motociclisti
Build Formation: L6/40 Scout Company
Build Force: Stuka Support

Build: New Ratings
These allow you to change the ratings of organisations in the book
Build Unit: Legions of Rome
Build Formation: Assault Engineers (which also adds a new organisation)

Command Cards 101

Bonus Special Rules
These give your force extra capabilities
Unit: Iron Men
Formation: Believe! Obey! Fight!
Force: Heroism

Some of these cards are powerful Warrior cards reflecting heroic individuals and their contribution. You may only have one Warrior card in your Force.
Warrior: Luigi Pascucci

These cards are intended to offer flavour, variation, and special skills to your Flames Of War force. They also allow the creation of a variety of forces that vary from one another only marginally, and therefore don’t require their own multi-page spread in an Army Book.

Companies Accompanied: Fielding Forces Across Books
The Mid War books are all comprised of units and formations that existed and were deployed during the period 1942-43. This is despite the fact that we have organised the content of the books along thematic lines. In this article we look at how and which forces you can field from different books together.

Companies Accompanied: Fielding Forces Across Books...

Formation cards either alter an entire Formation or give you the option to field a different, Command Card-specific Formation entirely. You can field as many of these Command Card Formations as you like. Your entire Army can be made up of Command Card Formations if you want it to be.

Only one card that changes a Unit’s ratings can be applied to any individual Unit at a time, but otherwise as many as you like can be added. You could have a Guards Unit with Sticky Bombs, Dead Eye, and Softskin Transport, but you can’t have a Unit with ANZAC and Guards. A particular card may be used repeatedly, provided it is applied to a different unit each time, the points cost is paid, and the card does not prohibit it being used more than once for each different unit.

Command Cards 101

For example, Legions of Rome can be applied to every platoon in a Italian Rifle Company at a cost of -1 point per Breda MG Platoon and 81mm mortar, and a cost of -2 points per Rifle Platoon and Assault Mortar Platoon.

Command Cards are only applicable to the Unit or Formation at the bottom of the card from the Book that matches the Command Card pack. So, a Command Card that shows "Formation (Rifle Company)" applies to exactly that, the Formation named 'Rifle Company" from that book.

In some cases this will show something like "any Tank Company". This is more flexible and applies to any type of Tank Company in the book, so it would apply to a "Veteran M4 Sherman Tank Company" or an "M5 Stuart Tank Company". It would not apply to an "M10 Tank Destroyer Company" though, as that is named "Tank Destroyer Company" rather than  "Tank Company".
 
Remember also, that you can only have one Title in your Force. You can have multiple cards with the same Title, but only the one Title.

You may not take Formation Support from a Formation that is created with a Command CardYou may only take Formation Support from Formations in a book or on a Unit Card. You may use an Allied Command Card to buff an Allied Support Unit either as Black Box Support or as part of an Allied Formation.

Command Cards offer you a great variety of options to change your force and give them the edge in battle. The rules surrounding the use of Command Cards essentially boil down to the guidelines written on the card, but in any case, the examples and rules in this article are the preferred point of reference should you have any queries or confusion.
~Alexander