Post by Gilvan Blight on Aug 1, 2008 7:34:49 GMT -5
Quickly - considered the best in the Commands and Colors series for a reason, but a pain to 'assemble' and store.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]This is the second game released using Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system. The first was Battlefront from Avalon Hill. Since C&C Ancients, two other C&C games have been released by Fantasy Flight. The first is the Highly Acclaimed Memoir '44, and the second is Battlelore, which you can find reviewed here. WGR Battlelore Review. C&C Ancients is considered by most in the gaming community to be the best of these games.
Commands and Colors Ancients is a two player military strategy game that allows for the players to re-create epic battles of the Ancient World. The time period is the area leading up to the 2nd Punic wars between Carthage and Rome. The actual battles in the base set include: Akragas 406 BC, Crimissos River 341 BC, Bagradas 253 BC, Tincinus River 218 BC, Trebbia 218 BC, Lake Trasimenus 216 BC, Dertosa 215 BC, Beneventum 214 BC, Castulo 211 BC, Becula 208 BC, Metaurus 207 BC, Ilipa 206BC, Great Plains 203 BC, Zama 202 BC. More scenarios are available online as is a Living Rulebook. What's interesting to note right away is that the scenarios are historically based and not balanced. A lot of the fun and challenge of the game is to do better then your forces did historically.
The Commands and Colors rule system uses few fairly simple to learn concepts. First off the board is a hex one and divided into 3 regions, a Center and a Left and Right Flank. Units are divided into two main types, Mounted and Infantry. They are farther subdivided into three classifications or levels, Green - light troops, Blue - Medium Troops and Red - Heavy Troops. Each classification is also broken down into individual units that each have their own special rules. For example Roman Green Infantry could be Roman Archers, Roman Slingers, Roman Auxillia, or Roman Light Infantry. Once players set up their units according to the scenario that is chosen, a deck of cards becomes the core mechanic. Players are given an hand of command cards, these are used to give orders to the players units. The most common cards are what are called section cards. These allow the player to move a set number of units on one or more sections of the board. For example one card could be: Order 2 units Left, while another may be: Order 1 unit each flank. Combined with these are group cards that let you move a number of units of one Classification or Color. Added to these are some special cards that let you take advantage of Leaders on the battlefield, and special maneuvers like a Battle Charge, or Clash of Shields. Each turn each player gets to play only one card, and they draw a new one at the end of their turn.
Movement is made by hex with each unit type having a movement stat. This tends to be high for Green Troops and very low for Red. Once movement is completed. Troops can then Battle. Different from other C&C games I have played, almost every troop in the game has ranged weapons (usually spears for most of these ancient units). These attack hexes not adjacent to the unit, while melee is done between adjacent hexes. Combat is very unique in the C&C series. Players roll specially made dice that contain 6 symbols on them. In this edition there are three symbols matching the unit types, a set of crossed swords, a retreat Banner and a Leader symbol. To attack a player rolls a set number of dice based on their unit type (with Red units rolling the most dice, and Green only getting one or two). In general any time you roll a die that matches the colour of the unit you are attacking you deal damage to that unit. The other symbols come into play depending on the unit you are controlling. For example most medium and heavy units count swords rolled as a hit, and if a leader is in the attackers hex or an adjacent one, leader symbols also count as a hit. The Banners cause the defending unit to retreat. Each unit has a set number of chits representing anywhere from a single person to a legion of troops (depending on the scenario), these are generally 4 chits for infantry and 3 for Calvary but there are exceptions. For each hit a unit takes it must remove one chit, once all chits in a unit are destroyed the attacker gets a victory token. If a unit is attacked an not wiped out or forced to retreat it gets to battle back (at full strength) against the attacker. This is a serious change from other C&C games that greatly affects the flow of play in C&C Ancients. A player wins by collecting a set number of victory tokens as determined by the scenarios.
The remainder of the rules are pretty much exception based, with special rules for different units, for dealing with terrain or for specific scenarios. These include things like Horses being Afraid of Camels and retreating further after a loss, to attacking a defended barricade.
The components in this game are noteworthy. Besides the board, rules and scenario book, you get over 300 wooden chits to represent the two armies in the scenarios. These are of varying sizes so that identifying Infantry, Calvary and other special units is fairly easy. With this huge pile of chits you also get 6 sheets of stickers that need to be applied to them.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]I can't help but compare this game to Battlelore as it uses the same fundamental system, though there are differences. I personally found this to be a better game, though a bit harder to learn. There are a wide variety of unit types that each have some type of special rule that makes them different from everyone else. This added a lot of variety to the game and a lot more strategy and possibilities. The unit types and rules are nicely summarized on a two page summary sheet so finding the rules for each type isn't hard at all. I found the fact that the scenarios aren't balanced to be rather cool and interesting. It seems like very game now a days is about balance, and it's interesting to play a game that definitely is not due to it's historical reference. The basic gameplay is excellent and I am definitely a fan of the C&C engine. I found this iteration of it to be much more strategic then Battlelore. The biggest reasons for this are the rules for Leaders, the rules for Evading an Attack and the rules for Battling Back. Leaders can join a unit or stand alone and besides making all adjacent units hit when a leader symbol is rolled on a die, they also stop one retreat flag rolled against a defending unit, and they even have a chance to heal nearby units if the right Command Card is drawn. Evading is an interesting rule, where most of the light and medium units can choose to flee from combat rather then stand and fight. This means that the opponent gets a free hit but only colourd symbols count on the dice meaning there is only a 1 in 6 chance of taking damage. This makes for the possibility of some interesting hit and fade tactics as well as other strategies like a faked flank attack. Battling back is huge in this, in Battlelore only bolstered and Dwarf units got this advantage, in C&C Ancients it's pretty much everyone. This means you need to hit your opponents hard and heavy fast, or else you risk loosing more then you gain in an attack. Overall I just found this game much more strategic and rewarding then Battlelore. I think going forward I'm going to consider Battlelore C&C light, as it kind or reminds me of the relationship of Middle Earth Role Playing to Rolemaster. Both are great games, but you can't help by think of MERP as a RM light. When I first looked at the wooden chits as units I wasn't a fan, I like my 15mm minis in battlelore, minis on a wargaming table just look right. I was brooding about this, and considering picking up some minis to represent the units in this game until I had to move my first unit. Picking up a set of 4 wood block is SO much easier then moving a set of 4 minis. I grew to love the block system by the end of the game just for ease of use. Sure it didn't look as good, but it played much quicker because of the chits. I am definitely a fan of wooden block units, except for one aspect....
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]I spent two nights putting stickers on wooden blocks. Not sure how much total time as I did it while watching DVDs, but I can't say it was fun. You have no concept of how many wooden blocks 340 or so are until they are lined up on a TV trey in front of you waiting for 2 stickers each. I think the biggest disappointment that came with this is that I couldn't play the game the day I got it. I wanted instant gratification NOW!, and instead I had to wait three days to get a game in. Thankfully now that it's done I'm good an won't have to do that again (unless I pick up one of the three expansions for the game). I was slightly disappointed the blocks were two sided, as I thought one of the gameplay aspects of this was hidden unit deployment and it is not. Not really a loss though as the gameplay stands up without that level of secrecy. The rules in this are not nearly as well written as Battlelore. They were actually a bit hard to get through, as each section would explain something, then go on for another few paragraphs stating how each individual unit broke that rule. Now I'll admit once we started playing and just using the reference page most of this all made sense and was easy to reference, but just reading it before play it seemed very confusing. What I think would have really helped with the rules is a scenario system like Battlelore where they introduce the rules slowly as you go through the included scenarios. Just infantry in the first one, then infantry and cavalry, then terrain, then special unit types, etc. Except for the lack of Terrain the first scenario in C&C Ancients uses pretty much all of the rules, even including special units like Chariots.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]The biggest problem I have with this game is the production values. This is a very expensive game and I expected more for my money. Sure you get a ton of wooden bits, which is a nice touch, but pretty much everything else was very poorly made. The board is so flimsy that I tossed it in the absolute bottom of the box never to be used, I just use the Battlelore board instead (which is very nicely illustrated and mounted). The Dice were blank and needed to have stickers added to their facets. That I found most unacceptable. The box design is horrible. It's just a big box, there's no dividers, no card box for the cards, nothing. After spending hours putting stickers on wooden chits, you don't really just want to toss them all loose back into a box, or even back into the ziplock bag they came in for fear of them getting all scratched up. I ended up going out and buying 4 small tool storage boxes from Canadian Tire that worked out pretty much perfectly for storing the chits, but this added another $20 in cost to an already expensive game. Something should have been included for better storage.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]I was very impressed with this game. It took the system I fell in love with from Battlelore and made it even better (well actually Battlelore was derived from this, but I played Battlelore first). This is a much more strategic game with many more options due to rules like Leaders and Evading and the wide variety of unit types. Don't expect a balanced game though, as the scenarios are based on historical Battles and most of those weren't really fair matches. The biggest problem with this game is the production values. Yes putting almost 700 stickers on 340 or so blocks is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as having a thin board that doesn't lay flat and pac-man's at the end. Having a place to store all of those blocks after you have painstakingly 'assembled' them would have been very nice as well. Even with these problems I'm still glad I added this one to my collection, and plan on playing it again soon, and often after that.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]This is the second game released using Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system. The first was Battlefront from Avalon Hill. Since C&C Ancients, two other C&C games have been released by Fantasy Flight. The first is the Highly Acclaimed Memoir '44, and the second is Battlelore, which you can find reviewed here. WGR Battlelore Review. C&C Ancients is considered by most in the gaming community to be the best of these games.
Commands and Colors Ancients is a two player military strategy game that allows for the players to re-create epic battles of the Ancient World. The time period is the area leading up to the 2nd Punic wars between Carthage and Rome. The actual battles in the base set include: Akragas 406 BC, Crimissos River 341 BC, Bagradas 253 BC, Tincinus River 218 BC, Trebbia 218 BC, Lake Trasimenus 216 BC, Dertosa 215 BC, Beneventum 214 BC, Castulo 211 BC, Becula 208 BC, Metaurus 207 BC, Ilipa 206BC, Great Plains 203 BC, Zama 202 BC. More scenarios are available online as is a Living Rulebook. What's interesting to note right away is that the scenarios are historically based and not balanced. A lot of the fun and challenge of the game is to do better then your forces did historically.
The Commands and Colors rule system uses few fairly simple to learn concepts. First off the board is a hex one and divided into 3 regions, a Center and a Left and Right Flank. Units are divided into two main types, Mounted and Infantry. They are farther subdivided into three classifications or levels, Green - light troops, Blue - Medium Troops and Red - Heavy Troops. Each classification is also broken down into individual units that each have their own special rules. For example Roman Green Infantry could be Roman Archers, Roman Slingers, Roman Auxillia, or Roman Light Infantry. Once players set up their units according to the scenario that is chosen, a deck of cards becomes the core mechanic. Players are given an hand of command cards, these are used to give orders to the players units. The most common cards are what are called section cards. These allow the player to move a set number of units on one or more sections of the board. For example one card could be: Order 2 units Left, while another may be: Order 1 unit each flank. Combined with these are group cards that let you move a number of units of one Classification or Color. Added to these are some special cards that let you take advantage of Leaders on the battlefield, and special maneuvers like a Battle Charge, or Clash of Shields. Each turn each player gets to play only one card, and they draw a new one at the end of their turn.
Movement is made by hex with each unit type having a movement stat. This tends to be high for Green Troops and very low for Red. Once movement is completed. Troops can then Battle. Different from other C&C games I have played, almost every troop in the game has ranged weapons (usually spears for most of these ancient units). These attack hexes not adjacent to the unit, while melee is done between adjacent hexes. Combat is very unique in the C&C series. Players roll specially made dice that contain 6 symbols on them. In this edition there are three symbols matching the unit types, a set of crossed swords, a retreat Banner and a Leader symbol. To attack a player rolls a set number of dice based on their unit type (with Red units rolling the most dice, and Green only getting one or two). In general any time you roll a die that matches the colour of the unit you are attacking you deal damage to that unit. The other symbols come into play depending on the unit you are controlling. For example most medium and heavy units count swords rolled as a hit, and if a leader is in the attackers hex or an adjacent one, leader symbols also count as a hit. The Banners cause the defending unit to retreat. Each unit has a set number of chits representing anywhere from a single person to a legion of troops (depending on the scenario), these are generally 4 chits for infantry and 3 for Calvary but there are exceptions. For each hit a unit takes it must remove one chit, once all chits in a unit are destroyed the attacker gets a victory token. If a unit is attacked an not wiped out or forced to retreat it gets to battle back (at full strength) against the attacker. This is a serious change from other C&C games that greatly affects the flow of play in C&C Ancients. A player wins by collecting a set number of victory tokens as determined by the scenarios.
The remainder of the rules are pretty much exception based, with special rules for different units, for dealing with terrain or for specific scenarios. These include things like Horses being Afraid of Camels and retreating further after a loss, to attacking a defended barricade.
The components in this game are noteworthy. Besides the board, rules and scenario book, you get over 300 wooden chits to represent the two armies in the scenarios. These are of varying sizes so that identifying Infantry, Calvary and other special units is fairly easy. With this huge pile of chits you also get 6 sheets of stickers that need to be applied to them.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]I can't help but compare this game to Battlelore as it uses the same fundamental system, though there are differences. I personally found this to be a better game, though a bit harder to learn. There are a wide variety of unit types that each have some type of special rule that makes them different from everyone else. This added a lot of variety to the game and a lot more strategy and possibilities. The unit types and rules are nicely summarized on a two page summary sheet so finding the rules for each type isn't hard at all. I found the fact that the scenarios aren't balanced to be rather cool and interesting. It seems like very game now a days is about balance, and it's interesting to play a game that definitely is not due to it's historical reference. The basic gameplay is excellent and I am definitely a fan of the C&C engine. I found this iteration of it to be much more strategic then Battlelore. The biggest reasons for this are the rules for Leaders, the rules for Evading an Attack and the rules for Battling Back. Leaders can join a unit or stand alone and besides making all adjacent units hit when a leader symbol is rolled on a die, they also stop one retreat flag rolled against a defending unit, and they even have a chance to heal nearby units if the right Command Card is drawn. Evading is an interesting rule, where most of the light and medium units can choose to flee from combat rather then stand and fight. This means that the opponent gets a free hit but only colourd symbols count on the dice meaning there is only a 1 in 6 chance of taking damage. This makes for the possibility of some interesting hit and fade tactics as well as other strategies like a faked flank attack. Battling back is huge in this, in Battlelore only bolstered and Dwarf units got this advantage, in C&C Ancients it's pretty much everyone. This means you need to hit your opponents hard and heavy fast, or else you risk loosing more then you gain in an attack. Overall I just found this game much more strategic and rewarding then Battlelore. I think going forward I'm going to consider Battlelore C&C light, as it kind or reminds me of the relationship of Middle Earth Role Playing to Rolemaster. Both are great games, but you can't help by think of MERP as a RM light. When I first looked at the wooden chits as units I wasn't a fan, I like my 15mm minis in battlelore, minis on a wargaming table just look right. I was brooding about this, and considering picking up some minis to represent the units in this game until I had to move my first unit. Picking up a set of 4 wood block is SO much easier then moving a set of 4 minis. I grew to love the block system by the end of the game just for ease of use. Sure it didn't look as good, but it played much quicker because of the chits. I am definitely a fan of wooden block units, except for one aspect....
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]I spent two nights putting stickers on wooden blocks. Not sure how much total time as I did it while watching DVDs, but I can't say it was fun. You have no concept of how many wooden blocks 340 or so are until they are lined up on a TV trey in front of you waiting for 2 stickers each. I think the biggest disappointment that came with this is that I couldn't play the game the day I got it. I wanted instant gratification NOW!, and instead I had to wait three days to get a game in. Thankfully now that it's done I'm good an won't have to do that again (unless I pick up one of the three expansions for the game). I was slightly disappointed the blocks were two sided, as I thought one of the gameplay aspects of this was hidden unit deployment and it is not. Not really a loss though as the gameplay stands up without that level of secrecy. The rules in this are not nearly as well written as Battlelore. They were actually a bit hard to get through, as each section would explain something, then go on for another few paragraphs stating how each individual unit broke that rule. Now I'll admit once we started playing and just using the reference page most of this all made sense and was easy to reference, but just reading it before play it seemed very confusing. What I think would have really helped with the rules is a scenario system like Battlelore where they introduce the rules slowly as you go through the included scenarios. Just infantry in the first one, then infantry and cavalry, then terrain, then special unit types, etc. Except for the lack of Terrain the first scenario in C&C Ancients uses pretty much all of the rules, even including special units like Chariots.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]The biggest problem I have with this game is the production values. This is a very expensive game and I expected more for my money. Sure you get a ton of wooden bits, which is a nice touch, but pretty much everything else was very poorly made. The board is so flimsy that I tossed it in the absolute bottom of the box never to be used, I just use the Battlelore board instead (which is very nicely illustrated and mounted). The Dice were blank and needed to have stickers added to their facets. That I found most unacceptable. The box design is horrible. It's just a big box, there's no dividers, no card box for the cards, nothing. After spending hours putting stickers on wooden chits, you don't really just want to toss them all loose back into a box, or even back into the ziplock bag they came in for fear of them getting all scratched up. I ended up going out and buying 4 small tool storage boxes from Canadian Tire that worked out pretty much perfectly for storing the chits, but this added another $20 in cost to an already expensive game. Something should have been included for better storage.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]I was very impressed with this game. It took the system I fell in love with from Battlelore and made it even better (well actually Battlelore was derived from this, but I played Battlelore first). This is a much more strategic game with many more options due to rules like Leaders and Evading and the wide variety of unit types. Don't expect a balanced game though, as the scenarios are based on historical Battles and most of those weren't really fair matches. The biggest problem with this game is the production values. Yes putting almost 700 stickers on 340 or so blocks is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as having a thin board that doesn't lay flat and pac-man's at the end. Having a place to store all of those blocks after you have painstakingly 'assembled' them would have been very nice as well. Even with these problems I'm still glad I added this one to my collection, and plan on playing it again soon, and often after that.