Meeting Richard Borg

Richard was in Austin that weekend as distinguished guest of the MillenniumCon 4 Game Convention. Richard brought along prototypes of his follow-ons to Battle Cry: Command and Colors Napoleanic and Command and Colors Ancients.

Here we see Dan Becker, the web author, shaking hands with Richard Borg, the game designer.

Richard explains Command and Colors Napoleanic

Pictured here is Richard Borg explaining Command and Colors Napoleanic rules to a convention attendee. This prototype edition of the set was constructed using 15 mm figures (three to a stand) and wonderful miniatures scenery. The game seemed completely designed and playable despite its prototype mock-up. I was particularly enthused about Richard's craft work using inexpensive materials. His foam hill were made from surplus foam and spray paint. His figures were mounted on spare mineral floor tiles. Overall the impression of the oversized board was fantastic.

The basic rules of the game system are similar to Hasbro's Battle Cry. Using command cards one orders units on the left, center, and right of the battle field. When a number of flags (victory points) are captured, the game ends.

One difference was that each unit attacked with a number of dice equal to the unit strength. In other words, if the unit had 4 stands of figures, it rolled 4 dice in combat (subject to other modifiers such as terrain and leadership). As the unit took casualties and was whittled down to 1 stand, it rolled only 1 die in combat. Another difference were the retreat rules. When a unit could not retreat, rather than lose the entire unit, only stands were lost. For instance in Battle Cry a unit on the friendly edge forced to retreat would die. In C & C Napoleanic it would only lose one unit.

Richard points out the use of terrain

Additionally, both Command and Colors Napoleanic and Command and Colors Ancients contained many more unit types above the basic leaders, cavalry, infantry, and artillery. There were also light infantry, horse cannon, militia, and other units. These were various combinations of attack and movement points. There were also formation and support rules. These all seemed designed to make the simulation more realistic and a bit less deadly than Battle Cry.

Both these games have entered some form of development and release agreement. Richard said that GMT Games was working on releasing Command and Colors Napoleanic. Possibly this would have a high P2000 benchmark, requiring 2000 preorders before development, possibly due to the large number of plastic figures. Also, Command and Colors Ancients was a possible future release from Descarte-Editeur Eurogames. Both release seemed to be over one year away. Another possibility would be an early release of just the rule set (and maybe the card deck) for those supplying their own miniatures, boards, and hexes.

Brady's Tournament Battle Cry

Another feature of MillenniumCon were the various game tournaments. Brady Severns ran a Battle Cry tournament which featured three hand-painted sets and a grand prize of a fourth hand-painted set. This prize seemed like an excessively generous give-away considering the brief time of the tournament versus the long time it took to paint. Note the varied, historically correct flags on these figures. Many people were amazed that they were the original plastic figures from the game set and not a custom white metal set of miniatures. More of his work is depicted on my page Brady Severns' Battle Cry Figures

Overall, the convention was a blast to attend, and I got many miniature gaming, painting, and construction ideas from the participants. I also went shopping and picked up quite a few Old Glory 15 mm ancient figures.