"Commands & Colors: Ancients teaser" Topic

I had an interesting online game of C&C:A recently and thought it might be fun to see what the reaction of you folks might have been to the situation at the time. Here's a link to my blog: link

The link shows the cards in my hand, the scenario details, and the board position. Please feel free to comment there (or here if you prefer) on what your strategy would be in this case.

If you don't know the rules of the game it's probably a bit difficult to be specific, but feel free to add general comments.

Cheers,
Aaron

I posted what I'd do on your blog… interesting; I've never played that scenario.

Cheers, Simon

Posted my response on your board Aaron.

Good ideas so far!

Cheers,
Aaron

I don't have C&C:A, but I do have BattleCry, Memoir '44, and BattleLore… so a few questions:

1.) What is the distribution on a die, and what does a result mean? (i.e., in BC it's Infantry, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Crossed Swords, Flag. If the result is the same as the unit being attacked, or Crossed Swords, the unit is hit. A Flag is a retreat. So the chance of hitting an Infantry target on a single die is 3 in 6, cavalry or artillery 2 in 6, and retreat 1 in 6.) BattleLore, however, is different, with combat being affected by weapon type. BL & Memoir '44 also have a different die distribution, with an explicit "miss" face in each.

2.) What is the range of missile weapons?

3.) How many dice are rolled in combat?

4.) Are "support" rules in place? (In BattleLore, any unit adjacent to two friendly units is "bold" and ignores one retreat.)

5.) Are "battle back" rules in place? (In BattleLore, certain units can fight back when attacked; they don't just "stand there and take it.")

6.) Are "gain ground" rules in place? (In BattleLore and Memoir '44, units can move into adjacent hexes vacated by retreating/eliminated enemy; some units can even attack newly adjacent enemy when doing so.)

7.) How far can cavalry move? (Is the MC unit cavalry?)

8.) I assume the rules are "play a card, draw a card," as opposed to "empty your hand before drawing again"?

And lastly:

C&C:Online!!! Whoot! Where and how? Is there a fee?

Parzival,

You can get the rules for free from GMT as part of their living rules. I don't think there is a fair use or license statement (none I could find anyway) but you probably should own a copy of the game to play.

I'd recommend getting a copy. Great production values, and it is one of the few games (along with Battlelore and Mem'44) that my kids will play.

Cheers, Simon

Parzival,

C&C:A is much like Battlelore, with, well differences. The number of differences are vast, but all pretty minor. A couple things: cav is just like in BL, but in C&C:A the infantry are roughly one die meaner when they attack (heavies roll 5 dice, etc). "Battle Back" is almost always possible. In general, cavalry is more brittle than you see in BL.

The profound difference between the games comes in the deck of cards. There are a few cards (the Commander cards, Line Advance, more I'm sure) that very much make it to your advantage to maintain as much of a line as you can.

When I finished reading C&C:A, I was stumped why this game was given a different title from BL. It wasn't until I read the troop types and cards that the differences became clearer.

Good game.

Comment posted on your blogg.

Thanks for all your contributions, gentlemen!

I'll give it another day or so in case there are any more comments and will then post screenshots of what ended up happening.

Cheers,
Aaron

Ah, I see. The online thing is a Cyberboard/Vassal version. Never could get either of those to work right.

As promised, here is a report on what ended up happening in the game discussed. Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to read the post, and especially to those who contributed with comments both here and on the blog.

link

I hope it doesn't come across as triumphalism – I'd happily post from the other perspective too, if I could only see his cards!

Cheers,
Aaron

Hi Aaron, nothing wrong with triumphalism, you're Roman after all!

Cheers
Paul

The next screenshot shows the board position after two cards had been played. Bear in mind these special rules: the Praetorian unit hits on helmets and can ignore one flag rolled against it, and the Julian legions rule is in force.

Nothing against C&C – in fact I'm looking forward to seeing a game in a few weeks – but does this remind anyone else of the intro to a round of Mornington Crescent?

Imrael, and what a game it'll be! Our (6th? 7th?) practice game last night was a positive bloodbath.

Simon

Imrael – fair call on Mornington Crescent!

Cheers,
Aaron

Hey – my uncle lives just behind it… and I lived up there as well, ok, well, Brunton really.