Commands and Colors Anyone?

[Narukami]

This news on the GMT site concerning C&C:

http://www.gmtgames.com/news.aspx?showarticle=80

[size=150:304j8kq4]Vassal League for Commands & Colors Ancients[/size]Hi guys!

For you online C&C Ancients Players, here's good news from Roberto Flaibani:

***** The Commands & Colors: Ancients Vassal Players League is born! *****

Up to now, the C&C:A tournaments hosted on Vassal have been only isolated events, with no greater framework behind them. That is recently changed, thanks to a League ranking system that takes all tournaments played on Vassal into consideration. In addition to giving an indication of the relative strength of the players, the system is able to take into account not only victories and losses, but also a player's long term performance, the strength of competition, and level of participation. Furthermore, it will allow for a better structure for future large open tournaments and other special events.

From now on, anyone who participates in a C&C:A tournament on Vassal will automatically be a part of the League. One of the special events that will be held as a result of the new system is an annual League Championship, starting every year on January. This is an invitational tournament, consisting of the 8 top-ranked players in the League. Full details of the League, ranking system, and the League Championship are available for viewing in the Files section of the C&C:A Vassal Players Yahoo Group (URL follows). We all Vassal players hope the new system will further encourage participation in tournament play and enhance the experience of belonging to our group in a very positive way.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ccavassal/

I have not played with Vassal nor signed up for this league so can not vouch for them, rather just alerting those of you who might be interested. If any of you are familiar with Vassal or have played in this League please favor us with a review.

:wink:

Narukami

[Narukami]

GMT announces two new expansions for their Commands & Colors Ancients game system.

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-240-c-c-ancie ... -rome.aspx


#4 Imperial Rome will cover several famous battles including those with the Parthians -- just what several of us were discussing above.

#5 Epic Battles updates the rules for multi-player games.

For those of you who have played this system you know that this is good news indeed.

And for those of you who have not tried C&C -- Dive on in, the water is fine!

:wink:

Narukami

[BigRedBat]

Great news! I've just stuck my preorder in.

Thanks, Simon

[Ioannes_Ahenobarbus]

Maybe I could get them for Christmas? I must think of something good I could tell my wife...

[Narukami]

Ioannes_Ahenobarbus Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:12 pm

"Maybe I could get them for Christmas? I must think of something good I could tell my wife..."


My thoughts exactly!

But wait -- there is more...

Addtional information on the two expansion sets for C&C:


Imperial Rome - Expansion #4 - a deeper look at the Scenarios:

Currently there are 24 scenarios planned for the expansion. Note, however, the actual number may vary and will depend on the final layout and printing requirements.

1- Tigranocerta 69 BC
2- Carrhae 53 BC
3- Philippi I 42 BC
4- Philippi II 42 BC
5- Cilician Gates 39 BC
6- Phraaspa 36 BC
7- Medway 43 AD
8- Watling Street 61 AD
9- Badriacum I 69 AD
10- Mons Graupius 84 AD
11- Issus 194 AD
12- Lugdunum 197 AD
13- Nisibis 217 AD
14- Hormuz 226 AD
15- Carthage 238 AD
16- Abrittus 251 AD
17- Edessa 259 AD
18- Naissus 268 AD
19- Placentia 271 AD
20- Fano 271 AD
21- Pavia 271 AD
22- Immae 272 AD
23- Milvian Bridge 312 AD
24- Cibalae 314 AD

Lots of interesting battle problems in these, but let me tell you about one of my favorites, the Battle of Nisibis.

Nisibis was a 3-day engagement fought in the summer of 217 AD between the Parthian and Roman Empires. For the proper historical feel, we suggest that you and a friend play the scenario three times, don't change sides. Each day both armies would march out and basically deploy for battle as the previous day so you will use the same battle map for each day. Victory is determined after playing all three days of the battle. Day-1, the victory mark is set at 4 banners, on Day-2, victory is 5 banners and on Day-3, victory is 7 banners. After each game, record the number of victory banners gained by both sides. For a complete and Total Victory, your side must win by 3 or more.

But that is not all… After a battle day, each side will attempt to recover any units that perished in the fighting of that day. If the unit recovers, it is fit for another day of fighting. When the unit does not recover, you must mark off one unit of this type on the battle map. The unit is not deployed in the remaining days of fighting.

Imperial Rome - Expansion #4 - a deeper look at the Unit Blocks

Included in the expansion are 160 blocks. Some have expressed a concern in regard to having more blocks in this expansion and question if these are really needed. I agree, at times the sticker process is not a pleasure , but the blocks are indeed necessary. For example you are going to need:
Tan (Eastern Kingdoms) blocks
10 units of Light Bow Cavalry
5 new units of Cataphracts
Gray (Rome), Green (Barbarian), Red (Roman) blocks
Units of Heavy cavalry for all these colors
Red (Roman) blocks
2 new units of Cataphracts
A parting comment about GMT game prices: The cost of wooden blocks has risen dramatically since the game's release, this along with the increased expense associated with transportation, has impacted GMT games. The guys at GMT really do want to bring you quality games at the best possible price and it is my personal experience that they are working hard to achieve this goal.

Richard Borg


Epic Ancients I - Expansion #5 - a deeper look:

Some may question why we choose to publish the Second Edition rules for Epic Ancients… basically your feedback and personal experience has guided us to this decision. I am a very lucky game author to have a great bunch of guys in the Orlando area that keep me on my toes and are willing to play all the various version of the Commands & Colors game system. Rounding up enough for an Epic Ancients battle is usually not a problem, most prefer to play a larger scale scenario. However, getting 8 experienced Commands & Colors: Ancients players together for others, often is difficult. Many times a convention setting is the best venue, but at a convention there are usually all levels of experience, the complete novice who has never played before, to players that have logged many games.

To that end, with the Second Edition rules and new Epic Ancients Command card deck, we attempt to make Epic Ancients accessible to a larger number of players. Our Epic battles do seem to play faster with the second edition rules and new Epic Command deck, meaning more player involvement and less down time. The playing of Command cards is more intuitive and the directed action on all Epic Command cards is straightforward. This has also helped our novice players to grasp the game play quicker, yet have still provided our experienced players a very challenging competition, even when choosing to play Epic Ancients one-on-one ?

In regards to the battle dice - having enough dice for each and every player around the battlefield, IMO helps make a game run smoother.

In regards to the mounted map boards - having 2 mounted map boards in this expansion, I thought would be nice, especially if a player missed the prior expansions with a mounted map. In a recent discussion with Tony, however, I believe GMT is considering taking the map boards out of this expansion in order to lower the price. Watch for additional details.

Richard Borg


Yet more reasons (as if any were needed) to order these expansions.

And just to be clear, I have no vested interest in GMT or these games except that the more people that pre-order then the quicker they reach 500+ orders and the sooner we see these expansions published.

:wink:

Narukami

[mgdpublic]

I know this post is a bit old but what the heck. You can play this game online at this site:

http://wargameroom.com/

I can usually get a game at night (EST) and almost anytime on the weekends. Append your name with "_CCA" so you state your interest to others. I've played it online about 40 times now and am still learning new strategies. I like to say that this game is deceptively strategic. While there is luck, it's mostly among people of equal skill. If you need to check out the rules and/or read about the game in general, check out www.boardgamegeek.com . Though it appears they're having hardware
issues at them moment. You can also download the rulebook at this site:

http://www.gmtgames.com/t-GMTLivingRules.aspx

[Narukami]

Greetings MGDPublic

Excellent Link -- Thanks!

Also...

Please include your "Real Word" name in your signature -- it is one of the very few rules we have here in our Forum.

There are, as you have probably discovered, many avid gamers here so this link you have provided will no doubt be most welcome.

Thanks again and Welcome to our Forum

:wink:

Narukami

[Narukami]

New Update from GMT Games on the C&C Expansion #4 Imperial Rome

We have decided to reconfigure Commands & Colors Ancients: Expansion #4, Imperial Rome, by adding a completely new Roman army. The price of the Expansion remains unchanged. The total block count (including spares) increases to 293 blocks. The reasons for the decision were numerous, but the primary consideration was that if we did not provide a new army, the red and gray Roman armies would have been increased in size to fight the new battles, and we did not want the holders of expansions 2 and 3 to “repurchase” units they had already bought. You will note by the listing of Imperial Roman units that the army composition is not like either earlier Roman army, and that it is decidedly weaker than its predecessor, the Julian army.

Purple – Imperial Roman Units
Light Infantry – 6 units (24 blocks)
Light Bow Infantry – 2 units (8 blocks)
Light Sling Infantry - 5 units (20 blocks)
Auxilia Infantry - 8 units (32 blocks)
Warrior Infantry – 1 unit (4 blocks)
Medium Infantry – 9 units (36 blocks)
Heavy Infantry - 3 units (12 blocks)
Heavy War Machine – 1 unit (2 blocks)
Light Cavalry - 4 units (12 blocks)
Light Bow Cavalry – 2 units (6 blocks)
Medium Cavalry – 4 units (12 blocks)
Heavy Cavalry - 2 units (6 blocks)
Heavy Cataphract Cavalry - 2 units (6 blocks)
Leader – 4 leaders (4 blocks)

We have increased the Eastern Kingdom army to reflect the increasing dominance of the mounted units, particularly the light archers and heavy cataphracted cavalry. You’ll get a chance to use armored camels as well. Regular camel units have been provided in case you wish to revisit older battles such as Magnesia and use the Eastern Kingdom army instead of the Greek army.

Tan - Eastern Kingdom Units
Warrior Infantry - 1 unit (4 blocks)
Light Cavalry - 2 units (6 blocks)
Light Bow Cavalry - 6 units (18 blocks)
Heavy Cataphract Cavalry - 5 units (15 blocks)
Camel - 2 units (6 blocks)
Cataphract Camel - 2 units (6 blocks)

We have also increased the Barbarian army – again to reflect the increasing use of heavier mounted units,

Green - Barbarian Units
Medium Cavalry - 2 units (6 blocks)
Heavy Cavalry - 4 units (12 blocks)

Black Rectangular Wagon Blocks
Baggage Wagon (one side), Wagon Laager (opposite side) - (5 blocks)

Black Square Blocks
Eight of these blocks are for the Imperial Roman victory banners and two are for Special Unit markers. Each block receives a label on one side only.
We have decreased the number of card holders in Expansion #4 from four to two, but feel the increase in blocks more than offsets the transfer of the other two card holders to Expansion #5.


Currently GMT is forecasting a June/July release for C&C Ancients Expansions 4 & 5. For those who have played this system you know that this is good news.

And for those of you who have not played C&C Ancients you might want to give them a try -- they are excellent games. Easy to learn. Fast & Fun.

:wink:

Narukami

[Narukami]

Just an update:

GMT is now processing the pre-orders for the new expansion modules of their Commands & Colors Ancients game series.

#4 Imperial Rome

#5 Epic Battles

GMT is still offering the games at the discounted pre-order price until they ship which should be within the next week or so.

You might also consider Boulder Games -- they are offering the games at a good price and the shipping costs should be less.

http://www.bouldergames.com/search_resu ... itle=title

:wink:

Narukami

[Ioannes_Ahenobarbus]

I received my shipping confirmation for #4 a couple days ago, so I'm obviously looking forward to that. After this semester is over I can have fun again!