This is the official battle report for the first Swamp Month scenario-- The Hill in the Swamp. This is actually the second play-test Nate and I ran in the official version of the scenario. The first test was absolutely fantastic, but had to be discarded because at a key point that pretty much decided the fate of the entire game, we used Sniper incorrectly.
Our second test, which you will read here, was entirely according to the rules, but it is a terrible example of how swamps work. If you want to learn about the strategic value of swamps, therefore, we recommend you check out the first Swamp Battle Report. Note, however, in that battle report the borders for the swamps are dark green. In response to suggestions from readers, swamps now have dark blue borders so they look less like hindering terrain when subjected to the vagaries of digital photo finishing.
The importance of the swamp is that it is filled with poison gas that blocks line-of-sight. Units can move through it at a reduced rate, but the poison gas causes damage each turn and prevents special orders. If you have a cavalry unit stashed in the swamp, it will not be terribly inconvenienced by the damage (which manifests as an injury that doesn't down a figure) and will be fast enough to come charging out and do some damage. While it's in the swamp, it can't be a target of a ranged attack, and close combat attacks are a low risk because opposing units have to snap to the terrain before entering.
Of course, in this particular battle, that was all theoretical. What was more important is that it represented our first battle report involving large-scale use of the new Hoplite Recruit, which is why we decided to go ahead and post this battle instead of trying a third time.
Nate played an Egyptian Army and I played a Roman Army.
Because of the swamps, this army has two cavalry units-- a mounted artillery unit and a standard close-combat cavalry unit. Both use Xiongnu figures to maximize the attack strength and to give them sideways maneuverability.
This army has only a single cavalry unit, the 7th Legion Tramplers. Three of the units use the new Hoplite Recruit in its identity as a single-peg mercenary: the Force of Steel has one to increase its hit point total to 12, the Sniper Escort uses two to give it extra speed, and the Mercenary Militia is a version of the similar Egyptian units.
The scenario is a King of the Hill setup with a single control terrain in the center. Mud terrains near the deployment zones provide a movement obstacle. There is also blocking terrain in the center, and of course the swamps to either side of the control terrain.
Nate deployed both of his archers on the far left, with the 13th Legion Horsebowmen on the outside and the Column of Fire next to it. It was joined by the Javelins of Damocles and one of the Hoplite Militias. On the other side of the board he placed the Mixed Chargers, Masika's Javelins, and the other Hoplite Militia. Finally, he put the Imperium Savros out of the way in the right corner.
I put one Sagitarii Column on Nate's far right, with the Hammer of Mars and the Hammer of Discipline sorties next to it. Beyond those I placed the Force of Steel turtle unit, and next to that the Sniper Escort and the Mercenary Militia sorties. On the other side of the blocking terrain in the center I placed the second Sagitarii Column, and finally the 7th Legion Tramplers in position to use the swamp as cover.
I won the dice-off and took the ambush turn.
I spent the ambush turn moving up the 7th Legion Tramplers on Nate's right and the Sagitarii Column on his left.
With eight order points for his first turn, Nate was able to move up four formations. This included Masika's Javelins on his far right, the Mixed Chargers in the middle right, the Column of Fire in the middle left, and the 13th Legion Horsebowmen on his far left.
My original plan had been to stash the 7th Legion Tramplers in the swamp where they could threaten anyone who tried to take the control point; however, Masika's Javelins-- a unit I consider particularly dangerous-- was in striking distance, so instead I used four order points to push the Tramplers into base contact with them for a close combat attack.
I used one order point to regroup the 7th Legion Tramplers for defense, then two more to attack. Thanks to a two-die bonus from Trample, the attack was 12 dice to 6. The expected damage was 7, but I only got 5.
I had one order point left, which I used to move up the Hammer of Mars on Nate's left.
It was Nate's turn, and his first priority was to kill the 7th Legion Tramplers in his midst. He started by using Death Touch to kill one of the Roman Cavalry Chargers positioned on defense dice. Masika's Javelins has one Death Touch icon and one Death Touch Master icon, so it has no problem targeting a 2-peg white-circle figure. Unfortunately for Nate, he rolled a 2, so the attempt failed.
If the Death Touch had worked, Nate could have used the Javelins to attack 8 dice to 2, expecting 5 damage (which would leave the Tramplers a total of 3 horses down). This plan was no longer practical. Instead, he used 2 order points to move the Mixed Chargers to the Tramplers' bad side.
Because the Mixed Chargers have Charger, the attack only cost one order point. Since it was through a bad side, I took a penalty of 3 defense dice, and the roll was 10 to 1. Nate did 7 damage.
Nate had used four order points, so he had four left. He used two to move the Column of Fire into position to shoot the 7th Legion Tramplers.
Although the Column of Fire was shooting into melee, it had Precision, so there was no penalty to the shot. The attack was 9 to 4 with double Fire Arrow. Nate needed 4 hits and got 5.
Nate collected 2 victory points for killing the 7th Legion Tramplers, and it was now my turn.
Nate had lost a turn to the process of killing the Tramplers, but on his next turn he would be able to move the 13th Legion Horsebowmen into the swamp, from which point they would be able to threaten pretty much my entire side of the field. To stop them, I pushed the Hammer of Mars into base contact.
The attack was 8 dice to 0, with Intuition in effect, and the expected damage was 6. I did 4.
Nate downed the Hoplite Recruit and one Xiongnu Mounted Archer, then injured another archer.
The assault on the 13th Legion Horsebowmen had cost 3 order points, so I had 5 left. I used two to move the Sagitarii Column on Nate's left into position to cover the control point.
Two more enabled me to push the Mercenary Militia onto the control point itself. My theory was that having to deal with both the Hammer of Mars and a unit on the control point would leave Nate with too few order points to cripple the Sagitarii Column.
Finally, I brought forward the Sniper Escort so that it could get into the fight at a later point.
It was Nate's turn again. His first task was to take out the Hammer of Mars. He used two order points to move the Column of Fire into position to shoot both the Hammer (and, incidentally, the nearby Mercenary Militia on the control point).
The attack was 9 dice to 1 with double Fire Arrow. The Hammer of Mars was buoyed by Intuition, but nonetheless Nate had a 79% chance of making the kill. Instead, he did only 6 damage.
Nate hasd used 4 order points so far. He used 2 more to push the Column of Fire to shoot again. This attack was identical to the previous one expect that the target had no defense instead of only one defense die. Again, Nate did only 6 damage.
Neither of the sorties he had targeted were a significant threat any more, but Nate's failure to make clean kills left him with few choices. The 13th Legion Horsebowmen were still unable to shoot, and I still had a unit all by itself on the control point. With only two order points left and the only artillery in range already pushed, Nate's only choice was to move the Mixed Chargers onto the control point to contest.
It was my turn again. At this point, the swamp blocked me from using the Sagitarii Column to attack the 13th Legion Horsebowmen, so I chose to shoot the Mixed Chargers instead.
The Sagitarii Column has Precision, so it doesn't suffer a penalty from shooting into melee, but the line of sight crossed the Mercenary Militia, so I took a one-die penalty for that. The attack was 7 dice to 3, and I did 3 damage.
I pushed to shoot again, and this time did 5 damage. The Mixed Chargers had been reduced to two figures.
I had four order points left. I used one to attack the 13th Legion Horsebowmen with the Hammer of Mars. While this seems like an insane idea (attacking a full formation with a single-figure sortie), an attack of 3 dice to 0 with Intuition in effect actually has a 52% chance of doing 3 points of damage. Sadly, I only did 2.
Nate chose to take the two damage by downing the Sagitarii Centurion and injuring one of the Xiongnu Mounted Archers, effectively reducing the two points of damage to one (since I wouldn't be able to attack again). Nate loves doing this, and it's one of the advantages of mixing single-peg and multi-peg figures on a base.
I had three order points left. I used two to move up the Sagitarii Column on Nate's right.
With my final order point I moved the Sniper Escort up behind the original Sagitarii Column on the other side.
It was Nate's turn again. He began by moving the Column of Fire into position to shoot the Sagitarii Column.
The attack was 9 dice to 4, with double Fire Arrow. The expected damage in this case was 7, which would still leave the Sagitarii Column capable of shooting at full power, so it was likely Nate would have to shoot twice. Instead, he rolled incredibly well and did 10 damage.
Having reduced the Sagitarii Column to a single figure with one shot, Nate could turn his attention to other problems. He had four order points to spend. He used two to attack the Mercenary Militia with the Mixed Chargers. The Chargers were considerably weakened, able to attack with only 4 dice, but since the Militia had only a single figure, Nate had a 99% chance of making the kill. In fact, he did 4 damage and collected a victory point, bringing the score to 3 to 0 in his favor.
Nate had two order points left, and he used them to move up his two Hoplite Militia units.
It was my turn again. My first task was to get the Mixed Chargers off the control point. I spent 2 order points to move up the Sagitarii Column on Nate's right and 2 more to shoot the Chargers, 8 dice to 3. I had a 74% chance of getting the 4 hits needed to make the kill and succeeded easily, doing a total of 6 damage.
The Hammer of Mars was still sitting in base contact with the 13th Legion Horsebowmen on the other side of the field. Although the Hammer only had a single figure, that single figure was attached to 3 attack icons, making it a credible threat. I used 1 order point to attack with it, doing 3 damage and forcing Nate to down another Xiongnu Mounted Archer.
With my remaining order points I moved the Hammer of Discipline forward so that it could get into the fight and moved the Sniper Escort over so it would be safe from Nate's artillery.
It was Nate's turn again. His first priority was to get rid of the Hammer of Mars. Despite being only a single-figure unit, it was still proving to be a major nuisance, slowly pecking the 13th Legion Horsebowmen to death. He used one order point to move the nearby Hoplite Militia into base contact.
The attack was 6 dice to 0, and die 4 damage. The Hammer of Mars was removed from the board and the score was now 4 to 2 in Nate's favor.
Nate had 6 order points left. He used 2 to move the 13th Legion Horsebowmen onto the control point.
Using two more order points, he had the 13th Legion Horsebowmen shoot the nearby Sagitarii Column. The attack was 3 to 1 and he needed 1 hit (an 88% chance). He got 3.
Finally, Nate moved up his rear Hoplite Militia.
It was my turn again. I decided I needed to eliminate the Column of Fire, which was Nate's most powerful artillery unit. First, I used one order point to move the Sniper Escort into position to shoot.
The Column of Fire has four defense. I used Sniper to target one of the defensive figures, knocking it out. This reduced the defense to only 2.
With the Column of Fire weakened, I moved the Sagitarii Column into position to shoot. Unfortunately, I did not have enough movement points to get into range without clipping the 13th Legion Horsebowmen with the line-of-sight, so the shot would take a one-die hindrance penalty.
The attack was 7 dice to 2. The expected damage from two shots was 9 figures, which meant I would be unlikely to kill the Column of Fire, but I would almost certainly cripple it into uselessness. Unfortunately, I only did 2 damage.
I had to hope for better results. I pushed to shoot again, this time doing 5 damage.
The Column of Fire had been reduced to 3 figures, but it was still a credible threat, and I'd put my last artillery unit into position to get clobbered next turn, a disastrous result.
Nate collected 3 victory points from the control terrain, making the score now 9 to 2 in his favor.
He used one order point to regroup the 13th Legion Horsebowmen for maximum ranged combat. This allowed him to threaten anyone who moved to close to the control point. Then he moved the Hoplite Militia on his right into base contact with the Sagitarii Column.
The dice roll was 6 to 4, with Intuition helping the attack. The expected damage was 3, and Nate only got 1 hit.
This was unacceptable, so Nate pushed to attack again, this time doing 4 damage.
The Sagitarii Column was down to 6 figures. It was still a significant threat, but could not attack without breaking away from the Hoplite Militia and risking further damage. Nonetheless, I could fix the problem using the Sniper Escort to reduce the Militia's attack capability before breaking away. To prevent that, Nate use the Column of Fire to shoot the Snipers. The attack was 4 dice to 2 with double Fire Arrow. The expected damage was 4 and he got 5, effectively rendering the Sniper Escort useless.
Nate had spent 1 order point to regroup the 13th Legion Horsebowmen and 3 to base and attack the Sagitarii Column. The attack on the Sniper Escort cost 3 order points because the Escort was Elusive. Nate had one order point left, which he used to move up the other Hoplite Militia.
It was my turn again. My situation was quite dire, since I only had two real offensive units left-- the Sagitarii Column and the Hammer of Discipline, and the Column was hobbled by Nate's Hoplite Militia.
I needed to do something about the 13th Legion Horsebowmen on the control point. I pushed the Hammer of Discipline to base them.
The attack was 8 dice to 0, with Intuition applying to the attack, so I had a 53% chance of killing the 13th Legion Horsebowmen. Instead I did 1 damage. Since the Horebowmen were multi-peg figures, this meant that effectively I had done no damage at all.
I had 5 order points left. I decided to try to eliminate the Column of Fire. To do so, I would have to break away the Sagitarii Column and shoot with it. This required regrouping first, since the Column was not currently configured for movement. Because I only had 5 order points, I wouldn't be able to make a second regroup. My chosen regrouping gave the unit 3 defense, 4 range dice, and 2 movement. I was likely to take 3 damage, which would still leave me with enough figures to do the full 4 range-dice attack.
The breakaway attack by the Hoplite Militia was 6 dice to 3, and Nate did 4 damage, just enough to force me to down one of the range-attack figures.
The Sagitarii Column had only 2 figures left. I moved it into the narrow corridor that would enable it to shoot the Column of Fire without any line-of-sight penalties.
The attack was 2 dice to 0, and I did 1 damage.
I had thrown my army's full offensive force at Nate and downed exactly one figure.
It was Nate's turn again. He used 1 order point to move the Hoplite Militia back into base contact with the Sagitarii Column and another to attack, 6 dice to 0. He needed 2 hits, the expected damage was 4, and he rolled a critical hit for 5.
Killing the Sagitarii Column netted Nate an additional 2 victory points, making the score 11 to 2 in his favor.
Nate now moved his other Hoplite Militia into base contact with the Hammer of Discipline.
The attack was 6 dice to 2, with Intuition applying to both units. The expected damage was 4, but Nate rolled a critical hit and did 7, a 1-in-50 chance.
Nate collected another victory point from killing the Hammer of Discipline, bringing the score to 12 to 2 in his favor.
With the 13th Legion Horsebowmen freed from the Hammer, it could now shoot the Sniper Escort. The attack was 8 to 0, and Nate needed only 1 hit. He got 5.
The score was now 13 to 2 in his favor, he had undisputed control of the center, and I had only a single unit left-- the Force of Steel turtle. The Force was very hard to hurt (especially with ranged attacks), but Nate still had the Javelins of Damocles available, and that unit's massive attack (boosted by Hellenic Pride) would do a mean damage of 9. The game was basically over.
This was our third test of this scenario, and unfortunately by this time both of us were mightily afraid of the Cavalry In the Swamp Power Move, so we spent more time each keeping the other out of the swamps instead of using them for effect. On the other hand, it was an excellent showcase for the new alternate-stat Hoplite Recruit. Although the hoplites have little offensive power and no defense at all, their striking distance of 12 steps gives them the power to threaten opposing units from half the length of the battlefield. For that reason, this battle had almost as much close combat as ranged combat.
The next scenario in the swamp involves a crystal dome that blocks artillery but allows free movement.
