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After finishing off “Happy Valley“, Patch and I went for our usual round of Commands & Colors: Ancients on July 22 and 29. Up this time was the Battle of Heraclea from Expansion #1, the first of two battles that made Pyrrhus of Epirus exclaim ‘one more victory such as this and I am undone!’

The Roman army (the first time it’s come up since we started going through them in order) is a bit tougher, but is back on the baseline. Epirus’ army isn’t poor though, and has plenty of light bows on one flank, and elephants on the other. An interesting special rule is that Roman infantry can’t ignore banners from elephants. If there’s a banner result, they will be retreating.

I had Pyrrhus first, and led off with Order Lights to move up the LB, and picked off one medium block. Patch engaged them with Order Two Right, and I evaded, and hit back with Order Four Left, and drove them off again with one block loss. Inspired Right Leadership brought his MC into contact, while the rest of the flank moved forward, but he just lost another block. Order Three Center reestablished my line, and got Patch’s Light down to one block.

Patch used Order Mediums to get both flanks in motion, though all the action was on his right, where he drove a LB back to hills on the baseline, and did two blocks to an Aux… who then got three triangles to wipe out the damaged Medium. I moved up my center, and Patch used Order Three Right to reduce a LB to one block, do a block to an Aux, which forced a Light back on a banner. Darken the Sky reduced a MC to one block, and did a block to a Heavy. Line Command only put one unit in contact, but he finished off an Aux, and then did three blocks to another before retreating.

I Ordered Two Right to bring up the elephants, and Patch used Inspired Center Leadership to smash in to the forward part of my line, finishing off the Aux, and wiping out a Med. Mounted Charge sent my Elephants towards his center, and my cavalry against his, knocking out a MC, reducing another to one block, and forcing the third to evade while I lost one block. Order Mediums activated a MC on each flank, while his center pushed forward. He finally drove off my LB, and and knocked out a heavy (taking two blocks in the process), eliminated an Elephant, and drove off a MC, but failed a momentum attack, causing him to take two hits and retreat.

Order Heavies allowed my smashed center to engage his strung out forces, knocking out two Mediums and Cassius, forcing another to retreat with two losses, while the remaining Elephant caused a block and two retreats to an Aux. Patch Ordered Three Left, trying to pick off my Elephants with smashed units, and did a block to them with archery, but his one-block MCs couldn’t get a hit, and the Elephants did on battle back. 7-6

Patch led off the second game by moving some of his Heavies up, and we went a couple turns after that trying to get our armies in shape, ending with me using a Line Command to get forward. Patch Out Flanked me to reduce two MC for no losses, and did a hit on a Heavy with archery. I Ordered Mounted, but only drove off one MC in return for taking a block. Patch Ordered Four Right, and knocked out two MC, and forced the last one back to the baseline with one block.

I Ordered Mediums, and moved the remnant MC out of the way, while forcing two LB to evade. Patch Ordered Two Center, doing a block to a Med, while I did a block back to an Aux (on a double banner into his line). Leadership any Section moved up my right, and I knocked out an Aux, taking a hit in the process. Patch Ordered Four Center to do six blocks across three units, taking five blocks in return. I Counterattacked, knocking out two Heavies, but losing one in return. Patch Ordered Three Center, knocking out three Mediums, and taking two blocks in return. I Counterattacked again, and did three blocks to a Heavy, who retreated out of range of my second attack. Patch Ordered Three Center again, and knocked out another Heavy. 3-7

Afterword

The first play was very… Pyrrhic, with both armies thoroughly smashed. Patch had done fairly well, but just couldn’t bring it to a close. The second game, my hand was very uncooperative. I started with cards that would all be good a couple turns in, but I needed to deploy a bit first or lose about half of it.

The Romans have what it takes to win this battle, but they are in a hard position, and managing to fight while working out of it is rough. Even with Patch’s fairly convincing win as Pyrrhus, he’d nearly run out of heavier units, and more action on the flanks instead of the center may have caused a very different result.

After finishing off yet another epic ASL struggle in Budapest, Patch and I did our usual two rounds in Commands & Colors: Ancients in the first half of March This time is a somewhat speculative battle (more so than normal, as there’s no records of particular battles for this campaign), pitting Seleucus against the Mauryans, from Expansion #1. The Seleucids have a nice solid body of Heavy Infantry in the center, and other forces scattered about, including cavalry and elephants behind a forest. The Mauryans have a more compact army with elephants and Heavy Chariots, and three units of Auxilia that have the three-hex range of Light Bows on their left, behind the Indus.

Patch started with the Indians/Mauryans, who go first, and Ordered Three Right to move up a LC, and drove my left Aux off the hills. I moved up various units (with ranged shots that did nothing), while Patch got his center in motion. Order Lights let me drive his LC off the hills, and did a banner and a block to his elephants, who then did a block to his Heavy as it retreated, and then I did a block to his HCH.

Patch followed with Mounted Charge, which slammed his main line into mine, forcing a Heavy back, doing two blocks to another, three blocks to Seleucus’ Heavy, and three blocks to an Aux. In return, he lost both HCH, the Elephants, and a MC. I brought up my better units, and Patch hit again with Order Three Center, destroying my damaged Aux and both damaged Heavies, but I drove off a LC, and did a block to another. I Ordered Four Center for everything that was left there (including Seleucus, who’d lost his unit), with both of our Heavies taking two losses. Patch Ordered Three Center, forcing a LB to evade, and knocking out my weakened one (they stood on a 2-die attack hoping for battle back… nope), and doing a block to another LB who did a block to his LC in return.

I Ordered Two Left to regain the hills and drive off his MC, then Patch hit with Clash of Shields. His Heavy did three blocks to an evading LB, but a LC missed my other evading LB. Leadership Any Section allowed me to bring in the cavalry, who finished off one of his LC. Patch moved the surviving leader off to his right, and I Ordered Lights for a round of archery that knocked out his Heavy. 6-4

I started the second game with Order Three Left to get my Bow Auxilia into the Indus, and Patch used Move-Fire-Move to bring his LB up, forming a solid line from his left to his center. Order Lights moved the Bow Auxilia up again, and I did two blocks to a Light, and drove off a LB. Line Command got Patch’s center closer, and drove off a LB and damaged a Light. Out Flanked put the LB back, and I knocked out a Light (it had taken all its hits from banners while trapped at the edge of the board), and drove off a LB.

Order Three Center put Patch into contact with my Bow Auxes; both sides retreated an Aux, and I traded an Aux block for a Heavy block. Order Two Left reformed my Aux line, but did nothing, while Patch’s Coordinated Attack brought his Elephants and LB up, while the forward Heavy did two blocks to my weak Bow Aux, who chased him off with a banner. Move-Fire-Move let me get a couple LC up, drive off a LB, and then move my weak Bow Aux back.

Patch then used Mounted Charge; thankfully, the Elephants were the only thing in range, and they traded blocks with a Bow Aux. Order Three Left finished off his Elephants after a Rampage that thankfully did no damage, and I did a block to his MC. Patch Ordered Three Right to bring up the cavalry (and a LB), and did another block to a Bow Aux in return for a block to his MC. I Ordered Four Left (though I only had the three Bow Aux there), and drove off his LC while finishing off the MC. Patch shifted his right flank a little, and Inspired Center Leadership let me finally deploy into a line there. Patch Ordered Two Right, which did a hit to my Heavy, and wiped out a LC when it was forced to retreat. Order Lights drove off three units with missile fire, and did a hit to a LB. Order Two Center moved two of those up again, and did a block to a Bow Aux.

Order Mounted let me get to his line with most of my heavier units; Patch used First Strike on my Elephants, doing one block, before they did two blocks to him, and they retreated a hex. The Elephants used Momentum to get at the next Heavy in line, which took three blocks and retreated. I also knocked out the already-damaged Heavy and forced an Aux back, but lost a HCH in the process. Patch Ordered Three Center to finish off the Elephants and wipe out a MC, but he lost a Heavy in return. I’d lost the MC by not evading because the average was (barely) in my favor, and I wanted them there for Clash of Shields, which only ordered my remaining HCH. I did three hits and a banner to an Aux, and then finished them off with Momentum. 6-4

Afterword

The second round went a lot longer than the first, as I made use of all the left-section cards I was drawing, but both finished in a hurry once the centers got into the fight. Seleucus only has three heavy units to five Indian ones, but other than a single Heavy Infantry, the Mauryan units are a lot more fragile. The Bow Aux were very handy (especially with all the cards I had for them), and helped weaken things just enough that I could use my center with some confidence.

The terrain is a lot more jumbled than you usually get in these battles, and army compositions and deployment are also unusual. Definitely a fun battle even (especially?) if it’s going to turn into a demolition derby right before it ends.

After finishing up our latest ASL game, Patch and I spend a couple weeks with our usual between-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. This time was the Battle of Paraitacene from Expansion #1. Both sides have a core of Heavy Infantry, and Eumenes has plenty of supporting infantry (and the Silver Shields), a little cavalry and two Dlephants, while Antigonus has only one Dlephant, and a decent cavalry force. A few hill hexes are impassible, constricting one flank, and both sides are at 5 Command with Eumenes going first in a long (7 banner) battle.

Patch led off with getting a couple units up, while I Ordered Lights to get into archery range, and did one block to an Elephant. Patch Out-Flanked to move forward, and did a ranged banner to my Elephant, who didn’t damage the one adjacent unit before retreating. Move-Fire-Move let me position a little better, did a block to a Light, and drove off his LC and forced an Elephant out of his line (two banners), who did a block to the Silver Shields.

Patch engaged with an Order Four Left to do a block to a Light, drive off an Aux, and three blocks to another Aux. Battle back did a block and banner to his Elephants, who did a block to his MC before leaving. I used I Am Spartacus to order a Light, Aux and and MC on my right, and a Medium and LBC on my left, driving the Elephant back two hexes, doing a block to a Light, and drove off his MC after a failed First Strike. Patch Ordered Lights to drive off my MC, and lost a block on his LC. I Ordered Three Right to bring up heavier units, while Patch used Coordinated Attack to knock out my weak Aux and do a block to my LBC.

Line Command finally shifted my center away from the baseline, and I knocked out a LC and did two blocks to a Light. Patch Ordered Two Left to move out his Light, and pick on my Aux, who took two hits and eliminated his MC. A second Line Command let a Heavy engage, doing a block and three banners to an Aux, while also forcing the wounded Light to evade. Patch Ordered Mounted to do a block to a LC, and his Elephant did one block to my Heavy (!), while the battle back got it. Leadership Any Section, followed by Mounted Charge, moved my right up and finished off his wounded light, then wiped out an Aux (forcing a leader to evade off-board), while my Elephant wiped out a Medium, and did three hits on a Heavy on momentum, but was eliminated on battle-back.

Double Time let Patch protect his wounded Heavy and get the Silver Shields into action, who promptly eliminated a Medium. I Counter Attacked to bring my Heavies into contact, and eliminate the Silver Shields in two attacks, after they nearly wiped out another Medium. 7-3

My opening was nearly identical to Patch’s, while he Ordered Three Left to hit my flank with cavalry, and shift his leader from a LC to a Medium, and did a block to my Elephants. Order Three Center got me into archery range, and I did a block to his LBC. Patch moved up with Order Lights and drove off one of my Lights, and did a banner to my Elephants, who did a block to my LBC on rampage. Inspired Left Leadership got that flank in motion, with everyone protecting my Elephant there, and I drove off his with a banner. Patch advanced with Order Four Right, eliminating a Light for one block. Order Lights drove off one of his LC and did a block to an Aux, while Patch Darkened the Sky to do a hit each on two Lights and a MC, and did a banner to the Elephants (who did another block to my MC before retreating). I Out Flanked to pull back and re-form that line while driving off a LBC, and force a LC to retreat (losing a block at the baseline).

Patch Coordinated Attack to bring up another LC who forced a skirmishing Light back (losing a block when his retreat was blocked). Line Command got most of my army forward, and I drove the LC back to the baseline, as well as a hit to an Aux. Patch Ordered Lights, and that LC charged my flank to be sent back to the baseline on a banner again, while he caused a block by another blocked retreat of one of my Lights. I reworked my center, and Patch Ordered Mediums to finish off a Light.

I Ordered Heavies and the Silver Shields drove off a Med with two losses, and my Elephant finished off an Aux and then completely muffed a momentum attack on a Heavy (two banners, and he could ignore both); the Elephant only took a banner, and did nothing in four rampage attacks. Patch then Ordered Heavies to infiltrate my broken up flank, and his HC did a block to an Aux, forcing it to retreat, and advanced to take on my weak MC who First Striked for two blocks before he killed it. His Elephant did nothing to mine, and I Ordered Two Left to move my leader (from the MC) to my Aux who forced the HC to evade away.

Double Time got most of his Heavies in play, and he knocked out one of mine and did two to another and a block to a Medium, but he lost a Heavy in return as well as two hits to another. Clash of Shields ordered four units, and I did a block to a Light, two blocks to a Heavy (also forced to retreat), and my Elephant finished off his HC, but was killed during Momentum, as well, my LC took two hits while trying to attack his Elephant. Line Command moved him up, and I lost a block on a Medium on another blocked retreat, but they finished off his Heavy; an Aux did a block to the same unit, who then did three back and forced him to retreat. He also did two blocks to the Silver Shields, who did one back and forced a retreat.

Line Command brought me center back into contact with his, and ranged brought a Medium down to a block. I did a block to an evading Light (which also got his leader out of range), I then finished off a two-block Heavy and his one-block Medium. 7-5

Afterword

It’s an interesting battle, as both sides have Heavy Infantry and Elephants, but the rest is fairly different. It’s certainly one of the better, and more even battles, but between seven banners, and the fact that both armies start fairly close to their baselines, it will take longer than normal.

Patch had very poor cards the first game and couldn’t really use his center and right. In the second game, I started with First Strike and Clash of Shields, which while nice, meant I was playing with a three-card hand for the first several turns until they could become useful. I made decent use of what I had, but I couldn’t put together anything coherent at first.

After my quick defeat in “Armored Car Savikurki“, we went for another round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. This time, it’s Alexander the Great’s final battle, Hydaspes from Expansion #1. The river is at one edge of the board, squeezing in that flank slightly, and the Macedonians have the usual rules: Alexander provides one extra die in combat, and the Companions (of which there’s two units), can ignore a sword and a flag on their own. The Indians have no infantry heavier than Auxilia, but do have three Elephants and two Heavy Chariots.

I had the Macedonians first, and Ordered Lights to bring up the flanks. The Bow Cavalry forced an Elephant to retreat, but the rampage did no damage. Patch Ordered Three Left, with his LB doing a block, and his Med Cav doing another to an evading LBC. I Ordered Three Right to drive off the Chariots, and do a block to his MC. Patch Ordered Four Center, and did a second block to a LB with archery, while moving forward a LB and Aux. I Double Timed my center forward, but which thoughtlessly put my heavies in range of his elephants.

Patch used Leadership any Section to slam his Elephants into my heavy unit center. The first one did three hits to a heavy, and then died to battle back, while the second Elephant finished them off, forcing Antigenes to retreat, and used momentum to do three hits to another heavy and force it to retreat. I Out Flanked to drive off a MC on my right, and bring Antigenes up to an Aux, who got First Striked by the Elephant for a block, and then did a hit and a banner, with the rampage doing another block to the Aux.

Patch Coordinated an Attack between his Chariots and Elephant, finishing off the weak heavy, but losing his Elephant to battle back on a failed momentum attack, but the Aux was finished off by a Chariot, forcing Antigenes to flee again. The other Chariot did one block to Companions (who ignored a second hit), and was eliminated by battle back. I Ordered Lights to sort out the flanks a little, and use the Indian army for archery practice, doing a block to a LB, and wiping out the second Chariot unit. Patch Ordered Three Right to move forward, while I Ordered Two Left to attach Antigenes to a Light and drive off his LC. Patch Ordered Two Right, and forced the other Light left on that flank to retreat, while I Darkened the Sky to do a block to his LC and to a MC.

Patch Coordinated another Attack to bring his MC behind his lines and do a block to my remaining Heavy. I used Move-Fire-Move to drive off his LC, but otherwise couldn’t do more than single banners to supported units. Patch Rallied his MC and an Aux to full strength, and then used them to get his left flank forward. I Ordered Lights, and drove off his MC again (losing a block at the baseline), and did a block to the rallied Aux and a LB. Patch Ordered Three LB Center to do a block to my LB. I Ordered Mediums, and brought two left-behind units up, while Alexander did two hits to the rallied Aux, and forced it to retreat; he used momentum to hit them again and finished it off.

Patch did a Mounted Charge, which killed Alexander’s Companions, with momentum doing a block to a LB while they evaded; the other Companions successfully evaded the last unit of Elephants; and a LC and Light traded blocks. I followed up with… the Mounted Charge I had just drawn. The Companions drove off a LB, Alexander (attached to the intact LBC) did a block to MC but retreated to the baseline on a two-banner battle back, and my one-block LBC did… two banners to the Elephants (there would have been a hit if Alex hadn’t been driven off), and thankfully the rampage did nothing. Patch had Inspired Center Leadership to do two hits to each of a Med and the Companions, while taking a block on each of two Auxes. I used Line Command to engage the center, and wiped out his LC, and finally got an Aux after losing a Heavy. 7-5

Patch opened the second game by Ordering Lights, with the LBC going toe-to-toe with the Chariots on my left flank (“Boy, my head is not in this. What the hell was I thinking?”), but they did not attack. I Ordered Lights in turn, and did a block to a LBC as it evaded. Patch Ordered Three Right, drew back the other LBC, and drove off the Chariot with archery. I used Inspired Right Leadership to move forward a bit, and drove off a Light with archery. Move-Fire-Move let Patch re-work his right flank some, but did no damage. I used Move-Fire-Move to solidify my center, and do a block to a Light. Patch used Line Command to move up his center and right, and drove off my LC with a banner. I countered with my own Line Command, but only moved up a single Aux, while everyone else fired into Patch’s line, doing a block to an Aux, two to a LB, and forcing a LBC back with a banner (where it lost a block at the baseline).

Patch Double Timed his center into my line, reducing two Auxes to one block each, and a third to two blocks (one hit caused by a blocked retreat…), while having his Med reduced to a block, two Heavies took two hits each, and a third also took a hit. I used Order Two Right to pull one Aux out of the line, and sent in the Chariot, which finished off the three-block Heavy; momentum did no damage to another Heavy, and the Chariot took a block and retreated. Patch used Order Three Center to have his damaged units finish off two my my damaged Auxes, but took another hit on a Heavy in the process. I used Order Heavies to send in the Chariots and Elephants to mop up, and eliminated a Heavy on the first attack… and then did no other damage, losing a Chariot and a block on an elephant, and on a LB on rampage in the process. Patch Ordered Two Center, and killed one Elephant, but lost his Medium attacking another one.

I Ordered Three Center, sending two Elephants forward, and a spare leader over to command the remaining Chariots. I drove off a LB with a loss, but did no damage to a Heavy and lost the Elephants in return. Patch used Coordinated Attack to get the remaining Elephant, and drove off my LBs, while Alex’s Companions attacked an Aux for one hit, and took two in return. I cried “I Am Spartacus!” to order a LB, Aux, MC, and Chariot. I did a block to a Heavy (ranged), finished off the Companions, drove off a LBC with a loss, did two blocks to the other Companions… and lost my MC to a two-banner battle back. 4-7

Afterword

The first battle really dragged out longer than you’d expect. After forgetting that I probably wanted to hold back my heavier units until the Elephants could be dealt with, there wasn’t a lot of offensive power left in either army. The second game, I tried to screen the Elephants until the time was right. Patch obliged with the Double Time and thankfully rolled relatively poorly. Unfortunately, it was a situation I couldn’t sort out in a hurry, and my dice with my heavy units were absolutely horrible, blowing the chance that I’d had there with Elephants going down after completely missing attacks on depleted Heavies.

Overall, its an interesting scenario, and probably the biggest concentration of the ‘unusual’ units there’s been. Like with most Alexander scenarios, it’s really unlikely he’ll lose (as show by these two games), but there are some possibilities here.

Patch did our usual between-big-projects game of C&C: Ancients recently. This time out it was one of Alexander the Great’s big victories: the Battle of Gaugamela from Expansion #1. The Persians definitely have a bigger army, and have two heavy chariots plus one Elephant. But, they only have four cards to the Macedonian six, and are completely lined up on the base line. As last time, Alex grants an extra die in combat, and the Companions ignore one sword hit, though unlike last time, Persian leadership operates normally.

I had Alex for the first game, and led off with Out Flanked to bring up a couple Heavies while LC advanced to archery range. Patch used Order Three Left to move a Chariot up, and do a block each to a Heavy and LC with ranged combat. Order Lights let me move a couple Auxes up, as well as ranged combat that took a block off the Chariots. Patch decided to use them before he lost them with Order Three Center, but they did no damage (other than a sword and banner that were both ignored by the Companions) while battle back finished them off.

Order Three Center brought out the Companions and a MC along with moving up a Med, and his other Chariot did two blocks to the MC on a First Strike before going down to the cavalry. Order Two Center sent the Elephants into the middle of my units, but only did one hit against a heavy who knocked it out with three hits, while Darius and the HC finished off my MC. Momentum brought him up to the Companions, and did a hit to them, but the battle back wiped out the HC, and sent Darius running back to a Med on the base line.

Move-Fire-Move did nothing but force a LC to safely retreat to the Persian line. Order Three Right allowed him to swarm over a detached flank, where a pair of banners wiped out my LB, and then his MC forced an Aux back losing two blocks, Momentum followed up with another block loss, but the Aux wiped them out on battle back. Line Command allowed me to pull them back a little while moving other units forward. Coordinated Attack finished off a LC with a pair of ranged hits, and another MC caught up to the Aux to finish it off. Momentum allowed him to do a block to my remaining MC, but it knocked him out in battle back, sending Mazeus fleeing into the middle of the field.

Order Two Right allowed a hit on his LBC, who activated as part of Order Lights. None of his archery did anything, but a LC did move to pick up Mazeus. Another Two Right forced his a LC to evade, and did another hit to his LBC. Leadership Any Section activated Patch’s left, and he forced a Heavy back with a loss. I Counterattacked to activate Alexander and the right/center of my line, and he drove an Aux off the map. 7-4

Patch also led with Out Flanked in our second game, bringing up the same Heavies, a LC and MC. I used Order Mounted to get the Chariots and some light cavalry in motion, and drove off his LC with a loss. Order Three Left brought up a Heavy, Aux, and LC. Line Command shifted half my forces from the baseline (I’d forgot Darius was on a HC in the center to keep it from being as good as it looked). Patch Ordered Two Right to do a block to a LC with ranged fire, and I Double Timed the other half of my line to bring it into range.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring the Companions and two MC into contact. His first attack wiped out a MC, and then Momentum did nothing (other than an ignored banner), and that MC did two hits to him on battle back. His next attack knocked out a Chariot, and Momentum knocked an Aux back a hex. Alexander did one block to the other Chariot, which then drove him off with two banners (he could have ignored both, but chose to only ignore one). Coordinated Attack let me do two blocks to an evading MC, and finish off a MC, leaving Parmenio to evade back to a LC. Patch Out Flanked to do a block with ranged fire and move Parmenio over to a Heavy.

We each spent a turn or two moving up or reorganizing a little with minimal losses from ranged fire, except for one of my LCs going to one block from a banner result. Patch had retired a couple one-block units behind his lines, and I used Inspired Right Leadership to finally get back in contact, but only forced an evade. Patch Ordered Two Left, and did two blocks to my MC, in return for one on an Aux. I Ordered Three Center to get units in motion, and Patch cried I Am Spartacus for two heavy, one light, and two wildcards. A Heavy did three blocks to an Aux and took one in return, while his LC killed one of mine, and used momentum to do a block to a LB who did one back; his Aux caused my MC to evade to a blocking position on his LC.

I used Order Three Center to bring a Medium and the Elephants into his line while Darius went after the LC. Darius picked off his target, but the Elephant only did one hit to a Heavy, who did one hit and three banners in return, the trample did a second hit to the Heavy, but also wiped out a 1-block Aux of mine that was in the way, and then the Heavies First Striked the Medium to knock it out (I had actually rolled before Patch could react; I would have gotten them if I lived). A Line Command got most of Patch’s army moving, and he finished off the Elephants and drove off my LB with losses. I Ordered Mediums, doing to blocks to an evading Light before my gamble backfired: my one-block MC did one block to a 2-block Aux, who got me on the battle back. 3-7

Afterword

I had some really hot dice in the first game, and still came out behind Patch’s performance in the second game. The three two-block units in the Persian army are hard to keep alive, especially when the rest of the army has to go around them to do anything. I certainly tried to take it more cautiously than Patch did, but it doesn’t seem to have helped much. Of course, Patch managed to get a couple weak units out of my reach, which certainly helped.

At any rate, as expected, this is a fairly lopsided battle, but it mostly has to do with quality of units and the 6-card hand. Overall, its still pretty interesting, as the Persians have a few things to work with. It would be nice to see a battle that features more heavy chariots.