Using a modern definition of Medieval - starting with the Late Roman/Early Byzantine wars against the Sassanid Persians
The back of the box for the base game.
A few years back I picked up a copy of Command and Colours: Medieval, mainly because the scheduled first expansion was going to be devoted to the Crusades. In truth I only purchased the base game with this expansion in mind although the original version and a charm all of its own, featuring as it did Late Roman/Early Byzantine, Sassanids Persians and various tribal types.
The Crusades expansion was a long time coming - long, as in years - and I was quite close to giving up on it but, at long last, it has arrived!
Slightly different from the original box design when first mooted by GMT
The back of the box - call me old fashioned but this feels more ‘Medieval’ than the original base game
The scenarios. The expansion is now marketed as the Crusades part 1 so we will have to wait for Richard the Lionheart
I am in two minds about this - on the one hand I am delighted that this has finally been released but on the other I would have preferred it to have been a one off expansion rather than the two. As to when this will be available - who knows?
I will have a lot of label sticking to do to get the game table ready but that will not be a problem once I can get to it - possibly over the Christmas break.
On a Seperate Note(s)….
My copy of Battle Cry is now table ready - the counters and terrain tiles have been punched, the flags have been added to the figures and the command cards have been sleeved. I am hoping to get a game in over the weekend.
The final piece of news is that I have been able to pick up two intact copies of a game that featured in my youth and they will form the basis of my next post.
7 comments:
I agree with you that the first game was an odd choice as an introduction to Medieval battles. Crusades is more fitting in my mind.
The base game certainly has plenty of potential - revisiting Robert Graves’s Count Belisarius may be an idea - but I tend to view the period as ‘late ancients’ rather than ‘medieval’. I am looking forward to trying this out once the blocks are stickered and will probably watch The Kingdom of Heaven again - purely for research purposes naturally!
All the best,
DC
I certainly hope so! Lots of colour and who knows? I may even paint something for the period…. ;-)
All the best,
DC
David -
Arguably, the starting point for the Mediaeval period could be taken as the fall of Rome, or maybe Justinian the Great's reconquest of much of the Western Empire, or maybe the epoch making rise of Islam, which wiped out the Sassanian Empire, and came close to doing the same to the Byzantine.
It seems, though, that first module centred upon the wars of Maurice and Heraclius against Persia. Does include one of Belisarius's battles?
On the matter of the Crusades - there were lot of Crusades. Seems the module concentrates on the first two, which were the most interesting anyway, in my view, especially the second.
Cheers,
Ion
Hi Ion,
Rightly or (probably) wrongly I tend to think of the Norman Conquest as being the start of the ‘Middle Ages’ with the period from the collapse of Rome until then as the ‘Dark Ages’ but I take your point(s), especially the rise of Islam. I think the difficulty is assigning a notional date across various cultures and assuming that one size fits all!
I will post a list of the scenarios for the base game although I am pretty sure you can find these online.
Absolutely re the 1st and 2nd Crusades!
All the best,
DC
You are on a roll buying toys to play with David! I'm old fashioned and still refer to the Dark Ages, with the Early Medieval period starting with the Norman Conquest. I'll probably be black balled as a result;)!
This one was purchased as pre order ages ago - it has taken a long time to actually appear though! I have a lot of label sticking to tackle before getting it to the table but am looking forward to doing so.
All the best,
DC
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