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After Unhorsing Patch, we turned to our usual set of Commands & Colors: Ancients while we prepare for the next big thing. This time was the Battle of Lauron from Expansion #3. This is the initial fight between Sertorius and Pompey in Spain, and is certainly a tough fight for Sertorius, as he generally has to rely on lighter units than Pompey, though he does have the only two Heavies on the field. He also has an “ambush” force, though it starts on the board, and is just on the ‘wrong side’ in some hills.

I had Sertorius the first time, and started by Ordering Lights, deploying a bit forward, but could not get any hits with ranged fire. Patch Ordered Mediums, and knocked out an Aux and traded two blocks on a Medium for two on his MC. Double Time allowed my ambushing Warriors to get at the flank that just hit me, finishing off his MC and doing a block to a LB. Order Two Left let Patch do a hit each to a Warrior, Heavy, and the weak Medium, either at range, or forcing them to retreat for no battle back.

Order Four Center let me redeploy to destroy his two forward Mediums, at a cost of one of the Heavies, and two blocks on the other. Order Three Center let Patch trade three hits on an Aux for two on his Medium, while Order Mediums saw a lot of motion from me (especially organizing my right), and let me knock out a Medium, but lost my Warriors on momentum after doing two blocks to another Medium. Then Patch Ordered Mediums and killed a LS with losses and a blocked retreat while doing a block to a MC, and continued with Leadership on his left to drive off my cavalry.

Order Three Center let me finish off a Medium, and do a block to another, at a cost of three blocks on one of mine. Line Command saw Patch break his line apart to engage his center and left, finishing off a LC, and destroying an Aux, but not before First Strike did three blocks to a Medium and killed Afranius (who had actually survived the destruction of at least three different units). He then did three blocks to another Aux, and finished it off with a ranged attack. 6-7

For the second round, Patch led with Inspired Left Leadership to bring the ambush out of the hills and take my flank from the rear, doing two blocks each to a Medium and MC, but nearly losing a Warrior to blocked retreat. I Rallied to bring one block back on both units, and finish off the weak Warrior, losing the MC’s recovered block again. Order Three Left forced my MC to retreat and my LB to evade twice, losing a block along with my Medium who did a block to his Aux. I Ordered Two Right to finish off the Aux.

I shifted to Order Three Left to get a pair of lucky hits on his LB, and Patch Out Flanked to finish off a Medium. Mounted Charge then let him destroy a MC (retreat cut off), and then destroyed a Medium, taking two hits on a MC. Order Two Left let me clean up the mess from that a little and drive off his MC, while a Line Command let Patch bring up his center. Order Three Center did the same for me, and Order Three Left let Patch drive off a Medium with a loss.

Line Command let me re-engage on that flank, destroying a Medium at the cost of my weak Medium. Order Lights cost me a block in my line, and drove off my LB. Leadership Any Section got my Center engaged, destroying a heavy and Aux, while taking two hits on a Medium. Order Two Center let Patch do two hits each to a pair of Mediums, while taking two hits on an Aux. Clash of Shields killed a Warrior and drove off his LS, but I lost a Medium to a First Strike. Order Two Center finished off another Medium and nearly got another. With only scattered units in the center, my turn did nothing, and Patch finished off the weak Medium with a Double Time. 6-7

Afterword

Both battles were really close and down to the wire. Patch had an initial advantage the first time, but I had caught up, and nearly won just before he did (not great odds, but certainly possible).

Once again, the ‘ambushes’ have trouble in CC:A, since you end up retreating the ‘wrong way’. However, the on-the-board version here seems to help, and the ability of the Warriors to go two if they will attack makes it a fairly easy force to use. The walled city of Lauron makes for an interesting obstacle, and kept to much from happening on that side of the board.