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After Patch retook Hill 772, we went back to an interstitial Commands & Colors: Ancients game. Up this time was River Sabis from Expansion #2. Caesar gets ambushed by a Belgic tribe while setting up camp. The Romans are a bit scattered, but otherwise in good shape, lots of terrain, and both sides have a camp hex that can be captured for a banner.

I had the Belgics first and started with Order Lights to do a hit to a LB. Patch Ordered Four Left to get the 10th Legion into the river and force a MC to retreat and lose a block. Line Command got my forces into the river, and forced three units to retreat but did no blocks while taking two on an Auxiliary. Patch used Leadership on his left to do a hit to a Warrior. I had Leadership in the center to get across the river and force the HWM to retreat and do a block to a Medium while losing two on a Warrior. Double Time took Patch into my right flank, wiped out a Warrior, did a hit to an Auxiliary, and took my camp.

I hit back with Inspired Right Leadership, and did a block to a LB and three to a Heavy, while losing four blocks across a Warrior and MC in return. Patch Ordered Two Left to protect the weak Heavy, and forced my Auxiliary to retreat. Order Three Center let me do one block to a Medium. Patch declared I Am Spartacus to order four units and do a hit to an Auxiliary, and force a weak one to rout off the board. I Ordered Two Center for a hit on the HWM and one on a Medium. Patch Ordered Lights to do a block to Lights and force a MC to rout. Order Two Center let me finish off the HWM. Patch Ordered Two Center to force an Auxilia to retreat. I Out Flanked to move up my left a little, destroy the weak Heavy, and do two blocks to the other while losing a Warrior and two blocks off another. Patch Out Flanked to finish off a Warrior and MC and force a leader to evade off-map.

Inspired Left leadership got me into the river with a couple units, but that was it. Patch Ordered Four Center to do a hit each to a Light, Warrior, and Auxilia, but took two hits each on a pair or Mediums in return. Inspired Center Leadership got more forces into the river, and I finished off one of the Mediums. A Coordinated Attack from Patch finished off an Auxilia. 3-8

For the second round, Patch led with Mounted Charge to destroy an Auxilia and MC on my left. I used Clash of Shields to take out a MC and do a block to another. Two Left brought Patch up and Inspired Center Leadership solidified my line while the HWM picked off a Warrior block. Coordinated Attack did a block to a LB, Order Lights did a block to a Warrior. Counter Attack brought Patch up to the river but did no damage, and Order Mediums pressed my line forward and I did a hit to a Warrior, but lost two blocks on a MC. Patch Ordered Lights to finish off the MC and do a block to a Medium.

Line Command put nearly everything in the river, and I did a hit to a Warrior, a hit to an Auxiliary, a hit on a Light, and knocked out an Auxiliary. But I took three blocks damage across two Mediums. Patch used Line Command on three units to finish off a Medium and kill a leader, while forcing another to retreat. Order Mediums saw part of my line out of the river (and to the woods), but I only did one hit to an Auxiliary, and took four hits on three Mediums in return.

Patch used Line Command on a six-unit group to do two hits on a Heavy, and two hits to Caesar’s Medium, but lost four blocks on two Warriors in return. I Ordered Three Center to destroy an Auxilia and lose my weak Medium to a First Strike. Patch Ordered Two Center to finish off a Medium, taking two hits on a Warrior in the process. I Am Spartacus ordered six units to finish off four Warriors. Patch Ordered Two Left, but we just traded one block each. I Ordered Three Right and lost two blocks to one. Patch Doubled Timed (not actually moving…) to finish off a Medium. 7-8

Afterword

Generally speaking, this is the type of terrain you almost never see in these scenarios. That makes it recommended right there. The armies are fairly well matched as well, but the Belgics are at the mercy of a four-card hand. Frankly, I had more hand problems with six cards as the Romans. I would have dearly loved to hang on to Clash of Shields until the inevitable river fight, but nothing else in my beginning hand would do anything.

The four units in one turn with Spartacus was very satisfying (along with attacking uphill with four dice thanks to card and Caesar bonus), but I had a lot of bad luck during both games. Patch’s dice were fairly average, though we both started the first game with a lot of banners. After that, I could roll any color I wasn’t attacking and very little else.