OT2023 Round 5

rams1984 wrote:

By the way. Zenobia should be added to the Auxilia in Hills right for Palymrene?

wow..  yes it should

I did think it was a little rough the Palyrenes getting 1 leader, but never thought to check the scenario book.

for little understood reasons, I have to go to Adelaide on business this Wednesday-Thursday, so won't get to closing off the round until Friday 18th

so consider this a 3 day extension of time to this round.

Game 1 PCScipio42 (Roman) 6 banners
             Javelinthrower (Palmyrene) 5 banners

             Rome was able to kill the three HCC's first but then the Palmyrene missile units took it's toll and had a chance near the end game to win, but the dice didn't cooperate. Rome finished it off the next turn. 

Game 2 Javelinthrower (Roman) 6 banners
              PCScipio42 (Palmyrene) 5 banners

             Rome prevails in another close one. Both games were only played with 1 Palmyrene leader which had it's effect as in both games the one Palmyrene leader were evaded off the board.

             Both were good games.

 

Game 1

Player 1 (Palmyrene, cgrandl) 6 banners

Player 2 (Roman, scrum4you) 4 banners

Both front lines were disrupted very early. Roman MCs played a bit recklessly and Rome got the early lead, but Palmyrene caught up and went on to win. Most of the key action was on the left flank. Rome could not kill the HCCs and Palmyrene won with 3 units at strength 1. The game was well-summarized by Palmyrene mid-game: "this is ugly and scrappy, no clean line movements, no order".

 

Game 2

Player 2 (Roman, cgrandl) 4 banners

Player 1 (Palmyrene, scrum4you) 6 banners

Lines disrupted early. This time, Palmyrene got a substantial early lead, Rome caught up, but Palmyrene closed out the end game. Unlike game 1, Rome pushed the right flank and dislodged Palmyrene in the hills. This was probably the only organized foot unit attack line in either game.

 

SUMMARY:

Both games were won by Palmyrene, somewhat of a surprise. Both players used HCC to disrupt the Romans. Lines were not held for long and were not important. Palmyrene had the better dice in both games. We made multiple consequential rule mistakes in each game... sigh...

G1
TTK (Rome) 6:4 Gileforn (Pal)

G2
TTK (Pal) 3:6 Gileforn (Rome)

Round 5 Game 2

RiverWanderer (Palmyrene) 6
Joe Gonzo (Roman) 0

A flexible opening hand afforded the Palmyrene cavalry a sustained, aggressive start. On the other hand, after an indifferent Move-Fire-Move, the Romans were limited by low order cards and mis-fortune that spiralled when crucial mid-game melees went against the Roman attackers. Even a promising Rally result was negated by the subsequent combat. Eventually, the Roman defence stiffened and Palmyrene options narrowed but by then a dominant lead afforded the Palmyrenes more latitude for risks to take the final banner.

An outlier of a game where the luck of card draw and dice rolls just seemed to go one way, as shown in the final scoreline. Thanks to Joe for his fore-bearance on the rough end of it.