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Sable Wyvern

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A search tells me there are no threads here about this awesome series of games.


I only came across them when it was mentioned that ACKS mass battle system was designed with C&C boards in mind as the playing area.

After checking some reviews, I picked up Napoleonics with the Commanders and Tactics expansion, as well as Medieval.

I've played five games of Napoleonics, and have pre-ordered Ancients, various other expansions, and I plan to soon pick up Samurai Battles and more expansions

Napoleonics appears to be the most complex version, but it still plays in two hours (without experience) while doing a pretty good job of making you feel like you're actually commanding Napoleonic forces. It's by no means a detailed tactical sim, but I'm surprised that the card based activation system actually works really well, and doesn't feel extremely gamey. There are a few cards that push the boundaries a little, but they can all be rationalised fairly easily, and the activation system as a whole can be treated as an abstraction of fog of war and imperfect command and control.

I had actually heard of Days of Decision and Memoir 44 some time ago, not realising they were part of an ongoing series of related games. My impression was they were very beer-and-pretzels and I never looked any further. As best I can tell, many of the later versions, starting with the highly regarded Ancients, do a much better job of actually feeling somewhat authentic, despite the level of abstraction. Certainly, my Napoleonics games so far are telling me that is indeed the case.

I also love the blocks used in the GMT games, they're simple, but they look great and are effective, especially when dealing with forces that operate in close formations and extended lines.

For anyone looking for a relatively lightweight, accessible wargame, I highly recommend checking them out.

Anyone else here have experiences with the series?
 
A search tells me there are no threads here about this awesome series of games.


I only came across them when it was mentioned that ACKS mass battle system was designed with C&C boards in mind as the playing area.

After checking some reviews, I picked up Napoleonics with the Commanders and Tactics expansion, as well as Medieval.

I've played five games of Napoleonics, and have pre-ordered Ancients, various other expansions, and I plan to soon pick up Samurai Battles and more expansions

Napoleonics appears to be the most complex version, but it still plays in two hours (without experience) while doing a pretty good job of making you feel like you're actually commanding Napoleonic forces. It's by no means a detailed tactical sim, but I'm surprised that the card based activation system actually works really well, and doesn't feel extremely gamey. There are a few cards that push the boundaries a little, but they can all be rationalised fairly easily, and the activation system as a whole can be treated as an abstraction of fog of war and imperfect command and control.

I had actually heard of Days of Decision and Memoir 44 some time ago, not realising they were part of an ongoing series of related games. My impression was they were very beer-and-pretzels and I never looked any further. As best I can tell, many of the later versions, starting with the highly regarded Ancients, do a much better job of actually feeling somewhat authentic, despite the level of abstraction. Certainly, my Napoleonics games so far are telling me that is indeed the case.

I also love the blocks used in the GMT games, they're simple, but they look great and are effective, especially when dealing with forces that operate in close formations and extended lines.

For anyone looking for a relatively lightweight, accessible wargame, I highly recommend checking them out.

Anyone else here have experiences with the series?
I think we talked about these a little in one of the historicals threads. I love the C&C series, probably my favorite board wargames. I own Napoleonics, Memoir 44, and Medieval, and all of the expansions. Napoleonics is indeed the most complex, and is my favorite of the series (both for theme and the gameplay), but they all play different enough that I enjoyed getting any of them on the table. With all the expansions, Napoleonics has about 120 battles to play through. I think I've played about 40 so far. Memoir 44 has around 60. I've played through all of the base game a couple times (no one has managed to win any of the D Day landing scenarios as the Allies), and have played a handful of the Mediterranean and Eastern Front scenarios. Those are very different from the base game. I'm particularly liking the Eastern Front, dealing with the ruined terrain and the bad leadership of the Soviets. Haven't tried out New Flight Plan yet.
Compass Games also makes some C&C games, called Command & Colors Tricorne. They've got an American Revolution and a Jacobite Rising so far. I'll probably pick up one or both of those if I see them at my local shop.
 
Tricorne does look interesting, but I think I'm already overbuying compared to my ability to rustle up opponents, so I'm going to hold myself to four games for now. The WWI trench warfare version might tempt me down the track, however.
 
Tricorne does look interesting, but I think I'm already overbuying compared to my ability to rustle up opponents, so I'm going to hold myself to four games for now. The WWI trench warfare version might tempt me down the track, however.
Yeah, if I find a copy of WWI I'd definitely pick it up.
I've played some games of both Napoleonics and Memoir 44 using VASSAL. It works really well, so if you need more opponents, check that out.
 
IIRC, the only game I've played in this series is Battle Cry, but I really liked it. Any recommendations for versions of the game for casuals/scrubs like me?
 
IIRC, the only game I've played in this series is Battle Cry, but I really liked it. Any recommendations for versions of the game for casuals/scrubs like me?
I think Memoir 44 is the most accessible take on the series. It's WW2, which everyone knows, so it's easy to introduce, and its game play is probably the simplest and fastest of the series. Battles usually take under 30 minutes. We'll usually play any scenario twice, trading sides. The battles are very relplayable, so you'll get a lot of value out of the base game alone.
 
I owned Battle Cry (which I think I first saw at a GenCon way back when) and Memoir '44 years ago, along with a few of the expansions for the latter. They were a lot of fun. I haven't kept up with the series over time, so I'm glad to hear it is still going; maybe I will check out one of the current games.
 
I own the original Samurai Battles that used the C&C system, with 1/72 minis by Zvezda, it was a great deal just for the miniatures

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Outside of playing Battlelore on my iPad, I didn't have any experience with the system until recently, when I got the board game version of Battlelore for my nephews. They loved the game, but the 14-year-old said it would be awesome if the there was a game like that with a WW II theme, so I picked up Memoir '44 this week to surprise him with, along with Samurai Battles.
 
I've played Memoir 44, C&C Ancients and Battlelore (1st and 2nd Editions). Base games only. Enjoyed all of them - M44 is lighter fun, C&C Ancients is great and stands in favourable comparison with many minis Ancients games.

Battlelore 1 is a great army game, alrhough the magic can be swingy. 2nd Edition is an odd beast - some great ideas like hidden setup, but overall it felt... different. Not a fan of every unit having a special ability, to me it felt more of a fantasy skirmish. Still a fun game though, so thumbs up!
 
My brother visited yesterday and we had an all Command & Colors day. We played a scenario of Memoir '44 (Easter Front), one C&C: Medieval battle, and three Napoleonics (one against the Prussians, two against the Russians). Mixing in three different games of the system, I'm always impressed how distinct each one feels and the little unique mechanics that manage to capture particular elements of an army or theater of war.
On the Eastern Front in Memoir, the "commissar" mechanic leaves the Russian player feeling always behind reacting to German attacks. The particular scenario we played, "Breakout at Klin", involves a German feint on the flank that historically worked very well. In order to enable that feint to work again, the scenario places temporary victory medals on that flank, so that the Russians cannot just ignore it. In our battle it ended up working surprisingly close to the historical result. I, as the Russian player, started out with a command to try to protect that flank, and then with the next turn's card set in advance by the Commissar, just could never react fast enough as my brother changed his point of attack. It's a well designed scenario that makes great use of the Memoir mechanics.
Our Medieval battles are consistently the most bloody and chaotic of the C&C system. Armies are very cavalry heavy, archery is generally rather weak, there are a lot of mechanics for overruns, so that once the armies clash there are always breakthroughs and formations get scattered. More than any other game, the Medieval battles leave us wondering what the hell just happened.
For the Napoleonics, we completed the final scenario of the early Prussian campaign - the end of 1806. We won't see the Prussians again until 1813. The Prussians scenarios of 1806 are terribly lopsided - my brother only had one victory on the battlefield as the Prussians (he did win a second scenario, but the victory conditions for that were simply to run away faster than the French could catch him). It has been tough to play through, but a fairly accurate portrayal of the Prussian army of the time. I'm very curious to see how the scenarios of 1813 are when they return, if they will be an appropriately bolstered army. After destroying the Prussians, moving onto the Russians was a very different experience. For the first time as the French, I'm seeing my army outnumbered. I should be attacking, and historically the French won both of the battles we played, but my brother managed to keep me playing defense and took victory on both. We described these battles as slow slogs of attrition, in which the Russians just killed slightly more. I do not look forward to facing them again.

We discussed adding a couple more C&C games to our collection. I think he'll pick up AWI and I'll pick up Jacobite Rising sometime soon.
 
So, I've now played a decent amount of Napoleonics, which I am a big fan of; it's definitely my favourite version. Some more scheduled for this weekend.

Played Medieval a while back, and was not overly impressed. If you can mount a cavalry charge, you generally can't afford not to. And once one person charges, you get into charge and counter-charge, until someone loses. Only played a handful of games, so I'm not casting final judgement, but I can't see it coming out again any time soon.

Got Ancients out for the first time last week and got five games in, then a couple more with another player a few days later. It's definitely much lighter than Napoleonics, but plenty of fun and decently tactical; vastly superior to Medieval.

I will be giving Samurai Battles it's first run in the next couple of days.
 
I've played about 40 so far. Memoir 44 has around 60. I've played through all of the base game a couple times (no one has managed to win any of the D Day landing scenarios as the Allies),
You'd usually play the D Day scenarios twice (switching sides) and then you'd total the medals to figure out the winner (basically you have to lose 'better' than your opponent when playing the Allies).
 
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