Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles

The Commands & Colors games are relatively simple, two-player wargames. As you'd expect, the players have units (wooden blocks) to manoeuvre on the battlefield (the plain board, laid with hexagonal tiles to show terrain). However, at the heart of the game are players' hands of cards. These provide the players with tactical options while also constraining them – you may have an attacking opportunity on the left flank, but without the right cards, it's wasted.

This may sound artificial, but it is a brilliant way of simulating the way commands go astray, commanders make mistakes and units head in the wrong direction (think Charge of the Light Brigade). Instead of having a God-like oversight of the battlefield, players are reduced to mere mortals, fumbling to get the right forces in the right place at the right time.

As the title suggests, Samurai Battles is about conflicts between Japanese clans from 15th to 17th century – including the introduction of firearms. What's different about this game is the 'Honor' mechanism: players accumulate Honor points that they can spend to gain advantages. However, they can also lose Honor – if units (particularly Samurai) retreat, for example. And running out of Honor is bad news.

This is a brilliant mechanism that really adds to the atmosphere of the game. It captures the flavour of the period's warfare, while remaining accessible to casual players and playing in a sensible length of time. Great stuff!

I also have the CDG Solo System that makes a great way of playing the game solitaire.

For 2 players, aged 12+, playing time 60 minutes: £82.00 (£68.33 tax-free outside the UK)
    Note: my stock is the 2nd printing
 

In stock

CDG Solo System

The solo system for card-driven games was originally designed by 'Stuka Joe'. Ken Kuhn has developed this further and produced specific implementations for half a dozen of GMT's games. In particular, this pack includes Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles (and/or Commands & Colors: Ancients). It allows a single person to play both sides in a scenario without having full knowledge of each side's options until it's that side's turn. It's a really clever way of ensuring a solitaire player can't second-guess themselfves.

For 1 player, aged 12+, playing time 60 minutes (with base game): £18.00 (£15.00 tax-free outside the UK)
 

In stock

 
Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles was designed by Richard Borg (the solo system by Stuka Joe and Ken Kuhn) and is published by GMT Games.

Other Commands & Colors-style games available from Games from Pevans are: Commands & Colors: Medieval (Byzantine empire), Commands & Colors: Ancients (Ancient Rome), Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (Napoleonic War) and Memoir '44 (World War Two).

Find out more:
    Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles on BoardGameGeek
    Pevans reviews Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles in TWJO issue 218
    CDG Solo System on BoardGameGeek

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