C&C Expansion 5

"In many spheres of human endeavor, from science to business to education to economic policy, good decisions depend on good measurement." - Ben Bernanke

Some of the new terrain in situ

Before I bought last lot of Hexon terrain I had worked out that four boxes would cover my table. I already had two and so bought three more to allow building of hills whilst also taking advantage of Kallistra's volume discount. Mysteriously, and despite the advanced mathematics involved in the estimate, I had plenty left over from four boxes and ran out of slopes before I had even opened the fifth box. In any event I had specifically bought the fifth box as flocked - rather than the cheaper unflocked suitable for lower levels of hills - because I decided that would give me the flexibility to have a standard size game of C&C on the dining room table while a larger game was set up in the annexe. And so, last night, that's what I did. Equally oddly the dining table, rather than being plenty big enough as it should have been, only just managed to accommodate the tiles with no room left around the outside for the usual accoutrements (1): cards, dice, victory markers, ginger beer etc. I could have sworn that I'd had something sizable on that table before.


My boardgaming friend Chris, who I have mentioned here before has expressed an interest in trying figure wargaming, came round and we had a very cramped, but enjoyable, game. We played the Wartenburg scenario with Bavarians standing in for Wurttemburgers, of whom I have none. This was my - and indeed his - first try of the latest expansion and I was impressed:

• I really liked the new Tactics cards which definitely added a bit of spice and gave options even with a poor normal hand. There was great satisfaction to be had by laying out the right combination to attack unexpectedly and with greater strength than one's opponent anticipates.
• The new roles for leaders also added something. Their use is more subtle than in C&C Ancients which is as it should be, although as I think I've pointed out before it doesn't in any way replicate real Napoleonic command structures. I think that the use of commanders will require several plays to understand the possibilities better.
• There are various other new rules (Garrisons, Grand Batteries, Ranged Fire against Lone Leaders), but none of them arose so I can't comment on them. 
• I must also just mention the first outing of the new wooden C&C dice also purchased recently via eBay - all the way from Canada - which have nothing to do with Expansion 5, but which were a huge improvement on the plastic version; highly recommended.

So another step in introducing Chris to the hobby and he is very keen to move on to something a bit more wargamey and a bit less boardgamey. Which reminds me, the other set of rules that he has played is To the Strongest! and the as-built dimensions of the new terrain will make it really easy to set it up for that game. All I need is 88 identical markers; suggestions welcome.

(1) Google's spellcheck wants that to be 'accouterments'; Americans have obviously moved on from mangling English spelling to starting on French.