Commands & Colors: Napoleonics

The Commands & Colors games are relatively simple, two-player wargames. As you'd expect, the players have units (wooden blocks) to manoeuvre on the battlefield (the board, laid with tiles to show terrain). However, at the heart of the game are the players' hands of cards. These provide the players with tactical options while also constraining them – you may have an attacking opportunity on the left flank, but without the right cards, it's wasted.

This may sound artificial, but it is a brilliant way of simulating the way commands go astray, commanders make mistakes and units head in the wrong direction (think Charge of the Light Brigade). Instead of having a God-like oversight of the battlefield, players are reduced to mere mortals, fumbling to get the right forces in the right place at the right time.

The key to victory in Commands & Colors: Napoleonics is, of course, combining infantry, cavalry and artillery effectively – the challenge facing Generals of the period. The game provides national military units, the rules to make the game work and 15 scenarios that re-create battles of the Napoleonic Wars. The base game focuses on the Peninsular War when Wellington's British troops and their Portuguese allies took on the French army. The expansions add other nations' armies and new scenarios covering other parts of the Napoleonic Wars, while the CDG Solo System provides a clever way of playing solitaire.

I really like the way the game captures the flavour of warfare in this period, while remaining accessible to casual players and playing in a sensible length of time. Great stuff!

Having considered a different structure for these games, GMT have now (July 2026) confirmed that a sixth printing is in the works. My estimate is that this will be available early in 2027.

For 2 players, aged 12+, playing time 60-90 minutes (depending on scenario)

Commands & Colors: Napoleonics and the expansions were designed by Richard Borg and are published by GMT.

Find out more:
    Commands & Colors: Napoleonics on BoardGameGeek
    Pevans's review of Commands & Colors: Napoleonics