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Back in November, Patch and I went back to C&C:A after our latest SFB adventure. Up this time was the Battle of Aquae Sextiae from Expansion #2. This is the climatic battle of The First Man in Rome, so the situation was familiar to me. The Germanic tribes have an army stretching across the entire board, with plenty of Warriors and Auxilia, and filled out with some LC. The Romans are largely Mediums on a line of hills, with some LB in front. There’s also an ‘ambush’ force off board which can come in on the German base line with play of a Leadership or Order Lights card.

I had the Germans for the first game, and unfortunately I forgot to record a log. The game started as you might expect, and my initial archery was a bust. But once I got to close combat, really good dice quickly gave me a lead, and then finished off the game with one Roman flank and the center in big trouble. 6-2

Patch started the second game with Order One (Heavy), and gambled a LC against a MC (with a hill, and the MC being far back, not a bad gamble). I Ordered Three Left to surround and eliminate him. Order Two Right eliminated my MC on a lucky two-banner roll, and he still didn’t have the distance to take it. I Ordered Lights to bring in Marcellus on my left, but couldn’t do any damage.

Line Command split the German army in two, with his right going to confront the ambush while everything else moved up. Marcellus lost three blocks in two units, but did five in return. A second Order Lights let me start shuffling Marcellus out of the corner, and he lost his Lights to a bad retreat, but knocked out an Aux and MC in return for a block on an Aux. Patch Ordered Three Center and knocked out a Light trapped in front of the main line.

I Double Timed the bulk of the Mediums down the hill into his center, knocking out an Aux and doing two blocks to another, but took five blocks on two Mediums in the process. Then Patch Double Timed, and forced my (now) 1-block Med back onto the hills, losing a Warrior in the process. Worse, while he finished off the other wounded Medium, an attack on an intact one did two hits… and took four hits in return. 6-4

Afterword

Sadly, it’s been a little too long, and I don’t remember any detail of that first game. I do remember my dice went super hot any time I attacked in close combat, and the Romans just collapsed under that. The second go was not so uneven on the dice, but I still got quite lucky. I used a First Strike with the 1-block Medium, but it turned out not to be needed, as Patch couldn’t hit.

The scenario certainly has interest. The Romans are facing a large force, and the hills help and hinder them. On the other hand the Marius Legions rule give them some extra ranged ability, if they can get the chance to use it. As ever, the ‘ambush’ trope has trouble in this system, as they’re at least as likely to run into problems retreating. Two Order Lights in my hand helped here, but the Line Command ended with them largely cut off anyway.