Friday 12 June 2020

A Commands & Colors interlude!

I found myself with a couple of hours quiet time this morning and with the 18mm armies looking in good shape I decided to get out the old Commands & Colors board to play a quick 12 units per side game. Five command cards per side, French to move first, 5 VP's for the win. Must admit I was a bit rusty to begin with, but it soon came back to me, although I had to look up a few rules such as cavalry breakthrough and terrain effects (fighting uphill etc).

I played both sides as best I could and when discarding a card and drawing a replacement I did not look at it until it was that sides turn again. Both sides had fairly balanced hands which enabled fighting across the three sectors, the Anglo Spanish side held a 'bayonet charge'card which was only played on the final turn and effectively won the game 5/3. The 60th rifles and the Cacadore rifles fought well in the centre, although they took heavy casualties from a French battery before they put it out of action. As one would expect the battalion of British light infantry ( 5 blocks so rolling 5 dice when firing stationary) were a force to be reckoned with and gained 1 VP by destroying a French battalion with a single volley! French cavalry performed well. The Spanish (consisting of 2 line battalions, a militia battalion and a light infantry detachment), never really got into the fight, the line battalion that did advance was forced to retreat right back to the baseline by artillery fire (2 flags, retreating 2 hexes per flag).

All in all I really enjoyed myself and it reminded me just what it was that so attracted me to this game when I was first introduced to it by 'Foy' about 8 years ago now.

Set up, French to move first.

Freshly painted Spaniards!



2/1 to the Anglo Spanish.

4/2 but French turn.


5/3 the French centre collapses.

British light infantry and rifles fought well in the centre but were close to breaking.

Bayonet charge, and the final VP to the British by routing French light infantry.


The armies are coming on well now, so a game of DBN will be next up. I have managed to find a second hand card table 750 x 750mm which requires a bit of TLC but will prove perfect for the rules and will allow me to play in comfort.




10 comments:

  1. Looks great. I keep meaning to look into the C&C games, they seem to have a strong following.

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    1. Thanks FMB. I really like the game, have done for years now :) Lots of tactical decisions to be made, much more challenging than first meets the eye.

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  2. The figs are a perfect fit for the C&C. The card table sounds like a lucky find.

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    1. Thanks Norm. The base size was not intentional for C&C, it just occurred to me that it would work for an easy set up game. So I have options, on the board, on the new mat with 3D terrain or for DBN on the card table. The card table is a £10.00 bargain ( the seller was only asking £5 but I offered a bit more), I had seen several on eBay around the £25.00 mark + postage, this one is local pick up.

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  3. Really good - fine-looking set-up, and the game looks like fun. Cavalry Breakthrough is a tricky one to remember - my other bogeys are the procedure for a Leader to escape if he is contacted by the enemy, and the fine details of fighting in square (can a square take part in a Combined Arms attack? - this is today's question...)

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    1. Thank you Sir, I enjoyed myself despite being a touch rusty. I found it a simple process to look up anything I was not sure about, the rule book is very well laid out. I used the quick reference sheet from the Spanish expansion which helped a lot. As for today's question...Damn, I'm going to have to look that one up!

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  4. Looks great and was fun, what more can we ask from a wargame?

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  5. brilliant looking game, pleased you enjoyed it, great find with the card table, ideal for limited space, good point about a square joining in a combined arms attack, look forward to answer
    cheers Old John

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  6. Many thanks John. My change to small space or portable style wargames was inspired by 'Norm' and his blog.

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