5 – Use Your Officers Wisely
Burden of Command is all about the conundrums of leadership, and who better embodies the burden of leadership other than military officers, where a wrong decision can lead to the death of a squad, platoon or even the whole company? Your officers are the main characters in Burden of Command, and it’s their orders and skills that will dictate the flow of a battle. Use them to bolster your unit’s spirits, to rally them when they’re wavering, to help them fire more accurately and at the right targets.
4 – Know When To Lead From The Front
That leads me to this point: Your job might be to command and control the battle, but your men also admire those who lead from the front as well. Your officers are units in and of themselves on the field of battle, which can be moved individually from the squad they are commanding, so shuffle them around as needed to ensure the best positioning possible, and that they’re always there when their team needs them. Find the perfect balance between controlling the field and leading from the front and you’re sure to be successful on the field, and on the barracks.
3 – The Mission Is Important, But Your Men Are Too
There are two ways of achieving victory in Burden of Command: one is by completing the mission objective, and the other is by taking care of your soldiers and bringing them back home alive. Your job, as commanding officer of Company Nickel is to balance risk and reward. On one hand, the mission needs to be successful for the war to end, on the other, losing half of your company on an attack doomed to fail isn’t worth it. So maybe it’s better to do as Major Winters did and save your troops to fight another day.
2 – There Are No Good Choices, Only Better Ones
As a leadership RPG, Burden of Command is all about the choices you make along the way. Luke and his team went out of their way to make sure that there are no optimal choices in BoC, only choices. They all have their good bits and bad bits, so don’t be afraid of making a move, and then it’s up to you how to deal with those decisions. After all, what is a leader if not someone who makes decisions?
1 – Play It Like An RPG, Not A Wargame
Burden of Command is as much a Roleplaying Game as it is a tactical wargame. After talking at length with Luke about some of his design decisions (choices, the focus on narrative, the drama of war, the responsibility of leading people, the importance of officer characters), I came to realize that Burden of Command is a lot more fun if you play it as an RPG and just go with the choices you would make if you were the guy right there, leading Nickel Company, other than trying to min-max every narrative choice you’re given.
That’s all I have for you at the moment, and I hope these tips will help you out when starting Burden of Command. The game’s coming out on April 8th, 2025, and it’s going to cost $24,99.
Support Strategy and Wargaming
I do what I do in Strategy and Wargaming because I love to do this, and I’m never going to stop. If you would like to support me with that, you can buy me a coffee for a dollar if you’re feeling generous. If you can’t, no worries, Strategy and Wargaming will always be free, and I’d love to have you around!
Leave a Reply