Commands & Colors: Napoleonics Expansion: The Austrian Army

The Austrian expansion introduces the first faction-balanced expansion to the Commands & Colors: Napoleonics series. The Austrians have a lot of mass to their advantage - a whopping five blocks for their Line Infantry! However, they sacrifice firepower and movement speed when using Forced March and Bayonet Charge Command Cards. However, their role in the game is uniquely flexible. The use of Battalion Mass counters permits you to deploy your Line Infantry into square without giving up a Command Card. While historically accurate for Austrian units, some of the scenarios centered on skirmishes before the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) may still deploy units in Battalion Mass, even though the formation was not implemented until the extensive milotary reforms the Austrian Army underwent following the battle of Austerlitz and the end of the War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806). If you like historical accuracy, do not use the Battalion Mass rule in the Third Coalition scenarios. I personally admit that I do not play a lot of the Austrian scenarios, especially since the Austrians lack Guard units, but they are arguably the most balanced scenarios - Aspern and Essling being my two personal favorites. It is difficult to master playing as the Austrians. Due to their poor morale and limited movement, the Austrians, like the Russians, need to rely on timing, forcing the French to come after you, exploiting enemy weaknesses and terrain, and maximize your combat strength - and a few lucky rolls - to gain a significant advantage and better odds of victory. Overall, the Austrian Army expansion is a great addition to the series and introduces new challenges for players to master.

I like all of the commands & colors games. The only thing I have to change is the blocks to minatures . The games were not made to use minatures but for me it makes the game better. There isn't anything better than painted minatures to bring a game to life. It is very time consuming but when you are done it's great.

Good addition to the Napoleonics set.

Excellent expansion for a great game.

This is an expansion to the basic set. If you like Commands and Colors Napoleonics, then you will like this expansion. (C&C is a two player game played on a hexagonal grid. There is a bit of luck involved in that dice are rolled and cards are played, but both players need to move their forces wisely or you will lose. The rules are well written and easy to understand. The game is very playable but still captures some concepts of more involved Napoleonic war games such as infantry forming squares when attack by cavalry, and combined arms. This is a good game for anyone who ever wanted to play a serious wargame but didn't have time of money to invest in paining hundreds of miniature figures. This game could be used as a bridge to get you from basic boardgames to more advanced wargames.)

Great, now I gotta sticker it! But I can't wait to play it!