Chain of Command takes centre stage ("The First Game" Part I)

A new set of (skirmish) rules from the TooFat Lardies to save my 20mm WWII collection from wargaming limbo, hurray :)

I have heard many positive things regarding the TooFatLardies but I (ahem, confession time) have never played a game 'under one of their sets of rules', so this was a first for me! The game takes about forty figures a side, plus or minus some support weapons and a vehicle or two. Prefect for my 20mm collection, but the big plus is that it lies on the "innovative side" of the wargaming landscape packed with interesting  mechanisms :)

First the table was filled with gorgeous 'club terrain' (see below): 

We even put the roof on the house, can you spot the difference? (see below):

Then followed the "interesting" PATROL PHASE, which is a very cunning new game mechanic to master (yes you may sense the caution in my description to be a case of me 'getting it rather wrong' when I first tried it). Strange large PATROL markers (not actual figures) moving around the board certainly built up the tension. This represented a pre-game reconnaissance phase (see below):

I thought I had a cunning 'flexible formation' but it turned out instead to be a 'circling the wagons' (see above) for some lean and mean Panzer Grenadiers to surround me with MG42's. Thankfully I was oblivious to the danger at this early point in the game. When fixed by proximity to enemy markers, the PATROL counters get transformed into safe JUMP OFF POINTS where 'real troops can start to move onto the table  (see below, note the 'slightly' smaller markers):

Then the game starts proper. You roll COMMAND DICE (yet another cunning mechanic to master, ahem) to see what (in your order of battle) you can activate and then the fun really begins as troops start to appear on table. They can be placed within six inches of friendly JUMP OFF POINTS (see below):

My first section of my 1944 British Infantry Platoon (a friends nicely painted Valiant miniatures), hunkered defensively down in a small corner of a French field on "over-watch" wondering what was going to happen next!