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After the failed defense in southern France, Patch and I did our between games round of Commands & Colors Ancients. We’re in the later part of Spartacus’ rebellion, with the Battle of Bruttium. The Romans have a nice wall, but it’s not well manned, and there is enemy cavalry behind it (in woods) already. There’s a ditch in front of the wall, which stops movement, but does nothing else. Also, Sparticate foot units can exit the Roman side of the board for banners.

I started the first game with a slave Mounted Charge, nearly killing a LB with two retreats and two hits, and doing a block to a LC, but taking two hits on a LC in return. Patch Ordered Mediums to finish off my LC and chase off another. I Ordered Lights to finish off his LB, and do a block to another. Patch used Mounted Charge to shift left and chased off my only LC still behind the wall. Order Two Right only got me a couple casualties, and Patch chased me off his flank by calling I Am Spartacus. I Counter Attacked (8 dice!) to order five units, moving up some Warriors and doing one block with ranged combat. Patch Ordered Lights to trade a block each.

I used Leadership Any Section to rush the wall, and did three blocks to an Auxilia. Patch Coordinated an Attack to pull him back, and move up replacements. I Ordered Four Right to consolidate at the wall, and drove off a Medium. Patch Double-Timed to get more guys at the wall, but not where I was, and I moved up with Order Two Center. Patch Darkened the Sky to force a couple retreats and finish off a LC. Inspired Center Leadership got me into contact, and a couple Warriors over the wall, but I took slightly heavier losses than I gave. Patch struck back with Line Command to finish off a Warrior, but lost a Medium in return. Leadership Any Section got me to the wall over to my left, drove off a LB, but took one more block than I did again. Order Two Center let Patch join a leader with a new unit, who finished off a weak Medium. Order Mediums let me bring up a good number of fresh units, and I finished off four different units for the win. 6-4

In the second game, Patch opened with Order Lights and brought up a couple units on his right, and did one block at range. I Move-Fire-Moved to stiffen my left, while Patch approached the ditch with Order Three Left, and chased off a LB. I then Double Timed Mediums into that part of the wall, and Patch shifted slightly with another Order Three Left. Mounted Charge mixed things up on my left, and we each lost a LC to banners. Double Time did two blocks each to an Auxilia and LB, while also chasing off my LC. I started towards the left wall with Inspired Center Leadership, but could only do two blocks damage.

Patch came into contact with Order Three Center to destroy two Mediums, and a hit to a LB while taking three blocks across two units. Order Two Center nearly lost me a weak Auxilia, but I finished off a Medium, and sent Spartacus running back outside the walls. Line Command got him into the ditch, doing three hits to an Auxilia in return for one each on two units. I used Line Command to shuffle the defense over a hex, doing three blocks to a Warrior who retreated along with an Auxilia. Patch Ordered Three Center to regain the ditch, finished off a weak LB, wiped out a MC, and finished off my Auxilia. 3-6

Afterword

Both games finished very suddenly with multiple units going down in one turn. The combined fortification and and woods make for a very unusual battlefield, and I like how that works out. I think seeing the ditch for a Roman camp stop movement is something that needs to show up more often. For one thing, it really focused attention on the wall, since an enemy can’t just get through an empty space, and (with cards) get a chance to react.

The action was fast and furious, but didn’t see a complete collapse anywhere. Patch commented how I was closing up gaps as fast as he made them in the second game, and I was trying to hold cards to do a few things like that. But, just couldn’t bring enough force bear to hold him off.