Game 2 v Amazonians
A game which threatened to go for Dave the way the last one had gone for me.
I invaded and selected no terrain, leaving all the choices to Dave. There was a wood in the centre of my deployment zone, another wood on Dave's right flank, near the centre line, and a couple of other patches of scrubby flat scattered around, including one in the centre of Dave's deployment zone, along with a marsh way out on Dave's left.
Once again I had the privilege of deploying first as invader, although this time the dice score also provided strong wind blowing into the faces of the Amazons. Yep, Dave was copping it rough.
I deployed similarly to the last game, with the Wb command in three ranks in front, and Commands 1, 4 and 3 behind. This time, the Ps stayed behind the Wb, and I placed the Thessalians in ambush in the wood. My scouts discovered an ambush in the wood on Dave's right flank (costing me 1 Cv (I)), while Dave's lone scout also found my ambush.
Dave then deployed three large blocks of Bw (I), with a healthy front rank of Ps (O), and some Ax (I) and Ps (X). Another command was invisible, presumed flank marching.
My tactics were simple - advance the Wb as quickly as possible and win the game before the flank march arrived. I wanted to concentrate on Dave's two largest on-table commands, figuring that by breaking them I'd break the army. Deploying first made that tricky, as only small parts of the two flanking Amazon commands were in reach of the Wb. One solution was to use the C-in-C's ability to move a group from a sub-general's command to steer some Wb towards the command on Dave's right. Another was to support those troops with the Thessalians: the Ps (S) should be able to clear the forest ambush.
The Thessalians were loyal, and the centre command quickly marched across the table. The mounted commands advanced behind, gradually spreading outwards beyond the flanks of the Wb. Dave met the Wb with the Ps/Ax front line, and things slowed right down. With a one factor advantage, and (S) to (O) or (I), Amazon casualties gradually increased, although most were spent. But the losses weren't all one way, and a couple of Wb elements also died, particularly when a Ps (X) element slipped through a gap in the line to hit the rear of the Wb.
Around this time the flank march arrived on my left flank, but it was a long way from the action. I briefly considered sending the Thessalian Cv to attack it, figuring they had at least a chance of breaking through (the flank marchers would also have been shooting into the strong wind). But in the end I decided to ignore them.
On the right flank the mounted command came into action. The sub-general swung wide to hit the flank of the Amazon line, but then got hit front and flank himself and died. That loss alone was enough to dishearten my right wing, which made me cautious - all aggressive moves by the command would cost 3 PIPs, but fortunately for the next couple of bounds the command rolled 6 for PIPs.
On the left, things were messier. The Wb got broken up after a lone Ps hit the flank of the Wb line, and it split up more as I used a bound of good PIPs to wheel some more Wb around to face the Ps screen of Dave's right wing. Cv from the C-in-C's command slipped into the gaps, and again the screen was whittled away.
In the centre, however, things were a complete mess. Whenever a Wb column broke through the screen I pushed it forwards as far as I could, in the expectation that even double-overlapped Wb (S) should be too good for Bw (I). Generally it worked. Dave pushed forward single ranks of Bw when the chance arose, to minimise the effect of the Wb killing two ranks. The problem was that his shooting dice betrayed him, and the Wb got a lot of opportunities to press forward, often into contact. What it did do was split up the Wb command into numerous separate blocks and columns, some much further advanced than others.
Over several bounds of combat, the Bw died in droves and the Wb pushed forward. Eventually the Amazon centre and left commands became disheartened. Dave then managed to roll 1 for PIPs for each of these commands, preventing anything from making an aggressive move. Finally, one last bound from me was enough, and Dave's left and centre broke, breaking the army. One column of Wb had actually made it across the table to Dave's table edge, routing a Ps element off table, and several other columns were within one move of the edge. But Dave took one command with him - the archers on his left flank destroyed a chariot from the disheartened command, pushing it over the edge.
Dave claimed just over 20% of my army, making the score 21-4 in my favour.