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After my failure in Hatten, Patch and I did our standard between-big-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. Up this time was the Battle of Sucro from Expansion #3. Pompey gets another crack at Sertorius, with a slightly smaller army, with almost all Mediums. Sertorius has the only Heavies present, and has an extra card. Considering victory is six banners, both sides have large armies.

Patch led off the first game as the Romans with Order Three Left to get a more solid line, I moved up Two Center, and Patch did the same to get a solid line established. Order Lights got me into range, but did no damage, and Leadership any Section let Patch get his left into contact, driving my Lights into the hills with one loss each on a Light and LS. I Counter Attacked, and knocked out a Medium for no losses.

Patch Ordered Mediums, moving up his right, and doing three hits to an Aux on the left. Order Two Left closed up my other flank; Patch Ordered Three Right, and took a hit on his MC for no gain. Line Command got nearly my entire army, and started fights on both flanks, doing a block to a MC, and two to a Medium while taking one block on an Aux. Patch used his Line Command to get his right and center into contact, forcing my weak Aux to run (three banners) after taking a hit and doing another in return. He also did three hits each to two Mediums and two to a Heavy, while they did six blocks total back.

Clash of Shields let me order three units, finishing off a Medium and chasing off another with one block left. Patch Rallied… one block on a Medium, who then did a ranged hit to finish off Perpenna’s Medium (conservation of blocks). Coordinated Attack let me finish of Memmius’ MC, drive off a LS, and do three hits to a Medium while taking two on a Heavy. Order Mediums allowed some reshuffling, and put a fresh Medium into contact (they were getting rare). He finished off a Medium and Heavy with a weak leader-led Medium, did a block to an Aux. Double Time got the rest of my center into action, finishing off the weak Medium and killing Afranius, and then finished off a Medium that had just tried to fall back. 6-2

I started the second game with Order One (Heavy), while Patch Ordered Three Center. Order Lights didn’t do anything (the Romans only have three), while Patch did a hit to a LS with his. Another Order Lights from me still did no damage, but did force a Light and LS to retreat. We then each Ordered Two (respective) Right for no result, and Out Flanked did a pair of hits to my Mediums. I Rallied to get my LS loss back, and he forced a Light to retreat. I followed Patch’s Order Three Right (no effect) with Four Right to do a LS hit. Order Three Center did a Medium hit, but I couldn’t do anything with Order Two Center.

Order Mediums finally got us in contact in the center, destroying a Medium, doing two blocks to another, and killing Pompey. Counter Attack got my line into action, getting me a Medium, and five hits on two others at the cost of one of my Mediums. Patch Ordered Two Center, driving off two Mediums with two hits apiece. Leadership Any Section moved up my left, and Line Command got Patch’s left into action, finishing off a Medium and driving off another with a hit. Inspired Center Leadership finished off a Medium and did two blocks to a Heavy, but cost me a Medium.

Another Line Command kept Patch’s left moving, and did a hit to a Medium, after First Strike finished off one of his. Order Three Center… only ordered two units, but drove off his Heavy with a loss, and Momentum finished it off. Patch Out Flanked to finish off a Medium. 4-6

Afterword

Patch had a good hand in the first game, but the dice were a major disappointment. There was a couple of turns when I feared for my right flank, but then the rest of the battle heated up, and Patch’s opportunity passed.

In the second game, we both started with poor hands and had to spend time just cycling to useful cards. Losing Pompey was especially bad, as he could have made my Counter Attack much more effective. As it was, both of our centers were basically gone at the end.

Its something of a standard smash-em-up fight, but a very enjoyable one, and certainly required some thinking and maneuvering.