A close-run thing (or, how Malchus finally beat Fabio)

A crucial moment in the battle during turn 3 - read on for details!

Bryan and I met to fight the second battle for each of us this campaign turn. As such, it is what the campaign calls a "pressed battle." That means that rewards and risks are minimized from the first battle of each turn. But, since I am not doing this for the glory, but rather as an excuse to play games with friends, that is more than enough incentive for me.

Bryan won the scenario selection roll, and chose "This is my land!" For us older guys, I call it "Get off my lawn!"

I was really hoping to win the roll so I could select pre-battle scouting, in which my cavalry would have a tremendous advantage. However, I rolled poorly and having the "impetuous" disadvantage didn't help.

For variety, we chose to use diagonal deployment zones. Our warbands wouldn't fit within the deployment area, so we used the engagement phase rules for deployment.

This was going to be a slugfest, not the type of engagement my warband was necessarily built to excel at. But my lighter units did give me an advantage in that I was able to push them up quickly, "locking" Bryan's unit further from the objectives than I was. The trick would be to hold him off long enough to win...

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Malchus surveyed the farmland before him. This miserable little Sicilian farm held little value, other than its location. It sat close by a ford on the Assinus River south of Messana. Many troops headed to the city to contain the Romans, or Roman troops seeking to break out south into the island, would find the ford useful, and Hanno had ordered Malchus's band to seize and hold the farm until he arrived with greater numbers of troops.

His Numidian scouts had returned earlier that morning and reported the presence of Greek soldiers advancing on the farm from the north. They had gotten a close look at the enemy, and remarked on the beauty of the Greek commander!

"Yes," Malchus thought. "Rasap be praised." It had to be that gorgeous Greek bastard that had already bested him twice. This would be his chance to avenge himself upon the Greek (he hadn't learned his name, though Malchus's men were calling him "Fabio" - he didn't know why) and settle the score!

Malchus had ordered his men to advance quickly and close on the central area of the farm. This was where the battle would be decided, and he chose to risk tiring his men in order to get there first.

On the left flank, his Numidians sat astride their mounts. The horses whickered and pranced, eager to run. They would get their chance. In the center, he had formed a line of alternating spearmen and tribesmen. He hoped the volleys of javelins would weaken the enemy as they approached, so he could order his disciplined spearmen into the fray to finish them off. At least, that was the plan...

Unit positions at the end of the engagement phase.

The Carthaginian line faces its Greek foes.

I was pretty pleased with my deployment. I had pushed my lighter troops with five and six moves, even though it meant they would start the game with a fatigue, in order to freeze Bryan's troops as far as possible from the objectives. Of course, that meant I would have to test to activate those units, so we would see if my gamble paid off.

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The Greeks moved forward in an orderly fashion, their own javelin-armed troops covering the ranks of more heavily-armed soldiers. On the left, Malchus could see pikemen. And behind them, damn their eyes, slingers! Slingers had hurt his cavalry badly in the last engagement, and he hoped history would not repeat itself.

In the center, Bostar led the advance. The ranks of spearmen flanked his veteran javelin men. On the right, the newly recruited Libyan tribesmen ran ahead into a stand of palms from which they taunted the advancing Greeks.

Unit positions at the end of turn 1.

Malchus's view.

The Numidian horsemen wait for their opportunity.

Juba commands the right flank.

The new recruits taunt the enemy.

Turn 1 was uneventful, as Bryan and I both maneuvered our troops into position for when combat would actually be joined. The Numidians were my wild card. I was hoping to be able to use them aggressively as I had in the last game.

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The Numidian horsemen charged out from behind the building that had shielded them from the slingers and threw there javelins. Despite their flimsy armor, only two slingers fell.

The junior Greek commander (Malchus did not recognize the younger man, he was not the same as had been present at the earlier encounters) responded quickly. The Greek pikemen moved up to shield the vulnerable slingers before they suffered more casualties.

The Numidians make their move.

The javelin men on the right charged and threw their missiles, with little effect on the enemy. Rather than retreat back into the palms, they stood their ground and threw again. Once more, few foes fell to their missiles.

There was little other contact with the enemy, as both commanders maneuvered their troops, seeking a decisive advantage when combat was finally joined in earnest.

The tribesmen throw their javelins.

Unit positions at the end of turn 2.

Turn 2 saw our troops finally engage. There was no melee combat, though a lot of javelin-throwing. My tribesmen were singularly ineffective against Bryan's hoplites, though my Numidians saw limited success against the slingers. Bryan's pezhetairoi scored just enough hits to disorder my spearmen on the right.

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Malchus was concerned that his green tribesmen on the right had overextended themselves. They could not withstand a charge from a formed unit of heavy infantry. He wondered about his cavalry on the left flank. Apart from a desultory charge, they had been quiet.

Nevertheless, he was mostly content with his formation thus far. His troops held most of the open space before the farm's lone small building.

The Greek javelin units peppered his formations of spearmen with incoming missiles, causing few casualties, but breaking up their formation. His javelin men responded, killing some of the opposing troops among the palms.

Malchus ordered his spearmen into the trees, hoping to crush the enemy decisively. The rough terrain forced his men to break their ranks, and the attack was less successful than he had planned. In fact, the advance of the spearmen had left them vulnerable to a flank attack by the Greek pikemen!

Fortunately, his men's armor protected them from the brunt of the attacks and their discipline held.

Meanwhile, on the far right, the javelin men were suffering at the hands of the Greek spearmen and were falling back into the trees.

And on the left, there was no sign of his cavalry. He would have words with Juba when this was over.

Malchus's line holds firm.

Tribesmen clad only in tunics face the pride of the Greek infantry.

A volley of incoming javelins does little damage, but breaks up the formation of the spearmen.

The Greek infantry charges!

Javelin men cause some casualties among the Greeks in the palms.

The spearmen charge into the trees...

... and are in turn charged by the pikemen.

Unit positions at the end of turn 3.

Overview of the center of the battlefield.

Turn 3 was when things got "real." Bryan's hoplites engaged my exposed javelin men and did heavy damage. In the center, the highlight was the charge of my spearmen and their ability to withstand Bryan's counter-charge by the pikemen.

My Numidians failed their activation test, and so just sat this turn. I was also hampered by having fewer command points than normal. I had really wanted initiative this turn, so I had bid two command points. I won, but I felt it when it was time to give my troops orders as I was limited in actions and reactions.

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On the left, Malchus finally saw some signs of life from the Numidians. They charged forward, hitting the pikemen in the rear with javelins. He could see some of the enemy fall from the missile attack. 

However, before they could strike again, the slingers turned their attention to the horsemen, knocking one from his mount.

This seemed to disorient the Numidians. They wheeled their horses and fled behind the cover of the farm building! Oh yes, Malchus would need to "discuss" this failure with Juba. But first, there was still a battle to be won.

On the right, The Greek hoplites had made short work of the remaining javelin men, and the Libyans had fled, fading into the palms. Rather than press their advantage immediately, they chose to re-form their ranks, presenting a solid front of shields and spears to their Liby-Phoenician counterparts.

While his Greek opponent concentrated on the right, Malchus turned his attention to the center. Bostar had noticed the disarray of the pikemen and ordered the veteran javelineers to unleash volley after volley against them. The casualties they suffered, combined with their fatigue from the earlier charge against the spearmen, saw the unit of pikes dissolve and flee the battlefield.

The ineffective charge of the Numidians.

Having dispatched the javelin men, the Greek spearmen turn their attention to their Libyan counterparts. 

The veteran Libyan tribesmen unleash a volley against the pikemen.

At the end of turn 4, Malchus's men hold the left center, though the right is still disputed.

The Numidians charged out, did little damage, and lost a rider when the slingers countered. They failed the two morale tests and stalled. 

The javelin men on the far right were destroyed, but with his unit already fatigued, Bryan chose to re-form ranks rather than attack again into my spearmen. They would do so next turn. but I feel that Bryan lose some momentum in not pressing the attack.

The Libyan tribesmen in the center were deadly! Bryan's pikemen last turn had used three actions, so they did not recover any fatigue. The Numidian attack did add a little more, so when the javelins hit and did just enough damage to kill a couple of pikemen, the unit dissolved. Bryan considered using a fate point to re-roll the results, but with the odds stacked against him because of fatigue modifiers, he chose to let the rolls stand.

As an aside. earlier in the game I cleverly used my fate point to turn two hits on the enemy into just one. Enough said about that.

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This was the decisive moment! All of Malchus's plans and counter plans were for naught as the battle was to be decided by vicious combat. At this point, no quarter would be given or taken, as the climax of the battle raged!

The re-formed hoplites charged the remnants of the Libyan spearmen, and the already weakened unit broke and fled, leaving Malchus's right flank dangerously exposed.

The wily Greek ordered his petzhetairoi into the scrum, and they engaged the remaining unit of spearmen. Malchus could see that they had little effect on the disciplined troops.

As the Greek javelin troops advanced, Bostar commanded his tribesmen to once again launch their missiles. Though weary, the Libyans responded. The javelins struck the pezhetairoi with devastating effect. The Greeks fell before the onslaught of missiles, and the few survivors ran.

At this point, with his line dissolving and Malchus's troops firmly in control of the left side of the field, "Fabio" ordered his troops to withdraw.

Malchus smiled grimly. It had been bloody, and a very close-run thing, but it was a victory!

The Libyans again launch missiles against the Greeks.

Unit positions at the end of turn 5.

At this point, the battle was still very much up for grabs. Bryan's hoplites did indeed charge into my spearmen and saw them off with little effort or drama. Fortunately, the surrounding units were not affected by their disintegration.

Bryan's pezhetairoi attacked with javelins and did not do much damage. But the counterattack by my javelin men was brutal and Bryan's unit was destroyed.

On the left, knowing that I could not afford to lose the Numidians like I did last game, I was perhaps overly cautious and chose to keep them safe rather than charge wildly to glory. With a range of 12 inches, slingers are a huge deterrent to unarmored cavalry in my mind and I was concerned that they would be able to do much damage to my horses. The possibility of having the unity stall within range of the slingers led me to keep them behind cover.

When Bryan failed his force break test, the victory was mine!

This battle had huge swings of momentum. In the middle turns, it seemed like I could not activate my units at all. As mentioned, in turn 3 I bid two command points and hampered my ability to command my warband.

So, in turns 4 and 5 I bid zero and kept all my command points. Combined with having fewer surviving units, this meant I had enough to buff my activation rolls in the crucial moments. For example, when ordering the javelin men to launch that last fatal volley against the pezhetairoi, I need a 6 to activate them. I used a command point to roll an extra die, and fortunately one of the three came up with a "6!" 

This was indeed a very close affair.  In the end, it came down to a couple of clutch dice rolls at just the right time. Had they gone differently, the outcome could have been a Greek victory. Bryan and I always seem to be evenly matched, and our battles seem to come down to one or two crucial moments. 

In this case, I was victorious. Malchus is on a roll!

'Til next time!