Corunna - 6 x 6 Commands and Colors first game

Not a long post, this one, as I think multiple images of block counters is probably a bit boring.
Last night Mike came around and we played through the Corunna scenario using Commands and Colors. This was our third clash working through the scenario book, and I duly set up Mike with the British and myself as the French. Having won both Rolica scenarios as the French, I thought that maybe Corunna might go a bit better for the Brits, being as it is a classic British 'victory' - you know, like Mons and Dunkirk...

Deployment. The British artillery not being in a position to fire from the beginning was going to be a handicap.

 My plan was to feint on the flanks and pound the British centre into submission before an all-out assault. As I needed to get 6 victory banners to win, my concern was in making sure that I concentrated on destroying whole units and moving units reduced to one block out of harm's way.
By and large this was a successful strategy, although it was closer than I had bargained for. At the end of the game I had 6 victory banners to Mike's 4. A quick look at the map below shows how the strategy worked.

The British centre is denuded, the French right has held the British left, and French units reduced to one block have been largely removed to hide behind the main line.

Hopefully we can get another game in soon, but two 6 x 6 games in 2 days is enough to recall the heady days of January!

Nate

Commands and Colours Napoleonics, first game

Last night was games night and Mike and I headed out to John's place with C & C Napoleonics. We chose the first scenario, Rolica, with Mike taking the Anglo-Portuguese and me with the French.

 The initial deployment made me a bit jittery. I had to curb my instinct to attack, as I didn't want to give up the advantage of holding the high ground. I decided to occupy the town at the end of the ridge and send the cavalry guard the hill on the right, which was a British objective. I also drew a hand of cards that didn't allow me much control over my centre.

 Mike, on the other hand, was all about the centre, and his cards seemed to push him towards an attack up the guts. What he didn't count on was the superior French melee and advantage of being uphill would make mincemeat of his forces. He soon realised this and withdrew to bombard the hill while moving around the flanks.

 Things really started to get fiery on the French left, seeing both sides lose their cavalry (you can see in the top left of the picture above that a Portuguese unit was forced into square). Meanwhile the British moved up their left and bombarded the French holding that area. I moved my remaining central forces behind the ridgeline and started inching them to my left.

Things were tense at the end of the game. Mike had killed 4 of my units, and 5 victory banners was the wining of the scenario. I had three. I moved my infantry back onto the ridgeline and engaged the Portuguese on the left. I have to admit that there were a couple of lucky dice rolls involved, but I successfully knocked out the last couple of units I needed to take my total to 5 victory banners and the winning of the scenario. General Delaborde made a good fist of keeping the British at bay!

Mike and I both enjoyed the game, and agreed that the extra detail that you don't find in the Ancients version (such as decreasing combat power for reduced units), and the presence of more terrain than what is found on most ancient battlefields, led to a superior game. Discussion moved to the possibility of using miniatures - 2mm micro-blobs or possibly 6mm. I've already built a 3D Hex board for use with the Samurai Battles game, and I have 15mm figures for that, using micro-dice to track losses. All food for thought.

Nate

Battle of Dertosa

Mike came around this morning and we had another game of Commands and Colors Ancients. I let him choose the scenario and the side, so he decided to be Carthaginian and chose Dertosa as the scenario. I thought it was a bit of a strange choice - the Carthaginians looked quite outgunned, especially in the centre, but had a cavalry advantage on the wings.

The first turn

I dragged some pretty generic cards out of the pile, and decided that I would concentrate on winning the battle on my left centre. I would refuse my right flank as it faced the elephants and heavy infantry. I was expecting this to be the main area of attack.

As it worked out, Mike's left hardly moved all game, as he tried to pin my centre but suffered from his auxilia being outgunned by the Roman medium infantry, and some poor dice rolls when his light cavalry tried to get around my flank.

End game

In the end I won quite comfortably, collecting 6 victory banners by taking out light and auxiliary units - and one very unlucky heavy infantry unit. I had no cavalry left at the end of the game, but it didn't matter - Mike had lost his centre.

We talked about the level of abstraction at the end of the game and how when you gather two units to attack together with some sort of advantage it can all be undone if you roll a flag with your first attack and force your opponent to retreat before your second unit gets a shot.

Aside from that, it was an enjoyable and quick game, and I'm certainly keen to play more regularly, although Mike needs to find a way to fit it into his hectic schedule.

Nate

First game of Commands and Colours Ancients

I went around to Mike's new house just a couple of minutes away from here today and we finally had a game of Commands and Colours Ancients. This being our first game, we chose what looked like a relatively simple scenario with the River Ticinus. Forces were entirely cavalry and light infantry. This was good because we could get a feel for the game without having to remember too many different troop types.

Mid-way through the battle and the fragmentation of the lines is obvious.

I have to say that I am very glad we finally played a game. It was a close run thing, but in the end the Romans took it out. We learned so much about how the cards work and the sorts of things that we need to be aware of  in our movement and deployment of force, and came to understand the elegance of the entire system. Is it on my list to play again? Absolutely. I now understand why so many people rave about this game!

Nate

Commands and Colours board WIP #2

An hour in the shed this morning and I practiced my geometry, cutting out hexagons from cork tiles to make hills for my homemade commands and colours board.

29 hill tiles ready to be flocked.

I again used the plastic hexes that came with the Samurai Battles game to trace around. There are going to be cracks between the hexes in places, but generally the result is fairly pleasing. Some of the cork tiles will need to be trimmed off as they have extraneous bits poking into each other. In case you were wondering the cork tiles were painted grey for a previous unfinished plan - it isn't their natural colour.

You can see there are a few crevasses in the hills, but the units will be a perfect fit.

Now in my previous post only a c couple of days ago I had said that I was going to stick to using the blocks for the Napoleonic and Ancients versions of C & C. Well, two days is a long time and I've decided that 15mm minis is a completely viable option. I plan to base the figures singly on 1 x 1cm (1 x 2cm for cavalry). Artillery will have a gun and 1 crew figure substituting for each block. I have pretty much all of the infantry I need for the French and Russians, I just need a few more cavalry and artillery. I'm now planning to buy enough figures for the Brits as well as Romans and Carthaginians for the Punic Wars a bit later on. More money for Allan at Lancashire Games!

Built up area

For town hexes I'm planning to just plonk down these Dutch buildings I got in Amsterdam a long time ago. They may not look very Russian or Spanish, but they have a perfect footprint to allow a unit to fit alongside them. I will look to make some buildings that fit at some future point.

you may also notice the felt in use for the river in the background, as opposed to my prettier ones made from plasticard. The reason is purely practical. Felt doesn't slip on the grass mat.

OK, time to go and do something useful around the house.

Nate

Commands and Colours board

I've had the Zvezda Samurai Battles box with the Commands and Colours rules and Napoleonic Commands and Colours sitting around for a few months now. A couple of nights ago I finally got around to reading the rules properly, and I am impressed, even without having played a game. I wasn't too impressed with the Zvezda Samurai figures - I found them brittle and painful to assemble, so I had always planed to use 15mm figures. In order to track casualties, rather than removing individual figures I decided that I would use mini-dice like I do with my One Hour Wargames rules. Finally, I decided that I'd put together my own board to play on. I used the mountain tiles from the Samurai set to trace around and drew up hexes on an old grass mat that isn't really used any more. The result was better than I thought it would be.

The board set up for the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima.

A closer look. Ignore the two bare MDF bases on the top left  - I was measuring what would fit well in the hexes.

I had considered basing all of the figures individually on 15mm squares, but dismissed it as a bit fiddly. It would also mean rebasing all of these figures, which was not a pleasant prospect.I'd also have to order a few more archers and arquebuses. I plan on painting the back edge of the bases with the dice colour that matches them.

Nate