Game 1 Table 02

David Thompson - 1/22. New Kingdom Egyptian. Vs. Steve Clarke (Spike) - 2/56. Early Imperial Roman.

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A few eyebrows were raised at being able to take five commands but eventually everyone accepted it was legal. In both games I allocated the lowest dice to the baggage, the second lowest to command4 and averaged the rest. Very effective and hopefully legal! After the talk about feigned flights on the list I wanted to try one out and see how effective it was. The Romans had two commands in the centre, mainly of legionaries (half (O) and half (S)). The right command had the C-in-C with the Aux (S) and some LH. There was an arab ally with about 6 LH and 7PS(I) who lurked at the rear. The C-in-C got the highest dice and the other 2 roman commands averaged the other two. The 2 legion commands were deployed idenically. 4 Bl(O) in the front rank, a second rank of 2Ps(O) glueing the front legions to the 4 Bl (S) in the rear. The Bl(S) at the rear would make it difficult to take the commands out so I attacked on the flanks with my chariots and hoped and prayed I could do some damage before the legionarries made contact with my bows!
Spike moved his general too close to my bows and I got the 4 required to move 4 individual bow moves to try and kill him on bound 3. A lucky dice throw was a deciding factor in this game. The Romans would have command and control problems throughout the game. The next go I re-aligned my boiws and prepared for a feigned flight the next go. If you have a foot command it is eseential you are not going to leave your rear exposed to mounted opponents (they are Romans after all!).
The following bound I made a feigned flight. The two central roman commands were within 400 paces. The one with a general rolled a 3 and managed to hold all 3 groups. The one without a general rolled a 1 and could hold nothing. The four Bl(O), 2Ps(O) and 3 of the Bl(S) came forward as individual elements. One Bl(S) and the remaining Cv (O) were outside the 400 paces so remained stationary. They got left behind and played no further part in the game. Next move I turned around. My understanding was that there was no PIP cost for this and that I could make no further move that bound.
The legion then started to reform as the other command pressed forward. This had bought me some time as I pressed home my advantage on both flanks killing a few light horse. The second roman sub- general attacked and killed a chariot but was immediately swamped front and rear and died instantly. The 2 center commands (with the best troops in them) had lost one element each. The general. I was reluctant to press home any apparent advantage in the center as the legions were not going to move much with dice that had to be allocated and requiring 2PIPS to move.
The arab command quickly collapsed and the C-in-C's command quickly went from disheartened to demorilised. Both legionary commands did get into combat before the game ended though. Takking out a blade, a bow and Ps(I). The general for command4 died on the first round of combat (taking the LH(I) with him!) and the other 2 commands lost 2 Ch each. Observations 1. The Roman is a good army now. Used to be pants in DBM. The superior blades make a big difference (even if it is just the ME part!) 2. Good fortune helped the NKE. The first Roman general to die was a lucky shot and the second one the Romans didn't realise that only PART of the element has to be behind the rear to make contact. 3. The feigned flight worked well. I used it to delay an advance by making the enemy impetuos and having to pay PIPS to reform. They only reformed the Bl(O) before attacking again, leaving the superior blades behind. The other command remained halted. This bought me valuable time. Maybe too effective for 5 points? 4. The chariots had some problems manouvering because of the difficult terain and the depth of the bases compared to normal Cv so the -1 point seems right. David Thompson