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The death of the Alpini HQ staff meant it was time for Patch and I to play another set of Commands & Colors: Ancients games. Up this time was the Battle of Mount Garganus from Expansion #2. This is Spartacus without Spartacus, as he’s split his army, and his deputy, Crixus, has allowed himself to be surprised by the Romans. This shows up by having a large, impassible, hill mass directly behind the slave army center. The Romans go first, get an extra card, and have a slightly bigger army, including that rarity, the heavy war machine.

Patch had the Romans for the first game, and led off with Order Three Left, getting some of his Mediums in motion. I Move-Fire-Moved, getting both wings moving, and forced a Light to retreat. Patch advanced the rest of his Mediums with Order Three Right, and I Ordered Three Right to force another Light to retreat with ranged combat. Patch forced off a LC with Order Two Left, and I did nothing with Order Four Left.

Patch Ordered Three Right to get his Mediums into contact, trading a block with an Aux. I Ordered One (Heavy) to do a hit and banner with my LC against his MC, which routed it off the field. Patch Ordered Three Right again to hit my Aux, which he destroyed, but not before it did three blocks to a Medium, and a block to a second one from a First Strike. Momentum got a block on Crixus’ Warriors, with another two going on a blocked retreat, though battle back finished off the Medium, and sent Gellius running back to an Aux.

Leadership Any Section saw my Warriors scatter, doing two blocks to a Medium, and trading three blocks for a lost Warrior in another combat (from combined hit and retreat losses). Patch Ordered Three Center, but only did a block of damage from making Warriors retreat. I Out Flanked, and finished off two Mediums, and traded three blocks to three on Momentum. Patch Ordered Two Center to finish two weak Warriors, and reduce another to a block.

I Ordered Two Center, but didn’t do more than force a Light to evade; Patch’s Order Three Center finished off a weak Warrior, and did a block to another, forcing it to flee to the baseline. Line Command ordered one unit who traded two blocks for one and retreated. Patch Double Timed his left in pursuit, but couldn’t do more than a block to me. I Counter Attacked to bring in a line of units and finished off a Medium. 6-5

I started the second game with Move-Fire-Move (with all of four light units to my name…), did one block to a Warrior and ended pretty well where I started. Patch Ordered Three Left and did one block to a Light at range. I Ordered Four Right to drive off a couple units and do a block to a Light. Patch Counter Attacked to wipe out two Mediums. I used Line Command to move up most of the Roman army, driving off Crixus and doing two blocks to a Warrior with a blocked retreat.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring his entire set of Warriors slamming into my line, doing five blocks across two Auxes, who did one hit each to three units. Order Three Center drove off a weak Warrior, and lost me an Aux to a First Strike. Patch Ordered Three Center and knocked out a weak Aux and the HWM (I was desperate enough to not evade against three dice), and drove off a Medium with losses.

I Ordered Four Units Left and finally finished off a Warrior, and did a hit to an Aux. Patch Ordered Two Center to hit me on my own baseline, and finished off the Medium there. 1-6

Afterword

Both plays saw inconsistent, but fairly solid die luck for the (ex-)slaves. Patch did well in the late game to make a comeback that was a little too late, but got him within reach of a win. In the second game, I had just drawn a Mounted Charge, and hoped to use it next turn to drive in his flanks, but my center was gone, and I wasn’t going to get out of the situation easily.

The mountain really has a large effect on the scenario, largely because Warriors, who retreat 2 hexes, are stuck in front of it, which can make them evaporate fast, even if they get some distance. The Romans should be favored here, as they have the heavier army, a larger army, and don’t have the mountain, but dice were solidly on Crixus’ side. It makes for a nicely different scenario.