Tuesday 4 January 2011

Command and Colors Napoleonics


I played my first game of Command and Colors Napoleonics, tonight.   Now, I don't even particularly LIKE Napoleonics as a period, but I was very impressed with this game.  If you've played Command and Colors (Ancients), you can pick up the rules inside 15 minutes; yet, at the same time, the game play is different  enough  to give variety (my initial feeling is that the system is even better than the Ancients version).   Also the cards and the blocks are beautiful, which helps to make it a pleasure to play.  My impressions may be slightly coloured by the fact that I won, and drank half a bottle of a very fine French wine in the process!

Two things that I preferred about Napoleonics, compared to Command and Colors (Ancients), are that the impact of generals seems to be rather reduced (I've always thought them too effective in the latter), and that units become less effective as they suffer casualties.  I would have imagined that this latter feature would slow the game down, but it doesn't.  Artillery adds an interesting extra element to the game, and can combine with infantry and cavalry to deliver powerful attacks.  Richard Borg has given different nationalities of troops,different characteristics, which adds a nice flavour.

You can order it from here or your FLGS.  RTB, if you are reading this, you now have no excuse for getting your minis on a gaming table!  ;-)

2 comments:

Anibal Invictus said...

Hi. I'mve got introduced recently to C&C Ancients and got really in love with the system from the very first minute; and that after testing (to no avail) several ancient rule sets with minis for over years. I'm in the same situation with Napoleonics, just fed up of Volley & Bayonet. Any additional comments on this game will be really welcome

BigRedBat said...

I'm 99% sure we'll be playing it again next week; will post then!