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The Great War, the latest adaptation of Richard Borg's Command & Colours system, brings the epic battles of World War 1 to the gaming table, allowing players to portray important engagements throughout WWI history. The battles, included in the scenario booklet, focus on the historical deployment of forces and important terrain features of trench fighting in scale with the game system. The scale of the game is flexible and varies from battle to battle. For some scenarios, a few infantry units may represent an entire wing of a larger battle, while in other scenarios a unit may represent just a few brave soldiers going over the top.
The Command card system drives movement, creates a "fog of war", and presents players with many interesting opportunities, while the battle dice resolve combat quickly and efficiently. The Combat cards add an element of suspense and will challenge players to coordinate their use in a timely manner. Overall, the battlefield tactics players will need to execute to gain victory conform remarkably well to the strengths and limitations of the various types of WWI units, their weapons, battlefield terrain, and written history.
In this core game, the main focus is on a number of WWI trench warfare battles. However, a series of expansions, which will feature early war, Eastern Front scenarios, tanks, airplanes, other national armies, plus more special personnel figures, are already in the planning stage to enhance your WWI gaming experience.
- Long-term planning rewards
- Tactical positioning and timing
- Dice management and varied combat
- Economy-focused depth with gradual upgrades
- Rich thematic flavor and setting
- High complexity; steep learning curve
- Potential downtime during multi-player turns
- Requires more than one session to fully explore
- Trade supremacy, naval warfare, temple influence
- Ancient Mediterranean maritime city-states from Levant to Carthage
- Instructional, strategic explanation during a gameplay session
- Paladins of the West Kingdom
- Raiders of the North Sea
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Control regions by placing ships, forts, and trade posts; contested by opponents
- area_control — Control regions by placing ships, forts, and trade posts; contested by opponents
- combat_resolution — Combat is resolved via dice cards; attacker advantage in ties; shields and flames influence damage
- engine building — Dial up dice pips to strengthen actions and unlock upgrades
- engine_building — Dial up dice pips to strengthen actions and unlock upgrades
- map_movement — Move fleets and dice-driven actions across a modular map
- mobilize_action — Last action to move, initiate combat, or increase fleet mobility
- Resource management — Gather coins and wood; upgrade ships and forts; manage market costs
- resource_management — Gather coins and wood; upgrade ships and forts; manage market costs
- temple_control — Control temple regions and temple posts for points and bonuses
- upgrades_and_market — Flip used trade posts to gain bonuses and purchase upgrades
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The great sea plays two to four players with mechanics such as engine building, area control, and map movement.
- Love it. Historically accurate.
- Perhaps the great sea reminds you a bit of paladins of the west kingdom, raiders of the North Sea, but they went sailing and brought flamethrowers.
- This ends Sunday morning scenic trip. This is war.
References (from this video)
- classic Commands & Colors feel applied to WWI
- artillery events add dramatic prelude to engagements
- plastic components are prone to assembly issues and fragility
- physical quality disappoints relative to other editions
- industrial-era mechanized warfare
- World War I battlefields
- historical tactical simulation with modular scenarios
- Medieval
- Ancients
- Napoleonics
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- block-based unit representation — Uses the Commands & Colors block system for moves and combats, with offboard artillery elements influencing early turns.
- offboard artillery at scenario start — Artillery fire is resolved from offboard sources at the opening, creating random carnage before main play begins.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There' s just be some random carnage before the game played out.
- dragon cards... there were like a whole another deck of cards that can throw monkey wrenches into what you know your opponent's trying to do.
- it's such a great system and we ended up playing seven or eight games that night.
- I absolutely love the Napoleonic era, Napoleonic warfare.
- my number one Commands and Colors game of all time. That is Memoir 44 with the Overlord expansion.