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There’s been some delays on getting something bigger going, so Patch and I did another round of Commands & Colors: Ancients a couple weeks ago. This time was the Battle of Chaeronea from Expansion #6. It confirms my comments on the previous battle, as it features an allied Greek army with a good number of MH blocks (with the Sacred Band as a special heavy), while the Macedonians are heavies with good leadership and two units of Companion Cavalry (MC that can ignore one flag and one sword).

I had the Macedonians in the first play, and led with Darken the Sky to kill one unit outright (two hits on the first roll, and a pair of banners, which forced the light to try to retreat through his solid line), while forcing another light back, and doing a block to a third. Patch Ordered Three Right to pull in that flank while I Ordered Light to move up some units and do more ranged fire, which drove back another light. Patch got his lights in motion with Move-Fire-Move which did no damage.

I firmed up my center, and Patch Out Flanked me to bring the Special Band in contact with my skirmishers, who evaded for no damage, while he drove off an Aux on the other flank. I moved up my right twice, while Patch skirmished some more and then used a Line Command to start the real engagement. Patch did two blocks to two heavies, and drove one off the line, but lost a MH outright, and took two blocks on an Aux in return.

I used Inspired Center Leadership to bring in the bulk of my unengaged line, and knocked out a MH and the wounded Aux, while taking two blocks in return (even with a muffed First Strike), while one of my Auxes did nothing and was driven back with one loss. Patch used another Line Command to move up the still-intact right half of the army; an Aux and LC traded blocks, while the Sacred Band did three blocks to a heavy and took two and two banners in return. He failed to take out a 1-block heavy, and lost two in return, and then lost an intact MH after doing one block to another heavy. I used Leadership any Section on my left to surround an isolated Aux and took him out on one hit and two banners. 6-0

For the second game, Patch started with Order Lights to establish a continuous line and knock one of my lights to the baseline on two banners. I Ordered Two Center to close up the gap between my right and center, and Patch moved closer across the front with Line Command. I Counterattacked, moving closer to a collision while linking up with my left flank. Patch rearranged a couple units, and I Out Flanked him, forcing a couple units to evade, and doing a block to a heavy while taking two in return, and doing three blocks to an Aux that knocked my left-flank MH back a hex.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring up the Companions, knocking the Sacred Band back a hex, and taking out the weakened MH and attached leader. I Ordered Two Left to finish off the Aux, Patch attempted some archery to no effect, and I Ordered Four Left, doing two damage to a heavy, but lost MH completely, and a block on another. Patch Ordered Three Center to engage the center of the lines, knocking out an Aux, doing three hits on an MH and knocking another two hexes back, and taking two hits on each of two heavies in return.

I did a Coordinated Attack to finish off a heavy, do a block to a Companion, and do one hit on a two-block heavy. The battleback did three hits to eliminate the MH, and the leader went with him. 2-6

Afterword

The Macedonian heavies are certainly doing a great job dominating the Greek medium hoplites. It didn’t help that Order Mounted and Mounted Charge did not, for a change, come up in either battle. I had really hot dice in the first game, to knock Patch out before he could get going despite me having some card issues. My dice went cold during the second game, which kept me from taking out a couple more units, but the real problem was the leader losses. Without them, the right flank was still in good shape, and Patch was having trouble in the center, though overall the odds were still with him.

Again, this was a pretty fast pair of fights; most of the terrain just squeezes in the flanks, keeping things straightforward. Though the marshes may have become important if I’d done more on the right.