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Patch and I played the Battle of Olpae from Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion #6 last night. The Spartans have a notably better force on-board, but the Athenians have four units and a leader who can pop out of the woods with the use of a Leadership card for any section other than Left (which has no trees).

I had the Athenians first, and led off with Leadership Any Section to hit him before he could move away, and knocked out a Light and a MH in return for two damage on an Aux.

It was downhill after that.

Patch counterattacked, and eliminated the weakened Aux, and later eliminated one of the ambushing MHs and reduced the other to two blocks at a cost of two hits on a Spartan MH. I moved my line up in two phases with an Order Light and Order Mounted, giving me a solid line, and doing one more damage to his MH in return for two hits on my cavalry. Patch responded with Mounted Charge to come in contact with my line. He finished off my two wounded units, and then picked on my Light who had picked up the leader from my ambush at the end of the line. He stood, since I had a Clash of Shields I planned to use, and Patch eliminated the unit and leader to win. 2-6

Patch led off his turn as the Athenians with Out Flanked, and moved up his right while getting two hits on the center of the main Spartan line with his bows. I burned an Order Heavy as an Order One to adjust my left, and Patch picked off the Aux there at a cost of two hits.

I then Double Timed to bring my main (right) line in contact with Patch, and forced one unit back with no losses, and eliminated his leader-led MH at a cost of an Allied MH and three hits on another. Patch Ordered Three Right to eliminate that last unit and force back my Lights. Patch then hit the last unit from my advance on both sides with a Mounted Charge (Patch always gets that card in these hoplite battles), but he retreated with two losses.

I then Counter Attacked to move up my three Spartan MHs, and killed an MH at a cost of three blocks. Patch Ordered Mounted to finish off the Aux and do a block to one of the Spartan MHs. I used I Am Spartacus (hmm, forgot to reshuffle) to move up the Spartan MHs again and have my slingers try to disrupt what was left of his flank (rolled a Hvy (useless), Med, Light, and two wild). I killed an MH and forced units back, scattering his remaining line.

Patch used Line Command for… one unit, and reduced my center (leader-led) Spartan MH to one block in return for two damage. I used Clash of Shields to continue that fight, but only caused him to retreat after reducing to one block. Patch Move-Fire-Moved to tighten up his units, but did no damage; I Ordered One [Heavy] to bring the far flank up and drive off his Lights.

Patch then did another one-unit Line Command to face off the two one-block MHs and eliminated mine, driving off Euylochus. He then Momentum Attacked to get four hits on one of the surviving MHs. 3-6

Afterword: It’s a pretty brutal fight for the Athenians if they can’t get their Ambush off (Patch only saw a single Left Leadership card all game), but the dice liked Patch past the first turn of the first game. The disastrous result of the Double Time is what really broke me in the second game, though the Spartan MHs nearly did the job on their own.