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After going on patrol, Patch and I went to our normal round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. This time was “Plain of Alsace” from Expansion 3. Germanics versus Caesar, with both sides about equal, but the Romans have Julian regions, Caesar, a second leader (the Germans just have Ariovistus), and two more cards.

Patch started the first game as the Romans with Order Four Right to get the Heavies into action and do one point ranged. I Ordered Lights to solidify my line. Patch Ordered Three Center to move his Mediums up, and Move-Fire-Move got me a hit on three different units. Patch used Line Command to get his right into contact and knocked out a Warrior, and did one block each to two others, with one evading, and the other retreating to the base line; but took three hits to a Medium in return.

Then I used Line Command to come into contact across the board, finishing off the Medium, destroying an Auxiliary, doing two damage to Caesar’s Heavy, three damage to an Auxiliary, and causing a lot of retreats, but I lost a Warrior outright. Patch Out Flanked, wiping out a Warrior, and trading blocks on other units. I Ordered Mediums, doing two hits to a LB, and an Auxilia, but whiffed on a one-block Auxilia, and took a few hits in return. Leadership Any Section let Caesar move into the center and destroy another Warrior. I Double-Timed into the center and my right, forcing a couple of retreats and finishing off a Medium. Patch used Leadership Any Section again, finished off a Warrior, did three blocks to another, and then finished him off, killing Ariovistus, after losing a three-block Medium. 4-7

I started the second game with Order Light Troops, doing one block to a Warrior. Patch Ordered Two Left, and did two blocks to an Auxiliary and took one in return. I Out Flanked and destroyed a weakened Warrior. Patch Ordered Three Right, forcing retreats with one loss. Order Two Left let me nearly knock out a Warrior with two banners. Line Command let his right move up and finish off an Aux, and then killed Crassus with a single hit on an evading MC.

Coordinated Attack did three hits across two units for no loss. A second Line Command re-engaged Patch’s right, doing four blocks across three units without me battling back. Order Mediums let me do some damage in the same area, killing Ariovistus on the second hit on a Warrior. Patch then Ordered Mediums to finish off a MC. I Counter Attacked to do a couple of individual hits and finish off an Auxiliary. Patch Ordered Three Right to finish off a Medium and do three hits to a second one. Inspired Right Leadership did nothing… except get Caesar ready to go into action.

Patch Ordered Lights to finish off an Auxiliary, and do two other blocks of damage, taking two in return. Leadership Any Section finished off an Auxiliary and forced a Warrior to retreat off board. Patch Ordered One (Mounted Charge) to finish off a Medium and do a block to an evading LB. Order Three Right got Caesar to the the Barbarian base line where he destroyed a Light and MC. 7-6

Afterword

Given the various Roman advantages, especially the hand size, I figured the Barbarians would be doing well to get more than a couple banners. But both of us had pretty good hands as the Barbarians, and did better than I expected. I might have done better with the Romans, but was holding my right hoping that Patch would finish off a one block Auxiliary and come into range of the Heavies. In the end, I pressed that just in time to wrap things up.

Overall, it’s a good scenario, and there’s plenty of tools (if not cards) on both sides. It is very cavalry light, with just three MC on each side. Losing the two leaders early in the second game was a big surprise, and cut down options.