Well, I've Got The Time, Haven't I?

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A few years back, an acquaintance of mine, well a friend really, friend on Facebook but some of those become the "real deal" over time if you share common interests. We did, he is a student of the Napoleonic Wars, as am I. He posted some pictures on Facebook of this game he was playing with a friend of his, out Chicago way.

He posted a few times with pictures and commentary as to how much they enjoyed the game. I was intrigued, so I looked into it. It's a game system really, as I discovered when I ordered it. You really only need the very first module to enjoy the game, which is probably what most people do.

I ain't "most people."

The game is Commands & Colors: Napoleonics by GMT Games. It's colorful, it's fun, and it satisfies my need for really great visuals. But, being as how I wanted the entire set, the original and all the expansions ...

I have a lot of work ahead of me. The game uses painted wooden blocks with stickers on them to represent the various units of the Napoleonic Wars ...

OAFS Photo

The gray blocks are units of the Prussian Army waiting for their stickers to be applied ...

OAFS Photo

A closer look at the stickers, which are applied front and back to those wee wooden blocks.

OAFS Photo

I've finished the units in the first module, which are the British, Portuguese, and French armies (each expansion adds more units to the various armies, the Highland regiments of the British Army didn't show up until the final expansion kit, yup, irked me that did). I've also completed the Spanish, Russian, and Austrian expansion kits. I'm working on the Prussian Army now.

Three of the expansion kits add various bells and whistles, they also add the capability of fighting larger battles where you can have multiple human players on either side.

I waited until I had everything before starting to work on putting it all together, I like knowing that I have everything there is. Bit of a quirk of mine, dontcha know.

Doing the wooden blocks and stickers is easier than the alternative ...

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But I've got those too, multiple boxes of small scale (13.5 mm figures) covering the American Civil War, the American Revolution, and (of course) the Napoleonic Wars. I optimistically bought paint sets for the French and British figures, knowing full well that if I paint even twenty figures I'd be lucky. But you never know ...

After all, I've got the time, these hobbies help fill that time.

Hopefully the grandkids will appreciate this stuff someday!