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Last week Patch and I had our CC:A the session between ASL games. Got in a set of Grand Plains. Another of the Second Punic War set, the Romans are advantaged with six cards to four and the first move. However, the Carthaginian forces are fairly good, and start in a better formation than the Roman army.

I took Carthage the first time, and had pretty good dice. The cards weren’t bad either. I didn’t get much in the way of ‘special’ cards, but rather lots of Order Two and Order Three, but that meant I kept in motion. Patch pressed in on the right side early on, but I kept the main action of the battle on the left and center most of the time. I managed to get the heavier elements of my line in contact with Scipio and come out ahead on the exchanges, destroying two Roman Med and forcing Scipio to a Hvy (three hexes back…). Scipio got back in action with a Double Time and Line Command.

I was feeling pretty good with a 2-2 score when Patch broke out a Mounted Charge that knocked out three units, and forced Hanno off-board, and completely broke up my right flank, though I did kill a LC on a battle back. His units were still somewhat shredded, and I managed to kill a LC, and then nail Scipio’s Heavy on a First Strike that I had just drawn. He then got a leader on the right to end the game. 5-6

Switching sides, I was less happy with my six-card hand than I had been with the four-card Carthaginian hand. I spent a couple turns deploying the Roman army; thankfully Patch wasn’t nearly as lucky with the Slingers as I had been. An Order Medium (via Counterattack) and a Line Command got our lines into contact on both flanks, and killed a Med on both sides. I played Clash of Shields, and Patch goofed. I hit his HC with a Med, figuring at six dice I’d still have a decent shot when he evaded. Patch forgot about the extra dice, and stayed, and lost the unit and Hanno.

My Med on the other flank muffed its six-die attack, and Patch nailed it the next turn. I decided to stick with bonus die attacks and played Mounted Charge, completely surrounding a Med with my LC, and hitting the right flank with my MC. For once, this worked and I knocked out the Med in exchange for only one block, while I missed on the right. Inspired Right Leadership finished the game when I picked off a one-block unit and and killed an Aux with a combination of archery and a good attack roll. 6-2

Both games just wanted to go very well for me. I was doing pretty well in the first game until that Mounted Charge broke everything open. Patch never really got a chance to get any momentum going in the second game, I was on him pretty fast.