Command & Colours Napoleonics: Seven Years War Adaptation

I decided to setup the Kolin scenario on the C&C Napoleonics web-page. It's the only Seven Years War conversion I've seen so far.  

I used my 18th Century Risk figures for the Prussians and Austrians and the Frederick's War counters to designate the unit type and number of "blocks". These would descend in value as casualties mounted.

I decided to use the rules unmodified apart from excluding the those governing infantry squares and combined arms combat.  My grenzer units changed colour a few times - to yellow - then grey - representing "wolfgrau" for their jackets.

 The cat provided it's support as usual.

My Collection: Waterloo: Quelle Affaire!

This was a recent addition to my collection from last Christmas. I wanted to start amassing some Waterloo simulations as I've always been fascinated by this battle - ever since the amazing film Waterloo was released in 1970. This inspired a great deal of my Napoleonic wargaming and historical interest and it probably remains my favourite period. 

My other variants are the Airfix Waterloo Wargame which has a more nostalgic appeal rather than as a simulation and recently my purchase of Command & Colours: Napoleonics which has a Waterloo scenario. I've also experimented with an adaptation of Napoleon's War: 100 Days using my Risk figures with the C&C mapboard and hex counters.

This game was going at a very reasonable price and I think I got a bit of a bargain as it looks attractive and the component quality is pretty good. The board and setup is atmospheric and the mechanics seem adaptable to solo play. 

Here are the great men themselves providing a bit of characterisation.

ACW Battle: 1863

I was amazed when looking through my files that the last time I'd played a wargame using the Neil Thomas rules system was October 2013! I decided to start playing these again as I'd had a massive amount of enjoyment in the past and it had allowed me to produce lists on every conceivable conflict, both historical and fictional. 

I brushed off my ACW Rules from Introduction to Wargaming - one of my particular favourites and updated them for the developments I'd been experimenting with for his OHW Rules.

The setup was a randomly deterimed encounter battle using the force selection rules from the Introduction book. 

The Union army was larger but moderately less experienced. The Confederates were a little unlucky in their force selection as the resulting morale ratings of their units were not as good as they could have been. I think this had a major impact in their overall battle performance during the game as with the smaller force they had to do something exceptional to ensure victory. 

Early on the build up and unit confrontations were pretty even but the predominance of Union forces and artillery in the centre started to generate higher levels of attrition on the Rebel Forces.

Ultimately the Union was able to advance into a dominant position across the battlefield and the Confederate General conceded withdrawing his remaining forces after Turn 8.

A fun game that worked very well with the Command Event and Activation Rules from OHW morphed onto a core ruleset, which always generates for me an historic feel and outcome. The ebb and flow of ACW warfare is captured in the rule mechanisms and this was only further emphasised with my solo add-ons and period terminology for Activations.

 

Battle Cry: Monmouth 1778

I wanted a challenging battle to play my Battle Cry conversion for 18th Century conflicts and used the Monmouth setup on the Napoleonic Command & Colours website. This shows a whole list of American Revolutionay War scenarios.

I played the Americans under Washington. Here was what it looked like using my Risk figures.

I got off to a promising start and my luck continued with the drawing of some good cards. My stout Continentals generally got the best in the close fought infantry contests - must have been all that Valley Forge training. The British had a rally towards the end of the battle with some effective charges of their Dragoons but by then had too few units to challenge my advance. I also had a large reserve which could be deployed. 

The game was fought on the right and in the  centre where my co-ordinated infantry assaults won the day. The cat provided intermittent assistance. I'm not quite sure of her loyalties though!

Medic!