While I'm away...a bit of C&C.

A couple weekends ago, two dear high-school friends showed up unexpectedly.  They probably show up as infrequently as they do because they know a visit will result, as night follows day, in being dragooned into playing some wargame or another.

This time around, it was Command and Colours: Epic Ancients.

Back in high school, all three of us were Latin nerds.  One of us went so far as to built a diorama of the battle of Cannae for a Junior Classical League competition (no snickering).   So, it struck me as appropriate that we'd give Cannae a go.

This is the set-up at start.  The reflection is from the Lexan sheet I use with most boardgames...particularly those with bendy boards.

C&C:A's rendition of Cannae seriously straps the Romans by granting them only six order cards to the Punic nine.  As a result, the usual run of bad luck that can hit at any time in this system can quickly become a crisis as an entire army is unable to move.

The battle opened with both sides trying to nibble away at the other's flanks.  The Romans don't have terribly much by the way of horse troops, but what they had got some shockinly good rolls on the Roman left.  Making matters worse, what we all concluded was an errant cavalry spear felled Hasdrubal Barca granting the servants of the eagles an early 3-0 lead.  This phase of the battle ended, though, when the Carthegenian heavy cavalry ran riot on the Roman left, leaving that flank dangling in space.  The picture below depicts the state of the board at that point.

Now feeling a bit desperate, the Romans began a series of melee attacks all along their lines.  The problem was that the units committed to the attack were outmatched and a series of grim battle-backs resulted that quickly pushed the game to a 12-7 Carthegenian victory.  The state of the board at the end of the game is shown below:

Lessons learned:

1.  As said, the Roman command card deficit is no joke.

2.  The majority of the Roman troops, especially front-line, are not suitable for direct engagements.

3.  An open challenge has been issued by the Roman player -- now twice defeated -- that that side is unwinnable.  Yours truly takes up the mantle next time.