"Commands & Colors Ancients Boardgame Review" Topic

(warning some shameless self promotion…)

Over on the Grogheads website I had my review of Commands & Colors Ancients published. Its a great lite ancients wargame and from what I've heard the blocks can easily be substituted for miniatures. Check it out!

grogheads.com/rev-cca.html

Thanks, Dan
thecommandtent.blogspot.com

I play C&C on my table top. Love the simple elegance of these rules.

I've played C&C and C&C:N. I'd rather go to the dentist. I found both games very very fustrating. I knew what should be done in a situation, but unless you had the right card, you couldn't do it. Horrible simulation IMHO, but OK for a luck game.

We play CnC Ancients (and Napoleonics, and Memoir 44:) with miniatures on Kallistra hexes.

Looks very nice and plays well for a quick club night game.

The card based unit activation can be a bit frustrating at first but you get used to it with time, it took me several attempts to figure out how to successfully attack and not just throw units away piecemeal.

Not such a horrible situation from a lot of what I've read, but it certainly can be frustrating.

Err…simulation, not situation.

I have to admit that I threw away the left-right-center cards and replaced them with 'command' oriented cards that allowed players to activate units within a radius of a general. This removed what I considered to be an unrealistic amount of frustration and incented the players to make interesting decisions around placement of their generals (leading attacks, or more central locations for better command & control).

The new deck and my own Napoleonic and Civil War rules have made this system so much fun and a pretty good simulation (in that it rewards good decisions and the rules give the right feel for the period).

I am amazed at the number of people who just don't get the elegance of these rules. It is all about resource management. Which is what commanders had to deal with when you boil it all down. You can make the perfect plan and something will always mess it up. How many times have we read a history of a battle and it all hinged on the arrival of some reserve. Sometimes they make it to the field sometimes they don't. If you want complete control play chess! Now if you want to talk about some of the "gamey" things that can come up in a C&C game (hunting down single block units to get flags) that is one thing but complaining about how I did not get to make the perfect flanking maneuver just because I did not have the card is just plain idiotic. Sorry, off my soap box now.

Well said Jeff.

Different people want different things from their games, that is particularly true on the control vs chaos thing.

My main issue with CnC:N is that it is very hard to exploit numerical superiority in a historical manner due to the limited numbers of units activated each turn. This is less of an issue with CnC:A and Mem 44 as troop quality was such a significant factor in those periods, unlike the era of big battalions.

Jeff is right in that the system requires the player to plan ahead…to essentially 'prepare their attack'. They can't just play a card each turn with no thought for the future and expect to win. It's really an incredibly elegant system with both players trying to execute their plans simultaneously, but constrained by what is possible.
The challenge of organizing the attack by maneuvering your forces into a jump-off position while simultaneously accruing the necessary cards to execute it models the real challenges of the battlefield very well.

On the other side of the coin, however, I did feel that the left – right – center cards could often lead to a situation where it wasn't even possible to make a weak play in the part of the battlefield where the action was taking place. Might not be a problem for some as it can be seen as the action shifting to another sector of the field, but to me it was a bit too limiting. So my easy solution was to taylor the game a bit.

That said, I think that this system is a great blend of playability, historical feel, and presents the player with many of the challenges faced by commanders of an army in battle (and rewards good decisions). What more could you want?

Martin,

My C&C: N card deck allows players to activate more units, which was necessary, since my battles often have 20 – 30 units per side.

one of the beauties of this system is that it's so robust that it can be adjusted and still works well.

Yes, one of the guys at the club is working on a hybrid minis and CnC:N system with a conventional based pip type unit activation system coupled with command cards (the latter being used to represent 'the plan') while the pip stuff allows for a degree of tactical activity.

Sounds good.
I like the card mechanic vs. Moving all troops every turn.
It has command control, unit activation, initiative, and leadership built-into the system and rewards players who plan.

GDrover,

Sounds like we would play well together. :)

I play a lot of systems that are not the typical IgoUgo systems. It does mean that I have to find like minded people but so far that has not been a problem.

Happy gaming,

Jeff

Nice review Dan. I tried CnC:A this month for the first time and I'm a convert! It's fast, simple AND elegant. There's alot of subtlety and strategy at play. My only question is, how could I have missed this for so very long?

Rip Van Wargamer…

Have (almost) collected them all. Favorite thus far is the Greek/Persian expansion. My son (age 9) likes this game a lot – he doesn't have to wait for me to paint the miniatures but gives a miniatures game feel as well as giving him a better idea of history and geography to boot. Find block games a great introduction for kids (and adults). We read some articles on Saladin recently (in his World History magazine) so he wants to try 'Crusader Rex' – while I paint his Elves, Space Marines, and my WWII figs that he is showing a lot of interest in. Boardgames are an excellent complement to miniatures.

I really appreciate games as an activity that Dads and sons can do together.

Perfect.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Its good to see different takes on the game whether you like it or not. I have to agree with others who enjoy the challenged of being dealt a random hand and having to work within that strategic context.

best wargame ever. my opinion. disagree? thats OK, but to me it is THE wargame holygrail. This has 'fired' more miniature and other projects that there is blood on my hands.

Clays,

Agree, but for me EPIC C&C is the complete package. Even played one a side it has all the elegance of the original with additional opportunities for clever strategy.

Mollinary