Teutoburger Wald, pt. 1 'The Ambush' AAR | Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion Pack #2: Rome and the Barbarians

Jeremy Antley

(Jobermallow)

United States
Portland
Oregon

This is my first AAR for the Command & Colors: Ancients series so I feel I have the obligation to state that I love the game, especially how it allows my main gaming buddy and I to have very epic battle moments in a relatively short span of time. So far we have played through every scenario, beginning with the core game and first expansion, with the the second expansion only a few battles from being complete.

Before diving into the AAR I want to say how I've really come to like playing scenarios out of the second expansion. The Roman vs. Barbarian match up isn't always pretty, with some scenarios having the initial makings of a slaughter from turn one, yet the focus on highly maneuverable troops and great terrain usage gives this expansion a fluidity that isn't' always matched in the previous sets battles. Warriors are like elite crack troops of modern armies today- fast, deadly, and capable of extending the attack deep in enemy territory. Some of my most memorable games in this expansion involved either launching all out warrior charges, or, conversely, enduring waves of barbarian axes on my front lines. I'm looking forward to playing the epic campaigns with such mobile armies.

So now the game: by flip of coin I was assigned the leadership of the Romans, who in this scenario have an extremely difficult position to launch attacks from and maneuver around. My initial hand comprised of one left movement card, one right movement card, an inspired center leadership card, one move-fire move and clash of shields to round it off. Looking at the Barbarian line, I wanted to make a general strike on the Barbarian left flank as it appeared to have the least amount of leader support and damaging blue warriors.

The opening plays involved me using my move-fire-move to launch a softening ranged strike on available targets, followed by a right movement card that allowed me to gain an early banner by blocking the retreat path of an extended light green foot unit. However, that proved to be a pyrrhic victory as the rest of the game saw poor rolls for the Romans, who needed every edge against the overwhelming barbarian force.

After a deft play of center inspired leadership, the Barbarian forces managed to kill both my Auxilla and Medium unit with leader attached, thus severely limiting my offensive power in the right section. I attempted to make up for this with Clash of Shields, yet my rolls were terrible and the counterattacks ended up costing me more than it was worth. I Am Spartacus activated three warriors who quickly dispatched another set of light and medium units of the Roman army.

With few cards in the Roman hand to sustain any sectional offensive, I first tried to probe the left flank with my forces yet could do little due to the terrain and superior position of the Barbarian forces. I then shifted my troops to the center, hoping to pull of a suicidal charge against the Barbarian forces on the hills.

Due to the close proximity of the warriors to my front lines, it would have been difficult to lure them off the hills onto ground where parity of battle would ensue. Double Time moved the Forlorn Hope towards the hills, inflicting a fair amount of damage but suffering casualties on a scale the Roman forces could not sustain. A final charge managed to flank the Barbarian warriors on the hills themselves, but the weakened units and high banner count for the Barbarian player ensured that the attack could not stave off defeat.

This battle is a very difficult position to assume as the Roman player. To begin, the Barbarian foe has three leaders instead of the customary one and has the advantage of moving first. The initial setup distance between the Roman lines and the Barbarian forces is only two hexes, meaning that while the Roman player must rely upon a Double Time to reach the enemy (on a hill mind you), the Barbarian player can strike quickly using the warrior two hex attack move. There is little chance of using your cavalry effectively due to the bad initial position and terrain that negates both mobility and attack power. If I had drawn a hand that possessed stronger cards needed to sustain a drive on the Barbarian left section, it might have been possible to get around the back of the enemy and possibly roll up his line- but that still would have been a risky venture.

Overall it was an okay battle, and I certainly could have made far better strategic decisions, but the Roman player has only a few opportunities to strike hard and my initial attacks just didn't go as well as they needed to be in order to give the Roman army a fighting chance. Even though the next battle looks even more desperate for the Roman player, I still can't wait to see if I can reverse history and get my disparate and haggard troops out of danger.