Commands and Colors: Ancients - Tips & Strategies

The Commands & Colors series of games is all about destroying opposing units. So the natural inclination is to keep pressing ahead. However, the three levels of troops trade mobility for punch and vice versa. Cavalry and other green units need to be used to take quick pot shots at the enemy but then melt away quickly. They should get out front and use their ranged weapons to help soften up units for when the medium and heavy cavalry can finally get in the action. But if those green units are caught, they risk high damage.

Evade is the only option. It reduces the chances of getting hit (as only exact color hits), it prevents the enemy from pursuing you, and most importantly, it does cause you to run when flags are rolled. This is especially devastating to cavalry that must retreat 4 hexes per flag, potentially causing damage when they get to the edge of the board.

With green’s better movement, they can get back into the fight soon enough and start harassing the enemy again.

Veterans of the C&C series realize “Fog of War” is abstracted through the luck of the command cards. However, veterans of war games, especially block games, want a little more Fog of War on the units themselves.

One way to achieve this is to only sticker one side of the playing blocks. During set-up, stand the blocks on edge with the stickered side facing the owning player. When units engage in combat (melee or ranged), then you can reveal them by laying the flat on the board.

After the combat, you can either leave the units exposed (remaining face up) or stand them back up (once again hiding them).

Information that will be available:
* Strength of Unit (# of blocks)
* Nation (color of block if there is more than one nation on a side)
* General unit type (mounted, foot, leader – based on shape)

Information that will be hidden:
* Unit type (slinger vs. archer. vs. auxiliary etc.)
* Potentially special units if you choose to hide the special forces block

Added bonus: Used only half the stickers which can remain as even more spares, or better yet, order an extra set of wooden blocks and double your armies!