@@timlewellen6325 Even if it was done with good CGI, I just don't think there's a studio that will take a punt on a massive Napoleonic war film budget these days
Thanks for warning me about the stickers for the dice. I think 3rd party wooden dice are worth it. Played this game at CincyCon on a big map with big terrain hexes and--really neat--Lego figures!
Alexander don't lose hope. It's always possible to get your kids into Wargaming. My 17 year old daughter recently started playing Commands and Colors ancients with me and she absolutely loved it. I'll eventually be introducing her to the more complex C&C Napoleonics
Memoir ‘44 base game is quite bland. But when you get into the expansions you add the features you’re looking for. The army packs give special rules to the Russians, British, Japanese, US Marines, and more. In addition you get dozens of unique unit types which combine to create varied scenario experiences. M44 doesn’t just do “epic” with Overlord, but also has Breakthrough boards with an extra deep board and special movement deck, not to mention the D-Day Landings map set. The pre-printed battle maps add different Combat decks for city/jungle/desert/winter fighting.
Absolutely true... Memoir 44 has a lot to offer with the expansions... especially those Breakthrough and Overlord games will give you a lot of big game action!
M44 is best with all the fixings. I recently played through the Winter Wars Breakthrough scenarios and we added the new Flight Plan to it as well. With all the extras, M44 feels just as complex if not more so than the other iterations.
Sharpe series of books is excellent. Cornwell wanted to write an Army equivalent (95th rifles) of the Hornblower or Aubrey-Maturin naval series. Sharpe's everywhere: India, Trafalgar, Talavera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Waterloo, Chilean independence. I remember watching it either on A&E or PBS. I remember lots of romps in the haylofts with Spanish senoras, but then that happens in the books too. I think it was produced by ITV or Granada (who also produced Hornblower series) rather than BBC.
It's based on a series of 24 or 25 books. Same author (Bernard Cornwell) who did the Wessex/Vikings series, Copperhead/Civil War, 100 Years War and Merlin.
The best Napoleonic board game is Napoleons Triumph, if you can find a copy. It has no RNG, and has a very simple game but it is sometimes considered difficult because it uses a game system that most gamers are not used to. I like C&C system my favorite is the ancients but have a few great play thru of Napoleon C&C.
In Memoir44, a unit rolls it's full complement of dice irrespective of the number of figures. And the expansion packs add nuance to the game. It's not fair to compare the base game to another's expansion. But I'll grant that the basic Napoleonic game has more going for it than basic M44. That's why I'm looking forward to playing it.
Huh, didn't expect the cards to look so different to C&C Ancients! (Ancients is my current favourite, love playing the ancient Greek battles from the expansions - but I do have Great War to try as well!).
Oh wait, the actual cards in the hand are pretty much the same (other than artwork)... I was looking at the cards at the bottom of the board with the "Square 1" etc at the top. What are those for? Those aren't in C&CA.
The best C&C game. The only real gripe I have with this game is how units sometimes can be wiped out in one turn without being able to fight back. On the other hand it's fairly easy to add more advanced rules like formations and facing.
FWIW you may have been fortunate to get a bias towards one section in the card draw because I find the game to be all about momentum. Spreading card-play across all sections is usually not a good idea. You don't want an advance to stall in range anywhere because defensive fire can be brutal. Best to hand manage and get a few command cards together for one section, then play them one after another to smash your way through. Really recommend the Generals Marshals and Tacticians expansion. It elevates the game to genuine greatness IMHO.
Everyone mentions Memoir 44, but to me Memoir 44 is a copy of Battlecry. Nothing wrong with copying a mechanic that works, but why does no one mention Battlecry?
I can't decide which I like better Napoleonic's or Ancients. I guess its a slight edge for Napoleonic's because of my interest of Napoleon. I think you would like Ancients as it is the same in basic mechanics it has a different feel. There is a great card in Ancients that allows all units that are next to each others to activate. This can be devastating. I would be curious as how you would rank all the C & C game like you did the Coin. Napoleonic's , Ancients. Memoir, Battle Cry, Abaddon, Tricorne, Medieval, Battle Lore and Samurai Battles.
We're about half way through that list at best as far as playing and being able to rank them all. For me these games are about having fun, as they're much simpler than most wargames we delve into, so I'd recommend this one if it's got that interest factor. No one wants to a play a game they're not interested in, no matter how good the mechanics.
@@ThePlayersAid I agree. The Marshals & Tactics expansion adds complexity and I not sure I will use it much because I like it simple. I am dying to play Epic though.
I feel like you only need one game from the C&C series, and there is one for every era, from Ancients, to Samurais to WW1 & WW 2 Memoir '44. Basically pick you favorite historical period. It would be nice if you guys spent a few minutes just mentioning all of the C&C games out there. Anyway I've played a few and only own Ancients (with all expansions!) as it is my favorite. I agree with Memoir '44 is the lightest but if you play some of the scenarios, like Normandy with reinforcement rules and such, it does get interesting.
I think the games are different enough that you can justify a couple of entries from the series, budget permitting. If stuck with only one, I would go for Napoleonics as I enjoy the extra chrome such as forming squares, doing combined inf/art attacks and so on. In reality I have CC:A,CC:N, The great war,M44 and CC:medieval so I might have a small addiction problem :) I guess the bottom line is they are all excellent games.
Francois-Xavier Bocquet Oh I had Napoleonics and traded it. I thought it was too close to Ancients. I do have Memoir ‘44 though and multiple expansions. I guess two is the sweet spot for me! I’m curious to try Medieval.
I’m torn between this and Ancients. There is definitely room for both. The Ancients game really stresses keeping your line in good order. I like that this game models the erosion of firepower as you take losses. In ancients you throw the same dice regardless of how many blocks are left.
Very though choice. For a new players into the system, I think I would recommend Ancients first. I like that it is easier to move entire sections of the army. It also feels much more fast paced, and immediately fun. I dont have the epic expansion for it, but I imagine if you have multiple players over, a big game of Ancients on an epic map is the ultimate best C&C you can ever get. Napoleonics on the other hand, in my opinion is the "next step". It is much slower paced but rewards careful maneuvers. Terrain is more important, and the volume of rules lookup is a bit higher than Ancients. As you mentioned, the game more often turns into skirmishes of attrition until one side routs, whereas in Ancients the combat can be much more explosive, with lines breaking and cavalry pouring through for some carnage. Napoleonics strong points over Ancients is that the army expansions are much more asymmetric, and that is very interesting. You really do feel a big difference in play style, whereas Ancients is more subtle. Personally, I think in my heart, my favorite is Napoleonics, but in practice I will play Ancients much more often. Does that make sense? Probably not :D Hope that helped either way.
If you consider that most men in a formation are an issue of depth and not width, retaining the same number dice makes sense. As the men in the front die, others come forward to replace them and their firepower until the entire unit is eliminated or is routed. As for asymmetry, I actually find Ancients particularly effective. Both sides may share the same stats for the same units but much of the time the composition of each side is different. So unlike Napoleonics where each of us feature regular infantry with different stats, in Ancients I may have lights and warriors and you mediums and mounted heavies. So the sides are different without needing to learn different rules for same unit type.
@@ThePlayersAid That's a good point. Also, as wargamers, we know that there's hundreds of hours of gaming for the price, and that actually, per hour or whatever it's cheap as chips. I just think that the CC system could do such good job of getting new players to the table if it could be made cheaper, or at least kept in print. I know, supply and demand, costs, overheads etc...
@@griefjunkie I agree, they might not be super intro friendly from a cost standpoint. I believe Memoir '44 and Battlelore (sp?) are much more palatable from a price as they're put out by much larger companies.
It is... they are both designed by Richard Borg and use his Commands and Colors system. Napoleonics though is a little deeper... has some extra subtleties, like infantry units can form squares against cavalry... cavalry can retire and reform when infantry melee against them... combined arms attacks give bonuses when artillery combines with a melee attack by infantry or cavalry... both are excellent games in their own right.
Just finished stickering mine. Excited to play
Hey guys, Memoir doesn't change dice numbers based on guys left, dice numbers are based on unit type and terrain modifiers.
Correctamundo
Indeed.
Best Napoleonic combat ever filmed, Waterloo with Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Plummer as Wellington.
It's not even close how epic that film is. Sadly there'll probably never be anything like it ever again.
@@ThePlayersAid Too true, they used thousand's of extras and respected the history. Today would be all cgi, still hoping for a Criterion blu-ray.
@@timlewellen6325 Even if it was done with good CGI, I just don't think there's a studio that will take a punt on a massive Napoleonic war film budget these days
My favorite game by far! You can't imagine the number of scenarios and the new decks and units etc etc
I guess I'm weird...I actually enjoy the stickering whenever I get a new C&C game.
I suspect I will too . On the fence about getting ancients or this.
thank you for another fine review! let us see a play through!
Thanks for warning me about the stickers for the dice. I think 3rd party wooden dice are worth it. Played this game at CincyCon on a big map with big terrain hexes and--really neat--Lego figures!
Top review - this game is great. Ancients is brilliant.
Love me some C&C Napoleonics!
Alexander don't lose hope. It's always possible to get your kids into Wargaming. My 17 year old daughter recently started playing Commands and Colors ancients with me and she absolutely loved it. I'll eventually be introducing her to the more complex C&C Napoleonics
Memoir ‘44 base game is quite bland. But when you get into the expansions you add the features you’re looking for. The army packs give special rules to the Russians, British, Japanese, US Marines, and more. In addition you get dozens of unique unit types which combine to create varied scenario experiences. M44 doesn’t just do “epic” with Overlord, but also has Breakthrough boards with an extra deep board and special movement deck, not to mention the D-Day Landings map set. The pre-printed battle maps add different Combat decks for city/jungle/desert/winter fighting.
Absolutely true... Memoir 44 has a lot to offer with the expansions... especially those Breakthrough and Overlord games will give you a lot of big game action!
M44 is best with all the fixings. I recently played through the Winter Wars Breakthrough scenarios and we added the new Flight Plan to it as well. With all the extras, M44 feels just as complex if not more so than the other iterations.
Excellent game, always great fun and easy to learn.
Sharpe series of books is excellent. Cornwell wanted to write an Army equivalent (95th rifles) of the Hornblower or Aubrey-Maturin naval series. Sharpe's everywhere: India, Trafalgar, Talavera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Waterloo, Chilean independence. I remember watching it either on A&E or PBS. I remember lots of romps in the haylofts with Spanish senoras, but then that happens in the books too. I think it was produced by ITV or Granada (who also produced Hornblower series) rather than BBC.
You guys are such a beautiful couple. Thank you ♥️
I love Sharpe!!
Good old Dick...😀
Currently ploughing through the 680 stickers for the base game 😤😂
(Current UK price: about £68/$94!)
Amazing...a historical war-gamer...unaware of the Sharpe series. :-)
Ah...now thats gaming!
It's based on a series of 24 or 25 books. Same author (Bernard Cornwell) who did the Wessex/Vikings series, Copperhead/Civil War, 100 Years War and Merlin.
The best Napoleonic board game is Napoleons Triumph, if you can find a copy. It has no RNG, and has a very simple game but it is sometimes considered difficult because it uses a game system that most gamers are not used to. I like C&C system my favorite is the ancients but have a few great play thru of Napoleon C&C.
Everyone talk about Napoleon's Triumph, and one day I will fork out for a copy and buy it.
C&C Nappy! Good stuff.
In Memoir44, a unit rolls it's full complement of dice irrespective of the number of figures. And the expansion packs add nuance to the game. It's not fair to compare the base game to another's expansion. But I'll grant that the basic Napoleonic game has more going for it than basic M44. That's why I'm looking forward to playing it.
Huh, didn't expect the cards to look so different to C&C Ancients! (Ancients is my current favourite, love playing the ancient Greek battles from the expansions - but I do have Great War to try as well!).
Oh wait, the actual cards in the hand are pretty much the same (other than artwork)... I was looking at the cards at the bottom of the board with the "Square 1" etc at the top. What are those for? Those aren't in C&CA.
The best C&C game. The only real gripe I have with this game is how units sometimes can be wiped out in one turn without being able to fight back. On the other hand it's fairly easy to add more advanced rules like formations and facing.
FWIW you may have been fortunate to get a bias towards one section in the card draw because I find the game to be all about momentum. Spreading card-play across all sections is usually not a good idea. You don't want an advance to stall in range anywhere because defensive fire can be brutal. Best to hand manage and get a few command cards together for one section, then play them one after another to smash your way through. Really recommend the Generals Marshals and Tacticians expansion. It elevates the game to genuine greatness IMHO.
Everyone mentions Memoir 44, but to me Memoir 44 is a copy of Battlecry. Nothing wrong with copying a mechanic that works, but why does no one mention Battlecry?
Great review guys!!!!
Sharpe is amazing
You should try Napoleon’s Triumph
Nice overview, gents. Grant, I also used to watch Tour of Duty, and before that, Black Sheep Squadron.
greatest challenge is patience awaiting the right cards
I just love the game I have all of them!!
love u guys, keep it up
Nice shirt Alexander!
I've had Napoleonics for years.
Still haven't gotten around to playing it.
I'm a terrible person.
same here. I think stickered it all, but Ancients is what usually gets played.
I can't decide which I like better Napoleonic's or Ancients. I guess its a slight edge for Napoleonic's because of my interest of Napoleon. I think you would like Ancients as it is the same in basic mechanics it has a different feel. There is a great card in Ancients that allows all units that are next to each others to activate. This can be devastating. I would be curious as how you would rank all the C & C game like you did the Coin. Napoleonic's , Ancients. Memoir, Battle Cry, Abaddon, Tricorne, Medieval, Battle Lore and Samurai Battles.
We're about half way through that list at best as far as playing and being able to rank them all. For me these games are about having fun, as they're much simpler than most wargames we delve into, so I'd recommend this one if it's got that interest factor. No one wants to a play a game they're not interested in, no matter how good the mechanics.
@@ThePlayersAid I agree. The Marshals & Tactics expansion adds complexity and I not sure I will use it much because I like it simple. I am dying to play Epic though.
I feel like you only need one game from the C&C series, and there is one for every era, from Ancients, to Samurais to WW1 & WW 2 Memoir '44. Basically pick you favorite historical period. It would be nice if you guys spent a few minutes just mentioning all of the C&C games out there. Anyway I've played a few and only own Ancients (with all expansions!) as it is my favorite. I agree with Memoir '44 is the lightest but if you play some of the scenarios, like Normandy with reinforcement rules and such, it does get interesting.
I think after we've played a few more we might make a video about the series in general.
I think the games are different enough that you can justify a couple of entries from the series, budget permitting. If stuck with only one, I would go for Napoleonics as I enjoy the extra chrome such as forming squares, doing combined inf/art attacks and so on. In reality I have CC:A,CC:N, The great war,M44 and CC:medieval so I might have a small addiction problem :) I guess the bottom line is they are all excellent games.
Francois-Xavier Bocquet Oh I had Napoleonics and traded it. I thought it was too close to Ancients. I do have Memoir ‘44 though and multiple expansions. I guess two is the sweet spot for me! I’m curious to try Medieval.
Need to make a common video for C&C.. Every C&C you almost start of with same pre-recorded messages.
I’m torn between this and Ancients. There is definitely room for both. The Ancients game really stresses keeping your line in good order. I like that this game models the erosion of firepower as you take losses. In ancients you throw the same dice regardless of how many blocks are left.
Very though choice. For a new players into the system, I think I would recommend Ancients first. I like that it is easier to move entire sections of the army. It also feels much more fast paced, and immediately fun. I dont have the epic expansion for it, but I imagine if you have multiple players over, a big game of Ancients on an epic map is the ultimate best C&C you can ever get.
Napoleonics on the other hand, in my opinion is the "next step". It is much slower paced but rewards careful maneuvers. Terrain is more important, and the volume of rules lookup is a bit higher than Ancients. As you mentioned, the game more often turns into skirmishes of attrition until one side routs, whereas in Ancients the combat can be much more explosive, with lines breaking and cavalry pouring through for some carnage. Napoleonics strong points over Ancients is that the army expansions are much more asymmetric, and that is very interesting. You really do feel a big difference in play style, whereas Ancients is more subtle.
Personally, I think in my heart, my favorite is Napoleonics, but in practice I will play Ancients much more often. Does that make sense? Probably not :D Hope that helped either way.
If you consider that most men in a formation are an issue of depth and not width, retaining the same number dice makes sense. As the men in the front die, others come forward to replace them and their firepower until the entire unit is eliminated or is routed.
As for asymmetry, I actually find Ancients particularly effective. Both sides may share the same stats for the same units but much of the time the composition of each side is different. So unlike Napoleonics where each of us feature regular infantry with different stats, in Ancients I may have lights and warriors and you mediums and mounted heavies. So the sides are different without needing to learn different rules for same unit type.
This will sound heretical, but I love the BattleLore 2e version the best....
That does sound like heresy. I also think I might like Red Alert, the new one from PSC the best. Spoiler alert for the future, I guess.. haha.
CC:N is great but sooo expensive! You get a lot of game, certainly, but it's a big outlay.
True enough, but if you have a partner to play with then a single title in the series is well worth the investment.
@@ThePlayersAid That's a good point. Also, as wargamers, we know that there's hundreds of hours of gaming for the price, and that actually, per hour or whatever it's cheap as chips. I just think that the CC system could do such good job of getting new players to the table if it could be made cheaper, or at least kept in print. I know, supply and demand, costs, overheads etc...
@@griefjunkie I agree, they might not be super intro friendly from a cost standpoint. I believe Memoir '44 and Battlelore (sp?) are much more palatable from a price as they're put out by much larger companies.
On the plus side, it is a hell of a lot cheaper than miniatures!
Oct 2021. In the UK, if you buy the base game and all the expansions it will cost you £350! Thats an eye watering $482!!
Seems similar to Memoir '44
It is... they are both designed by Richard Borg and use his Commands and Colors system. Napoleonics though is a little deeper... has some extra subtleties, like infantry units can form squares against cavalry... cavalry can retire and reform when infantry melee against them... combined arms attacks give bonuses when artillery combines with a melee attack by infantry or cavalry... both are excellent games in their own right.
russian campaign is the best!