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The latest between-other-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients with Patch was the Battle of Arausio from Expansion #2. Historically, this was a major defeat for Rome, and the scenario gives them one less card, less cavalry, and the barbarians can get an extra banner by occupying the Roman camp.

Patch had the Romans first, and he initiated battle as a LC took on a Warrior to do a hit for no loss. I countered by Ordering Lights, but got no hits in ranged combat. Patch moved up with a Line Command, and knocked out a LC when it was unable to retreat. So, I used Line Command to dive off a Light and LC with a hit each (if I’d been smart, I’d have reversed that order to trap the LC). Patch Double Timed to bring his Mediums into contact, knocking out a Medium and doing two hits to an Aux in return for two hits each on two Mediums.

I Ordered Four Center to wrap around the Mediums, and knock two out, with Caepio fleeing to one of the Heavies in reserve, while I took three hits on two units. Inspired Center Leadership, and took out two Warriors with Caepio’s Heavies, only losing a block to a First Strike. Three Units Left let me finish off a Medium, but I took two blocks in return. Patch rearranged a couple units, and Order Two Center let me trade two blocks with him. Patch Counter Attacked,  destroying a Medium and MC with Caepio. I Ordered Mediums to drive off an Aux with a loss and destroy a LC. Patch used Line Command on… Caepio (no one was adjacent) to destroy another Warrior. 4-7

In the second game, I led off with Line Command, which let me deploy a bit better, and Patch Counter Attacked, getting us nearly in contact after the first turn. Move-Fire-Move let me adjust the flanks, and do a block each to two Lights. Inspired Light Leadership brought Patch onto my flank, killing a Light and doing a block to another, while I did two blocks to a Warrior and another to an Aux.

Order Three Left let me finish off the weak Warrior, while taking a block on a Medium. A Coordinated Attack did nothing, and I Ordered Lights to do one block to a Warrior, while taking two blocks on an Aux. Patch Double Timed his Warriors into my center, destroying a Medium and Aux, and taking two blocks each on two Warriors. Inspired Center Leadership let me do three blocks across two units for no losses, while Patch Ordered Mediums to reengage the Warriors with Boiorix’s MC backing them up. He did four blocks across two Mediums, but lost three Warriors and two blocks on another in return.

I Ordered Three Center to finish off another Warrior, and Patch Ordered Two Center to finish off a Medium, but lost two blocks on a MC in return. Order Three Center let me move the Heavies up, and let Caepio join one of them, doing hits to an Aux and Warrior while forcing them to retreat. Patch Counter Attacked to force a Heavy to retreat, and I declared a Mounted Charge to do one block to a Light. Darken the Sky drove off my MC and did two hits to a Heavy. Coordinated Attack let me knock out an Aux, and do a hit to a MC while I took one hit on a Medium. Patch Ordered Three Center to pick off the weak Heavy, but instead First Strike finished off a Warrior. 7-4

Afterword

This scenario doesn’t want to follow the historical action other than the Romans are likely to aggressively move forward to attack. But there’s nothing to really punish that, and in neither game did the action ever get close to the camp.

Still, it’s a nice scenario, that plays fast for a seven-banner limit. Patch had pretty hot dice the first time, while both of our dice were pretty cold until the end in the second game.

After our adventure in Hatten, Patch and I did our usual between-big-games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients, and up this time was the Battle of Magnesia from Expansion #1. A river cuts off some of one side of the board (particularly, the Roman left), both sides have elephants, while the Seleucids have a heavy chariot and a camel unit. Overall, the Romans are down on cavalry, but have a solid infantry center.

Patch had the Romans for the first game, and we both started moving units forward before an Order Three Left let him do a block to my Warriors with a ranged attack on the first die roll of the game. Order Four Right let them engage (with other units moving up behind), doing a block to a Light, and then Patch Out Flanked to finish off the Warriors. Mounted Charge got me engaged on both flanks, with Elephants pushing back a Medium and taking a block in exchange for doing two (basically two hits on twelve dice….), and I lost a HC after only doing a block to a Medium. The other flank did better, doing two hits and forcing an evade on his MC while taking one hit on the Camels. Patch drove off the Elephants and HC, but caused no losses, and they came back with a Order Two Center, and lost the Elephants to do one more hit to the Medium, while also doing three hits to a Light.

Line Command swept Patch’s center into motion and did a hit to the HCH, and I tried the cavalry again with an Order Mounted to engage on my left, and did two blocks to an Aux and one to a MC for no losses. Patch got behind the HCH with his own Mounted Charge to finish it off and reduce my Camels to one block as they retreated. Darken the Sky got a couple of blocks, and for Patch’s MC to retreat to the base line. Patch moved up in the center, and I Ordered Four Left to drive off a Light with two losses. Patch announced that He Was Spartacus to get… one medium and one wild (and three banners!). His MC went after my Camels… who survived thanks to being able to ignore a symbol hit, and he lost the MC. His Elephants went in and did three blocks to a Light. I Double Timed my heavies to the Elephants, and got them, at the cost of a Light and two blocks on a Heavy. Move-Fire-Move let him reshuffle his line and did hits to three different units.

Order Two Left let me finish off a MC and do a block to an Aux, who finished off my MC. Patch drove off my Camels with ranged fire, and Inspired Right Leadership let me bring up my main solid units to pick off two Mediums. Sadly, my Medium was taken out by a Coordinated Attack, after finishing off another of his Mediums. 6-7

The second game started with me having limited choices, as I had two Counter Attacks (not usable as the first action of the game) and Clash of Shields (and there was certainly no one in contact). Of the two choices left to me, I Ordered Two Center to move up some of the back units, and then followed that up with the Line Command I drew to push most everything forward. Patch used a couple of Coordinated Attacks to move up, and I Counter Attacked the second to get my Heavy to the front and miss completely with archery.

Patch Mounted Charged on his left, and destroyed a Heavy, took a LB to one block, reduced a Light to two blocks, and drove off another with one loss. In return, I did a a hit and banner to a MC. Order Mediums got my center in motion, with one unit getting in contact with a LB to nearly destroy it. My MC went after his HCH, but did nothing while taking a hit. Patch Ordered Three Left to destroy the MC and LB, while doing two blocks to a Medium for no losses. I Double Timed to get the line of Mediums up to Patch’s line, and picked off two LBs and a Light with nowhere to go.

Order Three Center let him plug the hole with a Heavy and Elephant, while his other Elephant came around the rear, he got the weakened Medium, and reduced another to one block, losing an Elephant and one block on the Heavy in process. Clash of Shields let me finish off the Heavy, drive off his other Heavy with losses, drive back the remaining Elephant with a one-block loss, and drive a Light to the baseline. Patch Ordered Three Right and brought in his Warriors to finish off my weak Medium, and then do two blocks to another on momentum, taking a block in return.

Move-Fire-Move let me set up a secondary line with my light units, and drove off a couple of his units, but did no damage. Patch Ordered Two Left to do destroy an Aux, but his Elephants retreated, and two of his units took a block each from rampage. Leadership Any Section kept my center moving, and I finished off the Warriors, and got his HCH as they tried to evade. 7-6

Afterword

Both battles came down to the wire, and I feel I had real card problems both times (which sorted out after that rough start in the second game, but I never could do much in the first). And while I had strong dice at times, my Mounted Charge in the first game is the biggest flop I’ve ever seen that card deliver.

At any rate, it’s an unusual mix of units, with the first camel we’ve seen in action, so that and reasonably balanced, so it’s well worth a play or two.

After finishing Carrier Hill, Patch and I did our usual between other games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients. Up this time was the Battle of Raphia from Expansion #1. This is a large battle, with armies stretching across the entire board, and going to eight banners. The mix is what you expect to see in an eastern battle, though perhaps with more heavy troops. No terrain, and no special rules at all.

Patch had the Selucids the first round, and started with Two Right, doing a block to my LB with a LC. I Ordered Lights, causing his LC to evade, and his LB to retreat on that flank. Patch Ordered Two Left, chasing off my LC who had advanced there. I Ordered Two Center to bring up some Heavies, and Patch used Inspired Right Leadership to bring up his Elephants, who did nothing even after a rampage on battle back, and his Lights got a ranged hit on my Elephants.

I Ordered Lights again, and killed his LC with a banner when he had nowhere to go. Patch used Leadership on the right again, bringing up his HC (did one block to my Lights), and his Elephants faced my Elephants for no damage. A Coordinated Attack let me deploy a bit more, but did nothing else. Patch then used Mounted Charge, knocking out my weakened elephants, and we both took a block to our Elephants on the other flank, while knocking out a Light, reducing LC to one block, and doing two blocks on a Heavy at a cost of a block to his MC and two to his HC.

Line Command brought up my center, and I finished off his HC as they tried to evade. Coordinated Attack brought in Patch’s Elephants again, and his center leader attached to a Heavy (the HC had been four hexes away from anyone the leader could fall back to). He forced my Elephant and HC back with a loss on one flank, and killed a MC when it had to retreat at the base line. Three Units Right let me get the shattered flank into action, and I got his Elephants in two attacks and forced his MC to retreat on momentum. Patch Ordered Mounted, but his MC did nothing and took two hits from my HC, while his Elephants did two damage to a Medium, and then a block to another on momentum, but the did a block in return. Order Four Left let me pick up the other flank, but completely failed to take out the Elephants in four attacks, taking two hits in the process. Order Heavy got part of Patch’s center in motion, and his Elephants nearly took out a Heavy (three sword hits; thankfully nothing on re-roll), but finally went down themselves.

I Darkened the Sky to do two hits to a LB, one to a Heavy, and one to a Light. Patch used Move-Fire-Move to straighten out his line, and did two blocks to a LB. An Order Two Right forced a Light to evade, and Patch’s Two Left did a block to my HC. Order Two Center brought up a couple units, and Patch Ordered Lights, forcing back the weak LB, reducing a LC to a block with a blocked retreat, and reduced a second Heavy to one block.

The remnants of my cavalry Mounted Charged, losing my LC to do one block each to a Light, Aux and LB. Patch Ordered Four Right, moving up a Heavy as well as a Med and MC, while his LB (thankfully) failed to take out a weak Heavy. Line Command got me closer, but I didn’t dare close with the weak Heavies. Patch closed the gap with Inspired Center Leadership, knocking out an Aux, reducing the good Heavy to two blocks, and finishing off the other two at the cost of one block. I used Clash of Shields, and only got two hits on a seven die roll, with the Heavies going down on Battle Back. 4-8

For the second round, I started with Order Two Left, and managed a banner against an Elephant, but the rampage didn’t do anything. Patch Ordered Four Right and did one hit to my Lights as they evaded. Mounted Charge brought me into contact on both flanks, and on the right, I did a block each to an Elephant and LB, forcing them both back, and rampage did a second hit to the LB. On the left, I killed a HC and his Elephants, but lost a MC in the process. Then Patch Mounted Charged, did a hit to my HC, but lost his remaining Elephants on battle back. Then he knocked out my Elephants and did another block to the HC, but took two hits on an MC in return. On the other flank he forced my Elephants back, but lost a Light block on rampage. Momentum did two more banners to the Elephants, driving them back to my line, but no other damage.

Then I played Clash of Shields (again! I almost never have a chance to play it!) to finish off a MC and force a LC to evade. Patch Ordered Two Left, to drive back my forward HC and LC. I used Line Command to bring the entire center forward, and Patch Ordered Three Left to bring up a LB and Warrior, and attach a leader to the latter (he had been with the HC). Move-Fire-Move let me deploy the flanks and did a hit to a Light and LC, and then left Lights went forward into contact to prevent ranged attacks at the remaining Elephants. Patch used Line Command to bring his center forward, and the LB fell back to take a shot at my Lights. I Counterattacked, bringing our main lines to two hexes away, and drove off a LB with archery. Patch then used another Line Command to get two units into contact, while the rest closed to one hex range, and did a hit to a Medium, and three to an Aux, but took three hits on an Aux himself, and two more on his Warriors.

I announced that I Am Spartacus, activating the Elephants, an Aux, Medium, and LB. Archery drove a Medium back a hex, while driving his Warriors to the baseline; momentum picked off a weak Aux, and then I took a hit and retreated my Mediums after a muffed roll (three triangles… versus a Heavy). Patch Ordered Three Center to drive his Heavies into my line, picked off a weak Aux, did a block and drove back my depleted Mediums, and did three blocks to a Heavy who couldn’t do more than force Patch back a hex.

I Ordered Three Left, forcing back a LC, and doing a single hit and banner to a Heavy with the Elephants, who then knocked them out on momentum. Patch Ordered Two Center to finish off the weak Heavy and Medium. I Ordered Three Center, doing two blocks to his led Heavy, in return for two on a Medium, and finished it off with the Elephants. Patch Out Flanked, knocking out the weakened Medium, and I Counterattacked, bringing the leader for that Medium back to the front, and doing three hits to a Medium who did two back, and did nothing to the Warriors who did two blocks to my Aux. Patch Ordered Mediums, and finished off the Aux, and then did one of two blocks to the weak Heavy who finished the game with a three-hit battle back (on one needed). 8-7

Afterword

This is a big demolition-derby battle, with the elephants and warriors adding just that bit of spice to make it really interesting.

Technically, I came out ahead in the first battle with Patch sacrificing the elephants and losing more than he gained. But actually my army was pretty completely smashed with key units weakened and all formation lost to scattered units. Things went bad in the second game as well when he smashed up my Heavies, and they didn’t do a thing. Patch had three good Heavies still, but that was about all he had, and when I started doing damage to them, the battle slipped out of his control.

After our little duel in the Neutral Zone, Patch and I went back to CC:A for another early barbarian battle from Expansion #2. The Romans have trapped the (Cisalpine) Gauls between two forces, and have an overall advantage, though each force isn’t a match for the Gauls alone. As an extra wrinkle, there’s a hill mass on one side, and whoever has more units there at the end of a turn is credited with two banners (out of eight) until a turn ends without that being true.

Patch started with the Romans, and lead with a Double-Time to move into the hills. He also trapped a Light against a couple heavier units and wiped it out in two attacks for no losses. I Ordered Mediums, and rushed the Roman army that had not moved, and could only do two hits each on two trapped Lights, and took a hit each on a Warrior and two MCs in return. Patch hit back with Leadership Any Section, and knocked out a Warrior, did two blocks to the weakened one, and nearly knocked out two more evading units. I used Inspired Right Leadership to engage unhurt units, and did two blocks each to a Light and Aux, but took a block and two banners on a Warrior, and then a First Strike did a block and banner to another Warrior, killing my leader in the process.

Patch Ordered Four Left (two from each force), and traded blocks between a Med and Warrior, and finished off a weak Warrior. I Ordered Mediums again, and had to take risks with weak units, finishing off a Light, doing a hit to a Medium on momentum … and then losing my Warriors when Patch rolled three banners. I then traded a hit on the Mediums for two hits on Warriors, did a hit on an Aux, and then lost the unit to a two-hit battle back. 1-8

I started with Order Lights in the second game, and got onto the hills. Patch Ordered Two Right, and did a block to an Aux for no damage. I did a Coordinated Attack, and destroyed a BCH, though a First Strike got two blocks on a MC first. I used momentum to get a block on a MC, but took two in return, while I drove off a Warrior after doing a block on the other flank. Patch Counterattacked to finish off two MCs, and do two more blocks to the hurt Aux, while taking one in return.

I reshuffled a little with Order Four Left, doing two blocks on an Aux in return for one each on a pair of Auxes. Patch Ordered Three Center, and pressed on my flank in the hills, forcing one unit off with a banner. I Ordered Mediums to start a few units forward, and bring MCs over the hills, destroying a MC, and getting his leader who was forced to evade through my line, and then did two blocks to an Aux, who did one back to a MC. Patch Ordered Four Center, splitting his attention between the two lines, knocking out a MC, doing a block to a Med, but taking two on a Warrior himself. I used Line Command to engage the area away from the hills, causing two retreats, and doing three blocks to an Aux. Patch Ordered Mediums, killing a unitless leader before he could evade off-board, getting two units into the hills, and forcing my Lights to evade off them (shifting the hill banners to him), and killed an Aux.

I used Clash of Shields (possibly a first, I usually end up holding it for a better time), finishing an Aux and getting three hits on an evading MC, but took two hits on Heavies after a failed momentum attack. An attack in the hills forced him to retreat off, and I momentum advanced to get the hill bonus back. Patch Ordered Three Left to get them all on hills, and forced my Aux back off with a banner. I Ordered Two Center to finish off an Aux, then momentum advanced onto the hills, and finished off a 1-block Warrior. Patch Ordered One (Inspired Left) to finish off a weak Aux. 7-8

Afterword

The ‘three-part battle’ is a situation I feel CC:A doesn’t handle that well, as the retreat rules don’t get modified, and (here) the second Roman force can get stuck trying to retreat through the Gauls instead of toward the rest of their own army. It seemed to work better here than in other scenarios, possibly because those were all small ambushing forces that were too easy to cut up, whereas the Romans can at least try and keep a line together for support here. I still had one evade that went the wrong way though.

The first game went very fast, thanks to me being unable to get anywhere with the dice. And that opening Double-Time from Patch really narrowed down my options. The second game was still pretty fast, but was coming down to the wire as Patch moved onto the hills just in time to keep me from winning, and I was starting to really chew through the Gaulish units.

Last Wednesday, Patch and I had our latest between-games session of Commands & Colors: Ancients (I still need to write up our latest ASL adventure). This a third Pyrrhus vs Rome scenario, this time a few years later, and one that Pyrrhus actually lost. The setup for the Battle of Beneventum is unusual, with the Romans on their base line behind ramparts and in a couple of camps. They also have two Heavy War Machines, which is a first for both of us. Their fire is largely blocked by the rest of the army, which is mostly Mediums with some Heavies in the rear and lights in front. Pyrrhus, main force is also on/near his baseline, but there’s some MC forward on one wing, and a couple units of Warriors out in front.

I had Pyrrhus of Epirus for the first game, and the first couple turns were spent trying to get things in motion. Patch eventually Ordered Three Center to use the HWM and a light for ranged combat, but got no results. I Ordered Mounted to bring my MC into contact, and start moving up the one unit of elephants, while keeping them screened from the HWM. Good die rolls killed Patch’s MC outright, and did then killed a Light for no losses. Patch Ordered Three Right, but got no hits as I evaded away. I then Mounted Charge, and killed a Medium with the Elephants, who then did one block to a Medium in a camp, taking a hit and a banner in return, with the rampage knocking a block off a Roman Aux. I then finished off the Aux, and killed a MC when it was forced to retreat while surrounded at the edge of the board.

Patch Ordered Three Center again, but didn’t do more than a couple of banners. I Ordered Three Left, concentrating on the Roman flank, and knocked out the Medium in camp with a really good roll, while his leader evaded off-board. I then did a hit to a HWM and a Medium, and took nothing in return. Patch did a Coordinated Attack, and the HWM did no more than an ignored banner against the adjacent MC in camp, and took a block in return. 7-0

For the second round, Patch started by moving up the heavier units in the center like I did, but I started with Order Two Center for early ranged combat, and did a block to a Light. Line Command got a lot of mass moving, and got a hit on one of my Lights. I deployed a bit with Move-Fire-Move, and forced a Light back with two banners. Line Command got his Warriors into contact, picked off another Light block, and eliminated an Aux (two hits & two banners into my line; momentum to do the final block).

I Double Timed to get units around his forward Warrior, and it retreated for no losses, while the other Warrior took three hits and retreated. Momentum took me to the first Warrior, who took three blocks and retreated. Patch Counter Attacked, getting his Heavies up to my exposed Heavy, and wiped it out in two attacks, taking one block in return, with Dentatus evading back to a Medium. He also got a block on an evading Light. I Ordered Four Right to re-engage, and did two blocks to a Medium on poor rolls (overdue, frankly), and a block to a Light, while taking three blocks in return.

Patch announced that He Was Spartacus, to order three mediums and a Heavy, and finished off a Medium to send Dentatus evading back to a HWM, and forced two losses on a Medium with a hit and two banners. I Ordered Mediums, and sent a depleted Medium reeling with two banners, while doing two blocks to a Heavy in return for losing a MC. Patch Ordered Three Center, wiping out a Medium, and sending another leader evading back to a Light. I said, No I’m Spartacus, to order two Mediums. I dove into the junction of his line to finish off both Warriors, and did a block to an evading Light.

Patch Out Flanked for ineffective ranged attacks on his right, and did two blocks to my MC on the other side. I Ordered Three Right to do a block to a Heavy with a HWM, and Patch used First Strike to do two blocks and a banner to my Medium before it could try to take out a MC. Leadership Any Section got Patch’s center in motion to finish off a Medium and MC. 2-7

Afterword

So both games were pretty convincing losses for the Romans, though my dice were somewhat past ‘hot’ in the first game. It was nice to finally use HWMs, but I think they did all of one block between the two games. And frankly, the Romans have a pretty tough row to hoe here. There’s just enough good units at the front of the Epirote army that they can get in some early good strikes and get some momentum. The Romans should have the advantage of some fortifications, but by the time they’re back to that, too many units will have been wiped out (as they don’t fit).

It didn’t help that Epirus got good cards both time. I’ve noticed that Mounted Charge is generally decisive, and my use of it in the first game got me three banners. Patch got a Line Command that I would have been very happy to have, a good roll on I Am Spartacus, and that Counterattack on my Double Time blew apart my offensive.