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For our latest between-other-games bit of Commands & Colors Ancients, Patch and I played a couple rounds of a tiny little scenario from Expansion #6: Tegyra. Instead of the normal 5-7 banner range, this one only goes to three banners, which is fine, as the Thebans only have five units, though three of them are elite Heavy Infantry (always hit on leaders, and can ignore a banner). The Spartans have a noticeably bigger army, but they are disadvantaged four cards to six, and go second. Also, the Thebans can get banners by exiting units off the middle of the Spartan side of the board.

I had the Thebans the first time, and led off with Out Flanked to send the MC against his light units and start threatening to escape off the board. Patch naturally evaded to the baseline, and I didn’t do any damage. Patch used Order Medium get his center up to my Heavies, and engage one MC. The first attack only did one damage, and I did four to a Spartan MH, and forced it back a hex. The second unit did four hits to more than finish off my Heavy, and the third did three banners to another Heavy, forcing it back two hexes. Finally, he hit my MC, which evaded with no damage.

I used Order Two Left to drive the other MC into the gap, and pick on his one-block unit, but did no damage, while his battle back… did nothing. Patch then Double Timed into contact with all my units. My MC evaded all damage again, his second attack did one damage to a Heavy, while the battle back did one block and forced him back. The next unit finished off the Heavy, and my leader survived and put himself a hex behind the remaining Heavy. His last unit did two banners to the last heavy, who retreated onto my leader, and then he momentum attacked to do two damage to the Heavy, with battle back doing two in return.

I Ordered Three Center, and picked on a Light again, doing two blocks with a banner, the MC being forced back by a banner as well. The other MC tried to pick off his 1-block Spartan MH and failed again, taking a block. My Heavy picked off his forward MH (4 hits), and got the leader with him. Patch Counterattacked, doing a block to my Heavy, who did 4 hits in battle back to wipe out a fresh MH. 3-2

Patch led off with a Double Time to come into contact with my line immediately. His first attack was on my left leader and only did one block, but also two banners, which I could ignore, and I did four blocks in return, destroying his Heavies. The second attack did two more blocks, and two more ignored banners, while battle back cost him two blocks. The third attack did five hits to wipe out a regular MH.

I contemplated using Order Lights to try and soften him up with a little archery, but went with Order Three Center, and shifted over a Spartan MH to solidify my line. My first attack knocked out his weakened Heavies, and the second did three hits to the one remaining Heavy unit, while the battle back did two hits and two banners, one of which I ignored.

Patch then used Mounted Charge (it turned out he had both of them), and did two more hits to my Spartan MH, reducing it to one block, but the battle back did three hits, ending the game. 3-1

Afterword

The first battle went slightly longer at just about half an hour. If we’d done this physically, it could have easily taken longer to set up than play. It’s a fun little scenario though. Those heavies can pack a lot of punch, and the Spartans have to keep an eye on what the Theban MC is doing, as they could easily exit at some point. Since the Thebans have a good chance of everyone being in the center, leading to dead “Left” and “Right” cards, I think the six cards is more to make up for that than just giving them lots of options.