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So after our deep-space excursion, Patch and I were back for the second Pyrrhic battle, Asculum, from Expansion #1 of Commands & Colors: Ancients at the beginning of September It’s about the same mix as last time, but this time, both sides are pretty much back against their base lines, and the Romans only get four cards to Pyrrhus’ six (but they do go first). A unique twist is that while both sides get to leaders, they do not have a fixed set up; instead, you draw your initial hand, and then place them with whatever units you want.

I had Pyrrhus the first time, and put my commanders at the right end of my Heavies, and with my left MC, while Patch put his at either end of his center. Patch started with a Line Command to move up, and I Ordered Two Left to move into skirmish range. Patch moved the flanks up with Out Flanked, and I used Move-Fire-Move, with hot dice to do three blocks to a Light, and forced another one to retreat. Patch mostly stayed in place while Ordering Lights, and caused a LB to retreat after losing a block. I used Move-Fire-Move again to move them back, and did two blocks to a Medium while forcing the wounded Light to retreat. Patch drove a LC with Order Three Left, and then Darken the Sky did a block and a banner to a Light and forced his wounded Medium to retreat. Order Two Left allowed him to engage my LB, who evaded back to the baseline.

I moved up with a Line Command, and Patch used Leadership Any Section to bring his left flank forward. Inspired Left Leadership brought my left up, and my Warriors (first time we’ve seen those in ages) charged in with a MC, knocking out an Aux while taking two blocks on the Warriors. Order Four Center brought most of his Mediums into contact, but only did three blocks across two Heavies while taking seven blocks across three Mediums. Inspired Center Leadership reorganized things a bit, and I finished off all three Mediums for no losses. A Coordinated Attack let him finish off a weak Heavy, and force a LB to evade, while assembling a better line in the center, but momentum advance with his Heavy did a block to me in return for taking two and retreating back to his line.

Order Mediums put our centers into contact, while on my right a pair of MC traded a block each. The center went horrible, doing two blocks to an Aux, who wiped out a MC and did another block to my Warriors. Order Two Center let him wipe out a Medium and finish off the Warriors at no cost. Order Heavies brought up my Elephants, who finished off a MC, while I did three blocks and a banner to an unsupported Heavy. Patch Ordered Three Center to finish off my Heavy and do two blocks and a banner to a Medium. He then used Momentum to chase it down and finish it off. 5-6

For the second go, I had the Romans, with only four cards. But led with one of three Line Commands after putting one leader on the right Heavy and the other near the left end of the main line. Patch put a leader with the Warriors, and the other at the right end of the Heavies, which moved up with an Order Two Center. Out Flanked (my fourth beginning card) got me to skirmish range while the MC moved up. Patch Ordered Three Left for our MC to trade blocks (and his took a banner to retreat to the baseline), and I Ordered Two Right to do a block to a LC while it evaded to the baseline. Patch Ordered Four Left to cut off my MC who died on a banner, while a Light evaded back to my line. A second Line Command got me closer, and ranged fire did a block to his Warriors. Patch Ordered Two Left to reorganize a little, and Inspired Right Leadership moved me up a little and let me do a block to a MC with ranged combat.

Patch Double Timed his heavies into my line, knocking out a Medium (five hits on his third try… a bit late) and doing two blocks to another, but lost a Medium block and three Heavy blocks, and had to retreat three units. My third Line Command let me wrap around his intact Heavy, and I knocked it out with two attacks, taking no damage myself. Patch Rallied, rebuilding two Heavies to full strength, who then came in and knocked out a weak Medium, reduced another to a block, and took no damage himself. I Ordered Three Center, and came up to the end of his line, and moved a leader who had just lost his unit to a new Heavy, and wiped out Patch’s second Heavy.

Patch Out Flanked, but his MC muffed a roll against a 1-block Medium who did two blocks and forced them to retreat back to the baseline. His Warriors did two blocks to an Aux, who did two blocks back, wiping them out, and then Patch lost the leader with them. Leadership Any Section moved my right up, and I forced his LB to evade, and finished off his 1-block MC. Patch Ordered Heavies, finishing off my weak Medium, and doing a block to an evading Light. I Ordered Three Center to move a solid core up and take out a Medium. 6-4

Afterword

The first game started with some punishing hot dice from me, especially on archery, and I dominated the initial exchange of blows. But one bad turn cost me three good units and put Patch into reach of a win, which he got two turns later. However, both sides were completely smashed with no semblance of a line left.

In the second, an amazing initial draw continued with more good cards which kept me in motion, and concentrated on the center. I despaired a bit when Patch pulled out that Rally, as I didn’t want to fight fresh Heavies all over again, but I got lucky with one of them, and advanced past the other.

Both Heraclea and Asculum live up to the promise of ‘Pyrrhic Battles’, as generally speaking even the victor will be fairly smashed up. My win here as the Romans is probably the best shape I was in at the end of any of the four matches. The Romans won both times for Asculum, but they were accompanied by a heavy dose of good luck.

After our short firefight in the snow, Patch and I did our usual between-games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients in the first two weeks of April. This time was Ipsus from Expansion #1. This is basically the end of the Successors, as after this, Antigonus is dead, and so is the dream of reuniting Alexander’s empire. Both sides start far back, and have a mix of unit types, though Seleucus has four units of elephants, two heavy chariots, and a heavy cavalry, leading to a very heavy mounted arm. Seleucus also gets an extra card, though Antigonus goes first.

I had Antigonus the first time, and started with Order Two Right to bring up some lights and did a block to a HCH. Patch ordered his center forward, and I moved forward with Order Mediums, and Patch engaged with Order Three Left, forcing me back. Coordinated Attack allowed me to finish off the HCH, and force a LB back, while bringing up other units. Patch Ordered Two Left, causing a hit on my MC (from a blocked retreat), and two on my LB, in return for one block on his HC. Out Flanked did three hits to a Light, in return for a hit on my HC.

Order Lights let Patch get units into range, but he couldn’t do damage at range. I straightened my line with Left Leadership, and Patch Ordered Three Right to do two hits to a LB as it evaded. I used Mounted Charge, but both of my Elephants did nothing (but at least took nothing in return). On my right, I killed Antiochus, and then finished off the HC he was with, and finished off two LC at a cost of one block on my HC. Patch came back with Order Two Left to finish off my MC, and drive off my HC.

I Double Timed my center into contact, and did three blocks to a Aux and two to a Heavy, at a cost of two hits on a Medium. Patch used Order Heavies to get all his center Heavies into action, and a HCH and Elephant on his right. His Elephant did a block and banner to mine, who hit his on the Rampage; he hit it again on Momentum, didn’t get a hit, the battle back forced him to retreat, and the Rampage finished off my Elephant. He did two blocks to a Med, but lost his HCH in return, while finishing off a different Med and we traded two blocks apiece on Heavies. Inspired Center Leadership kept my center in motion, and my Elephants there finished off two wounded heavies. 8-3

Patch started the second game with Out Flanked to move units up, and I Ordered Two Right to do three blocks to a LB. Patch Ordered Mediums, getting one MC into contact, who did nothing, and took a hit and a banner. I Out Flanked, and did two blocks to a MC forced to retreat from missile fire. Line Command activated most of Patch’s army, but only one flank got into contact, where my HCH traded a block with a Light. I Ordered Four Right, and brought a few units up, while forcing his wounded Lights out of line.

Patch Ordered Mediums, but only did one block to a HC, while I forced a MC back, and finished off another. I used Leadership on my right, and lost a HCH and Elephant for no more than a block each to a pair of Mediums. Patch Ordered Two Right and did two blocks to a LC in return for a block on a HC. I Ordered Four Left and finished off his HC while forcing his MC to retreat. Order Lights only got me a single hit on a Medium; Patch Rallied, and got that block back, but nothing else, but did three blocks to a Heavy, in return for taking two.

I Ordered Three Right, and knocked out two Mediums and a Light. Patch brought up a couple units, but didn’t get any hits, and I used a Line Command to move up much of my army, and picked off an Elephant and did a block to a Heavy with archery. Patch engaged with Inspired Center Leadership, doing two blocks to an Aux, and finishing off my Heavy. I Counterattacked to bring the rest of my Heavies into the fight, destroying a Heavy, and doing three blocks to a Med, who retreated two hexes. Leadership Any Section got Patch’s remaining Heavies into action, which did three blocks to a a Heavy, and two to a Light at no cost. I used my own Leadership Any Section to reassemble the center, and ranged got a block each on a Light and Heavy, and then finished off the Heavy in Melee. 8-3

Afterword

It’s another demolition derby. This time, there’s a lot of heavies around, but with the armies starting away from each other, there’s plenty of opportunities for everything else to do their jobs. The first one ended somewhat suddenly on a Mounted Charge, that left Patch’s army pretty shattered. The second time… I had a bunch of ranged shots that did far more than they should have. That killed off a unit directly, and made killing the last couple a lot easier.

Another important break for me was killing Antiochus early in the first fight. If he hadn’t of died, the battle back would have eliminated my unit on helmet rolls that suddenly did nothing.

After finishing up Charging Chaumont, Patch and I did our usual between-things Command & Colors: Ancients scenario. This time was the Battle of Gabiene from Expansion #1. Another Successors battle = more elephants. This time, both sides have some, and the two armies are relatively even, with Eumenes having slightly better infantry (including the Silver Shields), three elephants to two, and Antigonus having more cavalry, an extra leader, and an extra card. The unusual bit is that Eumenes has a camp to his right rear, and Antigonus can get a banner for getting a unit into it.

I had Antigonus first, and started with Order Two Right, which brought a Light into range of his elephants for no effect. Patch countered with Three Left, and forced my Light back with a banner from ranged fire, and did a hit to my HC with his LBC. Coordinated Attack let me start ranged combat across the field for no effect. Patch Counterattacked to move all three Elephants before I could get any banners, though he only attacked (my center Light) with one of them for no effect. I Ordered Lights, and concentrated fire on his Elephants, and could only get one banner each on two Elephants. Order Three Center slammed two of the Elephants into my line. One forced my Elephants back two hexes, and then hit my Medium, who First Striked for one hit, and took two themselves; the other did two to an Aux who wiped out the Elephant.

Leadership any Section let me move my left around the surviving Elephant, eliminating it, and doing a ranged hit against his Light. Order Three Left moved his remaining Elephant to my line, who wiped out a Med (3 swords on the first roll), and did a hit on my Elephant on momentum, while the battle back did nothing, and he got a ranged hit on my Lights standing out in the middle. Not having much I could do about his Elephants, I called out I Am Spartacus to activate a Light and MC (and had three banners in the roll—pity this wasn’t Medieval), and did one hit to the Elephant with the Light, while the MC did two hits to an evading LBC. Patch Ordered Heavies, and the Elephant passed behind my line to hit a Heavy for three blocks, and I barely got him on the battle back, while my Lights evaded away from his HC.

I used Line Command to move up my entire center, and caused his HC to evade back to his line. Leadership Any Section moved up his HC, Aux, and Silver Shields, while his LBC did a block to my MC at range. His HC wiped out my Aux (three circles…) and then finished off my weak Heavy on momentum. Order Two Center allowed my Elephant to do a block to the HC as it evaded. Patch Ordered Lights to do another block to my MC at range, forced a LBC to my baseline, and forced a Light back to baseline, losing a block on two banners. I used Three Center to do a block to the Silver Shields, and force his HC to evade out of his line. Order Three Right caused me to evade a Light back, while he did a block to a Med, who did three blocks back, reducing both units to a block each.

Order Two Center let me take a shot at the Silver Shields to do a block, and then hit them with my Elephants to finish them off, and then do a block and banner to an Aux on momentum. Patch Ordered Four Right to reshuffle the line and press forward, knocking out a weak Med, forcing my MC to evade, and doing a block to an Aux, while taking one on battle back, while my forward Elephants were knocked out at range. Mounted Charge let me move forward, though half of them were too far away to engage the enemy, but my remaining Elephant unit knocked out a weak Aux, and then got a full-strength Heavy on momentum. My MC did a hit on his MC, and he accepted a banner instead of battling back, and momentum did three hits to an Aux.

Patch called I Am Spartacus to order a Heavy, HC, Med and MC (the last two on wildcards). The Heavy did two hits to my Elephants, while everything else moved into better positions. Out Flanked let me move up my right, but the left concentrated on Patch’s stranded Aux, and knocked him out. 7-6

For round two, Patch started with Order Two Right to move up his cavalry. I Ordered Two Left to bring my Elephants up to them, but did nothing as he evaded. Patch used Mounted Charge to get his Elephants all the way to my other Elephants, bring two units up to my forward Elephant, and his MC hit my line. This didn’t kill any units, but caused massive havoc, as he got a hit on one of my Elephants, and a banner on both of them. The rampage only caused one hit (to the Silver Shields), but the trample weakened four, while Patch took no damage. His MC did a hit to my HC, but took two blocks and a banner in return, while he did a hit to my forward Elephant which did a block to a HC on rampage and retreated back to my line. I used Move-Fire-Move to try and drive him off, and did a hit to a HC, and a banner to an Elephant, using the second move to move skirmishers up.

The Elephants moved up again as Patch played Order Two Center. The Silver Shields wiped out one with a First Strike, but the other wiped out a Heavy, but completely missed on momentum vs another Heavy, who killed them on battle back. Another Move-Fire-Move let me get lighter units out to the front, but did no damage. A second Mounted Charge from Patch let him get a LBC into the camp for a banner, and he picked off my MC plus Eumenes with a weak MC, who used momentum to attack the Silver Shields, who took no damage, and chased them off the board with three banners on battle back. Another MC picked off the left Elephant, and his HC did a block to evading LBC. On my right a MC wiped out an Aux, and then got the right Elephant on Momentum. 3-7

Afterword

The first battle took an hour and a half, and was a real slog the entire way. I compared getting rid of Patch’s Elephants to pulling teeth. The second round took about half an hour. I’m getting long-term concerned about how often the side that plays Mounted Charge is the side that wins. Back in the days of hoplite battles, I thought it was an artifact of a +1 die to most of the army for a turn, but it’s continued into the post-hoplite world. +1 die to mobile units is just really powerful, and really easy to use unless your cavalry is hopeless at melee (i.e., non-existent, or all lights).

Though I had problems in the second battle no matter what Patch did. My initial draw was two Move-Fire-Move, a couple of Order Lefts, and a First Strike. Not a really great hand, one one that was incapable of dealing with what Patch was doing. Thankfully, Elephant killing was a lot easier for me that time, or it could have been a shutout.

I thought about going after the camp during the middle of the first game, but was a little to busy to spare a LBC on one turn, and then it had to evade out of range.

At any rate, despite my collapse the second time, it’s another good scenario. With five Elephant units, they really dominate the thinking and action, but the rest of the line is far from unimportant with all the heavies and MC/HC running around.

After finishing up “Far From Home“, Patch and I did our usual scenario from Commands & Colors: Ancients at the beginning of June. Up this time was the Battle of the Hellespont, the first of the Successor battles from Expansion #1. Both sides have roughly equivalent armies, though deployment is different, and the big unusual part is that each leader eliminated reduces that side’s Command by one, and if either side loses both of its leaders it automatically loses the battle at that point.

I had Craterus first, and we both led off with Order Two Right, and moved up our flanks. I followed by moving up the center, and Patch used Order Lights to get into range, and did a block to a Heavy with archery. I Ordered Mediums to engage with my MC and did two blocks each to a MC and LC, but unfortunately took two blocks back on one, which retired back to where he started. Patch Out Flanked to chase the weak MC, and surround the other one. My weak MC finished off his counterpart, but was then eliminated by a second MC, and Neoptolemus evaded off the board to keep from being eliminated on a Momentum advance (since the special rule states that you loose a card/Command for each leader eliminated, we figured that did not count, but clarification would be nice). Instead they traded blocks with an Auxilia. On the other flank, Craterus lost his unit, but only after wiping out a MC, and then evaded back to his own lines.

I Ordered Light for no damage, but did force his right MC to evade away. Patch Coordinated Attack to bring back his damaged units, while I Ordered Three Right to solidify my line, and drove off a MC with a banner. Patch Ordered Four Center to bring up the heavier infantry, and I brought up my Heavies with Order Three Center. Patch Ordered Lights to get his LB out of the way, and did two more damage to the wounded Heavy with a lucky shot. Leadership Any Section brought up my right, and reduced two Auxilia and drove off his LC in exchange for one block. Patch Ordered Two Center to bring up a Heavy and finish off my unfortunate Heavy at range. Darken the Sky damaged a depleted Auxilia, and two one-block Auxes ended up retreating two hexes each from various banners.

Patch Double Timed his center into my main line, knocking out a Heavy, doing a block to another, and to a LB, and two to an Aux, and forced two of those to retreat, in exchange for one block. I Counterattacked to bring in my unengaged Mediums, and knocked out a Medium and forced an Aux to retreat at a cost of three blocks on two units. Patch had Leadership Any Section bring his center forward, and knocked out an Aux (sending Craterus fleeing to the baseline), and did a hit each on a Med and Heavy, in return for taking three hits on a Heavy. I used Clash of Shields to activate three units (I get to use it so rarely!) to finish off a Heavy and send other units fleeing with multiple banners. Patch announced I Am Spartacus to order a Medium and an Aux, who drove off a Light and a Heavy with one loss. I Ordered Three Center to get Craterus to a new unit, and did a block to an Aux at a cost of… three blocks to a Medium. Patch Ordered Three Center to finish off a Heavy. 4-6

Patch led off the second game with Order Two Left to get his Auxilia in motion, and I Ordered Lights to bring up my Auxes and do a hit to a MC with my LC. Patch Ordered Mediums to bring up his center Mediums, and force my LC back with his MC. Order Three Left did another block to his MC, and forced it back. Patch used Order Two Right to shift Craterus from the depleted MC to a Heavy, and I used Order Two Left in an attempt to finish off the MC, but couldn’t get any hits on six dice, and my MC retreated on banners. Order Four Right moved up his line a little, and he did a ranged hit on an Aux.

I moved my Heavies up in the center, and Patch reworked his left flank (including detaching Neoptolemus to shift to a Medium), and I brought my right flank up. Patch Ordered Two Left to force a MC back to the baseline, and I Out Flanked to bring it up again and knock out his MC, and do three blocks to an Aux, who did one in return, and I brought up a left MC that had retreated to the baseline there. Coordinated Attack let him move a Medium up, while his Aux struck back, and did another block to my MC, who then forced a two-hex retreat on the Aux. I shifted my center forward, and Patch did the same on his right. I Ordered Lights, and did a block each to two units with ranged combat.

Patch used Mounted Charge… on his one one-block MC to do two blocks to a Aux in return for being wiped out. I Counter Attacked and did a block to an Aux before forcing it back to the baseline on three banners, two blocks to another, who did two in return and forced the MC back, two blocks to a LB, killed a depleted Aux, and did a block to a Light that was forced to evade twice all the way to the baseline. Patch had Inspired Leadership to bring his Heavies forward, and did a block to a MC. I called out I Am Spartacus to order a Heavy, two MC, and a LC. The MC finished off the Light, and the LC took a block for no hits. Patch used Line Command to get two Auxes, a Med, and a Heavy into contact with the rest of the Mediums and Heavies getting uncomfortably close. Neoptolemus’ Mediums one-shotted a full Aux and then did two to an Aux, who then went under to his Aux. The Heavies did two hits to an Aux, who retreated on a banner rather than take a follow up attack, which instead forced a MC to evade. Coordinated Attack allowed me to throw in a Medium and Heavy, and back off a LC to get room to fire, and did three hits to Craterus’ Heavies, and one to another, taking two in return. Order Four Center got all his good units involved to finish off a Heavy, and wipe out a Medium. Order Mediums got my cavalry in motion to work on his flanks, and brought up my remaining Medium. My attempt to get Craterus backfired, with no hits, and losing a MC, while two attacks got rid of Neoptolemus’ Medium at a cost of three blocks, and Momentum went after the Aux he evaded to, getting two blocks on it in exchange for one, and another attack did one more… but my MC was lost on battle back. 5-6

Afterword

You definitely have to be careful with this one, since each side only has two leaders, and losing one is especially bad here. And they start out on the flank MCs, which are a bit fragile. Craterus has the infantry to be effective, but Eumenes’ cavalry can easily decide things early. In fact, the second game was looking like a possible shutout until Patch suddenly turned things around. Some of that was die luck, but I was doing quite well with four MC, and that one-block Mounted Charge was just a gift to me.

I pretty much threw away the first game early by getting my MCs into trouble, and nearly losing both leaders at the start. I did well after that, but couldn’t make up for momentum I’d handed Patch.

Patch and I’s latest between-games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients continues through the career of Alexander the Great. This time the Battle of Jaxartes River from Expansion #1 was up. It’s unusual in several respects: First, the Scythian force is all cavalry, and almost all LC/LBC, with one MC mixed in. Second, Alexander has two heavy war machines, which took some reading up. It’s a river crossing scenario, and while the Macedonians have more and heavier units, the setup is heavily weighted towards their side of the board. As is usual, the Companions can ignore a banner and a sword hit, and Alexander adds a die to combat.

I had Alexander for the first play, and we started with ranged combat, which worked for Patch as a pair of banners chased one of my LC off the board, and then he got a hit on the Companions. I started deploying the center by moving up the Heavies, and Patch used Double Time to order one unit for ranged combat with no effect. I Ordered Three Left, and moved up a little, while getting a hit on a LC, and drove it back to his baseline, along with another one. Patch ordered one with Line Command to get a hit, and I Counterattacked to move the Heavies into the river and reshuffle almost everyone else. Ranged fire did two hits to a LC, a hit to another, and drove a third back to the base line. The Heavies did two hits to the MC, which did two to one Heavy in battle back.

Patch used Mounted Charge to swarm my crossing in the center, and did two hits to an Aux and a hit to the weak Heavy, but took a hit on a LC and lost the MC in return. I Counterattacked again to put my remaining cavalry into the river, driving off a weak LBC and doing two hits to the only unit still at the river on Patch’s left, but took another hit to the Companions in turn. Patch Ordered Three Center to pull back a weak LC, get Satraces up to a better LC, and try to pick off the weak Heavy, but merely took a hit himself. I used Order Mediums to get my MC out of the river and knock out two one-block units. Patch Ordered Three Center again, and this time picked off the Heavy, but lost a block when he tried to use Momentum as a follow up on the Aux. I Ordered Two Center to advance the remaining Heavy and the MC, which each picked off a one-block unit. 5-2

The second game started about the same as the first. My first play was Out Flanked, which chased a Macedonian LC off the board, did two hits to the Companions, and did a hit on the other flank. Patch used Coordinated Attack to drive off a LC and do a block to my MC (both with fire from the HWMs), while moving up a Heavy. I Ordered Light, and managed to chase off the LC on the other flank.

Patch used Line Command to move two units into the river, while shuffling the others. He did a block each to two LBC, and one LC, and did a second block to the MC, taking two blocks to a Light in return. I Rallied, getting my MC and the neighboring LC back to full strength, and I did another block to the Light, who evaded a second attack so I couldn’t finish them off. Patch Ordered Three Right to shuffle Alexander to an Aux, and retire the Companions behind his lines. I used Order Three Left to do a block to a HWM and drive it to the baseline, and do a block to some Slingers. Patch moved in with Order Lights, and did a hit and banner to a LBC, and then did two hits to the MC on an evade (would have knocked out the unit if I’d tried to stick to the river).

I Ordered Two Center to try to establish a line, and Patch Ordered Lights to knock out a LBC in that line, and do a block to a LC. I Ordered Two Right to do a block to a LB, and Patch had Inspired Center Leadership to get across the river, but didn’t do more than force a LC to evade. Leadership any Section let me move the line up a little, but I could only do one block to an Aux with ranged fire, and didn’t dare face Alex in close combat. Patch Double-Timed into my line, which eliminated two units from under Satraces, and forced off a LC. I Ordered Two Center to move the LC up a little, and send Satraces to join it, while Patch Move-Fire-Moved to eliminate a LC (three hits on three rolls), and do a hit to a LBC, while moving up a bit. I Ordered Three Right to force a Light to retreat, but that was it. Patch Ordered Heavies, and the HWM each forced a LBC to retreat, one of the losing a block. I Ordered Two Left to dash units back up to the river, hoping to get at the weaker units there, and did a block to a Slinger unit. Patch Ordered Two Center to get a Heavy in contact with a LBC at the board edge and eliminated it. 2-5

Afterword

Its a fun, fast moving battle, but it’s horribly lopsided. Once the Macedonians can get into action, there’s just not much all that light cavalry can do. The Scythians also have problems with a lot of dead cards. In the first game, I suffered from having a lot of ‘Order Two’ cards, and mostly was able to get going with a couple of Counter Attacks that were far more useful for me than Patch. Almost worse is the fact that the Scythians only have one leader, which adds to the ‘dead card’ problem. If the Sythians can survive the river crossing a bit better, the hills should help some, but with how broken up they are, the Macedonians should be able to just cut off units.