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After trying out a chase in SFB, Patch and I moved back to a round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. We’re in Spartacus’ rebellion, this time with a defeat of part of Crassus’ army under Mummius from Expansion #2. The Roman army is concentrated in the center, and there’s three camps on the barbarian side; taking two of them is worth a banner.

Patch had the Romans first, and started with Order Four Right (pity there’s only three units there), with each of us losing two blocks, and Patch’s LC losing another on a retreat. I Ordered Three Left to push the remaining units back with another two losses. Move-Fire-Move let him redeploy, but he couldn’t get any hits, and I Ordered Three Center to cause one loss with missile fire. Patch did a Line Command in the center to drive off my LC with losses. I Out Flanked, driving Patch to the baseline, and he lost a leader, but he finished off the Warrior that was weakened at the start.

Another Line Command brought Patch up to the camps in the center, where he weakened my Auxilia, and did a block to a Medium with ranged fire, at a cost of two blocks to a Medium. I Ordered Three Right to come in on the flank of the advancing Romans, knocking out a Medium, but taking two blocks in the process. Inspired Center Leadership let Patch react, knocking out two Mediums, and killing Spartacus as he was forced to evade through a Roman unit, while I did four blocks back. Order One (Leadership Any Section—I only had one leader) let me finish off a MC, but momentum only let me force his Auxilia to retreat to the baseline. Leadership Any Section let Patch finish off my weak Auxilia in the center. 3-5

In the second game, I led with Double Time to get at the camp in a hurry, and took two losses while severely depleting the two LS in the camps. Patch hit me in the flank with Leadership any Section, knocking out two Mediums and nearly destroying another, while taking three blocks in return. I closed up with Order Four Center which saw me take another two hits, but knock out a Medium, LS, and kill Spartacus. Patch Out Flanked to force a weak Medium to retreat, while I forced a Warrior to retreat in the center, while on my right we traded three blocks. Line Command let me advance in the center and finish off two units. 5-2

Afterword

Both games saw very bad Roman starts suddenly turn around for a quick victory. In the first game, I concentrated on the weak flanks, and they were pretty much gone when Patch rolled up the center for a win. The second time, my quick march into contact in the center went very wrong, but Patch couldn’t hold out when I kept the pressure up. Also, this is the first time we’ve a leader be the first casualty of the game.

It’s a fun quick scenario. Five banners is always fast, and the units are close enough that there’s not a lot of time spent trying to get into range. The Roman four-card hand is a real problem, but if they get the cards (and dice) they have what they need to win here.