OT2026 Round 3

Game 1
Gileforn (Pompeian) 2 Banners
Azzy (Caesarian) 8 Banners
Game 2
Azzy (Pompeian) 5 Banners
Gileforn (Caesarian )8 Banners

First game was very fast. Pompeians decided go down from hill. ANd than attack with "Darken the Sky". It was very brave. But arrows cant stop Ceasar. 3 LineCommands helped in this.

Second game was more intresting. The Caesarians attacked on both flanks at once. And if on the left flank they were beaten and even lost a general. Then Caesar with great losses but tilted the scales in his favor.

R3G2
RiverWanderer (Pompeian) 7 banners taken
MK20336 (Caesarian) 8 banners taken    

Caesar's forces advanced steadily again. Initially, Caesar himself made for the weaker Pompeian left flank but veered back to the centre, possibly in response to manoeuvres by the enemy Light Infantry intended to make that flank less attractive. Pompey was in no mood to hang around on the hill and soon a viscous melee developed in the centre of the battle field. Leaders were in the fore-front; Caesar lost a unit more than once but seemed spear-proof, always escaping to bring a new attack forward. His lieutenant, Maximus, was not so lucky; caught on his own by Pompeian Light Infantry.

The Pompeians had initial success in the melee - not least thanks to a timely Clash of Shields - and they'd opened up a significant lead. The battle was far from over however. Pedius exploited the inevitable gap in Pompeian lines and made a successful advance onto the hill; from there his heavy unit was able to demolish weakened enemy units that had retreated to their baseline.  

Pompeians advanced on the flanks and their cavalry gained one last banner before, once again, Caesar's own cavalry seized Victory with a bold Mounted Charge.

End game:
 


Log: 

R3G2
alecrespi (Caesarian) 8 banners
charlescab (Pompeian) 0 banner

Initially, the Pompeian army lined up on the hill, while Caesar's army timidly advanced.
There was some skirmishing on both flanks, and then several turns with numerous ranged attacks.
At one point, Caesar and Maximus both advanced toward the center (a handful of 4 MIs with 2 Leaders) to take advantage of the enemy units that had descended from the hill, while Pedius advanced on the left flank, gaining the first point.
Labienus attempted to react by descending the hill, but Caesar's MIs withstood the blow and counterattacked, inflicting severe wounds.
At this point, Caesar and Maximus continued to advance, also wounding Labienus' unit (4-0).
Pompey rushed to Labienus' aid with other units, but they suffered more wounds than inflicted.
With the final assault, Maximus engaged Labienus, eliminating both his unit and the leader himself.
Meanwhile, Caesar captured the hill, eliminating the two previously wounded units.
(Caesarian HI infantry remained immobile throughout the game.)
The dice roll was completely in Caesar's favor and decidedly unfair to the Pompeians.



 

Round 3 - MUNDA Game 1

BrentS (Caesarian) 8
kwofford (Pompeian) 4 

Game 2
BrentS (Pompeian) 8
kwofford (Caesarian) 5 

This is a nice asymmetrical scenario. Caesar’s dice bonus, hand advantage, Julian mobility and 3:2 leader advantage against a difficult entrenched position. I think they key for Caesar is to use those advantages to stretch the Pompeians and gain a foothold in the hills. Sounds good but he has to survive. I believe historically he said this was his hardest fought battle, where he felt like he might lose it all. 

Game 1 

Despite a predominance of left cards Caesar shifted to the right flank and went for it….and was killed on a 1 die leader check. The damage had been done, though. The Caesarians shifted their attention to their centre and left and accumulated banners by picking off vulnerable Pompeian units. Eventually the Pompeians were enticed out of the hills and the Caesarians finished it with a Spartacus. Interestingly on reviewing the log the Caesarians never entered a hill hex, when I would have thought gaining a foothold in the hills was essential for their success. The death of Caesar put paid to that plan and it was hand advantage that told. 

Game 2 

I like the challenge of playing a Command 4 and all the standard principles paid off here….hand management to optimise your cards, leader positioning and making use of terrain. It took Caesar longer than he would have liked to advance and engage and this gave the Pompeians the opportunity to cycle out low impact cards like Mounted charge and Section 2’s and build a reasonable hand….several Leaderships, a Counter and eventually a Clash of Shields. The two leaders to the two border hexes. Trapped lights away to safety. Then wait for the onslaught. Caesar did it with a Double Time on his right. The fighting was fierce but the Pompeians held (just) and Caesar was forced to retreat, abandoning that flank entirely. The Pompeians were up 5 banners to 1 and all they had to do from there was hold their nerve. Caesar advanced with two Line Commands, killed some Pompeians and finally got into the hills but it was too late and Labienus used the Clash to take the last two banners. 

Thanks to Ken for two fun, hard fought matches. Asymmetrical scenarios like this are a great challenge but when they go pear shaped for you, they really go wrong.

Brent.

Game 1

John S (Pompeian) 8 Banners

Jawanick (Caesarian) 2 Banners

Early on I manage an early lead by taking out both of Nick’s MC in spite of surviving a FIRST STRIKE. I have a good chance to bag Pedius himself with a 1d leader check followed by a 4d leader escape roll, but he survives. What do the fates have in store for him the rest of this day. I pull a battered MI led by Labienus back to the hills. Both Pedius and Maximus then mass their forces before my right. Ceasar leads his forces to advance on my left. Pompeius strikes from the hills but does not risk too much. One of my HI wipes out a full-strength HI with a second HI down to 1 block having suffered badly from ranged fire. My MC gets 2 hits on a LB unit. In my next turn Labienus leads his MI and gets 3 hits on an AI while my MC runs down the 2 block LB which tried to run but could not. Caesar orders two of his weak units back while he carries on the fight by leading a lone MI. I go after Ceasar himself and take out the MI but Ceasar survives and I lose my own HI in the clash. Then the battle shifts to the center where Nick attacks my AI on the hills but loses a MI and AI. I have a 7 to 2 lead, and the end comes in strange way as Pedius – remember him - leads a HI to attack down the hills on a 3 block LB on my baseline. The LB takes two hits and gets a hit in return then the fatal 2 leader die roll sees Pedius falls from his saddle to end the contest. The dice gods were firmly on my side this day.

 




Game 2

Jawanicks (Pompeian) 6 Banners

John S (Caesarian) 8 Banners

The early battle started with ranged fire in the center and on the Caesarian left, but my MC rushed forward to chase away the lights and did some damage. Caesar then led his MI and was supported by Maximus and two other MI and one AI to assault the center hills. The first two attacks did some damage to AI on the hills, but 5 blocks of my MI units were lost. Caesar finished off one weak AI and onto the hills he went to battle another AI which he wounded and pushed back. Caesar’s MI was halved but in my next turn, Caesar took out a weak AI and a 1 block MI with Pompeius who was then forced off the battlefield. I had a 3 to 0 lead but three weak MI on or near the center hills and Caesar in a very dangerous spot. I lose a MI but my 4 order I AM SPARTACUS wipes out 2 AI off the hill for what looks like a solid 6 to 1 lead. So far, Caesar has been the star by finishing off 5 units. But my three units on the hill have a total of 5 blocks between them. Nick kills off two of them and Maximus also falls and now it is a 6 to 5 game. I get Caesar off the hills and the 1 block MI he was with marches off to glory to try and wipe out a board edge 1 block LI but the 3d attack does not get the hit or banner needed and my MI is eliminated in Nick’s next turn. Caesar moves from the center LB to my left HI. Nick advances on my right. I then cutoff a LI and Caesar easily takes that unit out with a 6d attack. Caesar then advances onto the hills and gets 2 hits on a HI there and pushes that unit back. Nick then uses DOUBLE TIME to hit my right infantry but his HI misses on a LB. My 3 block HI which was not supported only suffers 1 hit from a MI attack but my 5d BB gets 4 hits on the MI to end the game. This one was close and if Nick had the cards to deal with my center attack, he could have easily cutoff two leaders, including the mighty Caesar who during the battle accounted for 6 of the 8 banners of my total.

 

In both games I had some big rolls to wipe out units at key times. Well played Nick. 

Dawnreader, if you are reading, please email me at the email in my beckerdo profile. I've tried to reach you with two emails, but perhaps I drop in your spam folder.

Thanks, beckerdo

Game 1 319 Munda (45 BC) 

Mark McG (Pompeian) 8 Banners
gotigerssc (Caesarian) 4 Banners

Justin had Caesar and Mars on his side, and I had Pompey and Fortuna. 

The initial skirmishing with the Light infantry decidedly favoured me, with Maximus falling to the dreaded 2 LDR roll after a javelin hit. From there I never looked back, with that most precious of commodities, Hot Dice, favouring my every move. These dice were so hot, it was as if they came from Stephen's magical dice tower!

After collecting his troops, Justing tried a smashing strike up the centre with his Heavy infantry. Caesar stood to the 2nd line, but one AUX fended off 2 Heavy infantry, taking 2 hits and dealing out 6 hits (out of 6 dice). My First strike fended off another attack. My Line Command response finished both Heavy Infantry, so I led 3-0. Caesar turned back, getting away from the hill with the remains of the line.

Further skirmishing for an extended period, and I managed to drive a slinger unit off the map. 4-0.
I then started to come off the hill, and attack on my right. Things started to go badly here, and I lost a Heavy and Medium infantry and a cavalry for a HI in return. Moreover, Pedius on the cavalry looked like he would clean out my back line, so I had to seize the initiative. I doubletimed onto my left, and for the cost of a MI, finished off an MI, survived Caesar's riposte, then trapped the MC and finished it and then Caesar's MI. 

A surprising and welcome win!
 

after a successful trial in the C&C Medieval site, we are now trialling the Personal Messaging system in the Ancients site. If you are logged in and click on a User ID, you get the option to message them within the C&C site.
 
Hopefully this will make contacting you tournament opponets more efficient and reliable.

Round 3 – MundaGame 2Caesarian (Mike/scipio1zama) 8 Banners
Pompeian (Joel/SkunkyBeer) 4 Banners 5-17-26 – Joel and I played the rematch, which I won 8-4.  The center got busy briefly near the end, as he brought 3 Aux down off the hills, but most of the fighting took place on the Roman right-flank, and Caesar earned his keep.  The coup-de-gras came when Caesar and his MI attacked an Auxilia, eliminated it, then advanced and attacked a 3-block LB – who stood rather than evaded.  (My opponent had just drawn a Clash of Shields and was hoping for a miracle.) Caesar rolled no greens – but did roll 2 leaders and 2 crossed swords – bingo! Every Pompeian unit that started on that flank was eliminated.  We did little on my left except shoot arrows. 


         This is the logfile for the first game of the match from 2 weeks ago
 

Game 2 319 Munda (45 BC)

gotigerssc (Pompeian) 4 Banners
Mark McG (Caesarian) 8 Banners

Caesar had some good shooting dice in the match, but scratched around for cards. Couldn't really get settled into any tactical plan, and whilst I wanted to attack on my right, just couldn't find the cards to do it.
What the cards did bless was an attack on the left, and with some initial success with missile fire, Pedius was joined by Maximus and they marched up the left, led by the cavalry. Here they stumbled badly, with both cavalry destroyed after poor attacks, but they gathered them selves and pressed on into the hills. Here again they suffered badly, with Labienus dealing out some brutal battle backs, and whilst they did manage to press to the enemy baseline and destroy Labienus, in the end it was a series of 1 block units running back away from full strength Auxilia recapturing the hill. A timely rally restored some confidence on my left flank, which left me at 6-4, and the thorny problem of gathering the other 2 banners.

Desparing of getting around the right flank, I brought the remain cavalry into the centre, where Caesar himself led them into battle up the hill. Essentially the plan was to break into the rear of the hill and dispatch the 1 block survivors huddled there. This worked well enough, 1 cavalry broke into the hill, which cornered a 2 block archer that Caesar could catch and kill. 8-4 to Caesar.