The Sharp End Gaming

The battlefield.  That is Fane and Anstruther's brigades in the center for Wellesley and hiding behind the hills to his north are Bowes and Nightingalls brigades.  Junot's French forces (blue) are advancing down the Maceira River Valley.  In the upper left corner you can just make out Solignac's Brigade of French Light and Line infantry as they head for the village of Toledo.  The fighting further north of Vimeiro at the Ventosa farm is not represented here. On August 20th, 1808 Sir Harry Burrard arrived off of Port Novo, Portugal aboard HMS Brazen .  The newly appointed senior commander of the Army of Portugal sent messages ashore for Lord Wellesley, the current commander, who met him aboard Brazen to discuss the transfer of command.  It was determined that in the morning Burrard would assume command but until then he would sleep aboard ship. The French had plans too and on the morning of August 21, 1808 they attacked the British positions at the ...

Command Cards are the lifeblood of Commands and Colors . The number of command cards is specified per side at the start of a scenario. Better commanders have more command cards. Each command card can represent a specified number of orders for a section of the battlefield or an in-game action. One command card is played per side per turn. At the end of each turn, a new card is drawn to maintain the specified level of cards per side.  During yesterday's battle I moved and fired without command cards. Today, I moved and fired based on the number of orders I was issued per command card played.  Playing with command cards introduces uncertainty into the game and a layer of planning.  You might not have the right card at any point in the battle to accomplish what you planned and so you can either pass on your turn or execute an order that may or may not fit into your battleplan. I've read that the command card system is sometimes very frustrating for players but so far,...

This morning I setup a fictional firefight on a portion of the C&C map with a Bde of British Infantry (2 Line Regts and 1 Light Inf Regt) and a battery of Foot artillery vs. 2 French Line Regiments outside of Rolica in Portugal. I've not absorbed all of the rules yet, nor have I applied stickers to all of the wooden blocks that come with the game so I minimized the scope deliberately.  My purpose was to play a little of the game since I have been staring at it for days now without getting the time I need to fully dive in. I am not sure I used the combat and maneuver rules correctly either but I had fun and began to appreciate the complexities of the game and also the smoothness of play. Two French Line regiments cross a lazy stream in Portugal and approach the village of Rolica.  An under strength British Light infantry regiment occupies the hill overlooking the riverbanks.  Regiments are differentiated by the number of blocks they have which represent their siz...

Rolica: French First Position, August 1808. I grabbed this photo off of the internet.  I still need to apply the stickers to the game blocks.  I received my copy of Commands and Colors: Napoleonics yesterday and I am about half way through the 24 page rulebook. The components are well made and the rules straightforward enough. I had read somewhere that Richard Borg games like this one or Memoir 44 have simple rule systems to increase playability and so far I would tend to agree. The starter scenario covers the initial French position at Rolica just NW of the village. My hope is to play through it tonight.  I am super excited by the prospect of it. Wellington's command of the Anglo-Portugese Army of Portugal is one of my favorite periods of the Napoleonic wars. To have a game that simulates a number of these battles in such a playable way is very exciting. Speaking of games and the way they are designed, Grogheads.com posted this interview with game designe...

The GMT Games cover for Command and Colors Napoleonics. I have been playing a lot of Ultimate General Gettysburg recently. I like it but not as much as I like Scourge of War: Gettysburg. SOW is the ultimate civil war game. For a few months, I thought Histwar: Les Grognards was the best Napoleonic computer game on the market but a confusing UI, a language barrier with the French developer and some historical mistakes I can't get past in the title have had me second guessing it.  So much so, that I started a card based Napoleonic warfare game called Regiment just to get my Napoleonic fix Yesterday I purchased Commands and Colors: Napoleonics with some birthday money I received from my in-laws in another attempt to find the ultimate Napoleonic experience.  I've read good things about the game and know it is a staple among the tabletop gaming community.  It should arrive on Wednesday according to Amazon so expect some tabletop gaming posts very soon.