"Commands & Colors: Ancients" Topic

There was a lot of excitement when this first appeared, but I haven't heard much of anything since.

Can anyone who has played it give us some feedback? How's it look? How's it work? Best points, worst points, etc…

Thanks and have a great day!

Heres a link to a review one of our club members wrote on CC:A

lshm.net/?p=127

Enjoy

Dave
Lone Star Historical Miniatures
lshm.net
Drop by for a virtual visit!!

I played CC:A last weekend, and had a blast. In some respects it's similar to DBA in that sometimes your ability to command your units is out of your hands. The games were quick and a lot of fun.

Lots of info here about the game:
boardgamegeek.com/game/14105

the reason theres not been much feedback is cos it takes so long to get hold of it! 4 weeks in my case.
and then when you do have it a couple of nights stickering!
i got mine on thursday morning and will finally have a game on saturday evening.
n

I've played it a few times and it's a blast. The guy that introduced it to me, even converted DBA army lists to it and it played very smoothly so there isn't the tedium of playing the same scenarios over and over. I definately give it a thumbs up (well maybe a 3/4 thumbs up because the game is played with wooden blocks and not little metal dudes)

Cheers!

It's Memoir '44 with more unit types. word of advice use the blocks laying down and put different units on each side, that should give enough pieces foe all the scenarios.

The game is fun, light, and just the thing for my non-gronard buddies. It is better than Memoir '44 (the designer's last venture).

If you are not familiar with this system, it it uses card draws/plays to activate units. The better historically the army was led, the more cards it has. A card is played, the actions resolved, and a card is drawn. Play then passes to the other player. A card allowes certain types of unit to move and attack, a certain flank to move and attack, or other special actions(rally, fire twice, etc.). Combat is resolved by rolling a certain amount of dice determined by type (ex. auxilia get 3 dice, heavies 5, while elephants roll the same amount of dice as thier opponent). Each hit rolled removes pieces (inf have 4 pieces, cav 3, elephants 2)If the unit as a whole isn't eliminated or pushed back, it gets to battle back. Victory is determined by the number of unit or leaders eliminated, or other special circumstances.

It is a "light" wargame so its certainly not going to compare with more complex miniatures games or heavier boardgames (GMT's GBoH for example).

That said, it gives a reasonable result in a reasonable amount of time. Chrome is present like Elephant rampage, Warrior fragility, and light units evasion. You no longer have the ability to lone-wolf units like you did in Memoir (well you do, but it's an easy way to lose units). Anyway, it feels a heckuva lot more satifying then M'44 with just a little bit more complexity.

Pros:
-Games completed in 1 hour (even large ones like Cannae or Zama)
-Fun, will actually get played regularly
-Expandable
-Gateway to other heavier games
-12 units types

Cons:
-Ends too quickly
-Losing light infantry counts the same for victory as losing heavies
-Putting on stickers IS a pain (but pieces do end up looking great, imho)

Yes, the cards do add a random factor to the game but judicious use of the 'cards you're dealt' compensates.

I rate this game a 9. Check out the boardgamegeek entry for pictures or additional scenarios.

-Jimmy

Oh, another con is the lack of zones of control but house rules can fix that.

Also, leaders serve to coordinate attack, give combat bonuses, and make it more difficult to 'retreat' a unit.

I'm having trouble finding hexes to fit my 25mm figures! Kallistra work, but they are darn expensive. I think the game would look great with 25mm figures and 4 trays or 16 figures per unit.

I like it because the scenarios are at least based on historical battles, so that the kids learn something by reading the scenario notes. Also because there is no fiddly measurement as can occur in dBA, where good players now carry little metal templates to ensure that they can get the tiny corner of a base edge just behind one of your units to make it 'surrounded'.

It is less open to rules lawyering than miniatures games without a grid.

It is a FUN GAME. Uncorrupted as yet by the notion of "NATIONAL" or "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS"

You could miniaturize it easily by using HAT plastics spray painted, if you didn't want to use the wooden blocks.

It needs two more editions though. One with Great Battles of Alexander, and another module with Rome vs. the Successors.

I kind of like Memoire 44 as well however.

Here's a session report from my first battle:

link

A friend of mine got his copy from the P500 list at the end of January. we played one game last week, the first scenario, and I LOVED it. a great blend of chit-based gaming with a miniautres wargame feel. Also, very fast to learn and play… I would highly recommend it, and can't wait to get my own copy.

I love the game. My understanding is the first expansion module will be Persians and Greeks. My recommendation for miniatures gamers is to adapt it to the minies you have, whatever scale. I am playing around with a hex-less adaptation of the rules, which appears to be fairly simple to do. If I were to use hexes with 25mm figs (Mike Guth) I'd buy some 6" hex blanks from Pictor and use these as templates to sketch out a map on artists matte board, foamcore or blue board. I'd gradually add more hex blanks (for terrain, etc) if the game held my interest over time.

I can't read the session report unless I am a member of your Yahoo group?

"kingedward" mentions how long it takes to get the game (4 weeks). Has that been everyone's experience … And/or will someone have them at Cold Wars?

Mike Bruck