I've had this game since 2008 - and played it back then (4-5 games) until my friend moved away. Pulled it our for a weekly game night this month and ran across a problem. The guy I was playing with hadn't played in over a year. He tried to remember why? What was it with the game that he didn't like? He said it had something to do with the drawing of the left/right/middle cards. It had been so long since I'd played, I couldn't even remember drawing cards.

Halfway through our game, it hits both of us… yes, this sucks. Of your 4/5 cards, if you have all left, or middle, but need RIGHT cards, you're stuck.

Certainly someone had come up with some way around this? Has anyone else had frustration with this? Any homemade rules out there.

We had though of a 1-1 swap for cards from your hand with the deck - they may all not be what you want but better than junk… like a Darken the Skies if you have no Archers.

thx

You could try playing with a (slightly modified) line from the Epic ruleset; that is, have a shared "hand" that you play with. Set up a couple of the card holders on the side of the board, stick three command cards in them facing towards the board so everyone can see them, and you are allowed to play one of those cards instead of a card from your hand. Normal, common-sense rules apply (e.g. the person who plays the card is considered to be playing the card, when you draw a command card at the end of your turn it goes onto the shared hand and not into your hand, etc).

Let me know if you need more ideas but I think this might be a very simple and workable solution. Only other thing you can do by RAW is just burn a command card and hope you get something better by replenishing your hand afterward!

Isn't that just a bit of bad luck, rather than a serious problem with the game. I haven't played in a while, but I never really noticed it a major problem before. Not enough to think about solutions that is. Its probably better to spread out your units across the whole battle field and not to leave areas devoid of units I guess.

Martin, it certainly is a matter of perspective and playing preferences rather than an issue of the game being broken, by any stretch. I understand those who prefer modifying the rules to allow provisions for more options of ordering, but stand fast by the command system built into the cards. Making decisions that do not take ones hand composition into account, that just go by what will get the most die rolls that turn, etc., is not a wise strategy for success in this (or any) Commands and Colors game.

Using a slightly modified community deck as awayputurwpn suggested is one way to address the perceived drawback, but it tempers any command level differences that a particular scenario may be trying to impose.- as would any effort to change the command system of the game. Allowing 1-1 swaps at the end of the turn could work as well for players. Taking a turn to dump the entire hand (a meeting in the war tent?) is another way that has a relatively stiff penalty attached to it.