This battle report covers the first of three scenarios concerning control of a gold mine. The second and third scenarios deal with the transport of the gold. This first scenario-- Enemy Mine-- is less exotic. In it, the mine has been discovered by the two competing armies and they need to fight for control. The only special rule is Tactical Command.
When control terrain is contested, if the active player has at least one unit containing a ready commander figure on or adjacent to the contested control terrain, and the opposing player doesn't, the active player will consider that control terrain to be uncontested and gains victory points at the beginning of his/her turn per the scenario conditions.
In this scenario Nate played an Egyptian army and I played a Roman army.
Masika's Javelins is designed to take advantage of the new, more powerful Thrown Weapon ability. Because it uses the roman Front Line Legionaries, it has 6 defense normally and 8 against ranged attacks. Before throwing, it can use Death Touch to down any white-circle figure up to two pegs, or Death Touch Master to down any non-white-circle figure. In particular, once it gets to the control terrain it can start downing opposing commanders in order to get a Tactical Command advantage.
The Spears of Savros and the Steel of Amenhotep are capable of mutual support. Savros' Artificer ability can heal the Steel, while Amenhotep's Lord of the Dead ability can heal Savros' unit. Of course, Amenhotep can also heal his own unit. With a defense of 8 against close combat and 12 against ranged attacks, this makes the thing almost unkillable.
The Column of Fire uses a pair of Sagitarii Centurions to increase the number of ranged dice to 9. In combination with the double Fire Arrows, this gives it a mean damage of 6 or more against any unit with fewer than 8 defense dice. Thanks to both Hail of Arrows and Precision, it is always going to be rolling all 9 of those range dice.
Last but not least, the Spears of Darius only costs 700 build points, but can attack with as many as 14 dice, thanks to Hellenic Pride and Aggressive.
This is a fairly basic army with two turtles, two artillery units, and four striker sorties. Because of the Tactical Command rule, the turtles (which are normally used to hold control terrain) both have commander figures.
The scenario has a single Tower Control Terrain on one edge surrounded by blocking terrain, with two hindering terrains along the center line.
The tower (which is a type of blocking terrain) and the nearby blocking terrain items create a crowded, narrow corridor in which it's hard to maneuver. For this reason, all the formation units we used were custom column-type cards.
The action in this game was all going to be on the same side of the field as the mine (Nate's right), so the armies were deployed in a single group instead of being split into two or three. I placed two Hammers of Mars on the far right, followed by the Sagitarii Column, the Master of Steel, the Flamma Coniciens, and Diviciacus' Guard. On the far left I placed the third Hammer of Mars behind the Hammer of Smetrios.
Nate started with a Column of Fire on the far right, then Masika's Javelins and the Steel of Amenhotep. To the left of that he placed the Spears of Darius with the Spears of Savros behind it. To the left of those, he placed the second Column of Fire and the Pitati Elite.
I won the dice-off and took the ambush turn. Boots the cat volunteered to sit in the window to reduce glare from the sunlight.
I spent my first two turns moving as much of my army as possible into position to assault the mine.
Nate's army was slower, particularly the sorties, so his didn't make it as far forward.
I wanted at this point to move onto the control point, but the Spears of Darius made that a losing proposition. If this unit moves before attacking, it can bring a total of 14 dice to bear, which can expect to do 8 points of damage even to the heavily-defended Diviciacus' Guard. To take the Spears out of action, I used two order points to move the Flamma Coniciens into position to shoot them.
The attack was 6 dice to 2 with Fire Arrow. I had a 52% chance of doing 5 damage, which would allow me to kill the unit completely with a subsequence Fireburst. Instead, I did 2 damage.
After the Fireburst, the Spears of Darius was down to 3 figures; however, the Steel of Amenhotep could easily slide over and use Lord of the Dead to bring the unit back if it weren't killed completely. I had three order points left. Two more enabled me to push a Hammer of Mars into base contact with the Spears.
The kill chance for the Hammer of Mars is only slightly better than what I'd get from pushing the Flamma Coniciens (98% instead of 90%), but a Gallic Hammer in the middle of Nate's forces was a serious threat, and by putting it in place I was forcing him to spend his next turn dealing with it. This would give me some extra breathing room.
The attack was 8 dice to 0, because I was attacking through a bad side, and I did 8 damage, killing the Spears and getting 2 victory points..
It was now Nate's turn.
Past experience had proven to Nate that he could not afford to leave the Hammer of Mars alive. He first attacked it with the rightmost Column of Fire.
The Column of Fire has 9 range dice and two Fire Arrows, giving it a 79% chance of killing the Hammer of Mars in one shot. Nate rolled poorly, however, and only did 5 damage.
To finish the unit off, Nate had to spend two more order points to shoot with the Pitati Elite. He did 6 damage, killing the Hammer and getting one victory point.
Nate had four order points left. It would only take two to put Steel of Amenhotep on the control point; however, by pushing to move the unit a second time, he could angle it so that it would be extremely difficult to get an unblocked line of sight to it.
I wanted to prevent Nate from getting victory points from the control terrain. Because of the Tactical Command rule, I could not simply move the Flamma Coniciens forward: I needed a unit with an onboard commander to successfully contest. I used four order points to push the Master of Steel onto the point, then used Artificer to heal from the push, bringing the total to five order points for the turn.
With my remaining three order points, I moved up the Sagitarii Column, then brought a Hammer of Mars up the side. The area around the control point was now fairly crowded.
During his turn, Nate moved Spears of Savros closer to Steel of Amenhotep, then used Lord of the Dead to heal the Steel from the previous turn's push. This consumed two order points. With the remaining six order points, he moved all three of his artillery units further forward.
There were now two self-healing turtle units contesting the control point. If I wanted to get in to attack Nate's turtle, I would need to clear away the artillery he had covering the region. The normal method for doing this would be to send Gallic Hammers in to base and attack the artillery. Because of the crowded conditions in the middle, however, this required several steps. First, I moved the Flamma Coniciens out of the way.
Next, I moved the rear Hammer of Mars further forward, so it would be available in future turns.
With the preliminaries out of the way, I pushed the forward Hammer of Mars so that it would base both of Nate's Column of Fire units.
The Hammer of Mars was adjacent to a bad side on the left Column of Fire, so the attack was 8 dice to 1. I did 6 damage.
I used a final order point to Fireburst the Steel of Amenhotep for three damage.
Again, taking out the Gauls was a priority for Nate. Masika's Javelins was in the immediate vicinity, so Nate spent one order point for a Thrown Weapon attack. Because Thrown Weapon is not affected by the penalty for firing into melee, the attack used all 6 dice. Nate did 4 damage.
Pushing for a second attack did 3 damage, yielding one victory point to tie the game at two apiece.
Thanks to the special cost of Thrown Weapon, Nate had only used two order points. He used a third order point to regroup the injured Column of Fire to shoot the Master of Steel at full strength.
The attack was 9 dice to 11 with a double Fire Arrow. One hit got through my defense, doing 3 damage.
Nate had one order point left, so he used Artificer from the Spears of Savros to heal the Steel of Amenhotep back to full.
It was my turn again. I used two order points to move the Flamma Coniciens into position where it could shoot the nearer Column of Fire and the Pitati Elite.
I started by shooting the Column of Fire. The attack as 6 dice to 0 with Fire Arrow. I did 6 damage, killing the Column for two victory points.
I then pushed to shoot the Pitati Elite, doing 3 damage.
A Fireburst attack did 3 more damage, bringing the Pitati Elite down to 6 figures.
I had one order point left, and I used it to do an Artificer heal, bringing the Master of Steel back to full health.
It was Nate's turn. He needed to take down the Flamma Coniciens, so he moved his remaining Column of Fire into position to shoot it.
The attack was 9 dice to 3 with a double Fire Arrow. The expected damage from this attack is 8, and that's what Nate got.
The Pitati Elite then attacked. This was 8 dice to 2 (the Pitatis having fewer dice and the Flamma Coniciens having lost a defense die thanks to the damage it had taken), and did 7 damage, killing the Flammas and tying the score at 4 victory points each.
Nate had two order points left. He used them to move the Pitati Elite forward, making it more difficult for me to bring a sortie around to base the remaining Column of Fire.
I decided to continue the assault on Nate's artillery units. I moved the Sagitarii Column forward so it could shoot the Pitati Elite.
The attack was 8 dice to 0 and I did 4 damage.
I pushed to shoot again, killing the Pitati Elite and pulling ahead 6 victory points to 4.
I had two order points left. I pushed the Hammer of Smetrios to base the Column of Fire.
This consumed all my remaining order points, but the Hammer of Smetrios has Charger, so I could attack the Column of Fire for free. The attack was 8 dice to 1, and I did 5 damage.
It was Nate's turn again, and once more he had to get rid of a Gallic Hammer in his midst. The Column of Fire was effectively hamstrung, so he moved over Masika's Javelins so it could use Thrown Weapon.
The attack was 6 dice to 0, and Nate did 5 damage.
Pushing to throw again did 3 damage, killing the Hammer of Smetrios and netting Nate one victory point. The score was now 6 to 5 in my favor.
It had taken 4 order points to kill the Hammer of Smetrios. Nate used two more to move the Column of Fire into position to shoot the Sagitarii Column.
The attack was 9 dice to 4, with two Fire Arrows. Nate did 7 damage, reducing the Sagitarii Column to four figures, but his turn was over.
The rule is: if he can shoot you, then you can shoot him. I spent 2 order points to shoot the Column of Fire with the Sagitarii Column, doing 4 damage.
Pushing to shoot again would reduce the Sagitarii Column to three figures and only 6 range dice; however, the Column of Fire was still a threat even with only three figures on it, so I did it anyway. I had a 90% chance of getting the three hits needed for the kill, but ended up with only two.
I had four order points left. I spent one to regroup the Sagitarii Column for defense and the remaining three to move Diviciacus' Guard and my remaining Hammer of Mars closer to the action.
At this point, I had 6 victory points and Nate had 5. We each had a self-healing Shield Golem-based turtle unit on the control point and a massively crippled artillery unit nearby. In addition, he had the Masika's Javelins formation and the Spears of Savros sortie. To counter that, I had Diviciacus' Guard and a Hammer of Mars. Nate had one powerful advantage: if Masika's Javelins could get close enough to use Death Touch Master on my two commanders, the Tactical Command rule would give Nate the ability to rack up control terrain victory points virtually uncontested. The key, then, was to get Masika into position where she could make this attack. Nate began by moving the Spears of Savros closer to the Steel of Amenhotep, opening a channel that Masika could pass through.
He then used two order points to move Masika's Javelins over into position for charging up the middle.
Nate now tried a final desperate ranged attack with his Column of Fire at the Sagitarii Column. The attack was 1 die to 3, which had only a 17% chance of success, and it failed; however, it was probably going to be Nate's last chance to do a normal ranged attack during the game.
Finally, he used one order point to regroup the Column of Fire for defense.
It was now my turn. I started by regrouping the Sagitarii Column for ranged combat. With only three figures, it had a maximum attack of six dice. The Column of Fire had one figure and two defense. I got two hits, killing the target and picking up two victory points, making the score 8 to 5 in my favor.
I wanted to keep my Sagitarii Column as safe as possible, so I used my next two order points to move the Master of Steel onto the middle of the control point. Because of the tight squeeze between the rocky blocking terrain and the control point's interior blocking terrain, Masika's Javelins would be unable to move past, keeping the unit from a Thrown Weapon attack on the Sagitarii Column or a Death Touch Master attack on Diviciacus' Guard.
I had three order points left. I used one to move my last Hammer of Mars into position where it could get into the fight should something bad happen to the Master of Steel.
I used one more order point to regroup the Sagitarii Column for movement. Again, this was to prepare for a future where I needed to protect my last remaining commander figure from Masika's Javelins.
It was now Nate's turn. He spent two order points to move Masika's Javelins near the Master of Steel.
Nate used one order point to do Death Touch Master against Savros. He rolled a 5, netting one victory point, giving him 6 to my 8.
Next, Nate used an order point to do a Thrown Weapon attack on the Master of Steel. This attack was 6 dice to 11, but he expected to get lucky because Masika's Javelins was subject to Intuition, but my units were no longer affected by the ability with my Savros out of the game. He did 1 damage.
It was now time to get serious about killing the Master of Steel. Nate used one order point to move Spears of Savros into base contact with it.
The dice roll was 7 to 7. This would normally be an even contest, but Nate had the aforementioned Intuition advantage. He also had another advantage: The Spears of Savros had Regeneration and could be healed by the Lord of the Dead ability. Any damage to the Master of Steel would be permanent. We did 2 hits each way, forcing me to down the injured Shield Golem and injure another. He removed two mummies.
Nate pushed to attack again, and this time he rolled a critical hit, doing 6 damage. The Master of Steel was now down to a single figure.
With his last order point, Nate regrouped Spears of Savros for defense.
It was now my turn. I regrouped the Master of Steel for offense and attacked the Spears, 3 dice to 2. The damage was 1 hit each way. That had no real effect on the Steel's remaining Shield Golem, but Nate had to pull an additional mummy off the Spears.
The greatest threat to me, however, was Masika's Javelins. Using 2 order points, I pushed the Hammer of Mars to base the unit's bad side. This was important, because the Javelins have a base defense of 6. With a normal attack, I could expect only 3 damage, but an attack through the bad side would net me an additional 2.
The roll was 8 dice to 3. I rolled a critical hit and did 7 damage.
I only had two order points left. I used them to move Diviciacus' Guard so that I could get it onto the control point next turn. This was important, since Nate had the only commander on the control point, which meant that thanks to the Tactical Command rule, he owned it.
Nate started his turn with 3 victory points, putting him ahead 9 to 8. In addition, the Spears of Savros gained a figure from Regeneration, growing to 5 hit points. To get the Spears all the way back to full health, he used his first two order points to move the Steel of Amenhotep into base contact with it.
Nate rolled only 2 for Lord of the Dead, but this brought the Spears of Savros back to 7 hit points.
Nate had used three order points. With his fourth, he used Death Touch to target the remaining Shield Golem on the Master of Steel. The Golem is a two-peg unit, but Masika's Javelins has a Death Touch Master icon in addition to its Death Touch icon, so it can target a two-peg figure.
Nate rolled a 3, killing the Shield Golem and finishing off the Master of Steel. Nate now led 11 victory points to 8.
Having widened his lead, Nate used one order point to regroup the Spears, turning them around, and then two more to push them into base contact with the Hammer of Mars. The attack was 7 dice to 1, and Nate did 5 damage.
The Hammer of Mars had been reduced to 2 figures. This meant it could attack with 5 dice and push to attack with 3, but it had two targets that needed to be killed off, and it would be hard to get both.
The first priority, however, had to be Masika's Javelins, whose Death Touch Master power was exceptionally dangerous as a result of the Tactical Command rule. The attack was 5 dice to 0, and I did 3 damage, which was exactly what I needed.
The three victory points from killing Masika's Javelins tied the score at 11 victory points each. I wouldn't be able to do any serious damage to the Spears of Savros. Instead, I regrouped the Hammer of Mars for movement and moved it so that it would block the Spears of Savros from getting to my other units. Because the Spears is a slow unit (speed of 3), Nate could not afford to spend the time to go around the outside of the blocking terrain. He would have to spend order points to base the Hammer and kill it to get to my side of the board.
I had 5 order points left. I used two to move Diviciacus' Guard onto the control point.
This was an important move. Because Nate had a commander on the control point, I had to have a commander in place, too, in order to contest it.
Regeneration brought back a figure on Spears of Savros, giving it 7 hit points. Nate spent 1 order point to regroup the Spears, turning it to face the nearby Hammer of Mars. He used two more order points to push it to base the Hammer. The attack was 6 dice to 0, and Nate did 4 damage, killing the Hammer and putting him in the lead, 12 victory points to 11.
Nate used two order points to move the Steel of Amenhotep next to the Spears of Savros and one to issue a Lord of the Dead special order that healed the Spears to full health.
It was now my turn. I started by using two order points to shoot the Spears of Savros with the Sagitarii Column. The attack was 6 dice to 2, and I got a critical hit, for a total of 7 damage.
This was a spectacular result, but with both Lord of the Dead and Regeneration involved, it was not enough. I had to finish off the Spears of Savros. I used two more order points to move Diviciacus' Guard into base contact with the Spears and another order point to regroup it for maximum attack.
The attack was 7 dice to 0, and it killed the unit easily. The two victory points put me back in the lead, 13 to 12.
There were now only three units left. With the two commanders sitting on the control point, there were going to be no victory points. The two commander-bearing units were turtles, and neither Nate nor I had a unit capable of doing serious damage unless it were the result of an incredibly lucky roll. Both turtles also had healing capability, so any damage we did to each other was only temporary.
In a real league event, I would have had the advantage, since I had a one-point lead, and if I could hold onto it until time ran out I would win. In this case, however, we decided to call it a draw.
The two major components of this scenario are the Tactical Command rule and the crowded conditions around the single control point. Both Nate and I chose column-oriented formation units in order to simplify maneuvering through the crowd, and commander-heavy armies to provide an advantage with Tactical Command.
As it turns out, the two armies were very evenly matched. At the end, it came down to a pair of turtle units, neither having the offensive capability to finish the other off. If we were to play again, Nate would include a Shields of Darius to insure his heaviest hitter survives to the end, and I would have more Fireburst units.
This is just the first battle for the gold mine. In the next scenario, the gold has been mined and the two armies fight for the privilege of hauling it away.