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Patch and I recently had our between-games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients, and this time we’ve hit Alexander the Great’s career with the Battle of Granicus from Expansion #1. Alexander has a river to cross to get at a fairly decent Persian army, but has a number of advantages. The Companions ignore one sword hit in combat, and can ignore a banner, while Alexander causes a unit to battle with one extra die. Meanwhile, the Persian leaders only allow helmet hits for the unit they’re attached to, instead of all adjacent units, and Leadership cards only order the unit they’re attached to. And, the Persians have four cards to Alexander’s six.

I had Alexander first, and opened with Order Light, to line up at the river a bit more, and caused two blocks of losses with archery, and drove two units of cavalry back. Patch used Order Mounted to pull the rest of his forward line back out of range, not contesting the river. I started crossing the river, and Patch Ordered Lights into archery range. I Ordered Three Right to charge into the lights before Patch could start getting hits, and did one block to a bow unit.

Patch counterattacked with Order Three Center, putting Spithridates and Rhoesaces into my strung-out units, doing three hits to an Auxilia, and taking one in return. Inspired Center Leadership got my left flank into the river, and an Order Three Right cost me a MC as Patch got a double-banner on it, and drove it off the board. We both inched or centers up, and then Order Lights from me did two hits on a LC from archery, and knocked out a MC while taking one block in return.

Patch then used Mounted Charge (“I failed to do this last turn, and lost a unit as a result”), and got behind Alexander. I used First Strike as he went for my 1-block Aux in the river, but only got one of two blocks, while he got the Aux and Ptolemy. Then he knocked out the Companions, and Alexander had to evade through the enemy line (I’ve known the rule, but never had to do that before), Momentum then took out two LC blocks in the river, but I finished off his LC when they joined in.

I used Line Command to get intact units across the river, as well as getting more into it. Patch then used a second Mounted Charge, which finished off my LC and killed Alexander. World history is in ruins. 2-6

Patch spent the first three turns lining everyone up along his bank of the river, while I moved units up from the base line. Then Patch used Line Command to get most of his line into the river, driving off two of my cavalry units, doing two blocks of damage, and taking one in return. I used Clash of Shields for the two MC still at the river, and drove back his Med and did damage to a Heavy, but took two hits on a MC in return. Patch used I Am Spartacus to order a Light, two Medium and two wild (Med and Heavy), and put his flank cavalry into the river as well as getting his Med back in, and knocked out both of my center MC, while taking two blocks himself.

I used my own Line Command to fill in my center, and Patch used Mounted Charge, and did two blocks to an Aux, who then drove the attacking MC back past the river, and Alexander wiped out a MC, and I decided to keep Mithridates on-board, but momentum caught up to him and killed him (did not think that through…). I used Move-Fire-Move to rework my line and drove Alexander back. Patch used Inspired Right Leadership to move his center across the river, and I used Darken the Sky, which got six hits on various units, and finished off a Heavy, while damaging the other one.

Patch Out Flanked, and drove off my LC (they stayed since it was a river and a one-block MC, but a banner kept me from battling back), and on the other flank his LC was driven off by a banner from my LC. We both spent a turn rearranging a bit, and then I Ordered Three Center to knock out an Aux and drive off another. Patch Ordered Four Right, but only took one hit for his trouble. I Coordinated Attack for no damage and Patch Ordered Two Left to knock out an Aux, and do a block to a LC on momentum.

Desperate, and out of better options, I Double Timed but failed to get a 1-block Aux and lost a full Med on battle back after two attempts on his Medium. 2-6

Afterword

I knew my initial charge over the river in the first game was chancy, but Patch had some really good luck in that one. The second game bogged down near the end as we both had problems. Patch had a bunch of reduced units scattered around and didn’t feel safe taking on my more intact army. But I was out of cards to maneuver with, and couldn’t find any good ways to finish them off.

The scenario is certainly interesting, with the split setup for the Persians, and the Granicus River really influences the battle. The hills never quite came into play, though both Patch and I used them as an anchor at some point.

After some delays, Patch and I finally did our usual round of Commands & Colors: Ancients, with the Battle of Crocus Plain from Expansion #1. It feels a little odd going into a hoplite scenario that hasn’t been re-done in Expansion #6; the Macedonians are post-Phillip’s reforms (and have some medium and heavy cavalry), but the Phocians should be the same hopiltes we’ve been dealing with for the last dozen+ scenarios. The Macedonians definitely have the advantage, with the Phocians with their back to the wall (or, the sea), and with a noticeably lighter force.

I had the Macedonians the first time, and led off with Order Two Right, sending my MC forward to force a light and LB to evade back to the sea. Patch Ordered Three Left and did a block and forced one of the MC to retreat with archery. I used Leadership Any Section for Philip to get the middle in motion, with a light getting into archery range. Patch Ordered Three Left again, doing a block to my light, and forcing the other MC back on a banner, but did no damage with his LC, who advanced into range of the wounded MC.

I Ordered Three Right to surround his LC, and wiped it out on the first try. Patch Ordered Three Left to pick off a block on the second MC, and on the light. He also got a banner on my HC, but the leader kept them forward. I Counter Attacked to bring my cavalry into contact with his flank, and knocked out a light unit, and reduced an auxilia to 1 block (after a First Strike that missed), while losing a MC.

Patch used Leadership Any Section to pull the Aux out and advance two mediums, and he did one block on my HC… which killed my leader! I Ordered Two Center to finally bring my heavies to bear, and reduced a medium to one block while forcing it back, and wiped out another while taking no damage. Patch used a Line Command purely to shuffle over, and re-form. I used Coordinated Attack to move part of my detached flank, and send my remaining MC into his reduced units. I knocked out a 1-block medium, and since the leader was already against the bay, he lost him too, and then the MC momentum attacked to knock out the auxilia. 6-2

Patch opened the second game with a Line Command, and I responded with Order Two Right, which did one block to his left light through archery. I had been waiting for Patch to get a little closer, but he Double Timed his heavies and mediums right into my center-right, knocking out an Aux, nearly getting two mediums, while only taking one block in return. I used Line Command to shuffle over to my right, and did three blocks to a heavy, while nearly losing a medium, and taking one block on another—losing a leader in the process!

Patch followed up with Order Two Center, taking out two damaged mediums, along with the second leader (back was to the sea again), and a momentum attack did three damage to a medium (which should have wiped it out; somehow I managed not to take the hit on the unit that lost the first leader, and we never noticed), and knocked out his one-block heavy in return. I Ordered Four Center to get off the coast, and after some failed archery attacked the remaining heavy with a two-block medium because it beat letting Patch roll first. I did no damage, and Patch finished off the medium. 1-6

Afterword

The fact that the Phocians can barely retreat at all really dominates the scenario. The Macedonians are heavier, and have an extra leader, but it shouldn’t be quite this lopsided. The main thing that got me in the first play is that I had no center cards to speak of, delaying the use of the Heavy Infantry for a bit. My leader losses (on intact units) in both games hurt too.

It was still fun, and very fast; both goes took about an hour total, which is really fast for a six-banner scenario. The Double Time in the second game really sped things up, and caught me while I was still trying to maneuver.

Patch and I’s latest round of Commands & Colors: Ancients depicts the Battle of Leuctra where the Theban commander massed all his best infantry on his left to face the elite Spartan units on that flank and smash them. The setup encourages this with the opposite wings being much further away from each other than the heavy flank. There’s a mix of units on both sides again, though the Thebans are light on Hoplites, with their left being composed of Heavies (with one of them ‘special’—acting as if they always have a leader), while the Spartans have their extra-big MH to oppose them.

I had the Thebans the first time, and spent the first couple moves Ordering Two Right to line up for an Inspired Right Leadership before realizing that my only leader was on the left. Meanwhile Patch used Move-Fire-Move to get his center deployed and Ordered Two Left to tighten up that flank. I then Double Timed my Heavies into the Spartan right and reduced an Aux to 1 block, Patch’s led MH to two blocks while doing a block to another, with two of my Heavies reduced to two blocks in return. Patch Ordered Medium and swarmed the Sacred Band (special) to wipe them out. I Double Timed on that flank again to rearrange my units and knocked out the wounded Aux, drove another one back after taking a block, reduced a full Spartan MH by three blocks and drove it back, and reduced the two wounded ones more, and in return had an Aux reduced to one block and driven off.

Patch Ordered Three Center to pick off my leader/Heavy, but only drove him back a hex with no losses. I Ordered Four Left continue pushing at the Spartan MH and pull my Aux further out of the way. I finally finished off one of the Spartan MH, did a block to another, and traded two blocks from my leader/Heavy with his Aux. Patch Ordered Three Center to hit my leader/Heavy again, knocking it out this time, but the leader evaded back to a full-strength Heavy. I used Coordinated Attack to bring up a couple units, and pick off two wounded units, getting his leader in the process. 5-2

Patch started the second game with Order Three Left to start moving up the heavy flank, and I Ordered Mediums to fill in the center and start picking on the heavies while the Theban leader was slightly behind. I picked off the Sacred Band in two combats, but couldn’t quite finish off the other heavy, and took five blocks across three units. Patch Ordered Lights to bring up units across his line, but got no results from ranged attacks. I Ordered Two Right to finish off a Heavy, and Patch Ordered Lights again, doing a block to a Spartan MH and a MC which was forced to flee to the baseline.

I used a Line Command for the entire right and center, and forced one of his MC back to the baseline with ranged combat, while picking off an Aux and reducing both of his remaining heavies to two blocks while he reduced two Spartan MH to one block. Patch Counterattacked for a two unit ‘line’ of his heavies which picked off my weak Spartans while reducing the last one to one block. My leader evaded to just off the end of the rest of my line and Leadership Any Section allowed me to move new units up while the leader attached himself to the center of the new line. I reduced a Heavy to one block, but it wiped out a full-strength Aux. Patch Ordered Three Center to bring up some MH and hit my new line with the MC, doing two blocks to another Aux, but a hit and two banners in return easily took care of the MC. I Out Flanked to start moving up the left while the remaining MH with support from the wounded Aux (and leader) to hit the remains of the Heavies and did a block to end the game. 5-3

Afterword

Both games gave me lots of tense moments since I was gambling my most effective units against ones about as good. The first game was more of demolition derby as almost nothing happened away from the engaged flank. The second game was a little more fluid, but only a little; it was still decided in the same place. With the wide gap on the setup of the opposite flank, this’ll almost always happen, though we were also constrained by our cards. If the first game hadn’t ended when it did, I was completely out of options on that flank.

There’s something about the five dice from Heavies that really inspires confidence, though the five-block Spartan MH can probably take it. On the other hand, the four dice of the Spartan MH doesn’t feel as potent.

Patch and I did our usual pair of Commands & Colors: Ancients games between bigger things recently. This time was the Battle of Cronium from the second bonus pack from GMT. Set during the Tyrany of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, it’s very different from the Greek/Spartan contests we’ve gotten used to lately. There’s no hoplites (possibly this should get an Ex6 update), but there is a wide variety of everything else. Both sides have light, medium, and heavy units in both infantry and cavalry, and both have a unit of Warriors, and the Carthaginians have a Heavy Chariot unit. There’s a lot of units, and the goal is seven banners, so its a pretty big scenario as well.

I had the Carthaginians in the first game, so Patch went first with Order Three Left. Both of us then used cards that could order units all over to bring things up and dress the line. I used Move-Fire-Move to move light units up, and got my LC into archery range before pulling them back a bit, but did no damage. Patch used Coordinated Attack to move forward two Heavies, and got a LB into range who then did a block to an Aux on his first die roll. I used a second Move-Fire-Move to do a block to a Heavy, and forced his LB to retreat, taking a block in the process. Patch moved forward with a Line Command, burying his LB behind the rest of his line in the process. I then Darkened the Sky to do two more blocks to the same Heavy, a block to another Heavy, and two hits to a Medium.

Our armies finally came into contact as Patch Ordered Four Left, wiping out a Light and reducing a Heavy to two blocks, while I was only able to take a block off a Warrior and force them to retreat. I Ordered Four Right in turn, knocking out the weak Heavy and forcing his LS to evade out of line. Patch continued with Order Three Left, doing a block to my HCH who forced his MC back to the baseline in turn. He also did two blocks to an Aux, but they did two in return to his Warriors. And I continued the action with an Order Three Right, finally getting my leader on that flank in play, but my weakened heavies muffed their roll, and were wiped out by battle back from the Syracusan Warriors. The Leader-led Heavy forced an Aux to take a block and retreat, and used Momentum to finally knock out the Warriors. Patch used Order Lights to order two of his remaining four units on the flank, and moved his LB over there. An attempt on my HCH backfired with them wiping out a LC, but then they were eliminated by the LB. While his Aux did two damage to my remaining Heavy, they in turn the Aux out, forcing his leader to run back to the MC still on the baseline (and that leader’s third change of command). On his right, he did two blocks to my LC, who forced one of his to run back to the baseline. I continued the main confrontation with Order Two Right to use my LC to pick on his LS, but but while I forced an evade to the baseline on the first, the only damage from the second battle was a hit to my LC.

Patch used Out Flanked to continue switching the action to both flanks. He knocked out the Heavy and the Aux left on my Right, forcing my leader to run towards the baseline alone, but couldn’t finish off the wounded LC on the other flank. I used Order Three Right to move the leader up the remaining center line, and my LC made another attempt to knock out units, but only managed to take a banner in battle back with one of them. Patch Ordered Mediums to make his center active, and did two hits to my newly-led Aux, and forced them back two hexes, though they did do a hit to a Medium in the first combat. I then used Double Time to get most of the center in action, forcing his MC to evade, and knocking out two Mediums, while one of my units was forced back a hex. Patch then mopped up with Mounted Charge, knocking out my weak LC, and then using momentum to take out my HC. 7-6

In contrast to the first game, when I started as Syracuse I had no Left Flank cards in my hand at all, started with Order Four Center and took a pot shot at his HCH to no effect. Patch Ordered Lights to start bringing up units, and picked on my LC with his to no effect. I Ordered Four Right to do a block to his LC (they evaded in the face of Heavies, and then lost a block to a banner from archery). Patch moved up with Order Three Left, and I did the same with Order Two Center. Patch Ordered Two Left, and did a block to my LC as they evaded. I used Line Command to bring up everything other than my left flank, but scattered archery had no effect; Patch Ordered Two Center with similar results.

I Ordered Three Center to finally get us in contact, and knocked out an Aux in return for taking two blocks. Patch used Coordinated Attack to dress his line a bit, and I Ordered Mediums; on the right, we traded three blocks each on Mediums, and Patch knocked out my weakened Medium in the center with a First Strike. Patch Ordered Two Left to knock out the weak Medium and do a block to the Heavy next in line. I Ordered Three Right and knocked out his weak Medium, and on momentum did two blocks to his Warriors, who also lost a third block on a two-banner retreat. Patch Out Flanked me, and got his leader up to his HC to knock my HC down to a block and force it to retreat, using momentum to take my Heavies down to a block and force them to retreat. I used Leadership Any Section to move up the remaining right flank, and made his LS and HC evade away.

Patch then did a Mounted Charge, which allowed his HC to finish off my Heavies and HC on my right, and did a block to my Warriors on my left by making them retreat, and did two blocks to my remaining Heavy in the center, though they then knocked out his HCH. I Ordered Light to drive off his HC and do a block to a LC with archery. Patch Double Timed to bring parts of his right flank up the rest of his line, while I used Inspired Left Leadership to finally get that flank in motion, and drove off his LC, though I couldn’t do any damage, and I lost mine on a two-banner battle back. Patch used Line Command to move his entire center and knocked out my heavies, killing Dionysius for the win. 3-7

Afterword

With the variety of units all mixed together, this is a much more chaotic battle than most, and the lopsidedness of where the action happened only added to it. The first game had us trading units constantly after a slow start, and I thought I had it until that Mounted Charge. The second game was much more uncertain, though we started trading ranged attacks a lot earlier, but again, Mounted Charge came up for Patch, and smashed me. I had plenty of things I could do after that, but I just couldn’t get the time for them. Especially for moving my left flank up which had been abandoned by the cards for most of the game. Interestingly, we were both holding a Counterattack at the end of the first game.

After going a couple rounds in Up Front, Patch and I went back to Commands & Colors: Ancients for a quick pair of games. This time was the Battle of Coronea from Expansion #6 (and as a part two of Anabasis). Unusually for this period, the Greek army has three Heavy units, while the Spartans (the 10,000) have two units of ‘Veteran’ Spartan MH that get an extra die as long as they’re in command range of Herippidas. The lines start relatively close, and there’s two hexes of fortified camps behind the Spartan left, which the Greeks can loot to gain banners. Also, this fight goes to eight banners, promising a long, hard fight.

I had the Greeks the first time, and started with Order Light Troops, close a gap in the center of my line and bring my flanks into archery range. Patch Ordered Three Left, doing one block of damage, and taking one each on two units in return. I Ordered Three Left to bring up a leader who was behind the line without being attached and move up some of my hoplites, before doing a Line Command. That brought most of my heavies in contact on my right, but I refused to come into contact on my left as his line was much heavier there. I knocked out an Aux, and picked off another block.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring the entire center into contact, and wiped out a Heavy with attached leader, while breaking up my hoplites, doing two blocks to one, three blocks to another while driving it back a hex, and one block to a third, which also retreated three hexes. In return, he two two blocks to a MH, three to another, and three blocks to one of his veterans. I Ordered Three Right to finish off two of his MH and drive off another without damage, after which my MC charged into the gap and drove off another unit without doing damage. Patch Ordered Two Center to finish off one of my units, and drive off another.

I Ordered Three Center to go after his camp, and failed to do more than one block to his remaining MH on that flank, while taking a block on a Heavy, and two on my MC. Patch Double Timed his center over to this fight to knock out my MC and Heavy, but only took one damage when he tried to pick off a MH. I issued a Line Command to bring up my entire right flank, but most of what I faced was now his Spartan hoplites. I only did two blocks to one unit, and in return had two units reduced to one block and forced to retreat. Patch used Leadership to get his solid section in motion, and wiped out three units to finish the game. 3-8

Patch lead off the Athenians with a familiar Order Light Troops to close up the hole in the middle, and I Ordered Four Right to bring that side up. Patch used Line Command, which brought both flanks into contact. No units were eliminated, though one of my MH was reduced to a block, and two of my Spartan hoplites took damage. However, Patch had three units reduced to a block, as well as taking a block on two more, and a couple units were forced back, breaking up his left flank.

I Ordered Three Center, wiping out an Aux, and damaging and driving off a MH for no damage. Patch Ordered Heavies to finish off a MH and do three damage to one of my Veterans, taking five blocks across two of his heavies in return. A Line Command brought the centers into contact, but the right simply flowed around a forward weak Athenian MH, with the rest of the Athenian left out of range. I wiped out four weak units, and reduced his remaining Heavies to a block before driving them off. Patch Out Flanked me to drive off the left end of my main line, and knock out a unit in with Momentum after driving it off with the losses the first time. He also attacked my LC with his. I decided to take his two dice without evading, but he got a banner to cause it to rout off the field.

I Double Timed my left flank up to combat, and while Patch drove off my Lights with no damage to either side, I knocked out two weak units, and reduced a MH to a block. Patch used Clash of Shields to try and use that unit (the only one in contact) to finish off my MH+leader, but a First Strike got him first. 8-3

Afterword:

Both plays were surprisingly fast, with the total playing time being just a bit over an hour and a half on Vassal. The second game was particularly fast thanks to some powerful dice from me, but in general, the 5-dice units on both sides helped promote some aggression that sped things up. In both cases the Athenian army came apart with an ease that seems unlikely given that it’s a pretty good force. The real problem is that they have two leaders to the Spartan’s three, and in my play, the Athenians lost a leader early, and Patch never actually used the unattached one the second time.