In previous installments, I have described the “main characters” in Banish the Snakes: the historic people that players represent in their attempts to convert Ireland. But now I’m moving on to the “supporting cast” of historic characters, people who were notable in the history of the time and show up in the game on Event cards. The previous articles in this “supporting cast” series can be found here.
In Part 1 of this AAR we saw the first two turns of Frédéric Serval’s Red Flag Over Paris. The Paris Commune, played by me, had a very poor first turn, and was almost wiped out by Fred’s Versailles Government. In the second turn I was able to make a comeback, but I am still behind on both scoring dimensions (Military and Political). There are two turns left (turn three plus the Final Crisis round) for me try and save the Commune!
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” and then some (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) kindly reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These can serve as useful background for appreciating this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx
The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. I have become something of a “VASSAL Voyeur” observing a game from time to time with its fun, excitement, and often hilarious banter between the players (e.g. “that’s one heck of a maniacal chuckle, my friend… just what are you planning, you sly fox, you?!?”)
The team has held many an interesting debate considering how to best play each of Congress of Vienna’s Major Powers. This article reflects their most recent musings concerning Britain as described by game designer Frank Esparrago. It follows preceding InsideGMT articles for France and Austria.
We have indicated in italics game Issues the players vie for. Game rules will unfortunately need to be implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully appreciate. That said, take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Below is the second in a two part series from The Boardgames Chronicle covering strategy in Commands & Colors: Ancients. The first part can be found here. Enjoy!
Red Flag Over Paris, designed by Frédéric Serval, is a new lunchtime CDG presenting the clash between the Paris Commune and the Versailles Government in the spring of 1871. The game takes place over three regular turns and a fourth “final crisis” turn, here representing the brutal suppression of the Commune during the “Bloody Week” of 21st-28th May 1871. Historically this resulted in the defeat of the Commune, but of course this time things might go differently! Today I will be playing as the Paris Commune against Fred’s Versailles Government and trying to avoid my historical fate.
Below you will find the sixteenth installment of an ongoing design diaries series from Border Reivers designer Ed Beach. (The previous installments can be found here.) He regularly publishes new design diaries and other updates on the “Reivers and Reformers” Facebook group, so if you would like to read those as they are released you can do so here. Enjoy! -Rachel
Recently, due to the forced lock-down, I played a lot of my favorite game – Commands Colors Ancients. I had chance to introduce new players (love it!) and explain to them nuances of that fantastic system. Once the basic rules were digested by the new adepts, many follow-up questions were asked, mainly on tactics and strategy in CCA. I explained my view a couple of times, then idea struck me – having over 600 plays in that game, maybe I can share my experience and observations in a written form?
It did not take me long to move from idea to action. Hence this first article answering some of the most common questions – mainly focused on how to prepare attack in CCA – asked to me. I will try to describe and depict my ideas using pictures from the vassal module as I think visual presentation has the biggest impact. Of course, most of what I will write below is common knowledge to most seasoned CCA players, but I hope new fans of the game find it useful!
Disclaimer: let us be completely clear – there is no magic formula in any wargame, Commands & Colors system included, which will allow you to win the scenario. You need to be flexible, plan ahead, react to crises, and try to force your own tempo on the opponent – initiative is key! Still, there are some ideas which, once followed, might help you enormously to achieve the final victory.
In previous installments, I have described the “main characters” in Banish the Snakes: the historic people that players represent in their attempts to convert Ireland. But now I’m moving on to the “supporting cast” of historic characters, people who were notable in the history of the time and show up in the game on Event cards. The first article in this “supporting cast” series can be found here.
The solo rules (”SR”) pit the human player against three Bots. Each Bot has a distinct personality induced by its preferred area of influence: military influence (red), political influence on the Senate (blue) or influence on the populace through bribery or other means (yellow). The SR recommend, but do not require, that the military Bot be the red player, the political Bot the blue player, and the populace Bot the yellow player, thus matching each Bot’s color with the color of its preferred area of influence. The human player becomes by default the green player. Note that human players can appoint one or several Bots to replace their missing human counterparts. For the sake of simplicity, the remainder of this note will discuss games with one human player facing three Bots. I will also assume that the optional emperor rules are in effect and that the fixed set up providing for all cards to be played has been adopted.
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) please reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These contain background which will help you better appreciate this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .
The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. The team has held interesting debates considering how to best play each of Congress of Vienna’s fourMajor Powers: France, Russia/Prussia, Britain, and Austria. This article reflects their most recent musings regarding AUSTRIA as described by game designer Frank Esparrago. This seems a fitting follow-up to the prior article concerning France’s options.
The game rules this article alludes to will unfortunately need to remain implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully understand. That said, take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
