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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.

After Getting Out of Hatten, Patch and I did our usual between games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. Up this time was the Battle of Bibracte, the earliest scenario in Julius Caesar’s career. The Helvetii have a force of Auxilia and Warriors, while the Romans have a mix of Auxilia and Mediums, with two Heavies, and one HWM. The Romans are largely on hills, and both sides have two camp hexes that can be looted for a banner, though the Roman ones have Auxilia permanently stationed in them.

I had the Helvetii first, and led with Order Three Left to move up the detached flank a bit, with the woods interfering, and ran off a MC with one loss. Patch Ordered Four Right forcing my Warriors to retreat, and doing a block to another with the HWM. I Ordered Two Center to chase off a LB, and Patch advanced the Heavies with his own Order Two Center. I Double Timed to get two Warriors in contact on my left-center and destroyed the HWM, and advanced a Warrior onto the hills, trading blocks with a Medium, and then retreating.

Patch Ordered Two Right to close up his line, and I Ordered Lights, doing no damage, but getting my left and center into better shape. Patch Ordered Two Right again, forcing my weak Warrior unit to retreat. I Ordered Mediums to bring reserves up in the same area, trading blocks with a Light. Patch Ordered Two Left, but didn’t do more than rework his flank, while my Order Four Left let me kill a Light and get back on the hill, also doing a block to a MC in return for one hit. Patch used Leadership Any Section to attack with his right, destroying my Warriors, and doing two blocks to an Auxilia, taking one block in return.

I got around his leader-Medium with Leadership Any Section, finishing off a MC and Medium and doing two blocks to an Auxilia, while taking two hits on a MC, and one on a Warrior. Patch used Leadership Any Section for his isolated Auxilia, and finished off my MC. Order Three Center did two ranged hits to a LB, and Patch tightened up his line with Move-Fire-Move, getting one hit each on a Warrior and Auxilia. Mounted Charge got my remaining MC up, and I lost one while taking a hit on the other, but did two blocks to a Heavy, and one to an Auxilia. Patch Rallied to bring his Heavy and a Medium up to full, and recover a block on the Auxilia, and then knocked out my Auxilia. I reformed with Order Two Center, and Patch used Line Command to come into contact, and shuffle the rest of the line towards where all of the action was. I lost two Auxilia, but finished off one of his, and killed a leader. I rushed in with Inspired Center Leadership, did three hits and a banner to a Medium, used momentum to attack again (uphill), and got the final hit. 7-6

Patch Ordered Two Left to start the second game, and I Ordered Two Center to pick off a block with ranged fire, and Patch got closer with a Line Command. I used my Line Command to come down off the hills, and did another block with ranged fire. Patch launched a Coordinated Attack, but did no damage, and I Double Timed to get both Heavies into contact, and took three blocks across two units, but wiped out a Warrior and Auxiliary. Patch used Leadership Any Section to hit back in the center, knocking out a weak Heavy, and a block on another, but I did three blocks to two units in return, and forced two units to retreat, leaving Ceasar alone with the Heavy in nearly the exact middle of the map.

Out Flanked let my Mediums engage, and took two hits on one, but knocked out a Warrior and Auxilia. Patch Ordered Mediums to finish off the weak Medium, and do three hits to two others, but had two Warriors take nasty hits and retreat, as well as losing one outright, and a MC retreated off the board. Mounted Charge moved my MCs up, and I knocked out another MC. 7-2

Afterword

This is a heavily pro-Roman scenario, where they have good troops, bolstered by the Julian Legions rule, and Ceasar adds a die to the unit he’s leading (6 dice heavies!), and it’s 6 cards to four. However, Patch had a poor hand in the first game, and I was just able to keep going in the area around the right/center border and keep up pressure while doing well. In the second game, I just out-and-out diced him (his sixth unit loss was to a roll of four swords).

Still, the hills and the HWM add some nice interest, and that woods separating the barbarian left flank makes their situation worse, though it can be used defensively if the Romans attack there.

After finishing off our carrier experiment, Patch and I went to our between-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. Up this time was Silarus, the final Sparticate scenario from Expansion #2, fighting against Crassus. Pompey is coming up from behind the slave army, so while they start in hills, any block loss from retreating off the board results in the unit being eliminated for them. (Not that it came up, but it’s a nice idea.) There’s also Crassus’ camp on one side, which is worth a banner if the ex-slaves can occupy it.

I started the first game with Inspired Center Leadership to get the middle off the baseline, and into the hills. Patch Move-Fire-Moved to harass the flanks, and got two blocks as well as driving back a Light. I Double-Timed my left into his line, knocking out a Medium, and reducing a second to one block, taking three hits in return. Patch Counter-Attacked to shift the rest of his Mediums over, knocking out a fresh Warrior unit at the cost of retreating a Medium. I Ordered Three Center to hit the flank of that move, and forced another Medium to retreat, and did a block on momentum, but took three blocks in return.

Patch Ordered Mediums, and finished off two Warriors, but not before a First Strike did three blocks, and then an Auxilia and MC traded blocks. I Ordered Three Left and finished off a Medium then forced a MC to flee the field (three banners) and finished off another Medium with momentum. Patch Ordered Mediums again to finish of an Auxilia and do a ranged hit on a Warrior. Coordinated Attack only traded one block each.

Line Command let Patch reorder his center a bit and do three ranged hits from his line at the wall and finish off the last Warrior unit. I started forward on the other flank with Order Three Right, and Patch met them with another Line Command and eliminated a Medium in two attacks. 4-6

Patch led the second game with Order Three Left for no result, and I Ordered Lights to deploy my left a little better and force a Light to retreat. Patch then brought his center into line with Order Three Center and I Ordered One (Heavy) for no result, and Patch Ordered Three Right and forced a Light to retreat. I Ordered Two Left and forced a Light to evade, while Patch Out Flanked, forcing a Light to retreat from the wall.

I stepped forward with Line Command, which didn’t get me into contact, but allowed some ranged fire, and I got a block that way. Patch Ordered Three Left to regroup on that flank, and a second Line Command got me into contact across my left and center, but left me fighting uphill to do a block each to two Auxilia, and knock out a Medium to break his line, and I took one hit each on four units. Patch Counter Attacked with the left half of his line, taking out four Mediums, and only took five blocks in return.

Order Three Center did three blocks to a Warrior, but I took two each on three units doing it. Patch activated his right wing with Line Command, which lost me another two Mediums. 1-6

Afterword

I went in aggressive for both games and primarily paid for it with well-timed Counter Attacks from Patch. The second game certainly would have gone better without that, though assaulting hills is just a tough proposition. The first game saw a lot of dramatically big results from the dice, mostly for Patch.

The scenario is interesting, as the slave army has to worry about being too close to the back line, but staying in the hills is essential to dealing with all those Mediums.