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Patch did our usual between-big-projects game of C&C: Ancients recently. This time out it was one of Alexander the Great’s big victories: the Battle of Gaugamela from Expansion #1. The Persians definitely have a bigger army, and have two heavy chariots plus one Elephant. But, they only have four cards to the Macedonian six, and are completely lined up on the base line. As last time, Alex grants an extra die in combat, and the Companions ignore one sword hit, though unlike last time, Persian leadership operates normally.

I had Alex for the first game, and led off with Out Flanked to bring up a couple Heavies while LC advanced to archery range. Patch used Order Three Left to move a Chariot up, and do a block each to a Heavy and LC with ranged combat. Order Lights let me move a couple Auxes up, as well as ranged combat that took a block off the Chariots. Patch decided to use them before he lost them with Order Three Center, but they did no damage (other than a sword and banner that were both ignored by the Companions) while battle back finished them off.

Order Three Center brought out the Companions and a MC along with moving up a Med, and his other Chariot did two blocks to the MC on a First Strike before going down to the cavalry. Order Two Center sent the Elephants into the middle of my units, but only did one hit against a heavy who knocked it out with three hits, while Darius and the HC finished off my MC. Momentum brought him up to the Companions, and did a hit to them, but the battle back wiped out the HC, and sent Darius running back to a Med on the base line.

Move-Fire-Move did nothing but force a LC to safely retreat to the Persian line. Order Three Right allowed him to swarm over a detached flank, where a pair of banners wiped out my LB, and then his MC forced an Aux back losing two blocks, Momentum followed up with another block loss, but the Aux wiped them out on battle back. Line Command allowed me to pull them back a little while moving other units forward. Coordinated Attack finished off a LC with a pair of ranged hits, and another MC caught up to the Aux to finish it off. Momentum allowed him to do a block to my remaining MC, but it knocked him out in battle back, sending Mazeus fleeing into the middle of the field.

Order Two Right allowed a hit on his LBC, who activated as part of Order Lights. None of his archery did anything, but a LC did move to pick up Mazeus. Another Two Right forced his a LC to evade, and did another hit to his LBC. Leadership Any Section activated Patch’s left, and he forced a Heavy back with a loss. I Counterattacked to activate Alexander and the right/center of my line, and he drove an Aux off the map. 7-4

Patch also led with Out Flanked in our second game, bringing up the same Heavies, a LC and MC. I used Order Mounted to get the Chariots and some light cavalry in motion, and drove off his LC with a loss. Order Three Left brought up a Heavy, Aux, and LC. Line Command shifted half my forces from the baseline (I’d forgot Darius was on a HC in the center to keep it from being as good as it looked). Patch Ordered Two Right to do a block to a LC with ranged fire, and I Double Timed the other half of my line to bring it into range.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring the Companions and two MC into contact. His first attack wiped out a MC, and then Momentum did nothing (other than an ignored banner), and that MC did two hits to him on battle back. His next attack knocked out a Chariot, and Momentum knocked an Aux back a hex. Alexander did one block to the other Chariot, which then drove him off with two banners (he could have ignored both, but chose to only ignore one). Coordinated Attack let me do two blocks to an evading MC, and finish off a MC, leaving Parmenio to evade back to a LC. Patch Out Flanked to do a block with ranged fire and move Parmenio over to a Heavy.

We each spent a turn or two moving up or reorganizing a little with minimal losses from ranged fire, except for one of my LCs going to one block from a banner result. Patch had retired a couple one-block units behind his lines, and I used Inspired Right Leadership to finally get back in contact, but only forced an evade. Patch Ordered Two Left, and did two blocks to my MC, in return for one on an Aux. I Ordered Three Center to get units in motion, and Patch cried I Am Spartacus for two heavy, one light, and two wildcards. A Heavy did three blocks to an Aux and took one in return, while his LC killed one of mine, and used momentum to do a block to a LB who did one back; his Aux caused my MC to evade to a blocking position on his LC.

I used Order Three Center to bring a Medium and the Elephants into his line while Darius went after the LC. Darius picked off his target, but the Elephant only did one hit to a Heavy, who did one hit and three banners in return, the trample did a second hit to the Heavy, but also wiped out a 1-block Aux of mine that was in the way, and then the Heavies First Striked the Medium to knock it out (I had actually rolled before Patch could react; I would have gotten them if I lived). A Line Command got most of Patch’s army moving, and he finished off the Elephants and drove off my LB with losses. I Ordered Mediums, doing to blocks to an evading Light before my gamble backfired: my one-block MC did one block to a 2-block Aux, who got me on the battle back. 3-7

Afterword

I had some really hot dice in the first game, and still came out behind Patch’s performance in the second game. The three two-block units in the Persian army are hard to keep alive, especially when the rest of the army has to go around them to do anything. I certainly tried to take it more cautiously than Patch did, but it doesn’t seem to have helped much. Of course, Patch managed to get a couple weak units out of my reach, which certainly helped.

At any rate, as expected, this is a fairly lopsided battle, but it mostly has to do with quality of units and the 6-card hand. Overall, its still pretty interesting, as the Persians have a few things to work with. It would be nice to see a battle that features more heavy chariots.