Match 1
Parthian (january31) 3 banners
Roman (Dawnreader) 7 banners

Match 2
Parthian (Dawnreader) 7 banners
Roman (january31) 5 banners

Open Tournament 2025 [Round Four - Game 2]
402 Carrhae (53 BC)
Parthians(A) 7 vs Romans(mk20336) 5

Crazy match with strange dice and great cards, yet again.

Parthian opening was countered by the swift Romans. General Surena with his bodyguard has been slained. In the turmoil, Parthians seemed to be unable to halt the purposeful Roman advance.
But finally a Cavalry Charge has shaken the Roman Left. The desperate Roman attempt to turn the other flank with their Light Horse barely but failed.

Very exciting matches, interesting scenario, with an excellent opponent.
Thank you, Michal.

Game 1 
mk20336 (Parthians) - 7 banners
Kandras78 (Romans) - 6 Banners

Long, bloody battle where I had like three usless Line Commands plus two Double Times for my Horse Archers In the end Cataphracts and very hot dice made a difference. Close game.



Game 2 will be played tonight.

Match 1
Parthian (TTK) 7 banners
Roman (toganalper) 2 banners

Good orders by Parthian: Darken sky, Charge! and Charge!

Match 2
Parthian (toganalper) 7 banners
Roman (TTK) 4 banners

Good play for Parthian - cataphracts infiltration and Charge!

Game 1 
Parthians - PCScipio42 7 banners
Romans- AnoN 6 banners

Parthians got to play all 4 activate light cards but didn't get Darken the Sky but managed a 7-6 victory as Roman dice was not good.

Game 2
Parthians- AnoN 4 banners
Romans - PcScipio42 7 banners

AnoN's had decent dice at beginning but went bad at end of the game. Banner count was 4-4 at one point and then Romans got last 3 banners to win it.


 

Round 4 Game 1
FoxK Parthians. 7 banners, 24 blocks lost
SteveT Romans. 6 banners, 36 blocks lost
The Parthians fought with classic Parthian tactics: effective ranged fire and then frequent close combats with Cataphracts, sometimes supported by the LC. My Romans were only able to advance slowly and in some disorder, trying to counter-attack when they could, especially against any Parthians that had come too far forward. The banner count remained close for most of the game, with the Parthians usually just ahead or even. Score was 6-6 when the Parthians took the last banner for the game. A tough, close battle.

Round 4 Game 2
SteveT Parthians. 7 banners, 18 blocks lost
FoxK Romans. 3 banners, 34 blocks lost
The Romans pressed forward quickly in the centre and right, and my Parthians were predominantly using orders to extricate weak or back row units, with fairly ineffective ranged fire, score 1-1 each -but not looking good for the Parthians with the Romans being so far forward. The situation was saved by a Mounted Charge, (3 units on each flank) scoring 4 banners, although the BB and a Roman counter-attack destroyed one HCC and depleted another (2-5). Fighting continued briefly in the centre before the end. A great pair of well fought games, and without the Mounted Charge the second game could have finished v differently.  

my usual warning that the deadline is approaching, please report all matches played, and if there is no prospect of it being played.
 

Match 1
Parthian (mmcdaniel17) 7 banners
Roman (soul1st) 6 banners

A pretty balanced game with the Romans trying to move to the Parthian baseline and the Parthians trying to harras the Romans with arrows en their heavy cataphract cavalry. Towards the end the Parthians managed to kill roman leader Publius. Giving them the advantage,

Match 2
Parthian (soul1st) 7 banners
Roman (mmcdaniel17) 0 banners

The Parthian side had the right cards at the right time. With order light infantry, darken the sky, counterattack for darken the sky they managed to weaken the romans. After that it was time for the cataphract cavalry to diminish the roman lights). In the end a mounted charge for the parthians secured the win.











 

Whoops, forgot to attach my files to my report. Results from Bigfriendben and Zocchi are here. 

Match 1

Zocchi (Parthian) 3 banners

Bigfriendben (Roman) 7 banners

Match 2

Bigfriendben (Parthian) 7 banners

Zocchi (Roman) 3 banners

In game one I was able to advance the Romans ahead quite a bit with two line commands and a couple of leadership cards. The Parthians had bad luck, drawing two line commands and two double times, almost completely useless for their entirely mounted army. After a good offensive, the Romans lost a significant part of their front line to a mounted charge, but were able to secure the victory on the next turn.

In game 2, a cavalry brawl quickly developed on the Roman right, with Publius striking hard and fast to annihilate a Parthian light cavalry unit. Unfortunately, his own light cavalry were eliminated on the next turn, and Publius found himself evading all the way to his baseline to escape the Parthian cataphracts. Sadly for him and his father Crassus, Publius was one of the handful of cavalry killed in the escape, netting me a banner for killing a leader. A handy mounted charge allowed my Parthian heavies to trap and target a handful of light and medium Romans with no retreat options, and the Roman medium cavalry finally succumbed to the cataphracts while trapped against their own baseline.

Good games to Zocchi, may your dice rolls and card draws be more fortuitous in the future!

Match 1
Player 2 Parthians(rams1984) 7 banners
Player 1 Rome(scipio1zama) 3 banners

The Parthians opened the battle by warming up with some initial fire, but subsequent fire pegged the Romans back. Some CC's ensued. Then Parthians positioned themselves to Darken the SKY, which was unleashed on Turn 6 at the right opportunity with all Parthian Bow's within Roman range, taking out 10 units including Cassius gaining 3 banners in the process. The rest became a formality, the last banner gained by another fire power. Parhtians were unusually accurate with some right cards since game start.

As the Romans shifted pressure to the Parthian left, the Parthians responded with a timely Mounted Charge, shattering the Roman right. A series of follow-up attacks brought the score to 6–0, especially after Publius fled the battlefield. However, a bold but overextended push on the Parthian left collapsed, allowing the Romans to claw back three banners before ultimately succumbing.

 





Match 2
Player 2 Parhtians (scipio1zama) 4 banners
Player 1 Rome(rams1984) 7 banners

Having played as Parthians on game 1 I realized the best way for Romans is to push up the battle field to avoid arrows. After initial fire the Roman center went ahead with some fire doing little damage.

A Leadership Charge from the Roman right hardly scratched the Parthians, but in return Parthian pursued the oncoming Roman. In subsequent battle the Parthians lost their Heavy cataphract along with the leader which dealt a severe blow.

The loss of a leader made the Parthians desperate for some revenge. But the leader loss crippled the morale of Parthians, as they managed only 2 banners after that, whereas Romans become more resilient and held on to turn the table.

 

Match 1
Player 2 (TTC) 7 banners
Player 1 (JawaNick) 3 banners

The Parthians opened the battle by playing a Line Command, reinforcing their main front with a heavy cataphract unit. Early missile fire from both sides proved ineffective, as the Romans methodically formed a coherent battle line. When the Roman left advanced against the Parthian right, the Parthians prudently pulled back, avoiding close combat with the formidable Roman infantry.

As the Romans shifted pressure to the Parthian left, the Parthians responded with a timely Mounted Charge, shattering the Roman right. A series of follow-up attacks brought the score to 6–0, especially after Publius fled the battlefield. However, a bold but overextended push on the Parthian left collapsed, allowing the Romans to claw back three banners before ultimately succumbing.  



Match 2
Player 2 (JawaNick) 7 banners
Player 1 (TTC) 3 banners 

The Parthians began with a rain of missile fire that harassed the Roman front while the Romans maneuvered their cavalry into position on the right. As the Roman center advanced, one Parthian bow cavalry unit proved devastating—rolling five hits on six dice against medium infantry and forcing the Romans to repeatedly reshuffle their line.

A Mounted Charge from the Roman right nearly succeeded, but a cataphract unit and its leader barely survived with a single block. Continued missile harassment wore down the Roman line, and a second Roman charge failed to finish off the resilient cataphracts, resulting instead in the destruction of the Roman right-wing cavalry.A Double Time by the Roman infantry failed to shift the tide. A swift Move-Fire-Move split the Parthian line into two agile wings, leaving the less maneuverable Romans stuck in the center.

At 6–1, the Parthian cavalry continued to whittle away the Romans. The Romans managed a second banner from forcing a retreat with missile fire against light cavalry near the rear of the battlefield, and a third banner after surviving a charge on the Parthian left—thus assuring neither player would end the day victorious.





 

OT Round 4: Carrhae 

Game 1 
Viridovilas (Roman) 6
Azzy (Parthian) 7

Parthian and Roman kept on exchanging arrows and stones all the time with mixed success. At the end of the day, though, a pair of well-thought cavalry charge on both wings of the Surena army made the Crassus forces flee the field

Game 2
Viridovilas (Parthian) 7
Azzy (Roman) 2

This time Surena tried to make a cavalry charge on the opening stage of the battle taking advantage of the disorganized march of the Crassus army in the desert. Once disarrayed the Roman forces it was relatively simple for the Parthian to take the win 

 

 

Game 1
lunacab (Parthian) 6 banners
GomJabbar (Roman) 7 banners

lunacab's Parthian's charged boldly forward in their left flank taking out a couple of Roman cavalry but losing 3 LBC of their own. The Parthian HCC on the left made some quick advance and retreat attacks with little effect. The Parthian's then abandoned the left flank and consolidated in the center. The Roman LC charged forward too far and paid the price. 3-3 at this point. Very even. Then the Parthian's charged forward again on the left. 2 more banners for the Parthians. It was looking dire for the Romans. The Romans got 1 more banner on the Parthian left due to an overextended LBC. It was 5-4 for the Parthians. Then the miracle happened. The Romans drew 3 Line Commands in a row and all the infantry was adjacent. It was a sight to behold. The Parthian center and right was squeezed with their backs to the wall. The right flank Parthian HCC made a valiant charge getting another banner. It was scary for the Romans. One more banner and they were lost. But the final Line Command gave 3 banners to the Romans in one turn and the game.
 
Game 2
GomJabbar (Parthian) 7 banners
lunacab (Roman) 0 banners

lunacab conceded this second game and said to mark it as 7-0 win for me (GomJabbar).

Thanks for the match lunacab. It was an interesting one. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.

Round 4 

Game 1
EZPickins (Roman) 7 Banners
Big Skull Z (Parthian) 2 Banners

Game 2

EZPickins (Parthian) 7 Banners
Big Skull Z (Roman) 5 Banners

In game one the Roman MI engaged the Parthian LC and grabbed the early lead in which held throughout the game. Game 2 was a tougher fight. The Parthians had a nice lead but the Romans battled back and nearly won if not for a few bsdd rolls.

Iuri was a challenging and fun opponent.


   

Game 1:

Ken (Romans) 7 Banners
Alessandro (Parthians) 4 Banners
The battle opened with a Parthian arrow shower and a Roman reorganization.  The Romans managed to counter a move MI card to form a solid line, as the Parthians continued to skirmish.  The Roman right pressed forward, and the Parthains countered by pressing the Roman left. A lucky retreat by a LBC left an opening in the Parthian line, and the Roman left charged via double time.  One LBC was pocketed and killed, while a lucky double square finished off a Heavy CC unit. Parthians charged the overextended Roman Left, killing two roman LI, but the Roman MI stood strong and counterattacked. The Parthians reverted to showering the Romans with arrow fire, and the depleted roman left took one final charge, with the roman MI killing the remaining HCC, advancing to pinning and killing an LBC at the edge of the board, and forcing the Surena to flee the field. The Parthians charged to pocket and kill the Roman MC. The action shifted to the Roman right, where the Roman LC staged an unsuccessful charge the ended with the death of a Roman LC, but the other Roman LC held on to pocket a last Parthian LBC for the win. 
 

Alessandro (Romans) 7 Banners
Ken (Parthians) 5 Banners


The weather was partly cloudy with showers of arrows in the morning.  One MI was felled by missile fire as the Romans reorganized into a solid line. The Roman left charged, driving back the Parthian right, who countercharged , and were again counter-countercharged, who were then counter-counter-charged.  The net result was two dead parthian HCC, 2 dead Roman MI, and one dead Roman LC. The Romans then charged the center as the Parthians pressed their right flank. The Roman center pressed forward, and the Parthians picked off one more MI on the Roman right. Pinned against the baseline, the Parthians finally broke. 
 

Two very close games.  I simply had better luck with my missile fire, which netted me an early MI kill that was decisive in the banner count. Alessandro, thanks again for all that you do for the site!

Game 1 

taliapharaoh (Parthian) 7 banners
Lornlane (Roman) 1 banner

I very much enjoy these asymmetric matchups, where the composition of the armies are so completely different that it seems the games could go any number of ways. As the Parthians in Game 1, I was determined to make sure the Romans were not allowed to advance easily up the board, and my 6 card hand continued to support my tactics throughout the game. After eliminating an exposed L infantry early, advance upon the adjacent MI, and eliminate that unit as well. I charged ahead for BCC, knowing I held the FS card if needed. After losing two blocks to a LI on my BCC, I wasted my FS card with no hits, but fortunately avoided elimination until a couple of turns later, putting the score at 3-1 in my favor. After some repositioning and ranged skirmishing made it 4-1, I was able to draw a MC card that allowed me to menace both ends of the Roman line with my two remaining cataphract units, and get amazing rolls that ended the game 7-1 in my favor. I certainly had the advantage in cards in both of these games.


Game 2

Lornlane (Parthian) 4 banners
taliapharaoh (Roman) 7 banners

This one could've gone either way, despite Nikolay not getting much help from his 6 card hand throughout. I did not have great options, but I always had at least one card that I could play as a response to his moves. Nikolay moved quickly to surround my exposed LI on the Roman right, but did not get the rolls despite a solid plan of attack, and I was able to counter for the first banner. More importantly, it allowed my MI to advance up the board, which was my singular goal in this game, to close the distance quickly if possible. Nikolay got the next two banners, efficiently eliminating exposed Roman units, but these sacrifices allowed more MI to move up the board. After some back and forth, I made a move for the all-important 2nd banner by charging some infantry into a packed bunch of light cav, which resulted in the 2nd banner. My opponent made quick work of that exposed unit for a 3-2 lead, but I was able to continue to move the infantry up the board as a result, trading units for an advance that eventually paid dividends on turn 7, when I was able to eliminate two units on evades, and push many of his units back to the map's edge. His cards once again betrayed him, and he was unable to move these units far enough away from the steady pressure of the Roman infantry. I was fortunate to take a 5-4 lead, and on my next turn surround a light unit to push the lead to 6-4. On my opponent's next turn, I played a FS card for the final banner and a 7-4 victory.

Game 1
gotigerssc - Parthian: 7 banners
treeslinke - Roman: 4 banners

Started out poorly for the Parthians as they lost a HCC and leader but somewhere about mid-game the remaining HCC went on a rampage and did some damage. A lot of ranged shots from both sides with the LBC maneuvering around a bunch at the end to pick off a unit or two. I forgot to start a logfile in game 1 so the attached game here is the end save. 

Game 2
gotigerssc - Roman: 7 banners
treeslinke - Parthian: 6 banners

This came down to me getting a Mounted Charge card and saving it for just the right time. In doing so I was able to claim three units on one turn, including the HCC on the Roman right. That ultimately made the difference but it was another game with lots of ranged shots and tough decisions. Really tight games and it was fun playing against Evan.

rjvonline - Romans 7
gdnuke - Parthians 6

In this one, the Romans took the lead on some decent ranged combat and a double time that caught an HCC after a Mounted Charge and destroyed it. Once again the Parthian hand seems to have become clogged up with infantry-only cards while the Roman hand did not see one left sector card or multiple-sector game during the entire game. The Roman right flank made the most progress thanks to a couple of LI cards, but no Roman unit ever made it more fewer than 4 hexes from the Parthian rear row. Eventually the Parthians got another Mounted Charge card, but were unsuccessful in killing any unit on their right, largely because the first MI they attacked retreated 3 flags. As the Romans, I had held on to a First Strike because I thought I could survive the attack on my left (I did) and would do some real damage against the attack on my right, but I did not. The FS was a bust against a LC that would have died with but one flag, and that side of the Mounted Charge did nab 3 Roman units bringing George ahead 5-6, but he could not get his 7th... Next, I was able to cut off the retreat of the two LCs that he had wagered and squeeze by 7-6. Always a pleasure to play with George, and I feel fortunate I won twice by a score of 7-6.

OT Round 4: Carrhae 

Game 1 
BrentS (Parthian) 7
David I (Roman) 2 

Parthia cycled a couple of Double Times early and that gave the Roman lights enough time to eliminate an LBC with ranged fire....but worth it for Parthia to strengthen and balance their hand. The Roman cavalry advanced on the right but over several cards, including a Spartacus, the Parthian leader and cataphract cut off retreat paths and pinned units and took 4 banners in that section. Inevitably Crassus came forward with the Roman centre to force the evading LBC to disrupt their own lines but a rainy day MFM allowed them to rearrange them. Rome never quite had the oomph to break through and pin the Parthian cavalry to their baseline and Surena took the last two banners in the centre.  

Game 2
BrentS (Roman) 7
David I (Parthian) 4 

There is an art to playing with a Command of 4 but that’s usually because the scenario design gives Command 4 something to work with, some edge to exploit. I’m not sure that that applies to this scenario. Rome has to push hard with whatever they get. If that’s two Line Commands, like they got here, then the job is half done. Their front Mediums took some range fire attrition but they were sacrificial. An Order Mounted risked a Parthian Counterattack but it got all Rome’s leaders into the front rank and luckily no Counterattack happened. The predictable Parthian Mounted Charge came and the depleted Roman Medium Infantry died but bringing the cataphracts into disrupted lines exposed them and it was on. Their retreat paths were cut off and Rome killed two of them and one of their leaders. A couple more sacrificial Roman units died on their right but the victory was with the LBC pinned to their baseline and Cassius took the last two banners there. 

I’m going to hold up my hand for a ruling error. I told David it wasn’t legal to use a section card to order a leader and the unit he is attached to, move the unit away and leave the leader in place and move another unit into that hex for the leader to attach to. It’s rare but I thought the leader had to move 1 to 3 hexes as stated in the rules and that a leader sharing a hex with a unit was attached to it. I subsequently dug up a very old ruling from Mr Borg himself. It is legal. At the end of this BGG thread.

boardgamegeek.com/thread/316695/article/2366457#2366457  

I don’t think it changed the outcome of our first battle but still not great, sorry David. 

Thanks for a couple of really fun games. 

Brent.

Hi FoxK, did you get my emails re setting up a game? Thanks Steve

rjvonline - Parthians 7
gdnuke - Romans 6

Parthian shooting was rather ineffective throughout, and so they took advantage of the few risky opportunities they had to prevent retreats of Roman LI and attack them, but the HCC were quite ineffective too. Having a bunch of infantry (2 LC, 1 DT) or blue cards (2) didn't help either. For all that the banner count crept up on both sides until the Roman left got to pin the Parthian right and led 6-5, but they got perhaps a bit ahead of themselves on their right with a Mounted Charge that was not too successful and eventually another pincer move of HCC and LBC won the 2 last banners for the Parthians. Return game on Tuesday.

Round 4 402 Carrhae (53 BC)
Match 1

gonzo (Parthian) 7 banners

Mark McG (Roman) 2 banners

Romans had a plan to force the Parthians off the back line, and Crassus set out to do that. Like parting the sea, the Parthians fell back into the Left and Right sections, whilst he dominated the centre, but couldn't get the cards to finish the job. 
 

Match 2

Mark McG (Parthian) 7 banners

gonzo (Roman) 3 banners

Parthians started off with a bang, Mounted charge first card. Picked off two banners, and lost one in return. The HCC then picked off what wasn't supported or looked easy until the score reached 5-1. From then on the frustrating dice took over, and despite raining missiles on the Medium infantry, I couldn't get hits. In the end I brought up the HCC to kill off the single block that was arrow-proof, hisitated over using a missile fire shot but chose the Crassus Heavy infantry instead (and rolled 2 blue), and then the inevitable First strike knocked out the HCC (5-2). Another flurry of missile fire manage to get the last hit (6-1), and then the Romans got Darken the sky which managed 4 hits in 12 shots to make it 6-3. At that point I lost any caution and finished it on the Right with the HCCs.

 

I've started creating video logs of the first few games of Round 4.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfAJ-jit4...EwcS54aS1mb8dUOh6-FG

I just realized I didn't add videos of Rounds 2 and 3.
If there's a specific game you think is worth adding, let me know so I can get it back!

Game 1 
alecrespi - Parthians - 4 banners
KWofford - Romans - 7 Banners

Some unlucky dice rolls by the Parthian side, but you can't always blame them!
The Double Time card was played flawlessly by the Romans.
Great game.